Graphtech expandeur

Started by Adonf, January 12, 2023, 01:23:43 AM

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Adonf

Hello, I just installed a ghost expander alone without the acoustic in my PRS everything works well, but I have a problem I can not make the volume and tone of my guitar pickups with the set which is annoying, because on the gr55 the pick up option is not taken into account, who could tell me exactly the pin to out connection to make on the expander so that the two potentiometers are taken into account, I know that it is necessary to make an additional connection and in spite of the diagrams of graphtech I do not arrive there, has your good heart lol. 
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

Adonf

Does anyone have any idea how to get my guitar pickups into the expander?
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

admin

#2
Quote from: Adonf on January 12, 2023, 01:23:43 AMHello, I just installed a ghost expander alone without the acoustic in my PRS everything works well, but I have a problem I can not make the volume and tone of my guitar pickups with the set which is annoying, because on the gr55 the pick up option is not taken into account, who could tell me exactly the pin to out connection to make on the expander so that the two potentiometers are taken into account, I know that it is necessary to make an additional connection and in spite of the diagrams of graphtech I do not arrive there, has your good heart lol.


If using GR-55 -you must create a patch where 'NORMAL GUITAR" is activated

Sadly it's disabled in most GR-55 factory patches

Details
GR-55 - Make your GK-3 "Guitar/Mix/Synth" Switch work (step by step)
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3402.0

gumtown

#3
Sorry, I don't have any information on the Hex-expander, does the pickup manufacturer have any information on this ?
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Adonf

#4
Yes, in fact I had to order a harness to be able to take the mags so that the piezos are available on the 13 pin connector.

Thank you both for your answers.

Now there is another problem with the organ and violin patches, the sounds are untimely for the guitar sounds, no worries, they are stable, I set the sensitivity of all the strings to 0 but I still have ghosts, moreover I just have to tap on the body of the guitar and I can trigger sounds, I intervened in the setup to try to find the cause but it is not easy to find out why there is this super super sensitivity. On page 75 the only element that can be changed to avoid triggering notes it is mentioned to avoid unwanted triggering to turn up this setting, not yet tested.
;)  ;)  ;)  ;)

If anyone has installed a ghost expander I would like to know their setup to compare with mine and maybe find that super sensitivity of graphtech saddles.
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

Adonf

Well I gave up it is impossible for me to adjust correctly this system there is only the guitar patch that are viable, I came back with a gk3 much more reliable and adjustable too bad. :-\
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

admin

#6
All depends on who installed the Graphtech and did they connect all the proper connections

Sadly many installers think the 13PIN is for MIDI ONLY - and don't understand that the Normal Guitar pickups electronics output can be routed into the Graphtech GK Preamp board

Always best to use a switching 1/4" output jack for Normal Guitar-to disconnect the Normal Guitar signal from 13 pin interface when using Guitar with only one 1/4" output jack

And if the installer did that - then remove the 1/4" Guitar cable from the guitar when using only one GK13 cable to a Roland/Boss GK Processor -as the 1/4" switching ouput jack may be blocking signal to the 13 pin connection - as occurs on all stock Fender Roland Ready Strats & GC-1 Strat and many Godins

Adonf

Hello, it's me who did the installation, I've already done another installation on an electroacoustic that went very well, for the guitar output I had forgotten to connect the mag pin with the harness provided for this purpose which has been corrected now I have the microphones that pass through the 13 pins.
Where it does not go at all as explained in my last post
the guitar patches do not have any problems they work very well
it's that the organ patches, string and company that are completely out of order, the notes leave all by themselves with more notes completely wrong, the mess is unmanageable even by consulting the documentation which I did of course I can not solve the problem just mitigate it.
At the final I put back the Roland GK3 sensor and no more problems, I'm disappointed especially at the price it cost me 410 euros for not much, I'm going to put the whole thing on sale, because it's useless to me.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely
Mic

Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

admin

#8
Quote from: Adonf on January 25, 2023, 01:10:54 AMHello, it's me who did the installation, I've already done another installation on an electroacoustic that went very well, for the guitar output I had forgotten to connect the mag pin with the harness provided for this purpose which has been corrected now I have the microphones that pass through the 13 pins.
Where it does not go at all as explained in my last post
the guitar patches do not have any problems they work very well
it's that the organ patches, string and company that are completely out of order, the notes leave all by themselves with more notes completely wrong, the mess is unmanageable even by consulting the documentation which I did of course I can not solve the problem just mitigate it.
At the final I put back the Roland GK3 sensor and no more problems, I'm disappointed especially at the price it cost me 410 euros for not much, I'm going to put the whole thing on sale, because it's useless to me.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely
Mic

