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To rack or not to rack


Black Coffee
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Maybe this has been done before but after hours of browsing I'm not really swayed either way convincingly and if I talk to a salesman he will tell me I need lots of this and that......

But a simple question.

If I start down the road of starting using a rack case for housing all my tuner, amp, power supply and the inevitable other guff which will get included will I regret not just keeping life uncomplicated with a clip on tuner, the same power as everyone else and minimal boxes of effects.
Am I wrong to think I would be able to open the rack case, switch on and plug in and play without spending as much time setting up.

Any thoughts ?

Edited by bassman344
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I have three racks.

One for bog standard stuff - rack effects unit and an amp (3U).
One for bigger gigs - rack effects unit, tuner and bigger amp (4U).

During the summer I do quite a few outdoor festivals and have a bigger rack for that which holds all of the above and a wireless receiver. (7U - I leave a 1U gap between the amps to help cooling.)

I have a choice of 2x10, 4x10 and 1x15 cabs so I just mix and match as I need to.

Everything is prewired so I just plug a single mains lead in and run a speaker cable out and I'm ready to play.

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I used to have a rack with my amp, tuner, and wireless kit in it. Open the back, pull out the power leads and speaker leads, plug them in, take off the front panel, ready to go. Really made setting up/breaking down the gear easy. Downside was it was rather heavy.

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I don't have a rack and have never used one personally but I was heavily involved with a music collective that had gear racked in a flightcase cabinet which helped when we had gigs away from our usual venue; great for keeping everything tidy but it was pretty weighty; we didn't have any issues with ground hum loops or noise though this can sometimes happen.

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If you are getting fed up with setting up/breaking down a complicated setup, at your next rehearsal, try just using bass->lead->amp and nothing else, which might make you feel a little exposed if you are used to using lots of widgets, but maybe rather than needing to build a rack system you just need to simplify, and if you do this a few times you'll soon work out what is really indispensible and what you can live without.

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[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1398109774' post='2430599']
Everything is prewired so I just plug a single mains lead in and run a speaker cable out and I'm ready to play.
[/quote]

Exactly. You can have everything set up the way you want with a lid on the front to protect your favourite settings and a lid on the back to protect all your connections.

There's also nothing to stop you having a rack and a pedalboard.

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Guest bassman7755

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1398109979' post='2430602']
I used to have a rack with my amp, tuner, and wireless kit in it. Open the back, pull out the power leads and speaker leads, plug them in, take off the front panel, ready to go. Really made setting up/breaking down the gear easy. Downside was it was rather heavy.
[/quote]

This.

Cant beat it for ease of setup (since you can leave everything apart from speakers pre-wired) but weight can be an issue. Having said there are many more light weight options available today then when I was all racked up.

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[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1398109774' post='2430599']
During the summer I do quite a few outdoor festivals and have a bigger rack for that which holds all of the above and a wireless receiver. (7U - I leave a 1U gap between the amps to help cooling.)
[/quote]

PS, leaving a 1u gap above an amp, can actually be a negative move. For example, the airflow from a poweramp that has front to back cooling, can end up pumping air in from the front and then drawing (the warmer) air in from the top of the amp back into the front...

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Our eldest (guitar...) has his Mesa 2 x 90 Simul, G-Force, MIDI synths and a couple of other 19" units in a Rockbag Flight case, which weighs a ton, but has big, solid castors on the side (when in situ...) and strong carrying lanyards. His wiring in the rack is the stuff of nightmares, but it's plug'n'play 'on the night'. Highly recommended once the minimalist philosophy has been abandoned.

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[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1398160832' post='2430950']
PS, leaving a 1u gap above an amp, can actually be a negative move. For example, the airflow from a poweramp that has front to back cooling, can end up pumping air in from the front and then drawing (the warmer) air in from the top of the amp back into the front...
[/quote]

It can, but I have a blanking panel in the space. :)

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Just setting my rack up as we speak. With all the plugs at the back of the rack, what's the best solution to power them all from a single lead? 4 plugs into an extension lead, but then ??? To the power lead so it literally is connect up, plug in and off you go....

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I've moved away from racks in an effort to embrace the one trip load in. As you'll see from my signature, I have two bass related racks - one main rack for gigs with effects/pre + 4 band para eq + power amp and the other for pitch to MIDI stuff.

I've not yet used the MIDI rack live but even taking one 4u rack is a hassle. All of the kit in the main rack could be replaced by a Zoom B3 (incoming) into a Shuttle 6, both of which would fit into the pocket of my gig bag with cables, leaving just the speaker and gig bag to carry.

The great thing about the Zoom is that it replicates other stuff like the Trace dual compressor that I might be tempted to add at a later date. The only short coming of the Zoom is that three slots are only just enough for the effects I'd have on all the time plus one other effect (dual comp/DI5/mod effect).

