Frodebro
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,455
The faceplate is anodized aluminum, the ears are heavy gauge steel. The dual monoblocks are insanely heavy, so anodized ears is completely out of the question. Mine:
This old rack sounds glorious (but weighs a ton)
- Thread starter GuitarJon
- Start date
The faceplate is anodized aluminum, the ears are heavy gauge steel. The dual monoblocks are insanely heavy, so anodized ears is completely out of the question. Mine:
- Messages
- 562
In case anybody is interested, I made Tonex V2 and Neural Capture V2 packs of this rig:
Badonkey Kong
Roadie
- Messages
- 370
Hey Jon, any audio samples available? I took a quick scan but didn't see any...
- Messages
- 562
Not yet, don't have time. I'm making a full video with this rig soon, and the captures pretty much sound identical. I freaking love this rig!
Badonkey Kong
Roadie
- Messages
- 370
That will work :)
ejecta
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,425
You have to suffer for good tone.
Badonkey Kong
Roadie
- Messages
- 370
Desertdweller
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,645
My first experience with rack gear was like that. Back in 1997 or so a guy at Rainbow guitar down in Tucson took teenage me to the rack room they had and I tried a bunch of different rack preamps. Walked out of there with my Rocktron Chameleon that I used for over a decade.
I miss when guitar stores had dedicated rack rooms. That was a thing up until about 2005 or so.
Badonkey Kong
Roadie
- Messages
- 370
Great review Jon, thank you. I almost bought this rig new from the store back in the 90's. The sales guy talked me out of it because of the weight and he claimed the power amp was pretty fragile and transporting it would be a risk everytime, and it wouldn't be a reliable gigging solution.
I wish I hadn't listened to him, lol. It sounds great!
László
Roadie
- Messages
- 382
What a great rack system!
I have very thick, heavy, anodized aluminum rack ears on some of my studio gear. So it's possible for the amp and preamp to have been equipped with them.
However, steel is still stronger than all but the highest strength forged aluminum, and would be preferred for heavy rack gear. It was probably the safest choice.
I'm surprised it wasn't racked for cooling with an air space between the 9100 and the preamp! But obviously it's survived for quite some time, so what do I know.
Frodebro
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,455
The 9100 weighs about 70lbs on its own. Aluminum would be a very bad choice for ears. As far as cooling, the airflow on the power amp is front to back and there is plenty of airspace inside the enclosure, so heat has never been an issue with both units in a 4U rack.
That was my yester-year rig, JMP1 and MP1 into a modded Mesa 20/20, with Sequential Circuits Pro FX and a Echoplex, plus a couple of pedals, those were the days LOL!
László
Roadie
- Messages
- 382
I have a 2000 Volt Equi-Tech isolation transformer/power supply that converts unbalanced power to balanced power, and it weighs the same: 70 pounds. As an aside, it reduced the noise floor in my studio by about 6dB on my tech's oscilloscope. It has a very advanced protection circuit as well, and cost quite a bit of coin!
It came with black-anodized aluminum rack ears. The ears are very heavy and thick.
Equi-Tech is a capable, highly regarded company, and it's a good product that all of my recording gear has been plugged into for about 15 years.
However, instead of racking up the Equi-Tech, I have it on a steel amp stand with a heavy wood shelf. Not because I don't trust the ears, but because if it needed service, it'd be hell for me to take it in and out of a rack!
The Equi-Tech is under the desk to the left in this pic. I didn't install the rack ears, since I wasn't going to rack it, but I did save them. Ignore the shadow from the table that makes it look weird, it's a full-width unit.
Last edited: