best switching solution?

I am looking to clean up the pedal board and add functionality. I know a few choices.. GCX, RJ-16 and the Effects Gizmo, am I'm trying to keep costs down.

I'd like to be able to plug a wireless in (or cable) run phase/ flange / distortion in front of amp, and have delay in loop. at somepoint i will get a chorus pedeal and some other effects, not sure where they'll go though. Also want to switch between channels with the looper. Reverb is always on, fx loop will always be on.

looking for lowest cost best value choices. all opinions welcomed. anyone have issues with the mark V and a loop switcher, or love theirs?

thanks
dave

Hey I got a GCX not too long ago. Found a used one on ebay. I use it to run a bb preamp in front, delay in the loop. Thats it for now...but it still saves some major tap dancing. I can go from clean no delay, to channel 3, bb preamp on, and delay on with just one button. I have a lot of open loops too to add more toys in the future.

The RG-16 is the best choice out there for what you want, if you buy an effect gizmo you´ll need an amp gizmo, that will be 2 pieces for the same cost..then you need a midi foot controler, the GCX is the cheapest I guess, but the core of that type of set-up is the RG-16

rika_gd said:

The RG-16 is the best choice out there for what you want, if you buy an effect gizmo you´ll need an amp gizmo, that will be 2 pieces for the same cost..then you need a midi foot controler, the GCX is the cheapest I guess, but the core of that type of set-up is the RG-16

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+1!!!

i have an rg-16 on sale right now. willing to cut a deal if you're interested.

but seriously, if you're going to use rg-16 you cover the cost of both of the gcx and amp gizmo, or similar. plus you get the front panel buttons, not unlike an amp switching panel. add the buffer and tuner out and it's a great overall package.

if you need more than 8 loops, especially for stereo effects, then the effects gizmo + amp gizmo is the only way to go.

I bought a line6 M13, use it in scene mode for all my effects (4 at a time, tops). Using the loop on the m13 and the loop on the mark V, I can run whatever effects I want I front of the amp and the rest I the loop, very flexible that way as you can set where you split for the loop independently for each scene. There are 12 scenes (or effects) switches so no banking up and down which I hate. I run the m13 into a mini amp gizmo which controls everything that is foot-switchable on the markV. Each scene on the m13 will send a midi message that can be saved in the mini amp gizmo, I absolutely love this setup.

m13 = 560
mini amp gizmo = 230
special amp giz to mark V cable = 70

So that's 860 and includes all the effects.

I'll admit I was leery of using line 6 for effects, until I tried it out. The effects sound great, in fact within 2 weeks of buying my unit, the other guitar player in my band bought one (he plays through a lonestar special). I don't want to slag Line 6 but really I have never been a big fan of all the pod stuff, this unit however sounds great.

well im looking to do the pedal route...

regarding the switching system. I believe i can use the gcx loops to do the remote switching on the MV. i only need two loops for that (the channel 2 and 3 relays on the MV) plus its 399, and readily available from MF / GC, which offer discounts occaisionally (especially around the holidays) making it the most cost effective. and i can always daisy chain another one if i need more loops.

RJ-16 is 8 loops and 8 switches with the front panel buttons, but i think 8 switches is overkill for my needs, what else would the switches be good for?

effects gizmo, i think i read has 12 loops, and the last 4 are stereo / not in-line with the rest of the loops, and can be used to switch and functions. which would leave 10 loops, no need for the amp gizmo.

both RJM are a about 300 more though.

has anyone noticed any switching issues with any of these devices, that is popping noises, added noise or ground loops?

thanks

RJM has the best quality out there, really top noch

I have a G System and it's great I had a pedal board before the GS and it cost almost double to triple of what the GS cost You start adding it up Delay 200 -400 Distortion 500 -600 and so on the G does it all for 1200.00 except the distortion LOL

dmcguitar said:

well im looking to do the pedal route...

regarding the switching system. I believe i can use the gcx loops to do the remote switching on the MV. i only need two loops for that (the channel 2 and 3 relays on the MV) plus its 399, and readily available from MF / GC, which offer discounts occaisionally (especially around the holidays) making it the most cost effective. and i can always daisy chain another one if i need more loops.

