Two amp Wet/Dry rig -new pedals and more GAS, August 21 Update

[KevWind]

Like some others here I was Acoustic only for decades, (some 47 years ) and 4 years ago this coming November, I decided to get back into electric guitar I had not touched since the late 60's .

Over those 4 years I have now acquired two nice amps , some 4 FX pedals, plus tuner, and loop, pedals,,,, I am seriously considering a Wet/Dry two amplifier "Rig"

Hopefully this will be informative for anybody that does not know about wet/dry or does and wants more info and or to exchange thoughts and ideas ...

What with the self imposed stay at home situation. I am in a fairly extensive research and planning mode , which started in fall but has escalated in the Post Covid Era (PCE) .

Like all things guitar and gear there is vast range of options in a vast range of price points. Like everyoneI do not want to "waste" money BUT I am willing to spend more for build quality and function.

Some of this thread will contain some factors that have come up in other posts

So here is what looking at:

Gig Rig Quartermaster QMX 8 ( 8 FX loop isolated relay switching unit )
Gig Rig ABY Baby (ABY switching with ground isolation and phase reversal)

Possibly also Gig Rigs modular (expandable) power supply system.

Also I will be getting a new pedal board and possibly a new looper .

For this OP I will conclude with a fairly extensive hour long video specially about choosing amps for a wet/dry rig and a bit about (why a wet/dry ?) by two guys who are big proponents .

[Chickee]

Very informative video Kev. I had my headphones on the whole time. Beautiful, dreamy sound. Thank you for posting it.

If I were a younger man the idea of running a stereo rig would have been enticing, to say the least. I guess for recording in place it would sound wonderful and huge.
For performances, too much gear to be hustling around.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Chickee

...For performances, too much gear to be hustling around...

Same here - I've always been an old-school guitar-cable-amp guy anyway (usually a Gretsch and Bugera in one combination or another these days), and once I get beyond built-in trem/verb/OD I lose nuances of touch...

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Chickee

Very informative video Kev. I had my headphones on the whole time. Beautiful, dreamy sound. Thank you for posting it.

If I were a younger man the idea of running a stereo rig would have been enticing, to say the least. I guess for recording in place it would sound wonderful and huge.
For performances, too much gear to be hustling around.

Thanks, for just a bit of clarification (and I realize you are using the term "stereo" generically as in two sources of sound from two amps ) However in terms of two amp guitar rigs there is a distinction (sonically) between a stereo rig and a wet dry rig ( don't know if they talk about it in that video, they do do go into the difference in one of their videos)

In a nut shell Generally speaking:
A "stereo" rig, requires at least one stereo pedal and both amps are outputting the wet signals .
A wet/dry rig, only one amp is outputting the wet signal and no stereo pedals are needed

As far as more gear no question, but if you already use a pedal board, then the additional unit of gear to haul, is one more amp
Fortunaltely for me I don't gig much at all anymore.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Same here - I've always been an old-school guitar-cable-amp guy anyway (usually a Gretsch and Bugera in one combination or another these days), and once I get beyond built-in trem/verb/OD I lose nuances of touch...

Yes indeed certainly a valid view, And there is lot to said for the audiophile concept of " straight wire with gain" as true today, as it was back in the day of McIntosh and Phase Linear

[KevWind]

While researching this I stumbled on this free pedal board configuration application, which has a bunch of boards and pedals that you can match up to configure the size layout order, etc.

https://www.pedalplayground.com

Here is what I came up with (while the lists are extensive they do not have every current offering from every mfg. so I substituted some similar sized pedals

[Chickee]

Oh, thank you for clarifying that for me.

BTW-you can pick up a used Roland JazzChorus 120 which is the original gangsta wet/dry rig(one speaker runs clean, one speaker runs all the effects) and use all the money you saved to put together a killer pedal board.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Chickee

Oh, thank you for clarifying that for me.

BTW-you can pick up a used Roland JazzChorus 120 which is the original gangsta wet/dry rig(one speaker runs clean, one speaker runs all the effects) and use all the money you saved to put together a killer pedal board.

Sorry I was clarifying in general and did not mean to imply you specifically did not understand the distinction . Perhaps because , I did not realize the distinction until I started researching. Apologies , Kev

Roland JazzChours 120 , guess there nothing new under the sun Looks kinda heavy to lug around though

[Chickee]

Sorry Kev, I assumed you were familiar with the JazzChorus line. I said JC120 not to become wordy. Take a look at the site below when you have a moment.
https://www.roland.com/global/promos/jc_40_years/

[KevWind]

Still have not actually ordered any of switching units but here is what I am going to using for amps

Left to right. For the Dry amp REVV D20, 20 watt (6V6) tube amp into a Port City 2 X 12 vertical Cab, Then the Wet amp a Supro TiTan and Extension Cab. 50 watt (6L6)

[KevWind]

Started this thread a while back (late March) but only as of a couple weeks ago did I finally get all the new items.

