15 October 04 - Barry Silverman (PA), to Stickwire:
The Eden has a 12AX7 tube in it which really warms the sound
nicely. It is always important to set the preamp gain up fairly high so it
really warms the tube, but not so high that it causes clipping (or
distortion unless you are into that), and then control your overall volume
with the Amp Gain control. I have been very happy with the Eden sound
overall, and of course became even more enamoured once I started playing the
NS/Stick through it. There's just something about that Stick Bass tone that
kicks booty! The Eden, to my ear, is the perfect balance of warmth and
punch.
9 June 03 - Glenn Poorman (MI), to Stickwire:
To keep things nice and tidy, I picked up a Roland GI-20 GK-MIDI converter from SE and also purchased the Roland XV-2020 synth module. I've only spent a few days with this setup but my first impressions are very positive. With the GI unit converting to and using MIDI to generate tones (via the outboard synth module), I was expecting more tracking issues than through the GR-33. What I ended up with is actually less issues. I've been amazed so far at the tracking of this unit. The other really cool part is that the GI (like most other Roland units) allows you to set up a large number of patches. Within each patch, you can set the sensitivity, the play feel, and you can transpose your fretboard. It also allows you to switch between broadcasting all of the strings on a single MIDI channel or splitting them up into multiple MIDI channels (allowing you to send different strings to different sound modules).
The other thing I really like about this setup is the aesthetics. Both the GI-20 and the XV-2020 are basically in the same case with the controls on the front panel being the only difference. Each is in a silver half rack sized package. Mount the two of them side by side in your rack and you have one tidy package in one rack space. With room to spare in my All Access foot controller, I've added the two additional units to the control structure and now have the MIDI setup fully integrated into my rig with no additional junk on the floor.
10 May 03 - Rod Smith (NJ), to Stickwire:
A couple of side notes: In my "research" there is no better deal on the GI-20 than what SE sells it for. Even when you consider shipping, by the time you're done with sales tax (at least here in NJ) it's still the best price around.
6 February 02 - Art Durkee (MI), to Stickwire:
My Stick is necessary. Most of the gear in my rack is supplemental, extremely fun and useful, and has helped me mold my distinctive personal "sound", but it is not my chief focus as a musician, and should not be. If the gear becomes too much of a distraction, turn it off for a while.
No one will ever talk me out of my Stick, which is - for me - one of the single most useful pieces of musical instrumentality I have ever encountered.
17 December 01 - Winston Berger (CA), to Stickwire:
I've been amazed at how good my Stick with standard pickup sounds through just about anything - guitar amps, bass amps, PA/recording gear, and home stereo stuff. My setup right now is melody side into a Boss GT-3, bass side into a SansAmp Bass Driver DI. Both units have a high input/low output impedance to buffer the passive pickup signal, which is important when I start lining up the stompboxes: Turbo Rat on the melody, and Boss Flanger, Chorus, and Octave pedals on the bass side.
Then the signals get mixed together with a Rolls MX56 Playmate mixer and sent to either an Ampeg B2R or an all-tube Mesa-Boogie Bass 400 powering SWR Goliath Jr. III 2x10 and SOB 1x15 cabinets. Sometimes I find SWR stuff to be a little thin-sounding for bass guitar but it sounds fabulous with a full-range Stick signal. I've tried running the melody side into a tube Carvin guitar combo but I prefer the simplicity of playing both sides into one amp.
17 December 01 - Jeff Edmunds (PA), to Stickwire:
I am currently in my "no frills and no effects" period. I run The Stick's bass and melody sides directly into a Marshall 100W bass head attached to a 4x10 Ampeg cabinet. Simple, and sounds fantastic. I'm a big fan of The Stick's natural sound and of the warmth of tube amps, so this set-up works great for me right now.
December 01 - Jim Reilly (Canada) interview of Nick Beggs for Talking Sticks:
It was really John (John Paul Jones) where everything shifted to, well, this is all I need, this one instrument.
JR: What kind of gear are you running through?
NB: I'm running four synthesizers through the MIDI side of the Chapman Stick, the top five melody strings. I'm using a Korg O5 RW, a Korg Expander Rack TR Synth. The MIDI converter is the Roland GR-30. I'm also running in parallel to that a VG-8, one of the early ones. I find by using standard guitar sounds, the lead parts blended with the Marshall distortion channels, which are running live. You get a nice blend between the two.
I've got a small TAO four-channel mixer, just to blend the synths together. I'm running three back lines. I'm running a stack of SWR Goliaths, that the bass side of the instrument goes through. And a new triple Marshall head, valve amp with a four by twelve cab. For the synths I use a Roland KC 500 four channel combo with an 18 inch speaker and a tweeter; a full range cab for the synths because there are a lot of variables in them.