Can't decide whether to go G-System or not - long-term decision thread

Cacofonix

It seems that there is a very mixed response to the G out there.

Some say it's killer, others that it has volume jumps and dated, buggy firmware.

But, it covers delay, mod and pretty much everything else.  I don't need it for amp switching, but looking at it and the 4CM system, it seems that you need a rack and a floorboard at the same time, to avoid long cable runs.

But it is mega versatile, and once mastered, it seems like it could do just about anything.

I have been looking for separate effects, because I have a great drive, but no delay or mod (Boss CE5 is fine, but that's all there is up to press), so I was wondering if any forumites had a definitive answer. 

There's one up on ebay now, but it will be several months before I could afford to buy, even second-hand, unless I start to offload existing stuff. 

Quandary.

viz

It's awsome but a bit of a kafuffle.

John_P

I usually run mine in 4cm without a rack - i have a loom from my pedal board to my amp.  Mine has patches to suit either of my main gigging amps - 4cm with the evh, G sys in front with a fender twin.

I have the amp in loop3 with a zendrive and pinnacle in in loops and two and a decimator noise gate in loop 4.  I use midi to change amp channels. This gives a ton of options with drive from the amp or pedals and the gat only on patches that need it.

It's not as hard to program as some people would make it but it isn't as intuitive as most other multifx I've tried.
I've done a lot of gigs with it through a number of amps - mesa dual rec + triple rec, H&K switchblade + triamp, marshall jubilee, fender twin etc etc and the G system will be the centre of my rig until something better that can do the job comes along.

The mod and delay effects are stunning with most options covered.  For me it's the combination of assignable loops and quality of effects alongside super heavy duty construction and reliablity that makes it a keeper.

The downsides
- setting it up isn't quick enough that I can edit during a gig - that said most things I would want to edit are external to the G (pedals, amp settings) so I can live with that.
- weight, my pedalboard is heavier than my fender twin but I could make better use of an exp pedal instead of a dedicated wah and volume pedals, or separate the pedal and brain
- crowded sockets, there isn't a lot of space to fit all the cables in the back if you're using all the loops but that would apply to any programable loop pedal system.

iirc Drew felt the switching wasn't as instant as he wanted but for me it's as fast as anything I've used and very smooth.

I haven't come across any volume jumps but I can see how they could arise if you don't set up the loop levels correctly and I've never had any glitches or software bugs but maybe I've been lucky.

Anything more specific you want to know about using one, fire away...  one last thought - if you don't need drive pedals stored in loops/patches then I'd be very tempted to get another Nova system but control it via a midi board to stop the annoying patch switching delay.

Cacofonix

Thank you for your detailed comment.  A loom is a good idea, which I'd not thought of.

Noted with the Nova system.  I'd heard that midi switching is instant but switching on the pedal is delayed.  Weird.   I'd be using a Tube factor for drive in one of the loops, so wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks again.  Food for thought here.

Axe_meister

I love my G-system. The combination of loops midi and relays make it killer.
However it is not plug and play. You need time to get it all working well.
It is also a victim of it's own success. You keep thinking, "great I got this working now lets go one stage further, damn not possible"

drwiddly

Fantastic build quality and superb effects but ultimately it was too heavy and just too much of a faff for me, so I sold it on. I went on to use a Digitech GSP1101 in 4CM and the worked really well for me (you do need either the C2 foot controller or a midi board though).

The FX in the GSP are not as 3D as the G System but they're very good plus you have modelled drive pedals, modelled amps and user configureable IR's to feed your PA (with the C63 beta firmware). I appreciate that it's not as 'sexy' as the G System but I found it far easier to set up and easier to use live for very little loss of quality.

Cacofonix

drwiddly said:

Fantastic build quality and superb effects but ultimately it was too heavy and just too much of a faff for me, so I sold it on. I went on to use a Digitech GSP1101 in 4CM and the worked really well for me (you do need either the C2 foot controller or a midi board though).