RJ-16 is 8 loops and 8 switches with the front panel buttons, but i think 8 switches is overkill for my needs, what else would the switches be good for?

effects gizmo, i think i read has 12 loops, and the last 4 are stereo / not in-line with the rest of the loops, and can be used to switch and functions. which would leave 10 loops, no need for the amp gizmo.

both RJM are a about 300 more though.

has anyone noticed any switching issues with any of these devices, that is popping noises, added noise or ground loops?

thanks

Click to expand...

Verb, solo, mute, fx loop, geq.

Patrickt69 said:

the G does it all for 1200.00 except the distortion LOL

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NOVA DRIVE
:mrgreen:

btw, if you're not in a hurry to set up your rig and you have a few stereo effects, you can save loops by have voodoo lab upgrade your standard gcx to the stereo version. i did and it was about $120 for that.

No hurry just researching now...i saw the g system,how do you like the phase/flange? Do you do 4 cable method...are the effects really good, that is better than finding specific pedals that do one thing well?


I only have a evh phaser and flange and maxon 808.

dmcguitar said:

No hurry just researching now...i saw the g system,how do you like the phase/flange? Do you do 4 cable method...are the effects really good, that is better than finding specific pedals that do one thing well?


I only have a evh phaser and flange and maxon 808.

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i liked the idea of having more variable and controllable effects. having an analog pedal like an mxr is great and it really cops the van halen tones, but it's sort of a one trick pony. when're you going to be able to tweak it in-show? my $0.02 anyway.

dmcguitar said:

No hurry just researching now...i saw the g system,how do you like the phase/flange? Do you do 4 cable method...are the effects really good, that is better than finding specific pedals that do one thing well?


I only have a evh phaser and flange and maxon 808.

Click to expand...

My only gripe about my G-System is that the modulation effects are all post-loop, so they come after the preamp signal when in 4CM. That means that the phase/flange/trem effects are after the preamp, which is not where I prefer them. To remedy this, I added my ModFactor to the first loop, with the Nova Drive coming after it in Loop 2. The ModFactor is linked to the G-System via MIDI for switching between it's presets.

SteveO said:

dmcguitar said:

No hurry just researching now...i saw the g system,how do you like the phase/flange? Do you do 4 cable method...are the effects really good, that is better than finding specific pedals that do one thing well?


I only have a evh phaser and flange and maxon 808.

Click to expand...

My only gripe about my G-System is that the modulation effects are all post-loop, so they come after the preamp signal when in 4CM. That means that the phase/flange/trem effects are after the preamp, which is not where I prefer them. To remedy this, I added my ModFactor to the first loop, with the Nova Drive coming after it in Loop 2. The ModFactor is linked to the G-System via MIDI for switching between it's presets.

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Huh? I have been debating between a G-system and a Timefactor/ModFactor setup for a bit now. I always thought one of the big advantages of the G-System would be to use the 4CM and tell it which effects you wanted before the preamp and which after the preamp(phaser definitely sounds better before the preamp while chorus and delay sound better in the loop). If you cannot do this, it's hard to understand why they went to the trouble of implementing the 4CM other than to enable your distortion boxes to run before the preamp. What then, in the G-System, can you set for before the preamp?

dmcguitar said:

I am looking to clean up the pedal board and add functionality. I know a few choices.. GCX, RJ-16 and the Effects Gizmo, am I'm trying to keep costs down.

I'd like to be able to plug a wireless in (or cable) run phase/ flange / distortion in front of amp, and have delay in loop. at somepoint i will get a chorus pedeal and some other effects, not sure where they'll go though. Also want to switch between channels with the looper. Reverb is always on, fx loop will always be on.

looking for lowest cost best value choices. all opinions welcomed. anyone have issues with the mark V and a loop switcher, or love theirs?

Click to expand...

K-Switch should do what you want, since you'd only need 2 lines for channel switching (kswitch has 4 total, though). It has 2 fx chains, and since I'm getting ready to build a few right now, I could make one chain have 3 (for your phase,lange and distortion pedals) and just have one for the loop's chain. Pretty sure this would be one of the less expensive options...