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[Soloist]

I just picked up one of these as an upgrade/trade in for my Digitech DSP256XL, holy shit this thing is awesome! Anybody else using one for live gigs? What are your impressions? Any tips or tricks you've learned? I set up my first patch in just a few minutes, very easy to program. I wish I would have spent the coin earlier on it.

[rnolan]

MikeB has one in his MP1 rack, he uses an ART Split mix to mix it in in parallel and has his GCS3 in the MP1 loop for recording, rehearsing at my place. IIRC there quite a few others here who use a GMaj, very well appointed unit.

[MikeB]

Hi soloist,
the first thing to do is to install the editor on your pc
http://www.tcelectronic.com/g-major-2/support/
this is a great to for programming your g major 2 and also acts as a library
there is also a forum
http://forum.tcelectronic.com/forum/13/gmajor-2/
you should be able to find all kinds of stuff in there.
You'll need a usb to midi interface cable. I use a cheap one and it has been fine so far.   MJMP warns against these as i think he has lost data in the past with one that failed.

I haven't got too involved in the forum or in other people's patches myself. I have preferred to tinker with it and chase the sound i have in my head, but it is definitely worth looking at other people's patches to get ideas of what is possible.

You'll want a midi controller with an expression pedal or two. It's also good to have something that can send CC messages so that you can turn effects blocks on and off.

I started out going serial ie. from my mp1 into the g major 2 then to the power amp.  I have since put the gm2 into a parallel loop using an ART splitmix. This preserves the mp1 tone. I don't like the gm2 ad/da conversion and how that affects my mp1 tone.  However, by doing this i have reduced the capability of the gm2.  I can no longer use an expression pedal as a global volume control, and the filter effects & noise gate are so heavily compromised as to be useless. .
I did once come across a device that creates a parallel loop and has a relay switch input to switch off the dry signal.   This would have worked well as the gm2 has some relay outputs that could have controlled that. They were mono so you would need two. I haven't been able to find them since so i can't try them out. Why didn't i bookmark the page??

I have also found that i get better results by using the parallel routing of effects within the gm2, although I'm sure this is just personal preference.

I love the reverb, delay and the phaser.  Haven't found a flange setting that i like yet and i have yet to master the pitch shifter.  I prefer the mp1 chorus to the gm2.  I haven't yet created a patch that i am confident to post and say "this sounds great".  Also, because i run it in a parallel loop with the kill-dry setting on, my patches wouldn't suit most people. I can say that i do like to set up a massive reverb and then use the expression pedal to control the reverb level so it is relatively easy to increase/decrease the reverb within a song without having to change patches.

Good luck, have fun and if you come up with a killer patch, let me know.
Mike

[MikeB]

OK, so i couldn't let it go and i had to figure out what this parallel loop box thingy was. I think that the one i found was the Suhr Minimix II.
so in order to go stereo (and why wouldn't you want to) you would have to buy 2.  They go for around $250 Australian so i guess i must have made the decision to save 400 dollars and go with the ART Splitmix.  If i came across a spare $500 then i would probably change to this solution.
One of the other main differences is that the ART is passive so there is some volume loss.

[Soloist]

Hi Mike, thanks for your input! I did already download the editor and have the midi to usb cable. I did load 40 some patches from the TC vault. (most need tweaking but have great potential).
 As for my rig signal flow, basically I am mixing a JMP 1 and an MP1 in stereo thru my alesis mixer, the intellifex and xpression are in the fx loop of the mixer.(Stereo as well), and the G major2 lies behind the mixer prior to my power amp. All in stereo. I agree on the chorus of the gm2 but I use the intellifex 8 voice chorus instead. 
The noise gate on gm2 is hands down better than rocktrons hush, more transparent more adjustable. It even quites my MP1 hum!!
Reverbs are beautiful, delays are very good.
Trying to use the pitch shifter to detune -11 to -13 cents for that "wider" 80's sleaze/glam metal tone. It's getting close trying to figure out the feedback and delay settings.
I definitely want to get a better midi controller. For now I am using my mc1 and midi mapping the presets. Pain in the ass but it works. (need to save up after getting the gm2)

[Soloist]

Well my beloved G Major 2 finally f*cked me. Luckily I wasn't at a gig. Saturday we were hammering out a new set list and rehearsing some songs and all of a sudden the gm2 switched itself to user preset 70 and locked up. I don't even have that preset programmed into any of my midi set list!! WTF?
So I opened it up everything looked good, all chips and connectors were secure. Buttoned it up, turned it on.......still froze on #70. So I powered it down plugged in my USB to Midi cable to my laptop and powered it up. Same bullshit. By now I have wasted 30 minutes and mad as hell! I held the recall button while powering up connected to the laptop(hard reset) now it did the auto midi dump to the laptop, ok I thought at least it did something so when the upload finished I reset the settings to factory default and cleared the kernel, then deleted program 70 and powered down. Powered up spend 5 minutes changing factory settings to mine ( I keep all settings hand written in a notebook for all my gear) and played a few more hours then and an hour today with no more issues. Anybody have anything similar happen??? Was the kernel stuck in a loop?? I don't know if I can fully trust that this wont happen again.

