Members pmtrub Posted October 8, 2008 Members Share Posted October 8, 2008 Trying to think of ways to minimize cable mess in my rack. It would be nice to eliminate a bunch of short patch cables.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jaymeister Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I have loops 1-4 wired up internally on mine. Doesn't really clean things up that much, but sure prevents any potential external cable failures. I left 5-8 the way they were to patch in stuff in my FX loop and for any function switching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Did you do it yourself, or bring it to a tech? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jaymeister Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Did you do it yourself, or bring it to a tech? I did it myself. I tech all my own gear at this point though. I've ripped the GCX open a fair bit...It's an older one so I installed an upgraded opamp, added the blue lights and did the loop wiring. It's pretty easy to do...one long ground wire across the sleeve posts, and 3 short jumpers between the loops. You need to pull the whole board though. I'd say it's not really worth it to open up for just the internal jumpers. there's no real noticeable difference, and you do sacrifice some flexibility, so your rig layout should be pretty set first, or be able to go back in and reverse the changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I did it myself. I tech all my own gear at this point though. I've ripped the GCX open a fair bit...It's an older one so I installed an upgraded opamp, added the blue lights and did the loop wiring. It's pretty easy to do...one long ground wire across the sleeve posts, and 3 short jumpers between the loops. You need to pull the whole board though.I'd say it's not really worth it to open up for just the internal jumpers. there's no real noticeable difference, and you do sacrifice some flexibility, so your rig layout should be pretty set first, or be able to go back in and reverse the changes. blue lights, I bet that looks nice. I'm not really looking for any tone difference, just less cables tied down in the back of my rack. Everything in my rack right now is pretty much where it's going to stay for quite some time, and a GRX4 is looping the effects sent to the amp loop, so I don't think I'd need the flexible routing. Thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NyteOwl Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I just made short jumper cables with George L Right angle plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2008 I did it myself. I tech all my own gear at this point though. I've ripped the GCX open a fair bit...It's an older one so I installed an upgraded opamp, added the blue lights and did the loop wiring. It's pretty easy to do...one long ground wire across the sleeve posts, and 3 short jumpers between the loops. You need to pull the whole board though.I'd say it's not really worth it to open up for just the internal jumpers. there's no real noticeable difference, and you do sacrifice some flexibility, so your rig layout should be pretty set first, or be able to go back in and reverse the changes. where did you get the blue lights? http://cgi.ebay.com/50PCS-5mm-Blue-Flash-Led-Bright-Light-Super-Bright_W0QQitemZ310092000244QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item310092000244&_trkparms=72%3A1424%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted October 17, 2008 Members Share Posted October 17, 2008 nope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 17, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2008 nope wat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 29, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2008 what size do you order for the blue leds? I can't stop imagining blue lights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturnine10 Posted October 29, 2008 Members Share Posted October 29, 2008 You can get blue LED's from almost anywhere.. I believe your looking for a 3mm LED.. Check out Pedalpartsplus.com or Small Bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted October 29, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2008 cool. I know the color of the LED's is purely aesthetic, but it turns out that most of my rig has blue lights, so may as well Pimp my rig out since I don't drive a honda civic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Brillo Posted November 14, 2008 Members Share Posted November 14, 2008 As some of you may already know, I've been revamping my effects rig. I use a combination of racks and pedals. I used to use an 18 space rig that I was able to whittle down to 10 spaces with the addition of a Boss GT-Pro and some new pedal choices. Here's a pic of my old rig... I had it wired with some George L cable that I soldered the connectors to. I used to use the solderless connections but after a year of heavy gigging and touring, they started coming loose. Anyway, I'm much happier with my new setup...it's much lighter and it takes up less space on the stage as well as less space in the van when we're on the road. So when I decided to revamp my setup, I thought I would improve the sound further by making some solid core cables from scratch. Some folks pay big bucks for solid core cables, but you can make them yourself so inexpensively, it's crazy. I started with 18 gauge solid core wire that I twisted to reject radio interference, wrapped in tin foil to shield the wire. Then I shrink tubed the foil wrapped wire, soldered the connectors and then filled in the space between the solder joints with epoxy to add additional strain relief and keep the contacts from coming together when bending the cable. The sonic benefits were incredible and they are virtually indestructible. Plus I could right angle bend them to keep the cable out of the way so I could reach in and adjust the knobs on the pedals. Here's the pic from the front... The rack interface I built myself from scratch. It features a guitar input, a MIDI in and a MIDI out, 3 audio feed throughs, a USB port for hooking up my Boss GT-Pro to my laptop, an expression pedal jack, 2 footswitch jacks and a left and right output (I run a stereo rig...the outputs connect to a pair of single channel amps...right now it's a pair of ValveTech heads into MojoTone "Marshall 2x12 cabs. Here's some closeups of the interface... At the bottom of my rack, behind a locked front panel are my Boss GT-Pro racks and a Master Room Spring Reverb unit shown below... Here is the back of the rack... One of the benefits of making your own cables is you can color code them to make sense of it all at a glance. The Yellow Cables are jumpers for the GCX