Digital Music Corp GCX Guitar Audio Switcher

Have used the GCX now for about 1 year. setting this up was easy, but quite time consuming, would prefer that each loop is internally connected to each other, to eliminate patching them together. this uses load of cables, which I made myself. Buy a drum of good quality screened patch cable and jack plugs and make them up yourself. much cheaper than buying cables from shops. works excellently with ground control pro with no problems. I too have built my own front panel for connecting to volume pedals, wah and groung control.

Unit produces no sound but very importantly transports the sound signal to selected loops. The on-board buffer is great which I use with my active EMG pickups. It maintains the signal through all the cabling. every efect I use with this is fantastic with no obvious drawbacks. Using a Fender Strat 1957 vintage re-issue (anaversary edition), Ibanez JS 1000 and marshall AVT 2000 2x12. only thing I would point out is when changing between Active and Passive pickups. When I change to Ibanez there is a noticable volume loss, which I would have hoped the buffer in the GCX would have normalized.

Unit very reliable, never had any problems and GCX don't mind you opening the unit up to maybee carry out connection repaires, should this be required (which is shouldn't) is doesn't break the warrenty.

I have used it at a gig without backup, never had any probs. it is gr8.

Never had to deal with them

If it were lost or stolen, I would be very amazed as it is screwed very tightly into a massive 18U rack which weighs a tonne. no more tapdancing as now controling with ground control pro, which is also great. seemless switching, and if you change effect whilst holding a note you can set delay up in parrallell which carries over into your new sound. I use Boss CS3 (L1), RAK Chorus (L2), MXR Phase 90 (EVH, L3), Boss TD (L4), Boss BD (L5), Boss OD/3 (L6), EH Big Muff (L7), Boss DD3 (L8).

Makes no sounds-all those come from your effects. It is quite easy to setup with the Ground Control though and organizes everything. Manual is decent, though the part about muting an efx unit input was not in-depth enuff for me, so I had to call tech support.

My style is a cross between rock and heavier metal styles, like death metal/thrash et al. My setup is guitar>MXR Blue Box>GCX guitar input. Each loop in the GCX contains these respective pedals, in order: SD Pickup Booster, BYOC Overdrive, Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, BYOC Chorus and MXR EVH Phase 90. Loop 6 has nothing plugged in, and I use that one as my mute. The second "Feed Thru" goes to a Peterson Strobostomp tuner. THEN my amp fx loop send goes to the input of a Behrenger mixer, out of that mixer channel and into loop 7's input.....so I'm basically splitting the preamp send signal. Loop 7's send goes to an Alesis Quadraverb, then out of that into another mixer channel, and the mixer out goes to my amp fx return.

Why? So I can mute the input to my Quadraverb, effectively letting my delays/reverbs etc. spill over into the next patch, and I get total control of how much fx I want to blend with the dry signal, since my fx loop is series. Loop 8 is channel switching for both my amps: A Marshall JCM800 2210 and a Peavey Studio Pro combo. The Peavey is what I use at home. This rig is very powerful! I can have any possible sound, and keep everything in the 6-space rack. No more tap-dancing on pedals!

The Ground Control works great with it too, and I have it setup in "Bank4" mode so I can turn on/off the mute and five pedals with the upper row buttons. One day I'll upgrade to either the GC Pro or Rocktron All Access but it works fine for now! Before I got this I had all my pedals on the floor and they were hard to engage when I needed more than one on at a time, and I needed a solo boost and delay. I decided to get this so I could use a processor and all the pedals in a rack and have very minimal cables on the floor. There are LOTS of cables in the rack (about 40) but only a 6 foot snake with my fx loop/ch. switch/amp input cables coming out the back, and I just sit my amp on there and plug in. Takes like two minutes tops.

Seems sturdy! I hope it don't break becuase I have ALL my fx in that case and it would be pretty annoying to unpatch it all! I could get through a gig with just my overdrive and chorus pedals if I had too. I think it'll work great for years. Not sure about the foot controller though.....it's a bit cheap. All good for now.

Bought it used, but the tech support was great! I had the question about muting my fx input, and the guy explained it to me quickly.

