Just ordered a 12U rack, my first step into the rack world.

  • Thread starter Thread starter GreatRedDragon
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GreatRedDragon

GreatRedDragon

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Right now my rig is a Fractal FM9, a Marshall DSL100HR and a V2-modded Ceriatone 2203.

I gave up on having a massive pedalboard last year and I'm very happy with the FM9. But still, there are some odds and ends I want in my rig, and a rack is starting to make more and more sense, so I took the plunge and ordered this:

OnStageStands-WSR7500B-Acclaim-Image1.jpg


Comes with casters and has the perfect footprint for my space.

Right now my two heads stacked on an IKEA TV bench, which is fine, but it does have a wide footprint. They'll be able to sit comfortably on top here.

My first order of business is going to be getting a 1U power conditioner, an I/O panel, and a shelf to keep my Suhr RL on. But in time l will be looking to get a pedal drawer, a MIDI-controlled loop switcher and a second Suhr RL (so each head can have its own RL and sit in its own loop, avoiding me needing an expensive amp switcher).

Hell, maybe I'll even upgrade from the FM9 to the Axe-FX III - I find myself bumping up against the CPU limit a lot. And as much as I do love the Fractal amp models, I'd like to supplement them with a couple Synergy modules. I can use the FX return of my DSL as a MIDI-controllable power amp, so for the Fractal amp models and any rack preamps I might pick up I can get that authentic pushed EL34 sound running through a load box (I already manually tweak the power amp emulation of every amp I use in the Fractal to match a Marshall).

Very excited to finally be able to incorporate some of this gear into my rig!
 
I had a refrigerator sized rack. Now I just have one pedal...a gate.
 
I have a similar rack cabinet. Have a power conditioner and rack tuner in it now. Gonna mount my fryette power station in it. Waiting on synergy rack unit i ordered and i found a tc gmajor 2 effects unit on ebay. Will get it up and running soon hopefully
 
Looking at rackmount loop switchers. The Voodoo Labs GCX seems like the runaway favorite for under a grand, and it seems like it would work perfectly with my setup.

There are four (potentially five) pedals I would go outside Fractal for: the Boss SD-1, the Phase 90, the MXR Flanger, the Sabbra Cadabra and (potentially) an analog delay. The reason I include the delay is because the FM9 only has one unity-gain loop, so I can't go from analog pedals -> FM9 -> tube amp -> FM9. With an Axe-FX I can have the pedal section and the amp section in their own loops, so I could jump back in to get a delay in front of the amp.

So that's five of the eight GCX loops. The three remaining I can use for amps:
- Loop 6's send goes to the input of my 2203. The return is empty.
- Loop 7 is a standard 4CM set up. Input from Loop 6, DSL100's preamp is in the send/return, output to the DSL's FX return
- Loop 8 is fed from the two reactive loads. One goes to input, one to return. Output goes back into the FM9 for IR and effects.

I still have my Boss ES-8, I'm gonna see if I can trade it in for the GCX.
 
Seen this picture of a Ceriatone 2204 built into a Mesa rack chassis... how sweet would it be to have a genuine Plexi power amp section in a rack chassis?

IMG_1294.jpeg
 
Welcome to the fold, brother. Make sure you fill it with things full of flashy lights, even if they're not hooked into your signal chain, or else we'll kick you out of the club.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
Welcome to the fold, brother. Make sure you fill it with things full of flashy lights, even if they're not hooked into your signal chain, or else we'll kick you out of the club.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna be hunting for cool flashy lights stuff for sure
 
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