switcher, the Red Cables are main audio connections, the Gray Cables are multi effects cables, and the Black Cables are pedal cables, and each of those have a red tag for the loop send/effect in and a white tag for the loop return/effect out. I was also able to color code my power cables on my DC Brick to make it easier to see which cable goes to which pedal. I also made an extender shelf out of plexi glass which I wrapped in Velcro...it fastens the shelf to the spring reverb unit and allows me to fasten the pedals to it. I drilled holes in it to run the power cables underneath it to keep them out of the way. Here's a close up of the effects which are all switched in and out with a Voodoo Lab GCX MIDI loop switcher...I'm using (in order of signal flow)... Keeley Comp -> Skreddy Top Fuel -> Skreddy Screwdriver -> Exotic BB Booster - Exotic RC Booster - Exotic AC Booster -> Keeley prototype Katana Clean Boost -> Boss GT-Pro. I had Exotic mod my RC/AC/BB boosters to run at 18 volts. The GT-Pro's stereo outputs go directly into my Roctron G-612 Mixer so that when the GCX switches it out of the signal path, the delays and reverb trails continue to spill over. The GT-Pro also has 3 loops which I use to switch my Master Room Spring Reverb Rack, my Analog Man Clone Chorus and my FoxRox Octron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluedevil0204 Posted December 1, 2008 Members Share Posted December 1, 2008 damn that is an unbeliable thing. I could not keep up with it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted December 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2008 Here's what I did with mine... Made jumper cables? Seriously, a giant repost of your rig from another thread doesn't help me at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Brillo Posted December 2, 2008 Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 Made jumper cables? Seriously, a giant repost of your rig from another thread doesn't help me at all. So you read the above post and saw the pics and all you got from it was "made jumper cables"? Seriously? You claimed to be looking for a way to "minimize cable mess" in your rack, right? Well I've clearly figured out a way to do just that without having to use internal jumpering on my GCX (which was the option I was considering before designing these cables). Using solid core wire which can be bent at right angles so they can be routed out of the way and short barrel plugs helped quite a bit in terms of minimizing mess and I still get to keep the flexible routing the GCX offers. The solid core wire also sounds better. Besides the cables there were also other things mentioned in the post that help reduce cable mess as well. If that doesn't help you out in any way, so be it, but when someone takes the time to offer you advice that you've publicly solicited it's poor form to be a douche when responding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Brillo Posted December 2, 2008 Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 damn that is an unbeliable thing. I could not keep up with it all. It's actually pretty easy to keep up with as the cables are all color coded. It's no more complicated than any pedalboard with the same number of pedals and it's easier to maintain and use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted December 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 So you read the above post and saw the pics and all you got from it was "made jumper cables"? Seriously? You claimed to be looking for a way to "minimize cable mess" in your rack, right? Well I've clearly figured out a way to do just that without having to use internal jumpering on my GCX (which was the option I was considering before designing these cables). Using solid core wire which can be bent at right angles so they can be routed out of the way and short barrel plugs helped quite a bit in terms of minimizing mess and I still get to keep the flexible routing the GCX offers. The solid core wire also sounds better. If that doesn't help you out in any way, so be it, but when someone takes the time to offer you advice that you've publicly solicited it's poor form to be a douche when responding. Yes, as far as the recycled post of your rig was concerned, all I got from it was "made jumper cables" This last post was right to the point, without all the extra sauce. Not trying to be a douche, just being honest. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Brillo Posted December 2, 2008 Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 Yes, as far as the recycled post of your rig was concerned, all I got from it was "made jumper cables" This last post was right to the point, without all the extra sauce. Not trying to be a douche, just being honest. Thanks for the info. What you perceive as "extra sauce" (things like the pics and other descriptors) were pretty key to demonstrating how the cables and other items allow for cleaner routing. The fact that it was already typed up also saved me time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pmtrub Posted December 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 What I perceive? Haha, alright... Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Haininm Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 I did it myself. I tech all my own gear at this point though. I've ripped the GCX open a fair bit...It's an older one so I installed an upgraded opamp, added the blue lights and did the loop wiring. It's pretty easy to do...one long ground wire across the sleeve posts, and 3 short jumpers between the loops. You need to pull the whole board though. I'd say it's not really worth it to open up for just the internal jumpers. there's no real noticeable difference, and you do sacrifice some flexibility, so your rig layout should be pretty set first, or be able to go back in and reverse the changes. Hi Jaymeister, I am interested in your post, I recently attempted to loop my switcher internally just using standard cable, although I only looped the tip and sleeve of each in jack to the out jack, i.e 2 short cables per loop, I noticed that there was a third connection however thought this was just to keep the jack socket on the board, now I've tried this and do get sound, however I now appear to have quite a loud hum, not noticible on clean tones but very noticible on high gain sounds, i.e big muff etc. do you think that linking this would eleaviate the hum? forgive me for being a bit thick, but don't quite know what you mean with "one long ground wire accross the sleve posts", do you have any pictures of your mod that would help me ? any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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