For my money, and this rig costs a LOT, you can't beat it unless you go up to the Axxess or Bradshaw stuff! It works, has a nice sounding buffer in it (I run 40 feet of cable between my guitar and amp) and made my tone a little better, since I'm not going thru all the pedals at one time. The only pedal I couldn't use in the loops was my Blue Box, being a fuzz/octave, it sounds bad after the buffer. So I just use it on the floor. I have been playing since about '96 and went through tons of gear, like most players do.

If it were stolen I would be VERY angry and lose tons of money obviously. It's the heart of my whole rig now haha! I do wish it had more loops, and that you could have some loops without the buffer like the Axxess/Bradshaw stuff, but oh well. It works good enuff for me!

Very easy to use, if you are familiar with the whole midi control number thing. If not, it will take a little getting use too.

There are no sounds that are built in. You provide the sounds via effects processors and stomp boxes. The unit is very transparent and keeps your signal as pure as possible.
I use it with a combination of rack effects and pedals, as well as switching the channel on my amp head. It works great.

Yes, you can depend on this unit. I've used it for the last two years and have never had a problem.

Digital Music Corp. are great. They take time to answer questions and are very easy to contact.

I play in a original Rock band and it works great. I have been playing for 23yrs and have gone through quite a bit of gear. Within the last 8 yrs I've tried a lot of Switchers. I've tried the Rocktron patchmate, CAE 4x4 and 2x4 and Axess electronics GR4. I would rate the GCX just as good as any of these products. I would replace it with another GCX if it were stolen.

Almost transparent (signal loss is inevitable with this much cable) and dependable unit. I am very pleased with it's performance and reliability.

I'm using it to switch pedals in and out of the signal chain. It works seamlessly. It has saved me a lot of footwork. I mount all my pedals in a rack and do multiple changes with one stomp of my ground control pro.
Instant changes, no dropouts. Good unit.

I can and do depend on it. I gig without a backup. I have a POD for emergencies and I've never had to use it.

A great company. If you need help you'll get it.

I'm extremely please with this system. Simplified my rig immensely.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 7 for ease of use. Depending on your application. MIDI can be confusing, and the manual isn't always clear on what to do. Just takes a few hours to sit down with the unit and have some patience.
I bought the Ground Control Pro as an upgrade from the older GC model that came wihtthe unit. Made a HUGE difference in ease of use.

I am running the GCX in the FX loop of my Mesa Tremoverb head. Works great. I have about 8 Boss and other various pedals hooked up to it and everything is mounted in my rack. I used George L cables, because I can cut my own lengths. Made worlds of difference in my overall tone, because the GCX is all passive and it bypasses any pedal when not in use. I have my controller setup stompbox style, but you can set it up a varity of ways. It can switch on and off multipule loops at once as well as switch channels on your head.
Its all personnal preferrence. I have a guitar tech who does all my switching on stage, so stompbox style worked best for us. If you do your own switching - the one button changes everything would be the better way to go.

The GCX itself has never broken down. Its all passive so that helps.
Although the connections in my George L cables have gone bad from time to time.

The guys a Digital Music Corp. were a huge help in assisting with getting my rig all wired up.

Been playing for over 10 years. Have used alot of different setups and this is one of the best solutions for using multiple pedals or FX units. Why spend $1000 on a Bradshaw when you can get the GCX for just $400.
Used by tons of pros and studios. I would buy it again for sure.

Extremely easy to set up if you take the time to research these types of setups prior to purchase. Use good cable, a good power supply (pedal power) for your stomp box's, keep audio and power seperate and keep it neat. This should keep you out of trouble.
The ground control pro is very simple and user friendly. Somewhat versatile but i do wish i could expand the number of instant axess functions, for this reason i do see why some prefer the RS-10.

I do wish it also had a front panel midi/xlr out for the foot controller but i needed to feed a bunch of things in and out of the rack (amp loop snd and rtrn, gtr in, gtr out a, gtr out b plus the pedal board midi) so i had an interface built for me by a tech. This would have defeated the front panel midi anyway.

No popping. No hum. I rigged the whole rack up with George L cables and use a pedal power 2 to power my stomp box's. VERY VERY little signal loss. I dont even use the buffered input. Im sure there is some but it sure beats running everything inline, and tap dancing all night. Not to mention worrying about the drunks in the front row who are about to pour their beer into your nice boutique stomp box's.

