Grateful Dead Music Forum

Seeing that there are a myriad of ways to set this thing up, I was going to ask those that have a GCX or even a GC Pro if there are any neat tricks, loops that you use, ways to make more space on the gcx through multiple effects on one loop.
I also have 2 rocktron midi pedals, delay and reverb that are new to me and If anyone has had experience with external midi processors/pedals. I know this could be a huge explanation, I guess I am looking for workable options for the valuable 8 spaces I have.
Analog pedals I have, Fuzz/muff, SD1, EQ boss, LPB1, Phaser, envelope, octave Pog2, compressor, echo machine(delay). that's 9 total. the other two are midi control pedals I have to hook midi through. I may keep the lpb1 at the end/ beginning of the chain without hooking it into the gcx. Just wanna see how you guys go it working.

Hey J.B.,
The GCX is a great piece of equip. IMHO. You are more than likely going to be tryng to dial this thing in for a while.
The placement of the effects is of great importance with this device, as it is in a regular daisy chain effects setup. I would not use effects w/out the GCX again, it is way different and much easier to control your tonal palette!
Just make sure your cabling will allow you to pull out a drawer w/ the pedals on it if you need to be able to make adjustments!!!!!
You might want to use straight plugs for the back of the GCX and right angle at the pedals.

hope this helps & good luck

oh yeah, do you really need the compressor (R U Playing like JG or B.Weir)
& maybe you can use the EQ with the effect you most want to use it with!!!
I think most people would agree that J.G. played clean the majority of the time.

I bunched up my tuner and an analog delay on my loop #8, because i have another digital delay i use more on loop #7. When I tune I press the tuner pedal on by hand in my rack. This works for me (for now, I think I will use the tuning remote switch box thing-a-majig that Waldo has the schematic for on his outasite website.)
Have fun

yeah, if you're using the EQ at all like Garcia did, you can include it in the loop with the dirt...

Thanks, good info for a good start. I made all my belden cables last week, straight on one side, angled on the other, I had that foresight atleast, and it was helpful. I have an effects console like Jerry's hard truckers, its packed but it all fits good. The compressor is for some Mississippi chickin' pickin' blues stuff, and I have come to love it with the qtron too on an original song.

I am not in a "tribute band", which I WOULD LOVE TO BE also, but more of a blues/jazz/rock/dead fusion .Although we all like the Dead, We play a large tonal palate and want to use our influences in our own direction. I have been a blues player most of my stage career. Jackson is not a big "dead" area, someone asked me If I wrote Tennessee Jed one time. Mississippi 1/2 step goes over well too. People here recognize some dead, if they recognize it at all. It would have to be Truckin, Touch, or FOTDevil. And out of those 3, Truckin' is the only song we have practiced well. Mis 1/2step, GDTRFB,NFA,Good lovin, Tennessee Jed, Truckin, Big RXR Blues, and Deal are in our 4 set rotation and we're working on Shakedown as a "butt shaker" tune. ALOT of the gigging bands here are disco "Brick House" bands, and they make the money and get the saturday night slots. We like places off the beaten path with little expectations of us. We take pride in our different approach and it seems to be working out. Great thing about covering non commercial Dead here is that the younger crowd especially, think they're our orignals, and they dig it. That should be a testament to how great their music is.

My Qtron works much better, but how do you deal with the volume difference? My qtron is louder through the GCX, than in a chain. I can tell already I am going to love this though. I am a control freak about my rig and always want easier access to my stuff. Thanks for taking the time to reply, I know its kinda hard to explain how the whole thing works in a post. Just trying to avoid simple pitfalls or find easier ways to use through your trial and error. Peace, Jon

I am just curious to get some new ideas on my effects placements for optimal sound, eliminate clipping and mismatched volumes/gain.
Please feel free to just leave the chain and other discoveries.

I am trying to dial in the GCX with
a guitar---> GCX in---> Qtron+-->POG2--->phaser GE7 Ibenez--->boss SD1 od -->Muff-->compressor-->boss GE7 eq---> out of gcx to-->

Rocktron cyborg delay--->Rocktron cyborg Reverb--->LPB1-> Fender twin pre---> Mosvalve 100watt RT2100 effects loop in---> 2x12 cab.

I'm getting clipping on phaser, comp and OD. Where are y'all putting your like pedals in the chain? Where do you think an active Tube driver would fit well?

I hope I can get some feedback on this, I'm stumped and really don't have the time or patience to change up everything all over the place to see what will work.

PS: I was going to ask what people were doing for pedal chains in another thread but no need we can do it here. I am interested in what works well for people even without a GCX.

JB, I am pretty sure that the GUITAR IN on the GCX is a buffered input!
This may be "heating up the signal" a little more than w/out the GCX!?!?
YOU MIGHT TRY........
1. Plug your guitar into the back of the GCX's input 1, not the GUITAR IN on the front.
2. Adjust the volume of the other pedals to the level of the loudest pedal (YOUR Q TRON POSSIBLY), most of the other pedals should have level adjustment knobs.

Effects placement has been covered here! do a search.

I have Qtron,phase 100, Turbo OD/Dist., Octave,Tube Screamer, Cool Cat Transparent OD (Thanks for the recommendation Sarno @ SMS), Dig. Delay,MXR analog delay & Tuner on same loop (#8).............. Not Exactly the accepted placements but it works for me.
I am thinking of moving the Octave in front of the Qtron though.

I do hope this helps.

Nabco, you've simply GOT to move the Octave in front of the envelope... HUGE difference!

JB - I've never played through a POG, so I have no idea how that colors the sound or where it should go, but... I'd think about moving the LPB1 maybe before the reverb (you don't really want to boost the reverb effect, but rather have the boosted signal with reverb as adornment - I've got a Keely 808 that I'm going to set for a clean boost <yes, it's a lot to pay for a simple clean boost!> to OD the Twin's pre tubes to see how that works); and I don't play with a compressor anymore, but might it work better in front of everything else?; I also like the phase just before the delay and much later in the chain than you have it... just my $.02.

Hey Chuckles,
Thanks for the motivation to move the Octave in front of the Wah!!! I might try the phaser right before the delay as you suggested also.
I will let you know how it sounds.
This is another feature I like about the GCX, you can move the order of effects around so easily!!!