Gigrig Quartermaster - fx loop

valepark · June 2019

Hi

Thinking of getting a Gigrig Quartermaster to help out with switching between different 'groups' of pedals I have, alternating between for example regular loud OD and then into a quieter crunch with stuff like a phaser and an octaver simultaneously activated and the OD pedals off.

Seriously confused with how these things play nicely with your existing pedal chain and amp FX loop.

At the moment I'm running

CHAIN ONE Tuner - Decimator G string noise suppressor - Wah - Octaver - Looper - Volume pedal

Within the noise suppression DEC loop of the decimator is

CHAIN TWO Decimator GSNS - Compressor - BD2 - Tumnus deluxe - TS9 - Fuzz - Decimator GSNS

In the amp fx loop is

CHAIN THREE Flanger- Phaser - Delay - Reverb - clean Boost

In time I'll be adding more modulation stuff.

Am I right in thinking you'd need three switchers if you wanted to simultaneously manage loops and switch pedals considering there are three somewhat separate chains going on?

For example, the fuzz when on an OD channel kills volume so when activating it I want the boost pedal simultaneously activated. They are on two separate 'loops', the fuzz in the preamp chain inside the noise reduction loop and the boost pedal at the end of the amps fx loop.

Is this possible to do or is it just too complicated?

Some of my pedals are powered by a ground lifted splitter off a VL Mondo, i.e. the phaser and flanger only draw like 20ma so they're both fed by a ground lifted splitter off one 100ma output off the Mondo. To get the ground loop kill effect the pedals need to be in sequence connected by the patch cable. Would routing through a switching system bugger all that up? Would it mess with the noise suppressors functionality?

Much appreciated!

Winny_Pooh · June 2019

Lots going on in your question. I dont understand the power question TBH. You shouldn't really get getting noise on an isolated output split once. I have 3 split power in one place on my board and no extra noise.

I use my QMX to have group chains and only run into the front of the amp. To use an effects loop you'd need to have a seperate QMX for those duties only and it can't be triggered by the first.
IMO either jeep it simple and compact and run everything into the front of the amp, or get an es-8 or g2 if you want effects loop functionality.

sgosden · June 2019

Also not quite sure I get what your saying. nut you may be better off looking at a big switcher with lots of loops and preset options. like the boss es-8 or similar.

how many pedals do you have on your board?

TimmyO · June 2019

You lost me 2 or 3 times there - can you draw a picture? :-)

valepark · June 2019

Winny_Pooh said:

Lots going on in your question. I dont understand the power question TBH. You shouldn't really get getting noise on an isolated output split once. I have 3 split power in one place on my board and no extra noise.

Sorry, I know it's complicated.

It's my understanding from what VL say that their lifted ground output splitter only works right if the two pedals you have pseudo daisy chained are directly connected together by an instrument patch cable. So for example because my phaser/flanger consume less than 100ma together, they are both powered from a single 100ma output on the VL power supply through a ground lifted splitter, and they are directly patched together in the amp fx loop.

I was just wondering if that because this direct sequence with a patch cable thing would be interrupted because we're now routing through a new switching system, would that disrupt the functionality of the ground lifted splitter and reintroduce hum/noise/ground loops. Would it also cock up the ISP decimators NS functionality because some of the OD pedals are now in the new switcher, the noise suppression loop now maybe can't work right.

Winny_Pooh said:

To use an effects loop you'd need to have a seperate QMX for those duties only and it can't be triggered by the first.

Damn, I thought so.

Winny_Pooh said:

or get an es-8 or g2 if you want effects loop functionality.

Would the boss switcher allow you to simultaneously manage/switch pedals that are both infront and in the fx loop?

sgosden said:

Also not quite sure I get what your saying. nut you may be better off looking at a big switcher with lots of loops and preset options. like the boss es-8 or similar.
how many pedals do you have on your board?

16 at the moment, including a volume pedal and ditto looper. I am planning to move these two to a seperate, nano pedalboard on which I'll also mount my amp fsw. I will be adding more to the main PB in the next few weeks so it'll end up 20+. It's a bit messy and that's why there's a massive space on the left hand side in the photo below as I'm still to add stuff to the board so everything is only in preliminary spots.

TimmyO said:

You lost me 2 or 3 times there - can you draw a picture? :-)

thanks lads.

valepark · June 2019

Double post

valepark · June 2019

Bump

sgosden · June 2019

Sell it all and get a helix

...

that's not helpful

Snags · June 2019

Can't answer all of it, but a number of loop switchers will definitely let you use loops split between "in front" and "in the FX loop", and will allow you to switch pedals in/out on one "patch" regardless of where the pedal sits in relation to your amp signal chain.

At the cheapo/simple end things like a JoYo PXL Pro will do this. If you want to rig it using 4CM then you effectively split the 8 individual loops into two sets of 4. One set goes "in the front" and one set "in the loop". But on any one patch you can program any combination of the 8 loops.

I've not used them, not being pro/insanely rich, but I'm absolutely sure the more expensive options from Boss, and the GigRig G2 will do the same thing, and almost certainly do the same thing with even more flexibility/power. Essentially, if the switcher understands about 4CM, it will be fine with switching pedals that exist in both 'segments' in one hit.

If you've got properly complex needs in terms of both power and routing, and want help from a genial (if occasionally sweary) wizard, and have pennies to throw at the solution, you could do worse then have a talk to Mr @CustomPedalBoards ; ...

valepark · June 2019

Cheers!

After hours of research, I think I've worked out how it could work, with a Gigrig G2.

Guitar>Tuner>Wah>C9>Octaver>G2 input

Snd 1 / Compressor / Rtn 1

Snd 2 / ISP decimator / BD2 / Tumnus / Rtn 2

Snd 3 / Fuzz / TS9 / Rtn 3

etc etc...... until Snd/Rtn 7 is plugged in, then going OUT to the Amp input via a looper and volume pedal on the way

Then using the volume loop 4 cable method thing to insert the amp fx loop after Snd/Rtn 7

Using Snd/Rtn 8, 9 and 10 for delay, reverb and boost in the amp fx loop

Doing this would keep the ISP decimator reigning in the worst of the noise from two of the OD pedals, all the pedals in roughly the right config with the important stuff correctly in the amp fx parallel loop, and the G2 comes with a "free" generator power supply so after buying a gigrig distributor for £35 that plus the VL Mondo should cover the entire board without the ground loop splitter problem coming up.

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Gigrig Quartermaster - fx loop

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