This is a quick review of The GigRig QMX 8 and the QuarterMaster family of switchers from The GigRig. The QuarterMaster are very simple switchers compared to more sophisticated programmable and MIDI enabled switchers. They provide the very basic functionality of creating foot-switchable "true-bypass" loops with the addition of one small trick that I'll get into later. However, not all is great, so if pure tone is important to you, do not buy this switcher until you read this review.
Why Would You Need a Switcher?
Reason #1: Tone
If you have more than a handful of pedals, or at least one that is not properly bypassed when turned off, your tone might degrade significantly and become dull and dark. When that happens, if you don't already know what's sucking your tone, first check your jumpers. Sometimes one low quality jumper can ruin the party, not to mention a bunch. But eventually, no matter how good your jumpers and pedals are, you are probably going to face a noticeable drop in signal quality when chaining more than say two or three pedals.
Reason #2: Convenience
If you have a pedalboard and you use it live, you will soon face the tap dance problem. You are doing background vocals and playing rhythm guitar, your solo is about to start and you need more gain, with some mid-range boost and of course some delay on top. Your boost is the first pedal on the right side of the board, your delay is on the left side and your lovely boutique overdrive is right in the middle - good luck!
Does The QuarterMaster Solve the Tone Problem?
Not good enough. The QuarterMaster does what switchers do and allows you to bypass pedals you don't use and keep your signal more consistent, but not as clean as it would be if you connected straight to the amp, actually pretty far from that. I tested with all pedals bypassed, with different high quality (Mogami Gold and Lava) cables and that switcher clearly degrades my signal significantly. To nail that down, I even disconnected all the cables from the switcher and tested the signal quality going through the switcher alone, powered and unpowered. Another test I did was connecting loop #1 send straight to the amp (with no return) and noticed that it sounds better compared to when the signal is going through the rest of the switcher electronics, but still not as good as a direct connection (my support experience with The GigRig is summarised at the bottom).
I must share a little incident I had, which made me realize beyond any doubt that my switcher is not 100% true-bypass
However, one could argue that my tests were not properly conducted and that other factors could lead to the same results. So, I must share a little incident I had, which made me realize beyond any doubt that at least my switcher is not 100% true-bypass, or is not properly wired for perfect signal isolation. In any case, the other day I left my looper playing and took it out of the signal by switching its loop off on the QuarterMaster as I do many times. I kept playing and everything was fine, until I stopped playing. When the room got quiet I heard a weak sound of guitar playing coming out of my speaker. I initially thought that I was hearing a radio signal being picked up by my guitar pickups, but I soon realized that it was that loop I recorded a few minutes back playing on my looper. It was audible only when the amp was on its high gain channel, but it clearly means that audio has found its way to the amp through the bypassed switcher loop - case closed! It could be that my switcher is defective, it could be rare. I don't know. In any case, it was very disappointing to me.
Working Around the Tone Degradation
Despite the tone degradation issues I described above, I'm still trying to find a way to live happily with the QMX. I decided to try and find a way around the issue using a booster, which resulted in partial success. The issue with my booster is that it starts at 6db and that is way too hot just to compensate for tone loss, but it does seem to get my tone back, so I feel that there is hope. I believe that using a super transparent booster (I use one of the first designs of the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster), or maybe even better a high quality buffer, can get you around that kind of issue. Just be aware that you might need to invest in one of those when you decide to build a board with a handful of pedals or more... However, my recommendation would be to stay away from tone suckers at all costs and use a buffer only if you have no other choice and a booster, when you want to push your amp or a gain pedal.
Does The QuarterMaster Solve the Tap Dance Problem?
Partially, or it depends. First of all, as I already mentioned, the QuarterMaster is not a programmable switcher, so you can't really create presets and assign them to switches. What you can do however, is use selected loops in flip-flop mode, which allows you to switch between them instantly, without having to turn one off and another on. I have three loops in flip-flop mode all the time, one for a fuzz, one for a low gain overdrive and one for a high gain overdrive. I never use these pedals together, so this setup allows me to switch between them very quickly and easily in sessions, which is really really handy! It's simple and does exactly what I need.
If you are a gigging musician and you require instant switching of different combinations of the same pedals throughout a set, this might not be good enough for you, but for relatively modest requirements like mine, it is a perfect balance between functionality, simplicity and price.
Summary
Pros:
Low profile - doesn't take much space on your board
Smooth, silent switching
Flip-flop mode is simple and very handy
Easy to install on a Pedaltrain style board with the optional brackets
Cons:
Major tone loss (cause by the switcher itself)
As mentioned above, bypassed loops are evidently not 100% isolated from the signal (video above)
The switches are a bit too close to one another and combined with the fact that the switches require only a gentle touch, it may take some time to get used to.
Verdict
The QuarterMaster series comes in several different sizes to match most small to medium pedalboards. I think that for most players, these switchers provide good value with little compromise in terms of functionality. I would generally recommend checking them out if you are looking for a neat solution that is simple to set up, simple to use live, not too expensive and yes, only if super clean tone is not your top priority, or if using buffers or boosters gets you what you need. Do not get the QMX just as an isolation, true-bypass loop operator, because it doesn't excel in that department to say the least. I tried more than one unit and confirmed my claims with several other players. For that I try to avoid recording through the QMX, but I do like the functionality it offers in live situations and I still use it despite the tone degradation issues and try to compensate using a buffer in front of the unit.
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Now, go play!
The GigRig Support Case
So, after I realized that my switcher's loops were not perfectly isolated, I decided to contact support. I've sent The GigRig an email and got a reply after a few days, kindly asking me to send a demonstration video if possible. I prepared a short demo video (above) and sent it back to them. After two days I got another reply saying that the loops are completely removed from the circuit and that it could be that only when the looper is cranked, there is some kind of crosstalk bleed through the loops. In addition the guy asked when I purchased the unit, to see if it's still under warranty I guess. I replied back and told them that the ditto was only cranked to make it more obvious through the video. He said he wants to check some things and that he will get back to me. I didn't hear from them for about three months. After three months and additional tests I did, I emailed them again telling them that I did some more in depth tests and found that I lose a significant amount of top end when I'm running through the switcher. They verified that my unit is still covered with warranty and sent me to my local dealer to replace the unit.
After a few days I went to the shop and got the unit checked with the guy, who is also a luthier and a pedal board builder. He immediately noticed the tone loss issue and got a new switcher for me. But when we connected the new unit, unfortunately it was the same. We checked with my cables and with his cables and got the exact same results. So to my frustration, I left the store with my unit, because there was simply nothing a new unit could do better for me...
When I got home, I sent another email to The GigRig support telling them about my experience. The guy was very disappointed to hear that. He said that he installed hundreds of units and it has never happened to him. He was trying to verify we properly tested the unit, so I just offered him to talk to the guy from the store and verify my claims with him. I never got a reply back and I honestly don't feel like there is anything that can save the unit. I'm convinced it's a design issue and I'm considering trying a buffer or a clean boost to get my signal back...
It's important for me to say that they were super nice and most of the time very responsive to me. They took responsibility at the end and sent me to replace the unit, believing that it will solve the problem. The guy who helped me was very caring and empathic, but the end result was quite disappointing to me.
The bottom line is that I paid a lot for what I believed to be a top notch product and that turned out not to be the case.