A footswitch on my GT-1000 quit working so I was looking for a backup since I thought it might be out for a while getting repaired. I bought an RK5 v2 and worked with it at home for a few weeks then it started making noise when the OMG was engaged, apparently a filter cap or something went pop inside, and looking for more versatility (fx loop, pre/post boost) I ordered one of the silver Fly Rig 5 v2s (I was going to compare them side by side until the RK5 developed the noise). The FR5 is quite different from the RK5, it could be more versatile, but I don't get what they were trying to do with it. The Blonde channel is cleaner and a little brighter than the sansamp on the RK5, more of a twin where the RK is more of a deluxe or maybe JTM45, warmer and crunchier. Although, both of them seem a little dark to me, I definitely make my clean sounds on my GT-1000 brighter. Using the OMG distortion on the RK5 into the sansamp sounds more like a great sounding distortion pedal into a, well, deluxe or old Marshall. The "plexi" channel on the silver one feels like it wants to be it's own channel, not stacked with the blonde. If you stack it with the blonde, you have to dial the level back to ~9 o'clock to not have a huge level jump from the clean setting. It's kind of like running a preamp into a preamp. There are good sounds, but it is harder to dial in a switchable clean/dirty setting, may explain why most reviews don't do both. And, since the footswitches aren't side by side, you can't just switch channels on the fly. Again, nice sounding unit, but IMHO, would have been much better to make it a full channel switcher and give the plexi/cali channel a full EQ (yes, I know they are working with the same chassis for all of them which doesn't have space for that). I also think I hear things different from John and Andrew at T21, but I totally get Richie's choices.
If I had to pick one to use, it would be the RK5 hands down, even with the limitations of no fx loop and doesn't have the pre/post selectable boost. I guess it would work just going old school and running a phaser and/or flanger in front of it. And even though I had a problem with one, I'm not worried about Tech 21 quality.
That said, I plugged in my AMT P2 and it feels more like an amp straight out of the cab sim out to the interface and through my monitors. So, I'm thinking a delay and maybe a reverb, and a few other pedals and building a small pedalboard around that (I know, still bigger than a fly rig).
So, now I have a demo FR5 to send back to Prymaxe for some credit, and the RK5 with back to the Pro Audio Guys here in Denver, so I have credit there. I may just get a delay and micro flanger from Prymaxe and a Q-Strip from TPAG and build something up around the P2, I already have a wah, volume, P45, and tuner laying around, but yeah, now it's a full pedalboard.
Anyway, lots of jabbering, but if you are thinking about a Fly Rig, hopefully this will be helpful, again, they both sound great, but the RK5 just works better IMHO. Or, if you want a more high gain amp-like experience, the AMTs are definitely worth looking into (I've used their SS tube series in the past and they are great, but the Legend 2 series is pretty awesome for the price).
BTW, I found replacement switches for the GT-1000 and got some on order, when they got here I decided to just open it up to see what it would take to replace one and found that a screw was loose that attached the piece that actuated the switch on the PCB to the metal chassis mounted footswitch piece, I tightened the screw and all is well again, and it will probably remain my main "rig". I'm getting better at dialing in sounds, but I still hate programming. And now I have a bunch of spare switches I'll probably never need ($25 minimum order to get them from an electronics parts distributor and they were ~$1.30 each).
If I had to pick one to use, it would be the RK5 hands down, even with the limitations of no fx loop and doesn't have the pre/post selectable boost. I guess it would work just going old school and running a phaser and/or flanger in front of it. And even though I had a problem with one, I'm not worried about Tech 21 quality.
That said, I plugged in my AMT P2 and it feels more like an amp straight out of the cab sim out to the interface and through my monitors. So, I'm thinking a delay and maybe a reverb, and a few other pedals and building a small pedalboard around that (I know, still bigger than a fly rig).
So, now I have a demo FR5 to send back to Prymaxe for some credit, and the RK5 with back to the Pro Audio Guys here in Denver, so I have credit there. I may just get a delay and micro flanger from Prymaxe and a Q-Strip from TPAG and build something up around the P2, I already have a wah, volume, P45, and tuner laying around, but yeah, now it's a full pedalboard.
Anyway, lots of jabbering, but if you are thinking about a Fly Rig, hopefully this will be helpful, again, they both sound great, but the RK5 just works better IMHO. Or, if you want a more high gain amp-like experience, the AMTs are definitely worth looking into (I've used their SS tube series in the past and they are great, but the Legend 2 series is pretty awesome for the price).
BTW, I found replacement switches for the GT-1000 and got some on order, when they got here I decided to just open it up to see what it would take to replace one and found that a screw was loose that attached the piece that actuated the switch on the PCB to the metal chassis mounted footswitch piece, I tightened the screw and all is well again, and it will probably remain my main "rig". I'm getting better at dialing in sounds, but I still hate programming. And now I have a bunch of spare switches I'll probably never need ($25 minimum order to get them from an electronics parts distributor and they were ~$1.30 each).
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