Gear upgrade: Stack or Rack?

[ShredFetus]

Well, I'm due for a rig upgrade soon (a very large one!) and am just wieghing up my options. (So I have a bunch of questions!)

As far as price goes, some of the gear I've been looking at gets pretty expensive, so I will probably be looking to get some of it second hand to ease my wallets pain a bit. That being said, I don't want to stuff around, and want to get it right by buying the right gear. And as far as power goes, I will be gigging with it, so I will need a bit of power. Around 100W. I have had a lot of use with a 5150II, but I think I like the overall feel and punch from Mesa's a bit more.

I suppose I play a variety of heavy styles, but mostly metal. Things like thrash style Megadeth, Metallica to power metal; Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, then onto black metal like Dark Funeral, Dissection and over to the opposite end of the scale to hard rock like GunsNRoses, a bit of Danzig etc. So as you can see I would like something quite versatile!!!

It is for this reason I have decided I will have much use for a multi FX unit. Like a Boss GT-6 or 8... maybe a PodXTLive. I would also use it for home recording, so the amp sim would come in handy.

Now my real question is... If I buy a MFX unit like this, I can't see much use for a 3 channel triple recto if I am going to just use the one clean channel with the FX pedal!!! Would it be better for me to head in the direction of rack gear??? If I did, I would probably use a Boss GTpro rack unit unstead of a GT6/8 pedal.

Now this might sound stupid, but can you use something like a GTPro rack effects thing straight into a power amp, (then into a cab)??? This seems like it would make for a very simple rig, and with the FX unit, I could get my variety of tones/FX. Or would I need a preamp aswell???

Or am I better off just finding an amp I like and stickin the pedal infront of it??

Ideas anyone, I'm running around in circles here!

(sorry for the long post, but I know you all like to get all the information out of people before suggesting things!! )

[Mincer]

Re: Gear upgrade: Stack or Rack?

I have a GTPro, it will sound the best into a power amp into a full range cab (not a stack), or direct to the PA- you wind up paying for the amp sims and not using them if you run into guitar cabs.
If you get the GT Pro, budget for a midi pedal too, you need some way to control it...I use a a Behringer FCB1010. Now, this is not a cheap thing, but for my uses I needed a rack...if you just like heavier styles, you may be better off with an amp and a few pedals.

[ShredFetus]

Re: Gear upgrade: Stack or Rack?

Cool, so you can just run the GTPro into a power amp. Yeh, I assumed I would need a pedal to control it! Can you give me some examples of decent full range cabs?

I know I will be better off with a MFX unit, as I will definately use different types of od/distortion sounds, and need good reverb, chorus and occasional flanger. I will most definately use the amp sims for home recording too. I'd also like to have my presets locked in, as opposed to tweaking knobs on 5 different pedals every time I want to change to a different sound!

If the rack stuff is looking to be a mile more expensive, is there any disadvantage to running a GT-8 infront of an amp + cab setup? You can turn the amp sim off so you are just sending the effects through to the amp yeh?

[Mincer]

Re: Gear upgrade: Stack or Rack?

well the only disadvantage is that the amp sims are a big part of the price, and you wouldn't be using them. Still lots of people do it, and if it sounds good to you, who cares?

For cabs, I am using JBL Eons, which are powered, so I don't bring a power amp. They each have a 15" speaker and a horn, and they are bi-amped, so there is a separate amp for the lows and highs. Any PA speaker with a power amp would do though.