Home› Musicians and Gearheads

Check out my band! Just Kidding.... Rack vs. Pedalboard

xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
in Musicians and Gearheads
Rack effects vs. Pedals on the floor. Thoughts and pros and cons for each...GO!
Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy

Comments

  • Stickman12Stickman12 Posts: 504
    I havent known anything else besides pedals. This should be educational for me
  • 2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance Posts: 23,302
    The effects I've made in Garageband rival any pedals I have. Plus they are easy to save and set up when I'm recording. Playing just for fun all I need is some good reverb off the amp.
    www.cluthelee.com
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 Posts: 23,303
    i am a huge fan of amp tone. to me, effects just enhance the amp's tone. that said, you have to have a good amp.

    i have had rackmount processors and to me they sound too digital. if you are not careful, it can do nothing more than muddy your tome.

    i have also had a pedalboard that if you are not careful, it can sound like shit too.

    give me a nice, tube, single channel amp with tuner, a wah, a phaser, an overdrive with a volume boost, and a delay pedal, and let's go make some fucking music.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    gimmesometruth27 said:

    i am a huge fan of amp tone. to me, effects just enhance the amp's tone. that said, you have to have a good amp.

    i have had rackmount processors and to me they sound too digital. if you are not careful, it can do nothing more than muddy your tome.

    i have also had a pedalboard that if you are not careful, it can sound like shit too.

    give me a nice, tube, single channel amp with tuner, a wah, a phaser, an overdrive with a volume boost, and a delay pedal, and let's go make some fucking music.

    I've always wanted to use a single channel tube amp. They seem to be really rare, though. Sovtek (I think that's how you pronounce it) is the only one I know of
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 Posts: 23,303
    xtremehardy388 said:

    gimmesometruth27 said:

    i am a huge fan of amp tone. to me, effects just enhance the amp's tone. that said, you have to have a good amp.

    i have had rackmount processors and to me they sound too digital. if you are not careful, it can do nothing more than muddy your tome.

    i have also had a pedalboard that if you are not careful, it can sound like shit too.

    give me a nice, tube, single channel amp with tuner, a wah, a phaser, an overdrive with a volume boost, and a delay pedal, and let's go make some fucking music.

    I've always wanted to use a single channel tube amp. They seem to be really rare, though. Sovtek (I think that's how you pronounce it) is the only one I know of
    no they aren't really rare. be careful, if you play one you will have to take it home ;)

    most of the old amps are single channel amps. all of the marshalls before early 80s 2 channel jcm 800s are single channel amps. hiwatts are single channel. most of the boutique amps are single channel amps. they are out there. they are usually kinda pricey for something that one would think is a "one trick pony".

    most of the new amps have multiple channels because kids these days do not want to have to mess with pedals or rack processors. they want clean, and crunch, and maybe even distortion channels all on board. i have had multi channel amps before and i have gigged with several of them. with multichannel amps there is more circuitry, and with more circuitry there is more that can potentially go wrong with the amp. plus, if you are not careful, you can dial into mud because more wires means decreasing tone.

    only drawback with a single channel amp is you have to learn to get good at dealing with your volume and tone knobs and your pickup selector switch. that was the biggest difference for me, going from having to use my feet to change my tone to going to the knobs and switches.