So I went whole hog Gig Rig, including their complete modular power system
Kinda spendy but a fairly comprehensive and very clean power.

New items
As mentioned the Gig Rig QuarterMaster 8 switching unit, which has 8 completely isolatable individual loops for the individual pedals. And the ABY-BABY is an isolated and polarity reversible, ABY switching unit for the two amps in the Wet/Dry system approach.

Here are the Gig Rig modular power components
1 -Generator, 5 amp power supply
1 - Distributor, the main power distribution unit
2 - Isolater's, secondary distribution units w/ totally isolated power distribution circuits
2 -Time Lord, high current adaptors (for high current type digital pedals)

The pedal cables are mostly Evidence Audio Monorail cable and SIS solderless connectors

The pedal board is a Pedaltrain Novo 24 --- 24" by 14"

New pedals include:
Aeros Loop Studio , from Singular Sound
Plus 4 Knob Compressor, from Robert Keeley


Ok so how this works is, everything is going through the QuarterMaster (except the Supro foot switch which turns the tube driven reverb and tremolo on the Supro Amp on and off)

The Comp and Drive pedals feed both the dry and wet amps. But the Delay, Reverb, and Chorus pedals feed only the wet amp

This is what it looks like


And the under side with all the power modules and wiring

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Started this thread a while back (late March) but only as of a couple weeks ago did I finally get all the new items.

So I went whole hog Gig Rig, including their complete modular power system
Kinda spendy but a fairly comprehensive and very clean power.

New items
As mentioned the Gig Rig QuarterMaster 8 switching unit, which has 8 completely isolatable individual loops for the individual pedals. And the ABY-BABY an isolated and phase reversible ABY switching unit for the two amps in Wet/Dry system approach.

Here are the Gig Rig modular power components
1 -Generator, 5 amp power supply
1 - Distributor, the main power distribution unit
2 - Isolater's, secondary distribution units w/ totally isolated power distribution circuits
2 -Time Lord, high current adaptors (for high current type digital pedals)

The pedal cables are mostly Evidence Audio Monorail cable cut to custom length and SIS (screw in solderless) connectors

The pedal board is a Pedaltrain Novo 24 --- 24" by 14"

New pedals include:
Aeros Loop Studio , from Singular Sound
Plus 4 Knob Compressor, from Robert Keeley

This is what it looks like


And the under side with all the power modules and wiring

Man, you’ve got a nice setup there. Must have taken a while to research and put everything together.

Kinda overwhelmed myself right now trying to figure out what I’m gonna get together for a first amp setup. Haven’t had a lot of time of late with vacation, kids, and work. Got a new guitar coming Monday/Tuesday with no amp...lol Time consuming looking at this stuff...

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Dbone

Man, you’ve got a nice setup there. Must have taken a while to research and put everything together.

Kinda overwhelmed myself right now trying to figure out what I’m gonna get together for a first amp setup. Haven’t had a lot of time of late with vacation, kids, and work. Got a new guitar coming Monday/Tuesday with no amp...lol Time consuming looking at this stuff...

Thanks, Yes I have been researching since last fall. Watched numerous Youtube videos on Wet/Dry amp systems especially videos by "That Pedal Show" of which, one of the two hosts is the owner or part owner in Gig Rig.

Once I decided on using Gig Rig for the power supply. I actually e-mailed them a list of my pedals and they replied with a list of the specific modules I needed for my pedals , and a simple set of instructions on what order to wire the modules up in.

The beauty of the Gig Rig power system and the QuarterMaster Switching unit, is you have no chance of cumulative build up of self noise from the pedals, because each pedal is plugged into an isolated loop of it's own in the QuarterMaster , (so basically in parallel), as opposed to the prototypical technique of plugging them into each other in series . Plus each individual power line to each pedal, is on its own individual circuit and is isolated from all the other pedals individual isolated power supply circuits .

Perhaps overkill to some, but I decided to shoot for what seems to me like the best system.

[Dru Edwards]

Kev, what a great looking clean board! Isolation of the pedals is a nice touch too.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Kev, what a great looking clean board! Isolation of the pedals is a nice touch too.

Thanks Dru.
One really nice feature of the QuarterMaster is that I can leave the pedals themselves all clicked on, and use just the switching on the QM to engage or disengage them as desired, which are all optical switches ( no mechanical click) and are silent and smooth as silk.

The other really nice feature is all the physical foot switching (with the exception of Looper) is done on the QM horizontally along the bottom of board, so that eliminates one foot reaching all over the board for different pedals (very slick)