Switching Back to Pedals

[BeZo]

I was in a band and had a sweet pedalboard when this band I'm in now formed. I didn't want to use the same rig for both bands, so I built a new board. I decided to go with the Fractal FX8 to run two rigs in stereo. Now that the first band is done, I have a pile of sweet pedals (that seems to be growing). I still want to use two stacks and have the amps as the base of my tone. What is a good pedal switcher that can run four cable method to two amps in stereo and control their footswitch functions? Is the Boss ES8 enough? Should I look at Gigrig? What else is out there?

 

[griff10672]

I was in a band and had a sweet pedalboard when this band I'm in now formed. I didn't want to use the same rig for both bands, so I built a new board. I decided to go with the Fractal FX8 to run two rigs in stereo. Now that the first band is done, I have a pile of sweet pedals (that seems to be growing). I still want to use two stacks and have the amps as the base of my tone. What is a good pedal switcher that can run four cable method to two amps in stereo and control their footswitch functions? Is the Boss ES8 enough? Should I look at Gigrig? What else is out there?

I love my ES-8 ....... I'm not sure if it can do what you mentioned though .... the Gig Rig stuff seems very cool .... expensive .... but he's done some smart shit

 

[CoreyW]

So, since I own both..

The ES-8 is pretty old now (and a hell of a lot cheaper) and has gone a few years since the last update. I never tried to use the online editor since you practically need the Roland Mini connector to connect to it. Set up is pretty easy, its IMO an easier unit to get started with and Prior to the G3 line was far more capable on the midi front. I have not sold my ES-8, if I can figure out how to get 2 signals into it and both run, Ive got a pretty great idea on another use for it.

The Gigrig stuff.. is a good bit more expensive, but its also a hell of a lot more of a unit, its not as straight forward as the ES 8, but once you get the hang of it, its quicker and easier to build patches and use on the fly, they have put a lot of work in on the midi front and made significant improvements over the G2. G3 has programable buffer per preset so if you want to use buffer sensitive pedals like the Fuzzface, then the G3 is leagues ahead in that department. For your use case, the G3 will support the 2 amps better since it has a selectable phase shift that I believe operates per preset, the ES-8 you will need an external device to do that. The G3 has isolated ground for the second amp to to help eliminate a ground loop buzz from the added amp. You can edit the G3 with bluetooth connection as well, and it has received significantly more updates in its shorter lifespan than the ES8.

There are 2 versions of the G3, the G3 and the G3S.. the S has scribble strips to me I value that, but there is a top plate add on that you can pick up and swap out from the none scribble strip to the scribble strip version, but it doesnt show up often from Gigrig.

Size wise, they are comparable, I wont be home until this weekend I can check then if you would like but.. the G3 is slightly deeper, and slightly wider, I think around 1/2" deeper and maybe 1" wider.. so space wise its about the same. There are more loops on the G3 than ES8, but the jacks are closer together on the G3, I use George L's and it while they fit, it was a little tighter plugging everything up. Straight plugs would have worked a lot better, but I already had the L's.

The one thing a lot of people fail to mention.. budget a couple hundred bucks for cabeling.

Powerwise.. both can be ran from power supplies provided they have a 500+Ma tap.. the G3 likes 24v IIRC...

I did end up going with the Gigrig GenX14 power supply, since I was going to have to get a bigger supply anyway

https://shop.thegigrig.com/products/gen-x-14


The bigger the project the more I would lean towards the G3.

 

[Fusionbear]

This is my everything board.

I can run it into a clean amp or use the four cable method..

For power, the is a Cioks Ciokolate underneath powering it all cleanly.

 

[BeZo]

From my research, I can run stereo with both the Boss ES8 and the Gigrig G3. With the ES8, I would have to put my amps in loop 7, to go out to an AB-Y and come back stereo. This would only leave me one loop (loop 8) for the effects loop stuff. The Gigrig has either 12 mono or 6 stereo. Then I can have three stereo loops (amps and two effects loops in the effects loops) and still have 6 spots before the amp. Both are doable though.

 

[Jccobb2]

I think the RJM stuff is top of the heap. I have a PBC6X that does anything I could want. If you want to run dual 4CM though you need to step up to the larger model. PBC10

 

[BeZo]

I think the RJM stuff is top of the heap. I have a PBC6X that does anything I could want. If you want to run dual 4CM though you need to step up to the larger model. PBC10

The PCB-10 might be the one. That would also replace the AB-Y and has plenty of loops. I like that it has outs and in in the middle of the chain too. I could put an always on pedal, like a boost, EQ, or a compressor in that spot and not have to waste a switchable loop. Plus it has a tuner. How is the tuner? Will I miss my Peterson?

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

I was in a band and had a sweet pedalboard when this band I'm in now formed. I didn't want to use the same rig for both bands, so I built a new board. I decided to go with the Fractal FX8 to run two rigs in stereo. Now that the first band is done, I have a pile of sweet pedals (that seems to be growing). I still want to use two stacks and have the amps as the base of my tone. What is a good pedal switcher that can run four cable method to two amps in stereo and control their footswitch functions? Is the Boss ES8 enough? Should I look at Gigrig? What else is out there?