    seriously, everyone should try a single channel tube amp at least once in their lifetime.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • BHealyBHealy Posts: 466
    I have a Princeton reverb re-issue (single channel). It sounds amazing. It did need some warranty work (bad soldering), but its great now. Fender covered everything. I like having a pedalboard, but I'm not experienced enough to really comment on which is better/worse. Either way, I think whatever gives you great tone, and that it inspires you to play- that's the key!
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Most blackface and silverface Fender amps operate as single-channel amps. Although many of them have two channels, there is usually a Normal channel with its own input and an Effects channel with its own input. So, unless you use an external A/B/Y switcher, you just plug into a single channel on the amp. (I actually use an A/B/Y in this type of configuration, so...) This includes the Bassman, Twin Reverb, Deluxe and Deluxe Reverb, Vibrolux, etc. The smaller amps, i.e. Princeton and Princeton Reverb, Champ and Vibro Champ all are straight single-channel amps. It wasn't until the mid- to late-80s that people started to offer multi-channel amps, and most of those were solid-state amps. Multi-channel tube amps came on the scene more in the 90s and 2000s. Now we think of multi-channel amps as the norm, but if you are a vintage amp tone chaser, we've all been using single-channel designs for decades. Outside of the Mesa Boogie Rectifier amps, I can't think of many multi-channel amps that get used regularly for touring pro musicians.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    As to the original question, it's a wide-open field. There are great things being done today with modeling and such, including the new Kemper systems that are creating so much buzz. In addition, there have been pro-level guitarists using rack-based effects for decades, and especially when it comes to delay, modulation, and reverb, I think there are some compelling cases to be made for those pro-style or pro-level rack FX. Think of The Edge, who has used a variety of rack-based time effects over many decades.

    However, I generally am not a fan of rack-based guitar effect systems. They have their places in certain genres of music (especially metal), but they are something I would never look at personally. The newest stuff from Fractal seems really promising, but I'm not ready to trade in my pedals just yet. And I'm one of the few on this forum who likes Line 6. I would totally love to spend a month with a Kemper, though.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    Once you go rack, you never go back.

    image
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 Posts: 23,303
    exhausted said:

    Once you go rack, you never go back.

    image

    i look at this and i am so confused. it makes me want to play through it, but it just looks so complicated. i don'e even know where i would plug in the guitar... :facepalm:
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • dudemandudeman Posts: 3,061
    I was thinking the same thing! I'm intimidated just looking at that monster!

    I like a simple rig with the amp providing most of the dirt. I use a Fulltone O.C.D. for a boost and a Homebrew Electronics UFO for fuzz. I have a wah (535Q), Voodoo Labs Micro Vibe and a Homebrew Electronics Mimic Mock II Delay. Aside from my tuner (Sonic Research ST-200 Strobe), that's it.

    The fact that everything fits nicely inside a briefcase is a huge plus on load-in/load-out.

    So, I guess, pedalboard for me.
    If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done. - EV
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    dudeman said:

    =So, I guess, pedalboard for me.

    He's got pedals right there in the bottom half of the rack. Problem solved.

    I would personally be totally happy with that RE-201, and I wouldn't mind playing around with the AxeFX for a couple weeks. What other goodies you got in there, Ex?
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    The Space Echo is from 1976. I have two of them now. Both operating perfectly. Also have a 60s EP3 Echo-Plex that somethings sits there instead. It's hit or miss whether it behaves plus it's noisy as hell.

    There's a TC2290 (have two of them too). A Korg SDD-2000 (I have a pedal clone of the SDD-3000 preamp in front of it). A Korg A2 multi-effects (think Achtung Baby).

    Strymon Mobius, Big Sky and Timeline. Eventide H9 Max. EHX Microsynth. EHX Deluxe Memory Man TT550. EHX POG2 (modded for MIDI control). Some gain pedals. My old Line 6 POD HD Pro. etc. etc.

    it's controlled with an RJM Mastermind GT.. I had to make drawings to keep all the wiring straight.
    mccreadyisgod said:

    dudeman said:

    =So, I guess, pedalboard for me.

    He's got pedals right there in the bottom half of the rack. Problem solved.

    I would personally be totally happy with that RE-201, and I wouldn't mind playing around with the AxeFX for a couple weeks. What other goodies you got in there, Ex?
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    I'm concerned that you might have a delay-abuse problem.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    mccreadyisgod said:

    I'm concerned that you might have a delay-abuse problem.

    AGREE

    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

    https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
  • 2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance Posts: 23,302
    Man, that's too complex for me! Looks like something out of Mission Control in Houston.
    www.cluthelee.com
Sign In or Register to comment.