[rnolan]

Often an appliance will need it's OS flushed from time to time. I've not come across this one before though and music gear seems more reliable than some other gadgets. First thought is check the battery, just in case ?? The trust aspect is the hard one...

[Soloist]

Often an appliance will need it's OS flushed from time to time. I've not come across this one before though and music gear seems more reliable than some other gadgets. First thought is check the battery, just in case ?? The trust aspect is the hard one...

I agree with O/S flush for smart phones and such but never had to for any guitar gear. To the best of my knowledge the GM2 has no internal battery. Waiting to hear back from TC Electronics but from what I understand their support sucks.

[rnolan]

I was thinking about it earlier and was going to suggest contacting them, hope they can help but often other users are a better source.  Are there any firmware upgrades/patches for it ? have you done any already ? It sounds a bit like a memory leak, which a flush fixes until it builds up again. Most of these gadgets are probably running a cut back version of Linux, so it's just like any computer in some ways. If it has no internal battery it must be using flash ram, changing that may be the fix ?? and isn't that hard to locate and change (bit like a SD card).

[Soloist]

It is running the latest firmware, loaded at the factory. A memory leak sounds like the most likely culprit. I still haven't heard back from TC Electronics yet. Now yesterday I put it to the test had it on for 8 hours, played for awhile off and on through out the day. I could not get it to lock up. So I know heat is not the issue. Here's the strange part, it sounds crisper, the effects are more pronounced and clearer with more definition. It actually sounds better . I did have to tweak a few presets but other than that it sounds killer.
I read on TC's forum some claim the ribbon cable causes this but I never open it to wiggle the cable or anything so I don't think that is my issue. I cant believe a pro piece of gear would do this. Brian May and Kirk Hammett use this same unit but then again they probably have a back-up and a back-up back-up. maybe it's time to look into a G Force!

[MarshallJMP]

Well i have a G force,it's more then 10 years old and it never let down.Quality is a lot better then G majors.(sound too)

[Soloist]

OK, so I did hear back from TC Electronics tech support. Their answer is Midi buffer overload. Clear all CC commands and reprogram Midi switcher and CC commands. So that's basically what I did with clearing the kernel and re-entering my settings. Supposedly when I originally programmed it I only programmed 8 different CC commands i.e. Delay on/off, pitch shifter on/off ect. The ones I didn't use like filter I left at #32 CC or whatever it was which was my mistake. Unused CC's in the G major 2 need to be set to OFF. The manual doesn't tell you that, plus I'm sure I was anxious to get it up and running originally. I double checked and I did set unused CC's to off this time so lesson learned. However I still have G.A.S. for a G Force (wanted one for a while). Time to start saving up!

MJMP do you have an artist card for yours?

[rnolan]

Good to hear, Mike's here at the moment so good tip for him, although he thinks his unused CCs are turned off.

[MarshallJMP]

However I still have G.A.S. for a G Force (wanted one for a while). Time to start saving up!

MJMP do you have an artist card for yours?

Start saving you won't regret it.

Well yes and no,i don't have the original card but i took a copy of one and put it on a card i bought.If you ever need the presets i have them.

Another great thing about the G force is that it supports the ADA MXC controller.Just one push on a button and you're G force is set to take commands from the MXC.Saves you a lot of programming.
But also supports these pedals.

1.ADA MXC
2.ART X-15 Ultrafoot
3.CAE (Custom Audio Electronics) RS-10
4.DMC (Digital Music Corporation) Ground Control
5.Lexicon MPX R1
6.Rocktron All Access
7.Roland FC-200

[Soloist]

Does it support Voodo Labs Ground Control Pro? I would assume so, being its a better controller than some on your list.

Used G Force seems to be going for around $500, so I'm half way there. I could probably sell a few pieces of mine to come up with the rest! It would be too hard to squeak a new one at $1600 past the wife

Thanks for offering the presets, after I get one more than likely I will hit you up for those