TC: G-sharp Review and Midi question

unconventional · Apr 23, 2008

First off I got a G-sharp TC electronics processor. Cheap old thing, basically 2 effect channels
1. Reverbs
2. Delay or chorus or flange or phaser.

I basically bought this thing to try and solve my tone suck problems. I've had so far a Boss GT8, Boss ME-50, All the line 6 floor boards and PODS and pedals.

They all sucked the life out of my tone.

This G-sharp rules. With the parallel effects loop and the kill dry on, the effects are awesome. I have a super keen, actually too keen of an ear when it comes to tone suck. 1 single electron missing from the tone and I notice it :lol:

I was about to give up. So I'm happy. No tone loss with effect on or bypassed with the bypass button. So if your looking for something cheap that does the job with no tone suck, this is it. I'm the most critical person on the planet when it comes to this.

So I don't have the 3 button G controller yet. GC was out of stock on that. I only gave them the business because I had pedals I got through them and returned them. Rather than wait 9 weeks for a refund to my account I decided to take a chance and order this thing through the store, which now actually interfaces with their website. Imagine that, finally in 2008. Whooda thought. Anyhow they came through with the processor, less the foot switch which is on backorder. It was in stock when I ordered it, but GC can never get anything 100% right, so I'll stop bitching.

So the footswitch does 3 things in two modes.

1. Up / Down Bypass
2. Reverb - on/off Delay on/off

simple like I like it.

What I'm wondering is this. Can I somehow hook a midi cable from the power amp (RT 2/50) to the G-sharp and have the 4 button randall controller change channels and have say delay on for the recto module and say reverb on for the Ultra?

Would I just switch the Gsharp to the delay and then have the RM-4 on the recto module and press the button on the randall footswitch and hold it to save the recto module with delay, then switch to the ultra module and dial in reverb and hold that button after I switch the G-sharp to the reverb and have it save?

Is MIDI that simple? I tend to think not.

Thanks anyone who is willing to help.

Kevin

tsmilliner · Jun 28, 2008

Did anyone ever answer this question. I have an RM4 with footswitch and RT 2/50 and looking to connect my Intellifex online.

Can I retrieve the intellifex settings with the RM4 presets??

How would I wire it up between the two units??

Which Midi ports connect to which??

unconventional · Jun 28, 2008

Dude, nobody every answers midi questions. Ever. Here, or other forums. It's something you have to either hire someone or figure out yourself. As for me? My questions go unanswered.

SacredGroove · Jun 28, 2008

I'd offer help, but I don't use/own the RF4. I've got my ol' trusty Ground Control and from what I understand, the RF4 has it's own way of creating/saving presets.

tsmilliner · Jun 28, 2008

I know there has to be a way. I will play around and see what happens. I will post what I figure out.
Thanks, Tom

tsmilliner · Jun 28, 2008

I found this article online, I am not sure if the Randall Footswitch works for this, if not I will have to buy a midi controller footswitch. May be worth buying anyhow so I can have more than 4 choices for presets.

Read through makes perfect sense to me.

I will try later tonight and post something tomorrow.

Tools
The main benefit of MIDI switching is it enables you to organize and change all of your effects and amp channels with the touch of a button. Here are the tools you?ll need to get started: MIDI foot controller, MIDIcapable effects, MIDI-capable amp, MIDI cables and Guitar cables.

There are several MIDI foot controller pedals available. Examples include: Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro and GCX Switcher, Fender Cyber Foot Controller, Tech 21 MIDI Moose and MIDI Mouse, Roland GFC-50 and FC- 300, and T.C. Electronic G-Force and G-System (which is an effects unit as well as MIDI controller).

As for MIDI-capable effects, almost all rackmount effects have MIDI In, Out, and Thru ports, including: Lexicon MX, MPX and PCM series; T.C. Electronic D-Two, G-System and G-Force; Alesis MicroVerb and MidiVerb, and a long list of others. Also, there is no need to stop using your stomp boxes ? they can be incorporated into this setup if you have the right MIDI foot controller.

Amps such as the Marshall JVM410 and Randall RM4, RT2, and MTS Series RM100S also feature MIDI switching capability.

Setup
Once you have your tools, you?ll need to get them set up. This includes making the MIDI cable connections, running the guitar signal connections, and programming the system.

The MIDI foot controller is the master. The effects and amp are slaves. For this example, we?ll use two rackmount effect units (see Fig 1). The signal flow starts at the foot controller MIDI Out port. Select the desired length MIDI cable ? say 20? ? and connect the foot controller?s MIDI Out into the amp?s MIDI In port. The next MIDI cable is plugged into the amp?s MIDI Thru port and connected to the first effect?s MIDI In port. We?ll chain the next effect together in the same manner from effect one?s MIDI Thru port into effect two?s MIDI In port.

This connects the controller, the amp and two effect units together via MIDI. The reason we use the MIDI Thru ports instead of MIDI Out ports is because a MIDI Thru port duplicates the exact message the In port receives. This allows you to daisy-chain multiple pieces of MIDI gear together so the MIDI messages from the foot controller get all the way through to the last effect in the chain.

With rackmount effects, you?ll often get the best results using your amp?s effects loop (look on the back of the amp) to do this. Use a guitar cable from the amp?s effects loop Send and connect it to effect one?s mono Input (often the left channel), then out of effect one?s mono Output (again, often the left channel) to effect two?s mono Input. We?ll complete the process by connecting effect two?s mono Output to the amp?s effects loop Return.

Program
To program this setup you?ll need to decide what amp channel (clean, crunch or lead) and effects you want.

The amp will probably have a MIDI ?Learn? button on it. Once you?ve selected the channel you want, press the MIDI Learn button and select the channel you want on the foot controller. The amp will store this information and each time you select that channel on the foot controller it will switch the corresponding channel on the amp.

The effects are a little different. They?re already set up to respond to a MIDI command. You pick the desired effect and save it to a user preset (the same preset number you want associated with the amp channel). For example, let?s say that for channel 1 you want a clean guitar tone, and a small hall reverb and a chorus from your effects. You would MIDI Learn the amp to the clean channel, effect one to a small reverb on preset 1, and effect two to a chorus on the foot controller?s preset 1. When you select preset 1 on the foot controller, the amp and both effects will switch to the designated settings listed, providing instant tone without a lot of dancing.

Of course, this is just a basic overview of the process. Consult the manual for your MIDI foot controller to get the specifics for your rig. It?s all pretty easy once you do it a time or two, and it?s well worth it to simplify your rig and streamline your performances.