With my recent re-introduction to the wonders of rack-mounted effects processors, modular tube preamps and some inspiration from www.hugeracksinc.com, I've decided it's time to build a real guitar rig.In building this rig, I've set a list of goals:
- Utilize all of my current gear as much as possible, and integrate it all;
- Create a massive stereo image - putting personal experience over live performance or studio recording ease;
- Beyond stereo - create a tri-phonic sound field - with a center channel for raw tone and pushing "wet" effected and processed signal out to the left and right - AKA Wet-Dry-Wet.
- Allow for experimentation with different signal processing in the three channels without re-cabling, as much as possible.
- automate as much as possible - with help from Jackson Hobbes Audio Systems;
Planning
To start off, I began by listing out my gear by categories and some specific capabilities/strengths.Pre-Effects: Devices I prefer before dirt
Vox Wah - Needs true bypass when not in useDiamond Compressor
Empress Phaser - Best phaser ever IMHO, can do a great UniVibe
ElectroHarmonix Small Stone Phaser - A very smooth phaser that adds massive dimension and space
Dirt/Drive - Devices that overdrive the signal
Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50+ Head - Crunch is amazing, burn channel is smooth - amazing mid-high gain toneADA MP-2 Preamp - Cleans range from Vox to Fender, Dirt goes from Marshall Plexi to Bogner and Soldano... rad my review!
Earthquaker White Light - great 70's overdrive tone
Bogner Ecstasy Blue - The best low to high gain pedal I've ever played
Jackson Hobbes Fuzz - A five-stage overdrive/fuzz that has an incredible, tearing low-end crunch
Post-Effects: Devices that create image and space
Korg A3 Multi-Effects Processor - Good overall modulation/delay/reverbsTC Electronics M350 Dual Effects Processor - Good modulation/delay and reverb
Yamaha SPX90 Digital Effects Processor - Smooth Chorusing; Glistening reverb and time-based effects
Strymon TimeLine Digital Echo/Delay - The ultimate delay machine. Tape Echo++
Lexicon Vortex Modulation/Echo Machine - Other-worldly modulated echo with unique stereo imaging
Lexicon MPX-550 Digital Reverb Processor - Excellent array of the legendary Lexichip Reverb algorithms
Amplification and Speakers
Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50+ HeadADA B200S 2x100W MOSFET Stereo Power Amp
Mesa RoadKing 2x12" Stereo Cabinet - Open Back Celestion C90/ Closed-back Celestion V30
Mesa WideBody 1x12" Closed Back/Front-Ported Cabinet - Celestion G12T-75
MIDI & Control and Signal Control
ADA MXC MIDI Foot ControllerADA CCP Expression Pedal
ADA MQS Quad MIDI Footswitch
M-Audio Expression Pedal
Radial Twin City ABY/Phase Inverter/Isolation Transformer
TC Electronics polytune mini
Voodoo Labs Pedal Power Digital
Signal Routing
The idea is to create two guitar rigs - or systems, one "wet" and one "dry". The wet system is in stereo, and the dry system is mono. The next step is to define the path of my guitar signal prior to being sent to the two systems and split into three channels.
Stage One: Pre-Effects
Certain effects are put into the signal chain to affect the sound as a whole and define the foundation of the tone prior to adding dirt and space.
The PolyTune goes first and being true-bypass it doesn't affect my signal and acts as a master mute switch.
If required, I'd put the Vox Wah next, but I don't use it much and it isn't true bypass - so it sucks tone even when it's off.
The Diamond compressor is next, and is like a "giant tamer of levels", either acting as a clean boost, gently softening the peaks, or all-out compressing the shit out the guitar, for a pumping, long sustain. The tone knob is also good to take out a bit of unwanted top end, or losing a bit of low end for a jangley tone.
I have found that I prefer phasers before dirt. It provides less of that resonant "jet" sound, and is more reminiscent of the liquidy Hendrix/Trower Univibe sound. The Empress Phaser is like adding whipped cream and a cherry to my sound. It covers everything after it with undulating thickness. The added feature is that I can drive the speed of the LFO with my M-Audio expression pedal (even more UniVibe flavour).
Some of the dirt pedals I use specifically across all of the channels. The first is my prized Bogner Ecstasy Blue overdrive. This is the
only gain pedal I've ever heard that competes with real tube preamps. It goes from a sweet Marshall plexi clip to an amazing hi-gain crunch. Considering it is the lightest/cleanest of Bogner's Ecstasy pedals - it has more gain than my Mesa head.
The Earthquaker White Light goes next, for a 70's MXR Distortion+ tone.
Next is the Jackson Hobbes Fuzz, which I use for all-out assault. It is actually two fuzz circuits in one - a silicon Fuzz Face, and a totally-custom 5-stage gain machine, loosely based on the Big Muff.
