Racks still rule

  • Thread starter Thread starter mentoneman
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Shask said:
I talked a ton about the 2290p in this thread, so I guess I should post my rack stuff, lol.


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The Matrix is a powerful little amp. I like it almost as much as tube power amps. It's a shame they're not making stuff anymore.

Here's a rack I was running for a bit. Axe FX III & Quad Cortex in stereo thru the Matrix. Line 6 G50 wireless running into a JHS Buffered Splitter going to the Quad and AxeFX. HoTone XTOMP Mini running also running always on in a loop just for an Acoustic Sim. I also had that 1U Patch Panel where I could run the Axe FX in the Quad's loop or Quad in the Axe FX's loop to utilize one or the others effects. All controlled by wireless MIDI :loco: .

The more I played with it out, the more I realized the Quad sounded so much better than anything I could muster with the Axe FX, even with patches I paid for.

QuadFXRig.jpg
 
vultures said:
The Matrix is a powerful little amp. I like it almost as much as tube power amps. It's a shame they're not making stuff anymore.

Here's a rack I was running for a bit. Axe FX III & Quad Cortex in stereo thru the Matrix. Line 6 G50 wireless running into a JHS Buffered Splitter going to the Quad and AxeFX. HoTone XTOMP Mini running also running always on in a loop just for an Acoustic Sim. I also had that 1U Patch Panel where I could run the Axe FX in the Quad's loop or Quad in the Axe FX's loop to utilize one or the others effects. All controlled by wireless MIDI :loco: .

The more I played with it out, the more I realized the Quad sounded so much better than anything I could muster with the Axe FX, even with patches I paid for.

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Yeah, Matrix is a weird story because it seemed like they were on top of the world, and then just kind of disappeared. I also have an ART SLA-2 I didn't have in my pics. I mostly use my Matrix these days to reamp my tube heads in stereo after running them through a loadbox.

So, you are liking the Quad Cortex better than the Axe III? It seems like many people are switching to the QC. I have not tried one, but I have been very impressed with ToneX lately, which is know is comparable to the QC captures. One reason I wanted the 2290p and SDE-3000D was to pair with my ToneX One pedal. I also have an FM3 which I love, but at the same time, I am getting some very dynamic tones out of the ToneX, and that is something I have struggled with using Fractal, even after several years. I am also not a fan of using Fractal for effects without the parallel mixer because both of mine definitely effect the dynamics of what I run through them.
 
Shask said:
Yeah, Matrix is a weird story because it seemed like they were on top of the world, and then just kind of disappeared. I also have an ART SLA-2 I didn't have in my pics. I mostly use my Matrix these days to reamp my tube heads in stereo after running them through a loadbox.

So, you are liking the Quad Cortex better than the Axe III? It seems like many people are switching to the QC. I have not tried one, but I have been very impressed with ToneX lately, which is know is comparable to the QC captures. One reason I wanted the 2290p and SDE-3000D was to pair with my ToneX One pedal. I also have an FM3 which I love, but at the same time, I am getting some very dynamic tones out of the ToneX, and that is something I have struggled with using Fractal, even after several years. I am also not a fan of using Fractal for effects without the parallel mixer because both of mine definitely effect the dynamics of what I run through them.
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I was just looking at replacing my MPX-1 with a axe-fx and maybe I'll hold off for a little bit yet.
 
jasonP said:
I was just looking at replacing my MPX-1 with a axe-fx and maybe I'll hold off for a little bit yet.
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The Fractals are infinitely more versatile than the MPX-1, and they sound amazing, however, both my Axe II and FM3, I notice when I run straight through them the the sound/feel is less punchy, and the low end kind of smears together. It may not bother you, and the versatility might be more important than the fine details, but I like a lot of chunky start/stop riffs, so it bugs me because of my playing style. They sound great mixed through a mixer though, or even just by themselves. I just dont like mixing them with my tube stuff directly.
 
vultures said:
The Matrix is a powerful little amp. I like it almost as much as tube power amps. It's a shame they're not making stuff anymore.

Here's a rack I was running for a bit. Axe FX III & Quad Cortex in stereo thru the Matrix. Line 6 G50 wireless running into a JHS Buffered Splitter going to the Quad and AxeFX. HoTone XTOMP Mini running also running always on in a loop just for an Acoustic Sim. I also had that 1U Patch Panel where I could run the Axe FX in the Quad's loop or Quad in the Axe FX's loop to utilize one or the others effects. All controlled by wireless MIDI :loco: .

The more I played with it out, the more I realized the Quad sounded so much better than anything I could muster with the Axe FX, even with patches I paid for.

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impeccable wiring and interesting observations!
 
