software

As I understand it, all you need is a preamp, poweramp and a cabinet (and a guitar, of course).

However, I don't understand how they all work together, nor what is compatible with what. How do power ratings work? What is the advantage of getting rack gear?

Basically, I'm a complete newbie in this... explain it all to me please!!!!

I'm actually getting turned onto it. I love the mesa triaxis because you can digitally store presets and have a full analog signal and panel like the front of an amp, then you can choose your power amp section, and run other rack gear through it.

The best thing to know is that you only need these things.....any more, and you start sucking the tone dry.

Furman power supply
High quality preamp like Triaxix, JMP-1, ENGL, VHT etc
High quality FX unit like TC Electronic, Roland, Rocktron
Power amp by Mesa, VHT, Marshall, and the Peavey's sound great for the money.
ONLY BUY TUBE power amps.

You'll need a midi switch floorboard like Mesa abacus, Ground Control, Rolls Midi Buddy
and most importantly, you'll need to learn how to midi map.....basically assigning your preamp's channels to the FX channels in your FX unit, so they work in tandem when you hit a button on the midi switch.

Don't get 'rack-itis' where you start to believe that a 24 space shockmounted rack full of 9 pieces of rack gear in the signal chain is good. It's unnessesary, heavy, and looks dumb! LOL

OK, well looking at the prices for these things, a regular amp head cabinet is much much cheaper... I could get a Bogner for the same amount of money!

So why do people go for rack gear? It's bulky and annoying to set up... is it simply for the flexibility, and the fact that you can combine quality effects with things?

The reason I had a rack system was so that I could mix different pre amps, power amps and effects. But it is very easy to get side tracked by the versatility. I ended up changing presets and components more than I played.

this is what i learned about rack gear while doing a bunch of research on it...

buy a killer head and cab and save yourself a major headache lol

-Mike

It is for studio and flexibility, plus if you do know what to do with it, well look at Dann Huff, Keith Scott, Jerry McPherson, Micheal Landau and so on, they have all used big rigs, try to look into their stuff.
But I'll tell you from experience, on the road for normal work it is overkill.
If you're hired to do exact sounds it will come handy.

i use a rack for my guitar synth/looping rig. it is controlled by a behringer FCB1010 pedal- much better than the ground control, or rolls pedals (the rocktron all aceess is great, but $$). There is no way I can get a guitar rig, guitar synth and looping working together without a rack and a mixer.

Flexability is the first thing I wanted from a rack. I play quite a few styles and I'm usually involved in a couple of different progects and one amp wasn't going to cut it. There are some great one and two channel amps out there but not as many three channel amps and many multiple channel amps are often lacking somewhere. There are a lot of DSL fans out there, not as many TSL fans. My rack allows me eight very different channels and seven different poweramp voices for fifty six different voices so there aren't too many tones I can't get ahold of. With ninty nine available presets I can save tones unique to several different projects and call them up instantly.

Stereo is another nice feature available to racks. A properly dialed in rack can fill a room.

Ease of use and set-up are also big pluses. I roll up, plug in my guitar and speakers and a line to my midi controller and I'm good to go. Without the pedals and power supplies to set up or batteries to go dead I'm usually first set up and first broken down.

I own a combo, a stack and a rack and the rack is by far the most fun to play.

quot;OK, tell me everything I need to know about rack gear.quot;

Rack gear is a test of what quot;friendshipquot; is defined as.

No one wants to haul your crap around.....spend the cash on a decent combo and spent the time you would be tweaking on...ya know....playing guitar and being a better player.

Take this from the voice of experience....

once you go rack you never go back

The amazing thing about Mesa's TriAxis is you have SOOO much versatility at your fingerstips, but you have this versatility quot;withoutquot; compromising each tones imtegrity.

Keep in mind each companies preamp is designed to operate with quot;theirquot; poweramp. It'll still work, but a Mesa preamp through a Marshall poweramp is not going to sound like a Mesa preamp through a Mesa poweramp.

Invest in a 30-band EQ as well, i've been told it helps your tone immensely

I'm pretty new to Racks and I think they're great!

Racks are cool because you can have a bunch of different settings and, well, quot;set if and forget it.quot; I got really tired of using a bunch of pedals and having to tweak them over and over and over....

I saw Paul Gilbert's intense Rock I wherein he uses the ADA MP-1 and one month later, I got the MP-1 and I was SOLD! I'm now using an MP-1, Furman PQ-3 (for that quot;Dimebag Tonequot;), and a BBE Sonic Maxmizer--I'm using my Marshall MKII as a power amp, though.

The Tone is Killer, the switching is Killer and the idea of being able to quot;plug and playquot; is killer. Getting that quot;rightquot; tone may take a while, but it's well worth the effort.

Racks are cool, but not for some people; different strokes for different folks.

I'm using an ADA MP-1 and it's awesome. I'm running it into the power amp of an old Marshall, but soon I'll buy a Peavey Classic 60/60 power amp. I have a cheap Behringer effects unit that I use for delay; it does what I need it to. I'm planning on getting a Furman power conditioner and a BBE Sonic Maximizer eventually.