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Need Advice, Live Rack

ME262

ME262

Guest
Jan 30, 2015
3
0
48
#1
Greetings . . . This is a new area for me, so I'm stepping in here to seek the sage advice of those present here. I have a Schecter Diamond J, playing through an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro with a Mesa 4X10 cabinet.

Pretty happy with the basic tone/sound I'm getting thus far, but I'm looking to expand and explore. I'm seeking advice on starting/building a live rack, what to start with, some brands, experiences of others as they've gone down this road, etc. The kind of music we play is Tom Petty-Gin Blossoms'ish in nature, if that helps in determining the advice/suggestions.

I thank you in advance.
 
#4
I don't think you need to add an FX rack for live use. What are you using to send your tone to the PA? You could possibly get a higher quality DI box (Radial JDI or Active DI). Invest in a better microphone, a tube DI box..... Don't complicate your setup in this situation. If you are getting the sounds you need, there is no need for more gear. I only suggest a better setup for the sound guy since that is what everyone else hears.
 
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#5
SVT 3 pro is a decent sounding head. Not sure about the mesa 4x0 but it can't be too bad. If you want to go lighter. A GK MB-Fusion and fEarful 12. And 12.sub - basically a modular 1212.6 does a really gucci job for me in a country and alt rock kinda setting for me. We do Petty, a Sheryl Crow, Oasis, Lady Antebellum, etc... The MB-Fusion is nice and warm with a slight scoop tonally. The whole rig can do round yet defined...

On the other hand, you could go a completely different ya and get a Radial BassBone and either a fretless or a Kala U-Bass solid body. Either way you get a whole new palette of tones to work with...
 
#6
I suggest that you only build a rack system if you are gigging all the time and need to protect your gear. And then keep things as simple and as lightweight as you can, only rack what you really need. The SVT3 Pro is already pretty heavy, and when you start adding other stuff it will get very heavy very fast. If you want to explore effects try stomp boxes, there are many more choices out there.
 
#9
EastCoastThump said:
A rack doesn't *have* to be any of those things.
Click to expand...

Very true, it doesn't have to be those things at all. But often it starts small, becomes immense, and only then becomes reasonable. The end state is just fine, it's the journey that's hard on the back and pocketbook.

Some don't go through this, as they are better at self restraint. But if we're honest most people on TB are subject to frequent GAS attacks.
 
#12
When my last band hung it up, I was using a rack, but only because I have an Ampeg BSP preamp with a clean channel tone that really sounds home-sweet-home for me. Nothing more than bass, mid, and treble controls and I've never even gotten into using a compressor/limiter. While I love the sound of that preamp, I was getting sick of schlepping around the power amp to push my pair of 2x10 cabs when we pulled the plug. If I use it again in the future, I'll most likely look for a nice light power amp like a PLX from QSC.

Expanding my margins became more about having a couple of effects that were really useful. The two things that I could always keep handy were an envelope filter (I adore my Q-Tron) and maybe some mild distortion or fuzz. I don't have a Big Muff, but I'll probably get one whenever I get a new gig. That should cover it for me.

I did a fill-in last year with a rock/blues cover band and I actually used a little Carvin BX-500, which I had just picked up off the TB classifieds. I used it the same day it came off the brown truck. More eq than I can use (compared with my BSP), plenty of power, and all of only six lbs. or so. It ran MUCH better than I expected and gave me a new appreciation for what essentially "works" in a live setting. I'm not going to ditch my rack preamp, but I can also do plenty with nothing more than this little Carvin and maybe an effect box. Either route lets me make decent live sound - that's square one.

What you may find is that while certain gizmos give you a really nice tone or cool effect, those subtle sound differences are often more fun and inspiring in solo practice settings or when you're recording. Live sound may demand a constant helping of a real meat 'n potatoes tone at healthy volume and not much more. The guitars and keyboards get to use lots of colorful stuff, but only because we're driving the bus, right? If you want to noodle with several options without going crazy, I'd say try a Line 6 Bass Pod or maybe a multi effects box from Zoom. Both should do a lot and be rather affordable. If you can put a certain sound to use in a practice session with the band, it's probably worth a try at a gig.
 
#14
This may be a thread that might get more responses in the amp forum. I agree that when I think of Tom Petty or Gin Blossoms, I don't think complex rack system. I think SVT. Also, what you add in a rack should be something that serves a needed or important purpose. For instance, I wouldn't just stick a 31 band EQ in a rack unless it's adding something that helps carve out your sound for the room that the amp's onboard EQ is not already successful at doing. Honestly, I really can't think of any great rack-mountable bass FX processors, which is a shame. It would be great to have the bass-equivalent of a TC Electronics G-force, fully programmable and MIDI-controllable. Back in the day, ART used to have some rackable bass processors that were considered cutting edge at the time. I guess big rack systems just aren't fashionable anymore, so companies aren't making bass FX processors for them.
 

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