Rack Gear?

[kboman]

Has anyone on the board had any experience with the axe fx guitar preamp?

We have at least one who has it as his main rig, but I keep forgetting who :sad1:

 

[GoDrex]

I know this guy has one:

juliancs
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?action=profile;u=979

there are a few videos of him playing in this thread:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=4086.15

 

[abandon_blink]

Looked like the wave of the future.. till people identified with the regular head/stack combo to the point, I guess ,where rackmount died, at least for anything outside  of studio applications,
Some foretold of great deals on rackmount gear, but i havent seen it. Many Mesa, for instance,  rackmount systems coming up to be dumped, but none of them at what I would call bargain prices..then again, I'd wager they aren't selling.

i LOVE Mesas. and i keep seeing rackmount systems for sale cheap too (cheaper than their regular amps anyway)

anyone know if its possible to turn a rackmount system into a combo amp? if so, how hard would it be?

 

[Cagey]

anyone know if its possible to turn a rackmount system into a combo amp? if so, how hard would it be?

I wouldn't call it hard at all. But, there aren't any pre-configured cabinets that do it; you'd have to build or have built he configuration you want.

I built a hybrid system years ago for one of my brothers, where I built what looked like a Fender Twin cabinet, but besides holding the Twin chassis, below that in place of the speakers I built a 6 space 19" RETMA rack system. I used solid walnut, dovetailed the joints, put a little "traps" drawer on the side of the rack for picks, tuners, strings, tools, etc. Finished it all like furniture. Pretty cool. No speaker, so it wasn't a "combo", per se. But, it fit perfectly on top of a 212 bottom, so the whole lot was still relatively easy to move, and highly attractive. Silly sumbitch sold it, so I don't have any pictures. But, I've often thought about doing a similar thing again. 19" (standard rack width) is plenty for a 12" speaker, so you could make a reasonably square cube with a 4 to 6 space rack that had a 12" speaker in it, stuff it with a mean preamp/power amp combination with a high-end effects unit, and call it a love story. I'm surprised nobody's doing it yet.

 

[kboman]

That's a pretty neat idea actually. To me the attraction of rack gear has always been lots of options in a small space and complete control.

 

[abandon_blink]

anyone know if its possible to turn a rackmount system into a combo amp? if so, how hard would it be?

I wouldn't call it hard at all. But, there aren't any pre-configured cabinets that do it; you'd have to build or have built he configuration you want.

I built a hybrid system years ago for one of my brothers, where I built what looked like a Fender Twin cabinet, but besides holding the Twin chassis, below that in place of the speakers I built a 6 space 19" RETMA rack system. I used solid walnut, dovetailed the joints, put a little "traps" drawer on the side of the rack for picks, tuners, strings, tools, etc. Finished it all like furniture. Pretty cool. No speaker, so it wasn't a "combo", per se. But, it fit perfectly on top of a 212 bottom, so the whole lot was still relatively easy to move, and highly attractive. Silly sumbitch sold it, so I don't have any pictures. But, I've often thought about doing a similar thing again. 19" (standard rack width) is plenty for a 12" speaker, so you could make a reasonably square cube with a 4 to 6 space rack that had a 12" speaker in it, stuff it with a mean preamp/power amp combination with a high-end effects unit, and call it a love story. I'm surprised nobody's doing it yet.

well....its off to look for Mesa rack gear then  :icon_smile:

 

[Cagey]

That's been my thinking, too.

 

[Cagey]

well....its off to look for Mesa rack gear then  :icon_smile:

I wouldn't be too quick to jump on the Mesa rack gear. It's nice stuff, there's no doubt about that. But, you can do better. Carvin's TS100 tube power amp at $550 new (usually about $350 used) is a fine piece of work for a lot less than what similar Mesa gear will cost. 2 x 50 watts, EL-34 power tubes, 12AX7 drivers and inverters. There's a built-in biasing switch so you can plug in 6L6s or 5881s without dinking around. Thing sounds great, although it's a smidge cleaner than what you'd expect. Still, it's got that tube warmth, and 50 watts a side (100 watts bridged) is more than plenty. Very high-quality construction, typical from Carvin. Put just about any preamp (PSA 1.1, PodXT Pro, V-Amp Pro, Triaxis, Axe FX, etc.) in front of it and you're going to be a happy camper. In almost all cases, you're talking 4 spaces. Add a space for the cheese box, maybe one for a power distribution panel, and you're golden.

I can tell you there'd be no weight saving, though. You're going to be in the 75 pound range with just about any speaker. Power amp alone is gonna be 25 pounds or so. So, while such a design may not take up a great deal of space, it'll take some calories to move it.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Also look into the Marshall 9100/9200 or EL34 versions. Great power amps that can be picked up for a good price also.

 

[abandon_blink]

weight isnt really a problem. i'll just slap some heavy duty casters on it and i should be good to go  :toothy10:

worst comes to worst, i can always find someone to haul it around for me  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Cagey]

well....its off to look for Mesa rack gear then  :icon_smile:

Incidentally, your sig says "Downtown Detroit is scary". Are you from the area? Regardless, have you seen it in recent years? It's more depressing than scary. I think even the rats have moved out. Looks more like a war zone than anything else, which I suppose is conceptually scary but the battle is long over. It's a ghost town. The local government keeps pouring what little money they have (after passing out the graft) into it, but I don't know why. You'd have to be nuts to go down there. It's too bad. As far as location and local resources go, it'd be a great place to build a city.

