Electro-Harmonix 45000 and Foot Controller

132 Guitarist December 2013
QUICK TEST
MISCELLANEOUS
GUITARIST RATING:
Guitarist says: Superb switching
flexibility, exceptional tonal
integrity, sensible price: gold!
We first met Daniel Steinhardt
of UK’s TheGigRig a decade
ago. Here was this passionate
Aussie ex-pat raving about great
pedals, yet lamenting the tap
dancing and tonal pitfalls
involved in using loads of them
together. Along with business
partner Dave Mapleston,
Steinhardt has spent the
ensuing years developing
innovative tools that culminate
in TheGigRig’s most complete
control system to date: G2.
The heart of the unit is 10
separate send-and-return loops,
enabling you to assign any
combination of pedals to one of
14 footswitch ‘presets’. Where
previous GigRig switchers used
separate relays for switching,
G2 is boasting a ‘True Bypass
Matrix’ that not only lets your
signal bypass unused pedals, but
now also unused switches.
In Use
You can have one-touch
switching for entire setting
changes, or you can assign any
switch to ‘stompbox’ mode, so
that it adds to whatever loop is
currently active. The really
surprising bit? It’s all blissfully
simple to operate.
There’s no programming, no
patch saving, no endless menus:
everything G2 is doing is right
there in real time, in front of
you. Let’s say you have your
Fulltone Full-Drive in loop five
(as it is in the rig below) and you
want it on footswitch one. Just
hit footswitch one to make it
active, then press button five in
the ‘effects loops’ section in the
middle. Hey presto, the Full-
Drive is now on whenever you
press footswitch one. Add or
subtract any pedal in the same
way to build full presets: no
store, no save, just real-time
what-you-see-is-what-you get.
Want to change a pedal sound?
Bend down and turn the knobs!
There are many, many other
functions. First, every preset
switch also has optional, pre
and post gain functions to tailor
the input and output levels of
your presets if you want.
The bank of buttons on the
left does all kinds of things.
Thought you ‘only’ had 14
preset combinations? Actually,
there are 28, courtesy of the
‘bank up’ switch (plus another
two ‘hidden presets’ that you
can assign to anything you like:
tuner out is fave for us).
Want to run two amps? No
problem – there are dual
outputs (the second is isolated
to avoid ground loops) and you
can assign any effects preset to
any combination of your two
amps. Change amp channels/
functions, too, if you like,
courtesy of four remote jacks,
individually assignable to any
loop. There’s also a separate
volume pedal insert option,
enabling you to place a volume
pedal between any of the main
14 loops. You can connect your
amp effects loop here, too.
Want even more effects? You
can patch in another external
effects device using the send
and return ‘insert loop’ function
that, like the volume insert, you
can move to any place in the
loop chain. The whole thing is
MIDI capable, too, as master or
slave in a bigger rig. Finally, if
you want your pedals tucked
safely away in a rack while the
switcher is out on the stage,
there’s a G2 Ext kit to do that.
Verdict
This is a pro tool that’s currently
being used by artists as diverse
as Biffy Clyro, Andy Timmons
and The Pixies. It ticks two
outwardly contradictory boxes.
First, it provides total flexibility
yet is simple to use; second, it
sounds fantastic without having
any sound at all. It’s more
compact and more powerful
than the company’s PRO- and
MIDI- series switchers, and it’s
more spilled-pint-proof to boot.
There exists a vast tonal and
price chasm between an average
digital multi-effects device and
a custom-built professional rig
control system. G2 – with the
right pedals – helps you sound
more like the latter, but costs
closer to the former, making it
the pro-playing effects junkie’s
no-brainer of the year.
[MT]
Ultimate yet simple effects and system switching control
CONTACT: TheGigRig PHONE: [phone] WEB: www.thegigrig.com
TheGigRig G2 £749
GIT375.rev_quick.indd 132 10/31/13 12:02 PM