| The Lexicon JamMan is a small rack-mount unit that allows me to record live with
a tap of a foot pedal. When the pedal is tapped again, it immediately
plays back the recorded "sample" in looping form. This makes it
possible to play as an ensemble by yourself. You can lay down
any repetitive type chord progression or bass pattern and improvise
until the cows come home. You may also record additional parts
to your loop. The manual suggests a maximum of 8 layers but I
have a composition where I end up with 13 or 14 recorded parts
with no problem. It comes stock with 8 seconds of memory but is
easily upgradable to 32 seconds. (mine has been upgraded) Although
the JamMan is no longer produced, it may be possible to find one
for sale. There are other comparable looping boxes available such
as the Oberheim Echoplex and the Boomerang. For much more information and ways to use this type of device
visit the Loopers Delight. pages.
The other major piece of equipment in the setup is the Roland GR-30. This is Roland's latest model guitar synthesizer. When coupled
with a guitar equipped with a special divided pickup/controller,
it puts a large array of sounds at your disposal. One of my favorite
GR-30 features is that you can assign the sounds to any individual
string or group of strings. This is great boon to fingerstyle
guitarists because you can, for example, place one of the many
bass (or tuba!) patches on your low E and A strings and have an
instant bottom.
In my current arrangement, the GR-30 also serves as |
a midi program change pedal for a Digitech 128 (an older effects
processor) I muted the entire first bank of patches to use when
playing the acoustic guitar straight without any synth. Basically,
I use these four patches (A11 to A14) to call up various strengths
of reverb & delay that I commonly use. This change has simplified
the setup a little and eliminated the need for an extra pedal
to control effects.
For more information on the digital guitar and a great many other
music toys, visit: "One-Person Band" John Pollock's very in depth Troubadour Tech, and The MIDI Guitar Unofficial Home Page.
The reason I have placed the volume pedal last in the chain is that there, it allows me to manually fade
out compositions made with the JamMan.
The RMC Pickup consists of six "Acoustic Gold" individual saddle transducers.
I chose the option of having onboard electronics with RMC's "Poly
Drive IV". It gives you 3-band EQ, the 2 synth drive control buttons,
guitar volume and synth volume. The only drawback here was having
to saw two good-sized orifices in one of my new guitars. But it
was worth it to me to have the onboard controls and besides, the
pickup works great.
Some of Richard McClish's RMC Pickup Company products are shown installed below (left to right): the 6 "Acoustic
Gold" saddle transducers, the Poly Drive IV control panel, and
the Polyphonic Output Jackplate. |
