Vernon Reid's crazy rig ...

Im trying hard to like it, but i dont for some reason.
I must remind my self that i used to be a all-tube-amp guy. Hated digital stuff.
Now days im all in on the Axe 2, using no amps/pedals what so ever.
But this was a bit too much for me! :shock
 
Man he really likes to embrace the tech... The rig itself is not very tidy but that doesn't seem to bother him and he also seems to know how everything is hooked up. I'm rather surprised that he is not using the Axe.
 
Seems like a logistical nightmare to me, with all that stuff on a table and on the floor, using multiple controllers (floor, iPad, etc.), running multiple software programs etc.

But clearly he knows how to manage it, so more powerrrrr to him!

I don't think this could be handled by an Axe-Fx. Also because it seems he operates a lot of stuff in real-time.
 
yek said:
I don't think this could be handled by an Axe-Fx. Also because it seems he operates a lot of stuff in real-time.
Click to expand...

Agreed! I was thinking as an addition to all of the other stuff he is running, I mean he has all of the stuff might as well get the Axe in there :lol.
 
VR's rig reminds m of his playing: cluttered, overly complex, ostentatious...

But as to on the floor/on the table, back in, oh, 1982, I built a horrendously coffin-like 'table' full of stomp boxes, up high so they were at hand height for twiddling. I don't remember all of 'em but I know I had a Big Muff Pi, 2 Memory Man Deluxes, and MXR phaser, and MXR flanger, and a Mutron II. The only thing on the floor was a Morley Vol/Wah and this really cool, ahead-of-its-time Boss effects switcher (serial). Can't remember what the damn thing was called, but it was analog, and really worked! All your stuff plugged into a unit, and it had this massive, robust pedal with buttons (silent!!!) for switching connected to that via a cable. Beat the hell out of it and it never failed! I've tried to find mention of it over the years, but never have.

The rig, which I regularly used around NYC even got a few compliments from people like Rhys Chatham and Richard Lloyd (of Television fame). I remember once at CBGBs, a tech for some band called his friends, Joey and Johnny Ramone over to look. They were really nice about it, but as you'd expect, it wasn't their cup of tea.

Of course compared to VR's rig, it was stone age - but sometimes it is fun to have a lot of twiddleable stuff within easy reach.

I no longer do - just the Axe II and a PCM-70 for me, both in the rack, and a Dunlop vol/wah (soon to be replaced with exp pedal), Liquid foot, and Boomerang III on the floor.

And that's plenty complicated enough for this old geezer who is much less of a tweak-a-holic then he was back in the day.

yek said:
Seems like a logistical nightmare to me, with all that stuff on a table and on the floor, using multiple controllers (floor, iPad, etc.), running multiple software programs etc.

But clearly he knows how to manage it, so more powerrrrr to him!

I don't think this could be handled by an Axe-Fx. Also because it seems he operates a lot of stuff in real-time.
Click to expand...
 
I see a lot of redundant effects and controllers. With an Axe Fx and the roland Vg-99 and possibly the eventide unit all the other could be done away with. It looks like he's avoiding high end modelers and effects units for some reason, just because you can't see all the virtual clutter doesn't mean its not there in the digital realm :), for an almost completely digital rig there are some odd choices IMO .

I hope he doesn't trip over a cord and fall into his rig :)
 
IMHO...Terrible... too much crap, way too many ways for something to go wrong, impossible to troubleshoot.. disaster waiting to happen. I feel like sometime my axeII and foot controller are too much.

But that is what makes us unique, and if he's willing to take those risks, and it gets him off, thats what it's really about no?
 
I'm down with the IPad apps. I just wish that they would make a device that you could plug in the bottom, but also feed it power at the same time. Whenever I use my Apogee Jam, that's the only thing that I can plug in so the battery drains fast. I have an old Irig connector as well that goes into the headphone jack, but the cross talk on that is horrendous.

As far as the Vernon Reid thing in general goes, he kind of reminds me of me. I used to love stringing all kinds of stuff together when I was a kid, of course it wasn't this hi-tech, but it was a snakefest of cables. My old bass player would always tell me, Dude, when the audience sees cables like yours and they can't trace them in their head, they freak out, you need to stop all that stuff. So I did.


Back in the day I had a VG-88, Gr-30, Variax 600, Pod Farm and whatever else I had at the time. I don't miss it to be honest.
 
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