I'm really sad about the death of rack. I don't like things cluttering up the floor and want things mounted nicely with the cables out of the way. Racks offer my studio OCD solace.

It can happen the other way, too. Sometimes musicians trip and fall ONTO their rackmounted effects, and subsequently die.

@jdb2722

Жыл бұрын

This is how I died

Like everything in life, guitar gear is cyclical! I'm an old dude started in the sixties with a Strat and a Deluxe. Then a Twin, then a Super, then a Dual Showman with pedals, then Marshall half stack! In the late eighties built a rack set up with tube preamp and power amp, ( still have today). People are collecting eighties rack gear again, me included, trip down memory lane! I'm rambling, point is if its a Deluxe, or a Helix, or a refrigerator rack, if it's fun and makes you play more, Rock On!

Happy memories of my ART SGX 2000. Then moved to an ADA MP1 into a Rocktron Intellifex and Marshall 8008 valvestate power amp. Switched to using a Boogie Studio Pre, Eventide H3000D/SX and Boogie 50/50 power amp with two 150w Marshall 1x12 cabs - plug in your Ibanez JEM and you're good to go. Still using that setup today and the ART foot controller still works!

The real rackmount effects were the friends we met along the way.

I lusted after a Boss minirack in the 80's. You more effects and better in a headphone amp now!

Nothing’s changed. I remember the 80s - the rack arms race has just been replaced by the pedalboard arms race. What goes around…

The time is coming where new digital modelers will feature models from older digital modelers. “ HEY BIFF ! This new modeler has the original model of a Tweed Twin !”

@charlesbolton8471

Жыл бұрын

I’m waiting for the Fender modeling amp that model the Cyber Series (Champ, Deluxe, and Twin) and it would just be icing on the cake if it included a model of the original Princeton Chorus.

I'm a rack guy. Will never stop.

Hurrah, I'm keeping my eyes open for an unwanted TC2290 and an Eventide H3000.

Slash uses the rack wah so he can get to a controller anywhere on stage and also has some kind of complex setup to get feedback on demand. His rig is complex but everything serves a purpose evidently.

Rocktron is still making new rack gear!

My experience was finding a new friend who made dance tracks. In the early 2000s, my computer experience was extensive; but I hadn't got a decent soundcard since I thought it was very limited back then. He showed me Reason, my first DAW. Not only did it "emulate" a rackmount system, but by pressing the "Tab" button - swapped to the back view, and the cords were SWINGING! I thought that was so cool lol. Switching options blew my mind, I did learn some basics, but I'd dropped the guitar at that point. Nasty instruments had turned me off years before. I got back into guitar after moving cities (in Australia). Stunned by the quality of a cheap pawn shop guitar, I admit I went a bit wild with GAS. Apartment living at the time didn't allow for real amp use, so I also got a Line 6 interface. Reason and Line 6's Pod Farm worked together - so I started there. There are clearly stronger DAWs out there now; and Reason is now marketed as more of an add-on. But I've really grown used to how it works. I've never actually brought any rackmount effects, but I love them so much!

@davidandrews8618

Жыл бұрын

My friend I love Reason too! (Reason 11 is what I use) for exactly the 'reasons' you mentioned. 🙂 It's like being in a studio in the late 80s/90s. Love the interface/visuals. I'm a rock/early metal guitar player (mainly) but do session work with an R&B-Rap producer . He introduced me to Reason and I've been hooked since. I use mostly AudioAssault amp/IR sims, the Softube Amp room and quite a few free sims/IRs that give me excellent results for my needs.👍

I still use and love my Peavey Rockmaster rack mount Preamp. It simply sounds amazing.

Miniaturization and increasing accuracy is the path of electronic progress. Eventually you will be able to get any tone you want, including tones indistinguishable from your favorite tube amp, in a unit the size of a cell phone. Analog and tube fans (myself included) will continue to use their favored equipment and claim it's better of course.

@Job.Well.Done_01

Жыл бұрын

10 years from now - this will be the case. Everything will be small and high-powered.