One alternative to the Zoom would be to use software based effects and take a laptop to a gig.

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I suppose it's a choice between easy one-trip lift, but having to plug it all together, or a more cumbersome carry, but easier to plug'n'play. As a drummer, one trip isn't an option, anyway, so I'm less inclined to favour that. I would go for simplicity of installation, personally. Others will differ, naturally.

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Racks are great. I have a BassPod XT Pro, Peterson StroboRack Tuner, Microthumpinator, Wireless receiver, and a Tech Soundsystems Black Cat amp in my 6U Boschma rack case. Mains distribution is done with [url=http://www.emosystems.co.uk/Products/Power_Distribution_System.html]one of these[/url] that bolts into the back of the rack. Take off the back lid and there's mains, speaker leads and a cat5e cable for the Pod Floorboard. Take off the front and I'm ready to go.

Takes less than 5 minutes to set up from getting it all to the stage area. Most of the time I'm plugged in and tuning up while the guitarists are still sorting out their pedal boards. Also unless you have seriously light weight cabs or a very heavy amp the rack case should be the lightest thing in your rig.

Edited by BigRedX
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Thanks for all the replies. A real wide spread of opinion.

I'm my own worst enemy for trying stuff to see for myself, but I get the feeling this could be an expensive project having read the replies because I won't be content with the bare minimum.

Im liking the bass plus lead plus amp and see what happens attitude. I'm loathe to admit it but I think I might enjoy the challenge and won't want to admit I'm better without the distractions of more gear to fiddle with. It could be that all of us could discover we don't need half of what we drag around, obviously other than the instrument and the amp and cable.

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Another rack fan here. Got mine a few months ago.

8u rack on castors with Hartke LH500, 2u drawer, power distribution strip with lights. Korg Pitchblack pro incoming. Want to get a rack compressor too.

Yes it's weighty, but the castors make it an easy push. Two leads to plug in and it's already to make noise :)

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[quote name='bassman344' timestamp='1398171728' post='2431131'] It could be that all of us could discover we don't need half of what we drag around, obviously other than the instrument and the amp and cable.
[/quote]

Imagine U2 if The Edge left his rack and pedalboard at home. It won't work for everyone.

In the end I found that most things that sounded great in the studio, like effects, were a bit lost in the live mix. We weren't at a level where we had our own sound engineer so I decided keeping it simple gave the house engineers the best chance of getting a decent mix, which meant leaving everything but the bass, tuner and preamp/Di at home.

When I did take my amp to a gig though, that would involve a basic rack as I had a 2U preamp and 2U power amp housed in a 4U rack case.

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  • 3 months later...

[quote name='clauster' timestamp='1398183009' post='2431314']
Another rack fan here. Got mine a few months ago.

8u rack on castors with Hartke LH500, 2u drawer, power distribution strip with lights. Korg Pitchblack pro incoming. Want to get a rack compressor too.

Yes it's weighty, but the castors make it an easy push. Two leads to plug in and it's already to make noise :)
[/quote]

May I ask what model rack you're using and where you got it from please? :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Use small racks and anything over 4 units is getting weightier and you'll need a good case that wont break over time, ie not plastic/cheap.
They flex as well as they generally aren't too rigid,. thast helps break them.

I use 3u with a 2u amp and 1u tuner. Light enough at ariound 25lbs all in, and 2 plugs into a 4way into a
trip plug.
or
1 3u rack ..very heavy in wooden manufacturers case, out into the trip plug and a feed out into a portable handheld tuner.
2 cab cables and a plug board to plug in so not complicated or time consuming

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Racks are great for keeping things tidy but it's very easy for one to get too heavy. I have a 2U rack woth a preamp and a 1U poweramp and it's allready near the 15kg mark. I would like to replace the 2U rack for a 3U one and add a Furman power conditioner but there goes another 6kg... if then i want to add the fx or another thing pretty soon i would be near the 30kg and that is impracticable for me. anyway i allways prefer having my pedals setup and secure on a pedal board where i can stomp them at will and don't have to face back to tune.

For me portability is important that's why the rack only gets out to outdoor gigs, the small gigs are done with the promethean combo and on medium sized venus the promethean head drives the barefaced s12t.

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Racks are the only way to protect your gear from the inevitable car/van/road rash. If you value your equipment and need to be able to rely on it firing up first time every time, then they really are the only way to go.

My amp is housed in a substantial 4U shock case which used to be a complete PITA to move until I modified it with an extra top handle and some corner casters procured from those lovely people at Swanflight cases. Probably the best £15 I've spent in ages.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/IMG_1169_zpsd6fcce37.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/IMG_1169_zpsd6fcce37.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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