Reasons not to put your pedals in a rack!

[ttosh]

I had put my pedals in my rack and come to a conclusion that for me this is not a great idea. If I decide to do a separate project and just want to use a small wattage head and pedals I have to take my whole rack. Having them on the pedal board instead allows me to go and grab a small wattage head and use just pedals for scenarios that call for this, having them in the rack forces me to take the rack everywhere.

 

[guitarslinger]

I've always hated the idea of putting pedals in the rack

I like to keep them separate.

I do a lot of pedal gigs with no rack.

 

[blackba]

Its never made sense for my rig either, although, I see the advantages of having your pedals in a rack. One of the key things I like about having them out front, is the ability to adjust them easily on the fly.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Its never made sense for my rig either, although, I see the advantages of having your pedals in a rack. One of the key things I like about having them out front, is the ability to adjust them easily on the fly.

+1

 

[nevusofota]

I made a practice board with the same pedals that are in my rack. I found them used so it was pretty cheap. If I need to use a small combo I just bring the small board. As for making changes on the fly, I think a rack with a slide out drawer is easier than a pedal board because the rack is high and I don't have to bend over to make changes. To each their own!

 

[dfrattaroli]

Well the benefit to racking them is that if you have them hooked into a switching system, your cabling is simpler. It'd be a pain to have them on the floor and the run all those cables back to a GCX or something.

 

[ttosh]

Well the benefit to racking them is that if you have them hooked into a switching system, your cabling is simpler. It'd be a pain to have them on the floor and the run all those cables back to a GCX or something.

The GRX4 is a perfect option under a pedal board to fix this problem. There are other options out there as well. I would never run cables back to a GCX, etc... However I find myself not needing most pedals in a loop as of now, I just step on the pedal itself when I want it on, not necessary for me for the most part to use switching for multiple pedals. YMMV

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I have my 20 space rack for rack effects. It's my total commitment rig.

But I like having pedals on my pedal board along with the switching unit. So I can use it with any amp that has a loop and switching capabilities. Makes it easy to go jam with people when a backline is already there.

 

[Spaceboy]

I haven't ever built a rack, but I refuse to hide my precious pedals like that.

 

[Tawlks]

I don't need many rack effects so I'd much rather have something like the Octa-Switch or other pedal switcher.

 

[Ancient Alien]

Do what I do.
Buy multiples of your favorite pedals.
Problem solved.
My racked pedals are controlled by a GCX and I never need to adjust anything, so it's not a problem.

 

[glassjaw7]

i've been trying to decide whether to rack mine or build a board. they're racked now but not stuck to the shelf. i may just split them up, build a board and keep a boost, distortion and delay peda racked because i always use them with the rectifier. then ican build as sexy board like d.b.u's!

 

['63-Strat]

Do what I do.
Buy multiples of your favorite pedals.
Problem solved.
My racked pedals are controlled by a GCX and I never need to adjust anything, so it's not a problem.

^ As long as you don't need a ton of pedals this is a good solution if you have separate rigs, IMO. What I like about having my pedals in the rack for my main rig is that my setup time is *fast*. All I have to do is hook one midi cable to my midi controller and I'm done, and while I get the need to adjust pedals on the fly is necessary for some, I generally don't need to. But for another project I'm doing right now I may just bring a combo and some pedals as its a more classic rock/lo fi kinda thing.

 

[eddyrox]

Do what I do.
Buy multiples of your favorite pedals.
Problem solved.
My racked pedals are controlled by a GCX and I never need to adjust anything, so it's not a problem.

ahh yes +100. the benefit of having all my pedals in a rack is that the drunk douche bag who decides to split shit all over the place can no longer hit my pedal board...hitting my VL GC Pro and Teese RMC3 is another story....

