Help needed to built me a small rack system

[SlApBaCkEcHo]

I wanna built me a small rack system to use stereo effects, delay & reverb, into two amps with unbuffered loops.

Id like to be able to preset some combinations of effects and have them available on a foot controler.

Other than these two effects ill use an ab box (both amps on all the time) and a tuner. Are these available in rack units so i could get rid of the pedalboard?

I dont know much about rack gear, any ideas where to start?

Thanks!

[SlApBaCkEcHo]

anyone?

[spiros_k]

you can easily find a rackmount tuner (and they are cheap as well) and you can have the A/B box at the back side so i think you are fine.
instead of the A/B try two isolation boxes in order to avoid ground loops..
i would also add a furman for power... a must for every rack...

[jacobhare]

I wanna built me a small rack system to use stereo effects, delay & reverb, into two amps with unbuffered loops.

Id like to be able to preset some combinations of effects and have them available on a foot controler.

Other than these two effects ill use an ab box (both amps on all the time) and a tuner. Are these available in rack units so i could get rid of the pedalboard?

I dont know much about rack gear, any ideas where to start?

Thanks!

Ultimately you will end up with a board of some sorts in front of your feet.
Im actually putting my guitar pedal rig into a rack system(midi looper) so I will have a smaller board with just switches in front of me.

[Axe-Man]

I wanna built me a small rack system to use stereo effects, delay & reverb, into two amps with unbuffered loops.

Id like to be able to preset some combinations of effects and have them available on a foot controler.

Other than these two effects ill use an ab box (both amps on all the time) and a tuner. Are these available in rack units so i could get rid of the pedalboard?

I dont know much about rack gear, any ideas where to start?

Thanks!

No matter what, you will need some kind of pedalboard but TBH, if you want digital rack FX and just delay, verb, tuner etc and stereo, why don't you buy a HD500 POD and you get a HEAP of stuff for free. Here is a quick list...100+ FX, 20+ amp sims (plus dedicated preamp models), 56 sec looper, midi (great midi controller), volume/wah pedal, 8 FX at once, FX loop, tuner, flexible FX chain (you can use midi, FX AND modelling all at the same time), dual FX chains (so you can send different FX/sims to different amps).

Many of the FX are very solid (particularly the delays and rev...just the drive sims lack) whilst most rack gear is either old, pricey or noisy...and rack gear can really suck tone without expensive patch cables and buffers etc

A good rack with an FX processor (G-Major II etc), tuner, rack case, GCX and a drawer...plus a midi controller isn't cheap and may ultimately not work any better than the HD500.

I just sold off a very nice rack but I used my rack based 11R and HD500 for the FX, tuner, looper etc to save myelf alot of hassle and cost. Worked great.

I even used a relay based looper to switch the HD500 in/out of the chain and the difference in tone/dynamics was tiny once it was setup correctly. For the money, it's highly recommended.

[bbrunskill]

Why not cable tie an active buffered AB box into the rack case? Make sure it's got one isolated output. Then run out of the effects loops into a Gmajor or a Intellifex or something. There's a few rack tuners, check out Korg and Peterson.

[orangefuzztone]

probably overkill, but radial makes a lot of rack mount utility stuff...

http://www.radialeng.com/di-jd7.htm

http://www.radialeng.com/re-jx44-using.htm

[SlApBaCkEcHo]

Thanks guys for the infos!

I did forget about the furman for power. And most of the times guys uses ''hush etc'' tool to kill unwanted noise coming from the rack gear, other expenses to come, with my usual luck, ill have noise problems for sure...

Any ideas of a device to buffer the amps loops, ive send an email to glaswerks amps about the matchbox to see if its up for the task. Any other ideas?

As far as the delay and reverb units which is the heart of the project, i have no idea yet. Im used to the TTE and a fender unit ri in another rig, which sounds great but are not user friendly to tweak on the fly. Im going to different music stores this week to ear some rack stuff and modeling floor units just in case, like the pod hd500 that someone pointed out.

[Steve73]

Here are some other buffered loop devices:
Ceriatone Kleinulator:
http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/Klein-ulator/Klien-ulator.htm

Ceriatone C-Lator:
http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/C-lator/C-lator.htm

Bludotone Loopalator:
http://www.bludotone.com/kidneypie.htm

Fuchs FX Loop or his Verbrator:
http://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/products-plush-detail.php?id=tube_fx_loop&cat=2

These are just the ones off the top of my head, there are lots more likely.