Divide and Conquer
The Radial Twin City ABY pedal is the most important tool for a WDW or dual amp setup. The ABY functionality is a requirement, but the most important aspect is signal separation - which eliminates ground loops between the Wet System and the Dry System. The other issue that this pedal sorts out is phase inversion. Depending on what the two systems are doing, the signal may be out of phase, and a flick of this switch put the phase back in order. I wish this function was a stomp switch.
To power the pedals, I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power Digital power supply, making sure to keep devices that are after the Radial Twin City, to be on completely independent power outputs - otherwise the isolation transformers are not isolating their grounds.
Dry System
The dry system is very simple. It's not necessarily "dry", but it is mono and is the focal point of the tone. To thicken the tone I place the ElectroHarmonix Small Stone Phaser first in the chain, and then go directly into the The Mesa Boogie Express 5:50+ head.
The effects loop of the 5:50 contains a mono path through the TC Electronics M350, which I use for modulation or delay and digital reverb, if required.The M350 is a real bargain, you basically get two effects "pedals" simultaneously: the first being the basic guts of a Flashback Mini delay, Corona Mini Chorus, Vortex Mini Flanger, or a basic phaser or tremolo; and the second being like a Hall of Fame reverb - for basically the price of one TC Electronic pedal.Wet System
I divided my rack effects processors into three categories - Core, Dynamic and Space.
The first are effects that are added as a part of my core wet sound. These are mixed in on a patch-by-patch basis using the stereo effects loop on the MP2 - typically 5 to 30%, and come after the MP2 analog stereo chorus. These include the Korg A3,
After the stereo output of the MP2 is my Dynamic effect - the Strymon TimeLine. While I use the Lexicon Vortex to create subtle yet immersive textural modulation and delay effects, I use TimeLine to create massive, dynamic echoes. I prefer to select a patch and engage the TimeLine separately from the main MIDI patch control, using it for solos or specific passages within the same overall system patch.
To power the wet system, I use an ADA B200s 2x100W MOSFET stereo power amp.
Live Output
The idea of Wet-Dry-Wet is that the Wet system is put out to the left and right, with the Dry system occupying the centre field. I started with the RoadKing 2x12, which is a stereo cabinet. You can plug two amps into it. By adding the 1x12 Mesa cabinet I can use it as the left or right speaker for the wet set, choosing either the V30 or the C90 speaker in the RoadKing as the Dry channel. If I were to expand on the speaker set, I'd add another 1x12, and have the RoadKing completely dedicated to the Mesa Head / Dry system.
Recording
To record in the studio, I set up two tracks:- Mono track for the Dry System, mic'ed using an SM57;
- The MP2 has two sets of outputs, one is a stage output which is the full frequency output to go into guitar amps/cabinets, the other is a recording out - which adds ADA's legendary mic'ed cabinet simulation, selectable between a 2x12 and 4x12 cabinets. To record the wet system, I use a stereo track; re-patch the output of the MP2 to use the cabinet simulator, and connect the SP/DIF digital stereo output of the Lexicon MPX directly into my audio interface.
Control
As mentioned earlier, the ADA MXC foot controller and it's companion four button MIDI switch (MQS) and MIDI expression pedal (CCP) do most of the changes to the wet system. Everything else is managed by dancing on footswitches.For my next project, I want to automate as much as possible, so that the following can happen:
- Pressing a program change button on the ADA MXC can:
- Enable/disable every effect, based on a global programmable patch set;
- Change channels, EQ, solo mode and spring reverb on the Mesa head;
- Change patches on every programmable device;
- On a Global patch-by-patch basis:
- Switches on the ADA Quad Switch can enable/disable any effect, amp channel or footswitch;
- The two expression pedal inputs on the MXC can control any MIDI continuous controller - on any MIDI-capable device.
To facilitate this, my plan is for Jackson Hobbes to build a MIDI switching system.
The ideas I've started out with include:
- A series of stereo true-bypass, relay-driven effects loops, with various routing options and fully isolated grounds on each loop;
- A way of merging the stereo output of one loop to drive a mono-to-stereo processor on the next loop;
- A set of relay-driven function switches to automate footswitch inputs;
- The ability to create a global patch library, where each patch includes:
- independent selection of patches on each MIDI device;
- mapping of MIDI continuous controller input to any MIDI CC number, on any device.
There are a couple challenges specific to my system that I have to find a solution for as well:
- Automate phase inversion to the Dry System
- A way to have a Tap switch that can send timing data simultaneously to devices that can read MIDI clock and to a manual Tap input - such as on the Lexicon Vortex.
- Automation for the Lexicon Vortex:
- Morph pedal - an opt-isolator circuit converting MIDI continuous controller values 0 to 127 into the equivalent of a potentiometer going from a resistance of 0 ohms to 100K ohms.
- A/B effect - simply a momentary selector switch
- Patch selector - the only way to change between the 16 patches on the Vortex is with an incremental momentary pedal. I will have to devise a method to send a series of pulses that take into account the current patch number, and add the required pulses to get the desired patch - resetting to 1 after passing 16.
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