The “B” Rig is a pedal board that can function very similar to the “A” rig rack. Even though it doesn’t quite have all the bells and whistles, it does some unique things in the design that sound fantastic!
Before I delve into the signal chain, I thought I would start at the beginning of the board, as I made some fundamental changes so that everything would fit.
I took this Furman SPB-8C pedalboard that had a bad power supply and removed it from the board. (Thank you Danny Ortega, Twitter: @_dano)
Quite simply unscrewing 10 screws from the back allows you to easily remove the silver chassis.
With the power supply removed I routed the power cable that goes to the G-Lab GSC-3 in the space.
Then, I attached the bottom of a rack drawer over the space, so I could mount on the new power supply.
I placed a CAE 401 Pedal Power supply on top of the rack. Its mounted with velcro.
As you can see from the pic, putting pedals on top of power supplies is a great use of space!
The Signal Chain:
I) Pedal Board Interface: The Guitar cable goes into a pedal board interface that I made using Nuetrik locking jacks. See Related Post: Building a Custom Pedal Board Interface
II) G-Lab GSC-3: The main “brain” of the pedal board is the G-Lab GS-3. This MIDI foot controller sports the ability to switch any combination of 6 audio loops and send program changes or control changes on 3 separate midi channels.
I spent quite of bit of time researching this unit, and I am blown away by all the features it has for the price. Not only can it do any combination of any loops, but you can program it to recall any one loop like an “instant access” button AND what really sold me was the ability to control 3-5 midi units, all on separate channels. This then allowed me to switch the Eventide Timefactor and Modfactor independently from each other. This is key if you want to be able to change commands on the fly. See Related Post: Midi Digital Linguistics
The 6 loops are each assigned to a different pedal.
Loop 1) Wahcko wah Pedal by Jam Pedals. This cherry of a boutique wah is a clone of the old Vox Wahs. It also includes a selector on the side that lets you change the sweep filter. Additionally, it rests on a TBWP Wah-Pad by G-Labs, which is pressure sensitive, so that when your foot is on the wah pedal, the loop is active.
Loop 2) S/R. Has nothing plugged into it and is used as a Send/Return just in case I wanted to add a pedal in on the fly.
Loop 3) Boss CS-3 Compressor. I wanted a compressor that could handle both
single coil and humbucker pickups. A lot of compressors really favor one or the other. For me this is an excellent choice and has a real modern compression tone whether I play a Fender Stratocaster, Paul Reed Smith, or a Gretsch Tennessee Rose.
Loop 4) Okko Diablo. This extraordinary hand-built German pedal is used for all high gain needs. I run it at 18v with the high gain switch engaged. (located on the top)
Loop 5) Timmy. The Timmy is a medium/low gain overdrive pedal that I use for “jangle” style dirt. I also run this pedal at 18v.
*note. Some pedals, especially overdrive pedals can be run at 18v. This typically gives the pedal more head room. I highly recommend trying it.
Loop 6) MXR MircoAmp. I use this for clean boost during solos. This is an amazing pedal that often goes unnoticed, its deep and responsive.
From here the guitar signal leaves the G-Labs GSC-3 and heads out to standard Boss GE-7 EQ.
Then the signal goes to a Boss FV-500H volume pedal. Also, keep in mind, that even though this pedal is passive, the buffer on the G-Labs and the Boss EQ are cranking the signal through the chain, there is no tone loss whatsoever.
The big trick section of the pedal board is the Modulation section.
So, this really is where things get a bit crazy. I thought that I would keep the dry/dirt signal separate from the modulation pedals, and then mix them back together at the end of the chain with an RJM Mini Mixer. It looks a little like this:
So, the signal goes into on the G-Labs Midi 4x Looper M4L “Y,” then the output is split four ways, A,B,C,D each feeding the input of the subsequent modulation units as well as the dry signal continuing through to the RJM mixer. This keeps the dry signal punchy.
The remaining signals are split to the final three modulation units. Each with the dry signal removed.
A) The Dry Signal: Unaffected guitar tone.
B) The Eventide Modfactor. This I use for 3 settings, each controlled via the G-labs. Chorus, Tremolo, and the Undulator. This has the dry signal removed.
C) The MXR Carbon Copy. This analog delay pedal is for slapback only and is modified to have the dry signal completely removed. See Related Post: MXR Carbon Copy Analog Wet Mod
D) Eventide Timefactor. This I use for all the delay settings. I use it for a long delay and a tap tempo 1/3 delay. This is a powerful unit capable of amazing effects. You could delve into it for months.
From here all the outputs, two stereo sends from the Eventide pedals and the one mono send from the MXR Carbon copy, rejoin the dry signal in the RJM Mini Mixer.
Pedal Lifters
I also made custom pedal lifters out of rack space covers. They provide a space for the for the cables and the midi looper.
AUX
The other two features on the pedal board are two auxiliary controllers. First the G-lab has a companion bank up/down switch which gives me 10 banks of the buttons on the G-Labs GSC-3. This allows me to expand to 10 “sets” of button combinations. (pictured above, next to the MXR Microamp). Second, set to the side of the board is a Boss FS-5U which controls the tap tempo of the Eventide Timefactor.
Conclusion:
For me this is one of the best pedal setups I’ve ever had. At the touch of a button, I can access everything on the fly. Additionally the Volume pedal footprint is second to none and the pressurized wah pedal makes leading worship AND playing that killer reverse delay solo that is drenched in wah at the same time very easy.