Rack stuff is usually not the most user friendly stuff to tweak on the fly but if it has an interface that makes sense to you, you can get in there quick and change stuff. Try a bunch of delays and verbs to see what works as far as tone and functionality. I like the TC Electronic stuff personally. I had a TC2290 that was great but I've heard good things about the DTwo also.

[orangefuzztone]

my rack/s pictured below... I'm using a road rage 8ch looper (seen on the lower right) and a MXR CAE rack mounted power supply for my pedals. I also have a carl martin octaswitch, but I really don't need the programing so I am going to sell it to get another road rage 8ch looper...

http://www.roadrageprogear.com/tb1008.html

http://www.carlmartin.com/product%20octaswitch.htm

http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/mc403-power-system

http://a4.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/140/9b9800e46197445a914a620c314e4eb9/l.jpg

[SlApBaCkEcHo]

Here are some other buffered loop devices:
Ceriatone Kleinulator:
http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/Klein-ulator/Klien-ulator.htm

Ceriatone C-Lator:
http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/C-lator/C-lator.htm

Bludotone Loopalator:
http://www.bludotone.com/kidneypie.htm

Fuchs FX Loop or his Verbrator:
http://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/products-plush-detail.php?id=tube_fx_loop&cat=2

These are just the ones off the top of my head, there are lots more likely.

Rack stuff is usually not the most user friendly stuff to tweak on the fly but if it has an interface that makes sense to you, you can get in there quick and change stuff. Try a bunch of delays and verbs to see what works as far as tone and functionality. I like the TC Electronic stuff personally. I had a TC2290 that was great but I've heard good things about the DTwo also.

Thanks for all these devices name and link, the thing is i have to feed two unbuffered amps loops, so if im right, i gotta get one stereo or get two? Ive read in a year old thread that fuchs was close to put out a stereo verbrator, maybe i should send a mail to see if its still on the table. Which make me also think about a wet/dry approach, a bit simpler.

I forgot, the tc2290 is the one i have my eyes on, not cheap dough. Mostly the other units i did like dont have programable fonctions (simple chandler delay, demeter rv1) too bad.

[SlApBaCkEcHo]

probably overkill, but radial makes a lot of rack mount utility stuff...

http://www.radialeng.com/di-jd7.htm (http://www.radialeng.com/di-jd7.htm)

http://www.radialeng.com/re-jx44-using.htm (http://www.radialeng.com/re-jx44-using.htm)


Yes that is overkill but still, the jx44 made me dream for a moment..
By the way great clips on your sig, i really like ambient guitar works, gets the blood pressure down while surfin tgp hehe!



my rack/s pictured below... I'm using a road rage 8ch looper (seen on the lower right) and a MXR CAE rack mounted power supply for my pedals. I also have a carl martin octaswitch, but I really don't need the programing so I am going to sell it to get another road rage 8ch looper...

http://www.roadrageprogear.com/tb1008.html

http://www.carlmartin.com/product%20octaswitch.htm

http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/mc403-power-system

http://a4.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/140/9b9800e46197445a914a620c314e4eb9/l.jpg

Man, thanks for the pic. This is scary dough, i really hope i can get away with 5-6 space rack that is easy to carry around. And if you did start only buying reverb and delay please tell me right away so i can put an end to this thread and block tgp adress to my pc!

Joke aside, this is a really impressive setup you got here my friend!

[orangefuzztone]

Yes that is overkill but still, the jx44 made me dream for a moment..

me too!

By the way great clips on your sig, i really like ambient guitar works, gets the blood pressure down while surfin tgp hehe!

thanks!

Man, thanks for the pic. This is scary dough, i really hope i can get away with 5-6 space rack that is easy to carry around.

keep an eye out for some good buys, there many underrated vintage digital delays like the Roland SDE 1000 and the Ibanez DM 2000 also the Lexicon MPX1 is a very underrated dual chip box for Reverb and Effects... seriously, underrated...

it starts getting expensive when you start chasing the stuff with names and nostalgia attached to it, like the Korg SDD 3000, Lexicon Prime Time, TC 2290, etc...

And if you did start only buying reverb and delay please tell me right away so i can put an end to this thread and block tgp adress to my pc!Joke aside, this is a really impressive setup you got here my friend!

thanks

Joke aside, this is a really impressive setup you got here my friend!

thanks again on all counts!

have a fun journey on your trip down the rabbit hole!