@Kyle-xi8up

Жыл бұрын

@@Job.Well.Done_01 Its already here. Check out the Mooer radar - Amp, Cab and mic sim in a micro pedal!

putting kempers and Axe FX's in a rack is as popular as ever

I’m of the age where I was gigging an Ada mp1, spx900, furman power conditioner, and my Yamaha power amp as new gear at the time. From my perspective it wasn’t that it was great tone, it was what was available that you could gig with that was easy to set up and get off the stage. I still have my Ada mp1 and it still sounds pretty cool if you want that Michael Wagonner Classic 80s metal tone.

I had a 90's Zoom pedal too! 4K sounds, 2 or 3 usable ones. LOL I remember the first band I was in and the lead guitarist had an ART pedal board with a wah and volume on one end and a slew of buttons...and a Fender tube amp to "warm up" the digital sound. Later, he used two or three traditional pedals and kept the amp.

That direct interaction with the effect is there if you want it. I've got a FilterPro and while all those sounds are i later gear, having the dedicated unit means I can reach over and tweak..... and save. Really cool if you have a penchant for a particular effect type.

Digital pedals are at a point where they sound just as good as their analogue counterpart. Look at strymon, Meris etc. 15 years or so ago, I never would have imagined something like the new Meris LVX.

@LP-123

Жыл бұрын

Makes you wonder what's next! There is so much creativity out there (the examples you gave and Chase Bliss, for instance). Amazing time to be playing!

Funny you should bring this up. I just went backwards in time, sold off my traditional pedalboard and built a W/d/W 80's style rack rig, the sounds coming out have never sounded so good!

@peterloiacono

Жыл бұрын

Great move, and good for you!

Mesa Triaxis into a 2ninety was a pretty legit tube path before being TC and Lexicon'ed to stereo digital death in rich guys' racks. The cheaper options were the Marshall JMP1 and ADA MP1. Or you could use the "tube" stage preamp in your ART or Digitech GSP! Oh the memories...

Shhhh stop bringing attention to the rack stuff. It's super cheap now and I love my 80s-90s rack units.

Good equipment is still good equipment, I don't care much about the fashion of the day. I love all gear

I have a few I still play around with. Love my old Lexicon still.

That was really funny when you said we end up back at ‘59! Enjoying your video’s both thanks 👍

I had the digitech gnx4 back when I was in high school. The buttons died on it and I didnt end up buying an all in one modeler until the axe fx iii came out. Brings me back to those days where I played for hours on that gnx4. Theres cycles for this stuff. It just keeps getting better and better!

ART SGX 2000 with the pedal board

@yankeepeters2270

Жыл бұрын

That’s what I had! I loved it at the time.

@hotblackdesiato3451

Жыл бұрын

Yup, that SGX2000 was great - so many effects all at once!!

I have an Eleven Rack and Ground Control Pro. I never have to bend over to adjust.

I loved my J-Station. In fact it's in my closet somewhere - I should dig it out and see if it still works!

The guitarist from Spiritbox uses rack effects. I still have an Alesis Quadraverb GT and love it. As far as Ibanez Tube Screamers? I bought mine in 1983 and still have it along with my Boss flanger 😎 I lurve watching you two prattle on about everything and anything and love your tangents. Greetings from NZ 😎🎸🤘

VHS tapes 1999-2001 I did a ton of direct mail back in the day and we would mail out @ 4 minute DHS tapes 10000 for $17,500 my cost including voice over for the specific client and get 2000 responses minimum. Your cd story reminded me of those days.

Greatest video ever!! CC Deville and Satch reference!!....GSP2101 represent G80xl y'all.

The Blue Voodoo is a tube amp, Megadeath used them for a while. I found a 120 a few years ago for $150, had to snag it

There's a 90s Vivian Campbell gear video floating around that, imo, is the epitome of over processed rack gear. Crazy considering he used nothing more than a Les Paul and a Marshall to get his great tone on Holy Diver. Keep up the good work!

I think it’s branched several different ways. Like the synergy system, cool amps tube driven rack mountable not a lot of choices. No effects what so ever knobs for tweaking. Then you have line 6 or headrush. Lots of amps lots of effects. Put it in a backpack and go to any gig. Can you tell it’s not an amp? Maybe, but not a bad way to go. As an older new player I have a fender vibrolux. Sits in a closet because it’s too heavy and too loud to gig with. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Just too much. So I really like my options right now. It is a great time to be alive.

