Midi Pedal setups (Do you do it? Any tips or comments?)

[Sugartune]

Pedal collection was getting out of hand and all but one board's worth was just sitting on shelves. 

So, I'm now in the midst of selling off most of my pedals, extra boards, power supplies etc. In favour of consolidation and midi controlling. 

Drives will be Chase Bliss Pre-Amp and Jet Pedals Lion. I'll keep the Empress Echosystem for delays, and Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl for Chorus/Vibrato. All controlled by a MorningStar MC6, with a GFI Triple Switch. Trying to keep it to a smaller-ish board (Temple Duo 17). Mostly to avoid ease of further expansion, lol. 

Jumping in headfirst, so I have no choice but to plug through. My first observation has been that it's not as complicated as I had once thought it would be. 

Pictured here is the current transitional stage, while I await arrival of the MC6 and the Jet Lion. 

 

Anyone else on a similar journey, or have already been there, done that? Tell me your story  

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Sugartune
Clarity, punctuation

[Hamer95USA]

I understand your frustration about audio cables, DC power, and having the ability to program combinations of pedals and changing their setting via MIDI. I went with a Boss GT-3 floor processor(sold it, analog overdrive & distortion, should of kept it), Zoom 9.2tt floor effects processor (easy to program, decent sounds, noisy when using its loop), and now the Fractal Audio FX-8 floor processor. 

  That being said, I just built this analog pedalboard with the pedals that I had sitting for years inside a wooden wine box a few weeks ago. I wanted a smaller pedalboard that was bonehead simple to use and lighter than the Fractal Audio FX-8/Shure GLXD-16 wireless system mounted on the Pedaltrain Pro pedalboard. I need to upgrade the DC wiring, add a couple more effect pedals, and better audio patch cables. Both of my pedalboards works great with my Reverend Goblin 5/15 watt 1x12 combo amp which I use as a clean pedal platform and rehearsal/backup amp

Edited September 12, 2023 by Hamer95USA

[Sugartune]

On 9/12/2023 at 5:01 PM, Hamer95USA said:

I understand your frustration about audio cables, DC power, and having the ability to program combinations of pedals and changing their setting via MIDI. I went with a Boss GT-3 floor processor(sold it, analog overdrive & distortion, should of kept it), Zoom 9.2tt floor effects processor (easy to program, decent sounds, noisy when using its loop), and now the Fractal Audio FX-8 floor processor. 

  That being said, I just built this analog pedalboard with the pedals that I had sitting for years inside a wooden wine box a few weeks ago. I wanted a smaller pedalboard that was bonehead simple to use and lighter than the Fractal Audio FX-8/Shure GLXD-16 wireless system mounted on the Pedaltrain Pro pedalboard. I need to upgrade the DC wiring, add a couple more effect pedals, and better audio patch cables. Both of my pedalboards works great with my Reverend Goblin 5/15 watt 1x12 combo amp which I use as a clean pedal platform and rehearsal/backup amp

Ooh, that looks like fun!

What does the VHT do?

[Dutchman]

I started out with a Peavey Profex... Then added an Rocktron intellifex then added another rocktron multivalve and intellifex. A Yamaha SPX90. And a few others. I was trying to get the doubled chorusy tone that was the 80's 90's lead guitar sound/tone. Midi Octopus employed here also. After I left the Top 40 Show Band  I sold it all, plugged straight into my Mark ll Boogie and fell back in love with pure guitar tone. 

I had all my midi stuff controlled by a Rockmate and set with a number assigned to a song.  Setup was pretty easy and it never failed on me.

Now I have some nice delay and reverb pedals and Barber pedals.

Hope this helped.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Dutchman

[Sugartune]

I’m aiming to get the best of both worlds with this.

Analog drives and chorus/vibe with a dual engine delay. Into a Suhr Bella Reverb and/or Allen Old Flame. 

[Hamer95USA]

5 hours ago, Sugartune said:

Ooh, that looks like fun!

What does the VHT do?

The VHT (aka Fryette) Valvulator I tube buffer/power supply is no longer made, but can be found used. It has a dual purpose. With the analog pedalboard that has the effect pedals, I run my guitar into the Korg DT-10 pedal tuner for the buffer, my guitar signal goes through all of the pedals, and then it goes into the Valvulator I tube buffer and out into the amp's input. I hit the amp's input with a 12AX7 tube buffer. You can have pedals that are non true bypass/tone suckers with long cables and the Valvulator I tube buffer restores your guitar signal as if you're running into the front of the amp. 

  It also supplies power to all of the effect pedals on the pedal board. I'm going to have a friend help me redo the DC cabling on the pedal board as 3 of the DC output jack on the Valvulator i tube buffer/power supply supplies 9V @80mA and a single 12 volt output @80mA. That means with a custom DC cable with 2.1mm DC jacks, I can run a string of pedals that use 80mA. 