It improved (along with the George L's) my sound noticeably. More attack, more clarity, better bottom end.

I run either a 2000 les paul standard or 79 custom into the GCX, and in the GCX is (in order) whammy (reissue), keeley compressor, sparkle drive, keeley DS-1, keeley TS-9DX, keeley BD-2, (in amps fx loop) line6 mod and echo pro's.

Did i mention i have keeley underwear. lol.

Running into a (modified) 100w plexi re-issue.

Not only has it improved my sound, but it has improved the performance aspect of my playing ten-fold. I can concentrate less on changing sounds and more on my playing and performance. We love fiddling with gear but the audience in most cases doesnt like watching someone looking down at their feet all night.

Ive had it for just over a year and have had no problems with it. I transport my own gear in most situations so it doesnt get trashed by roadies on a regular basis, but others people dont seem to have any issues.
And - although im not a fan of these bands, i have seen this unit in the current (as well as previous) rigs of Slipknot, Godsmack, Papa Roach and Linkin Park. I dont like their music but there is no doubt that thses guys tour hard and their gear (or should i say roadcases) takes a beating.

I gig without a back up all the time and have had no problems so far and expect none. I made sure the system was accident free, neat, cable tied together, and that all tension on the plugs going into the GCX was evenly distributed. Theres alot a cable in there and if something goes wrong at a gig - not good. Take the time to do it right and you'll be rewarded with a problem free set up - hopefully.

Emailed them once asking how many mA the GCX requires because i was getting a power supply built for the rack and got no reply.
I hear they are good. Maybe my question was deemed not worthy or something. Im not phased tho, i got it all sorted anyway.

If this were stolen, first thing id do is buy a gun. Second thing id do is find the thief. Then id go buy another one.

Im actually going to buy another one to add to the rig very soon.

Im sure if you were willing to spend considerably more you could get a custom Bradshaw setup and it would poo all over this. Unfortunately i live in Australia and besides the expense, it would be extremely hard, if not impossible and impractical to corespond to c.a.e. involving many all nighters to catch them during buisness hours and expensive international phone calls.

But back to the GCX!

Im extremely happy with this product and i can be a prick if something ive spent my money on doesnt live up to what the manufacurers make it out to be.

I have just built a pro rig for a client who is a heavy road pro player. I'm also a pro player and have a CAE/Bradshaw rig. I compared the GCX to my bradshaw 2X4. Well we all know this is not a Bradshaw, but It is a good switcher. The Bradsahw is more transparent then the GCX. I found that the GCX does color the tone but still a good switcher. It reminds me of the Rocktron patchmate.

There are a few things that are a drag. You have to make little jumper cables form on loop to another to complete the circit, It doesn't have a XLR jack that locks, no jack in the front for your controller (i.e) GC- Pro so you have to snake your cable around your whole rack and the cable trys to wiggle loose too.

Over all this unit is good for what it is and I would use it in a pro rig.

when a/b with my CAE/Bradshaw it does suck some tone but not bad. You loose the trasparent and high. This unit is very quite which I was to my surprise not ever using one. No pops when switch pedals and the buffer curcit is not bad at all. I ran a 30 foot cable from a cry baby to the GCX and to guitar and didn't loose any tone.

My client had a GC-pro and we both didn't like it for pro- road work. we are going with CAE/bradshaw RS-10. The controllers I would recomend are: RS-10, Rocktron all axess, Axcess electronic FX1. These are way more reliable.

Over all the Sound quialy is very good for a production switcher.

I don't see anything that would go wrong. The loops jacks are tight, midi jacks are tight, pwr supply jack is tight. The only thing that might happen is the LED might burn out with time. I would gig without a backup.

DMC has excellent support always helpful and friendly, will do what it takes to get your rig happening and traet everyone like a star!

My Client plays all styles and does mostly heavy road work! The GCX is not as transparent as an Axcess Electroincs or CAE/Bradsahw gear but for a production switcher is very good. I would recomend it again !

This is a fantastic unit! It is very quiet and switching occurs immediately. It takes a little planning when you are combining multiple input sources, but I would say its worth every penny I paid for it. The manual is pretty good as well. It provides multiple examples that I found helpful in my rig.

