New rig update #3 - wire it up!

While I'm still waiting for the rack to arrive, I had a bit of free time tonight to wire up the new rig in an 80-for-20 manner... I started by replacing the power tubes in the Randall RT2/50 (with matched pairs of SED Winged "C" 6L6's and EL34's), connected everything with George L's cables, programmed the RP-93 to switch channels on the amps, and optimized the levels on the Lexicon MPX-G2. While there's certainly a lot of programming to do with the MPX-G2, I was at least able to dial up a basic patch with some light detuning and delay to get a sense of how the multi-preamp rig would fare... in a word... fat!

So a few things have changed since the original plan I put together a month ago... first, I've added the Mesa Rectifier recording preamp and 20/20 power amp to the rig; second, I switched out the Digitech GSP-1101/Control 2 pair for the Lexicon MPX-G2/R1 pair; finally, I decided to work with the Randall cabs I already owned instead of buying new Avatar cabs. Here's what it all looks like, courtesy of PowerPoint...



And here's how it's all wired up... basically the guitar signal is going through the Axess BS2 and ISP Decimator pedal into the front-of-amp FX section of the Lexicon MPX-G2. The Rolls RP-93 is used to split the signal out to multiple preamps. The Mesa Studio preamp (dry) feeds the Mesa 20/20 power amp and the Randall RA412XL stereo cab. The other preamps (Mesa Rectifier & Soldano SP-77) have post-FX added by the MPX-G2 then feed the Randall RT2/50 power amp and Randall R212C cabinets. This gives a wet/dry/wet setup where everything is wired up as follows...



Hopefully the 20-space rack will be here by the end of the week so that everything can be "formally" mounted & wired up!

--B

New rig update #2 - Mesa/Boogie influx!

A little over a week has gone by since the last post, and, once again, I've been keeping the delivery guys busy. And, quite frankly, I've been keeping myself busy, too... I took a few hours on Saturday to accumulate all the new gear and go over each piece with a fine-tooth comb: I cleaned (and tightened up any loose) tube sockets/pots/switches/jacks and wiped everything down on the outside. So things may not look as good as new, but at least they look one step closer to new. :)

With that being said, on to the new gear...

Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp -Here's one out of the "vintage" bin... the Studio preamp is based on the Mark-series amps with 2 channels, switchable graphic EQ, and spring reverb. Of course, in Mark-series fashion, both channels share tone controls but do have independent gain controls and bright/fat switches. Tonally, "liquid" is the best way to describe this preamp... while the lead channel is classic Boogie, even the clean channel somehow manages to sustain for days. Setting the graphic EQ in the classic Mesa "V" shape delivers dead-on old-school Metallica crunch. Definitely reminds me of everything I liked about my old Mark IV and Triaxis rigs back in the day!

Mesa/Boogie Rectifier recording preamp - Another preamp?!? In the spirit of trying new stuff (or rather, revisiting old stuff that I had about 5 years ago), I picked up the Recto preamp to dish up everything that is the polar opposite of the Studio preamp... thin & crisp cleans, gritty mid-gain tones, and (why everyone buys Rectifiers to begin with) aggressive modern chugga-chugga tones. The preamp has 2 channels, each with 3 modes (clean + fat + brit on the green channel, raw + vintage + modern on the red channel) and a switchable solo boost. Unlike the Studio preamp, both channels have independent tone controls, and there is no reverb or graphic EQ. The range of tones across all 6 modes is impressive, although I've been gravitating towards the clean and vintage modes. This preamp blends beautifully with the Soldano, and sounds killer through the...

Mesa/Boogie 20/20 power amp - Another power amp?!? Ok... maybe the third preamp wasn't overkill, but the second power amp definitely is! I wanted to experiment with the 20/20 for several reasons... first, to see how a low-wattage power amp sounds compared to the higher-power RT2/50; second, to see how the texture of EL84 power tubes compliments the preamps; and finally, to experiment with a wet/dry setup using all three preamps and both power amps in parallel. While I did clean the 20/20's tube sockets and pots, I've got a bit of odd behavior going on... one channel is darker (almost muddier), while the other is brighter... I need to do a bit more troubleshooting to see if one of the sets of tubes is mismatched or if only one side of the amp was modded by a previous owner (there's a little known "deep" mod for the 20/20).

Finally, here's a pic of everything stacked up, anxiously awaiting for the rack to arrive...



Don't be fooled... everything's still wired up in a half-a$$ fashion... nothing will really be wired up right until it's installed in the rack (which should arrive either late this week or early next week). In the mean time, I'm just hoping the puny little table doesn't collapse under the weight of all the amps!

