ADA Gear Combined with Guitar Synth?

[Harley Hexxe]

Richard,

I have the download already, I just need to install it in my desktop. It's on my old laptop at the moment.

   The guitar effects are pretty standard, and typical Boss quality. When I got the pedal, I downloaded everything. I'll get into that soon enough.

   Yesterday, I put away the CG-1 Strat and plugged in my Elite Strat. I'm just using the guitar effects for right now to how well I can tweak those. I hit one of the factory presets, "CLEAN 2" and did a little tweaking with that and started playing Bryan Adams "Run To You." The tone, the vibe, the feel and everything else was spot on! I had the period correct guitar, (that one has a vibe like no other guitar I own) and had a blast just playing it though my interface. If I plug that into my two SF Twins, I'll wake up the whole Boulevard.

   I'll get into the deep editing more when I'm not having so much fun just wailing away through it. I can see this GP-10 as a possible multi-effects pedal a little more now. I think maybe I should set up some guitar tones and effects that are more pleasing to my ears first, then see how I can embellish those with some synth tones. Most of the factory settings aren't really that good.

I have to admit, starting out with a really good guitar goes a long way to navigating an unknown piece of gear like this.

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, (I think maybe I should set up some guitar tones and effects that are more pleasing to my ears first, then see how I can embellish those with some synth tones.) that sounds like a really good approach  .  And maybe try your MP-2 with the GP-10 in the stereo loop and cab sim outs into your interface  .  Anyway, glad to hear you are having fun  :whoohoo!: .

[Dante]

Run To You: That is a CLASSIC Strat single coil tone! I used to play that all the time in the 80s with my Ibanez Roadstar II, which had some very nice single coil tones, but the action was higher than a redwood (I didn't know anything about setting up a guitar at the time)

I think you're right by starting with the best guitar voice, then adding effects to suit your taste. 

[Harley Hexxe]

Richard,

   Actually, I think running it into the effects loop of any of the preamps might not be such a good idea, (at least for the synth sounds). If I use it just as a guitar processor for effects, that might be okay, but it doesn't have the outputs to separate them. It would sound better if I sent those outputs directly to its own power amp and cabs. The GP-10 has a guitar input and guitar output, then it has a left (mono) and right output that combines the guitar and synth tones in it. If I use any kind of preamp at all with the combined tones, I think a channel strip on a mixing desk would be the way to go. Any of the ADA preamps would be too powerful and probably not sound too good. I might give it a go just to try it, but honestly, I'm not optimistic.

   I didn't buy this pedal to use it with any existing amp set up originally, I wanted to see if it would work as a stand-alone amp-less fly rig. I'm just trying to figure out which set up will work best for me. For me, tone is everything. I just have to figure out the right way to edit this to get the best sounds out of it. I'll admit though, having all these options can be a little distracting.

[Harley Hexxe]

Dante,

  Yeah, Run To You has a very definite single coil sound to it, but it's combined with a chorus and slight slap back delay and reverb. The chorus in the GP-10 was a little slow, but it was better when I sped up the rate a little, and it nailed that tone with my Elite.

   That Roadstar II is a pretty good quality guitar, highly underrated at the time. That was before Ibanez got endorsements from some high profile players I guess. The CG-1 still has the stock pickups in it, and they're not even Fender pickups. I think they are Roland single coils with ceramic magnets, and the guitar isn't set up either, so the action is much higher than my Fender guitars.
I'm going to wait until I have all the hardware and pickups to install in it before I set it up. It's going to be a little tricky as I will have to set the string radius according to the curve of the hexaphonic pickup instead of the fretboard radius. Then I have to set the sensitivity for each string on that pickup. (This is the guitar I want to use the Vega-trem on with a LSR roller nut and locking tuners). I may even have my local luthier shave the neck into a "v" profile. As for the pickups, I'm trying to decide if I want to go with the Zexcoil hybrid set or one of the single coil sets. I think I'll go with the hybrid set and use a push-push volume pot to tap into single coil mode. I like versatility in my guitars.

