GCX & ground control pro connections

[Darkness, Darkness]

Hi,

I am finalizing the building of my rack system. At this point I will buy and add one GCX (or 2 decision is not yet frozen ), a ground control pro and put all the stomp-boxes in a rack drawer to have a clean setting . Before passing my order, I am finalizing the list of accessories required (plugs, bulk cable length, MIDI connector cables, ...)

I would like to power the GCX directly from a MXR MC-403 power system which has two 9VAC 800mA outputs :

• - Just to be sure, are 9VAC 800mA enough to power a GCX ?

• - From what I read in previous posts, it looks like that the GCX power plug is a DIN 4 pins format and that pin 1-2 and 3-4 should be connected to the output of the power AC supply. Right ? Would the Switchcraft connector 09BL4MX be ok to make a suitable power patch cable ? see http://www.switchcraft.com/productsumma ... Parent=812 ? As it is AC power, I presume I should let the metal plug chassis / ring disconnected (no ground) ?

Is there any 5 PIN MIDI cable provided with the GCX or the GCP ?

Thanks !

[nyteowl]

The power supply that comes with a GCX is 1000mA, 9VAC, so I'll have to defer to John to verify if 800mA will be enough. On the other hand, perhaps it might be easier to just plug the GCX power supply into your rack's power supply. Then you know you've got the right amount of power and there will be no need to make up a special cable.

Neither the GCX or the GCPro come with any MIDI cables.

[Darkness, Darkness]

Thanks for the feedback ! (Sorry I was not able to answer last week)

Continuing digging info about the GCX on the forum, I recently found this post from John http://www.voodoolab.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1743 : apparently a GCX unit current draw is about 500mA. So the remaining question is how much current draw does the GCP require when powered by a GCX. I would believe that it should draw less current than the GCX unit as there is no FX loop relay coil to be powered in the GCP. So if it draws less than 300 mA then the MC403 would be fine. If you could ask the question to John

If GCX+GCP need more than 800mA, I'll use one of their power supply. But if I could use the MC403 it would optimize a little bit the space in the rack, so I would prefer this option.

[Darkness, Darkness]

Just a quick feedback, should this be useful for someone : no issue to power 2 GCX and a GCP (which is itself powered from one of the 2 GCX units) with the MXR MC-403 power system. Everything works fine and that help to make the power connections very simple and clean in my system.

[JohnClark]

800mA would be the bottom limit I would attempt for powering a GCX that is in turn powering a Ground Control Pro via Phantom Power.

[Darkness, Darkness]

Thanks for the feedback John, I'll take note To be honest, I was thinking at the first time this might not work. In my own case it so far works very well (I even tried to switch up to 8 loops at the same time on the GCX powering the GCP)

Also to complete my "review" : this has been tested/used so far only in my home studio (France -> 230V), and behind a furman power conditioner. I might be in the right/best conditions. So YMMV.

Anyway, I keep the provided voodoo labs power supplies on hand, should this be necessary one day.

So at the moment, that's the perfect setup for myself. Can not expect a better setup. These 2 GCX and GCP are really a BIG improvement in my setup. That's why I take the time to post reviews on them, should this help someone to pull the trigger and get some of these marvels