Rackmount Gear Thread

[rfurtkamp]

Not much of a compressor guy - for classic unobtainums, look at the Behringer/Klark Teknik versions.

I love my EQP-KT (Pultec EQ clone).

[chromandre]

yo rack fiends, i'm looking for a compressor/limiter that's easy as heck and even cheaper than that.
I figure compressors is rack territory. anyone know what's out there?

I checked out a few models that got recommended on other forums but a lot of it seemed studio quality unobtainium, I just want crazy compression.

the extremely common alesis 3630 is honestly worth having. It sounds like you are describing the 3630. I think it is scoffed at much in the same way like a metal zone distortion pedal is, but it is a very tweakable compressor

[friendship]

I've heard the 3632 is not bad too.

What are you gonna be doing with it?

[rfurtkamp]

Not much of a compressor guy - for classic unobtainums, look at the Behringer/Klark Teknik versions.

I love my EQP-KT (Pultec EQ clone).

This looks good but isn’t this an EQ?

They have compressors of various stripes that are classic clones - all I can mention is what I have.

I've considered a couple of their rack compressors to have, but haven't bought gear other than a PA in a year.

[Psyre]

The Drawmer is bound to be quite a bit better as a general purpose expander/comp and definitely the better get than the 3630 if you are looking to tame peaks or thicken up content. I havnt used the drawmer but I'd imagine it's the exact opposite of the 3630.

The drawmer will fluff content up whereas a 3630 will smash/flatten the SHIT out of it's source. I suspect the drawmer woukd be similar to my ashly cl52e. The sidechain is usable but not very dynamic. The 3630 has a rather dynamic sidechain due to the gate section. You can really get some wild pumping/panning action.

You made the better choice for sure because imo 3630 suckkkks on a mix bus and drums but is a great secondary comp. I've owned 3 and still want to get another lol. I only use it to smash and sidechain pads though and well, my Kush Tweakers allow for sidechain motion/detection like nothing else (obviously a whole other league though).

I'm super interested in Drawmer 1978's though!

[Blackened Soul]

Anyone feel inclined to post pictures of their racks stuff?

[qersty]

how is that swr pre? is it one of them with insane parametric eq?

[Blackened Soul]

I like it enough to own 2. The mids are parametric

[Gone Fission]

Is that the Interstellar Overdrive? IIRC, it has a small tube power section that you can drive the crap out of. Pretty damn forward thinking for it’s time.

[qersty]

Yeah 2 el84s and a tiny transformer that manages to bring it down to line level. I think you have the option to drive a speaker with it even. It is pretty forward thinking now too, really. Don't know of any other effect box that uses proper power tubes for power tube distortion.

[$harkToootth]

@Blackened Soul - Thanks m8!

[qersty]

Finally pulled the plug on some rackmount stuff. Hoping that my lowball bid on a well-loved vortex gets accepted. Anyways, how much mixer is it worth getting just to integrate rack effects into a nerdier-than-average guitar rig? I may want to have a couple spare channels for some synth shit but if im just running a stereo signal into a couple racks i'd rather just have "enough" channels.

Also picked up this rack but idk how many U:s it holds

NSFW: show

[Gone Fission]

What’s the system you’re running it with? PA speakers/FRFR? Guitar amp(s)? Mono or stereo? Effects loops?

With the Vortex, it runs prosumer line levels, so it can be run into the inputs of guitar amps with just a little care. Input wise, it’s happier being run after a strong buffer or synth than running low output pickups right in. An aux send on a compact desktop mixer (or rack line mixer if you want to build out a fridge) will work great to drive it appropriately and keep a dry path away from the so-so converters. Run the outs into a spare pair of mixer inputs, usually even if there are dedicated aux returns—you get to eq the effected signal and, in appropriate instances such as using very long delays, you can use the aux send on the return as a feedback control. Even if you’re using it mono, it’s usually best to sum stereo effected return to mono to keep more of the effect.

Cheap Yamaha or Mackie with an aux send should do you. Add aux sends and channels to give you room to grow. For rack line mixers, the Samson is pretty good and and affordable and has two stereo aux sends for $200-ish, which allows some flexibility of routing an effects unit in each aux loop. Only pain is that the sends are stereo unbalanced on a 1/4” TRS jack, so you need Y cables for connecting to your processor, but that’s easy off the shelf with the Vortex’s unbalanced TS inputs.

[qersty]

Ah! I run an ampeg preamp into a crown poweramp, mono for now but I intend to run stereo down the road to get the spread it's just a matter of speakers right now. One send is enough tho? I'm not that advanced a mixer user but dont you effectivly need a send per parallell chain? Thats why I'm not sure wheter I should get a bigger mixer or not cause most mixers that are like 8 channels seem to have only one send.

Was kinda drawn to yamaha but mostly cause i like the yellow knobs but im pretty sure they have some crappy compressor in it too right?

[Gone Fission]

One mono send is sufficient to send a mono signal to your Vortex”s input. A few older effects with stereo inputs will work better with both inputs driven, even with a mono signal (Lexicon PCM 80/81 and 90/91 come to mind).

If you’re running a stereo input signal—let’s say a synth—and want to preserve the imaging in the effect, you can use a mixer with a stereo aux send, one with two auxes that are used as L and R sends, or you get creative with inserts, direct outs, or other means to split the synth sound to drive the inputs of the effect which runs into a spare channel. If you’re running two synths or stereo effects and want to preserve imaging from both, auxes will be easier. (If you get a Mackie 1604 VLZ or Allen & Heath MixWizard, there are more tricks, but R-ingTFM will get you further than I will.)


Also: there is no iron law that says you can’t take the easy way out and run a mono send from a stereo pair of channels. Run the same (or only) aux send for your L signal in channel 1 and your R signal in channel 2–you’re basically summing to mono. You can do the same with a second aux send. If your preferred algorithms sum to mono anyway this will make your life simpler. Me, I’m trying to push things as far as I can, so I’m looking for maximal routing capabilities for my stuff, so I focus on my edge use cases a bit much.