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Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

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  • #16
    Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

    It's all good until you find out you have to carry your stuff up a narrow flight of stairs to get in the back door of the club, and the 200W of stereo tube power is way to much for the 50 seat room. Granted, don't want to turn over all the control of my sound to the PA by going direct either, there's a happy medium somewhere, mine is my GT-1000 thru an ISP Stealth power amp (or SD Powerstage) to a 1-12 cab, and I can also give a direct line to the board.

    Do I miss my 6 space rack and running stereo through a couple of 2-12 cabs, well, yeah, that was the best sound I ever had, but am I going to carry all that now, no, at least not for what I'm doing now.

    BTW, if you decide to go all in with a stereo rack, don't ruin it by trying to run everything thru one cabinet, get 2 cabs so you have have some separation, two 2-12 cabs will be much better than one stereo 4-12. I mean, you've come that far!

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    • #17
      Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

      Mess Tri-Axis rig stuff is heavy as f**k. Ever look in the back at how many tubes are in there? You can cook dinner for ten on the case when it’s in use. I’d only consider it if you really really need that sound (what sound is it that can’t be done some other way?) and are going to install it in a studio and leave it.

      Never understood a rack wah. Like, never in 55 years have I ever looked down at my crybaby and thought, “Gee, if only this had presets.”

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      • #18
        Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

        I have a rack for live playing (ADA MP-1, Alesis Quadraverb, Two Notes Torpedo CAB M, 100W x 100W SS power amp, stereo 1x12s, power conditioner, MIDI footswitch)... actually I have two racks, but the other one is for the home studio...

        4U rack space enclosure... easy to carry. Not light, but not heavy either... prolly about 25-30lbs (just rack of course).

        Tone sculpting for days, and tons of presets to store various tones.

        Pink Floyd chorusy echo clean to EVH 1984 to Megadeth in the tap of a button... and not, "yeah, that's pretty similar to X's tone", but almost bang-on.

        The flexibility is the key point here. I'm also not a fan of pedalboards in general with my guitar signal running through all those different impedances from the 20 or so stomps screwing up my tone.
        Last edited by LLL; 04-21-2020, 03:13 PM.

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        • #19
          Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

          Personally I'd go light and pedals now -20 years ago? -rack me up!!!

          larger racks (like you show in the pick -15RU?) add a ton of weight, work and logistical complexity to performing so I'm not doing it unless someone else has the budget for the logistics, roadies, union hands at the venue and all the other things that come with manipulating ATA racked gear.

          You can make a killer redundant rig with rack gear though -or go a bit smaller like LLL has in the above post ^^ so Im not against it, if the need is there.

          I have a garage full of ATA flight cases and house full of stacks that will never leave house or studio again -there's modern solutions that are way better for my lifestyle.
          “For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.” Yvonne Chouinard

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          • #20
            Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

            If it was me, doing my own types of stuff, a couple heads and a couple cabinets with a switching gizmo. For cover gigs, I'm more than satisfied with the capabilities of my Kemper, I just wish I had someone to do the tedious performance and effects editing stuff for me.

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            • #21
              Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

              My dream Rack of Doom is fairly simple:

              Marshall JMP-1
              Yamaha SPX 90
              Lexicon of some sort
              BBE rack mount Sonic Maximizer

              100 Watts of any power and a Marshall 1960 cab on wheels

              Line 6 M9 for front of amp effects, and I'll stick with my Morley Wah
              Originally posted by Bad City
              He's got the crowd on his side and the blue jean lights in his eyes...

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              • #22
                Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                Here's mine:

                Click image for larger version

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                • #23
                  Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                  Triaxis, power amp and a couple effects have been fine for me since 1995.

                  Around 2010 I downgraded the amp to a 20/20, much lighter and still plenty of power for today's stage levels.
                  My Intellifex is only used for its 8-voice stereo chorus these days, but it's not going anywhere. Best chorus ever.
                  Lexicon G2 takes care of delays, tone shaping & occasional other stuff.

