Review - GigWRX MFC Labels

Scott Peterson

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I've used the MFC for years now; on a Mark III now after rolling with every prior generation of the MFC and it's been fantastic. A wonderful side effect of the success of Fractal's MFC is that there has been a cottage industry that sprung up to create magnetic labels for it.

I've used other labels; and they've done the job. At home craft special; one very kind soul from Italy made me a custom set a while ago. Custom designed stuff, glow in the dark stuff. Gigging a board really puts these things to the test. Slogging through winter in Michigan gigging weekly, crazy heat in the sun in the summer. Wet shoes; and everything from snow to rain and mud... let alone beer what God-knows-what-else :shock all over the thing. The wear and tear on all these labels is in my experience along the leading edge of the bottom row.

I have my MFC fixed to the Pedaltrain Pro with velcro; I travel it in my trunk (boot for you UK guys) in a soft case. I travel my rig on average 2-3 times a week for rehearsals, writing, recording, sessions, gigs. I haul this thing all over the place. I treat my gear with respect and care about it; but it has to be seriously dependable, work without fail, and do the job.

Now labels on a pedalboard midi switcher is pretty low tech and simple compared to the rest of the rig. I have run tape on my switcher, glow in the dark gaffer's tape being my favorite there - ugly, but damn effective. I don't require glow in the dark; but the gaffer's tape solution was REALLY effective in that regard compared to glow in the dark labels. I'm not going to get up on stage before every set and shine a flashlight on the board to get the glow-in-the-dark labels to glow-in-the-dark. Let's be real. The gaffer's tape was exceptionally good even in ambient light and more effective.

But I have my board pretty memorized having not messed with where different effects switches are and the MFC has LED's that you can see from space. ;) Figuring what to step on in the dark stages (or more realistically the dark NON-stages) we find ourselves on sometimes isn't on the labels for the most part. They are there to be functional; and most times on stage it isn't 100% dark; but that has never been much of a real life issue for me given the LED's on the MFC.

I've wanted to do a review on these; but wanted a 3 month long term 'real life' trial gigging with these before I offered my opinion on them.

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Opinion

The design of these GigWRX labels is great. The site is setup so you choose every element and it comes as a finished unit; each label is 100% custom and you do them one at a time on their site. GigWrx

That's pretty cool. It takes some pre-planning; but my setup is pretty much set at this point so setting it up from a design standpoint wasn't that hard for me. If I was just coming into the Fractal 'thing' and had not yet nailed my MFC setup; I'd personally recommend setting up with tape until you get it set.

The trump card that sets GigWRX apart IMHO is the thickness and the strength of the magnetic backing. They are very close tolerance around the nut on the MFC and the LED ring to set them on the board. They do NOT fall off. I've not yet had one fall off. They don't move around. They don't peel up. You can get them wet - reasonably so, not underwater (which I'll point out... is also bad for your MFC!). They don't run. They are easy to clean. The colors don't fade (or haven't yet as I type this; summer outdoor festival season is coming...). They are VERY easy to read and the design fits what I like and they make the MFC look cool.

The only real issue has been the very slight peeling all these sorts of MFC labels are prone to. Prior generations of other company labels ripped on the bottom row for me under serious work (years of use - so NO slam on them); a few of the labels on the bottom row of the GigWRX labels are starting to slightly peel up. Here's a pic:

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Pros:

  • Very eye catching designs available
  • Customized label by label
  • Fast turn-around on orders
  • Serious magnetic backing - they stay put
  • Sturdy quality construction
  • Weather resistant - colors don't run when wet
  • Cost is reasonable for the quality and customizing options available
  • Good customer support/follow-up
  • Made in the USA

Negatives:

  • No glow-in-the-dark options
  • Some peeling from the front edge (though this has happened with most all labels I've used)

Overall:

These are top quality choices. I really like the look. I really like the magnets and thickness. I didn't have to add any double-sided tape to these - they don't move. They hold up to the weather. The customized options are really good; the turnaround on that custom order was VERY fast. Impressively so. The value for the price is excellent.

I can recommend you check these out without any hesitation if you are looking for a product like this.
 
Great review.
About the peel-up I have experienced the same problem. Just take them off and smear some express glue around the edge.
 
Yes we do ship to Europe. I was surprised as to how expensive it is to ship there though. Especially with a package so small

If you had a "standard" series it would be cheaper for the customers to get them from a european distributor.
But what you are offering is "custom-size". And I don't think anyone would cry paying more for it.

Just my two cent.
 
Scott, looking at your MFC config, do the small numbers on the bottom row indicate that you have 5 buttons allocated to preset switching? If so, how do buttons 4 & 5 also act as compressor and formant controls?
 
Scott, looking at your MFC config, do the small numbers on the bottom row indicate that you have 5 buttons allocated to preset switching? If so, how do buttons 4 & 5 also act as compressor and formant controls?

I use the bottom 5 switches primarily as preset selectors; so in other words my presets are in banks of 5. Hence, the numbers.

If you click on "Reveal" then the bottom 5 switches change into IA switches for what is on the label - ie. 4 is for Compressor and 5 is for Formant. Reveal lights up and blinks when it is active; so to go back to "presets" then you click the reveal switch again. (*Note: though a cool feature is that if I bank up or down and click another preset even while in Reveal mode is that the preset will change but Reveal stays active).
 
I love my Gigwrx labels as well. I had a problem with the fit. Cut out size and MFC nut issue now well explained on their website. All was resolved with killer customer service. Highly recommended
 
Cool. Thanks. I'm just getting started with scenes as they've made a lot of improvements to make it more friendly for us users with tons of presets to use scenes periodically.
 
Cool. Thanks. I'm just getting started with scenes as they've made a lot of improvements to make it more friendly for us users with tons of presets to use scenes periodically.

Very true.

I've sort of 'grown-up' with the X/Y thing and still roll with that; but Scenes are a better way to do the same thing (because of zero drop out, along with X/Y and lots more capability and versatility) but I have not yet 'made the leap' into totally rethinking how to do what I want to do.

I will.
 
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