G-Major + VH4

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with using this setup.

TC Electronics state thats its best to stick the G-Major int he serial effects loop, however I'm worried about my tone being compromised.

I could run it in the parrallel loop like I am doing at present with my POD but I'd loose out when using things such as choruses.

Could anyone please share their experiences with this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

John

bypass the loop when you don't want FX. Most FX in the G should be after the preamp (in the FX Loop)

It makes a small difference. I use a G-maj with my Herbie. Depends whether you wanna use whammy & tremolo FX really.

Try it! It only takes a few seconds to pull the leads out, stuff them in the other loop and flip the Killdry function to the other setting.

At new years I had it in the serial as I wanted to use whammy. Normally though I only use it for reverb and delay so I'm gonna use it parallel. I might start using more FX in my new band though so it might go serial again! Or I might leave it parallel and try my old 2120 in the switchable loop for tremolo, etc. It might sound a bit crap though. I shall have to see. I still haven't tried my Triaxis in the switchable loop return yet with a guitar signal splitter. Then I'll have a Herbie with 11 preamp channels!

Funnily enough I just finished fixing my G-major only about 4hrs ago! It went daft. Had a dry joint somewhere. Why does all my guitar stuff go dodgy? I'm very nice to it all and treat it well. I guess cuz most of it's 2nd hand and old. Even my brand new Herbie's had random tube blowing problems though!?! Equipment always seems to die at the most inconvienient moment. At least the Herbie will soldier on and play the rest of the gig on 4 tubes. The only thing that's ever been really reliable is my old Marshall power amp and that was never biased half the time!?! :?

Anyway, as I say though, I noticed a slight difference but whether it's worth losing 100% wet FX like whammy, tremolo, noise gate, & compression is up to you. It's not like chalk and cheese or anything.

Hello!

This can maybe help you:

http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2961&highlight=major+herbert

It's about G-Major and Herbert... Quite similar.
And Peter gives some advices. :wink:

IMHO, I use it in the serial loop.
I cannot hear any sound quality losses.

Hope it helps.

Bye bye

thanks guys...

not got a g-major yet and so was wondering...

I am currectly using a pod in the parrallel loop as when i put it in the serial loop i could immediatley hear my beloved tone slipping away... I tried to fix it with a sonic maximiser however I've now come to the conclusion that 'less is indeed more.'

Someone should slap newbies like myself until they fully understand that phrase.

I'm gonna get a custom case made for my VH4 with 2 rack spaces in it for the g-major and some pedal inserts... I especially like the sound of a big muff though the insert of channel 2 on a nominal crunch setting. use it with a ton of delay and you get this wonderful atmospheric sound that really cuts though a band... When you can get it to stop feedbacking that is...

Cheers,

John

Frankly, I am suprised at how many Diezel owners use the tone sucking TC Electronics G major! :? I own one & after trying many configurations I kicked it to the curb because it DOES color the tone of your Diezel even in the parallel loop! You are fooling yourself if you think it does not!!! A/B it even bypassed verus running directly in to your Diezel and if you don't hear the tremendous tonal difference you should have purchased a much cheaper amp. I purchased a Rocktron Xpression and wow, what a difference! First, when in bypass you get a TRUE analog signal...huge difference! I am running it in the serial loop and the effects are more lively, not as sterile as the G Major and it does not color the tone 1/10 as much as the G Major.

Well... when I used Boss pedals and a danelectro delay, it used to terribly suck my tone.

Maybe my ears are defective but with G-major, when input and output levels are adjusted, I find my sound very few deteriorated.

Anyway, I seldom use some effects and I bypass them using the switchable loop.

What do the others think?

David

Thanks for replying...

What about the G-Force? I don't mind paying extra if the quality is going to be better.

I'm basically looking for a good rack unit that won't colour my tone, however I understand that anything thats digital will do this and I'll just have to live with some tonal degradation as I hardly ever use the amp with no effects on as I like a slight bit of delay in my cleans, and a tiny bit of reverb in my distortions.

