Setting up my Rack Gear

[Joe Zappia]

I am currently trying to determine what is the best way of setting up my rack gear and if I need to add anything else to the set up. I am using the following

 

Marshall JMP-1

TC Electronics GForce

Marshall 9200 Power Amp

Berhinger FC 1010

Cry Baby Wah

Boss Tuner (pedal).

 

I am also trying to work out where in the chain I should be controlling my overall volume without loosing any of the tonal aspects. This set up is for live giging and home studio use.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Joe

[HeimBrent]

Pedalboard containing the FC1010, tuner and wah. Guitar into the tuner, then the wah.

 

From the board and into the JMP-1, thru the GForce and into the 9200.

[jdr94]

the g force is big brother to the g major right? doesnt it already have a tuner? i'd get rid of the tuner pedal unless you really hate turning your back to the crowd to tune. but yeah pretty much what HeimBrent suggested is the way to go.

[Joe Zappia]

Thanks for the suggestions. The Gforce is the big brother to the G Major. The reason I run a seperate tuner is because I also use it to mute the sound, I also haven't worked out how to assign the GForce tuner to a pedal on the board. If any one knows how please let me know.

 

Also with regards to where I should be controlling my volume. I currently run the power amp on full and have also run the JMP-1 at 3/4 with the output volume on the GForce as my overall volume control. Is this correct?

 

Joe

[HeimBrent]

I'd control the volume with the poweramp, but that's just me.

[Joe Zappia]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Should I then run the JMP-1 and the GForce at close to full volume so as not to lose the tonality?

[HeimBrent]

If they sound best at full volume... Yes.

[bigjd]

 

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Should I then run the JMP-1 and the GForce at close to full volume so as not to lose the tonality?

 

 

I use my G-major as my volume control,power amp full on always.

I also use the G unit with my exp pedal assigned for volume cuz its last in my signal chain before the power amp.

I like the effects to trail off.

To me sounds best this way.

[WKG]

 

Thanks for the suggestions. The Gforce is the big brother to the G Major. The reason I run a seperate tuner is because I also use it to mute the sound, I also haven't worked out how to assign the GForce tuner to a pedal on the board. If any one knows how please let me know. Also with regards to where I should be controlling my volume. I currently run the power amp on full and have also run the JMP-1 at 3/4 with the output volume on the GForce as my overall volume control. Is this correct? Joe

 

 

I run guitar to wah to JMP-1 to G-Force to amp. I use an Ernie Ball volume as an expression pedal linked to the G-Force volume as my overall control. Works great and all via midi cable, no extra instrument cable runs. You can assign the G-Force tuner to a spot on the FC1010 but you'll probably need to read the manual for that, I use a Ground Control. The G-Force will also mute the signal.

[simeon]

assign a cc pedal to "input" in the g-force mod matrix for volume control and swells

 

don't turn everything up full...you need to find the sweet spot. leave the preamp set to about halfway if the g-force is in line with it and set the g-force input level, so it's just peaking on the loudest sounds. if the g-force is in the fx loop, then you can use the jmp-1's volume control. make sure the g-force "dry kill" parameter in the i/o menu is set to "off". if the g-force is in the loop of the jmp-1, make sure the loop is set to 12, so it's in series - then you can use the compressor, noise gate etc

 

valve poweramps (in my experience) don't sound at their best turned up full - around halfway usually sounds best, but the volume you can set it at will obviously depend on the situation

 

ditch the tuner, they always mess with your tone. you can set the tuner on the g-force so it's always visible

 

any g-force questions, look me up

 

sim

[NyteOwl]

..ditch the tuner, they always mess with your tone...

...or if you still want to use the pedal for silent tuning, get an A/B box to isolate your tuner from the rest of your signal chain...

[oddone]

 

the g force is big brother to the g major right? doesnt it already have a tuner? i'd get rid of the tuner pedal unless you really hate turning your back to the crowd to tune. but yeah pretty much what HeimBrent suggested is the way to go.

 

 

I put my rack to the side of the stage so only I can see it. That way you dont have to completely turn your back.