--B

New rig update #1 - Rolls/RFX RP-93 Patchwork, Soldano SP-77 preamp, Lexicon MPX-G2/R1 effects, and Randall RT2/50 power amp

Well, pieces of gear have slowly been showing up courtesy of UPS and Fedex the past few days, so today was the the first chance I've had to get everything unpacked, stacked, and wired up in a half-a$$ fashion... no point in spending too much time over-doing it while I'm still waiting for the second preamp (Mesa Studio) and the rack to arrive. Of the four new pieces of gear, I've already owned three of 'em in the past, so I pretty much knew what to expect...

Rolls/RFX RP-93 Patchwork - This is basically the poor man's GCX or Rocktron Patchmate... it costs about 1/3 as much, but performs the same basic tasks. It provides MIDI control of four relays (for amp channel switching) and four loops (for taking effects in/out of the signal chain). Right now it's switching channels on the Soldano; it will also be used to switch channels on the Mesa when it arrives. The downside of the RP-93 is that it doesn't switch the loop sends, only the loop returns, so if all the loops are used it can create considerable drag (tone suck) on passive guitar pickups--I'm overcoming this with the generally-lifesaving Axess Electronics BS2 buffer/splitter.

Lexicon MPX-G2 FX and MPX-R1 footcontroller - This is, without a doubt, one of my top five pieces of gear of all time (yes, that's quite an accomplishment). The G2 was the first FX processor designed with a send/return so that certain effects (wah, distortion, compression) can be placed in front of the amp while others (delay, reverb) can be placed post-distortion in the amp's FX loop. When the front-of-amp effects are bypassed, a hardwire bypass is engaged. The effects roster includes modulations, delays, reverbs (with a dedicated processor), compression, EQ, wah, and even analog distortions. Plus there are several features I pretty much ignore, including a solid-state preamp and speaker simulator. The MPX-R1 footcontroller perfectly compliments the MPX-G2, providing the ability to switch banks & patches, toggle individual effects on/off, control wah & volume with the built-in expression pedal, and view the tuner readout on the floor. (NOTE: While functioning Lexicon MPX-G2's/R1's are getting pretty hard to find, the Digitech GSP1101/Control Two is the next best thing... it allows the same front-of-amp vs. post-distortion effects configuration, even though the Digitech is not quite as flexible in terms of effects routing or depth of parameters to tweak.)

Randall RT2/50 power amp - (yea, something from this century!) This power amp, oddly enough, also makes my top five pieces of gear of all time list. Kind of a hidden gem, the RT2/50 was designed by Bruce Egnater to work with the Randall M4 preamp. So what's so cool about it? Both sides can be user-biased for different power tubes... the amp ships with 6L6's on one channel and EL34's on the second, but can take pretty much anything from 6V6's to KT77's. The amp is MIDI enabled, to allow switching between the channels (and switching between whatever cabinets are connected to those channels)... enabling you to do cool things like switch between 6L6's through an open-back 2x12 (Fendery) and EL34's through a closed-back 4x12 (Marshally). Another cool feature is the depth control on each channel... basically a low-end presence control that allows extra bass to be dialed in without muddying up the tone. And, of course, it sounds great (and weighs a ton!).

Soldano SP-77 preamp - This is the one piece of gear I haven't owned before. It is also one of the simplest pieces of gear I've owned in a while... 2 channels, each with dedicated tone controls, not much else. Perhaps it's even a bit too minimalist... there's no button or switch to change channels--they must be switched with a footswitch. And, of course, it's bright purple, which is about as "big 80's" as it gets! The clean channel has a considerable amount of headroom... with the bright switch off the SP-77 takes on a fatter blackface tone, while engaging the bright switch adds a considerable amount of Voxy chime & sparkle (almost too much sparkle). The distortion channel has tons of gain (I doubt I'll ever need to turn it up past 1:00), delivering the overdriven Marshall vibe but not as harsh. After a minute's worth of tweaking I had dialed in the perfect "Crazy Train" tone; a little more fiddling was dishing up dead-on 80's Van Halen tones. Sweet!

So for purposes of tonight's messing around, I routed the guitar through the Axess BS2 and Decimator, then into the SP-77 and RT2/50... I didn't do much with the MPX-G2 tonight (aside from using it as the world's biggest, most expensive rack tuner). Again, no point in over-engineering it until the Mesa Studio preamp arrives. But, of course, I had to take a picture of everything stacked up..

Of course, more of an update will be coming as soon as the Mesa arrives and everything gets wired up as planned... stay tuned! --B