   Out of all my guitars, I really like the Elite more than the others. Don't get me wrong, they all sound very good and have a different character that is unique to each one, and I can't get any one of them to sound like the other ones, even my two "stock" Strats are noticeably different. I suppose if I found a set of Strat pickups from the early 80s, I could make my '57 RI sound close, but I like the vintage 60s pickups that are in it now. It'll take some time, but I'll eventually play all my guitars through this pedal and see what it does with each one.

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, quite a journey  .  When I mentioned using the GP-10 in the loop it was in response to you saying you wanted to just try the FX on their own (no synth mixed in), and it struck me as a good way to get great guitar tones (MP-2) and see how the FX compare with your rack FX.  Also good for recording as the cab sim outs on the MP-2 do a very reasonable job, they are also very useful if you wanted to use full range monitors or do a direct desk feed. 

But obviously, if you are to use it as a nice small fly away rig, you need to get the guitar tones humming and then add stuff to that.  From what you've said/experienced so far, it would seem you need to do a hybrid setup, guitar into one amp, synth stuff etc. into its own dedicated amp(s).  BTW how does it do guitar sounds? are they modelled?

[Harley Hexxe]

Richard.

First let me say this so there is no confusion, the effects in the GP-10 are typical Boss pedal effects quality. I wouldn't waste time doing A/B comparisons with my rack gear because it's not even close. Think of comparing a Boss pedal like the CE-2 with the chorus in your MP-2. Are they close? Not even in a thunderstorm.

This does do some modelled guitar sounds with certain synth combinations as I mentioned earlier, and these guitar tones actually get in the way of the overall sound when I have my actual guitar tone mixed in, or split to a separate amp. I'll need to edit that out. The reason being is because with the modelled guitar tones it's set to one sound, one pickup, one voice.  Switching pickups on my guitar does not change the sound of the modelled guitar. I suppose in a limited number of situations that might be a good thing, but for the most part, it gets in the way. These guitar sounds only come into play when I have the 13-pin din cable connected.

I would need to use the 13-pin cable if I wanted to do alternate tunings, or simulated capo tunings and then the guitar works like a normal guitar, meaning it isn't modelled, just processed. Listening to it by itself, I can hear a bit of a difference from the original guitar tone, but in a live mix, I think that would be hidden a bit more.

Speaking of a journey, last night I was trying a couple more guitars in the GP-10. I tried the seafoam green one in it, and it definitely comes through with it's own personality. That one is a perfect guitar if you want to cop SRV or Eric Johnson tones. Definitely a Texas Blues guitar, so that didn't last too long. Then I picked out my 1983 '57 RI Strat and took that for a ride, and I think I'm the one who went on a ride instead...right back down to the early eighties again and this time I was having a blast playing I Want A New Drug, and Working For a Living by Huey Lewis and the News. I was in the "Crunch 2" preset with the boost and chorus w/delay effect added and I was nailing those tones to the wall! That was so much fun because I haven't played those songs since 1986. I think both of my 1983 Fender guitars might be the best ones out of all of them. The crunch tone was definitely there, but with a lot of clarity and articulation. This tells me that there a lot of possibilities with this pedal to get some really useful live tones. It has good clean tones, and it has good crunch and distortion tones, so that's a start.

  As we both said, I may not be able to get away from the hybrid rig concept to get good articulation between the guitar and synth tones. That could happen with a very small rack that has an extra power amp and one of my Rane SM-26 mixers in it. Send two feeds to the guitar cabs and two feeds to the synth cabs with level and panning control for each. Oh well...there went the fly rig idea 

[Harley Hexxe]

Just a quick update.

I've put this pedal on hold for the last several weeks due to other daily life items that need some immediate attention.
I've had to replace a wheel bearing in the truck and replace the water pump. It's back on the road again, but now, I also need a wheel bearing in the Impala as well, not to mention several other items that I'm currently working on. What is it with GM and their bearings? 

[Dante]

I guess they're like Mopar seals....always seeping oil. Bearings are way more 'fun' to change than a valve cover gasket tho, I don't envy you

[Harley Hexxe]

The Impala will be a lot easier than the Rust-a-Rado, at least I hope so. I also need to replace the front rotors and maybe some suspension parts too. After 5 years, I guess it's time.