Stand-Alone Or Rack-Mount

[GUitarNoyes6]

what is the main difference between the rack-mount and stand-alone style amps and if there is any difference please reply

(ex. i think i have heard of a rack-mount mesa/boogie dual rectifier whats the difference between that and a normal stand-alone, besides one is rack-mounted)

Also can you put a stand-alone in a rack or do they have to be specially made/ordered??

THANKS

[berndhep]

Hi!
The biggest difference between a stand alone amp and a rack version is, that if you buy the rack version you only get the pre-amp. So you have to buy an additional power amp. Another thing is that most rack versions are programmable and can be controled via midi.

You can of course use a stand alone amp in combination with rack. But your rack has to be custom build because moste amps are larger than the normal 19'' size of a rack.

I personally use the JMP 1 of Marshall with a Marshall 50/50 power amp. It`s a wonderfull pre-amp, full programmable and has the typical Marshall sound. In addition I use an Orange TC30 Head for the clean sounds.

I use a lot rack gear (e.g. all Line6 rack pieces). It can be very complicated because you must use midi to controll all parts of your rack. But once you`ve got it it just perfect. On tip of your toe and 1000 lights change ;-)

[LennyNero]

Hi,

that's not totally right. Engl made this thing which is a comlete amp in rack-format (and they are not the only to do so).

Then there is of course this huge amount of rackgear, which is like Bernd stated parted into pre-amp and poweramp. You have the possibility to combine a Modeller (Digital Preamp, like Pod-Pro) with a tube poweramp, or an solid-state pre-amp with a transistor poweramp... or whatever.

Than there is the difference between MIDI and non-MIDI-gear. There are all-tube preamp that are not MIDI switchable (most of them, left aside Engl), stuff like the JMP-1 and TirAxis (Mesa), which do their tone with tubes but use some solid-state stuff too.

The FX-section is wide... there are units specially made for guitarist (like G-Major from TC or GX700 from Boss) which are Mulit-FX devices. Others are only for one effect (Dunlop Rackmount Wah) and you can use any gear the guys from P.A. and Studio are using.

Advantage of a reacksystem? Many possibilities, once you have a rig. Disadvantage? Expensive. And since their are usually a lot of patch-cabels lots of errors can be made (worst scenario): you are playing live and get no sound from your Cabs... start to seek whats wrong (I got about 10 Audio-patchcabels in my rack and it will be more when I get my looper/switcher).

As for a "normal" stand-alone amp: yes, you can have them modified for rack-use, but what for... the costs are high and if you want to sell the unit one day most go better for "original" state.

Bye,
Lenny

[berndhep]

(I got about 10 Audio-patchcabels in my rack and it will be more when I get my looper/switcher).

[/B]

Hi Lenny!
You`re right. But don`t you think that using a looper, which i also want to do, won`t change radically the number of cables you need? Just take a look at the rig of JON SIEBELS(http://www.guitargeek.com/rigview/368/)... a lot of connections to to the ground control with a lot of cables!!!

And when you think about it, it seems to be logical: there is the same amout of in/out connections to make than with a serial effects loop.

But maybe I`m just wrong with that...

[guitargeek]

I've found it's a lot easier to isolate connection problems with a switcher/loop type system than with your typical row of a zillion pedals (assuming they aren't true bypass). With a loop system you can at least pull various pedals/racks out of their loops and break down the signal to a simple in/out path. A little easier than unplugging/plugging pedal after pedal while crouched on the stage from my experience...

uhhhhmmm yeah... did i mention that this is coming from someone who is back to 11 pedals on the floor!

guitargeek

[LennyNero]

Hi,

What I am planning is to get a MIDI-controlled switcher a la rocktron patchmate or GCX switcher/looper (a rack unit with several loops that can be used as switches too). Like GuitarGeek stated the advantage is that you don't have the devices in the signalchain that are not needed. The other advantage: one tip of my foot will change everything (Loops on or off, channel switch in the preamp, program change in the multi-fx).

@Bernd: between my rack and my "pedalboard" there will be only one connection: a selfmade cabel that has MIDI in and out and the DC for the controller, no audiosignal at all. But yes, countless new patchcabels in the rack itself.

You (or I) will have more connections with a looper system, since each device will have it's own "serial loop".

[berndhep]

i toally agree that the sound will be much better with a looper, because there`s less disturbing elements in the signal path.

is there anyone who has experience with different cable-qualities? i wonder if that realy has an effect on the sound.

[guitargeek]

i switched to george L cables and noticed a little more clarity and definition.

going from say a 22 gauge cable to thicker 16 gauge will make a world of difference

re: keeping some pedals in loops...

i've been using the boss psm-5 power supply's send/return loop to bypass an old mxr phase 45 and boss tr-2 tremolo. the difference in tone is considerable when punching the loop in (loss of tone) and out (tone is back) of the path. the mxr 45 is a real tone sucker but i love its' wiggly little vibrato too much to part with it...

guitargeek

[LennyNero]

Hi,

when I started to play E-guitar and I had my first pedals... well everything was cheap. When I switched my gear (better this, better that) I stuck with my old cabels (instrument and patch) until I tried better ones. And yes, there is a large amount of differrence between those "phonewires" and a "pro"-cabel. Sometimes, during testing-phases, I am using one of those old (just to check connections) and the better ones (I think Belden-cables) are way "clearer" and dynamic.

[romanodog]

I have the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier rackmount verson. it is exactly the same at the regular dual recty, except it is mountable in a rack. most other mountable heads are just preamps or poweramps. mesa stopped making these heads, and now they just have a dual rectifier preamp i believe. it might be a poweramp though.

[noxonexisxsafe]

The Marshall JMP-1 is probably my fantasy pre-amp. You can get alot more than typical Marshall amp sounds out of that.

[specialgstar]

the single, dual and triple rectifiers are still made, they discontinued the 2 channel models and the rack mount recto with them, they now issue recto heads (dual and triples at least....) as three channel jobs, a dedicated clean with two clone channels (can be orange mode, red mode, spongy or bold....) there is a rack recto preamp, and a new 2:100 simulclass poweramp to mate with it for, the recto pre is just a 2 channel preamp based on the front end of the recto....

[State]

The difference between rackmount and standalone style amps is that rackmounts are mounted on a rack and standalones stand alone.

The non-asshole answer is that rackmounts mount on a rack in a flight case so they can be transported more easily by touring bands and the like since they are lighter and better protected.

Standalones just look nicer and are made to be able to sit on top of a cab so all your gear is in the same place.