Guitar Rack
It's taken me years to find a guitar setup that I'm completely happy with. More often than not I can get a great sound from my guitar cabinet only to be let down by the sound going out through the PA system.
I've experimented using microphones on guitar cabinets but have got mixed results, especially when the PA sound depends on both the system and the skill of the engineer. As a result I've concluded the best solution is to recreate my live guitar cabinet sound using line level direct injection methods. After many unsatisfactory trials I have finally got the ideal solution using the following equipment:
- Guitars
I have been using the same guitars for approximately the last 15 years. The oldest (at approx 20 years) is my original USA Charvel Dinky which sadly to say is slowly giving up the ghost, and will be retired in the near future. This guitar is a joy to play and still amazingly does not need a re-fret. They don't build them like that anymore.
More often than not I can be seen playing my 12 year old Gibson Les Paul Standard, which I selected from about 22 as having the greatest sustain and sweetest tone. This guitar is getting better and better.
Finally, I have an Ovation roundback which occassionally makes an appearance at acoustic gigs.- Marshall JMP1
- I've used a JMP1 pre-amp for the last 12 years. The sound through a guitar cabinet is excellent, but the compensated outputs are a bit harsh. In my setup, the guitar is plugged into the JMP1 first, to provide marshall warmth and thickness prior to plugging into the V-Amp. It makes the V-Amp more responsive to the tone of the guitar being used. I also have the flexibility to use the Marshall distortion rather than the V-Amp.
- Behringer V-Amp Pro
- The V-Amp is undoubtedly the answer to my PA System problems. The speaker emulation is absolutely wonderful. In my setup, the V-amp is the central component. It is the root of the midi system, and provides the sound for a majority of my patches. The line outputs go to the Marshall 8080 Power Amp, and the compensated XML outputs provide an identical guitar cabinet sound to a PA mixing desk. In addition, it provides FX, noise gate facilities and an FX loop for my secondary FX system.
- Akai Deca-Buddy
- The Deca-Buddy is a low cost intelligent harmoniser. Primarily aimed at vocals, I've set it up to take a compressed FX send from the V-Amp and output up to 8 separate harmonies. Handy for doing Brian May impressions, the octaver function is wicked. As no FX are present on input, the output sound is routed to the Quadraverb.
- Alesis Quadraverb
- The Quadraverb is brilliant for the fact that it doesn't colour the input at all (it just adds the FX). This is the secondary FX unit in my system and provides reverbs and delays, primarily when the Deca-Buddy is used.
- Marshall 8080 Power Amp
- The 8080 is switchable from solid state to Valvestate. In my setup it is always used on Valvestate to generate added warmth. The amp is 80W stereo, and has more than volume than I've ever needed. I usually get asked to turn down (more often than not by drummers).
Marshall 1922 Guitar Cabinet- I've used the 1922 cabinet for the last 12 years. It gives out the tight punchy sound I like and is one of the lightest Marshall cabinets around. Most often, the cabinet is my stage monitor, with the PA system doing most of the work regarding volume. It is always easy to find the sweet spot with this cabinet for feedback etc.
- Behringer FC100 Midi Foot Controller - Jim Dunlop Wah-Wah
The FC100 is a piece of equipment whose potential I have not yet fully explored. It has ten latch pedals (more than enough for live performance), a page up and page down pedal and two assignable volume/modulation/FX controllers. At present I'm using only the volume controller, but will soon work out how to add the second as a speed controller for rotary speaker/chorus/delay FX. The Wah-Wah is just a standard pedal that I would not be without. Even though I have programable Wah-Wah FX in the V-Amp, it does not come close to the sound of the real thing.
Midi Setup
Midi signals are sent from the FC100 to the V-Amp to change the patches I've programmed.
From the V-Amp the midi instruction is relayed to the JMP1 where a second set of Midi mapping is stored allowing common setups to be constructed using the Deca-Buddy and Quadraverb.
The setup allows me to create common reverb/delay patches in the secondary FX that the various patches of the V-Amp can be routed to. This is very handy for setting patches up quickly, especially when constructing harmony sound and multi-FX combinations.
Rack Signal Setup
The signal routing for my rack isn't that complicated. A lot of time and effort has gone into making sure that levels between the various units are set correctly, and the patches are set up to allow for volume descrepancies when using different pre-amp settings.
What has amazed me which I must pass on, is how cheap you can build a rack similar to this, - and it really does sound great! If you want more information, or have any questions or comments, please contact me.