Any one ever use an Amp gizmo?

[Roadster_08]

just looking for your opinion and experiences (ease of use, programming, etc) with the RJM Music amp gizmo in a midi rig. If I decide to get one I plan on using it with a Roadster.

 

[Gibsonguy]

I have heard nothing but good things about the amp gizmo and RJM Music. However, I contacted him a while ago about buying an amp gizmo to control my Roadster and they were out of stock. I got the impression that he is now concentrating his efforts on the RG-16 which has the same functionality and a whole lot more.

If you do get one please let us know what you think.

 

[Roadster_08]

I will, id like to hear some feedback form the board first. But its definitely on my list. I dont need all the control the RG-16 offers, so seeing how the Roadster has 8 switching functions and also does the amp gizmo it works out pretty well.

 

[Silverwulf]

I've got a buddy that uses an Amp Gizmo with the Roadster and loves it. Said it's easy to program, fool proof.

 

[Roadster_08]

great news! thanks

 

[jdurso]

I will, id like to hear some feedback form the board first. But its definitely on my list. I dont need all the control the RG-16 offers, so seeing how the Roadster has 8 switching functions and also does the amp gizmo it works out pretty well.

I have had the amp gizmo and now have the rg16 and both products are top quality, easy to use and a great value compared to its competition. The amp gizmo is stupid easy to use and having the special cable for your amp is a must. Make switching channels/functions and other midi equipment is awesome. i went to the rg16 so i could have more signal routing capabilities with pedals and fx units. Well worth the money.

Another great thing is dealing with Ron from RJM. The first Rg16 i recieved had a problem with one of the relays and instead of waiting to recieve my unit to assess what needed to be fixed he sent me a unit even before i shipped mine to him. Will their be duds? of course but how companies deal with it in those situations is the true mark of a great company and Ron delivers amazing customer service. And as for the amp gizmo, there was about 8 months when they were out of stock because he was upgrading it and now the ones for sale of basically v2's of the orginal design. You should be able to find one at one of his dealers very easily... i got mine from guitar oasis.

 

[Roadster_08]

would you recommend the rg-16 over the ampgizmo? what one do you find is a better bang for your buck?

 

[joe web]

a friend of mine is using the amp gizmo with his new 5150III, very easy to use.
the best thing with the RJM products is the amp-cables you can order. just one cable and you can switch everything on the amp. instead of the amp-cables, you can use normal mono-patch-cables as well.

at the same time my friend got the amp gizmo, i got my RG-16. the RG-16 doesn´t have the 1/4" switching jacks, but it has two switching jacks for the amp-cables.
with the RG-16 you can switch two amps at the same time! so i switch the channels of my roadster and my dual recto at the same time. due to the reason, both switching-outlets send the same switching-signal at a time, i asked Ron to build me a special cable for my dual recto, so that the switching matches the roadster channels.
he did it, it works great and he only charged me the normal price for this "special-cable".

so if you want to loop some effect pedals in front of the amp (loops 1-4 are in series), want to use a buffer amp to fresh up you signal (place it anywhere in you signal-chain) and maybe want to loop some 19" multieffect unit (using the loops 5-8), and switch your amps at the same time - go for the RG-16.

i used an old patchmate and an engl Z-11 midiswitcher before i changed to the RG-16. the old setup worked, but it´s so much easier with the RG-16 and my sound got much better, clearer, tighter.... i love my RG-16 and would buy one again if i need one.

i recomend to watch the videos on Ron´s site:
http://www.rjmmusic.com/videos.php

he shows, how easy the gizmo works with the roadster and how to set up some midi-controllers for his products.

 

[jdurso]

would you recommend the rg-16 over the ampgizmo? what one do you find is a better bang for your buck?

honestly i think its all about what you need. If your going to be switching in and out pedals in your signal path then i think the rg16 is worth the money. Throw all your pedals in a rack, leave them on and switch them in and out via the rg16. If you dont use pedals or very many or like switching them on your own, then just go for the amp gizmo. both are great products and both are a better value then their competitors.

 

[Roadster_08]

would you recommend the rg-16 over the ampgizmo? what one do you find is a better bang for your buck?

honestly i think its all about what you need. If your going to be switching in and out pedals in your signal path then i think the rg16 is worth the money. Throw all your pedals in a rack, leave them on and switch them in and out via the rg16. If you dont use pedals or very many or like switching them on your own, then just go for the amp gizmo. both are great products and both are a better value then their competitors.

how would i go about controlling my gmajor with an amp gizmo, other than midi thru. would i be able to change patches on my gmajor with a midi controller through this unit?

 

[joe web]

do the midi-wiring like:
midi-controller -> g-major midi-in, g-major midi-thru -> amp gizmo midi in

you don´t need to controll the g-major via the gizmo, the gizmo is only for switching the amp.

so call up programm 1 on your controller, select the patch of the g-major you want to have via midi-mapping and on the amp-gizmo select the switchbuttons on the front for the channels / soloboost / reverb, after you made your selection, push the store button for about 3 seconds.
now your 1st programm is done. carry on with all the other sounds you want to have.

