Help with Rack Design?

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glpg80

glpg80

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I can’t decide on whether I want to use a voltage regulator in my rack as they’re quite expensive. From those that use them, do the regulate correctly?

I also can’t decide on a MIDI switcher. Switchblade? GCX? RJM? If I wait on the new switchblade I can forgo a Samson 10 channel mixer. I just don’t know if it’s worth putting off.

What about pedal power supplies? What’s the most reliable out there with voltage options? What is everyone using?

Where do I get decent pedal shelves that won’t wobble when extended?

What’s everyone’s experiences/suggestions?

What I have so far:

Yamaha SPX90II
Alesis Quadraverb v2.03
ADA 2FX (mono pre-chorus)
Lexicon PCM81
Damage Control Timeline (pedal rack)
Boss SD-1

What I need:
Boss GE-7
Boss NS-2
Midi switcher
Pedal power supply
Power conditioner
Voltage regulator?
Samson sm-10

That’s pretty much it. Not super heavy on effects and 80’s tone inspired. I’ve been gathering this stuff slowly over many years.
 
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A rack switcher would be cool. I don't know which ones are good. I think some are buffered.
But the ability to program and switch loops lets you run only what you need at a given time instead of your signal through every piece of gear..
There are some nice rigs out there. You carry it.. :p
I always loved MIDI..
 
Hmm...so sliding rack shelf, you can find those out there i.e Middle Atlantic, Gator etc.. Sweetwater etc...

For midi, if cost is an issue and yet you want quality then Voodoo Labs is the way to go with the GCX and floor unit. If you want to step up cost wise then the RJM stuff. Quality wise they are both great. My GCX and Ground Control probably saw close to 500 gigs and never an issue. I do like the RJM stuff especially the smaller footprint on some of their midi switcher but it does cost more. Lots of good deals out there for used stuff. In fact I sold my GCX and Midi control, was still in top shape so you can find deals.

Power Supply - racking it on the shelf I'd go Voodoo or Truetone...should have enough room to mount it and your pedals. Especially the Truetone 6 which should cover all of that.

Power Conditioner - Furman. Maybe something like the P1800 that is a regulator and conditioner. Not Cheap. I ran and still do run a PL Plus and it's worked great for years. Still plug my amp into it. Not a regulator but a good protective unit.

Sounds like you have all your effects covered. I ran a Quad 2.0 for years, used it just for delay and verbs and everything else came from racked pedals. But you've got some nice units that you could dedicate to certain effect. I'd probably try and find an old Rane or Rocktron rack mixer if you need to run parallel etc...

Sounds like a fun project ahead.
 
I love my voodoo power GCX and use a Lehle. A/b/y with p split.
I can run 3 amps at once or shut down single ones if needed. No hum. Power is clean. Loops and midi switchers are nice as well. I think I have a great set up. Sadly I’m always looking for more though.
 
The penn elcom sliding shelf is the one I've been using forever has never sagged in the middle it's been awesome and always loaded FULL. Might be better options out there but it's been rock solid for me for a long long time.

I did the thought about voltage regulators and have never bothered...just a nice furman has been fine for me...I kinda looked at it like one of those last niceties....I'd be more tempted by one of those Brown Box things!

The trusty PP2+ served me well for many many years....I moved mine to power the midi pedalboard and put a Friedman power supply on my rack shelf Works great and is very nice...wanted to try to remove any possibility from field hum from to the pedalshelf/rack though I never had to many issues with that with the PP2+ TBH....Friedman is quieter and has more outputs.

I guess your choice is either a mixer/switcher in one rack space....or a mixer and a switcher in 2 rack spaces. Midi controller is something to consider as well when choosing your rack switcher.....never said what your midi controller was.

Do you want your pedals and rack gear in one switcher, or will you have a mini relay one just for pedals and line level a rack switcher/mixer?

Lots to consider.
 
Purpleibby said:
The penn elcom sliding shelf is the one I've been using forever has never sagged in the middle it's been awesome and always loaded FULL. Might be better options out there but it's been rock solid for me for a long long time.

I did the thought about voltage regulators and have never bothered...just a nice furman has been fine for me...I kinda looked at it like one of those last niceties....I'd be more tempted by one of those Brown Box things!