While the GCX doesn't really have a sound it may be helpful to know how I am using it. I have 2 preamps a Digitech 2112 and Mesa Boogie Quad. I use the switch latching to control the Quad's channel selection. These works very well, allowing me to combine the channels anyway I desire...It was difficult to do that with the Quad's footswitch. I also use the midi control for the 2112 for patch switches...the 2112 is a little on the slow side, but it works fine with the GCX. I feed all of the outputs for these preamps into DMC System Mix Plus. All of these are controlled using the DMC Ground control with the latest firmware updates. I found that I can't live with out this in my rig now. The summed output from the System Mix are feed into a VHT 2502...there are lots of things in between that I use the Midi on the GCX to control as well..EQ's other effects, etc...

This thing is rock solid! Never have any problems with it. I rode it in the back of my truck(16 space rack) and was a little afraid that something would shake loose or get damaged...nothing went wrong though...I could probably take it 4 wheeling in my Bronco and it would still hold up.... ;-)

I called DMC with some setup questions. These guys were totally cool and very helpful.

I play rock, blues, fusion, whatever I feel like the rest of the time... It honestly doesn't matter what the style is...the GCX is worth its weight in Gold for any complex setup! Actually, the whole DMC rig is worth it in my book. I have been using this unit about a year now...if someone swipped it I would definately replace this unit.

Fairly easy to use requires midi controller so if this is not a problem then you're off and running! Manual is fairly complete had no trouble figuring it out but remembet you need many patch cables.

Hmmmm......Excellent No generated noise at all has internal circuitry to eliminate ground loops, allows true bypass of effects pedals truly excellent.

Seems reliable haven't had a failure. but haven't had it very long.

Spoke to them on the phone very helpful, easy to work with as long as you are halfway intelligent.

I play everything Strat, Les Paul, Ts9, Mutron Octave, Phase 90, Foxxtone, Fuzzface, Vox Wah, Digitech Rack, Dual Marshall Plexi amps
Fender Amp, Leslie speaker. This thing switches all of it channels reverbs, leslie in/out, speed, pedals,racks very nice.

The GCX is rather easy to use, it's just like having 8 fx loops in one box. I've had mine for about 3 years and have never had a problem getting it to work. The only thing I can think of is that the 1/4" jacks on the back are very close together, and when you have 40 plus cables back there, (especially in the dark) it gets kinda difficult to patch everything in there. Also, if you have trouble with it, troubleshooting is kinda tough b/c there are so many damn cords to check! I've read some other reviews where people say that you can only use the Ground Control with it and that is not true. I have a Bradshaw RS-10 that works just fine with it. (as it does for tons of pro guys) The CC#'s are a bit different but the guys at DMC were very helpful with that. I had Bob build my footcontroller so that I could use it with my GCX. I do like the way the Ground Control has a LED readout, but I don't like the fact that you have to buy a seperate unit (Ground Link) if you want instant loop access, plus I don't like their footpedals. Thus, I bought an RS-10.

Ok, the setup. Right now (it changes almost weekly b/c i'm a gear freak!) I'm running a Telecaster into a Vox Wah, Volume Pedal and then into the GCX. Loop one is either a Ross, MXR or Boss Compressor, Loops 2 & 3 are Tubescreamers, followed by an MXR Phase 90, Boss Tremolo, Boss CE-2 Chorus, Dan-Echo, Voodoo Lab Microvibe. From there my signal travels to a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe that is left on the clean channel. (this is an amazing amp) The fx sound great through the GCX; it adds no noise at all.

Even if I could afford a backup, I wouldn't need to. This thing (like the rest of DMC's gear) is built like a tank. It's been in my touring rack for 3 years...not a scratch.

Ok, this is where I think they shine. The guys at DMC could be the nicest guys in the biz. Every time I speak with Josh or Skip, they are very patient and always eager to help. (maybe b/c i give them all of my money!) When I was programming my RS-10, they walked me through every step, and I wasn't even using their product.

The music I play is a cross between Buffalo Tom, Phish, Counting Crows, Chicago, Ben Folds Five, DMB, and any other CD I have ever heard! The GCX is a perfect match for me. If it were stolen, someone would be seriously injured when they were found. Simply put, this a great product, made by great people. If you use more than one pedal, get yourself one of these things.