 

[nevusofota]

a board has too much cable. I need 20' from my guitar to the board. 20' from the fx send of my amp, then 20' from my board to the fx in of the amp. That's a total of 60' of cable. If I rack I have 20' going from the guitar to the rack, then only a few feet within the rack. I use about a third less cable with racked effects, that is enough reason for me right there not to use only a pedal board.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

a board has too much cable. I need 20' from my guitar to the board. 20' from the fx send of my amp, then 20' from my board to the fx in of the amp. That's a total of 60' of cable. If I rack I have 20' going from the guitar to the rack, then only a few feet within the rack. I use about a third less cable with racked effects, that is enough reason for me right there not to use only a pedal board.

Everybody forgets that as soon as you plug your guitar into a pedal that's buffered, it's not as big an issue as you might think. For most people a tuner is their first pedal, most of which, if not all are buffered. 99% of gain pedals are buffered. and so on. Worst case put a clean buffer/boost pedal at the end of your pedal chain. Plus effects loops are buffer driven. If your cables are causing a problem, get better cables.

Or if you run EMGs. nothing to worry about.

 

[vchizzle]

Well the benefit to racking them is that if you have them hooked into a switching system, your cabling is simpler. It'd be a pain to have them on the floor and the run all those cables back to a GCX or something.

This.
And you can just use dual lock or velcro them to the shelf and pull them off if ya want to use them somewhere else. I've got some racked and some on my board.

 

[blackba]

I made a practice board with the same pedals that are in my rack. I found them used so it was pretty cheap. If I need to use a small combo I just bring the small board. As for making changes on the fly, I think a rack with a slide out drawer is easier than a pedal board because the rack is high and I don't have to bend over to make changes. To each their own!

I can often make changes to the knobs with my foot on my pedalboard without bending over. It was always a pain for me to walk back to my amp to adjust things. Sure it can be down easily if the pedals are in a rack with a sideout shelf, but it seems to be more of a distraction to have to walk back there and change things.

I still see the advantages of having pedals in a rack (less cable, less chance to get stolen, less floor space, easier to find a place for mic and monitor speaker, etc), but it just hasn't been for me. I don't have any rack mount amps anyway.

 

[nevusofota]

a board has too much cable. I need 20' from my guitar to the board. 20' from the fx send of my amp, then 20' from my board to the fx in of the amp. That's a total of 60' of cable. If I rack I have 20' going from the guitar to the rack, then only a few feet within the rack. I use about a third less cable with racked effects, that is enough reason for me right there not to use only a pedal board.

Everybody forgets that as soon as you plug your guitar into a pedal that's buffered, it's not as big an issue as you might think. For most people a tuner is their first pedal, most of which, if not all are buffered. 99% of gain pedals are buffered. and so on. Worst case put a clean buffer/boost pedal at the end of your pedal chain. Plus effects loops are buffer driven. If your cables are causing a problem, get better cables.

Or if you run EMGs. nothing to worry about.

Everybody thinks that when you talk about disadvantages of more cable you must mean loss of tone. I am not just talking about tone suck. I am speaking more about just physically having more cables running across the stage. More cables=longer to set up and break down, more cables to "fail", and more clutter on the stage. Now, back you your argument about "everything" being buffered, some buffers SUCK!.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

a board has too much cable. I need 20' from my guitar to the board. 20' from the fx send of my amp, then 20' from my board to the fx in of the amp. That's a total of 60' of cable. If I rack I have 20' going from the guitar to the rack, then only a few feet within the rack. I use about a third less cable with racked effects, that is enough reason for me right there not to use only a pedal board.

Everybody forgets that as soon as you plug your guitar into a pedal that's buffered, it's not as big an issue as you might think. For most people a tuner is their first pedal, most of which, if not all are buffered. 99% of gain pedals are buffered. and so on. Worst case put a clean buffer/boost pedal at the end of your pedal chain. Plus effects loops are buffer driven. If your cables are causing a problem, get better cables.

Or if you run EMGs. nothing to worry about.

Everybody thinks that when you talk about disadvantages of more cable you must mean loss of tone. I am not just talking about tone suck. I am speaking more about just physically having more cables running across the stage. More cables=longer to set up and break down, more cables to "fail", and more clutter on the stage. Now, back you your argument about "everything" being buffered, some buffers SUCK!.

I know, just offering some perspective.