I used to use effects and pedals boards. It was like I couldn’t play without them and I would get into a spin worrying about was I getting the right tones and textures. Then when I started making actual records I realized I was the weakest link in the room (not the songwriting, just the guitar performances). I was not the guitarist I needed to be. So what I did was to dump all the effects. I had been hiding behind them. I realized I had a few very nice amps and some great guitars, and if you just plugged the right guitar into the right amp you didn’t need anything else. The result was that my playing improved beyond recognition over about six months. Did I go back to my effects once I was happy again with my level of playing? Nope. I don’t miss them at all. But I am steadily getting to the right end of intermediate and closer to an advanced level as a guitarist.

In the late 80s I had a rack-mounted Rivera TBR-1 stereo tube amp with a Digitech FX unit and a tuner in the rack. Now its all in my Helix LT (no amp) on the floor and I'm happy. One trip from the car (guitar in each hand plus Helix backpack). Still have that tuner in my studio.

the ADA back in the day...I also miss the old Furman lights that pulled out in the top of my rack.

Rack effects have more space for high quality components that don't fit in a pedal format. It's not just about digital effects. Racks are for studios and the tone-obsessed, and pedalboards are for live and home use.

Pedal board got too big....went back to rack Put the pedals in the rack.... With the rise of the new midi controllers and switchers, those old racks are gold.

I just sold the last my rack gear, a Digitech GSP2101. I had so many between the early 90's and 2010. Probably 25 different units. Roland, Alisis, Digitech, Lexicon, Delta Labs, Peavey, Rocktron, along with rack synths. I wish I still had most of them.

@ncj7371

Жыл бұрын

I still have my GSP2101 (first one to be delivery to the UK back in the day) and a GSP1101 (had 3 of these at one point, now down to just 1) I can't bring myself to sell the GSP2101 as the cleans are still untouchable, even with todays tech

@peterloiacono

Жыл бұрын

And that's what most people say -- they wish they still had them.

Still alive at my house. So much easier to have my tc gmajor in the loop of my Friedman than keeping the pedal board on the floor. I have a pedal board as well but it’s set up as a live direct rig for church with a two notes cab m at the end of the chain.

When I first start playing again in the mid-2000's, Digitech RP350 was perfect for me. All sorts of great tones, I could play through an amp or use headphones. I'd practice plugged into my computer to play along with KZread lessons. Slowly I went away from the multi-effects because it wasn't cool for playing in a band. Dumb idea, they worked just fine. I have a couple of pedal boards, but for silent practice, I've started using interfaces for my iPad. Started with a Line6 PocketPod, to a Line6 Sonic Port. Recently, I have switched to Apogee Jam+ (as the Sonic Port was discontinued and the new iPad's use USB-C).

Just get a Quad Cortex and you’re good. It’s the size of a laptop and has enough sounds to make everyone happy.

To answer the question: pedals are cool because you can draft a series of rules and have them battle by rolling an assortment of various sided dice.

haha... I had the zoom 505... It allowed you to play though headphones and program in a bunch of effects. It sounded like garbage but I loved it at the time.

@zoomzoom3950

Жыл бұрын

I got the Zoom 9002 when they were first released new, the one that slid onto your guitar strap.

Off, taking a stroll down memory lane. Been playing electric guitar since the 70s, and have had most of the equipment that’s been listed in the comments. It really did the job for the time, and I still love a lot of the sounds. By the way I have a big nasty power conditioner in front of my little pedal board and Mesa now just to help with the dirty power at the church I play at. Best 90 bucks I ever spent!

I think we may be already past the Kemper rack stuff, or close to it. A lot of the new tech is pedal board size.

Peavey 50/50 tube power amp with the profex2 with foot controller. Art power plant. Going strong

The rack mount has become the Kemper and the Neural DSP. Much easier to fly with. Also, my thanks to Baxter. I went and listened to the Rosa Linn song he mentioned. Good song. I definitely hear the Lumineer-ishness in it, which isn't usually my jam. That said, the production and mixing of it sounds fantastic!

I had a Fender Bassman 400 with the slot for my Korg rack mount tuner. It was the only "pedal" I had for my bass. :D

i have a bunch of rack mount 'stuff', but the thought of putting effects in my rack, especially the kind that can't be computer controlled, hellno. computer in a server case, power bar, beast usb audio interface, breakout panel for the channels on the back of the interface, second computer for backups and x terminal serving, after all that there's not much space for the rack mount synths i wanna drool over...

