Back to Mesa? Back to Egnater? Back to Randall? Back to the rack?

Ah yes, such is the nature of Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or rather, Gear Indecision Syndrome (GIS ??)... it probably wasn't 6 months ago that I unloaded all my Egnater/Digitech/VHT rack gear to pick up several amp heads. Now, having spent several months messing around with the amp heads, I'm once again missing the versatility of the rack rig. Not that I haven't learned anything over the past few months... I did discover the benefits of running a multi-amp rig, particularly as the only guitar player in the band right now.

So here's the plan... instead of going with MIDI-enabled preamps with dozens of channels and hundreds of presets (e.g., Mesa Triaxis, Marshall JMP-1), I'm starting out with preamps that are a bit simpler in architecture: the Mesa/Boogie Quad preamp and Egnater/Rocktron IE4 preamp. The Quad provides 4 channels of classic Mark II/Mark III tone with spring reverb and dual graphic EQ's. The IE4 has 4 channels based on the TOL100 hot-rodded Marshall tones, though improved since each channel has its own 3-band EQ and presence controls. Both are more analog than digital... tones can easily be tweaked on the fly by turning knobs... no need to scroll through dozens of parameters and presets for a simple change.

The two preamps will feed into separate sides of a TC Electronic G-Force for stereo effects (including detuning & delays for EVH-style fattening), or quite possibly (if I can get a deal) a Fractal Audio AxeFX or Eventide Eclipse. The Quad side will feed the 6L6 side of a Randall RT2/50 power amp driving an open-back Avatar 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Classic Lead 80's. The IE4 side will flow through the EL34 side of the power amp and a closed-back Avatar 2x12 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's.

Control is a slightly more cumbersome issue... the Rocktron MIDIMate I've got can already switch the IE4, G-Force, even the RT2/50 if needed. But the Quad is pre-MIDI, so I'll probably need to employ a Rockman MIDI Octopus to handle the 8 relays on the back of the Quad (4 channels + 2 EQ's + 2 reverbs).

Part of the process for me is visualizing what everything will look like when stacked up in a 12-space (or probably 16-space for proper ventilation) rack:


Also, part of the process is visualizing how everything will be wired up... helps me think about how to integrate the gear to maximize its potential, plus (practically) helps me do a "cable inventory" to ensure I won't be missing anything as the new gear trickles in:


So that's the basic idea... means I'll probably be unloading the heads (Zinky Superfly, H&K Switchblade) and cabs (Rocktron 4x12, Randall 4x12, Randall 2x12) I've got around here now in the coming weeks.

--B