Hello All!! New Member to the boards.

[prm2770]

Hi Fellow Mesa Lovers!!!

I just found this site yesterday and think that this may fill the void I have had in my soul for years....J/K.

My name is Phillip. I live in Ft. Worth, TX.
I have been playing guitar for about 15yrs (I think), I bought my Mark IVa used at guitar center about 10 years ago and paird it with striaght and slant Rec 4x12 cabs. Over many years of gigging and recording I honeslty can't remember a sound guy who didnt thank me for putting the money into my rig because it made their jobs easy... just mic and done.

As soon as I get home i will post a pic of my rig and all my guitars.

As I am getting back into the game with a much more mature attitude towards my playing and sound I am looking to finally explore the possibilities that the Mark iv offers. I look forward to getting to know ya'll and to share in the wisdom that I have and that you may have as well.

I will have many questions to ask and offer my knowledge whenever I can.

-Phill

 

[Old BF Shred]

Welcome Phil!

Can't help you with specific Mark series questions...never owned one. But there are lots of folks here that do. I am sure you will find a lot of good info here....be sure to try the search function as well to help find answers.

take care!

 

[dodger916]

Welcome! You'll find plenty of love here for the Mark IV.

 

[njsurf]

Welcome aboard, I love the Mark IV as well.

 

[Sixstringpsycho]

Welcome to the board. This place is honestly awesome and full of great info

 

[UltraGary]

Welcome!! This is a great board for information.
Funny you mention the sound-guy thing.... I just had that happen (again) recently.....where another guy checked before me for close to 10 minutes, and then when it was my turn......it took just under 15 seconds for the sound guy to say "Nice, well OK, that was easy, thank you..."

 

[reilly]

Welcome! Love the Mark IV!!

 

[Mongo1]

Phill,

Welcome to the Boogie Board.

You'll find, like the rest of us that this is a great community, chock full of great insight and willingness to help. I'm pretty close to you (Lewisville). We should touch base some time. I've had my MKIVa since 94, but it has never really had much hard gigging time. Maybe 4 years total of any hard work. I'm finishing up a rack setup with a Studio-Pre that should be pretty sweet once its dialed in. Most playing I do lately wants lower stage volumes and I just can't see running a MKIV on 2 all the time...

I'd love to see how our siblings compare sometime.

 

[prm2770]

Wow thanks everyone for the welcome! i have already learned so much in just a couple days about my gear that I never new. Looking forward to much more!

Mongo my rig got 6 years or so of hard gigging and has had about four years off. Im happy to say that tomorrow is my first practice with my new band. I will be utilizing my studio for this project so i will share with you all. The other guitarist has a dual rec so Im excited to get to mess with that one too.

I am working on a rack system myself. I have always been just a plug in the guitar and play guy but I am really challenging myself to mature in my sound. If any one has a good primer on setting up midi controls for the mark IV im all ears.

 

[Mongo1]

Phill,

There's lots of midi switching options for your MKIV. Everything from an Amp Gizmo which can plug right into the 6 pin XLR socket for the foot switch, or an RG-16 or GSX which also give you audio loops for effects, to something like a G-Major which gives you switching relays in addition to killer effects in a single rack space.

Amp Gizmo http://www.rjmmusic.com/ampgizmo.php
RG-16 http://www.rjmmusic.com/rg16.php
GSX http://www.voodoolab.com/gcx.htm
GCP http://www.voodoolab.com/gcontrolpro.htm

I went with a GSX controlled by a Ground Control Pro, but probably would have gone with an RG-16 if I hadn't landed such a killer deal on the GSX. Let's touch base via email, phone and talk shop.

I notice your an Ibanez player. In addition to Boogies, I've been an Ibanez fan. Got my first ST-100 in 79 and have quite a few. Amazing guitars for sure!

 

[Shep]

So your after a rack rig for your mk IV.

I have done this myself i played with lots of different things till i got what i wanted out of it.

Final picture

So i went down the GXC and Ground control road for switching. i had a midi octopus but i liked the GXC mainly becasue of the whole pedal switching in and out feature. I also this the Furman is a REALLY important thing. so no matter what i would go one.

Effects are user based so i would go with somthing you like.

Also you if your head is a short head you can put it into a rack mount unit. so it will go straight into the rack itself.

I also would get a really strong rack box with WHEELS!!

