Going Rack Mounted

[psy]

That's some nice gear there.  You're doing nothing for my rack GAS :p

The power amp I'm thinking of going with is the Marshall EL34 50/50.  It's a 3U unit.  So would I put that in a 3U rack case on it's own.. or should it go in a 4U rack to allow airflow over it?

[Stimpy]

Nice rack, but why so many ADA pre-amps???

[Stimpy]

I'd go for the 4U case for added airflow, you might even want to get a 1U rack fan to suck in air

[hunter]

If you have a modeler (like tonelab, boss, Axe FX, etc) you can get a rack with just a power-amp. A good solution is the Marshall EL84 20/20, which is just 1U and very affordable. People say that the deep switch compensates for lack of bottom end.

In the mid range there are the Carvin T100, and used ones like Mesa 50:50 (supposed to sound better than 2:50), sometimes a Randall pops up (they run EL34 in one side, 6L6 on the other and you can switch them via MIDI, pretty cool).

For bargain and value you should look for one of the Reussenzehn amps, they are big and heavy but sound great and go for 300-400 (German built). Reussenzehn has also a new product which is an dual class A EL34 poweramp, supposed to be amazing (according to German Gitarre und Bass magazine), really light too:
http://www.reussenzehn.de/roehrenverstaerker/Vorverstaerker/DE/content?cont_id=299&Grp_id=6

For above 600 you should look at the VHTs (I have a 2502). 2502 if you like EL34s, 2902 if you want bone crushing 5881 power. Currently guitarguitar are dumping out a 2902 for 799, which is 30% below usual retail.

There are several more options, like the Marshall EL34 50/50 or 100/100, but they are so heavy and big, you could also get a head instead.
 

[Spitfire]

I like the Peavey 50/50 for a rack power amp... its a lot nicer than the 60/60.. that one is a bit sterile.  Its not very expensive either, its 2u.. el34s..

[hunter]

this is a good deal: http://cgi.ebay.de/Reussenzehn-Guitar-Slave-2-x-50-W-Rack-Amp-Vollroehre-3HE_W0QQitemZ320339744067QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAmps?hash=item320339744067

just need to ask nicely if he'd ship to UK too.

[psy]

For above 600 you should look at the VHTs (I have a 2502). 2502 if you like EL34s, 2902 if you want bone crushing 5881 power. Currently guitarguitar are dumping out a 2902 for 799, which is 30% below usual retail.

There are several more options, like the Marshall EL34 50/50 or 100/100, but they are so heavy and big, you could also get a head instead.
 

That is a good deal on the VHT in Guitar Guitar.  I'll have to have look to see if they got one in the Newcastle shop to have a play on.  :)  I see it can be operated at 60w per channel too.

I'm still tempted by those big Marshall though.  That's probably just because I'm familiar with the name (and they look cool LOL )

[FELINEGUITARS]

Nice rack, but why so many ADA pre-amps???

They have all been modified to do different things
One has the 3 Tube Mod - much more gain and crunch(3TM)
Another has had a 1980s hair metal mod  which gives a very different sound (Mod4MK2)

One has 5751 valves in for a much better clean tone (the 5751 has only about 70 % of the gain of a ECC83, so 2 of them yields 50% of the normal gain)

To be fair I may clear a lot of it out soon as I have been really taken with the Egnater
Will still keep a few ADAs but not so many

[psy]

I'm off to Guitar Guitar to try out one of the VHT's Hunter tipped me off about :)  Wonder if the price drop is just because VHT have changed their name to Fryette.