That rackmounted Kemper reminds me of similar amps. I've seen both Mesa Boogie and Marshall amps just like that.

I remember everyone wanted the Eventide harmonizer back then. I didn't have Eventide money. Of all those things from yesteryear, the one piece I still have is my Furman power conditioner with the slide out rack lights. It just powers my home entertainment system now.

In '92 the average pedal was about $100 and rack pieces were many times that.

Dream on racks will always be run after...

The Rack mount SLOs at 0:35 👌🏼

Kirk Hammett has the rack mounted wah set up, with several pedals all over the stage but to be fair, he does need twelve wahs 🙂 I had a zoom effects pedal back in the 90's, man that was awful haha!

Good episode fellas

When I couldn't play very well, I'd hook up the multi effect with everything running and I'd hit a chord and let it do the work. Now all those effects get in the way and kill my dynamics so it's guitar into an Amp with a little reverb for ambience. A tuner and reverb. Are my only effects

I had racks back in the day, my main rig was an ADA fullstack (4 x 2x12 vertical splitstacks) built around the MP-1 and MQ-1, with an Alesis QuadraVerb. I eventually replaced the MP-1 and MQ-1 with an MP-2 which I still have and own. and a Mesa TriAxis with phat mod which I still have and own. I only sold the other ADA components about 8 years ago. You can still buy a new Eventide H3000, which is still difficult to surpass in many respects. IMO. edit: I also had a Marshall JMP-1 and JFX-1 with dual EL34 monobloc...wish I still owned this rack!

all these effects went to mike toren and mike nielsen's house, lol!

i recently changed an EEPROM on my Alesis Quadraverb GT. i felt like a brain surgeon!

I bet we are going to keep the tube amps still maybe more compact with a section on them for a neural dsp, Kemper, or fractal module (they sound incredible through a power section) . Or maybe we will see more Tech 21 stuff like the PL1 Fly Rig.

The 1980s never left!! If you remember anything that happened in the 80s, you were doing it wrong...

I think your NEXT rig is going to be on your laptop. IK is about to change the game with Tonex

I still use rack units!! and have bought some of the new killer pedals. and use them in an unconventional way as far as effect placement in the signal chain. No Kemper Helix or Axe FX though. I know guys with really expensive pedal boards and they are amazed at some of the tones I pull out of old rack units.

Yeah it’ll all come back around just watch

I went through that stuff like crap through a goose! I still have my digitech Artist 2120... Also still have my Avid Eleven Rack. Haven't turned on either one since I've started collecting real tube amps.

I still have my Crate Blue Voodoo 6212! I don't run the gain and boost at 10 anymore, dialed to only half gain I think it sounds great.

Slash and Kirk need the rackmount because is the only one that allows them to have multiple pedals controlling a single wah.

I've always preferred rack effects. Way more versatile and comprehensive than pedals.

Nice U2 reference:)

love my chandler echo.

C'mon...who doesn't like a nice rack? I still have my ART SGX 2000...and an old early Zoom 9002.

I remember having a guitar and an amp. One day I got a cable and played some tunes . It was great. 😘

@zoomzoom3950

Жыл бұрын

you deviant you!

Looks over at my Korg rack mounted tuner.......

Rack is still very much alive. Fractal AxeFX3 Rack and Helix Rack are top of the game.

My reasons to go rackmount in the early 2000s was this: 1. No bending over to setup effects. it sucks, lets face it. 2. Patches. get a fcb1010 and boom, you got one pedal to rule them all. can't have patches with a bunch of single pedals, and then you gotta go back to reason #1. 3. separation of function. I've had multi effects pedal break on me before. what do you do then? you can't play anymore cuz you lost all your preamp models, all your effects and a whole pedal board is now trash. gotta buy a whole thing again. If something in your rack breaks, well, as long as it wasn't the preamp you're actually still good to go. 4. Fanboying. Look, racks are cool as fuck. all our heroes use rack gear still. its mostly condensed into the AxeFX3 now but you know. everyone has one of those now.