 

[abandon_blink]

well....its off to look for Mesa rack gear then  :icon_smile:

Incidentally, your sig says "Downtown Detroit is scary". Are you from the area? Regardless, have you seen it in recent years? It's more depressing than scary. I think even the rats have moved out. Looks more like a war zone than anything else, which I suppose is conceptually scary but the battle is long over. It's a ghost town. The local government keeps pouring what little money they have (after passing out the graft) into it, but I don't know why. You'd have to be nuts to go down there. It's too bad. As far as location and local resources go, it'd be a great place to build a city.

yeah i am from the area actually i live about 25 minutes out of the city. anyway the day i put that as my sig, i had gotten lost while driving through there (the bad, somewhat violent part -- near 8 mile). now i know it doesn't sound That bad, but i stick out like a sore thumb down there (being dressed in skinny jeans a Nirvana shirt and i have gauges) as a result i was getting all kinds of (angry) looks from the locals. so therefore leading to my signature "Downtown Detroit is scary"

 

[Cagey]

weight isnt really a problem. i'll just slap some heavy duty casters on it and i should be good to go  :toothy10:

worst comes to worst, i can always find someone to haul it around for me  :icon_jokercolor:

Yes. Well, here's a start on how I'd do it.

That's already sized to sit under a 19" RETMA rack...

Make it a tad taller to accommodate a 4 to 6 space rack, move the handles a bit for proper balance, and call it a love story. Figure about $400, less speaker

 

[Cagey]

yeah i am from the area actually i live about 25 minutes out of the city. anyway the day i put that as my sig, i had gotten lost while driving through there (the bad, somewhat violent part -- near 8 mile). now i know it doesn't sound That bad, but i stick out like a sore thumb down there (being dressed in skinny jeans a Nirvana shirt and i have gauges) as a result i was getting all kinds of (angry) looks from the locals. so therefore leading to my signature "Downtown Detroit is scary"

I currently live in Clinton Township (18 mile/Garfield area), but was born and raised southwest Detroit back 100 years ago when it was a viable place to live. I stick out like a sore thumb down there, too. 8 mile isn't nearly as bad as it gets, but it's plenty scary enough. That's not downtown, though. Downtown's deader'n schitte <grin>

 

[abandon_blink]

weight isnt really a problem. i'll just slap some heavy duty casters on it and i should be good to go  :toothy10:

worst comes to worst, i can always find someone to haul it around for me  :icon_jokercolor:

Yes. Well, here's a start on how I'd do it.

That's already sized to sit under a 19" RETMA rack...

Make it a tad taller to accommodate a 4 to 6 space rack, move the handles a bit for proper balance, and call it a love story. Figure about $400, less speaker

Oooh!  :blob7: i like this very much!  :headbang:

 

[Cagey]

Nice thing for me is I can move those component parts by myself if I have to. My original intent was to build a 2x12 cabinet in that style, because that 4x12 cabinet was just too much. But, even a 2x12 is too much in many instances, so a pair of 1x12s made more sense. If I need two in order to move more air, I can take both along.

Cutting all that aluminum makes a helluva mess out of the shop, though. Stuff's got a mind of its own. It's like sand - gets in everything <grin>

 

[abandon_blink]

yeah i am from the area actually i live about 25 minutes out of the city. anyway the day i put that as my sig, i had gotten lost while driving through there (the bad, somewhat violent part -- near 8 mile). now i know it doesn't sound That bad, but i stick out like a sore thumb down there (being dressed in skinny jeans a Nirvana shirt and i have gauges) as a result i was getting all kinds of (angry) looks from the locals. so therefore leading to my signature "Downtown Detroit is scary"

I currently live in Clinton Township (18 mile/Garfield area), but was born and raised southwest Detroit back 100 years ago when it was a viable place to live. I stick out like a sore thumb down there, too. 8 mile isn't nearly as bad as it gets, but it's plenty scary enough. That's not downtown, though. Downtown's deader'n schitte <grin>

i was born there too. lived near the old cass tech building for a few years. i realize its not quite downtown, but i said that for the sake of clarity for those who dont know the area  :glasses10: but you are correct. and it was plenty scary for one afternoon

 

[abandon_blink]

Nice thing for me is I can move those component parts by myself if I have to. My original intent was to build a 2x12 cabinet in that style, because that 4x12 cabinet was just too much. But, even a 2x12 is too much in many instances, so a pair of 1x12s made more sense. If I need two in order to move more air, I can take both along.

Cutting all that aluminum makes a helluva mess out of the shop, though. Stuff's got a mind of its own. It's like sand - gets in everything <grin>

i really like that setup. and i too have been in situations where a 2x12 is too much. i think im gonna start plannin' something like this out  :toothy10:

 

[Cagey]

i was born there too. lived near the old cass tech building for a few years. i realize its not quite downtown, but i said that for the sake of clarity for those who dont know the area  :glasses10: but you are correct. and it was plenty scary for one afternoon

Ok, so I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. And you're right - I wouldn't want to be on foot or otherwise unable to move very quickly on 8 mile road, either. Although, there are a lotta titty bars to duck into...<grin>

 

[abandon_blink]

Haha  :laughing7: yeah, my girlfriend made a smug remark about that while we were trying to get out