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TC Electronic G—System Review by: Matt Pinson |
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| Features Usability Sound Documentation & Product Support Price Other Comments Contact Info Overall Rating—Product Summary |
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The TC Electronic G-System is aimed squarely at the serious guitar player looking for an all-in-one solution that provides both high quality effects and total control of a complex rig. Fair enough. A lot of products have this goal in mind, but we have seen few that actually succeed. Depending on your needs, though, the G-System may be just what the tone doctor ordered.
For the guitarist seeking a complete stand-alone effects processor that enables you to step on a single button and instantly dial up a programmable combination of high quality rack-style effects such as chorus, delay, and reverb within the effects loop, patch in a few favorite stomp-boxes at the amp’s front end, and simultaneously change amp channels via analog relay or MIDI, the G-System makes a great solution. Quick patch changes, delay spill-over, the TC Electronic classic “Golden Ratio” chorus algorithms, digital S/PDIF outputs, USB connection, and a uniquely constructed pedal-board/rack solution are all part of the comprehensive feature list of the G-System and testimony that TC Electronic has been listening to what guitarists are asking for. Think this may be the solution you’ve been long searching for? Quite possibly. However, the qualifiers for this are that you do not have complex MIDI requirements (ex. need to control multiple MIDI devices on independent MIDI channels), you do not require flexibility in the order in which you route the effects, and you do not need multiple instances of any specific effects. Further, the G-System may not be right for you if you require on-board speaker simulation and amp modeling, side-chaining within effects, intelligent pitch shifting, or advanced levels of tweakability for effects parameters or internal levels metering. Features 
Usability 
The overall layout of the G-System is excellent. The foot controller has large, easily accessed buttons that light up brightly when selected. It would be a nice feature to have each of the effects groups light up a different color (or even just a separate color) from the patch buttons for easy identification from across a stage, but this certainly isn’t necessary. The angle of the foot controller is ideal and the layout is clean. It is easy to select patches without accidentally stepping on the wrong button, even with large shoes. Additionally, the display contrast can be adjusted to provide an optimal viewing angle of the LCD screen from wherever you typically stand -- a very handy feature. The unit appears well made and feels quite solid, but we did not have an opportunity to gig with it. Our review unit had an issue with some of the buttons sticking when we first received it, but after a little “working in” they functioned without fail. This may simply be a matter of the foot controller needing a little “break in” period. If you have previous experience setting up and programming rack gear, and have a decent understanding of the basic parameters of most effects, you will have little trouble programming and adjusting settings in the G-System. If you are relatively new to this sort of thing, though, it may be a bit challenging. The interface is not very intuitive. We would have liked the ability to rearrange the sequence in which effect chains are built, and if you happen to be a self-professed tech-head, you may find the number and depth of parameters for effects customization a bit limiting. The G-System walks a fine middle ground between plug and play simplicity and tweaker heaven. There’s enough functionality to satisfy most demanding players, but the obsessed tweakers among you may be better suited by the TC Electronic G-Force combined with a MIDI controller. More details on this topic can be found in the Other Comments section of this review. One of the most unique features of the G-System is its ability to function either as a self-contained floor board/effect processor or it can be split into a separate foot controller and rack mount processor. Those of you with additional rack gear or who plan to use the G-System’s analog relays to control amp functions and switch channels, will most likely choose to separate the unit into separate components. This way, your patch cables can remain as short as possible for signal integrity, your favorite stomp boxes can be mounted in a rack shelf, and your other MIDI gear can be connected more easily. Your overall set-up time at gigs will be greatly reduced since the pedal board connects to the rack unit via a single CAT 5-type Ethernet cable. We'd be remiss here not to offer additional kudos to TC Electronic and point out that utilizing a standard Ethernet cable for communication between the two components rather than some expensive and proprietary cable is an outstanding feature. In an emergency, you should be able to find an inexpensive replacement cable virtually anywhere. Of course, players with simpler amp set-ups wishing to simply tuck the G-System and a few patch cables in a gig bag, roll into a jam session with a combo amp and get down to business, have that option as well. Sound
The G-System sounds like what you’d expect from TC Electronic. Pristine. The effects engine is 24-bit 96KHz, so the resolution of the effects is excellent and there is only a very slight coloration of your dry signal that only the most discerning ears may notice. The three most widely used effects (and ones nearest and dearest to many a guitar player’s heart) are delay, chorus, and reverb. For this reason, we’ll highlight these first. The G-System’s delay algorithms allow you to utilize low pass and high pass filters to reduce the bandwidth of repeats. Basically, this allows you to take some top and/or bottom end out of each subsequent repeat of your echo effect. This is most useful for recreating some of the warmth of analog style echo boxes and keeping the sound of your delays sitting nicely behind the note. Additionally, the G-System includes a dynamic delay algorithm inherited from TC Electronic’s much beloved 2290, which enables you to set up echoes so that they “duck” behind the notes as you play them. This keeps faster or more articulate passages tight and clean, while adding depth and dimension to the end of phrases or to longer sustained notes as they decay