Difference between Rg-16 and the new RackGizmo?

Danjel

Member
Is there some sonic difference between the two? I have Rg-16 today and I'm not head over heels happy with the quality of the original amp tone it lets through. It radically changes the feel of the amps headroom and it changes how the amp takes pedals infront of it. Most ODs sound muddy and "out of pase" when used on the clean channel of my Friedman amp. When I dont use the rg-16, the amp sounds great with ODs infront of the clean channel and the amp has plenty of headroom... Anybody else experience similar phenomenons with the rg-16? If there is headroom difference between the ampgizmo and rg-16 it would be killer to theck it out.
Anybody?
 
The Rack Gizmo has much more headroom than the RG-16 - the audio circuitry didn't change much between the two models, but the biggest change that did happen was the headroom.

Are you using the buffer or not? Try using the buffer if you're not, or try not using it if you were using it. It would be interesting to compare. We can't yet rule out that there's something wrong with the RG-16, this test will help.
 
Thanks for answering!
There is some difference of course, but not huge.
I use an external MXR buffer instead of the RJM's.
How would the Rack Gizmo or even the Effect Gizmo (from what I understand, it too can be programmed to change channels on a simpler channel amp), affect the OD in the loop? Today, I have to use a very sharp and harsh sounding od in order to even get a mild od-effect.
 
That's quite puzzling - without using the buffer, there's no active circuity in the RG-16 signal path at all. Only relays. There's very little opportunity for the tone to change.

If you say that your overdrive is getting drastically affected, then there has to be something wrong in the rig. It could be the RG-16, but it would have to be a bad connector, which is an extremely rare occurrence.

One thing people frequently fail to notice is that, when using a switcher, you're using many more cables that you would without it. If one cable is starting to go bad, there goes your tone.

I would start by testing every cable. With an ohmmeter, not a cable tester. Cable testers don't check for partial shorts or partial opens, which is where tone is lost.
 
The cables have all been checked and changed to professionally custom made cables from Sound of Silence here in Sweden. A rig-building company much like Tone Merchants & Rack Systems LTD and Bradshaw.
 
Even a pro rig building company can make mistakes / miss a cable. Always check everything yourself, even if it's brand new or supposedly tested by others. If it's been transported at all, that could cause something to shift just enough to create an issue.
 
Ok, if I was there, I'd start eliminating things from the equation. Remove everything from your system except the RG-16 so that it's only guitar->RG-16->amp, and no effects are plugged into the RG-16. If that doesn't fix it, start reducing the number of loops you're using. You can do this by changing where the signal enters and leaves the RG-16. Try going into the Input jack (left of Return 1) and the output jack (right of Return 4). Then, try going into In 5 and out of Out 5, then repeat for each of loops 6, 7 and 8. Make a note of what works and what doesn't - something is not working correctly and step-by-step is the only way you're going to find it.
 
Back
Top