Gerlt Technologies makes hundreds of customizable rack effects, at prices comparable to guitar pedals.  It's time to dump that pedal board and get Your Tone off the floor!

 

 What We Do

You know them as guitar pedals

We build them as rack effect modules you can customize to get Your Tone

Put several rack effect modules into a 3U rack enclosure

Connect power and audio on the back like guitar pedals, adding connections for remote switching

Add a remote footswitch unit to turn rack effects on and off

Add as many rack effect modules, enclosures, and third-party products as you like. Plug in your guitar and amp. Rock it! It's that simple.

 

Quick Hits:

  • Check out our GT Effects Overview to see why we do this

  • Check out our Compares To charts to see the full list of effects we offer

  • Follow the menus from Products, to Modules, to Modules By Type to get a list of our effect types.  Select any effect type to get a list of all our effects of that type.  Select any effect to get full information including pricing.

 

 

Hello Effects Fans!

It has been a while since my last update.  Our status has not changed much.  We are still unable to take new orders.  I’ve personally been off doing something completely unrelated, lots of fun, a long ways from home.  That has gone well, but is taking longer than expected.  Instead of finishing up about now, it appears I won’t finish before late Spring or early Summer.  Our status won’t change before then.

Parts availability and cost were primary causes of our current shutdown.  We use around 6500 different vintage and current production parts to build our rack effects.  It has been difficult to find good vintage parts for a while now, and it gets a little more difficult each year - nothing new about that.  Counterfeit and reject parts flood the market, and prices have soared as caches of legit parts dwindle.  The good news is that vintage parts are often not needed to get great-sounding effects.  Usually there are newer parts that will work as well or better if you can get past the volumes of misinformation and hype out there.  Listen with your ears, not your eyes!

Lack of current production parts forced us to stop taking orders.  Some critical parts do seem to be available again, at an increased price.  We want our rack effects to be affordable, and increased part prices are not helping with that.  For example, one part we use in nearly all of our modules, sometimes several per module, went from about 80 cents to around $5+ each.  Really?!?!  Fakes are also flooding the new parts market to fill the demand of the unwary.  However, a few parts are trending down in price.  In these cases there were too many manufacturers, and none of them were getting enough market share to make larger quantities to help reduce their costs.  Some have gone out of business, leading to consolidation and lower production costs.  We’ll take a cost reduction (and pass it along) anytime we can get one!  I’ll have to sort through our hundreds of effects and countless options to determine any impacts to our pricing.  My goal is to remain comparable to pedal prices.  Or better!

Where does that leave us?  The situation has improved, but we still cannot take new orders.  I’m going to work to finish up my side adventure.  I’ll pop up again, probably around June or July, and see how things are looking and provide another update.  

Best wishes for 2023 !!!

Bill Gerlt

President, Gerlt Technologies

Dallas, Texas

28 January, 2023

 

New Module: Python

Published: 30 April 2022 30 April 2022

 

 

Hello, Effects Fans!

Today we announce our new Python compressor module.  The Python compares to the MIJ Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer pedal.  The Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer pedal is a classic among compressor pedals.  The controls are simple and the overall compression and sustain are considered more "natural" or "musical sounding" than many other compressors.  The circuit is similar to the older Ross and Dynacomp circuits, but differs in several ways to make it unique.  The CS-2 pedals were built from 1981 to 1986.  The CS-1 which came before and the CS-3 and others that came later are different.  Fans of the CS-2 still seek out the original vintage pedals, which have continued to be used by top artists for decades.

Compressors are sometimes described as the effect you shouldn't be able to hear when they are used correctly.  Perhaps compressors would be better described as the effect that makes your playing sound more like you intended it to sound.  Of course, guitarists have a variety of experiences and opinions about compression in general, as well as specific compressors.  The Boss CS-2 is no exception.  Some think it is the best compressor ever, others aren't so impressed.  We have a theory that compression is more specific to your setup and playing style than other effects.  If you have a relatively quiet rig and relatively smooth picking and strumming technique, a compressor may be more subtle.  But if you have a bit of noise, the noise can be made worse.  Or if you have a very dynamic picking/strumming style, you may not think the compression is at all subtle.  Perhaps the less you need it, the better it works...?

The one thing we know for sure is that the debate will continue.  To our ears, and with our setup and playing style, the Python is subtle, adding a very warm, smooth, and pleasant polish to our tone.  We can't tell it from our original MIJ CS-2 pedal.  It seems like both the highs and lows are very lightly trimmed to help smooth the tone.  The Attack, Sustain, and Level controls are all familiar to compressor users.  The Attack controls how quickly the compression begins.  Sustain controls how long it acts.  Level is a basic volume control.  If you turn up the Level and/or Sustain to the point where you are boosting the signal, then there is some increased noise.  But if you keep Level and Sustain closer to noon, there is little to no added noise.  The full range of Attack is reasonably subtle for us, but you may well have a different experience.  Also, as with most compressors, if you increase the Level, you may get some clipping distortion.  If you like the CS-2, but you find it clips a bit much with your setup, you might want to try our option to run it at 12V for a bit more headroom.  Once you try it, It's easy to see why David Gilmour uses the CS-2 to feed some of his amazing, smooth, and sophisticated fuzz and drive tones.

You can see more details about our Python module at: Python.  Or look for it in the Compressor Modules section under Products -> Modules -> Modules By Type.