Rack Gear?

[Death by Uberschall]

That is pretty cleaver.

That's an interesting idea of soaking one side of the power amp and using the other to power the cabinets, however you end up being in mono.  Power amp breakup is sweet though.
I had a 2:90 power amp (really great amp), but a Mesa Quad as my preamp.  I do miss the Quad, I traded it for an ADA MP1 (stupid).  I never soaked the 2:90 either.  Just kept it at 1/2 power.  The switcher (GCX Guitar Audio Switcher) took care of the other two functions of the 2:90, I forget what they were...deep and modern perhaps...

Running the effects in parallel is also an interesting idea.  The switcher sort of did that in a crude way, but it was on or off and you had to use two of the loops to get stereo.
That looks like one of those Mesa floating rack cabinets.  Those things are bulletproof, but HEAVY.
What is that?  20 space?  Damn...
That's a serious rack man.

Tempting, but I'm not going back.
I just futzed with it too damn much, and it was a beast to move.
It did have its moments though.

Stereo sounds great on stage, but 99% of the clubs or events I've ever played were mono at the PA end. So I gave up the stereo aspect to get a better overall sound. If you run an amp head with effects racks you can only be mono in the effects loop, unless you slave another head to split it off. Stereo only works for ping pong delays and heavy stereo chorus/flanger effects, otherwise most guitar tones are mono anyway.

I found 1/2 power just made the amp seem thin, but not really lower in volume all that much. The TriAxis handles the 2:90 switching for modern, etc.

My goal when planning it out was that I wanted pure tube tone as the basis for the rest of the tones. Effects in parallel works great because you never loose the original signal's properties through signal degradation. Most rigs run the entire signal through the effects units, and as you stack them up, you start getting that "processed" or flat tone going on.

It is Mesa's 20 space shock mount rack and yes it is heavy!! But I haven't seen anything better built for rack gear yet.

It hasn't been on stage in about 5 yrs. Really haven't been playing shows big enough to warrant lugging it around. But it does sound sweet.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I need a Power Conditioner... but I dont' know where to find them or what is the best to get.

Everybody seems to use Furman... I'm assuming thats the way to go over something like Gator.

other than that.. this is my rack rig... the problem is none of it is here yet.
it's all in transit:

(maybe)

I need 2 things...  A good power conditioner to protect my stuff.  And a rack tray for my GI-20 that doesn't cost 50 bucks.....
Where should I look/what should I get?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

While you're at it, and if money were no object, get a power conditioner that has Power Factor correction in it and a sequenced power up/down.  The PF correction assures it a constant, spike free voltage regardless of the supply voltage.  If 120 volts is ideal, regardless if you're plugging into 95 volts or 195 volts, you're gonna get 120 volts.  The sequenced start up/shut down is neat so it turns the power amp on last and turns it off first, depending on how it's programmed.  Furman is the certainly the most popular, but not the only ones.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Since your building a studio rack with a PC, definitely get something that maintains a constant "clean" voltage with extreme hi-lo voltage shutdown. Also put a battery backup in front of the PC in case power gets shut off for any reason so you'll be able to power it down without loosing any data. Furman seems to be the industry standard and Monster seems to have some nice stuff too.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I also forgot to mention on my rack, as an option, the Palmer dummy load allows me to use a speaker cab as the load, instead of the internal dummy load. So I could have a dry cab running on stage while still getting the signal needed for the effects side of the rig. But that cab would be very loud at that output level, so I would have to turn down that channel of the power amp to balance it out.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I can't even tell which would be the best choice.

I'm guessing these are the ones I should be looking at.

http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=MeritXSeries

except they dont' have that... power up/down thing or cleaning the power as it comes in.

So these must be what I should look at for the most safe solution:
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=ClassicSeries_15A

because its got that "lift" function and such... but to be honest I can't tell the difference between these units other than that they look different.
I'm assuming 15A is what I need and that 20A is  unnecessary?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

You need to add up the current draw of all items you are going to run through it. Better to have more amps available and not need it, than need it and not have it.

