woo hoo! digitech control 2 incoming

mr-mac

I know it's no that exciting for most but I am excited.  My Control 2 floorboard for my GSP1101 is on it's way to me as we speak.  Really looking forward to having a wee play and getting it all.set up as I want.

Next job is either a valve rack preamp or some sort of compact valve amp that will work nicely with it either as pre or 4cm in case of amp.

So far thoughts are JMP1, ADA rack valve pre thingy or a Tubemeister 18.  1st two have advantage of midi control (which I can program into gsp so when I change preset with foot it also changes preset on valve pre.  Tubmeister has advantage of being able to DI after its power amp without a cab as an alternative  to DI from GSP (although will want at minimum a midi to 1/4" adapter thingy so can control channel of H&k through gsp).  The wee blu Amp one also looks very interesting but by time I add the midi adapter thing reckon it's out of accessible price for me.

John

digitalscream

There's also the Rocktron Piranha and Voodu Valve, although my vote would always be for the ADA MP-1.

mr-mac

Yeah, between jmp1 and ada mp-1 myself.  Although ada seen as big hair metal have heard some epic blues and clean tones produced from them

digitalscream

mr-mac said:

Yeah, between jmp1 and ada mp-1 myself.  Although ada seen as big hair metal have heard some epic blues and clean tones produced from them

Yeah, you can get pretty much anything from the MP-1, short of full-on droptuned metal (it's a bit too smooth for that). The only issue I found with mine was that the input buffer clipped a bit with insanely-hot pickups.

mr-mac

Not gonna be an issue on really high quality PAF copy pickups then... Iirc the Ada has midi control doesn't it? So I can use my gsp to switch presets?

mr-mac

Thanks for advice ada has been on radar for a while

digitalscream

mr-mac said:

Not gonna be an issue on really high quality PAF copy pickups then... Iirc the Ada has midi control doesn't it? So I can use my gsp to switch presets?

Yeah, you should be fine with those pickups. I was using a Bill & Becky L500XL, which is bonkers (about the same overall output as a Hot Rails).

And yes, it does have MIDI control. If you get one with the v2 firmware, the MIDI implementation is slightly better (there's the SYSEX dump, which lets you back up your presets), but it doesn't make that much difference in normal use.

mr-mac

Great, now to find a good value one and good value rack tuner

bazxkr

1101 + the pedal looks a great combo......

How to you find the effects and amp models on the GSP1101 ? How would the delay/reverb compare to a TC electronics ?

I have a korg pitchblack pro 19" rack tuner & I like that.....very bright and clear (a must with my eyesight)  check out the YT demos

gearaddict

I've nearly bought the GSP1101 a few times. I now have a rack power amp and a Pod HD500x which could be pressed into service as a midi controller...even more tempting now )

digitalscream

bazxkr said:

1101 + the pedal looks a great combo......

How to you find the effects and amp models on the GSP1101 ? How would the delay/reverb compare to a TC electronics ?

I have a korg pitchblack pro 19" rack tuner & I like that.....very bright and clear (a must with my eyesight)  check out the YT demos

I found the delays much more flexible than the TC Flashback, not least because you can do a real dual-delay rather than the kinda-sorta-dual on the Flashback. The reverbs are excellent, too.

The effects are somewhat limited in terms of positioning - you can only choose to have them before the amp model (or your amp's preamp) or after - but they still sounded excellent to my ears.

In fact, the only reason I sold mine was because the rack was starting to be a bit of a pain to lug around and connect in the five minutes between bands. Were it not for that, or if I had a rack-only rig, I'd have kept it.

I wasn't all that convinced by the amp models, but then...I was comparing them to what I had in terms of the Jet City and Victory Kraken amps, which is perhaps a little unfair. If I'm honest, I didn't really spend enough time tweaking them to make a proper judgement on them.

mr-mac

bazxkr said:

1101 + the pedal looks a great combo......

How to you find the effects and amp models on the GSP1101 ? How would the delay/reverb compare to a TC electronics ?

I have a korg pitchblack pro 19" rack tuner & I like that.....very bright and clear (a must with my eyesight)  check out the YT demos

Tried a pod xt, pod HD, boss GT8 and few other things of friends.  Even compared to spider II series amps (which took me no time to dial in a selection of nice tones) I spent months and months trying to create tones for songs I was happy with.  Not carbon coppies of artists just tones I liked for songs and blues etc.  I never got close.

I was ready to give up tbh and look for a flexible enough analogue solution whether it be amp or compact head and reactive load when I noticed the GSP1101 - actuall by mistake when looking at 2012 2020 vids.  I checked out some vids online and the tones I heard sounded good.  Read some write ups where people mentioned they liked that their diff guitars tones came through rather than model sounding same regardless od guitar they used.  Even queensreiche use the gsp (apparently abroad they leave amps at home and just take gsp's). 

You will not be disappointed with the reverbs there is a selection of lexicon reverbs included (and some others) but lexicon are world class.  Not tried the delays so much yet.  three tube screemers (808, 9 & modded).  808 I find hard to tell its not a tube screamer (if live you would have no chance).  Amp models so far I like.  Triple rectifier on c63 firmware is supposed to be good enough to dump the amp. Just exploring myself but love the sounds it creates.  Instant switching between presets.  Floor pedal can be 10 mode or 5 mode with 5 stops and I can choose what the stomps do in the preset (Inc just change preset level to give a transparent volume boost).

handed my spare unit to a young sickeningly talented guitarist who helped at our jam..  He came back next week and said ffs that sounds better than my amp.  He loves it.

global eq to tune for venue (if matching to your own cab if playing that way you can switch on a global cab for all presets).  A lot said inbuilt cabs held it back but with c63 you can add 10 ir files 128 samples (it will take 256 if you leave in stereo but it only applies to one channel, which is fine for most people).  It applies stomps etc before preamp loop.  It can do 4 cable with cab switched on for xlr and off for 1/4".  Tuner is reasonable for built in c63 was updated to have hardwire pedal algorithm.

very good USB recording but it will also playback music over USB from pc (so can jam along or use as a DAC).  Nice headphone out.

