[JonnyBoy]

I am being pulled towards hooking midi to my guitar and would love to hear about those that have it and use it. What are the best options for the thinnest budgets? Played around with the Roland 55 pedal but thin rack mountable options will suit me best..... What say ye?

[tcsned]

Axon makes one that one of the guys I used to play with had. I never tried it out but he loved it. He used the Graph-tech pickup, I have one of those and am not thrilled with it. I'm using the GR33 and I'm pretty happy with it though I may get the GR55 at some point. If you go with a rack mount you'll probably need to get a midi foot controller or expression pedal so you're gonna have something on the floor either way.

I don't see any reason to go with the rack mount one Jerry used as that thing is a dinosaur now. Jerry didn't use the sounds from it anyway. The GK3 pickup seems to work really well, I like it more than the GK2. There's an internal model available for that.

[jkstraw]

+1 on the GK3 pickup. I have this and a GraphTech ghost saddle. The GK3 works flawlessly with the GR series synths (eg GR55).

I (and many others) have had issues with other hex pickups like the GraphTech and LR Baggs.

[JonnyBoy]

I noticed the graphtech system is pretty involved. You have to get the saddles/bridge, then buy the hex system to wire it all in, etc... The roland system is pretty easy to attach and go.

I already have a ground control pro on the floor and could probably use it to control the bank, but it is pretty involved to get some of Jerry's signature flute, sax, trumpet sounds... I wonder if they have a pedal that can achieve these sounds without all this fuss? I had a fun time playing with it all, but not a $700 good time.

[Tennessee Jedi]

. What are the best options for the thinnest budgets? Played around with the Roland 55 pedal but thin rack mountable options will suit me best..... What say ye?

Wow that pedal is pretty cool

[Cmnaround]

How do you guys run the output from the GK-3 pick up and the GR-33 or -55 synths into your amp? I just scored a guitar with a GK-3 mounted on it and it looks like the guitar out goes into the attached GK-3 controller, then 13 pin midi out to the floor synth module then out to your amp. Is there a way to run my guitar signal independent of the GK-3 and A/B or mix them into my amp?

Also, anyway I could run the 13 pin midi out into a converter that I could use to drive synth sounds from a Yamaha DX7 with midi so no need to buy a GR-33 or GR-55?

[petcat]

I run my gk3 pickup from the guitar (separately from the guitar audio) to a Roland GI-20 and from there the midi signal goes to a Roland XV-5050 for the patches (I'd rather be using a Motif XS rack). A FootSim sends on/off toggles from the Roland FC-300 to the Lexicon MPX-100 which provides delay/reverb to the audio signal of the 5050. The FC-300 sucks as a foot controller. I wish I had a better alternative, it doesn't marry well with the banks of the 5050 and the manual is as impenetrable as any midi item. (Ok the GR-50 sucked MUCH worse.)

The Audio from the Lexicon goes to a Crate Powerblock into a Trace Elliot 2103, which has 2x10 and 2x5 speakers and provides a nice full range sound.

You have got to have a Bralove mentality to stick with this PITA. Small wonder so many friends just want a clean Fender and no effects.

That said, when you kick in teh Tenor Sax or some horn comps in a jam you can see everybody go "Whaa??" It's really fun to have a long loop of organ chords going through the midi while playing over it.

Get a Roland GI-20 and plug in your 13 pin to any midi generator.

[mikelawson]

I have the Ghost system from GraphTech installed, and find it handles way better than my old Roland magnetic hex systems. I'm still using an old GR-1, but I only use it to get MIDI sounds to my soft synths. Triggers fine for me, even better with the Ghost.