pedal switching/racking set ups

[jeager]

Hi,
So my next step with my gear is to put my pedals into some kind of rack setup. I have an OBEL equipped guitar and at the moment I pretty much put my pedal board to the side or even behind me and toggle whatever the effects is from the guitar. I would love to have more control over which effects but like having the whole pedal board thing out of the way.

Been looking at the voodoo labs pedal switcher and commander set up. Anybody do this? or other gear to accomplish same goals? Here is a little video on how to use commander in case your interested...
http://www.voodoolab.com/commander_switcher_vid2.htm

[gpilcher2001]

That set up is cool if you intend to keep a pedal board on the floor. The commander controls there 4 channel effects switcher. I'm not sure if it will do the gcx. I dealt with your conundrum for years. Its expensive stuff. I really wanted a smaller pedal print on stage. I finally got the gcx and ground control a couple months ago. It's pretty sweet. I did have a rack case laying around but it was like $300 in cables to hook it all up. I did luck out on the units combined for $400. Any anyways either is great just depends on your intentions. Greg...

[JonnyBoy]

GCX and a Ground Control Pro is the way to go, IMO. I looks like you have the same thing in the commander, but you are expanding the floor space with a bigger pedal board. With a GCX rack, you can keep all your pedals in a rack or shelve, where the knobs rarely get bumped and only have a ground control pro as a pedal board. But either way you go, You're putting all your pedals into isolated loops which is beyond better than chaining them together on a pedal board. Especially with Jerry's choice of pedals we all like to use. Trying to get that clean, straight to the fender tone with a chain of tone suckers can be challenging. I didn't realize how much was sucked out until I A/B'd the setup. Depending on what pedals,cables, buffer,etc.. your using, ymmv to some degree there.

But there is a good reason why lots of players use them, the really help your effects sound better and more consistent gig after gig. If you're planning to use a pedal board, the older school non-powered loopers would suffice, and they are cheaper. Although it is nice to be able to turn on two or three pedals with one stomp using the commander, but playing Jerry parts in Dead music, its rare for me to have to stack pedals anyway. I also never have to switch between amps either so one of those old school ones would work fine for me if I had to. Good luck with this endeavor, its well worth it in the end if you feel your effects set up could sound better.

[Jerry1996x]

The GCX is awesome. It makes it sooo much easier to work with your pedals. If you do decide to go that route, look for the older Ground Control pedal. Less buttons, way simpler in my opinion. Not to mention they are usually cheaper. I got mine for $100.