I'm running a slightly older version of the PL PRO C which is the 20 amp unit. Works great, shuts down the effects/rack if voltage goes below 90 or above 139 volts. But it doesn't have a voltage regulator. To get that you would need to step up to the P-1800 AR

Check your needs and your budget, buy accordingly.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

It has been a few years, and of course I can't find it now.  But....Furman had a rackmount Power Factor Correction/Surge Protector/Sequenced Start Up unit for around $600 U.S.  Now the PF correction is not rackmounted.

Carvin has a sequenced surge protector.

20A is obviously ideal over 15A because you can plug more stuff into it.  However, the venue is usually the limitation.  On several occasions we've had to run chords and separate equipment to spread out the load because every outlet seemed to be sharing with something else that was already using a  lot of amps.  It seems power is always an afterthought on stages.  Hot/Neutral reverses and no grounds are the rule and not the exception it seems, let alone getting more than one dedicated 20 amp outlet.

http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=AC120S&cid=61

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Power%20Factor%20Pro_-1_10052_10002_-49998454?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Power%20Management-_-Power%20Factor%20Pro-_-FPFPROXXX

 

[Mor Paul]

On several occasions we've had to run chords and separate equipment...

This man is a musician. You can tell by his typos.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

On several occasions we've had to run chords and separate equipment...

This man is a musician. You can tell by his typos.

That, or I just stopped caring.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I thought that was how it was spelled! just like "Flight of the ConChords" amirite?  :sign13:

Well the good thing is i'm not running a lot of power.  Just the computer. which is a 650W Corsair PSU.  But its 80+ and supposed to be really efficient.  Other than that it will just be preamps/converters, and if I'm playing live... probably just one of those.  Unless I'm recording the performance.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Hey VA, this is the Furman I was thinking of.  It has PF correction, but no sequencer, which is nice but really not necessary if you know the power up order.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Furman-P1800-AR-Voltage-Regulator-Power-Conditioner?sku=476151

 

[Volitions Advocate]

wow, I really didn't think these things were that expensive.

not when you can buy a home electronics surge protector for your home theater that guarantess $100K worth of your stuff if anything gets fried on their watch.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

15 amp version of what I use.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Furman-PL-Plus-C-Power-Conditioner-105184600-i1428270.gc

 

[Volitions Advocate]

Well nobody has any furmans in stock locally. and I have about 5 things coming in by mail and I"m tired of waiting for stuff so I'm buying locally.
So I managed to find a similar unit by Alesis that should work fine.  and I can get it for $140CAD  It should be fine,  In any case its an upgrade from what I'm using now.

http://www.alesis.com/powertrip8

 

[Volitions Advocate]

got it all set up!

And believe it or not it doubles as my live rig.

No more gear for a little while.

From the top:
Samsung PowerBrite PB15 Power Conditioner
Roland GI-20 Guitar to Midi Interface
MOTU 896mk3 Recording Interface
MOTU 8pre Recording Interface
Mackie 800R Preamp/Converter
and my PC on the bottom.

I have the 896mk3 plugged into the computer via Firewire, the 8pre is piggybacking on the 896 with firewire. and the Mackie is plugged into the 896 via ADAT Lightpipe. the MOTU's are sync'd with the Mackie for word clock.

I'm using this to record bands when they play live.  First time is tomorrow night for my own band, going to see if it works as well as it seems to.  I have 24 tracks in and it seems to be working so far, once I got the interfaces all synched it was working.

For performing, I'll be using the 896 to patch into MaxMSP and I can hook up the GI-20 to the midi-in on the 8pre so I can use soft synths as well.
Also.. if anybody is looking for good rack cases I recommend DJ Kits: http://shop.vendio.com/djksound1/home.html

I was iffy about it. but in the end, there was no hassle and this thing is solid and well made as far as I can tell.  I got it for $350 shipped.  I think thats a steal.  Would've cost me at least $700 to get somebody to make it for me.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

That looks pretty sweet. 

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Where's the beef,.... I mean amp?!?!?!?  :icon_jokercolor:

Looks good.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Edin]

Need recommendation for not too expensive voltage conditioner (230V, 500W max)

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I only just barely asked the same question at the top of the page.  And i'm still no  more an expert than I was then.  I just went with a Samson.  it was about 130 bucks.  so far its been working just great.