below the threshold. Also borrowed from the 2290 is the “Golden Ratio” chorus algorithms that first gave TC Electronic their reputation for great sounding, lush chorus. It should be noted that these are not present in the related G-Force signal processor. We were ecstatic to find them here, and the G-System had no problem creating the incredible chorusing lushness of a 2290 or 1210. Descriptions of reverb are, perhaps, the most subjective of all effects. Anyone who has done their fair share of playing, recording, or even listening to music has no doubt run across the trademark sounds of certain reverb units. The high-end reverb processors from certain notable industry heavyweights have contributed significantly to the sound of many classic albums and what we’ve come to perceive of as great guitar tones. The reverbs contained in the G-System do not stray from their heritage and have that trademark TC Electronic brightness and clarity to them. This is not to say that you can’t dial in darker, softer sounding reverbs with the G-System, but just that this type of crisp clarity is one of the inherent characteristics of the TC Electronic reverb sound as popularized by the studio standard M2000. Fortunately, understanding that electric guitar players often have very different tastes in effects, reverbs particularly, TC Electronic have included the requisite parameters for controlling and customizing your reverb sound from bright and glassy to thick and wooly. The other effects offered include compression, tremolo, vibrato, detune, pitch shifting (fixed interval rather than intelligent), wah-type effects, and a few others. All of these sound quite good. Note that the G-System only creates harmonies at fixed intervals (such as octaves, fifths, and fourths) – it cannot be set to harmonize within a scale (such as minor thirds or flatted sixths in a particular key). Documentation and Product Support
For those who fear manuals, the best sounds in the G-System will be elusive. Of course, this is the case with any gear that has some degree of programmability. We have yet to find an effects processor with presets that fully exploit the capabilities of the unit, so if you fall into the tweak-phobic category, now may be the time to either overcome this phobia, make good friends with the tech-head in your band, or hire a professional to “dial in” your rig. While the manual does a fine job of describing the basics, it doesn’t go into much depth in any one particular area nor offer any useful insight into dialing-in good sounds. It would have been extremely useful for the documentation to offer practical guidance with regards to creating your own sounds or for emulation of classic tones. The TC Electronic website (www.tcelectronic.com), however, offers a variety of additional resources. These include an entire mini-site dedicated to the G-System that offers downloadable training videos by recording artist Marc Baxter, a users forum for sharing tips, a section for software updates (unfortunately Windows-only), and more. We particularly love the online knowledgebase that provides numerous tips related to using TC Electronic gear with third-party products, even if no “official” testing has been conducted. Price 
The G-System (List $1,898.00) sells for approximately $1,499.00. At the same street price, if you didn’t care about loops for your pedals, but wanted more flexibility in effect routing and parameter programming, you could purchase a G-Force, but you would then have to add a few hundred dollars or more for a MIDI pedal board to control it. Certainly, at this price, there are numerous effect processors that you might consider, but the G-System has a particularly unique combination of features that make it hard to directly compare with other products currently available. Other Comments Here are some additional details that further explain a few significant points that may influence whether or not the G-System is right for you: 1) Transmitting Multiple Concurrent MIDI Messages
The G-System sends out its MIDI information on a single channel. More specifically, it sends out MIDI CC information stating which bank is selected and a MIDI program change message stating which patch is selected via its footswitch. If your MIDI requirements are simple and the G-System is the only MIDI-controllable effect processor in your amp setup, or if the other equipment you own makes adequate use of MIDI program mapping, then this may be a non-issue for you. If we could only get a single feature improvement in a future product update, this would be the one. 2) Multiple Effects and Flexible Effects Routing
The G-System offers three routing architectures: Series, Parallel, and Semi-Parallel. Series lays out the effect one after the other in a pre-determined fashion. The signal flows from the first effect to the second and so on as with typical floor-based effect pedals. Parallel routes the effects so that the non-effected signal reaches each of the effects separately, and the last option provides a hybrid with some effect types in series and the others in parallel. While the G-System makes use of the most common layout of effects order, this can be limiting if you are used to working with numerous pedals or more-flexible rack gear. It does not allow the placing of effects in a side-chain from another effect, such as placing a chorus in the side-chain of a delay (to create some classic analog style tape echo effects where the sound entering the delay is dry, but the echoes are chorused). Thanks to an insert loop feature in the G-System, though, you can be more creative with effects routing than you think. By connecting a few more cables in/out of the G-System, plugging into both your amp’s front end as well as its effects loop, you can route the audio signal from your switched pedals, compressor, and filter-based effects to the front-end of your amp while the modulation, delay and reverb effects run through your effects loop. To avoid cabling nightmares with this solution, we recommend rack-mounting the GFX01 brain. Contact Information TC Electronic www.tcelectronic.com Overall Rating - Product Summary |
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Matt Pinson, former MusicPlayers.com senior editor, is an accomplished musician and engineer based in the San Francisco Bay area. His production audio engineering talents are used by television networks and motion picture companies, and he consults on equipment and music technology for professional musicians. |
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