 

[jdurso]

do the midi-wiring like:
midi-controller -> g-major midi-in, g-major midi-thru -> amp gizmo midi in

you don´t need to controll the g-major via the gizmo, the gizmo is only for switching the amp.

so call up programm 1 on your controller, select the patch of the g-major you want to have via midi-mapping and on the amp-gizmo select the switchbuttons on the front for the channels / soloboost / reverb, after you made your selection, push the store button for about 3 seconds.
now your 1st programm is done. carry on with all the other sounds you want to have.

almost right... you forgot to mention that you need a midi controller than has at least 2 channels. Basically you'd need something like the rjm mastermind, ground control pro or the rocktron midimate. It has to be able to send messages on at least 2 channels because each unit (amp gizmo and gmajor) need to receive a message. You link it like Joe mentioned above and set one unit to recieve the message on channel 1 and the other on channel 2 this way each unit gets the correct message. Its pretty easy once you set everything up once with a patch. Ron from RJM has some very useful videos and how to's on his site.

 

[Roadster_08]

ok, thanks for all the help. thats how i figured to do it, just wasnt %100 sure, im new to all this midi stuff so thanks to all that replied

 

[joe web]

it´s not necessary to use two midi channels!
you can use only 1 channel and map the patches for the g-major in its midi-menu. for example: you hit the 3rd button on your midi-contoller which does normaly sent PC#3 on channel one. if you want the g-major preset number 53 called up with the 3rd button, enter the midi menu, turn the right wheel until you can read "Prg Bank" (use the custom bank mode) press the right button, after that "Prg Chg 1" shows up, (turn it to "3" if it´s not allready displayed), turn the wheel again and now you can read "Map to ....." turn the right button again until "53" appears. store and exit.
now the g-major patch "53" is called up if you hit the 3rd button on your midi-controller.
for the amp gizmo: just press the desiered options (channel, boost, reverb) and press store again.
your patch is now ready to rock!
you´ll not get any problems by using only one midi channel.
i used my complex rig with only one midi channel and it works well.
it´s easier and quicker if you run it on one channel, and the amp gizmo can handle up to 128 presets, this should be enough.

 

[Roadster_08]

it´s not necessary to use two midi channels!
you can use only 1 channel and map the patches for the g-major in its midi-menu.
you´ll not get any problems by using only one midi channel.
i used my complex rig with only one midi channel and it works well.
it´s easier and quicker if you run it on one channel, and the amp gizmo can handle up to 128 presets, this should be enough.

doesn't it just identify the two signals as different midi messages, or does this assign them separate midi numbers putting them on different channels? If im wrong cut me some slack haha im only 18 and just starting to get into this midi stuff

 

[joe web]

if you use different midi-channels, you can sent out different program changes (PC#) to the units you are using.
but only one PC# per channel.
e.g. my setup:
i started with a g-major and a fcb1010, today i use the RG-16 for ampswitching and pedal switching, a digitech IPS-33B (harmonizer), a g-major, a yamaha fx550 and everything is controlled from my rocktorn all access.
at the beginning, i used one midichannel and as i got more gear i did midi-mapping in every unit i used.
now that i got the all access, i started everything new...instead of the RG-16, which still reacts to the PC# of the old setup. so i still run it on midi channel 1, the g-major is now on mc 2 (now i use the "user"-bank and reorganized it), IPS runs on 3 and yamaha on mc 4.
i do the patch-programming now with the all access, and it´s easy if you now how to set it up. but for a midi-newbee, i wouldn´t recomend this way. it´s very complex.

the most common way with a "simple" setup, which is a g-major + midi-switcher+controller, is to use it daisy-chain on midi-channel one.

 

[Roadster_08]

by the looks of it now im gunna be using something like an rg16 with a ground control pro, sounds easy enough. thanks for all the help!

 

[jdurso]

it´s not necessary to use two midi channels!
you can use only 1 channel and map the patches for the g-major in its midi-menu. for example: you hit the 3rd button on your midi-contoller which does normaly sent PC#3 on channel one. if you want the g-major preset number 53 called up with the 3rd button, enter the midi menu, turn the right wheel until you can read "Prg Bank" (use the custom bank mode) press the right button, after that "Prg Chg 1" shows up, (turn it to "3" if it´s not allready displayed), turn the wheel again and now you can read "Map to ....." turn the right button again until "53" appears. store and exit.
now the g-major patch "53" is called up if you hit the 3rd button on your midi-controller.
for the amp gizmo: just press the desiered options (channel, boost, reverb) and press store again.
your patch is now ready to rock!
you´ll not get any problems by using only one midi channel.
i used my complex rig with only one midi channel and it works well.
it´s easier and quicker if you run it on one channel, and the amp gizmo can handle up to 128 presets, this should be enough.

interesting... i need to try this. When i spoke to Ron from RJM he informed me i'd need a midi controller that sends messages on multiple channels (1 for the rg16 and the others for other midi units). i didnt realize you could do this with a midi controller that only has one channel. Thanks for the information Joe.

 

[hoobafrank]

I prefer to have each device listen on separate channels. I don't use any RJM products but the Ground Control Pro does an awesome job at laying everything out on different channels and sending different program changes for each channel(device). I have 4 devices in my midi chain now without any issues.

The previous mentioned midi-mapping function in the GC Pro is another solution, but may become a pain in the *** as your rig grows.

my 2c

Chris