Anyone use rack FX with a head/cab?

[Brow]

Hey guys.

Over the last few months I've gone down from using a large pedalboard with 3 ODs plus several boosts etc on it to getting the majority of my OD tones straight from the amp and only using an OD as a small boost to push it over the edge when I want it.

I have a few band tryouts coming up and depending on how I do, I may be in a position where I need to go back to using the odd bit Chorus and Phase etc here and there, so I was thinking about just using my G-Major and controlling it from the same MIDI board I run my Splawn from.

The main thought I'm having is how best to arrange the setup? Would the amp be ok balanced ontop of the rack case ontop of the cab, or is that not advised? Any other suggestions of things I could look into etc?

Cheers!

Craig

[FELINEGUITARS]

Have Zilla cabs make you a custom rack case that sits the full width of the amp head and gives full support to the head?
FX under tubes rather than over would seem like a good idea
Does the Splawn have parallel FX loop?
That would help eliminate any tone sucking if there were any.

[Brow]

Have Zilla cabs make you a custom rack case that sits the full width of the amp head and gives full support to the head?
FX under tubes rather than over would seem like a good idea
Does the Splawn have parallel FX loop?
That would help eliminate any tone sucking if there were any.

I currently have 2 rack cases; Gator 4u and Spider Cases 6u, but now all my rack pre's and power amp are gone I'll use the smallest and also plug in my power conditioner too, which isn't much narrower than my Zilla 2x12 cab.

The Splawn has a true bypass series FX loop, so I guess some tone suck is to be expected? I've never used an amps FX loop before because until now all my drive has been from pedals, so I just put my other pedals after them in the chain. I'm not really sure how else to play it though without running long cables out to stage front to use pedal FX in the loop, but I do like the idea of everything being changed through MIDI.

[Oli]

Well I used to have my rig set up in the photo below.... I never had any problems with it, although it was just a bedroom rig (how overkill!). If you are going to balance the head on the FX, just make sure that the flightcase is nice and sturdy, so the weight of the head doesn't make it collapse :) It should be fine though, the flightcase in the photo was cheap and a bit cr@p, and it is still with us today, albeit not in the same setup!

Edit: just realised that photo is over 4 years old... just seems like yesterday, though!

[Brow]

Cheers Oli!

I think I'm just going to give it a go while I'm off work this week and see how I go.

I'm going to have to put the rack case ontop of the head though as my 2x12 cab has a carry handle ontop so won't be level to put the rack on and I don't want to risk the amp falling off the case  :lol:

[Antag]

This is what I do:


If you look closely you'll see that I've stood the rack case on little wooden blocks - that's because I want to leave a small gap so the air can vent out of the Engl's top vent.
The Thomann rack case that my SE preamp is in actually has quite tall feet so could probalby stand there without them, but the SKB case my FX are in doesn't have any feet at all, hence the blocks...

[Brow]

This is what I do:


If you look closely you'll see that I've stood the rack case on little wooden blocks - that's because I want to leave a small gap so the air can vent out of the Engl's top vent.
The Thomann rack case that my SE preamp is in actually has quite tall feet so could probalby stand there without them, but the SKB case my FX are in doesn't have any feet at all, hence the blocks...

Thanks for your post mate

I like the idea with the little wooden blocks, I hadn't thought of that!

I'm going to give the rack thing a go when I can, so I'm going to keep your idea in mind so I can still let air out of the Splawn ok.

[Roobubba]

I have 4 wooden blocks on the underside of my decimator prorackG which sits on top of my 5150-II head. The 5150 is quite deep, so it doesn't block the vents, but I needed the blocks to raise it above the height of the handle.

Roo