Guitar rackmount effects and setups

[wolfking]

Hi fellow musicians,

I have been playing guitar for about 12 years, I've had a break the last 4 or so years due to work schedule but I'm looking to get back into it.  I have always been a n00b when it comes to equipment and frankly I never explored tone and setup possibilities and always just stuck with straight solid state amps and a couple of effect pedals, just because of pure laziness.

I have never been pleased with my tone, especially because I use to play live here and there doing cover material.  I'm actually sick of amp sounds and really want to explore rackmountable equipment and guitar effects because obviously, what pro guitarists do you just see using an amp and pedal.

So my question is, how do they work, do they act as a processor and have effects and distortion etc. built into them.  And do you plug them through a normal clean channel amp or the pa, and what's the best setup to use for a simple n00b like me?  They seem to have a more professional, polished and digital sound which I think I want to explore, I'm just sick of the normal amp crunch and when playing various types of music, sometimes it just doesn't cut it, I want something more modern and versitile.

I know I have just proven how much of a novice I am with epuipment but any assistance would be great.  What do you guys prefer?

[Kornflake]

I don't know a whole lot about the rack stuff myself, but I would recommend if you're looking to get into it, checking out the TC Electronic G-System.  It's basically a programmable multi-effect pedal with tonnes of preset/customizable options.  The processor can be rack mounted, or stored under the footswitches, so it makes for a nice sort of "transition" pedal from floor to rack effects.  Check it out https://www.tcelectronic.com/g-system.asp
It's a bit pricey, but it can do everything, and you don't need to buy a midi foot controller to use with it.
Steve Vai has a cool video on youtube where he shows some of his rig and talks about his G-System.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Do you already have rack gear that you want to utilize, or are you looking to go that route and are looking to purchase gear?  I dig my rackmount stuff, but it always seems that no matter where you're at, the other side seems more appealing.  I saw a band this weekend and the one guitarist had a Fender 2x12 amp and a bunch of pedals (best I could tell from our vantage point) and it was an absolutely outrageous tone.  I was totally in love and thought "maybe that really IS the direction I should go".

Rack gear, depending on what you have and what you want from it CAN be confusing to set up, but eventually it will make sense.

[wolfking]

Do you already have rack gear that you want to utilize, or are you looking to go that route and are looking to purchase gear?  I dig my rackmount stuff, but it always seems that no matter where you're at, the other side seems more appealing.  I saw a band this weekend and the one guitarist had a Fender 2x12 amp and a bunch of pedals (best I could tell from our vantage point) and it was an absolutely outrageous tone.  I was totally in love and thought "maybe that really IS the direction I should go".

Rack gear, depending on what you have and what you want from it CAN be confusing to set up, but eventually it will make sense.

Cozmo, you have just said what I have been thinking my whole guitar playing career.  no matter what sound I get, I always see and hear different setups and think "shit, that sounds so much better than my setup, what the hell am I doing."

I guess it's just human nature, we always want to evolve and try different things.  And in answer to your question, no I have no effects or rackmount equipment at all.

[MajorMatt]

AxeFX.

[rmp0012002]

I really liked the Line 6 POD2 run through a Marshall on a clean channel.  I like my distortion with some chorus and delay and the Line 6 is perfect and it has a nice clean chorus setting too.  I like the 80's metal sound so it works for me.  Racks are cool but I never had the need for that much equipment.

[7StringedBeast]

Trick to guitar tone is to just find out what style you want to go for.  This really determines where you are going to go.  You can have a beautiful blues tone, but won't get you anywhere if you wanna play heavy stuff.

Then just get a great amp that can handle that tone.  Then add any effects that you might want. 

After that, really the tone is in your hands.

[SnakeEyes]

This is how racked gear was summed up to me and now it's how I explain it to everyone else:

First of all, I was a HUGE proponent of rack gear.  I loved the convenience of it, I loved the fact that you could program 500 different tones and recall any of them just from hitting a little button on a foot controller.  But, if you think about it, open up an effects processor, such as a T.C. G Gystem or an Axe FX.  Look at all the wires and circuitry that's in those things. 

Well, guess what?  When you plug your guitar into your amp without one of those things, that's your PURE TONE with nothing interfering.  When you use one of those processors, every bit of your tone is going THROUGH all of those wires and all of that circuitry.  Sorry, but not thanks. 

That's just me....

[GandL]

Agree, first is to find the guitar and the amp that will most suit your needs, this is the base of your tone.
Then if you wish to shape it more, you can use an EQ in front of the pre-amp and another one in the effect loop (post pre-amp EQ).
I'm also using a wah and boost in front of my pre-amp and I place a chorus, phaser and echo in my effect loop. With this setup I can nail almost any tone and don't have to go with an expensive rack.

[wolfking]

Thanks for the replies, interesting to see different opinions.  My dilemma is, I play covers, and a vast variety of covers, that's where such a wide array of sounds is needed.  I might have a great tone for a whole set of our stuff but another bunch of songs it might not fit at all.  Do any of you guys have experience playing in cover bands?

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

See, this is why I like my rackmount effects.  I can have exactly what I want at the touch of ONE button on my footswitch.  The preamp and the fx processor are linked together, so that when the preamp changes, the fx change.  Granted, there IS a part of me that wants to go get a combo amp and just go a more natural route, but I like what I have for the wider array of setting I could ever need.  We do all covers and having that flexibility is nice.

Now similarly, a combo amp and a nice floor fx processor could do a lot of the same thing.

[GandL]

When I was playing in a cover band, I didn't want to bring a lot of stuff and went the simple way, Line6 modeling amp.

[TheCor]

I switched to a rack/amp setup years ago to simplify switching multiple effects at once.  My setup is as follows: a few pedals on a board in front of my amp; a wah, talkbox, and overdrive; my amp is a Peavey XXX halfstack.  Then in the amp's effects loop I have the brains of the operation, a TC Electronic G Major,  which provides all the other effects and also switches the amp's channels.  I control the G Major with a Behringer FCB1010 midi controller.  Also in the rack I have a Peavey Deltafex which I use for reverb, a Line 6 XD rackmount wireless, and a power conditioner.  I love this setup but it is a lot of shit to carry around and setup, so for rehearsals and small gigs I get by just fine with my Line 6 Spidervalve combo.  So in my experience rack setups give you the most versatility, best sound, and look cool, but sometimes are overkill and more of a pain in the ass than they're worth.