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It is often said that the best ideas come from the
users. At Radial, we are blessed with a tremendous
number of artists that use our product, many of which
do so because of the urging of their stage tech's.
The Radial JX44 Air Control is the culmination of
ideas, suggestions and creative design from various
guitar techs melding minds with our engineering team.
This is the story that led to the JX44's development.
In the beginning - the JD7:
It all started in 2002, when we launched the Radial
JD7 Injector. The JD7 is a guitar signal buffer
and distribution amplifier that was originally intended
for studio use. It soon gained notoriety with bands
such as AC/DC, Motorhead, Cheap Trick, Dream Theatre
and Slayer and with guitar legends like Joe Perry,
Steve Stevens, Steve Lukather, Carlos Santana and
Buddy Guy. The JD7 presents a plug & play solution
that allows the guitarist to drive multiple amps
at the same time and eliminate the buzz and hum
caused by ground loops. The JD7's continued success
can be attributed to it's pristine class-A circuitry,
exceptionally quiet performance and Drag™
Control load correction which allows the artist
to replicate the sound of connecting the guitar
directly to the amplifier.
From the outset, the JD7 was destined for the studio
as a creative tool that lets you combine amps and
effects to stimulate new musical ideas by presenting
the guitarist with new and exciting tones. On-stage
requirements are very different. Switching guitars,
amps and pedals must be quick and efficient. And
'who' makes the switching decision can change depending
on the artist, stage setup, and song. This meant
looking at options such as how guitarists would
use a switcher on stage and how the guitar technician
would deal with various problems that could potentially
arise during a performance. In more complex stage
setups, we noticed that the guitar techs added other
components such as the Radial SGI (Studio Guitar
Interface) to allow them to drive long cables to-and-from
the pedalboard without adding noise or artifact.
We also discussed features such as adding a global
effects loop, programmability and fail-safe performance.
The next logical step was clear-there was a need
for a more advanced version of the JD7 that could
address the fast paced demands of the live concert
environment. Enter the JX44.
Selecting Guitars:
Today, it is just as common for the guitars to run
on wireless systems as it is to have them hard-wired
with a guitar cable. In fact, most 'concert level'
guitarists use wireless systems so that they can
run around the stage to enhance the performance.
The guitar tech will attach a wireless transmitter
to the strap which enables him to quickly exchange
guitars with the artist between songs. While the
artist is performing, the tech can tune the spare
guitar and have others in the wings ready at all
times to substitute for a broken string, alternate
tunings or enhance a creative moment. Several transmitters
can share the same receiver to reduce system set-up
complexity. But even in this wireless world, the
occasional need for an acoustic guitar or mandolin
can also be called upon. And of course let us not
forget the purist that refuses to downgrade his
tone with any form of wireless voodoo! All of this
had to be considered…
After much deliberation, we felt that four guitar
inputs would suffice as it would allow the tech
to exchange guitars as needed and if more than four
guitars were required, he could switch out body
packs and cables These would be exclusive. In other
words, when one is turned on, the other three would
be off. This would eliminate noise and allow the
guitar tech to connect and disconnect guitars at
will without interfering with the live performance.
As for connectivity, one of the most important
elements in the design was keeping the JX44 front
panel clean and clear from cables that could get
in the way and eliminate controls that could be
switched my mistake. Showtime is no-time for guessing.
We chose to locate most of the connections on the
rear panel and added two connectors on the front
with front-panel priority switching jacks to allow
quick access for a guest artist or a panic situation.
Because guitars output signals vary (active, passive,
acoustic etc.) we decided to equip inputs A &
B with Drag Control™ load correction for passive
instruments while inputs C & D would be fitted
with a trim control to tame active guitars and balance
the signal between instruments.
Selecting the input also had to be flexible. The
guitar tech will usually hit the select button on
the JX44 front panel to choose the input. But when
the artist is traveling 'light' he may want to have
4 guitars on stage put one down and pick another
up. So we configured the JR5 remote footswitch to
also work as a guitar selector.
Routing the Effects:
When it comes to effects, the options are unlimited.
Some guys have 'fridge-sized' racks filled with
drawer upon drawer of pedals and elaborate custom
control systems. Others use multi-effects processors
and studio outboard gear. Then there are the guys
that prefer to use standard foot controlled effects
pedals; they want them right at their feet on their
custom wired pedalboards so that they can chose
and combine effects on the fly to reflect the mood
of the moment. The JX44 had to work in all environments.
What we did NOT want to do with the JX44 was to
create a monster. We wanted it to be a single rack
space device that would properly manage the tasks
of guitar and amp switching and provide ultra-clean
signal buffering. So we decided to make provisions
for two different types of effects routing systems:
one local and one remote. Local effects send and
return are 'guitar level' and use standard ¼"
jacks. This can be used to interface with any number
of effects controllers or multi-effects processors
that abound and the effects loop can be assigned
to any one or all of the amplifiers. In fact, depending
on how you program the JX44, the JR5 footswitch
can be configured to remotely turn on the effects
bus.
For pedalboards, another solution was needed. Most
players know that when you extend a Hi-Z cable longer
than 25 feet, noise has a nasty habit of getting
into your system. Stages are filled with noise-causing
devices such as power transformers, dimmers, digital
controllers and LCD screens. The longer the cable,
the more prone to noise the system will be. In large
scale concerts, the guitar is typically equipped
with a wireless transmitter that beams the signal
to the receivers somewhere off stage. The signal
then has to go from the transmitters, to the pedalboard
at the front of the stage, through the pedals then
back, under the stage, to the amps. If you were
to measure the distance from the wireless to the
pedals and back to the amps, you can easily total
over 150 feet. To address this problem, we decided
to incorporate a special version of the Radial SGI
- Studio Guitar Interface, called the
SGI-44.
The Radial SGI is a proprietary balanced interface
that can transmit the guitar signal via standard
XLR cables to over 300 feet (100 meters) without
noise or tonal degradation. At the pedalboard, the
SGI-44 unbalances the signal for the effects pedals
and then takes the output from the pedalboard and
returns the signal to the JX44. For fun we even
added a separately buffered tuner-out so that the
artist can monitor his tuning on the fly.
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