Welcome to the board

TOM

 

[prm2770]

Hate to admit that i am midi dumb learning but still dumb.
Here's what im working with
Alesis 3630 dual channel compressor
Korg rack mount tuner
Yamaha Rev100 effects unit
Behringer virtualizer pro (dont think i'll usr this but list it anyway)...
Looking for a way to control the Rev 100 mainly. I just want to be able to add some milkyness (is that a word?) to my leads.
I play heavy metal but would love to add a petrucci style delay and reverb boost when I solo. Not really interested in all the funky things that the behringer does which is why i dint think Ill rack it up. Im looking for an inexpensive user friendly midi foot board like the tech 21 midi mouse or the moose or even the Rolls MP128 MIDI Buddy Pedal (all at musiciansfriend if you want to look em up) since i dont need just tons of pedals.

What I am curious about is can those pedals sitch my amp as well. Im sure you all have already solved that one. I would love to be able to eliminate my mark iv's factory foot switch.

Any thoughts?
oh and thanks mongo for the links i will check em out tomorrow.

Shep nice rig, i would love to talk shop sometime. You and Mongo feel free to PM me.

Phill

 

[Mongo1]

Don't sweat the midi stuff, it's pretty easy, but can get confusing quickly for us all. To control your amp you're gonna need something with midi controlled switching relays. The Yamaha Rev100 doesn't look like it has any. Since you don't need to loop a bunch of pedals, you will likely end up using something like an Amp Gizmo to do the work of the Boogie foot controller.

Any midi foot controller that can send CC and Program Change information should work. You'll find no shortage of help here getting your setup working once you decide on all of the components.

I'll shoot you a PM and swap phone #'s so we can chat.

 

[prm2770]

Mongo1 Got it and replied, talk to you soon.

The Rev 100 can be controlled via midi foot board right? and I can get something like the GsX that will combine to two operations and control the yamaha and the mark iv?

 

[Mongo1]

To break down how these work together, the foot controller is used to send control info to your other midi components. The GCX is a bank of relay operated loops which can be used to insert separate effects into the signal path or to be used to do channel switching. The Rev100 is an effect that can receive midi program changes. The GCX won't control the Rev100, it gets controlled from the foot controller. You 'could' have it in one of the loops of the GCX, but there is no need to do that.

One thing to consider is having a foot controller that incorporates expression pedal(s). You can assign them as midi controllers. I like to have one dedicated to a master volume and the other assigned to control something specifically within each patch. It's very cool to have a patch with chorus and reverb and to be able to pull the chorus back or out completely.

 

[prm2770]

Yeah I think I get that all now. So I could get the GSX or the RG-16 for the switch unit and then i could use basically any midi foot controller. The foot controller would send the midi commands to the rev100 and then into the fx loop of the mark iv, and the amp switching commands to the GSX, the two operations are seperate but occur simultaneously. Right? Do I get a gold star for studying hard?

Phill

 

[Mongo1]

Gold Star!!!

If you go with an RG-16 you get the added benefit of using a single cable to replace the foot switch on the boogie rather than running individual 1/4 switch cables to the MKIV switch jacks. Not really a big deal if you are only talking about channel switching, but if you want to control the rest of the options (EQ, etc....) it may clean up your cable runs. Plus you still end up with 8 EFX loops. If you ever run multiple amps in the future, the RG-16 can run two of those amp control cables.

If you don't need any EFX loops, I just found 'The mini Amp Gizmo'.
Pretty neat that they scaled it down even more.
http://www.rjmmusic.com/miniampgizmo.php

There's a way to get it all done.
All it takes is money...

 

[prm2770]

Yeah, all hail the $$$$$$ of which I am quickly running out.

Im not sure I quite get what you mean about controlling the EQ. the GSX cant allow me to have the same configurations as the stock foot switch?

 

[Mongo1]

The GCX can control all of the functions of the MKIV FU3 foot controller. I was just saying that it would be much cleaner running a single cable of an RG-16 or Amp Gizmo rather than the 5 cables it would take from the GCX. I've found that since I only have 8 loops to work with, giving up too many for switching seems a waste.

If I had it all to do again I would probably have gotten the RG-16. Then I could have future options to control both my MKIV and my Studio Pre, plus keep all of my loops for true bypass effects. Lest I be misunderstood, I'm VERY happy with my GCX. It's working perfectly!

 

[prm2770]

Ok I get it. Since I'm not a big FX guy that doesn't bother me to much. Im leaning towards a mini amp gizmo (hereinafter known as MAG cuz im lazy) and a tech 21 mighty moose. Gets me going for under $400. I only need to operate 1 midi device. the MAG has 8 loops so with the custom cable for mark IV's I would be left with the use of 2 loops for fx?

Phill