Fine Tuning My RM100 Rig

[roodyrocker]

Well, last week my SL+ modded by our own Pete Turley arrived just in time to try out at my bands gig last saturday night. Plus, I tried a different 4x12 cab with Celestion Green Backs in it instead of the previous Vintage 30's in my Mesa cab or 75W Celestions in my 2x12 ADA cabs. So now my RM100 is loaded with a stock Blackface in channel 1 for cleans, Pete modded SL+ in channel 2, and Pete modded XTC in channel 3. My effect pedals (Fulltone Choralflange, Guyatone Delay, T-Rex Room Mate Reverb, and Retro-sonic Phaser) are all mounted in a rack drawer and controlled by a rack mounted GCX Switcher and Ground Control Pro. The only things on the floor in front of me are the Ground Control Pro, Randall foot switch and Fulltone Wah. The Ground Control Pro is phantom powered as is the Randall foot switch so there aren't a bunch of power cords in front of me either. Nice and clean and the switcher removes the pedals from my signal chain unless that particular pedal is in use so there is no unwanted tone coloring. I might program the Ground Control Pro to do the amp switching so I can eliminate even the Randall foot switch from in front of me, haven't decided yet. The only other thing I need is a good harmonizer. So far my Boss Harmonist pedal sounds garbled live so I'm not using it. I might mess some more with it in the parallel loop and see if that works any better. My other option is to use an old rack mounted Digitech IPS Smartshift but the Boss pedal is so easy to use, just have to get it sounding clear. Anyway, sorry for the long post but I tried a G-Major in the series loop along with the Behringer FCB controller and I think the pedals sound better, especially for live use. Anyone else running a similar setup? BTW, Pete's mods really wake up the SL+ and XTC modules which are nice sounding to begin with, now they are on steroids

 

[RD/Rich]

Where do you have the Harmonist, in the front of the amp or in the loop? I know that usually they track a bit better if they are one of he very first pedals in your FX chain. If they are trying to track w/ a bunch of FX or overdrive, pitch shifting pedals can sound a little warbly (if that's the right word/spelling).

 

[tung]

Rudy, that sounds a great rig you got going here. How do you like the Greenbacks compared to the V30s? BTW what guitars are you running live?

 

[roodyrocker]

RD/Rich, I ran the Harmonist throught the front of my amp directly in from my guitar. The other pedals on my board at the time were in the series loop or after the Harmonist throught the front of the amp. I also tried it through the series loop by itself and it seems no matter where I place it its fine just noodling around but under live performance conditions the sound is garbled. I'm just wondering if its simply the fact that it adds two harmonies to the original guitar and therefore its garbled because its like running 3 guitars through one amp? I have not tried the parralel loop yet. BTW, this issue is not the fault of the amp, it does the same thing through my Bogner Uberschall.
Tung; I mostly use Jacksons for my guitars. Rhoads, Soloist, Kelly, and PC-1 for the most part. Pickups are Duncan Screamin Demon or Distortion and a couple axes have Dimarzio Tone Zone or Super III's in them. I also use the EBMM Petrucci for its Piezo pickup in it. The Greenbacks sound good, less dark than the Vintage 30's in the Mesa cab. I like them both. What I wasn't crazy about is the Celestion 75w in my ADA cabs. They sounded good for cleans but the distortions are too clean yet harsh sounding. I have some Greenbacks I bought new about 5 years ago and did nothing with them which I'm now going to load into a 4x12 of my own. The Greenbacks I tried the last couple gigs were in a friend's Blue Voodoo cab that I borrowed.