Mesa Quad Preamp channel switching

[guitarmurphy]

I am now the proud owner of a Ground Control Pro and a GCX switcher.
I plug my guitar into the front of the GCX and out the back to my Quad input.
I also run MIDI out of the back of the GCX to go to my G Major 2.

Please excuse me for being a newbie with my question below.

Here is my question:
I want use my bottom four buttons on the Ground Control to switch channels on my Quad:
Button 1 switch to Quad Rhythm 1
Button 2 switch to Quad Rhythm 2
Button 3 switch to Quad Lead 1
Button 4 switch to Quad Lead 2

I have connected loops 5 -8 outs on the GCX to the quad channels above with TRS cables. Do I setup these loops for Latching or Momentary? Additionally, when I switch channels on the Quad, I hope I will not have to tap dance to turn off one channel when I switch to the other. Hopefully, the buttons on the ground control will switch and turn off channels on my Quad the same way my Quad FU2 footswitch did.

How do I program the four bottom Ground Control buttons to do the above and have the top two rows (8 buttons) available for instant access to change presets on my G Major 2?

[Trueman]

Page 10 of the manual:

INSTANT ACCESS
The Ground Control Pro allows you to use buttons 1 through 8 for instant access. Normally,
presets are organized in banks of 10. To use the Instant Access feature, you must select the “4
Presets/Bank” option. This frees the upper two rows since you only need the bottom row of 4
buttons to recall your presets.
To select the 4 preset/bank option, enter Setup mode by pressing both [SETUP MODE] buttons
at the same time, then press [UTILITY], followed by [SELECT 2]. The display should read:
Press [+/YES] to select “4 PRST/BANK”. Now you’re ready to setup your instant access buttons.
The factory setting is for buttons 1-8 to control loops 1-8 in GCX #1, respectively. You can
redefine each button to control any one of the following:
• Any loop of your GCX Guitar Audio Switcher(s).
• Start and Stop a MIDI sequencer.
• Send a MIDI continuous controller on/off message.

[guitarmurphy]

Thanks so much for pointing me to page 10 of the manual. I have read that page (and many more from the CGX and GC Pro manual) several times, but I still do not think that is what I want to do.

Perhaps I was not clear....

I want the botton four buttons to switch channels on my Quad. That is all I want them to do - I don't want them to select presets via the 4 presets per bank. At least, I don't think I need that right now.

My intent was to retire my Boogie Quad FU2 channel switching footswitch, and have four dedicated buttons on the GC Pro that would do only channel switching for my Quad. I assumed that the bottom four would do that.

So, for now, I want to program my favorite 8 presets from my G-Major 2 using the 8 instant access buttons. I can figure out how to do that.

And, I want to use buttons 1-4 on the bottom row (the large white numbers on a gray background) to switch the Quad channels that are connected to loops 5-8 on the GCX. In other words, I want it to do the exact same thing my FU2 to do. Anytime, anywhere: Buttons 1 - 4 would always be channel switching on my Quad.

I realize that this setup is not using the full power of the GC Pro, but at least it would get me out gigging with this unit ASAP and be able to retire the FU2.

There is probably a better way of doing this....Perhaps that is to keep carrying my FU2.

Is there any other way to have four dedicated channel switching buttons that will always be there (in the same place) no matter what bank I may be in?

For example, If I press button 1 from the bottom row, I would get my quad rhythm 1 channel and have 8 IA buttons above. Next, I would press button 2 and get my quad rhythm 2 channel and the same 8 IA buttons above. Same idea for buttons 3-4 going to my Lead 1 and Lead 2 channels.

I am sure I am missing something simple here because I thought that that GC Pro could do this in its sleep. The problem is that I have not been getting enough sleep to figure this out.

[Josh Fiden]

The bottom row of buttons are for selecting presets. The upper 8 are instant access. The instant access buttons can turn GCX loops on/off or send cc messages which typically are used to turn individual effects in a processor on/off stomp box style. Alternately, you can have 10 buttons to select presets if you don't want to use instant access.

If you do not want to create presets for the Mesa Quad, you are better off just using the FU-2. That said, I think if you experiment a little bit with making presets that include the preamp channel in addition to the G-Major preset, you'll find it is easy to do and much more flexible. You can still use instant access buttons to override the preamp channel on the fly.

The problem with the way you're trying to do this is that when you change sounds, you'll have to hit multiple buttons to select both preamp channel and processor preset. For most players, eliminating the tap dance is a primary reason to put together a MIDI/switching system.

Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO

[guitarmurphy]

Josh - Thanks so much for the info. Now that I know what I can and cannot do, I can move on and start programming the presets combined with the channel switching.
I must admit that I am old-school and have been tap-dancing for 30 years. Because of the tap-dancing I rarely changed effects in the middle of the song. Now, with your product, I can enter a new era and not be limited by only having two feet....both of them left.
My thoughts are that I will start arranging the presets per song. This is going to be SO COOL!
I want to thank you for making this forum available and actually taking part in our conversations!

[Josh Fiden]

Organizing presets by using a different bank for each song is a very common way to go.

Thanks for participating in the forum!

Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO

[guitarmurphy]

I now am changing my Quad channels via the presets in the GC Pro!
Life is Good!

I have a new question:

I am presently using four of my GCX loops for channel switching(rhythm1-rhythm2-Lead1-Lead2)

Is it possible to use a Y-split cable (TRS stereo into two mono jacks) out of two loops to accomplish my four way channel switching on my Quad? This would free up two of my GCX loops.

Or is there another way to switch four channels with two loops?

[Josh Fiden]

You need 4 separate switch functions to do this. If you are out of loops, our Control Switcher will be shipping very soon. You could use this to control the amp channel and free up the GCX loops for audio switching.

Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO

[guitarmurphy]

Channel switching is working fine with my Quad.

Now on to the next question:

I have the GCPro setup for 4 presets/bank to give me 8 Instant Access buttons.

I have tried to program the IA buttons to send a patch change to my G Major 2, but all I see are controller changes.
My preset button is able to change Quad channels and send a patch change, but my IA buttons cannot change patches.

I am assuming that I will not be able to make my first IA button to send patch change 35, and IA2 to send patch change 75, etc.

Am I missing something?

[Josh Fiden]

...I have tried to program the IA buttons to send a patch change to my G Major 2, but all I see are controller changes.
My preset button is able to change Quad channels and send a patch change, but my IA buttons cannot change patches.

I am assuming that I will not be able to make my first IA button to send patch change 35, and IA2 to send patch change 75, etc.

Am I missing something?

That's not how instant access buttons are normally used. If you're changing to a completely different program on the G-Major, that's a different sound which would be a new preset. Instant access is typically assigned to individual effects on the G-Major. For example, you assign a button to turn the delay on/off.

Thanks,
Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO