GR-55 - Not so great in a live concert situation?

Started by carlgt1, May 15, 2011, 09:31:01 AM

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Elantric

#25
QuoteI mean I would go from a clean Fender Twin country twang patch and then bump up to a patch with distortion and the levels must have been 100 times different so that the distortion patch was like 200 decibels of distortion & feedback etc.

Before all GR-55 live gigs, it helps if the owner reads this important thread here:

GR-55 volume jump switching patches - solved!
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=8375.0


GR-55 F.A.Q.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3137.0

Kitko

@carlgt1 and your sound issues

I'm a GR-55 newbie but I've been using hardware and software guitar modellers for quite some time now.

The important thing to bear in mind is that modellers and guitar synths output is much wider and guitar amps are simply not capable of reproducing certain frequencies. This is especially true with guitar synths - your guitar can become pretty much any other instrument which easily outranks the usual guitar frequencies.

Keyboard amps and PAs are designed to reproduce much wider range which makes them much better suited for modellers and synths.

By all means, you can out directly to the in-house PA. You can also invest into something like Roland CM-30 which is a little monitor/PA speaker (30 watts, two-way coaxial system). It has plenty of stereo-inputs, it has a headphone out which a) doesn't mute the CM's speaker, b) can be used to feed the PA. This way, you'll be able to solve both your sound consistency and your personal monitoring.

Alternatively, if you can afford it, you can invest into something like Bose L1 system or, less expensive, LD System Maui series (FYI, Maui 11 is marketed as Fender Expo in the US).
Boss SY-1000
Roland VG-99
Boss RC-600
Roland FC-300
Ibanez RGA 7 with GK3
Ibanez RGA 72QM with GK3 kit
Ibanez RGA 121 Prestige JD Craft

HecticArt

I had similar troubles going from practice at home to my first practice with the band.
I have a stack amp at home that's too much work to lug out of the house anymore, and a combo that I use with the band. It's so much easier, and we don't play anywhere that the combo isn't plenty.
I had my volumes decently matched at home running the 55 into the loop in on the stack. It sounded decent enough at home. At practice, levels were all over the place. It had me flustered enough I was stepping on wrong buttons and missing cues because I was paying more attention to me feet than my playing. We took a break at one point and I ran it into the board and tweaked a few things. It helped. But really, I learned that I need to spend more time with the live setup and the rest of the band at volume to make sure I'm comfortable before playing in front of people. There's nothing worse than the panic of the rig acting up on stage.

When we play, our singer writes out the next set, between sets. I have to write down my program numbers after that so that to be sure I don't get absent minded at the last second.

gumbo

Quote from: HecticArt on May 03, 2015, 12:19:58 PM

When we play, our singer writes out the next set, between sets. I have to write down my program numbers after that so that to be sure I don't get absent minded at the last second.

...get another singer..    ;)
Read slower!!!   ....I'm typing as fast as I can...

gumtown

Very important to test your patch levels at a gig worthy volume.

Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

yamahaysg

I gig regularly with my GR55 in two duo's and I use a headset mic so I am free to look down while playing and singing to change patches. I also have two USB sticks with both duo sets on and I love the fact that the singer can look down and see what song is next on the large LCD screen, makes it a lot easier! - I would be lost without it.. :)

JolietJake

90% of the time I now gig solely with the GR-55 straight into the PA, and would buy another one if anything happened to it. I could maybe get by with a GP-10 sound wise but prefer the extra features on the GR-55.

As a note most of my patches don't need the foot controller so I set it up to control overall "patch volume" and set it from 100% maximum to 50% minimum and have the pedal at roughly 75% position, this gives me a bit of up and down volume with the foot controller but not so much that its full volume or no volume at all. Gives you a little bit of control without bending down .

Deacon Blue

 I had the GR-20 since 2007 and it took my almost a year after I bought a 55 to get up the nerve to use it.. It seemed pretty intimidating. I was only using the sax, piano and organ settings on the 20 which was simple and worked just fine in a live situation which turned a lot of heads. Once I started practicing with the 55, watching all the videos along with this excellent forum it started to fall into place. The submenus were confusing at first but I began to understand what they were for and dove in head first.
      I wasn't too impressed with the GP-10 so I bought another 55. One of the most important lessons I learned about the 55 is to backup ANY changes you make via USB stick or the Floorboard and save them for your own future reference.
"When your project isn't working, look for the part that you didn't think was important"
www.Bandmix.com/katylyst

midiman

I sympathies completely with the hitting the 3 & Ctl pedal and ending up in looper mode. 1st time I did that I completely lost it. Ironicly we were performing Stuck in the Middle  ;D. The thing to remember is if you accidentally do that, all you have to do is do it again and provided you haven't pressed any other pedals it will take you back out of the mode. Ideally we should be able to disable looper mode altogether but to date I haven't found any way of doing it

I have experimented with a few amps and the setup that works for me and I currently use is a pair of Roland AC 60 amps. Small they maybe but combined with the GR-55 I get an awesome sound.

whippinpost91850

I made a little cover that covers all but the Control pedal, because I distinctly remember the embarrassment of the same thing happening to me :o

Elantric


CVS

I have been using the GR55 on and off for over 3 years. It took me a long time to get comfortable with this device and understand how to get the most out of it. This forum has helped a lot! I played around with the default settings for a good year before I was able to get rid of the squeals without losing all of the nuances that a particular tone offers. I also found out that my technique needed improvement in order to effectively use many of the PCM patches. I can really appreciate the issues many have reported on this thread about what happens to patch tone when you play through a different amp. I learned this lesson the hard way as well. The only other issue that I have had is with the 13 pin connector and its reliability, especially if you plan to move around while on stage. I have had strings go "dead" as I moved around. I have used Deoxit D5 and this seems to help with the connection issues.

mariogag

A lot of people hit that "volume difference" problem. And it won't be the last time.

And I had this "I started the looper" when trying to activate patch 3 of a bank.

My approach to this problem....use the same patch for switch 2 & 3 then try to find one of the other ontrol options to use that 3rd patch.

i have a VG8ex so yep I can confirm that the ergonomy for live use has gone backward.

:-\

M