[Leec]

I'm trying to decide which of these to plumb for. It's to control a G-major and a JMP-1 (and potentially something like a Bloody Murder).

As far as I can tell from reviews and descriptions, the FCB is great as it can go direct into your power conditioner, has CC's, and is very affordable. I have read some horrific reviews of it on HC, stating everything from stupid to program to made like a brittle pastry, but also some saying the negative reviews didn't RTFM.

The Midimate obviously lacks the CC's, but they'd only be a luxury to me, I'd not get too much use out of them. It has the benefit of a 9-character LCD, it's supposedly very rugged, very easily programmable, has great customer support and has stood the test of time.
My only concern is the power supply. Does the phantom power only work with Rocktron rack units?

Thoughts and suggestions would be helpful.

[Randy]

I have an FCB, half because of what you described and half because of the mods available for it...

You can, *technically* do some really minor modding to make it "pseudo-phantom powered", and also... you can program it using your computer/laptop VERY easily with the program available here: http://www.mtnsys.com/faq-fcb/PCEditorBeta.htm

A look at the interface:



And if you use the UnO firmware, you can practically use it like a "Ground Control". (info here: http://www.mtnsys.com/faq-fcb/UnO%20Firmware.htm )

As for reliability, I've gigged with mine for about 2 years with no hiccups. My only complaint is the two separe midi+power lines, but that's easily resolved with the "pseudo-phantom power" mod I mentioned before.

All this considered, I have no experience with the Midimate, but I've heard great things about their reliability. But, I end up using the control changes a lot more than I anticipated, so I'm glad I made the choice I did.

Good luck!