JVM Forum

Hey Guys,
I just got a new G string and connected it will 4 cable method, but it does not seem to do anything when the noise gate is engaged. Nothing on changing the threshold valve. At the moment running it on 9V battery which came with it till I get my pedal power. So buying this was just useless. Any suggestions?

First of all, take that battery out and put it in something useful, like a smoke detector. I use a standard wall-wart AC/DC adapter. Batteries will not last for an hour or so in that thing, bad things happen to your tone after that (not to mention the lack of noise reduction). The red indicator light does not dim with a drained battery. It seems to only indicate whether the pedal is engaged or not.

Can you walk us through your 4CM setup as a chain? It should be guitar=>guitar in=>guitar out=>amp in=>fx send=>dec in=>dec out=>fx return. Other pedals in front of the amp should be after the 'guitar out'. Time based effects like delay or reverb should go after the 'dec out', before the fx return.

Do remember to engage the parallel loop at 100% wet.

Rick
Man you are so right. The battery was low I guess. As soon as I put a DC plug in , I could see the light brighten up a little more and then most of my noise is gone. . Thanks man . Now I have to change my pick up in my mexican HSS to noiseless pickups. I was using GT6 after the G string in front which is causing some noise. Planning to add nova system in the loop and add compressor, distortion and wah in front. Then I can get rid of my GT6. Philip

Hey Rick,

I'm about to purchase the G-String and I've seen some conflicting opinions on the setup on the forum. I think you said to put the g-string in front of the other pedals (G-string Guitar Out -> Input on pedals -> Out to amp)... and so on for FX loop (FX Send to Dec In -> Dec out to input on first pedal -> pedals out to FX return). Some of the other guys put the g-string last (ie: last pedal output to G-String Guitar In -> Guitar out to amp)...

I run a Fulltone OCD (and two other boss pedals) in front of the amp and then run the following effects (in order) in my FX loop (TC electronic chorus, MXR Carbon Copy). I am also about to add an MXR 10-band EQ to the loop.

Does either g-string setup work the same or are their advantages / disadvantages of one setup versus the other?

Thanks, Neil

It actually depends on what effects you have in the loop. Time based effects like delay or reverb need to go after the G-String. Otherwise, before the G-String is fine. This is because the signal tracking (guitar in and out on the pedal) will not allow sound to pass while you're not playing. Therefore, your delay repeats will be gated from the signal. All other loop setups are a matter of opinion, this one is fact. If I used your pedals, I would put the TC and the EQ before the G-String and the Carbon Copy after.

The guitar in and out work best when you put the G-String first, before any other pedals like a tuner or overdrive. I have used it to success, though with other pedals before it. I used a Boss CE-2 (Yes, I use chorus before the amp) and an original Crybaby before the guitar-in just to save on cable run. I have no complaints.

Btw, search my posts on the G-String. That'll help you more than even ISP tech support could.

Thanks Rick.. That totally makes sense... for cabling and layout on on my board, it might be easier to put the TC, EQ, and Carbon Copy all after the G-String, so I assume that's cool too...yes?

Try it both ways and do what is best. Sometimes pedals don't play nice with eachother if they are in the wrong order.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3616&start=0

Check the last post. That was unexpected for me, but I'm glad it works for him.

Finally hooked up the G-String. I put the G-string as the first link in both the main signal and fx loop chains..

ie:
Guitar cable -> Guitar In
Guitar Out -> slash wah -> tuner -> Fulltone OCD -> Boss AC-3 -> Amp in
FX Send -> Dec In
Dec Out -> MXR 10-band EQ -> TC electronic chorus -> MXR EVH Phase 90 -> MXR Carbon Copy -> MXR CAE Boost -> FX Return

Parallel loop mix set to 100% wet..

Works perfectly!!

Most excellent news. Thanx for listing the order of the pedals that works for you. It will be a good reference for others.

Ive been contemplating the G String for a loooong time and I think Im about ready to bite. Im just one of those people who likes to get my setup thought out before I actually buy something. So, heres MY question:

I run a phaser for a couple of my bands songs. When I have the phaser on, I can hear it "cycling" through the amp even though Im not playing anything (I run the phaser through the loop, btw). If I were to come out of the JVM's loop, in to the phaser, then to the G String's loop input, would this kill the "cycling" sound from the phaser when Im not playing?

I haven't tested this specific case because I just got mine hooked up yesterday , but I do think it would kill the "cycling" you experience. The bigger question is whether this setup might kill the phase effect too... for example, placing a delay before the g-string kills the repeats since the g-string gates the signal when you're not playing...

I have my phaser after the g-string and I can tell you when the g-string is on no matter what pedals are engaged, my rig is dead quiet .. I tested all of pedals and combinations of them... look at my previous post to see specific pedals I'm using and chain order. BTW, I'm definitely a g-string believer... I used it last night at rehearsal and couldn't believe my ears... ie: there was nothing to hear... no tone loss whatsoever..

So, youre saying that with the phaser AFTER the G String, you dont hear the cycling? By cycling, I mean the phaser effect going up and down but without the guitar being played. Think of slowly rocking a noisy wah back and forth without playing the guitar through it, I guess...

Yes, I'm referring to that swirling white noise you hear when the phaser is engaged, but you're not playing. When the g-string was on, I heard absolutely nothing and I had the threshold set between -40 and -30... I think the trick here is that you need to keep the loop at 100% wet or something will bleed through..

Awesome! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, man! You are right, though. With the G String in the loop, you always want to run the loop at 100% wet. My thoughts on why you hear the "swirling white noise" is that it is due to the noise coming from the amplifier. With the G String removing the noise, there should really be no signal, at all, going to the phaser until you start playing. So it sounds like it should work fine going from the loop->G String->phaser->delay->loop return. I just wanted to try to kill the "swirling white noise" without having to put the phaser in FRONT of the G String fearing that it might kill some of the effect like you stated earlier.

Thanks again!

I think you're on the right track, GB. If the noise isn't coming from the pedal itself, then the G String ahead of the pedal would kill the white noise that you hear driving the phase effect. You could probably find out if the pedal is the source of the noise by plugging it into the front of your amp (with no input cable going into the pedal) and switch it on. If you hear the white noise phasing, the noise is probably from the pedal itself. If not, then it's probably phasing the noise of the amp, and the G String should kill that before it goes into the pedal.

That said, I don't think there would be a problem with the G String after the phaser as there would be if you placed it after a delay. If you find the noise is from the pedal itself, then it would seem that having the G String before the pedal wouldn't solve the problem. In that case, placing the G String after the pedal should kill the noise and I would think it would not affect the phaser when playing. Just my guess.

DH