 

Can be an issue for smaller gigs though.

[Joe Zappia]

Thanks for all the great advice.

 

I finally got a chance to try a few things today and so far the best overall sound for me seems to be running the JMP-1 outputs into the GForce and then into the power amp.

 

For the volume, I tried turning the power amp volumes down and increasing both the JMP-1 and GForce which did sound ok, though I found I was loosing some bottom end. The final set up for today ended with the power amp going back to full volume, the JMP-1 on 3/4 with the GForce input on around 3 giving me an input level max -3db and then using the GForce output volume as the overall volume contoller.

 

At this stage I am still running my boss tuner pedal before going into the JMP-1 because I haven't worked out how to link one of the pedals on the FC1010 to the GForce Tuner. If anyone knows how to do this, I'd like to know how.

 

At present the 1-10 pedals on the FC1010 are all set to change presets within each bank. Ultimately if I could split the controller so that the first five were the patch changes and then the next 5 were able to be assigned to either specific effects within a patch or the tuner that would be ideal.

 

Joe

[Joe Zappia]

 

assign a cc pedal to "input" in the g-force mod matrix for volume control and swells don't turn everything up full...you need to find the sweet spot. leave the preamp set to about halfway if the g-force is in line with it and set the g-force input level, so it's just peaking on the loudest sounds. if the g-force is in the fx loop, then you can use the jmp-1's volume control. make sure the g-force "dry kill" parameter in the i/o menu is set to "off". if the g-force is in the loop of the jmp-1, make sure the loop is set to 12, so it's in series - then you can use the compressor, noise gate etc valve poweramps (in my experience) don't sound at their best turned up full - around halfway usually sounds best, but the volume you can set it at will obviously depend on the situation ditch the tuner, they always mess with your tone. you can set the tuner on the g-force so it's always visible any g-force questions, look me up sim

 

 

Thanks for the advice, I will try running the GForce through the effect loop on the JMP-1 and set the "dry Kill" to off, then I may not need to run the power amp full. What foot controller do you recommend. I'm starting to think the FC1010 may not be the right one for the job?

[bigjd]

Look into a UNO chip for your FCB1010,

Pretty cheap upgrade if you want a split pedal board.

I use mine as upper row stomp style switching for effects in my G-Major.

Bottom row patch changes in my Voodu Valve.

EXP pedal A is my wah. The Voodu has a useable wah.

EXP pedal B is my volume. The G-Major does the volume control so my effects trail off after I roll off the volume.

[simeon]

 

At this stage I am still running my boss tuner pedal before going into the JMP-1 because I haven't worked out how to link one of the pedals on the FC1010 to the GForce Tuner. If anyone knows how to do this, I'd like to know how. Joe

 

 

in the i/o setup peage of the g-force (the control page) you can attach an external controller to turn the tuner on and off. it can be a program change message or a cc message on any channel

 

sim

[WKG]

Here's an excellent page for G-Force info...

 

http://g-force.info/

 

[Joe Zappia]

 

Look into a UNO chip for your FCB1010, Pretty cheap upgrade if you want a split pedal board. I use mine as upper row stomp style switching for effects in my G-Major. Bottom row patch changes in my Voodu Valve. EXP pedal A is my wah. The Voodu has a useable wah. EXP pedal B is my volume. The G-Major does the volume control so my effects trail off after I roll off the volume.

 

 

I'll talk to my local music store and see if they can get one in for me. If I can split between the two rows that will solve the problem and then I will be able to go into the GForce and assign the Tuner to one of the top row pedals. Thanks for the advice.

[Joe Zappia]

Here's an excellent page for G-Force info... http://g-force.info/

 

Thanks for the link, I had a look at the site, its got some good info about the GForce that TC Electronic's own page doesn't give you.

[Joe Zappia]

 

in the i/o setup peage of the g-force (the control page) you can attach an external controller to turn the tuner on and off. it can be a program change message or a cc message on any channel sim

 

 

I'll give it a go and see if it will work with the FC1010. I might need the upgrade chip in the FC1010 before it will work, because at the moment the foot controller just moves up and down the patches. The only pedals I am able to link things to are the two built in expression pedals.