I own RMC , Graphtech and Roland GK 13 pin

For Piezo - the 2011-2019 RMC equipped Godin LGX /XLT are the best match with GR-55
But Piezos can be harsh

Try plugging a Piezo pickup acoustic guitar into genuine Tube amp to experience the battle of taming the shrill Piezo  tone for traditional electric blues guitar tones

But I much prefer the GK-3 sonic experience-as I use the COSM Modeling /Alt Tunings - the GK-3 provides a warmer convincing "analog" like electric guitar tone -

But must use a very light picking technique to get the best GR-55 Acoustic guitar tones with a GK-3 pickup

The Synth tracking often is superior with a GK-3   as Piezo bridges battle mechanical vibration induced from adjacent strings - we call this adjacent string crosstalk -  yields terrible ALT tuning performance

Fishman Tripleplay (the fastest affordable MIDI system ) employs a similar divided magnetic pickup as the Roland GK-3 due to its higher immunity to adjacent string crosstalk

But don't set GK Sensitivity too high on GR-55

 It's default of "65" for all strings is absurd - lower it to 25-35 range yields lower crosstalk and wider dynamic range without the choking tone if pick like Dick Dale or Steven Stills

There's decades of reviews claiming piezo provides a big breakthrough with " higher speed" its all because 85% of GK-3 pickup installs are implemented poorly - often because crucial setup instructions for GK PU placement were ignored

Frankly the Graphtech Piezo is among the worst experiences- because if you call their tech support they still believe their  sub par high hiss 13 pin hex preamp  electronics will only feed a MIDI converter - so who cares about hiss ?  Ignorant that many users are using real time VGuitar Modeling systems where the string is the oscillator-

Only worse experience is the LR Baggs 13 pin systems where same "GK 13 MIDI ONLY" culture exists with Godins sons who now run the company roday and decided in 2020 to cut costs and drop the excellent RMC Polydrive with 1/3 the cost poor performing LR Baggs solution


Your specific issue with graphtech GR-55 Synths not tracking correctly may have been  the individual Piezo pickup cables were installed with  incorrect string sequence order on the input header on the preamp board

But even if you get that corrected- the remaining battle is high hiss noise on all COSM Modelled guitar patches- forcing an always ON GR-55 "NS" (Noise Suppressor Gate) yielding terrible dynamic range vs a stock Roland GK-3 13 pin pickup

It's a bit more of an  art to get the optimum 13 pin system for specific high performance under all the GR-55 operating modes

Adonf

Thank you for your very informative feedback if I had known! No the order of the wires was respected now I have another question what do you think of the internal GK3 KIT in addition much cheaper is it as reliable as the gk3? I wouldn't want to be wrong again lol. ;)  ;)
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

admin

#10
Internal GK-KIT-GT3  is perfect for specific guitars

Not for vintage collectible instruments or $5K Custom Shop signature models - as it always lowers the value at resale.
So skip on genuine Gibson / USA Fender / USA PRS - instead route and install on Epiphone or Squier  or PRS SE 

Follow the important procedure of installing a Switching 1/4" Output Jack - to allow guitar to operate no load = identical to stock without the GK cable

The official Roland install suck the tone out of your normal pickups - the always connected normal pickup output into GK Kit board is a tone suck

Details
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=133.0

Adonf

Ok thank you for everything. ;)
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

Adonf

Following my setbacks with graphtech and on the advice of the admin I sold the whole graphtech system to buy the gt3 kit and install it on my Prs se 2002.
My impressions are simple: no comparison, both in terms of installation and, above all, in terms of sound response, which is much better than that of the ghost system. I no longer get phantom notes from organ patches and the like, and I've replaced the two up-down push-buttons with an on-off-on switch, which is more practical and easier to install. As for the price, it's much more affordable here in France: 115 euros for the complete kit.


Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

Elantric

Glad to hear your verification of my own experience with these

whippinpost91850

Nice looking install

Adonf

Quote from: Bluesbird on June 18, 2023, 09:26:28 AMLooks like the new GK kits are getting the BOSS branding.

Yes.
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

gumbo

Quote from: Adonf on June 19, 2023, 07:18:24 AMYes.

..and in Australia, the price is going up again...     ..still...   :P
Read slower!!!   ....I'm typing as fast as I can...

Adonf

Before the events in Ukraine here in the Paris area it was 90 euros!!!!  ;D
Egsolidbody French Kit SM-DC Deluxe
Roland Gr 55
Line 6 Ux1
Soundcraft EPM8
katana MK2 100
Marshall Valvelstate 80v
Prs se Santana 2002
Focales Alpha 50

kknyc

HI, late to the party-but just to add info for future searchers...

It case you didn't; You'd need to install the optional kit "Mag to Pin7" Cable to use the Hexpander without the Acoutiphonic board.