The trusty PP2+ served me well for many many years....I moved mine to power the midi pedalboard and put a Friedman power supply on my rack shelf Works great and is very nice...wanted to try to remove any possibility from field hum from to the pedalshelf/rack though I never had to many issues with that with the PP2+ TBH....Friedman is quieter and has more outputs.

I guess your choice is either a mixer/switcher in one rack space....or a mixer and a switcher in 2 rack spaces. Midi controller is something to consider as well when choosing your rack switcher.....never said what your midi controller was.

Do you want your pedals and rack gear in one switcher, or will you have a mini relay one just for pedals and line level a rack switcher/mixer?

Lots to consider.
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Yeah I’m thinking the same thing - run a brown box in the rack for the amp and just a power conditioner for everything else in the rack.

You make a good point about line levels. Pedals normally run instrument level and all of the rack gear is best ran line level. I know my damage control timeline is an oddity in that it is designed for instrument level but being a delay, will be mixing with line level rack gear.

It sounds like I need to be considering a switchblade, but I’d want a 16 input unit if I’m investing that kind of coin and would want the ability to use the edit software. This sucks though because I was trying to put this together on a budget and nothing too expensive.

Controller wise I’d want to use the rocktron unit or splurge on something from RJM. I don’t know off the cuff what I’d want. Back in the day I had a midimate but didn’t like the soft buttons.
 
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This new to the market switcher / mixer by Red Seven has some cool features. A little pricey though.

https://www.redseven-amplification.com/multi-stereo-line-mixer/
I've had a GCX and Ground Control for 20 years. Good bang for the buck. The RJM and Switchblade are great products too.

I'm slowly working on 12U and 20U racks. Just experimenting with different configs. The 20U has an old Roland VS-880EX digital recorder for fx and mixing. I swapped the old spinner hard drive with a Compact Flash card. It works excellent and they can be had for cheap. I bought mine new for a ton of money and hardly used it. So it feels good to repurpose it.
 
alund said:
This red seven unit looks cool. I’ll need to look a little more into this.
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Yeah but it’s super setup specific and only has a few plugs. I don’t think it will work feature wise with how I plan to run my setup simply because I’m mixing line levels and the unit has no level controls for what is mixing with what. Neilson did a run through of one with his home studio and it just seems really limited to one particular wiring setup.
 
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glpg80 said:
Yeah I’m thinking the same thing - run a brown box in the rack for the amp and just a power conditioner for everything else in the rack.

You make a good point about line levels. Pedals normally run instrument level and all of the rack gear is best ran line level. I know my damage control timeline is an oddity in that it is designed for instrument level but being a delay, will be mixing with line level rack gear.

It sounds like I need to be considering a switchblade, but I’d want a 16 input unit if I’m investing that kind of coin and would want the ability to use the edit software. This sucks though because I was trying to put this together on a budget and nothing too expensive.

Controller wise I’d want to use the rocktron unit or splurge on something from RJM. I don’t know off the cuff what I’d want. Back in the day I had a midimate but didn’t like the soft buttons.
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I've been racking for a LONG time, now...way before my HRI days but I'm an old timer from the HRI... Not that you asked, and please forgive.....but I tend to like relay switchers for pedals and rack switchers/mixers for line level units. It keeps everything separated nicely and is cost effective and gives great quality IMO. Those Voodoo Lab pedal switchers look really cool on a rack shelf or on the floor....too bad they don't sell them any more but the price was nice, the old axess gear was great too(they automatically program to the GCP)...all reasonable prices and great quality.

I really love the Voodoo Lab gear, built like a tank and great prices and good support....The GCP will allow for 32 CC# programmed per preset and 8 Program changes per preset....8 of which you can assign an instant access or custom CC#...your expression can be a different CC# for every preset....and the price is just awesome

many midi switchers automatically set to it or one of the 4 expanders in the GCP....Giving you instant access or program change control of the CC# or both at the same time. They do quality on a budget, you cannot go wrong with their gear IMO:
IMG_7182.JPG
 
My gameplan is to use a Samson sm-10 as a combiner to run all of the rack units in parallel 100% wet and set internally to 100% wet. I’ll adjust unit levels with MIDI. The Samson unit will only be used as a way of getting final mix levels out.

I’m debating creating a midi controlled pedal board and unracking the pedals. The pedal controller like a boss unit could switch just my front of amp pedals and if I want to bring the rack units, it’s just a midi cable connection.

