The Rack Thread

[Whizzinby]

We need a dedicated space to talk rack and share rigs.

Questions for the rackheads:

• Are you guys chaining your preamps or using some sort of amp or loop switcher?
  • I need to figure this out to get everything routed optimally.
• Are you shelving external pedals or just running out front?
  • I have a 2U drawer which has been great to house my guitar cables, but I’ve been retrofitting it with my OD’s, and I’m thinking a shelf might have been better for that.
• I have IEC cables that vary from a sensible few feet to absurd 4-6ft ones that I’m bunching and tie wrapping, do you guys use custom length ones to keep things tidy?
• Regarding power. Is there any damage to be done with the gear by just killing the power from the power hub, versus turning off each piece individually from its switch? Rear placed power switches suck, but I also don’t want to damage anything.

I can’t do the glamor shot thing, but current status:

It’s sitting nice under my recording desk. It has actually turned out to be pretty functional as I have my cabs wired up on an adjacent wall to the LXII, so flipping the switch on the LXII gets cab goodness rocking, otherwise it’s just routing to the Axe and to monitors. So I have one spot to interact with everything regardless of playback method, which is a cool. (Unless I want to go direct to amps, which requires repositioning) I think I’m going wire the JVM back to the Axe today via reactive load, and have everything but the JC wired up back to the brain.

 

[Sascha Franck]

It's been a while that I used a rack, so bear with me for any inaccuracies...

Are you guys chaining your preamps or using some sort of amp or loop switcher?

How would you even chain them? Most amps don't have a bypass option.
So yes, loopswitcher all the way. Used to use a Rocktron Patchmate for a while and later on a Rolls Patchwork. The latter wasn't shiny and required some addiitonal groundlifting in one amp loop, but it still worked as supposed.

Are you shelving external pedals or just running out front?

I had the pedals responsible for the core sounds in a rack drawer but also added some to my pedalboard, so I could use them casually.
Today I'd possibly run all of them in drawers and get a more competent loopswitcher and controller unit, likely even a rack wah. I mean, if I'd ever go for a rack again (which I won't), I'd love to have zero sound cables on the floor. Way more comfortable to set up (of course it all depends whether that is an issue for you).

Regarding power. Is there any damage to be done with the gear by just killing the power from the power hub,

I always did that and never experienced any damage. But absolutely don't take my word for it to be a decent solution. In case your rack is pretty stuffed you might perhaps risk to blow a power line's fuse as too many consumers are switched on at one point in time, but it never happened to me.

 

[Orvillain]

Bloody hell, now that IS indeed... a nice rack.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Bloody hell, now that IS indeed... a nice rack.

It's ok...

 

[Eagle]

There is a huge issue with signal path when it starts to get complicated. Most older loop systems seriously detract from the integrity of the sound . Particularly if using them to put pedals in front via a pedal draw. The old Rocktron patch mate was garbage for this but ok for pre amps. Many got around this by placing the few front end things next to the midi foot controller and running things old school here.
Better midi loopers over the years made it possible to put everything in the rack but not without sonic compromises.
Unfortunately I have not found anything as good as the Gig rig G3 for preservation of the dry unaffected signal in the front end.
A simple solution but not a 100% integrated is use a Gig rig quarter master ( utterly transparent and perfect for getting off pedals out of the signal however bad their bypass sounds are) in to the pre amp and control this and your time based fx in the loop midi . But make sure you mix them parallel to keep a try analog dry the whole way through. It is worth comparing all elements on by pass to a quality cable to see just what buffers or “ “true bypass” for each unit actually sounds like. You will be shocked as to how bad some “ good” gear is.
Also older rack units have clip lights and input / output gains to ensure your loop sees the exactly right levels. This helps considerably to keep proper control of the signal/ noise ratio .

 

[TSJMajesty]

No switcher.
Since Axe III, no pedals.
Zip ties for cables.
Main power switch for decades. But I do use the standby switch on power amps!

 

[Eagle]

Oh my first rack system was late 80 and I have tried most of the classics over the years.

 

[Eagle]

No switcher.
Since Axe III, no pedals.
Zip ties for cables.
Main power switch for decades.

You can hear the effect of the DAC in the Axe 3 when in a series loop for fx only . It detracts from the feel and sound of the dry signal.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I've been looking into the synergy modules this week. The rackmount module is out of stock at SW til Dec. 24.
Definitely interested in the Z Wreck, Bogner Ecstacy and IICP modules.

 

[Whizzinby]

There is a huge issue with signal path when it starts to get complicated. Most older loop systems seriously detract from the integrity of the sound . Particularly if using them to put pedals in front via a pedal draw. The old Rocktron patch mate was garbage for this but ok for pre amps. Many got around this by placing the few front end things next to the midi foot controller and running things old school here.
Better midi loopers over the years made it possible to put everything in the rack but not without sonic compromises.
Unfortunately I have not found anything as good as the Gig rig G3 for preservation of the dry unaffected signal in the front end.
A simple solution but not a 100% integrated is use a Gig rig quarter master ( utterly transparent and perfect for getting off pedals out of the signal however bad their bypass sounds are) in to the pre amp and control this and your time based fx in the loop midi . But make sure you mix them parallel to keep a try analog dry the whole way through. It is worth comparing all elements on by pass to a quality cable to see just what buffers or “ “true bypass” for each unit actually sounds like. You will be shocked as to how bad some “ good” gear is.
Also older rack units have clip lights and input / output gains to ensure your loop sees the exactly right levels. This helps considerably to keep proper control of the signal/ noise ratio .

Yeah I need to really sit down and map it out.

