TC Electronics G-System

[Guitarz69]

Has any one here tried the TC's G-System yet? Seems like they thought of everything for this. If I owned a mark IV or any recto series I'd be all over this thing. You can switch all 4 channels with the built in relays while changing FX patches. Delay spillovers, chromatic pitch, 4 analog loops with 4 9v power outs for pedals. USB editing etc...I think I'm sold. Only down fall I see so far is the $1400.00 nut to swallow. I just want to hear some feedback about this. Anyone?

http://www.tcelectronic.com/G-System

 

[sombra]

I have a recording studio and I tweaked on almost every rack piece.I got tell you despite of all you mentioned I really prefer rocktron stuff even with less things.
TC effects to my ears,I dont know why always sounded very sterille.
Rocktron has a punch,a clear and bright sound.
I already tweaked on a fireworks and felt the same way.
Chorus on rocktron is unbelievable.
Simple to use,cheaper and sounding better,at least to my ears so if I have to choose I prefer rocktron.
I really dont like tc effects.
luck

 

[Guitarz69]

I have a recording studio and I tweaked on almost every rack piece.I got tell you despite of all you mentioned I really prefer rocktron stuff even with less things.
TC effects to my ears,I dont know why always sounded very sterille.
Rocktron has a punch,a clear and bright sound.
I already tweaked on a fireworks and felt the same way.
Chorus on rocktron is unbelievable.
Simple to use,cheaper and sounding better,at least to my ears so if I have to choose I prefer rocktron.
I really dont like tc effects.
luck

I agree with you about sound quality of Rocktron. I owned a Prophesy for years. If I didn't get a triaxis I'd still own it. However I think what I'm thinking about is for a live rig set up. The simplicity factor is huge. (at least IMO) I don't have much experience with TC stuff other then there G-major. BTW I think is crap. But after going on there site and reading about this it sounds like an amazing piece of gear. Steve Via is using this right now. Is it all hype? I Don't know. What I do know is it will probly sound 10 times better then my POD Pro XT sitting in my rack right know.The biggest reason I use it is for the simplicity of switching my Triaxis channals the same time I switch FX. I have close to 30 patches that all work perfectly for what I do. (I play in a cover band)
If I was to go with a Intellaflex or something I would also need to buy a new switching system as well. I'm kind of a sucker for integrated units. Everything does what they're suppose to.

 

[scottkahn]

We reviewed the first version of the G-System and overall, liked it (see http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/guitar_bass/2006/0106_tcelectronicgsys.php). But it had some rough spots that various users complained about. It has been updated once or twice and I hear good things from players.

Personally, I've always been a huge fan of TC's sound. I own a G-Major and have been working with a G-Force for a possible upcoming review.

If I hadn't recently switched from a rack system to pedal board with various pedals, I'd strongly consider the G-System. It's just such a cleanly integrated system! I know of a few pros using them now -- not just Steve Vai, but also the 2nd guitarist in Porcupine Tree (I forget his name).

Scott

 

[6L6C]

GUY’S GUY’S
You just screwed up my day. Now I’m confused I was under the impression that TC Electronics was the ****.
Right now my rig is a Mark IV, to do my channel switching a Rockman Octopus and for all of my midi control I use a Rocktron All Access (I love this board to death) are far as a processor I use a Intellifex and a few months ago I picked up a Xpression (both Rocktron products) What I always loved about the Intellifex is how true the direct signal remained in the chain and as effects are awesome. I agree with Sombra about the chorus, personally I never heard one better. I don’t have enough hands on with the Xpression yet but there again very true to the direct signal, this one has preset spillover, which is a plus, I just wish both units had a more comprehensive mix section.
Another I use to have was the Quadraverb II not to be confused with the original Quadraverb the effects of the unit where pretty good the mix section was awesome you could get as nuts as you wanted (and I did), but what made me stop using this unit was it colored the direct signal it wasn’t that bad but after the Intellifex I was spoiled.

Anyway I was thinking the G-Major would address all of my concerns, oh well have to get my hands on one and see.

 

[AlanC]

Hi folks,

I'm new to this board but I've been using a G-System for almost a year now.

I was using stomp boxes in the loops for tone generation until recently when I picked up a slightly used Triaxis and a 2:90.

I really like the flexibility the G-System offers me and find it relatively easy to program. The ability to customize each of the footswitch buttons to your needs is a very powerful feature. It has relays that can be used to switch amp channels or the 2:90's modes and 4 loops that can be used for outboard effects.