[Joe Zappia]

 

Look into a UNO chip for your FCB1010, Pretty cheap upgrade if you want a split pedal board. I use mine as upper row stomp style switching for effects in my G-Major. Bottom row patch changes in my Voodu Valve. EXP pedal A is my wah. The Voodu has a useable wah. EXP pedal B is my volume. The G-Major does the volume control so my effects trail off after I roll off the volume.

 

 

I found a site on the web that sells the UNO chip and ordered one today.

[bigjd]

I found a site on the web that sells the UNO chip and ordered one today.

 

If you can find ripwerks midi editing tool for the FCB1010 it makes etting it up a breeze.

Remember you need to re-initialize the FCB after you switch chips so you can use all of the UNO changes.

Go to the users group for the FCB1010 at yahoo. They have all they stuff there you'll need to get it going.

I was able to download a syex file for my G-Major to FCB and load it real easy.

[Joe Zappia]

If you can find ripwerks midi editing tool for the FCB1010 it makes etting it up a breeze. Remember you need to re-initialize the FCB after you switch chips so you can use all of the UNO changes. Go to the users group for the FCB1010 at yahoo. They have all they stuff there you'll need to get it going. I was able to download a syex file for my G-Major to FCB and load it real easy.

 

The Uno chip has arrived and I have installed it in the FC1010. I have followed the directions I found on the web site on how to initialize the chip and set it to stomp box mode, though I am finding that when in this mode the pedals 6 - 10 don't stay on, unless you hold them on. Alsothe JMP-1 is reacting badly to the FC1010 as the stompbox row of pedals are still triggering a patch change to it. Do you know how to get around this?

[simeon]

basically you need the top row of pedals to be sending program change messages on one channel and the bottom row of pedals to be sending pc messages or cc messages on another channel. make sure you set the g-force and the jmp-1 to the same channel (not omni) and this is the same as the top row of pedals.

 

then on the g-force you need to go into i/o setup > control section and match up the tuner and the individual fx blocks to the bottom row of pedals. should work fine.

 

as for the behringer bottom row of pedals - if i understand correctly, you'd like the lights above the pedals to stay on when you hit the pedal. i don't know much about this pedal, but you would need to set the midi message to control change (not program change) and the pedal type to "latching" - however, be aware that if you turn an fx block "on" in one patch and then change to another patch where that block is "off", you will then have a discrepancy, so it might be better to leave it. the g-force will always load a patch as it was saved - so if you save a patch with the chorus off, then it will always be loaded with it off, no matter what state the pedalboard is in.

 

hope that helps

 

sim

[Joe Zappia]

 

basically you need the top row of pedals to be sending program change messages on one channel and the bottom row of pedals to be sending pc messages or cc messages on another channel. make sure you set the g-force and the jmp-1 to the same channel (not omni) and this is the same as the top row of pedals. then on the g-force you need to go into i/o setup > control section and match up the tuner and the individual fx blocks to the bottom row of pedals. should work fine. as for the behringer bottom row of pedals - if i understand correctly, you'd like the lights above the pedals to stay on when you hit the pedal. i don't know much about this pedal, but you would need to set the midi message to control change (not program change) and the pedal type to "latching" - however, be aware that if you turn an fx block "on" in one patch and then change to another patch where that block is "off", you will then have a discrepancy, so it might be better to leave it. the g-force will always load a patch as it was saved - so if you save a patch with the chorus off, then it will always be loaded with it off, no matter what state the pedalboard is in. hope that helps sim

 

 

Thanks Sim for the assistance, I think I understand what you saying. I need to set up the FCB1010, JMP-1 & the Gforce to say channel 1 for patch changes and then set up the stompbox side of the FCB1010 to say channel 2 and then I should be able to assign one of the pedals to the tuner? I have found a site that has a lot of info on how to set up the FCB1010 http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/fcb1010_UnO/ and it has a section on setting up the midi channel on the board, so I'll give that a go and see if this finally works.

Cheers,

Joe