Ground Control Questions

[CraigJohnsJr]

I'm trying to figure out the simplest and most practical way for me to run my rig live, and I've been thinking about getting a Voodoo Lab GCX and Ground Control. My current chain is as follows:

Input: ESP Eclipse II > Line 6 G90 > Morley Wah > Boss Tuner > Digitech Whammy > TS9 > Decimator > Peavey 6534+

FX: Send > Boss Phaser > MXR Carbon Copy > Sonic Maximizer >DBX 166XL > DBX 166XL (other side) > Return

I want to be able to use several different functions on the Whammy without bending over and changing them manually (I don't have time live) and I know I can do this MIDI with an expression pedal in the Ground Control. I also want to be able to pair up the delay with the phaser, or without, or with the whammy, etc. (I was thinking about the Pedal Switcher but I can't that unless I have the delay on a different channel and that means no whammy options.) But.. I would leave the Wah, and tuner out of the GCX, and continue to run that on stage. Does this seem practical? It's about the same amount of wires going back and forth from my pedal board on stage, but the effects options seem easier. Right now I'm pedal dancing to accomplish this live, but I haven't actually used one of these myself, so I thought I'd ask you all if you've had any experience! Thanks!

 

[7string]

That should work out fine. With only a midi cable and guitar cable going back to the amp. You might need some ground isolation transformers or something if you get ground loop noise.

Build a pedal board for the G90 receiver > wah > tuner > Ground Control > midi and guitar cable to rack >

Small rack with pedal tray > Whammy (Loop 1) > TS9 (Loop 2) > Decimator > 6534+

FX send > Phaser (Loop 4) > Carbon Copy (Loop 5) > BBE (Loop 6) > 166XL-A (Loop 7) > 166XL-B (Loop 8) . FX return

Room for one more pedal on Loop 3 or you could put the Decimator in there.

I've had my Ground Control / GCX for ten years. I've never used it to its full potential, but they still operate perfectly.

 

[7string]

Oh, the GCX will power the Ground Control through the MIDI cable, but you will probably need power for the wireless and tuner..?

And check that the Ground control will send the types of midi commands that the Whammy needs.

 

[CraigJohnsJr]

Well the G90 receiver is racked, so that wouldn't be in my pedal board, but thank you for the advice! Do I have to plug the whammy's in and wet out into the GCX loop or do I just plug the MIDI in and that's it? Also, is this a better option than selling my pedals and getting an effects processor unit? I've heard good things about the G-Major, which I know can also be hooked up to a MIDI pedal board. Thoughts?

 

[7string]

There are a few things that complicate your setup. As you said, the wireless receiver should live in the rack. Unless you have a rack wah with a remote expression pedal, you would have to feed a line back out to your wah and back to the rack. The GCX buffer might do okay driving that length of cable, but it is kind of asking for trouble. The clean way would be to rack everything and get a rack wah and tuner. Then you would only have a midi cable out to your pedal board with just the Ground Control and an expression pedal or two

The Whammy can be controlled via MIDI CC11 with an expression pedal. The Dunlop style pedal could be too short of a throw, so maybe an Ernie Ball style would be better if you decide to rack it.
The audio cables to and from the whammy don't have to be in the GCX loop. You could leave it in-line and bypass it manually like normal. The MIDI cable doesn't pass any audio (sorry, just in case). The benefit of the GCX is the 1 stomp patch changes, so it makes most sense putting it in there.

The TC or other rack effect would be a cool addition. Your still in the same boat with stuff in front of the amp needing expression pedal control and stuff in the fx loop and a wireless system. Do a google on the TC. The broken ones can usually be fixed with a power supply upgrade.

If you go this switcher rack route, you will need a bunch of cables. Hopefully you can solder your own. You don't need the super flexible guitar cable for the rack. Some stiff 20 gauge stranded with a good shield is what to look for.

This rack stuff can be frustrating, but you'll get it figured out.

 

[CraigJohnsJr]

@7string I see. I wanted to get a rack wah at some point, but the price turns me off! I will get around to it eventually though. Also, what did you mean by "too short of a throw"? I've heard good things about the Custom Shop Crybaby, but that's also the only one I've heard of haha. Lastly, and most importantly, am I better off going through all of this with the GCX, or should I just run an effects processor (like the TC) with a MIDI board in the loop and be done with it? Overall, I want to be able to use different combinations of pedals without tap-dancing, use multiple functions on the whammy without bending over, but also be able to use a wah and tuner live.

 

[CraigJohnsJr]

The POD HX500 was another option too.

 

[newamerikangospel]

I have the gcx system, and just ran a Behring vamp pro for my wah (I don't use a lot of wah). I would recommend getting a midi splitter to keep latency down when daisy chaining multiple devices together. I had a lot of problems with that tiny bit of lag compounding on my rig.

 

[7string]

The MIDI splitter is a good idea.

At a more affordable price you may want to check out the Decibel 11 Loop Expander and maybe a Behringer FCB1010. I haven't tried either, but they should be alright.

The G Major talk brings up something else. Switches for amp channel switching via MIDI. The G Major has a few of them. The Decibel 11 has one (not sure if that's enough for you or not.)

Instead of the foot pedal Line 6, maybe a used X3 Pro wired 4-cable style would be a good solution for you. The amps/cabs are easy to bypass and there are a ton of effects.

By throw I meant pedal travel. I was guessing that the Whammy had more travel than a Dunlop type. Not fact, just something for you to consider.

 

[CraigJohnsJr]

To be honest, amp switching isn't something I see myself using any time soon. I really just wanted to be able to switch effect settings without tap dancing and try to avoid running 4 25ft cables back and forth across the stage. This is why I was wondering if an effects processor (like the G Major II) and board (like the FCB1010) would be an easier option than the GCX and Ground Control, though I don't know if those could allow me to use my whammy via MIDI controller, or if maybe the G Major had one built in.. (obviously the real pedals sound better, but practicality is a big thing on the road)