Building a new Rig - ANy advice on this setup?

[DirtyNoise]

OK - well I have begun to move some stuff in order to start from the ground up on my live setup. Selling a Solo 50 and USA Jackson for this so I am making a sacrafice! Ha! I also play heavy rock/metal - somerecording and cover band for money...

Here's what I'm looking at putting together top to bottom:

Monster Power Conditioner (Already have)
Hush Pro C (Already have)
Peterson VS-R Tuner (Already have)
TC Elec. G-Major 2
Engl e530 Preamp
VHT 2/50/2

I think I'll be very pleased with this setup and sound BUT my one of my big questions is how what MIDI controller shoudl I get for this? I want to be able to control all 4 channels of the Engl pre and I will not be using the G-Majot for anythign other than effects..I've heard a lot about Ground Control? What model?

Anythign else I shoudl consider or be aware of? This is a big step away from just running my boogie and small rack. I'm just tired of all the foot pedals and dancing on stage.

 

[Spewnz]

voodoo labs ground controll pro. great pedal and pretty affordable as well.

 

[Turumbar82]

I have a ENGL E530 G-major, and a VHT 2/50/2 also.

For an easy set up you could have the G-major switch the channels on your ENGL using just a TRS 1/4" cable connected between the ENGL and G-major. Just have the G-major tell the ENGL which channel to be on according to the patch. I'm just using a Rolls midi buddy for this and it works fine for just switching patches. Now it doesn't do the "effect box" kind of thing where the top row turns on and off effects and the bottom row goes through presets. Personally I don't care about that. If I want a different sound I change the patch.

This kind of setup gets rid of all tap dancing. I just press one button to call up my clean sound with compression, chorus and reverb, just one button to switch to a lead sound with delay and so on and so on.

Also do you have multiple cabinets or is your cab in stereo. You don't have to run it in stereo but the chorus', and delays and such sound a lot cooler in stereo.

 

[DirtyNoise]

Thanks Turumbar! This is my 1st time heading into MIDI land - I'm a worried about being able to get my G-major and Engl all set up lik eyou say. My previous rig was simple but I refuse to buy anymore pedals for one song here etc.
I may hit you up again on my hook up of this all when I get it all. Power amp is on it's way. Next week or so I should have everything else.

 

[Turumbar82]

I'll do a quick little video maybe soon just to show how I have things set up. This is my first rack/midi set up and using the G-major and the ENGL together is surprisingly easy.

The ENGL is a great preamp especially for heavy stuff and the VHT is a fantastic power amp. Tone and balls.

 

[DirtyNoise]

Cool! Gesss I was actually losing some sleep last night thinking about how the hell I'm going to get this all hooked up and adjusted. I know youtube has some video's on the g-major and what not. I wouldn't be so a worried if I didn't have so many shows lined in June with the band. Ideally I'd just have a back up amp like my mesa to give me time to really indulge in this new setup but that aint goin to happen. July and Aug. are light on shows. You think I'd have all the time in the world but with a 10 hour days, wife and 2 ittle kids. I'm BUSY! Ha!!!

 

[snave]

I'll second the recommendation of a GCX swicher/ground control pro setup. I've got one and it's really great for switching anything and everything in and out of your signal chain, including MIDI presets.

It allows footswitchable access to about a hundred preset effects/preamp/MIDI configurations on the fly. Probably the best musical investment possible after buying a tube amp and nice cab.

Depending on how much noise is in your signal chain, my suggestion is that you ditch the Hush and Peterson, use the G-major's noisegate and tuner, and use that rack space for a GCX. However, if you're running balls-out metal tones with gobs of gain, then the Hush might be necessary.

 

[Turumbar82]

I'll second the recommendation of a GCX swicher/ground control pro setup. I've got one and it's really great for switching anything and everything in and out of your signal chain, including MIDI presets.

It allows footswitchable access to about a hundred preset effects/preamp/MIDI configurations on the fly. Probably the best musical investment possible after buying a tube amp and nice cab.

Depending on how much noise is in your signal chain, my suggestion is that you ditch the Hush and Peterson, use the G-major's noisegate and tuner, and use that rack space for a GCX. However, if you're running balls-out metal tones with gobs of gain, then the Hush might be necessary.

IMO if you are just going to be using the ENGL --->G-Major---->Poweramp, then there is no need for the GCX switcher. With one preamp, one processor, and one power amp there isn't much to switch. Any normal midi pedal will switch patches on the G-major which will switch channels on the ENGL.

 

[DirtyNoise]

Ya I'm just going Engl -> G-major -> VHT 2502 - Controlled by Ground Control Pro. So I should be good to go as far as channel switching yes?
All my rack pieces are arriving this week....SO I'm sure I'll have some questions! HAHA!

 

[DirtyNoise]

Well I had a jam with the band the other night. Loving the new rig. Picked up a gigging guitar a jackson DK2 and put a SD SH-11..ie Custom custom in the bridge. Awesome tone. Seek & Destroy never sounded so good!!!
I have yet to set up the channel switching with the engl using the G-Major II. Going to work on that this week. Over all I'm really happy I switched thigns up.

 

[Turumbar82]

just connect a stereo 1/4 cable from the switching jack on the G-major to the ENGL jack for clean/lead/lo/hi. Then press the "relay 1+2" button roll the right parameter button till you see the relay for "tip" and "ring" with the two relays you will be able to choose any of the 4 "channels" on the ENGL and save it and that preset will also switch channels for you

 

[dbsens03]

got a picture of your rack?