The FX in the GSP are not as 3D as the G System but they're very good plus you have modelled drive pedals, modelled amps and user configureable IR's to feed your PA (with the C63 beta firmware). I appreciate that it's not as 'sexy' as the G System but I found it far easier to set up and easier to use live for very little loss of quality.

I need to audition this.  Thanks for the heads up.

ragingben

I've never used the G so take what I say as you will, but I used the Nova for around 9 months and found the firmware reasonably solid, but there were some big bugs which TC still refuse to fix, and for that reason I'd be a tad wary and investigate firmware complaints quite a lot as they aren't likely to get fixed.

Axe_meister

Btw you can do some really cool stuff with an expression pedal and a nova drive.
A nova drive is controllable from the G-system.
Tonight I set up patch that does the following.
Switches my amp to OD channel. Switches in a Marshall Govn'r pedal. Switches the Nova drive on (not even in a loop, just on the input.
With my heel down on the expression pedal I just have a nice warm soft drive (nova drive gain at zero volume at 1/2) as I put my toe down the gain and the volume on the nova drive increases, the delay mix goes from 0 to 50% as does the detune mix. Giving me a really nice medium gained lead sound with a bit of echo and I've only used one patch. Also there is no big jump on volume, just a nice gradual lead in.

Cacofonix

OK.  I saw one today whilst out to buy a £20 power supply.  To cut a long story short, anyone got any loadable presets for a G System?

Figured out the basics of programming, and now have a 94 page Laird manual to read.  I am pleased, to say the least.  I have been GASing for one of these for years now.  It has, unfortunately, completely exhausted my GAS fund.

I'm still happy, though.

Alnico

Cacofonix said:

OK.  I saw one today whilst out to buy a £20 power supply.  To cut a long story short, anyone got any loadable presets for a G System?

Figured out the basics of programming, and now have a 94 page Laird manual to read.  I am pleased, to say the least.  I have been GASing for one of these for years now.  It has, unfortunately, completely exhausted my GAS fund.

I'm still happy, though.

Impulse spending vast sums of money - there is almost no feeling like it, well done that man.

I personally couldn't live without my stompboxes, or "Sweets" as my wife calls them, but if you're happy and you know it clap your hands (Or make a patch that will do hand claps for you).

welshboyo

Scott at GSystemVideos on youtube (he's also on the TC forum as guitarted I think) is the guy, either follow his tutorials on youtube or you can request the patches from him.

Be careful with the Vysor software though, its full of bugs and will mess with some settings without you knowing about it....it did for me anyway!!

Cacofonix

welshboyo;234516" said:

Scott at GSystemVideos on youtube (he's also on the TC forum as guitarted I think) is the guy, either follow his tutorials on youtube or you can request the patches from him.



Be careful with the Vysor software though, its full of bugs and will mess with some settings without you knowing about it....it did for me anyway!!

Yes it did. Randomised volumes throughout the system. Crashed 8 times till I found out about not writing to blank patches. Amazingly complex system though.

If you put a gate on the o/d patch, when switching channels from loud clean to a drive with a fuzzbox, it doesn't do that split second "fuzzbox boosting clean massively before amp switch - ear punch" thing. Just saying.

I lost several hours last night just tweaking.

welshboyo

I too lost many hours staring at that little green screen, great bit of kit IMO, but with me gigging quite a lot now, I needed to down-weight the rig a bit so I've gone back to pedals/PT..

Must say though that the G did everything I needed + more..

Cacofonix

welshboyo said:

I too lost many hours staring at that little green screen, great bit of kit IMO, but with me gigging quite a lot now, I needed to down-weight the rig a bit so I've gone back to pedals/PT..

Must say though that the G did everything I needed + more..

When/if I get out again, I will do what one guy did, and put thumb-screws on the end fins.  they can then detach and you can bolt the floor unit to racking.  I'll put racking on the wheeled cab and make it wheelable as a single unit.