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NPD: New pedalboard day!

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#1 ·
Okay, so i just had an epic New Pedalboard Day earlier in the year. But that setup wasn't complete, and i was already getting a little overwhelmed with the complexity of it (and it still didn't have the MIDI amp switcher). It also wasn't working exactly as i wanted it to from a tone and volume perspective, and it was big and cumbersome.

I found a G-System for cheap over on ss.org, so i snapped it up. I have always loved the hardware design of these and the functionality built into them.

So here's my new setup... i still have a couple more cables to make, and then some serious patch programming, but i'm almost there.


YES!


I've wanted one of these for ages, but they're about CAD$1800 new. Too rich for my cheap-ass blood. I got this one used for a fraction of that price.


A pair of Ernie Ball VP Jr. (6181 25k) pedals for volume and expression control. These are seriously nice pedals. Solid, smooth, and machined out of solid blocks of aluminum.


The top may look nice, but i'm especially proud of the underside of the board. TC thoughtfully included threaded holes on the underside of the G-System, allowing it to be securely screwed down to a board (using M4 x 20mm stainless screws and finishing washers) without having to jimmy together something with brackets and/or velcro. Rubber feet keep it planted.


The threaded screws holding the feet onto the volume pedals were also removed and replaced with longer machine screws (#6-32 stainless) through to the back of the board, fastened with finishing washers.


Okay, so maybe using George L's cable for wires that won't have signal going through them is overkill, but they're compact and tidy, i have a few extra feet of it, and it allowed me to make these cables exactly to length very quickly.


The cables are attached to the board using nylon cable ties. They are attached to a pair of Y-adapters under the G-System's control board.


The G-System's control board connects to the "brain" via a regular CAT5 (Ethernet) cable. It has locking jacks, so i spent a bit more and got a 25-foot ruggedized cable with these locking Neutrik ends on it.


Here's the rack-in-progress. The 4U SKB shallow rack (XRACK-4) contains a power conditioner, the G-System brain, then a 2U rack shelf with a self-made magnetic/piezo input splitter box (soon to be replaced with a new version with a locking Neutrik jack), Decimator, Tube Screamer, Octave Fuzz and my Acoustic DI. My laptop is sitting up top for programming patches.

I should have it wrapped up and fully functional in the next couple of days.
 
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#3 ·
Darren, your effects setups are always so clean and well-thought-out. Very cool.

I can't wait to see the full-rig shots as well.
 
#5 · (Edited)
That looks really pro :yesway: And I'll bet programming patches with the computer interface is much easier :lol: We've barely dug into the effects in Richard's rig, mostly set it up for clean-with-effects/distortion/distortion-with-boost/lead/lead-with-effects in time for tour and haven't gotten back to it since :lol:

Also, your pics could be official product shots with how organized/clean everything looks :lol:
 
#14 ·
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The board is a piece of 11.7 mm Baltic birch plywood. Really nice stuff. I used 3/4 inch ply on my previous board and found it to be unnecessarily thick and heavy.

I just sprayed it with truck bed liner (from a rattle can) and added a pair of handles, then screwed everything down and added the rubber feet once everything was in place.
 
#18 ·
It really helps that i was able to screw everything down through the board. I love Velcro cable ties, but hate Velcro for fastening pedals down to flat surfaces.

I've thought a few times about building boards for people, but i don't see a huge market for it. Do you mean just the boards, or fully integrated setups with all the pedals and cabling in place?
 
#17 ·
Very nice! :yesway:
 
#20 ·
Well, once our shop is up and running, i may try my hand at designing and building a full-on "road case" type pedalboard with removable lid.

The thing is, doing this kind of work really requires close consultation with the player... everyone's preferences are different, and even something as simple as pedal placement (or spacing) could work well for some and not for others. I'd have to have people send me all their shit and then build from scratch, and/or focus on a local client base. It makes sense for someone like Bob Bradshaw as a business, because there are a TON of studio and touring musicians in L.A.... the Toronto market may not be as good of a local market to start something like this. :shrug:

Then there's the whole integration issue, which requires a LOT of futzing with different controllers and MIDI, not to mention all the electrical issues to sort out to avoid ground loops and other potential sources of noise.

