Jamesemt Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 ...meaning better than pedals. I'm relatively new to the bass world. Played the guitar years ago (about 15 years ago) were rack gear was considered the dogs bits, have things altered? Is it more of a protection/less hassle alternative to foot pedals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Like anything James, it would depend on your wallet ;o) I find it hard to see how an effects rack with 20 pedals worth of effects for the price of a single good pedal CAN be as good as those 20 pedals individually. There are some really excellent racks out there. Tone to behold.. and don't believe all the guff about digital sterility lol. Though it's horses for courses. Some people prefer 20 pedals on the floor, or just one. Some like to use a single patch on their multieffects... some hate effects altogether! My personal view is the right unit is perfect for me. Everything is safe in one box, my signal chain is short and unlikely to get knocked, trodden on or damaged by flying audiences! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesemt Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 [quote name='dood' post='144452' date='Feb 21 2008, 03:52 PM']Like anything James, it would depend on your wallet ;o) I find it hard to see how an effects rack with 20 pedals worth of effects for the price of a single good pedal CAN be as good as those 20 pedals individually. There are some really excellent racks out there. Tone to behold.. and don't believe all the guff about digital sterility lol. Though it's horses for courses. Some people prefer 20 pedals on the floor, or just one. Some like to use a single patch on their multieffects... some hate effects altogether! My personal view is the right unit is perfect for me. Everything is safe in one box, my signal chain is short and unlikely to get knocked, trodden on or damaged by flying audiences! lol[/quote] Right, I get that. So what's the idea behind a pre/power amp? I understand you can get the sound you want from the pre, then output that with a power amp, but why not just buy a decent head in the first place? I'm presuming the power amp won't really colour the sound much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 [quote name='Jamesemt' post='144457' date='Feb 21 2008, 03:57 PM']Right, I get that. So what's the idea behind a pre/power amp? I understand you can get the sound you want from the pre, then output that with a power amp, but why not just buy a decent head in the first place? I'm presuming the power amp won't really colour the sound much...[/quote] Again it's horses for courses. A good pre/power amp setup will sound not better or worse than a good standard amp head. Many pre-amps also have additional features which some players make use of. The Line6 Bass POD XT Pro, for example, is a rack mount pre-amp with amplifier modelling. Loads of different amp settings and FX units in a single 2U rack unit. It also has outputs to send the modelling sound direct to a PA, and you can use the same unit without a power amp/speakers for silent recording if you wish. That gives you some idea why you might choose that route. But loads of players keep it simple and effective with a standard amp and cabinet setup. It'w what works for you, or what you want to experiment with that matters. No one setup is "better" than the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesemt Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 [quote name='BOD2' post='144475' date='Feb 21 2008, 04:14 PM']Again it's horses for courses. A good pre/power amp setup will sound not better or worse than a good standard amp head. Many pre-amps also have additional features which some players make use of. The Line6 Bass POD XT Pro, for example, is a rack mount pre-amp with amplifier modelling. Loads of different amp settings and FX units in a single 2U rack unit. It also has outputs to send the modelling sound direct to a PA, and you can use the same unit without a power amp/speakers for silent recording if you wish. That gives you some idea why you might choose that route. But loads of players keep it simple and effective with a standard amp and cabinet setup. It'w what works for you, or what you want to experiment with that matters. No one setup is "better" than the other.[/quote] Rack gear, here I come Think I'm going to get a preamp and use it with the poweramp side of my Superfly head... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Make sure that whatever pre-amp or multi-fex rack unit you buy will drive the relevant input on the Superfly properly. I have a Pod XT Pro and it doesn't produce enough output volume to efficiently drive one of the power amps I've used it with. Also I found the power amp line in on the Superfly I had to be particularly noisy. Driving the normal instrument in with the EQ set flat produced much better results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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