Shask said:
The Fractals are infinitely more versatile than the MPX-1, and they sound amazing, however, both my Axe II and FM3, I notice when I run straight through them the the sound/feel is less punchy, and the low end kind of smears together. It may not bother you, and the versatility might be more important than the fine details, but I like a lot of chunky start/stop riffs, so it bugs me because of my playing style. They sound great mixed through a mixer though, or even just by themselves. I just dont like mixing them with my tube stuff directly.
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i had that same experience with the ultra.
the effects are so excellent sounding. i’ve never played the III but ultra and II amp models weren’t close enough to tube amps to win me over and interfacing it with tube anps didn’t work for me.

i did play a kemper and the factory presets were just so so. but after profiling a cameron atomica and playing those presets through a tube power amp i thought it sounded and felt killer! this was my friend playing through the two profiles we made on his kemper after we just got done making them in his studio:



 
the cost of used tri stere choruses and analog rack counterparts (TERC, The Wave, 1210, Roland Dimension, ADA STD-1) is scares and/or beyond reasonably priced:

https://fulltone.myshopify.com/products/that-80s-rack-chorus-terc

thus the trend to reproduce those sounds using pedals, combined with rack fx, is desirable enough that many manufacturers include TSC sounds in their current products. but the limited power supply voltages, headroom, and line level restrictions of pedals reduces the dynamic range compared to pro line level rack fx.

LC, who by the looks of this video may have predated and informed the golden rack era kings (Landau, Luke, Huff)
addressed the conundrum of matching pedals and “recovering” rack line levels with a dumblelator



beyond the very ideal radial reamp solutions-

https://www.radialeng.com/product/extc-stereo

or using a traditional desktop mixer solution with metering to monitor inputs and output between pedals and line fx,

has anyone found or used other compact and affordable alternatives to properly match pedal and rack impedance input and output levels?
 
Purpleibby said:
Still rockin' the rack, will always...my setup hasn't changed for a while so no new pics but, throwing my hat in the ring ...I quite like David's idea of using the Tri Avatar for chorus duties rather than pay the ridiculous prices...I actually had the thought of trying a Tricera for this job a while back myself(because of the increased headroom over the H9) but never really implemented it(only because the idea of a dedicated unit has appeal to me for some duties)...not that I'm lacking in modulations(at all!), but still. @mentoneman David insists the Tri Avatar has the headroom and it certainly sounds great, The Tricera would include it's pitch shift to get it's sound which is nice, but would sound lacking compared to the Eclipse micropitch....I may give the tri avatar a go(at line level)View attachment 373223View attachment 373226View attachment 373235
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I see you have the Xotic compressor, are you happy with it and the dc2w? I'd seen other recommendations for the Keeley GC2....very interested in your thoughts? Cheers!
 
pintspiller said:
I see you have the Xotic compressor, are you happy with it and the dc2w? I'd seen other recommendations for the Keeley GC2....very interested in your thoughts? Cheers!
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Yes indeed, for my purposes the SP sounds great, great sounding comp...like that it has the internal settings and the blend control.....lots of great demos out there with it(like the MT vids)....I only use it for cleans(Studio Preamp).. I have no experience with the Keeley.....It's an original DC-2 which I put after the comp, it has it's unique flavor of Chorus....the Roland RSP-550 actually has a good version of the Dimension chorus....I have plenty of mods, I don't really need more but lol....here we are....I like the idea of a dedicated unit for some duties.
 
Shask said:
Yeah, Matrix is a weird story because it seemed like they were on top of the world, and then just kind of disappeared. I also have an ART SLA-2 I didn't have in my pics. I mostly use my Matrix these days to reamp my tube heads in stereo after running them through a loadbox.

So, you are liking the Quad Cortex better than the Axe III? It seems like many people are switching to the QC. I have not tried one, but I have been very impressed with ToneX lately, which is know is comparable to the QC captures. One reason I wanted the 2290p and SDE-3000D was to pair with my ToneX One pedal. I also have an FM3 which I love, but at the same time, I am getting some very dynamic tones out of the ToneX, and that is something I have struggled with using Fractal, even after several years. I am also not a fan of using Fractal for effects without the parallel mixer because both of mine definitely effect the dynamics of what I run through them.
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What are you liking better the Matrix or ART SLA-2?

The Axe-FX is perfect for dudes who love to tinker and dial stuff in like crazy. I'm terrible at dialing in presets. The Quad is much more organic to me because I can dial a great tone in on an amp, then I just put it into a load box and capture that sound. No post tinkering. I thought about picking up a Tonex, but I'd need to grab some delay and reverb like you did. I've gone from big rigs to being obsessed with the smallest possible footprint.
 
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