As a complete hack when it comes to electronics, i don't mind experimenting with my own rig, but i'd hate to bugger up a pro's rig or have it go down at a critical time in a gig.
 
#21 ·
Honestly, I think the only thing I'd have done differently would be to round off the corners a little bit to make them less likely to split or ding on impact.
 
#22 ·
I'm still thinking about maybe putting some aluminum channel around it, but i opted not to, just to save on weight (and the work to get the corners lined up all nice-like).

Phase 1 is complete now.

I got the footswitch pin-outs from Mesa today, and made the custom cable for the relays. Spent a few minutes programming my five basic patches that i'll be using as the basis for most of my sounds.

I moved the octave fuzz out from inside the G-System's loops to being in an ALEX-1 loop right after the Decimator's input. (It's now relay-switched instead of loop-switched. I would have preferred to keep it in a loop, but fuzz pedals work better when they aren't after any kind of a buffer.)

Overall, it's kicking all kinds of ass. The amp is totally shining through now. And LOUD. I think i had my output levels on my GT-6 too low, and it was muffling the tone.

My five "core" presets are as follows:

1: "Crystal wash" This is an ambient textural patch that i use quite a bit under my piezos. On my GT-6, it's one of the "slow gear" presets. On the G-System, i've got it set to Ch. 1 on the F-30, a very lush reverb, straight delay with some vibrato on the echoes, and a subtle pitch shift to add some upper-octave harmonics.

2. "Clean" Ch. 1 on the F-30 with some compression, VERY light chorus and reverb. I can activate Loop 1 to bring in the TS7 if i want that "pushed" sound.

3. "Crunch" Ch. 2 on the F-30 with nothing else. Cleans up nicely by easing back the guitar's volume knob. I can manually punch in the TS7 if i want it a bit harder, but that's what the next channel is for, really...

4. "Chug" Ch. 2 on the F-30 with the TS7 engaged. I can hit the "boost" switch to kick in the Contour mode on the amp. (The "boost" on the G-System is a bit of a cheat. It doesn't actually amplify the signal. It just attenuates everything that's NOT boosted, and when you hit the "boost" button, it brings the output back up to 0dB.)

5. "Wall of Diesel" Ch. 2 on the F-30 with Contour engaged, the TS7 on and the Octave Fuzz grinding away out front. Added in an EQ block to tame some nasty midrange and high-frequency hash brought on by the fuzz pedal in conjunction with all that gain. Sounds like a huge tractor that's about to blow up. I use it for the rhythm parts of "Corpses" and it makes a sick lead tone as well.

So i've only just started, but so far i'm pleased with the core tones i'm getting. It sounds like my amp. And it's giving me some nice versatility with how i use my gain, and i don't have to tapdance to do it.

Next, i need to add a buffer to my blend pedal, and build a new splitter box with a locking jack, just so the main input from my guitar is a little more secure where it meets the rack.
 
#23 ·
I got a schematic from Mesa/Boogie (thanks, Kris!), and was able to successfully wire up a cable.

I only use the Channel and Contour switching, as i'm using the G-System for reverb... the amp's reverb is never used.

Here's a schematic i made, should anyone else need it:

 
#29 ·
You are lucky. I was thinking hard about grabbing one of these instead of an amp gizmo + foot controller for my UL + Gmaj but my Footswitch is 6 pin. Since this only has 2 switch jacks I would still need something like an amp Gizmo to control my amps 3 chans and Relay switchable Bloody murder.

ugh..what to do..

Awesome setup!
 
#30 ·
The G-System actually has FOUR relays in it, all of which are individually switchable.

I'm using three of them at the moment... one for channels on the F-30, one to activate Contour mode on the gain channel, and one to turn on and off an octave fuzz pedal via a Nobels ALEX-1. (I have the octave fuzz out front before any buffers or compression... it works better out there than in any of the G-System's analog loops.)
 
#31 ·
I am a newb when it comes to switching/midi..Thanks for the info.

So if I was to score one of these...Would you be comfortable making a cable for a fellow canuck as you did for yourself? I could pay you in both cash and hot man love obviously. If I could change my 3 channels and engage/disengage my BM I would be a very happy camper. I would not be able to turn on and off my amps boost function but to be honest I don't really use it. That would just leave the FX loop switching but I could always just set up some dry patches.
 
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