Cheers,

John

I'm using a G-Force in the serial loop of my Herbert. With the input and output levels set correctly I experience very little coloration of the tone.

The chorus and delays are magnificent. The tremolo works nicely in the loop also. I would highly recommend this layout... Have no experince with the G-Major since it was not available when I made my purchase, though I hear it is a quality piece of gear also with a greatly reduced price tag.

All FX color your tone. But the Force is better than the Major big time! rost:

i use the g system, and we a/b it while i was in the studio (not a ghetto studio by the way, lakeside studios where P.O.D and 10 years recorded. we are lucky enough to have gotten backed by their producer as well, Travis Wyrick check him out) and i will be completely honest when it finally got hooked up correctly it sounded great. i tried a few different things before it but the g system def won out. here is the only thing, the "boost" function isn t really a boost. when your signal goes into the TC unit from the factory it is set to cut 5db then when you step on the "boost" button it bypasses the db cut so it sounds like your getting louder. well that sucked so i just set the cut to 0 and bypassed that function completely. i use a barber tone press in the rack with the head and the tc unit does all my switching and effects, a cool product for sure. like ampaddict mentioned all effects color your tone but the g system affected it the least of all the units and pedals i tried.
good luck
Andy

i had a g-force w/my vh4, levels on patches would not deliver consistent, had it in the parallel loop so altering the mix was a bit of a struggle because the gain structures of the different channels were always so different so you'd have to work hard to edit mix, g-force levels, channel levels, all sorts of compensation to make the g-force produced balanced effects, all the while not knowing if the way the amp is set up to accommodate the fx is at the same time producing the "amp only" tones you truly want for occasional fx.

it sounded great for some effects, not all, and i liked it in the parallel loop, use the kill-dry feature if it has one, experienced some popping noises if you kill the loop rather than kill the g-force and leave the loop on, but the signal certainly got a little colored and digitized in feel.

also note, if you crank the mix, it boosts the signal some. if you patch the parallel loop right into itself, nothing in the loop, just a patch cable, you can switch on the send2 as a second master of sorts. this added boost in the loop / mix was intentional in design and is to compensate for line-sucking fx units.

i've since switched to using a looper w/pedals so my life is a more visibly cluttered but more quickly manageable and comfortable. you get what you pay for so don't expect the best. if you can afford it, i would consider an eventide eclipse to experiment with. just buy from places with return policies, only way to try and learn, but be ready for store credit only, just in case.

Sorry, not meaning to hijack, but on the Herbert can you use the Serial as a switchable loop or not?

I have my G-Major in my switchable parallel loop at the minute, and the delays seem quite over-powering, whilst the choruses are underwhelming. It worked fine in the loop of my old 2ch Recto.

I don't wanna use the serial loop if the degredation in tone is that great though, so any ideas?

Gmajor DEFINITELY colors the tone of my Einstein even when bypassed and it's collecting dust right now.

>|<>QBB<

simbasa":11390 said:

Gmajor DEFINITELY colors the tone of my Einstein even when bypassed and it's collecting dust right now.

Click to expand...

I never leave my G-Major in the chain if i'm wanting to use just the amp's tone. Can't you switch the loop in and out on the Einstein?

No I can't switch the loop on or off unless I get a mod done...

careful popping loops on and off with fx units, the g-force made a large pop at times, not sure if the g-major acts the same way, something to consider.

My G-Major doesn't seem to pop. One thing I love is how when you switch the loop off on the Herbert, the effect still decays naturally, instead of being shut clean off. That's a GREAT feature.

>|<>QBB<

Random Hero":cdc1e said:

My G-Major doesn't seem to pop. One thing I love is how when you switch the loop off on the Herbert, the effect still decays naturally, instead of being shut clean off. That's a GREAT feature.

Click to expand...

ahh, didn't know that only the "send" is shut off and not the "return" there, slick.

Sorry?