I have 4 sources and 2 output locations, but then that is also complicated by potentially needing to integrate the AxeFX or VP4 in all connection combinations that may not be using them as the primary input or output source already. To make no mention of stereo connectivity or anything else getting added to the rack.

At least at present I have all the preamps wired into the AxeFx without needing to fiddle with wires, and I’m only crawling on the ground to reroute wires when changing the stereo cab device, or changing the FX loop devices.

 

[Whizzinby]

I've been looking into the synergy modules this week. The rackmount module is out of stock at SW til Dec. 24.
Definitely interested in the Z Wreck, Bogner Ecstacy and IICP modules.

I got my SYN2 from a different, fine and reputable dealer, which may or may not still have them in stock.

The Enabler ForumTM

 

[FuzzyAce]

I got my SYN2 from a different, fine and reputable dealer, which may or may not still have them in stock.

The Enabler ForumTM

Do tell.

 

[Mongillo19]

Do tell.

Synergy SYN-2 Dual Module Tube Preamp

Get the guaranteed best price on Guitar Preamps like the Synergy SYN-2 Dual Module Tube Preamp at Musician's Friend. Get a low price and free shipping on thousands of items.

www.musiciansfriend.com

And on sale

Idk why it says Roland in the thumbnail

 

[Eagle]

Yeah I need to really sit down and map it out.

I have 4 sources and 2 output locations, but then that is also complicated by potentially needing to integrate the AxeFX or VP4 in all connection combinations that may not be using them as the primary input or output source already. To make no mention of stereo connectivity or anything else getting added to the rack.

At least at present I have all the preamps wired into the AxeFx without needing to fiddle with wires, and I’m only crawling on the ground to reroute wires when changing the stereo cab device, or changing the FX loop devices.

I seriously recommend you try comparing the feel and tone without the axe to using it as a looper as well as the fx .

 

[Elric]

We need a dedicated space to talk rack and share rigs.

Questions for the rackheads:

• Are you guys chaining your preamps or using some sort of amp or loop switcher?
  • I need to figure this out to get everything routed optimally.
• Are you shelving external pedals or just running out front?
  • I have a 2U drawer which has been great to house my guitar cables, but I’ve been retrofitting it with my OD’s, and I’m thinking a shelf might have been better for that.
• I have IEC cables that vary from a sensible few feet to absurd 4-6ft ones that I’m bunching and tie wrapping, do you guys use custom length ones to keep things tidy?
• Regarding power. Is there any damage to be done with the gear by just killing the power from the power hub, versus turning off each piece individually from its switch? Rear placed power switches suck, but I also don’t want to damage anything.

I can’t do the glamor shot thing, but current status:

View attachment 33512

It’s sitting nice under my recording desk. It has actually turned out to be pretty functional as I have my cabs wired up on an adjacent wall to the LXII, so flipping the switch on the LXII gets cab goodness rocking, otherwise it’s just routing to the Axe and to monitors. So I have one spot to interact with everything regardless of playback method, which is a cool. (Unless I want to go direct to amps, which requires repositioning) I think I’m going wire the JVM back to the Axe today via reactive load, and have everything but the JC wired up back to the brain.

With your setup I’d put one preamp in each Axe loop. My only non-AxeFx FX are drives, they go in front. Most stuff can tolerate a power down from the source, the Axe does not have to shut down like a normal computer. The power amps sometimes recommend going standby then off but that’s probably not actually necessary.

 

[Whizzinby]

With your setup I’d put one preamp in each Axe loop. My only non-AxeFx FX are drives, they go in front. Most stuff can tolerate a power down from the source, the Axe does not have to shut down like a normal computer. The power amps sometimes recommend going standby then off but that’s probably not actually necessary.

I currently have a version of this. I have the balanced out of the x88 to the Axe, x88 unbalanced out to the LXII, the Syn and Suhr RL going to the last two Axe inputs 3 and 4. The only issue is I still have to manually re-wire when I want to connect the Syn to LXII. Axe direct to LXII or run the x88 to Axe unbalanced.

Thinking about it more though, I’m probably underestimating my ability to create a MEGA preset within the Axe to get me about 85% there. Just connect two outputs in the Axe, one going to monitors and one to the LXII, and rather than connecting any preamps or gear to the LXII, have everything feed to it from the Axe. Then it’s just a matter of choosing which 3 of the 4 inputs devices I want wired to the Axe inputs 2-4. (Since In1 is an instrument input) Might work, and then when I want to use the RL I can just manually plug it in.

Would just require a preset with 3 input blocks and 2 output blocks, and then using scenes to enable - disable whichever IO I’m using. And thinking even further I could use the FC12 to cycle through the scenes, as well as switch Tube Pre types, Cab/IRs and not be tied to the editor.

Of course that does mean I’m tied to the AxeFx for everything, but I suppose that’s not a terrible thing. (This setup would require a rethink if I added another piece of gear in the future)

 

[Mongillo19]

@Whizzinby I know Eagle already gave me his insight but how do you think the 88 compares to the SLO30? If you can remember

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

 

[2112]

Current studio rack is;
Furman Power Strip
UA Apollo X8
Axe-Fx III
Switchblade GL
TC2290
Eventide H3000
Synergy Syn2
2RU shelf
1RU breakout panel

The UA/Fractal combo gets used every single day. 2290 & H3000 rarely get used but they're amazing reference points (and they look cool). The switchblade saves so much time and effort, but sadly the designer passed recently and I can't get the software editor to work.

I need to find a way to get the X88IR in there now.

 

[2112]

Here's a playlist of a bunch of rack demos I've done over the years