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Jeff, Use two stereo channel strips for your two stereo sources. As for the Jamman and Vortex, here are some closely related questions you need to answer to decide the best setup: 1) Do you want to go the Vortex and Jamman in series (one after the other) or in parallel (both get the same stereo signal at the same time)? Series is easier to do, parallel is harder. 2) Is it OK if your signal always passes through these effects, or do you want also to be able to route your signal directly to tape or PA without passing it through the V & J? 3) Do you need the signal(s) from the V & J to go back into the mixer (maybe (1) because they are in parallel or (2) because you sometimes want to be able to bypass them completely or perhaps because you want to eq them or route them somewhere besides main outs). 4) Would it be acceptable if the inputs to the V & J were mono? (Remember, the loop within the Jamman is mono anyway, although it does pass through stereo signals. On the other hand, the Vortex has certain effects that are designed to work with stereo or even with two mono signals.) Solutions: You should answer those questions as best you can, and then I (or someone else) will give you a specific setup recommendation. However, here are some preliminary ideas: (A) Go to the V & J in parallel and mono from AUX SEND 1 & 2 and return from them either into AUX RETURNs 1 & 2 or give them their own stereo or mono channel strips. (B) Go to the V & J in series and stereo from ALT 3/4 or from MAIN OUTS or from CTRL OUT. Then go straight from the V (or J, whichever is last in the series) into your tape recorder or computer or amplifier or butthole. (C) Some combination of (A) and (B). (D) All of the above, plus a patchbay. Merits and demerits of (A): The primary disadvantage of setup (A) is that you are only sending a mono signal to the V & J. This doesn't make much difference in the case of the Jamman, since you can always hear your 'dry' signal in stereo without having to pass it through the J, simply by turning up your channel faders (actually, they are channel knobs, but whose counting?). The second disadvantage of setup (A) is that whichever unit is on AUX SEND 2 is always getting a post-fader level. This means, for example, that you can't turn the dry signal for a channel all the way down and still send some of that signal to the unit. This is probably not at all what you want for the Vortex, since you will often want to hear only the weird Vortex sound with no dry signal. However, it may not be so bad in the case of the Jamman, since you will usually want to hear what you are looping while you play it. You could turn the Jamman MIX knob to full output (no input signal), and then it would not 'double' your signal while you play it. There are other workarounds for this problem, such as MUTE-ing a channel with the MUTE button while keeping the fader (knob) turned up, but if you have something else getting signal from ALT 3/4, then MUTE will send that channel there. Further disadvantages include high possibilities of feedback if you twist the wrong knob, extensive time spent 'debugging' when something isn't working how you expect it to, and, if you give them each a channel strip, you have used up a lot of channels already. The big advantage of (A) is that you have more control over your signal flow, especially if you give each unit its own channel strip, instead of returning through AUX RETURNs. So, you can send signal first to the V and then from the V to the J while also adding other signal to the J, then send the loop from the J to the amp. Or you can create a loop on the J, then send it to the V and then to the MAIN or STUDIO outs. Also, you can use the V & J completely independently of each other. Merits and demerits of (B): The primary disadvantage of (B) is the total lack of flexibility. You are either going from the V to the J or from the J to the V, and you have to decide in advance. Moreover, you don't get to alter the wet/dry mix from your board; either a given channel goes to the J&V or it doesn't. You have different kinds of flexibility depending on which outputs you send to the V&J: (I) ALT 3/4, flexibility to choose which channels go and how much of each channel, but any channel going to the J&V doesn't go to the MAIN OUTs. (II) CTRL RM outs, the only way to send a special mix to the CTRL RM outs is using the solo buttons, which has the advantage of not affecting the MAIN MIX and ALT 3/4 but the (big) disadvantage of not allowing you to set relative levels. Otherwise you are better off using the MAIN OUTs. (III) MAIN OUTs work well for scenario (B), since you want to send your whole signal through the equipment, however, if for some reason you don't want to do this, your 1/4" main outs are no longer available (although you could still use the XLRs). Another disadvantage of (B) is that the cheap electronics in the V&J go a long way to degrading signals, especially quiet signals or delicate signals, or timbrally complex signals. Considering that you are getting your signals from a GR-30 and a pedal board, this may not make too much difference, but your ears will hurt at the end of the night if you listen to everything through the V&J (even if you choose bypass on the V and go straight through the J). If you record what you do, and you want anything dry, I would make sure not to pass it through the V&J. The big advantage of (B) is that it is easy and quick and simple. Merits and demerits of (C): You might use the setup as in (B), going to the V&J from the ALT 3/4 outs, but then go back from the V&J into a channel strip. Then you can send your GR-30 and pedal board to the V&J series, bring the signal back to the board where you can eq or even send it to effects on AUX SENDs, and then go from MAIN OUTs to wherever you want. This is still pretty simple, but lets you tweak the signal a bit more. (You can get rid of a lot of that hiss by turning down the high eq.) More complicated but more flexible, would be to put one unit on an AUX SEND and one on the ALT 3/4. You can try to figure out what this will accomplish, but I am sure it has some advantage over other setups. Finally, what about (D): The great advantage of (D) is that it will allow you to quickly use any of the above setups without having to get out of your seat and climb behind the rickety table your mixer is sitting on to move wires around. Patchbays are relatively cheap, not usually very noisy, and, once you get your head around them, easy to use. You should have a patchbay. The disadvantage of (D) is that you have to get way more cables, design a labeling system, and think hard about every change you make. Plus, you are likely to become obsessive about making sure that every input and output is hooked into your patchbay. Wow, I didn't mean to write a dissertation. I hope this helps. You are welcome. Aden >I remember that there were some Mackie users on >this list and I just got a 1202vlz. What i want to >do is run stereo from a gr-30 and stereo from my >guitar pedalboard into a Vortex and Jamman in the >effects loop but I have never used such a >sophisticated mixer! Any help on this would be >appreciated. Also suggestions for a suitable power >amp and speakers. > >thanks in advance, > >jeff duke > >http://members.xoom.com/echo17/tbl.html