Workshop: the Gigrig
Guitarist catches up with one of Australia’s greatest exports, Daniel Steinhardt – host of That Pedal Show and head honcho at The GigRig – to talk about getting the most out of your pedalboard
For many guitarists, Daniel Steinhardt’s The GigRig effects pedal switching systems have been a revelation in tone. As a professional player with a love for vintage stomp-boxes, Dan was frustrated by the technical drawbacks and lack of options he encountered in standard effects pedal chains and decided something needed to be done to solve the problems inherent with using a regular pedalboard. After a period of research in his native Australia, he gained an impressive knowledge of electronics and later teamed up with British engineer Dave Mapleston, culminating in the launch of The GigRig in 2003.
The GigRig’s latest system, the G2, is an exercise in simplicity, enabling guitarists to turn multiple effects units on and off with the push of a single switch, while simultaneously eliminating any bypassed and potentially ‘tone-sucking’ pedals in the signal path. Along with high-quality power supply, pre- and post-gain boost or attenuation and other features, the G2 delivers an affordable (more affordable than tap-dancing lessons, at least!) all-in-one solution to the common flaws that have plagued pedalboards for decades.
Playing guitar is Dan’s first love and it was from the perspective of a gigging musician that The GigRig has continued to expand. The company now includes an impressive array of neat problem-solving gizmos in its catalogue aimed at making life easier for guitarists, while opening up a great deal more creative potential in the process. Dan’s enthusiasm for effects pedals is infectious, as many readers may have noticed when watching That Pedal Show – a YouTube channel dedicated solely to the subject of effects, created and hosted by Dan and former Guitarist Editor, Mick Taylor.
Screen Time
As we pull up outside The GigRig’s HQ in Swindon, Dan welcomes us to a scene viewers of That Pedal Show will be familiar with: the channel’s unmistakable studio backdrop of shelves crammed with dozens of pedals, along with racks of vintage, rare and contemporary effects. “Most people will know me from That Pedal Show,” begins Dan. “Years ago, I used to love making amateur videos about pedals and music gear, but they were rubbish! I had no idea about how to make a good job of it. I’ve known Mick [Taylor] since he reviewed our very first GigRig product back in 2004 at Guitarist magazine. We were both at the same NAMM show one year and we ended up rooming together and talking about making videos. I said ‘I really want to do some better quality videos, but I’ve got no idea how to – let’s have a proper chat about it’. We made some appointments to sit down with each other and talk about how we were going to do it and we just ended up talking about gear the whole time, so Mick said ‘Let’s just film this. Let’s film us chatting about gear!’ And that was it.”
The Go-To Guys
With more than 100,000 subscribers, That Pedal Show is now a staple for the online guitarist community, among the ranks of YouTube personalities such as Phil X. “Phil X is the most rock ‘n’ roll guy I’ve ever met,” recalls Dan, recounting a recent trip to GuitCon in Germany. “Phil X was there and we spent a week with him. He gets up in the morning, has his coffee and he’s on. Bon Jovi played São Paulo the night before and then he flew to this little town in Germany, just to hang out with us. He made himself available to everyone the whole time and he was so open about everything – just amazing. Playing guitar is all about confidence. If you’re feeling a bit off it’s like your hands have never touched a guitar before, but it’s a totally different picture when you’re feeling great.”
Glancing around the studio we recognise Dan’s trusty Candy Apple Red Fender Telecaster from That Pedal Show – although an NOS Custom Shop reissue model, it shows so much wear from years of hard gigging it almost looks as if it’s been
relic’d. “This guitar was an NOS Tele,” says Dan. “When I got it, it was brand new and there was not a ding on it. I must have done close to 2,000 gigs on this guitar now. It’s on its third re-fret and now it needs another one. I’m in a band called Tin Spirits with Dave Gregory from XTC – he’s the other guitar player. We’ve been going for about seven or eight years. I used to play loads of XTC songs at gigs in Sydney. After one gig, this woman came up to me and said ‘I’m from Swindon – I used to be in a band with Barry Andrews’, who’s the original keyboard player from XTC. That woman is now my wife. When we moved from Australia [to Swindon], I met Dave Gregory at a Matt Schofield gig – we’re now working on album number three.”
Pedal Power
Being a working musician is central to Dan’s ethos of The GigRig. His products are something born out of necessity as a guitarist primarily, but where did his obsession with effects pedals begin? “The [Roland] CE-1 [Chorus Ensemble] and the original [Electo Harmonix] Electric Mistress blew my mind. They were the instigators,” remembers Dan. “I was a professional guitar player in Australia and toured for years and years – for a long time with a well-known Australian artist called Max Sharam. I always made the mistake of thinking whatever the latest technology was must sound the best (otherwise why would they have invented it?). Y’know, if it was state of the art then it had to sound better. I had a Roland GP-8 when they first came out and thought that’s what I wanted, but it just sounded like garbage. I always struggled with my guitar sound and kept hearing these guys that sounded amazing.
