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What can a rack give me?

#21
remainthesame said:
Hello everybody, pretty soon I will be in the market for a new amp. So far, all my experience with amps is limited to a simple head and cabinet, and its been working great so far.:bassist:

However I see a lot of people with racks lately and I'm wondering what the pros and cons are. I also have no idea what usually goes in a rack. So any rack users out there that want to tell me what I've been missing out on?
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Actually, rack rigs were MUCH more popular back in the day. Today, IMO, there is little reason for multiple components (for the vast majority of players). For a decent player that knows how to EQ and has good technique, there would be very little reason (for most playing contexts) to need a PA type power amp, a separate preamp that may or may not have optimum output and impedance to driver that power amp, and the large footprint, and extra 10 or 20 pounds that even a lightweight rack would provide. The small amps that you can put in a bag with all cables in the accessory pocket are a modern miracle of tone, volume, size, weight and reliability IMO and about 20 years of IME with this particulate amplifier category. The fact that you can now also use a cab much smaller and lighter than back in the day to get the same or better tone is another count against multispace racks.

However, IF you are in a high end touring situation, where you rig goes into a truck for night after night of touring, some players prefer to mount an amp head in a rack, and that makes quite a bit of sense. Also, there are some players using either 2ohm cabinet combinations (never could figure out why on that one), or large, moderate sensitivity 8ohm cabs that need more power than most amp heads can put out at 8ohms. So, definitely a niche exists for sure for the 'PA amp/Studio pre' configuration.

I guess for those who feel the need for external compressors, etc., and for some reason don't want to just deal with a small 'Pedaltrain' Nano or whatever, it would be an OK solution. There are pedal compressors and pedal tuners that are significantly better than the old rack mounted 'bass backline compressors and tuners'. Of course, if you want a $10,000 rack rig with a studio mic tube preamp and 2000 watts, then a rack it is! For most players, totally waste of size and space and money, IMO.

Pure IMO here, and just another point of view, coming from one who carried around a 4 space rack for years back in the late 70's (the classic 'Alembic/Furmin ParaEQ/BGW' rack rig). My stuff sounds better now IMO, and is smaller and lighter than just the Alembic pre!
 
#29
I've got some great-sounding heads, but none of them sounds as good to me as my Pope and Kern preamps. So I often use a 4 sp rack with whichever pre I feel like playing and a Peavey IPR2-5000 for power, into a couple of Bergantino or Audiokinesis cabinets. Not the smallest form-factor possible, but the sound ... OMG!!

Although the SKB rack adds 9 or 10 lbs, the Peavey is only 13 lbs, the Pope has got to be under a pound (the Kern is a bit heavier), and, for that matter, the cabinets are all pretty light weight as well. I can't get it all into a briefcase, but that's not really an issue for me most of the time. Weight is a MUCH bigger deal for me than size, but once I get the amplification below 30 lbs or so, I'm good!
 
#30
Only reason I went to a rack was to consolidate a couple of small units into one carrying case, help reduce load in/out time, as well as protect the units from getting banged around. So I put my amp & wireless IEM transmitter into a 4 space rack along with a power supply. It's not heavy or bulky. I can see where a bigger rack might get heavy and start a 'GAS' attack just to fill up the spaces. But with personal restraint you can avoid the urge to over do it and make a rack very workable.
 
#32
Whether a rack makes sense or not also depends on the types of gigs you do, and how much help you have for load-in/load-out.

Having an easy one-trip carry makes perfect sense in my situation. I'm pushing 60, I like small, economical vehicles, and my back isn't as good as it used to be. Plus, I play a lot of casuals, schlepping my gear through large, unfamiliar venues without help. I often play short sets at low to medium volume levels, on crowded stages.

Thanks to a four-pound 1,000 watt head that fits in the string pouch of my gig bag (G-K MB800) and a compact, thirty-one pound, high-output cab (AudioKinesis Thunderchild 112AF), transport is a breeze. Even when I take a shoulder bag with my wireless and a couple of pedals, I'm still in and out in one trip. I sold my last rack off a while ago, and never looked back.
 
#33
A rack is just a way to store, protect and transport gear.

Sometimes its just a head, or a head and tuner, etc., sometimes it is 14 spaces of power amps, preamps and effects. It all depends on what you want and what you need. I really dislike people who buy a rack then try to figure out how to 'fill it' that's the tail wagging the dog.
 
#34
jnewmark said:
I don't get the agita over the weight thing. These days, you can get a mega watt power amp around 10-12 lbs, a preamp around 7 lbs. lightweight rack bag around 10 lbs. The whole rig could be close to under 30 lbs, if you shop right. That's about 10 times the power of an SVT with less than half the weight ! Where does the hernia come in ? :hmm:
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^^^^This^^^^

My SVP-Pro + Carvin HD1500+ SKB 3 space shallow rack is maybe 20lbs. That's a 5 tube Ampeg pre section into a 1500W power section. For me that will do......:hiding:
 
#36
I went to a rack setup several years ago, because it gave me flexibility, protection from damage (knobs always got broken off), and super mega power when I needed it. I also enjoy having the 2 channels of power in the PLX amp, so that I always have a backup channel if one fails.

Actually used that 2nd channel in several situations. Had a guitar amp fry on a gig, patched the guitarist's pedal to the PLX and ran into his cabinet, sounded great.

I dunno how much it weighs, it's kinda heavy, but not as heavy as the SVT.
 
#37
You can get racks with built-in wheels and telescoping handle, much like a roll-on luggage bag. Odyssey makes 4, 6 and 8U versions, for example. So while the rack itself adds weight from being wood and metal, it's really not bad to move them around because you just drag it along. Only lifting is in/out of your vehicle and on/off stage/thetopofyourcab.

For me, I find the roller-board style rack to be more portable, since I have everything in one rack. So I've only got three things to move around, two of which are on wheels: rack, cab and bass. I can also stack the rack on the cab and push the two of them around together, since the cab is on casters. I am not a pedal board user. My rack has my amp, wireless receiver, and a tuner in it plus power distribution so I only have one power cable to plug in. You don't really need a rack-mount tuner especially with most (modern) amps having built-in tuners these days, but with their huge displays they make it easy to check tuning from a distance.
 
#39
Cirk said:
So many bad jokes.... Must resist the urge....
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Something about head and rack in the same thought makes my mind go THERE. Oh, well.

I don't see much point in a rack mounted amplifier. A rack mount power conditioner and other kinds of stuff like a tuner used to make sense in a rack. Now you can use a little tuner clipped to the headstock and power conditioners that are about the size of a small book are on the market. So, unless you are either touring or completely stationary, there's not much need for rack mounted amps. As a clarification - I have a PA that lives in a rack I built, since the rack allows the power amps, the board, the power conditioner, and a couple drawers for bits and pieces to all stay in one place. It rolls and is just about the right height to sit in font of if you are setting sound levels, etc. That's a completely different kind of rack, and anybody who put a bass amp in something like that has roadies or is insane.
 
#40
With the exception of the small, class-D amps coming out nowadays, I'd venture a guess that the majority of solid-state amps out there at the moment are meant to be kept in racks. There's no rule that says they have to be kept in a rack; however, they generally don't have side or top handles for ease of transport, and they may have sharp edges that can scratch up your cab if you don't have them in a rack.
 

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