I think the RJM stuff is top of the heap. I have a PBC6X that does anything I could want. If you want to run dual 4CM though you need to step up to the larger model. PBC10

For years I used their Mini-Amp Gizmo along with a Roctron Loop 8 Floor pedal switcher and Midi-Mate in a 4 cm stereo setup with a Mesa Tremoverb and slave amp. Having all those in one box would be sweet, and well worth the price. The Mini-Amp Gizmo controlled channel switching, reverb, and trem on the amp. Though it kinda seems like this one only has two switches for controlling amp functions.

 

[stephen sawall]

If you need to reverse phase in the ES-8 or anything else that has loops you can add a patch chord with the wires reversed on one end. Put it in a loop. When you add that loop the phase is reversed.

 

[blackba]

Good luck with your pedal switcher search. I never went down that route as I don't mind tap dancing and a switcher takes up a lot of real estate on the board. I can see when coming from a Fractal FX8 how you would want a pedal switcher.

I did a pedalboard for a friend and he used a Mastermine PBC, took a bit to get the hang of it, but very powerful. This was in 2022, so likely better options out there now.

 

[DrewJD82]

There’s also the Morningstar stuff, they’ve got the ML10 loop switcher you can pair with any of their MIDI footcontrollers. The ML10 has 5 stereo loops that can be made into 2 individual mono loops. While I didn’t have the best luck with the ML5R switcher, it was mainly due to trying to use a Fuzz Face with it.

Their footswitch functionality is pretty deep and they already have the programming for a lot of popular products available so programming is a breeze.

That said, I’ll likely go with RJM for my next loop switcher.

 

[Jccobb2]

The PCB-10 might be the one. That would also replace the AB-Y and has plenty of loops. I like that it has outs and in in the middle of the chain too. I could put an always on pedal, like a boost, EQ, or a compressor in that spot and not have to waste a switchable loop. Plus it has a tuner. How is the tuner? Will I miss my Peterson?

The tuner is fine, can be configured to mute or be pass through. Easy to read on stage

 

[BeZo]

The RJM stuff is still the frontrunner for a switcher. I did check out the Morningstar stuff, but I'm not sold. However, when I was looking at the Voodoo Lab stuff, I got thinking about their HEX. What about just adding a switcher for pedals before the FX8, and switch them with MIDI with the Fractal? I can kick the boost, phaser, and compressor off the FX8 and do pedals up front, and use the FX8 more for stereo effects in the loops.

Should I go all analog and get a pedal switcher, or just expand my hybrid setup? Here is where it's at now.

 

[rsm]

all that complexity.

no thanks. Not for me.

Good luck tho'

 

[BeZo]

all that complexity.

no thanks. Not for me.

Good luck tho'

I'm going to make it worse.

Now I'm considering the Morningstar ML5 or the Voodoo Lab Hex for running pedals up front and staying digital in the loop. I'll use the FX8 to control the loops via MIDI. That's going to he a lot.

 

[VonBonfire]

Should I go all analog and get a pedal switcher, or just expand my hybrid setup? Here is where it's at now.

Is this for the Artemis mission?

 

[DanTravis62]

all that complexity.

no thanks. Not for me.

Good luck tho'

I'm with you man, that's too complex even for me

I've run an ES8 when it was needed for a board, but that was very much on the verge of "too much" even when i needed it

 

[rsm]

I'm going to make it worse.

Now I'm considering the Morningstar ML5 or the Voodoo Lab Hex for running pedals up front and staying digital in the loop. I'll use the FX8 to control the loops via MIDI. That's going to he a lot.

Probably a good idea to make it modular.

 

[Shreddy Mercury]

I'm sort of curious as well. I figure if I get a good loop switcher that will let me change the order of effects without rewiring, I could test out all different variations of modulation here, there, everywhere, etc and see what I like. Then, I could set up banks of presets for various songs and choose what effects each preset is using, like you can do with an HX Effects or any other multiple effects processor, but it be real pedals, many in analog, to keep it as undigital as possible.

 

[BeZo]

I'm sort of curious as well. I figure if I get a good loop switcher that will let me change the order of effects without rewiring, I could test out all different variations of modulation here, there, everywhere, etc and see what I like. Then, I could set up banks of presets for various songs and choose what effects each preset is using, like you can do with an HX Effects or any other multiple effects processor, but it be real pedals, many in analog, to keep it as undigital as possible.

I don't need to switch the order for my purposes. I just need to activate them via MIDI for certain patches on the FX8. If I just add a few pedals up front, I'll free up some room on the FX8 to do more weird shit in the loops. Plus, that's how I'm using it now.

It makes way more sense to add on to what I'm using now than to start over with a switcher and all pedals. Besides, most (if not all) of the stereo pedals I would use in the loops are digital anyways, and won't do the complex shit the FX8 will do.