  On the Fractal Audio FX-8/Shure GLXD-16 wireless pedalboard, I run the output of the wireless into the VHT (Fryette) Valvulator I tube buffer, then into the Fractal Audio FX-8 input jack. I use it solely for the tube buffer. The VHT (Fryette) Valvulator I tube buffer/ power supply is the secret weapon on my pedal board. I love what it does for my guitar sound! 

 

[Hamer95USA]

2 hours ago, Sugartune said:

I’m aiming to get the best of both worlds with this.

Analog drives and chorus/vibe with a dual engine delay. Into a Suhr Bella Reverb and/or Allen Old Flame. 

I've been eyeballing a Suhr Bella Reverb 1x12 combo amp. How does it sound with your pedalboard? 

[Sugartune]

43 minutes ago, Hamer95USA said:

I've been eyeballing a Suhr Bella Reverb 1x12 combo amp. How does it sound with your pedalboard? 

I have the head currently on a 1x12 Dr. Z cab. People who’ve never played a Dumble say it’s Dumble-like cleans. A Dumble killer. I have no idea on any of that that. 

To me though, it’s amazing. Nice, loud, fender-town cleans. Perfect amount of headroom and plenty loud in both wattages. Love them both.  Great spring. 

Pedals sound great. Drives are great. It eq’s nicely. 

I don’t/won’t use the effects loop, so no comment there.
 

it’s relatively new to me (a month), and I haven’t had it out with the band yet, but I will soon, and I have a feeling it will replace my current amp in that role.

I really do like it. Haven’t been able to crank it enough to get much breakup or see where it goes, but that’s not so much my thing anyway. I like the clean amp thing, with pedals driving the dirt.
 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Sugartune
Clarity

[BillW]

Many, many years ago, (I cringe at exactly how many) I went from a large pedal board to a rack multiFX. I also went to a modded Triaxis preamp in lieu of a multi-channel head. So, now everything could be midi controlled (except for my wah pedal - the only pedal that remained). I shopped around for several different foot controllers. I actually ended up with the Behringer 1010 (!).  I played that rig live for almost 15 years...fwiw. Super simple to setup and once I had it dialed in - very easy to use (just me).

[Hamer95USA]

15 hours ago, Sugartune said:

I have the head currently on a 1x12 Dr. Z cab. People who’ve never played a Dumble say it’s Dumble-like cleans. A Dumble killer. I have no idea on any of that that. 

To me though, it’s amazing. Nice, loud, fender-town cleans. Perfect amount of headroom and plenty loud in both wattages. Love them both.  Great spring. 

Pedals sound great. Drives are great. It eq’s nicely. 

I don’t/won’t use the effects loop, so no comment there.
 

it’s relatively new to me (a month), and I haven’t had it out with the band yet, but I will soon, and I have a feeling it will replace my current amp in that role.

I really do like it. Haven’t been able to crank it enough to get much breakup or see where it goes, but that’s not so much my thing anyway. I like the clean amp thing, with pedals driving the dirt.
 

 

Cool guitar rig! I would use the effects loop for the chorus/delay/reverb type effects and the whole thing with 4 cable method (4CM). I'm currently using a Reverend Kingsnake 20/60 watt 1x12 combo amp loaded with a Celestion G12-65 speaker as my clean pedal platform. I love the sound of the amp, didn't cost as much as the boutique amps, like the 4 band EQ/effects loop/tube reverb/Schizo voicing switch. It originally had a Jensen Neo 12-100 100 watt speaker in it. It has a tight sound, can handle the wattage of the amp, but it's bright & clear for me. I wanted a more British sound, a darker tone to work with, and make the amp sound good when I set it just before making it breakup. The Celestion G12-65 speaker does it for me. 

[Sugartune]

On 9/14/2023 at 4:06 PM, Hamer95USA said:

Cool guitar rig! I would use the effects loop for the chorus/delay/reverb type effects and the whole thing with 4 cable method (4CM). I'm currently using a Reverend Kingsnake 20/60 watt 1x12 combo amp loaded with a Celestion G12-65 speaker as my clean pedal platform. I love the sound of the amp, didn't cost as much as the boutique amps, like the 4 band EQ/effects loop/tube reverb/Schizo voicing switch. It originally had a Jensen Neo 12-100 100 watt speaker in it. It has a tight sound, can handle the wattage of the amp, but it's bright & clear for me. I wanted a more British sound, a darker tone to work with, and make the amp sound good when I set it just before making it breakup. The Celestion G12-65 speaker does it for me. 

I’ve got a G12-65 in my cab, too. I like it a lot. 

Reverend amps were always intriguing to me for those same reasons, but never had an opportunity with any. 

Sounds like it would be great.