I've only been using it with the Triaxis/2:90 set up for about a week but so far they seem to be cooperating very well.

The latest software revision fixes most of the earlier complaints and adds an intelligent pitch shifter. Also, the rumor is that TC is working on a PC based editor for it.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a flexible pro-quality effects generation and switching system.

Alan

 

[scottkahn]

GUY’S GUY’S
You just screwed up my day. Now I’m confused I was under the impression that TC Electronics was the ****.

TC Electronics is indeed "the poop". Lexicon is also the poop. Rockron is also the poop. As you know, no two poops are exactly the same, but that doesn't make any of them any less valid. Different poop for different people.



All of these companies make great sounding effects, and any of their gear can sound fantastic with your Boogie rigs if you set levels correcly and dial in some good effect settings.

If you were looking for a single multi-fx processor to handle all of your needs well, the TC Electronic G-System does what none of the others can do -- route some effects pre-input and some to your effects loop.

With the other TC products (G-Force, G-Major), Rocktron gear, and Lexi gear, the processor goes in front of your amp (good for wah, filters, modulation) or in the effects loop (good for delay, chorus, reverb in particular). But some of their effects won't sound good based on where you insert the effects in your signal chain. You'll need other gear for some of your effects.

There are pro players with great tone using seemingly inferior solutions than these because they find what sounds good "for them" and then that becomes part of their sound.

If you get gear from TC, Rocktron, or Lexi, you'll be capable of getting great effect sounds. Go with what has the best feature set and/or ease of use for your specific needs. There will be players here who use any of these solutions, and more.


Scott

 

[AlanC]

Speaking of routing, I've got my rig set up like this:

Guitar (wired) or Wireless Output ---> G-System Input
G-System Insert Send ---> Triaxis Input
Triaxis Effects Send ---> G-System Insert Return
G-System L-R Outputs ---> Triaxis Effects Return

It's a little complicated, but it allows the G-System to put the filter, compressor, and loops before the preamp, and the rest of its effects after it.

Alan

 

[Iconoclysm]

Have you had any grounding issues with the G-System? Mine is insanely noisy and I'm sure it's an audio ground loop being caused by all of those inputs and outputs. Trying to put an end to them.

 

[AlanC]

No, I haven't really noticed any noise problems with mine.

 

[joey_truelove]

Have you had any grounding issues with the G-System? Mine is insanely noisy and I'm sure it's an audio ground loop being caused by all of those inputs and outputs. Trying to put an end to them.

If a TC Electronic gear is noisy it probably wasn't turned out right - I would replace it at first hum. TC was founded on basis of making dead silent and clean gear and you shouldn't expect any of their gear picking up or making noise of any sort (hm... except for those you expect of the gear ;?) )

 

[JAZZGEAR]

Folks, you're gonna have to trust your owns ears as opinions will vary.

Personally, I thought the Rocktron effects sound darn awful with my rig and;sucked major tone. I love the sound of the TC Effects....they do not color your sound (if your sound is sterile to begin with....then yes it will sound sterile).

I refer back to the words from my professor told years ago in my first year of college in a Computer programming class.....

"GIGO" Which means, "Garbage in, Garbage Out." Not to offend anyone, but alot of players like to hide behind their effects; no place to hide with the TC stuff. :shock:

 

[6L6C]

Folks, you're gonna have to trust your owns ears as opinions will vary.

Personally, I thought the Rocktron effects sound darn awful with my rig and;sucked major tone. I love the sound of the TC Effects....they do not color your sound (if your sound is sterile to begin with....then yes it will sound sterile).

Hi JAZZGEAR
I was surprised to read what you said about Rocktron! BTW I’m not comparing it to TC stuff, TC is just the better animal.
What Rocktron unit did you use or hear and with what amp? Just curious I always found my intellifex very pure. Have used it with TriAxes and with a MarkIV with excellent results.I found if I passed just direct signal (no effects) there wasn’t much of a difference (and even then had to A/B and pay attention) than if I kicked it out of the loop. The difference was so faint if I walked into the room and someone else was playing my rig I could not tell the difference.
But you are right, gear can be funny I use to have a Lexicon (I cant remember the model but around a $1000) great effects but if you passed just a direct signal oohh did not care for it, meanwhile others loved it.
I play dry a fair amount of time and rather pass the signal through the processor than kick out the loop (lazy I guess) but I use real time controllers so I still have control of volume when called for.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

I had the Intellifex Online.....tried it with my Triaxis and Mark IV...and it colored the sound in a way I did not care 4.

