Oceanographer | Live

New live gig pedalboard system for Kevin Plessner, NYC based Session Player, Studio Engineer & guitarist for shoegazer indie space rock & roll band, Oceanogrpaher http://oceanographermusic.com

After having a studio & writing pedalboard system built by Nice Rack NYC with every flavor possible and the kitchen sink, Kevin wanted a leaner more compact rig ideal for gigging in New York City.

Kevin wanted the same series wired dynamic stages and parallel mixed modulations as in his studio & writing rig. By being able to repurpose one of his power supplies, 12 function mixer & snake, system build costs were minimized as much as possible.

By dropping one of his dynamic effects from the board, the loop on the switcher was patched to new ins and out on his custom system mixer & interface. This allows for the use of an Amplifier in a “4 wire” configuration or to audition new effects. The mixer has a secondary override switch for the loop, this is a fail safe incase that the loop should be engaged on the switcher without an audio device closing the loop and thus silencing the signal flow.

The brain & heart of the system are still the custom switcher & line mixer. The line mixer was updated during this build to include trim for each stereo input pair and a master for the stereo inputs to create a variable blend ratio with the dry signal from pre-modulation stage of the switcher.

The signal flow is;
Guitar >> Switcher 1 Input >> Master Bypass >> Loop 1 Love Squeeze >> Loop 2 Swollen Pickle >> Loop 3 Boiling Point >> Loop 4 JHS Klon >> Loop 5 Auxiliary Loop >> Loop 6 Volume Pedal >> Buffered Split to Tuner & System Mute, After System Mute Signal is split to Mixer 2 Input 4 Left + 4x Switchable Sends (Timeline + Blue Sky + Space).

The Stereo outputs of each Reverb & Delay is routed into the stereo inputs on a RJM Music Mini Line Mixer. The summed Stereo Outputs of the MLM are routed to a 2nd MLM. Left Out is routed to MLM 2 Left In 1, the Right Output of MLM 1 is Switched to either MLM 2 Left In 2 or Right In 1.

The reason for the switchable summing of the Left & Right signals is twofold. A stereo amp situation is not always available to the player, so the L&R paths have to be summed. When summed the Right Output of the System only sees the “Dry” signal out after the “dynamic” effects, and the Left Output has the “Wet”, this allows a Wet & Dry mono amps set up.

When the Right Output of the Wet effects mixer is not summed to Mono, the Left & Right System Outputs see a “50/50″ blend of “Dry” & “Wet Stereo” Signals. This gives the player great “core” tone while adding the fidelity of “100% Wet” True Stereo Effects.

Switchable Ground Isolation Transformers were installed on the 2x System Outputs.

All design, wiring, Mixer modifications, custom switcher & system interface by Nice Rack NYC. Power Supplies by Voodoo Lab.