                  Used to have a Zoom 9030 and a Boss ROD-10 in the rack too, but they hardly ever got used. Thinking about putting a MoFEX in as a space filler with lights. Before the Triaxis when I used the rack just for effects running into my old warhorse Boogie head, I had an old two space realtime analyzer in there just for the looks. But I gave that away to a bandmate when I switched to the preamp.

                  I run a pedalboard for rehearsals, that can approximate a handful of favorite tones from the rack.
                  I have another board for jams etc.
                  .
                  "You should know better by now than to introduce science into a discussion of voodoo."
                  .

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                  • #24
                    Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                    I had my "dream" rack about 15 years ago (still late in the rack game) and it made quite glorious sounds, 6 space with a Kasha Rockmod II preamp (seriously, best preamp I've ever heard) thru a Rocktron Replifex and Intellifex, into a MosValve MV-962 and out through two Avatar 2-12s with Eminence Red Coats (don't remember which ones specifically). Of course, I had a small pedalboard with a MIDI controller and the stuff that needs to be in front, a wah, Phase 90, Shaky Jimi (great vibe thing), SD-1 (or similar), maybe an micro flanger, and of course a tuner (Boss TU-2 IIRC). It sounded great and no one thing was overly heavy, but it was still quite a bit to haul in and out.

                    For pedal boards I had a board built around an AMT SS-11B with TC reverb and delay, a phase, wah, tuner, the usual suspects and it sounded great too, but I usually used it direct, so didn't have the magnificent feel of real air moving as with the rack setup. Keep thinking I might go back to that, I do like my GT-1000, and it sounds good, but it's honestly too much and any time I start editing I can kiss a couple hours goodbye. I do get some amazing Twin clean sounds though, have made some good gain sounds on it, but nothing that makes me go THAT'S IT! I think the gain tone is in knobs, real potentiometers, not the digital thingies...

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                    • #25
                      Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                      Originally posted by rbc View Post
                      Here's mine:

                      [ATTACH=CONFIG]104395[/ATTACH]
                      I'll add that this rig incorporates a compressor, gate, two channels, chorus and delay. That's all provided by the Rockman Sustainor and Chorus/Delay. The rest supports the Rockman gear, providing EQ, balanced interfaces to the board and power.

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                      • #26
                        Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                        That old Rockman stuff was great! From when it was pro quality stuff!

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                        • #27
                          Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                          Well guys, I can say two things.

                          That massive Petrucci/Hetfield rack isn’t going to happen....
                          I quite enjoy the discussion thus far!
                          Oh no.....


                          Oh Yeah!

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                          • #28
                            Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                            Originally posted by PFDarkside View Post
                            That massive Petrucci/Hetfield rack isn’t going to happen....
                            Yes, makes my hyena act up just thinking about it.

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                            • #29
                              Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                              Originally posted by devastone View Post
                              It's all good until you find out you have to carry your stuff up a narrow flight of stairs to get in the back door of the club, and the 200W of stereo tube power is way to much for the 50 seat room. Granted, don't want to turn over all the control of my sound to the PA by going direct either, there's a happy medium somewhere, mine is my GT-1000 thru an ISP Stealth power amp (or SD Powerstage) to a 1-12 cab, and I can also give a direct line to the board.

                              Do I miss my 6 space rack and running stereo through a couple of 2-12 cabs, well, yeah, that was the best sound I ever had, but am I going to carry all that now, no, at least not for what I'm doing now.

                              BTW, if you decide to go all in with a stereo rack, don't ruin it by trying to run everything thru one cabinet, get 2 cabs so you have have some separation, two 2-12 cabs will be much better than one stereo 4-12. I mean, you've come that far!
                              Or up a fire escape or in a freight elevator meant for food carts. I am all for the rack if you aren't moving it. It becomes furniture after all.
                              Administrator of the SDUGF

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                              • #30
                                Re: Which Guitar Rig would you prefer? (rack vs pedalboard)

                                Originally posted by rbc View Post
                                Here's mine:

                                [ATTACH=CONFIG]104395[/ATTACH]
                                Can you tell me about your graphic EQ use? do you us it to notch out specific modal frequency buildup for the venue you play? or tone shaping or both?
                                “For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.” Yvonne Chouinard

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