Rack vs. Pedalboard

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mrkmas

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Wondering what you guys prefer, guitar rack or pedalboard for all of your effects and pedals?

Need some input and ideas for some changes I may make in the future

Specifically what are your thoughts about the two and has anyone here ever gone from a rack setup to a pedal board or vice versa?
 
I have about the same stuff you have listed in your sig...with all the pedals racked going through the GCX (boost,boss chorus, mxr flanger, evh phase 90 & small stone in front of Marsha) i tap a line out to the G Major2 for w/d/w... it is really a great setup... but saying that I did a gig a few weeks ago and all i brought was the phase 90 and my Marsha with a 4x12. The problem with the rack rig is moving it :yes:
 
i'm more into pedalboards, simply because i like having things in front of me, easier to tweak on the fly if needs be, and certain pedals have functions certain rack devices won't be able to do easily without lots of programming (the boss DD-5 hold function for example or warp)

i tried using a gsp 1101 for effects together with a midi controller, but just wasn't for me, at least in the bands/projects i play in it's just not well suited
 
look into getting a multi fx unit for your amps fx loop, rack your pedals with a GCX and get a pedalsnake cable that way you can still run certain pedals up front on your pedal board like your DD5. Thats what i do. Have a G major 2 in the loop racked, 4 pedals in the rack before amp input, tuner and wah out on pedalboard, volume pedal out of board that in the fx loop chain, and my ground control pro midi controller.
 
I'd go too crazy if I started a rack. I would definitely go all out. That's something I don't want to throw money at.

So, pedalboard for me.
 
I have a rack I have been working on for a few months and it has a comp, two boost and a decimator in front, and those are the only pedals. I have two G majors in my rack for the preamp and amp. I like having a rack set up, because I can have everything neat and tidy in the rack, and have a small pedal board. I mainly set one good overdrive sound on my overdrive pedal, and leave it.

Rack for me, much more efficient for me.
 
Good reasons. I started off with a bunch of pedals, went to rack, and now contemplating whether to ditch the rack. Would keep atleast the Furman and the Korg.

Not sure if I would keep the Gmajor2 or GCX or not, or just get a few pedals to compensate. Biggest problem then is I would want presets and I am back to racks haha. Its like a catch 22
 
the routing right now in the rack is loop 1 dbx compressor, L2 MXR 10 band Eq, L3 OCD, L4 MXR/CAE boost, L5 is dbx gate, L6 is for amps effects loop and it only has the gmajor 2.
 
If you want a pedalboard, get a Rjm mini fx gizmo, and a small midi controller (master mind or like) to make patches. Connect it to a G major in a 3 space rack with the Korg and power conditioner through midi. Sounds like a good setup, and switch channels with a mini amp gizmo or something like that.
 
I plan on getting a new amp soon, which would be a 1 channel so channel switching right now is not a concern for me. Never liked having to switch channels all the time. I just need one or 2 max.
 
I don't mind using 1 or 2 pedals, but I hate pedalboards.

What I mean by that is that I hate all the tap, tap, tapping I need to do to go from a chorus'd clean to a dry rhythm to a delay lead. I'd much rather hit one button and have a preset called up that does everything for me, with a couple of IAs if I decide to go outside the box.

If all I'm doing is something like a wah and Phase 90 with the guitar's volume/pickup selector to go from clean to scream then yeah... no big deal.
 
It would be an amp set for clean, with an OD pedal, another boost, chorus and delay and possibly rotary.
 
if you're gonna run everything into a clean amp i would just get a an octaswitch or something like that.
 
my hero mike landau sounds best when he uses both a pedal board for dirts, wah, arion chorus, and univibe, and a single rack unit for verb/delay ambience in his w/d/w rig at the potato

he didn't even midi control the lexicon the last few times i saw him use it, just turns the dial to a new preset with his hand and leaves it for the song(s)

i vote both :rock:
 
This is an interesting topic for me... I'm a weirdo. I like a bit of both, and none of either :lol: :LOL:

For instance, I totally dig my amps dry. That's why I bought them - they sound stellar straight up and naked...and because of this, I rarely like to augment my sounds coming from my amps. Having said this, there are things I 'need' to fatten my tone up as a solo, single, lonely guitar cat who only now tracks his shit and sends them off to my virtual friends to add bass lines and sometimes drums to. I don't want this to last, this trend, as I love jammin' and giggin', but so it goes. So because of this, my need for different shapes and tones has increased. I could go on...

ANYWAY, I've got my pedalboard stomps sorted out. I've got 2 compressors, a killer wah, 3 types of dirt/OD, a PitchFactor, a killer clean boost, and a killer AB/Y/stereo box (Lehle). Then, single amp only, I run my TimeFactor in the parallel loop, and a recently purchased (just arrived today actually) Hardwire RV-7 reverb in the serial. With 2 amps running simultaneously, and this is my overall tonal goal, as they are sounding uber supreme together (20thA XTC and the Hagen :yes: ), I will bring the TimeFactor upfront onto the pedalboard, and stick either a small digi-delay in both their respective loops, or reverbs, or both. Beauty of the TF and PF and Lehle is that I can dump it out stereo to 2 amps and this is my ultra stompin' killer siggy tone I'm working on here!!!! But amp on their own, a mixture of pedalboard, loops, and hell, in the case of my Mak4, I use the Fractal box as my rack rig...

Again, after it's ALL said and done, I typically dig 'em naked :thumbsup:

Mojo :rock: :rock: :rock:
 
For me, live or in the studio-- It's a case by case decision.

It's loose pedals (Not on a pedal board)-- in front of the amp, and a small rack 2-space w/ a Rocktron Intellifex, in the loop of the amp (Usually) when doing little-medium sized gigs.

Big Gigs, are usually a big multi-amp w/d/w rack Rig, w/ pedals on a pedal tray in the rack, and analog and digital rack gear run post amp signal to another power amp-- while the pedal board consists of a MIDI controller, wah, (3) Volume pedals, a power supply/dual-tap tempo switch.

At home: :D :lol: :LOL:

2011_03_17_1578.jpg
 
I go through phases. Right now I'm in a cross between "keep it simple stupid" and "one button." I loved the ease of changing presets on the AxeFx, but I didn't like how hard it was to switch on the fly (not that it was all that hard, but my motivation was lacking to do a lot of retooling of presets).

Where I am now - Tuner - Phase 90 - Wah in front, Timefactor in the loop of a SigX. The problem is the switching solutions get expensive pretty quick if you try to "one button" it - mini amp gizmo, mini effects gizmo and a mastermind...
 
I've just recently switched from a pedalboard to a rack setup, solely because I'm playing live quite a bit these days and much prefer the automation and "no more tap dancing" that MIDI and a rack gives me. If I was only jamming with friends or home use only, I would have stuck with my pedals.
 
recently I have been in the mood to sell my rack and everything except my guitars and start over from scratch. Giving it a few weeks to see if I change my mind.
 
Depends what you're trying to accomplish. If you're in a cover band who actually gives a shit about quality and tries to do justice to the tunes being covered instead of hacking through them, I say both....you'll need to cover lots of ground with lots of options. If you're in an original band, go with what you like...what makes sense logistically for the types of of shows you do and what gets you close to the sounds you're hoping will or already have ended up on your CD.
 
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