How does one determine which order rack gear should go? I'm assuming that the pre-amp should go first, effects and stuff, and then power amp last, all plugged into a power conditioner... correct? I'm currently building a rack, and have a power amp, pre amp, effects unit, and will be aquiring a power conditioner, noise reducer and sonic maximizer. Another thing (which may sound stupid) is what type of cable to use behind all of this gear? Regular (short) guitar cords... speaker cable...? First time with rack gear... I love all the lights!!!
Thanks!

haha, yeah I've got the lights too, all red

but uh, theres special quality cable for it, its just guitar cable btw, not speaker cable, but theres low-noise version and shit, remember that you system's weakest link stands out the mosts, don't forget to buy half-descent cables! (and shortest possible too)

what kinda stuff have you got so far?

I don't use a power conditioner because I just don't need it, I don't see the use for it, all stages over here have surge protection anyway and your amps have fuses if theres something messed up, I allways take spares, oh and spare ECC83's too.

Thanks for the tips
So far, I've got a MosValve 962 power amp, a Behringer V AMP Pro, an ART DRX 2100 and an SGE MACH II, and using an ART X-11 midi pedal to switch channels on the V AMP. My next purchase will be a Nady power conditioner (I get a lot of noise from the flourescent lights in my room... should have thought of that before installing them), a Hush noise reduction system, and a BBE sonic maximizer. I've already got a fairly decent set up (an older Marshall JCM800 white tolex head, paired up with an 800 and 900 series 4x12 cab, and a Line 6 POD). My goal is to make a great sounding rack set up, without going broke. So far, I am very pleased with the V AMP's sounds, especially the rectifier settings (in my opinion, better sounding than my POD). I'm not gigging any more, so this is just for fooling around with.

Thats some rig for just foolin round with bro ...

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don't buy a nady power conditioner!, get a furman!, a furman conditioner with lights can be picked up for like $50 or less on ebay, brand new too!
you don't want a bunch of 20' guitar cords to hook it all together with, it will be a mess.
you don't want to use speaker cables for anything but hooking up speakers.
i have 1', low noise, gold plated cables in mine, and i have a stripe of different colored electric tape on each one so i don't do this > when i open the back.

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Dimebag uses a Furman, yet what dosent he use?

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Hey Bud
Is there anything wrong with the Nady conditioners? I've tried to read as many reviews as I can, and couldn't see anything wrong with them. Let me know before I make a (possibly huge) mistake. I know that Furman is used by many pros, but a new Nady is about thirty bucks cheaper (although if I have to replace an item, it will be more than 30 bucks!!!). Great tip about color-coordinating the cords in the back...!
Thanks for the help bros!!!

nady is just cheap, sure it'll do the job, but furmans are pretty much the industry standards for power conditioners. and they're still way affordable. new or used. if $30 is all thats between "decent/maybe even crap" and "professional quality that wont let you down" then i wouldnt be cheap.

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i was talking to a guy at a local music store, and he said a small detail that can actually improve your sound, is the directions of the jacks, apparently the current running through your jack cause "burrs" in the coppers, and by having the current always running the same way, the coppers is like worn down and in a sort of track, and so after about 40 hours of use, you actually get a better sound, he showed me a brand new monster cable and one of his own he uses all the time, and while the diff was small, it was still noticable, i apologize if this had already been said

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You should buy a harmonizer too! For cables you should be looking at a 2 foot maximum... sort of like the ones on the back of your stack running from the head to the cab. They're extra sheilded, gold plated, more expensive, and are made especially for that.

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Hey Bud
Never tried a harmonizer... what does it do (I'm assuming exactly what the name infers)? And I think I'm convinced on the Furman too. Any idea on what order the gear should go? Do some pieces have to go before others? I've seen setups where the sonic maximizer is actually in the preamp's effects loop.
Any suggestions? Thanks!!!

i have my hush right before my preamp, and i have my multi signal processor(compressor/graphic eq/notch filter) right after my preamp. then going to the poweramp and then my cabs. and of course you'll be plugging into the conditioner. for power. and if you have any effects(processors or stompboxes), i'd say either throw them in the effects loop or before the hush.

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Great Stuff
Wouldn't it make sense to put the noise reducer after all of the gear (last in the chain)? I always thought that it would clean up any noise from the other units, and send the quietest possible signal to your speaker cabs or board.
Thanks again bud!

for me the hush works best in front of the pre, and i also have it in the fx loop.