“One day, I was working with a producer called Paul D’Como and he brought a box full of effects into the studio. He took out an old Electric Mistress, plugged it into a little blackface [Fender] Deluxe Reverb and turned it up – it was like a punch in the face!
“That was back in 1994 and the pedal was from 1976, so it was already about 18 years old back then, but it blew my mind. Paul gave me a list of things to look out for and so I grabbed a credit card and went down to a little guitar store in Coogee and grabbed as many pedals off the list that I could. I still have the pedals that got me started on everything: a CE-1, an Electric Mistress and a first issue, script logo MXR Phase 90.”
As Dan further explored the world of vintage effects pedals, his interest grew deeper and he began to examine the possibilities of developing a better way to make them work: “The day I had the epiphany with those vintage stompboxes I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something that would not only switch multiple pedals on and off, but also take the ones I wasn’t using out of the signal path. I searched for something to do that and there was nothing, so Paul [D’Como] said ‘You should make it yourself’. That’s when I decided what I was going to do.”
With no major experience of working in electronics, Dan made the decision to quickly gain as much knowledge as possible. “I started taking courses in electronics and reading everything that I could and made some basic effects,” explains Dan. “But then I hit my talent level when it came to programmable digital control and that’s when I met my business partner, Dave [Mapleston]. I talked to about 20 different engineers and nobody was really interested, but Dave also played guitar, so we instantly had a crossover of interests. I knew a mediocre amount of electronics, but he was an electronics wizard and could also play guitar, so we had this way of communicating. This was in early 2003. I
“I always made the mistake of thinking whatever the latest technology was must sound the best ”
did approach some engineers in Australia, but it was too difficult. I was lucky to find Dave over here.
“I’ve had to learn the business and I really enjoy it, but it’s not my first thing. Making money was just so far away from what I really wanted to do – I mean I created the first system for myself because I had an issue with my pedals. It comes from a genuine understanding of where people are at, because it’s where I’ve been. I just wanted to share these amazing things with guitarists and if you can solve these basic issues then everyone’s a winner. There are people who have been playing for 40 years and suddenly they have a revelation. If it helps you to find a sound that connects with you, whatever that is, and enables you to express something, then you’re winning. That’s the end game. And for me The GigRig stuff has helped enormously – that’s what it’s all about.”
Pushing On
Successfully introducing new technology to the guitar world can often prove very difficult, however, with its versatility and ease of use, the G2 appears to have gained widespread appeal across a variety of genres and styles. “The thing about the G2 is that it’s so easy to configure,” agrees Dan. “They’re blank canvasses, which is why we’ve got guys from all kinds of music (from metal to country) using them. If you’ve got pedals, no matter what you’re doing, it just makes the whole thing a lot easier. When we released the first system, the feedback from customers was amazing and from that I was able to connect with a bunch of people that really knew their stuff. One of our customers, Paul Stacey, is an amazing producer – he’s got the ears of a bat. All of the knowledge I gained (not just from the professionals, but from all of the customers) went into the G2. We’re always learning – it’s a constant process of taking in information, especially as the new breed of effects that are coming out is a whole other world to explore. It’s never ending. We’re constantly learning.”
With a constant drive to move forward in an ever-changing world of music technology, what’s new on the horizon at The GigRig? “We have some stuff coming out that’s gonna be unreal,” enthuses Dan. “I always have about half a dozen things that I’m working on and the way it works is I’ll come up with an idea and get together with Dave Mapleston and we’ll sit down and go through it. The beauty of our products is in their simplicity. Everything’s got to be simple – I mean the G2 is incredibly simple to use. We’re currently working on an app for it that will enable the user to control it on their smartphone, which will be great for recording.
“It all starts off with getting the power right and then being able to take things out of the signal path when they’re not needed. If you get those two things right you’re onto a winner. The signal path has to be as direct as humanly possible. Once you understand power and the importance of a good, clean signal, you’ve got to understand the gain stages and how that works. Then you can really start getting more refined about your tone.
“I needed to design something that even I could use. I’m still writing and playing guitar and gigging – if I lost touch with that fundamental stuff, what would be the point? It’s great fun! All in all there are 10 members of staff, and, the reality is, I couldn’t do any of this without them. Everyone’s really into it and we all feel like part of something special. Doing this has made me unemployable, but it’s great – we have so much fun doing it and as long as we can keep on doing it then I’ll be happy.” www.thegigrig.com
“The new breed of effects that are coming out is a whole other world to explore”