I hate to ask the stupid question, but what do racks do? I've been play for like 2 years but have never really found out. Juxst curious due to seeing them in like every one of the pictures in the riggs of doom post.
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racks?
- Thread starter RobTheSkanker
- Start date
bongomania
Commercial User
Right.bongomania said:
To get into specifics: many bass amps have their own boxes and don't need to be (can't be) racked:
Others have "rack ears" and are intended to be racked:
Finally, some of us enjoy assembling our own individual rack rigs out of various preamps, power amps, tuners, FX, etc:
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If you make a rig of doom you will need one for sure 
, unless if you want to go 3 times to your car and the rehearsal room to take all your gear. Cause if you take all of them once you might drop and damage something. 
, unless if you want to go 3 times to your car and the rehearsal room to take all your gear. Cause if you take all of them once you might drop and damage something. 
It's basically if you need 50 knobs to dial in your tone. 
I know, that stuff is cool. A rack exists to protect a complex rig on the road, and makes it easier to load in. One additional point is that you can leave everything hooked up inside the rack, even leave your cords coiled up in there, plus have a place to keep your essentials.
The real decision point is not whether you need a rack, but whether you need a complex rig. When you make that leap, you will very soon end up with a rack.
A cool idea would be a rack with clear Lexan front and back covers, so you can look in and make sure all of your stuff is there before it goes into the van.
I know, that stuff is cool. A rack exists to protect a complex rig on the road, and makes it easier to load in. One additional point is that you can leave everything hooked up inside the rack, even leave your cords coiled up in there, plus have a place to keep your essentials.
The real decision point is not whether you need a rack, but whether you need a complex rig. When you make that leap, you will very soon end up with a rack.
A cool idea would be a rack with clear Lexan front and back covers, so you can look in and make sure all of your stuff is there before it goes into the van.
Racks allow complexity. They do not guarantee it, however.
My rack has an Avalon U5 and a QSC 1804. The whole setup has four knobs and I only ever use two of them. That's less than every amp head I've ever owned.
What racks are great for is modularity. You can pretty much mix and match any individual components you like. Do you want a Trace V-Type preamp but need more EQ options than the onboard one gives you? What about looping capabilities? What about if you have a nine string bass and the top four strings have a guitar synth pickup? How about adding some decent power conditioning? All of that stuff can go in the rack and be wired up so that it's just one system to carry, and you don't have a lot of rewiring every time you go to a gig.
My rack has an Avalon U5 and a QSC 1804. The whole setup has four knobs and I only ever use two of them. That's less than every amp head I've ever owned.
What racks are great for is modularity. You can pretty much mix and match any individual components you like. Do you want a Trace V-Type preamp but need more EQ options than the onboard one gives you? What about looping capabilities? What about if you have a nine string bass and the top four strings have a guitar synth pickup? How about adding some decent power conditioning? All of that stuff can go in the rack and be wired up so that it's just one system to carry, and you don't have a lot of rewiring every time you go to a gig.