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Hush's suck, try a MXR smart gate. It quiets my 5150 really good without stealing my sustain, and clipping high notes, which is a problem i got when i tried the hush

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I don't get why you guys need all that extra shit. I like my rack to be small and smart.

just a great preamp and a great poweramp, max 3/4HE high and no other crap, fuck fx and rack tuners, if you have a half descent guitar it stays in tune.

for in a studio, sure get a 12HE rack with 2 mesa strategy 500's and a quad preamp...

my "main shit"...
1. mesa vtwin rack preamp, paid $300(used). great tube preamp, from fenderish cleans to recto crunch.
2.mosvalve/tubeworks 50/50 poweramp, paid $300(used). all tube power amp, 100w bridged, or 2x50w. great poweramp.
my "exra shit".....
1.power conditioner paid $60(used).
a power conditioner is just smart to have because it eliminates wall noise. and works as a surge protector. plus the lights help when playing on dark stages and stuff.
2.hush super c, paid $80(used), eliminates alot of undesired hum and feedback without killing my tone. which is great for me because when you have 100w of tube power pushin two 4x12 cabs, cranked, with hi gain dist. you will have tons of noise if you don't have some sort of feedback destroyer.
3.ibanez msp 1000, piad $50(used).
its a compressor/gain reducer in one stage, which i don't use much of. then a 2/3 octave eq in the next stage, for fine tuning what my preamp will do. then a notch filter which is kinda hard to explain, but it helps my tone to a certain degree.
4.rack drawer, got 4 free from friend. keeps extra strings,screws,tools,ect.

all in all. my "extra shit" didn't cost me a hole lot, and it makes my basic setup sound tons better.
and it isnt that complex really, i don't dig multi fx, i'm more of a pedal board kinda guy for fx. i even sold my rack tuner and bought a pedal tuner instead.

to each his own, some people go with a simple preamp and powerampsetup, and thats it.
others will have several preamps and a couple poweramps, a sonic maximizer, big midi fx units, strobe tuners, powerconditioners with voltage meters, patch bays,graphic eqs,noise gates, wireless receivers, ect.....

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Fuck racks....

Buy a decent tube topp

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hahahahahahaaaahahahahahaahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

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my rack is more compact then most tube tops.

plus it sounds a hell of a lot better

compact and powerfull is where its at

anyways, yeah the extra stuff, its whenever you like it or not, I don't want to take a 6he flightcase for a trip every two weeks, I don't own a big van or anything, usually I don't have to take the cab either, most places have 1960's here as a backline (no top) so thats fine with me...

i wish our places had house cabs.... but some places don't even have house PAs.
but i prefer to use my own cab(s) because they're so unique looking and sounding, although they are huge and heavy as fuck, the sound is unbeleivably good though. but if i had to i'd use someone else's cab and then i'd just dick with the eq.

"tube tops" don't have as much to offer as my rack does.
even if they made a head that had what my rack has to offer, i still wouldnt trade, because my mind changes so often, i need to be able to mix and match different preamps and poweramps, as well as some otherthings.... its just easier that way.

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you should definetly get one of those Korg rack tuners, their great. And have everyone in your band use it, dont use different tuners, because then you will all be little bit out of tune. That korg tuner is so accurate. But after all it is just a tuner... not like it matters if your in tune

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I agree with Dislexic. I'd never part with my 'vintage' Marshall JCM800 head (white tolex with the old toggle switches), and it still sounds amazing. The great thing about the rack set up is that you can get a ton of different sounds, and always build on it.
And first and foremost... new gear simply kicks ass.

uh, why?

I'm allways in perfect tune, my guitar stays that way for ages, same goes for our other guitarist and our bassist, I don't see the need to buy an extra tuner, plus I sure as hell don't want it to take up extra rack space I know korg DTR's are good tuners, but I don't have any need for them right now.

i found i liked pedal tuners better than rack tuners anyway. they're smaller and my rack was getting fuller and to heavy.

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I fucking hate pedals, they eat your tone and need fucking adaptors (9v allways pisses out on me ) I use some fx pedals for bass but they're a bitch to use live, tuners ok... they don't do much, but if you have a descent guitar you won't have to tune on stage anyways.

my guitars are fine at staying in tune usually, but shit happens, and a tuner pedal doesnt take up much space in my pedal board as a rack tuner did for my rack. i love having pedals because i like to get weird noises and stuff to keep my style origional. so a pedal case that is ready to go, all powered and organized is great for me, live or at practice. and as for the tone loss, and aphex aural exciter pedal helps boost my tone alot.
i just don't like being to dependant on pedals, because i don't always have them with me, so a simple amp on the dist channel and no footswitch still isnt much of a problem for me.

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Well in one of the bands i used to be in, we all used different tuners. And the bassiest was ALWAYS outta tune because he used some cheap ass tuner. Thats when i decided we should all use the same tuner, it makes a hell of a difference. I got floyds on most of my guitars so staying in tune isent a problem, but i want it to be tuned PERFECT. Thats why i use the korg DTR1000. That and a eq are the only racks "effects" i use. I just think its stupid when i see people with thousands of dollars worth of gear and effects but there too cheap to buy a decent tuner so there still using that quicktune pos..

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ah well, fuck it, just be in tune, if you're not in tune you'll notice that yourself anyways, right.

I usually tune by ear, but for shows we all use the same korg tuner just before the show, that's pretty much it, though we are allways in tune!