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Looper's Delight
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My attitude towards gear schleppage goes back and forth like a pendulum. Since I like to use a wide variety of instruments, that entails carrying a lot of stuff, and then of course it goes to figure that if I *have* a processor, it might as well be wired in and accessible, so the rack/pedalboard grows exponentially. Guitars in different tunings on stands, spares for things I use a lot... It's great; everything I use is at my feet or fingertips. My solution to the setup time problem is (like many of you also do) to use a pedalboard and a rack where everything, mixer and all, stays wired; just pop 'em out of their cases, plug in a couple of cords, and you're ready to go. My full rig only takes about five minutes to set up. Once it's transported, that is... (You can see it in the photos section at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pedalboards/>) One downside, though, is the effect that the sheer bulk and weight of such a system has on spontaneous creativity. I live in a second-story apartment. If a friend calls and says "Let's play", it's a fairly major deal to transport the full rig alone, even if the actual setup is efficient. And, depending on the gig, I don't always need multi-instrument looping capability. Since the rack/pedalboard system is pretty involved and a lot of work went into it, I've been reluctant to tear it apart to 'smallerize' it, and then not have the full setup as an option. But I've just found a happy medium; without disassembling the big board (with its built-in power supplies and routed cabling), I've just built a smaller one (24" x 19") into which I can pop selected pedals. Right now it consists of (in order) a Rolls 4-in 1-out passive mixer, an ancient Guyatone Z-II overdrive, an EQ, a Mister CryBaby volume/wah, a Boss delay (a PS-2 which isn't working correctly, so this might be a DD-3), a DigiTech DigiVerb whose two outputs go to a Headrush and an RC-20, each of which go to a small 1-12" combo amp. There's a power suppy, an AC strip and a little output box on the board as well, and the cover fits onto it so it carries like a suitcase. It's all carpeted so the pedals velcro right down to it. If I want to use the full system, all I have to do is put the pedals back on... So... I've been getting into working with the limitations imposed by using a smaller rig. One thing I really miss is the ability to fade non-synched loops in and out with the mixer, but I (sort of) found a work-around this morning. I took some 1.5" rubber protective feet <http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/product.CFM?BaseItem=TCH%2D1603> and pressed them down onto the 'level' controls of the Headrush and the RC-20. (I made little indicator labels for them so I can see the setting.) Now I can fade the loop in or out with the side of my foot while playing! It had annoyed me that neither of these pedals have separate wet/dry outs, but this way it works to my advantage as when I fade out one of the loopers, the straight signal is still going through the other one. It's not full-range, and therefore not suited to looping multi-instruments, but for a simple guitar looping rig, it's working pretty well. I'll post a shot of the small pedalboard at the above link soon... -t- __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com