I do want the GCX and GCP controller. I’m not against the rocktron access midi foot controller as well.

What do you think?
 
glpg80 said:
My gameplan is to use a Samson sm-10 as a combiner to run all of the rack units in parallel 100% wet and set internally to 100% wet. I’ll adjust unit levels with MIDI. The Samson unit will only be used as a way of getting final mix levels out.

I’m debating creating a midi controlled pedal board and unracking the pedals. The pedal controller like a boss unit could switch just my front of amp pedals and if I want to bring the rack units, it’s just a midi cable connection.

I do want the GCX and GCP controller. I’m not against the rocktron access midi foot controller as well.

What do you think?
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Looks like a nice mixer! I've been back and forth on unracking pedals over the years but always left them in the rack....if you're going to get a big midi controller...that combined with a switcher/PS/all the pedals will be huge, a surfboard!...My midi board is HUGE with no stomps. A GCX + that Mixer would work great and all reasonably priced. If you're going GCX, a GCP is a must IMO. Sounds like a great plan to me.

Per preset, the GCP has 4 expanders(8 preset CC#)....that means you have, in the menus each Expander(GCX, or preset midi CC#) available to turn off each loop(8 per expander)....

You only have 8 instant access switches but you can set them to be any loop from each of the expanders, or a custom CC#.

So a GCX would be expander 1...you can have 4 GCX and the GCP will automatically control them in the PRESET EDIT menu of the GCP. So when you edit a preset...you have all those loops you can turn on/off for each preset

The trick is, you don't HAVE to use them for GCX units, it's just preset CC#s.......I use those extra expanders to control my Eclipses as you can offset the midi channels for whatever you want!

My Axess GRX4 is on GCP expander 2!.....GCP Expander 1 is dedicated to the Ground Link in my Midi board....the ground link extra IA switches are dedicated just to my 2 Eventides.

There's so many possibilities. Sounds like you have a great plan.

Added: and on top of the 4 expanders...you have the 8 instant access switches which can be set to whatever you want.
 
I think I’ll go without the GCP and use the GCX with this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ES8--boss-es-8-effects-switching-system
It will allow me to use the GCX to switch amp channels with MIDI, run the effects units in parallel with the SM-10, and all of my pedals can be on the board near the Boss ES-8. It can send MIDI commands to the GCX and will allow for a smaller rack unit and still do all that I need.

I’ll still need a pedal shelf for my damage control timeline in the rack but that’s not the end of the world.

I’ll have a total of 15 loops - 8 stereo in the GCX and 7 mono for pedals in front which is plenty. I’ll also be able to control my amp channels with a Medusa cable with the GCX and the pedalboard can easily be split from the rack for a smaller gig where I can run a simple delay pedal in an amp loop if I want.

I’m not big on CC commands and would stick to PC commands. Delay of changes wouldn’t be an issue since everything is ran in parallel and not in series. The advantage of moving all of my pedals in front on a pedal board is that I can change amp channels with the GCX freed up loops.

I hope the boss ES-8 will work with the GCX…I’ll have to do some research :dunno:

Thanks for the help. With the pedals on the ground with the boss ES-8 it will be big but not unreasonable. 5 pedals (flanger, phase 90, SD-1, EQ, noise) a wah, a rotary, and the boss unit itself. The rack would have the 2FX, Alesis, SPX90II, PCM81, power conditioner, and the remaining 3 spaces for a pedal self for the damage control timeline. I might grab a single 10 space to have two extra spaces if I ever want to move anything around.

I think this would work?
 
Purpleibby said:
Yup, with the option of VL making them stereo for you if you send it in(they used to anyway)
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So I have to order a GCX with the VL option to make it stereo? Do they make them with the VL option?

Sounding more more like I should go RJM-16.
 
glpg80 said:
So I have to order a GCX with the VL option to make it stereo? Do they make them with the VL option?

Sounding more more like I should go RJM-16.
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I actually read the manual for that Unit ha, that unit will NOT work with a GCX.....The GCX has no presets of it's own....it's(GCX) ALL controlled by CC#s...the Ground Control Pro stores the preset information. The boss unit does not have enough CC# it transmits per present to give control information to turn off the loops of the GCX.

Yes you could at one time they have a stereo mod for the GCX....email them and ask them what your options are.
 
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