Im amazed were not just using laptops with USB/bluetooth foot switch devices. I guarantee the CPUs in most modern game laptops could eat the CPUs in the rack mounts for breakfast all day long. Haven't seen anybody I love on guitar doing this though... It seems to be totally dominated by the EDM kids.

Lukather was the king of both types of rack 😁

Hell yeah Queensryche rules.

the rack is dead! long live the rack!

Rack effects still crush pedals in terms of sound quality. One thing that is killing pedals from sounding as good as rack effects is the 9V power standard on pedal boards. All that outboard gear was running at 30V usually, resulting in much higher headroom and presence of effect. A lot of the best rack gear for guitarists was also built in the transition from Analog to Digital, so a lot of that early digital rack, was mostly analog. Hopefully some brave company will take a second look at rack mounted effects and release something new.

I played bars at 15 in the 1970s. The local bars were full of young people High School age! Everything that has happened in gear since then has been trend after trend. The current trend of speaker less silent stages is BORING. The current trend of feedback less shows is AWSOME though. It's all relative, I guess. Racks were just an 80s thing. It was the dawn of the computer age. Like the fashion it was specific to a future imagined. It was also a hassle for younger musicians to try to keep up with the big shots and haul all that shit to gigs to try to replicate all that studio outboard stuff. It's like the lust for unobtainable mythic Dumble tones on a young person's budget. Silly.

Do not conflate Queensryche with Warrant. Lol

My signature sound in 1992 was a Silverburst Les Paul Custom into a Yamaha FX500 into a Peavey Bandit 112. Newsflash: that tone still slays.

@zoomzoom3950

Жыл бұрын

grandpa rock! 😁 My favorite tone is still one of my favorite guitars into a Marshall full stack adjusted for the guitar/pickups. Late '60s Hendrix / early '70s Kiss/AC/DC... grandpa rock for the win!

@XoseGuitar

Жыл бұрын

@@zoomzoom3950 Whoa now, not even close to being a grandpa yet....This setup was used for first wave alternative rock, LOL

@zoomzoom3950

Жыл бұрын

@@XoseGuitar 😎

ciertamente hoy hay pedaleras de diferentes marcas y presupuestos, o plugines, que compiten fuertemente y hasta sustituyen a ciertas unidades de rack, y lo hacen de manera mas barata eficiente y con menos bulto y peso, pero no obstante, aun hay ciertas unidades de rack que aun dan la talla, algunas de gama alta, otras mas modestas, que aun se pueden utilizar en una instalacion fija, o si esa en el presupuesto de una banda promedio, dejarlas fijas en un roda case y conectar alli toda la banda inclusive, es cuestion de estilo, por eso no apuesto a la muerte total de las unidades de rack para guitarristas, apuesto mas por la formula hibrida, entre pedales, plugins, racks, o algo que sume todo eso junto, de hecho ya algunas guitarras traen multiefectos internos, o sea que practicamente seria la guitarra sola sin nada mas

Lord what about Zoom from that era? The one that had two pedals for up and down through the banks and you could even get one that had an expression lol... EDIT: I also had a boss gt7 or gt8... and loved it once i figured it out... got it second hand with no manual.

Rack gear looked about as cool as the spandex pants looked.

Nah, rack isnt dead, im 21, i have a 21u, and two 16u filled with rack gear

Not all tack gear is digital . The rack mounted crybaby is analog

The old power conditioner…about as useless as a hair brush, amirite.

Lol nobody in the comments talking about Axe Effects

Don’t be like me. I tried all of this stuff. If you have a good guitar and a good amp you can make it do just about anything you want.

the worst thing I ever bought was a korg pandora. Sounded like garbage

Pretty much is dead now, despite the recent interest in it. No one wants to make higher headroom line level.units anymore. They are selling too many pedals and modellers to even bother nowadays. The old gear is diminishing due to units dying more and more.

I never understood rack gear,but good riddance. As an aside though: go ahead...laugh at the boss,digitech and zoom floor units. Eventually, we all have enough knowledge,that if you go back to some of those.... There are great sounds to be had out of those.you just need an open mind and an hour to fool around. great guitar sounds are always obtainable from little gear and don't forget that

It's all outdated Pedals are now 300 to 400 Tube amps are over 2k and have issues all the time Gimme a Helix any day of the week