New Compressor - Red Witch 7 Sisters Grace

[tulk1]

Not a huge compressor fan. I've had a few, always ended up selling them. But that doesn't stop me from getting more! Which I did.

A Red Witch 7 Sisters Grace compressor showed up Friday evening. It's a very small box with only Vol/Comp -- thats it. Uses a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery if you want to go without power. It can run off 9v DC if needed. Powered it up over nite (takes 12-14 hrs for the initial charge), then hooked it up to get used to it. Last night it got a good work out on stage. Got to say, I was impressed. It squashes just a little bit on all settings from what I could tell. And contrary to what I'd expect, the best settings for the Comp were at Noon or Higher.

Fairly quiet for a compressor. Seemed to leave my tone pretty much intact. An unexpected result was using my ODs more sparingly than I normally do. Left the comp on for nearly every song; used the ODs for boost and a bit of effect. Only turn it off for a couple of the late night rockers. Another unexpected benefit was how it made the banjo just jump out front. Sounded good on the fiddle and mandolin, too.

But, to keep this in perspective, this was only the first night with it. Outside (58 degrees when we quit). I rarely change my amp settings so I expect it to perform as well at the next gig, which is a much larger, indoor gig. Hopefully I'll still be liking it after that one.

It's the tiny thing sitting next to the Morning Glory.

 

[rockabilly69]

I also find that a little compression helps keep the overdrive levels down. I use a Durham Sexdrive pedal with a litte compression built in.

When I use the compressor keep the gain down on that pedal, and use it in conjuction with my Fulldrive II Mosfet, I get a very useable

overdrive tone! I would like to try one of these RedWitch pedals.

[smurph1]

I have what's called a "Janglebox" that the company says Roger Mcguinn uses in his rig.. with the right settings I can really control the overdrive, and add a bit of sweet sustain to rhythm parts.. but if I turn it up too much.. TRAINWRECK!!

[tulk1]

I'm so used to it now, 5 gigs in and I've just been leaving it on. I would like a blend knob. But for the $$s I spent on this, can't see how they could do that.

[rockabilly69]

Hey Ken, just wanted to let you know that I bought a Zoom G3X (same as yours but has the expression pedal) for my flyin' gigs where I don't

want to bring my full pedal board, and it works great. Other than the distortions, I really like it, so I just bring a vintage Rat (real 80's vintage).

I'm amazed at how good the delays/verbs/modulations are.

[tulk1]

Good deal, Dan'l. Yeah, the OD's ... not so good. Can't figure out why they can't build a decent OD into a multi-fx box. But I don't use it for that, anyway. I did, however, think about trying a Tech21 power engine or something like that. Its just a power amp into a speaker box. You provide the preamp via mulit-fx.

 

So, how are you using the pedal? Vol, assigned, ?? And was it already programmed for the 6 effects per bank? Or did you have to do the download and all that?

[rockabilly69]

 

So, how are you using the pedal? Vol, assigned, ?? And was it already programmed for the 6 effects per bank? Or did you have to do the download and all that?

 

I have the newer vesion with the upgraded firmware, so yes, six FX are useable at a time. My patches are in this order...para EQ (for acoustic guitar notching), trem, delay, reverb, graphic EQ (for final shaping to the speakers I backline).

 

And yes I assign the exp pedal always as volume.

 

And it goes straight into my Allen & Heath ZED mixers which have great guitar oriented preamps.

 

Does it sound as good as my regular pedal board? No, it took me a long time to pick every pedal on my board, but the GX3 sounds pretty damn good for what it is, and after I designed some custom patches it works GREAT!

 

When I fly in to a gig, I have a set of QSC K2's or Mackie HD1221's backlined along with: speaker stands, a mic boomstand, and all necessary XLR and power cables for the speakers.

 

In my suitcase I pack a ZED10FX mixer, two microphones (Shure Beta 87's, one for guitar with a small boom attachment, and one for voice), a music stand base to hold my iPad (for break music and setlists), the Zoom G3X, a vintage Rat pedal, my porchboard, and all my guitar related stuff (patch cables, slides, capo's, strings, tools) etc. I surround all that gear in my suitcase with the clothes I bring as padding. The suitcase weighs around 45 lbs! I usually bring one guitar with me, but I carry an extra pickup in the case. I carry my guitar on the plane!!!