I had a Lexicon PCN 81 ( A great great unit in the studio), but did not like it with my live guitar rig.

So go figure.... :wink:

 

[Nick_cor]

I had the Intellifex Online.....tried it with my Triaxis and Mark IV...and it colored the sound in a way I did not care 4.

I had a Lexicon PCN 81 ( A great great unit in the studio), but did not like it with my live guitar rig.

So go figure.... :wink:

Hey can you goto my thread and answer! you seem to know what your talking about, it's the one below this about the intellfex, thanks!

 

[joey_truelove]

I haven't yet run my G-system in that way and probably never will, but I hear using the pre-amp loop in the intended way (in its own loop with two cables) will lose a great deal of dynamics. I will put my Egnater M4 pre-amp into it using three cables the second effects block in the parallell loop of the Eggie. Thus I will lose as little dynamics as possible, yet reap all the benefits of TC's quality effects built in (aw, I almost sound biased).

Agreable is the fact the G-system could have been concieved better, with higher grade converters and higher resolution sampling in the second effects block, more powerfull effects engines. I could have payed 1/4 more for a higher quality product, yet it's a really great piece of gear the G-system. Hadn't it been Steve Vai wouldn't have taken that route - which suprised a lot of his fan (him going with the effect, not that the effect was what it was)

 

[mARKw]

Hi Guys.

I tried the GSystem with my JMP1 in the preamp insert but as Joey_truelove said it did lose alot of dynamics. Keep in mind that my sound is built around my distortion from the JMP1.

As of last night I run guitar -> JMP1 Input / JMP1 R.Output -> GSystem Instrument input / GSystem L/R Outputs -> Mesa 2:90. This allowed me to get my nice distortion tone back BUT now the wah on the GSystem sounds pretty bad (obviously because it's now in the wrong position i.e after the preamp)

My left master output of my JMP1 is currently not working properly so I can't try putting the GSystem in the effects loop of the JMP1. I can't think of a way to get the wah before the preamp unless I go and buy a seperate wah or use the GSystem preamp insert (which I won't be...)

Anyway, the effects sound really nice on the GSystem.

Joey_truelove could you run through in more detail how you have yours setup? Cheers 8)

Mark

 

[AlanC]

I tried plugging into my Triaxis first, then running the G-System in the Triaxis effects loop.

Maybe it's me, but I didn't notice a big difference in dynamics.

The previously mentioned WAH WAH problem made this configuration pretty much unusable for me.

 

[joey_truelove]

It helps alot if your amp allows a parallell, post preamp loop. We want to run the dry signal outside of the G-system. That enables us to mix a more or less 100% wet signal from the G-system into the dry signal of the amp.

I use the Egnater M4 modular pre-amp (similar to the Randall RM4) and it has both serial and parallell loops. The signal path is as follows:

Input of GS > FX-block 1 of GS > pedals in respective loops of GS > dedicated preamp loop send of GS into input of PA > parallell loop send of PA into preamp loop return of GS > GS FX-block 2 > output of GS into parallell loop return of PA > output of PA into input of poweramp.

Legend: GS= G-system, PA=preamp

This puts the Wah and compressor in the right place in the chain. The down side is adjusting the levels of the G-system FX2. Really saturated FXs and no decay delay repeats could be tricky to dial in as these would be 50% wet and 50% dry in order to sound right. Of course the wetter you go the more tone do you lose, but then with highly saturated FX I guess your attention is more on the FX and less on the tone. Completely pitch-shifted FX would be out of the question as these are 100% wet. Ideal I think is a 20/80 ratio or maybe 30/70.

 

[joey_truelove]

I tried plugging into my Triaxis first, then running the G-System in the Triaxis effects loop.

Maybe it's me, but I didn't notice a big difference in dynamics.

The previously mentioned WAH WAH problem made this configuration pretty much unusable for me.

You should basically lose at least 5dB when the FX2 is engaged. The wah being in the FX1 you have the full 100dB dynamic range, which equals to the G-force/ G-Major and the classic SCF. The G-system is rated at 95dB dynamic range on the analogue outputs post FX2. Using heavy compression - the G-system probably don't upsample - you might not notice the loss of dynamics in the same way.

Also TC's choice of going with 44.1kHz samplerate for the FX2 seems a bit jurasic to my ears, but it's true 24bits through and through.

If I'm really to boot the G-system it has as matter of fact the lowest dynamic on the outs of any of their pricier gear if not of any of their gear. I think it may be of importance really to boost the signal through the loop section so it really hits the ceiling before going into FX2 where the quality loss is the greatest.