Damn...talk about a trip down Memory Lane.
I picked up my first 104 back in 2000, on sale at Guitar Center for $100.00.
Absolutely loved it!
Some years later, I picked up the 204, which I used for years, in my electric guitar system (while the 104 was delegated to the plugged-in) acoustic rack).
Still have them, to this day, but the rack stuff really hasn't been used much, since I went back to all pedals about six years ago. I wanted to pick up the pedal versions, but it never happened.
I used to refer to these rack boxes as "the hernia boxes", since they were so heavy and awkward to lug around all the time. I was lugging that shit around in a '96 Thunderbird - not exactly a musician-friendly vehicle.
The top is a Road Ready amp depth 6-space, and the bottom - a Grundorf amp depth 6-space.
The electric rack is on top.
The acoustic rack is on the bottom. Most of the effects came in from a BOSS GT-10. Those two Presonus Studio Channels were tube preamp/parametric EQ/compression, and worked very well.
Both rigs were wired for stereo.
Before I went with a rack/stereo setup for the acoustic, I used a little 1401 Acoustic Xciter pedal for a while.
I always preferred the Aphex Aural Exciter stuff over the BBE Sonic Maximizer versions. They served me well for a lot of years.
I still have an SPL Vitalizer in another rack.
That, too, has a nice sub-bass feature, but it's tough on speakers (Since there's a a lot more speaker cone travel, with lower bass dialed in).
It also has a stereo field-enhancing feature that expends the stereo field...hard to describe, but very nice. A really nice sweetener. I found that better suited for overall P.A. work, when I did sound jobs on some evenings and weekends, for extra money.
The "Big Bottom" feature on the Aural Exciter (LOL) really helps dial in and fine-tune low bass,
somehow without abusing the speakers.