I know some guys on Facebook group have gone to helix and fire thingy and come back to GSP.  Imho and have seen others say it.  Models are better out of box than an AxeFX but axefx will better it if you dig into all the large list of adjustments you can make.

Totally turned my opinion of modelling and digital guitar kit on it's head.  Also heard it played live by a few high quality players at band jam when I was stood front of house and was impressed - if I didn't know it wasn't amped id never have been able to tell.

here is a video of Chris at our jam.  He turned up with his telecaster, I went through a couple of suitable presets then adjusted treble, bass, mid and gain knobs quickly as would on a real amp.  Just filmed quickly on Dslr with built in mic..  He's guy singing and playing - remember I quickly dialled this in with just 20 seconds on stage and I play humbuckers so genuinely didn't have a nice preset ready to go that I'd made. tele https://video.fman2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t42.1790-2/16887312_399786667021413_6445632874816208896_n.mp4?efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InN2ZV9zZCJ9&oh=364b24a7710f37d3329708b94f701c6d&oe=58B8C07B

mr-mac

gearaddict said:

I've nearly bought the GSP1101 a few times. I now have a rack power amp and a Pod HD500x which could be pressed into service as a midi controller...even more tempting now )

buy s/h with the control 2... It's a superb foot unit (cat 5) no extra psu needed.  And on c63 you can control midi out on preset by preset so could control any midi valve rack preamp / midi head for 4 cable.


nothing wrong with 3rd party midi pedal but having the screen showing preset and if in stomp mode showing which effects are on and off is well handy

mr-mac

What else is cool.... How about your in a band with one guitarist... Get a second gsp and if guitar stereo (or just get an aby) and feed two gsp's then have presets that are same number on both but diff sounds/ amp models with a small delay on one.  Connect control 2 into one and midi through as on then connect to second GSP and you could have different sounds coming from both channels (sound like two rythem guitarist to fatten up bands sound) have a preset beside it with same sound for lead parts.  And your one foot controller will control both units... That's bloody cool if your a small band and that would help you fill out sound

mr-mac

Negatives? certain combos of efx canny be done due to one per block... Connor who borrowed mine said fuzz were ok but he thought weren't quite up with best pedals (but that was after his first week of use so could be he'd get better results with diff amp model/settings).  Also heard some say they weren't 100% sold on wah's but no had a chance to try yet myself as didn't have control 2.  I am willing to bank with right combo of setting for live occasional use all will work so well nobody (even guitarists) would know they weren't real pedals by ear.

quality of sound wise other manufactures have improved in recent years but digitech is still ahead of a lot.  Especially instant switching which quite a few options struggle with.  

if I had funds I wouldn't be heading for an axe fx but I'd probably have a twonotes cabinet modeller sitting in rack with gsp doing amp and effects and two notes doing cab.  But that would be an ultimate pipe dream

mr-mac

One good write up on grail tone (think c63 moves gate). http://www.grailtone.com/guitar-reviews/digitech-gsp1101-review.html

mr-mac

Most comprehensive write up I have seen that covers unit and c63in detail with lists of all amp models and effects models.  Apparently it was updated 5150 model which caused some to decide they didn't need amp any more.  Other thing touched on here which I agree with is the amp models react amazingly to light touch/roll off of the volume.  So if giving some blues a workout you get a similar reduction in gain/distortion as you would on a real amp.

you wanna read what I does and doesn't do right down to which effects are in which blocks etc this write up is superb and my ears agree with what's said here.

https://guitargentleman.com/2016/04/26/digitech-gsp1101-review/

mr-mac

For money, a bloody sleeper of highest order... S/h expect to pay £300 for gsp and control2 or 180-200 for gsp1101 alone.  Even new the gsp is avail for a little over £300 and control 2 on Amazon is just over £190 at moment.  So cheaper than x3/hd pro and floorboard s/h

Deals can be found though.  I wanted a second unit for band jam to give me a 2nd quality DI that allowed me to dial in superb tones in no time (make my life easy for new players and plenty of user prests 100 so I can give regulars a preset of their own to tweak each time they are in and fine tune what they like.

Spotted a gsp1101 on gumtree and all that was wrong was power switch didn't work (may have been disabled to stop accidents by owner before) so switches on with AC.  Cost me £80 which is epic value

bazxkr

@mr-mac thks for all the excellent information you have convinced me to join the club... I owe you a pint

mr-mac

For the money they are a no brainer tbh and nothing at price will get close.  I guess millage each individual will see may depend on music style, which models they want, and which combos of effects may be needed but really can't see anyone being really disappointed with sound quality of what it does.  Like I say based on alternatives I was gonna give up modelling as a bad joke

there is a wee gsp1101 user group on arsebook which is handy for specific questions and links to c63 updater, xedit for c63, asio drivers are on digitech site and there is an app called GIRL which allows you to load multiple IR's at same time (they will be named on screen of gsp but always show as user1-10 in xedit).  If you don't already have some fave IR's ownhammer has a free 4x12 greenback pack.  I am still looking for a really good twin reverb IR

Good luck and any questions just shout.

mr-mac

Last thing to mention.... There are odd amps (and I do mean few and far between) have an issue where they really don't get on with gsp in the loop.  This seems to be solved with one of those earth loop killer things in between gsp 1/4" out and power amp.

iirc GSP c63 has a setting to deal with amps that have a parallel loop as well