Please help me build my first Mesa rack!

[Breenbear]

Hello everyone! Just joined the forum as I am about to take the plunge and invest in my first mesa equipment! Very exciting times!

I went into my local guitar shop and the guy basically reeled off a list of equipment that I should (in his opinion) be looking at:

Triaxis
2:90 Power amp
TC Electronics G major
Mesa Theile Ported 1x12's (x2)
and some kind of foot controller!

Obviously I am not just going to go out and spend a lot of cash on stuff I haven't tried but I would like your opinion on this potential set up. I need the rig to be as versatile as possible as I do everything from musical theatre to pop and rock festival gigs.

I would like to be able to use a few of my current pedals in the setup (Chromatic Tuner, BB Preamp, Keeley Compressor and Fulltone Clyde wah) either controlled in the rig or just on the floor. Ideally if I can have a few generic patches set up for clean, distortion, solo etc etc and then be able to add in or take out certain effects then that would be great! Any idea what controller would be best suited!

Thanks!

 

[jaquetapus]

That rig you described is awesome! [I have it] It's very very versatile, and should be relatively portable. The only thing I'd suggest would be considering a single 4x12 cab, just because then you can stack stuff on it and wheel it around. [Plus they sound awesome!] As far as foot controllers, if you're willing to do a bunch of screwing around and programming, check out the Behringer FCB1010. It's real cheap and works ok. But if you're going that far into a rack system, I'd recommend getting a nicer one, like the All Access or Ground Control Pro. If you got a GCX to go with the Ground Control, you could put your BB and stuff in individual midi controlled loops in your setup and not have to tap dance to change sounds. So in short, that guy at the store is a guy you should listen to, he seems to have excellent taste!

-dave

 

[dmt]

I'd say try and score a Quad (if you can find one and like the Mark IIC/III type tones) or a Studio pre instead of the the Triaxis. Just a thought.

The 2:90 is going to be more modern, if I remember thats basically the power section of a Recto (might be wrong here). Personally I would go for a 295 or 395 (again if you can find one)

A pair of Theile's will be good since the 2:90/295/395 are all stereo power amps, so thats a good suggestion. ou could just go for 2x 2x12's as well and still have stereo and portability and good tone. The older metal grill 2x12's are pretty ******* awesome (1/2 open back).

And for a Midi controller, the RG-16. This will control EVERYTHING. Pedals, Loops, Effects, Pre/Power amp settings. The works... of course it aint cheap, but no rack gear is...
http://www.rjmmusic.com/rg16.php

Btw, this setup is pretty much exactly what I would buy (I have the Quad already)

Quad Preamp
Simul 395 Power amp
2x Metal Grill 2x12's
Eventide H3000
Some sort of Furman or better Power conditioner (some server grade battery backup unit with trim would be nice.. probably heavy too)

Don't really need more...

 

[Snoopy551]

Approved jaquetapus

Keep the triaxis, is the best over and over than the others amp.
G-major is very good for the price.
Personnally, i use g-major from triaxis OUT to mesa 20 IN.
But i expect to buy a gcx or mixer to use in parallel instead of serial.

 

[crane]

Yep !
The Triaxis is a perfect preamp, the Quad is not far behind, having a less compressed sound.
The 2:90 give awesome sounds, but has really too much power for a normal use (unless a normal use mean playing at Wembley).
I do use my TA and Quad through a 20/20, more usable and lighter.

 

[Breenbear]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Well I am getting a really good price on a second hand 2:90 so that is pretty much made my mind up to get it! I tried it today at the shop and it did sound awesome! I'm just getting slightly confused as this is my first attempt at rack gear! I'm not sure if it will be able to deliver everything i need! For example if I set a nice clean sound on the triaxis with some delay and chorus from the G Sharp could I then simply take that chorus or delay off by stepping on 1 pedal without changing the whole patch? Sorry if that is confusing!

 

[dass101]

Both the Triaxis and the G Sharp are MIDI compatible. That means you can control each of them with a standard MIDI foot controller. I am not familiar with the G Sharp, but this basically means that you can program your foot controller to select any combination of Triaxis preset and G Sharp preset. Patch nr 1 - clean on the TA with chorus on the G Sharp. Patch nr 2 - drive on the TA with delay on the G Sharp, and so on...

 

[Breenbear]

But you couldn't then do patch nr 1 clean on TA with chorus on G sharp and then have a seperate button to turn the chorus for that patch on and off?

 

[crane]

Simply put patch 1 of the TA on 2 presets, one with the chorus, the other without :mrgreen:

 

[Breenbear]

yeh that is one way! But i would rather not have like 20 patches for each triaxis preset as then there wouldnt be enough pedals on the board! Would be nice to have set triaxis presets with the ability to kick in and out delay, chorus, reverb, etc etc! I guess the pedals mentioned earlier in the post are going to make that more of a possibility?

 

[dass101]

It all depends on the capabilities of the G Sharp. With more "serious" rack units you can send CC messages (from the foot controller) to access different parameters on the FX unit, including turning on/off effects within a patch. From a brief look at the G Sharp it seems that in can only do preset changes, but you should check the manual to be sure.

 

[Breenbear]

well that could definitely change everything! I will need to look into it and try and find a multi-effects unit that is capable of the CC changes! Thanks for that info!

 

[ando]

You can do what you are wanting using external switches or expression pedals. I don't know of any MIDI controller that lets you use MIDI presets and have individual control of effects on the same pedal board, but I'm sure they are out there. In any case, most professional MIDI controller allow you to plug in external switches or pedals and use MIDI "continuous control" (CC's) messages which is were you specify a CC control number on the pedal, assign it to your switch/pedal, and then program your effects unit to accept the CC channel to control a specific parameter - in your case, it's the wet/dry mix of your chorus. You could have multiple pedals and control your delay and chorus. The only limit is the number of CC controllable inputs on your MIDI controller. I have the first generation of DMC Ground Control and it accepts 2 external switches/pedals.

The good thing about CC's is that you can still have preset programs and you can control effects within them. You have to program the CC's for each effects preset. Then all you have to do is remember what each switch/pedal controls on each on of those presets.

Hope that's what you were after.

 

[Breenbear]

I found this on the TC Electronics website:

External Control – Pedal Boards and Expression Pedals

Guitarists are the most demanding group of practicing musicians when it comes to instant control of sound and effects. The G•Major is nothing less than unique; not only can you control all key parameters via a MIDI board and expression pedals but it is also EASY to set up.

There tend to be two main directions in controlling Guitar sound via any pedal board.
Full preset change for radical changes
“Stomp box” type where only single effects are turned on and off


With the G•Major you don’t have to decide which is for you. With any MIDI board able to send both Program changes and MIDI Cc messages you can utilize the advantages of both the “Preset change” and “Stomp Box” idea described above.

Setting up
Instead of having to figure out which MIDI messages your board actually sends out and dialing these values into the G•Major – simply let the G•Major detect received messages in >> Learn << mode.

Example
Your MIDI board has 10 switches and one Expression pedal attached. 5 switches on the board sends program changes and 5 send control changes.
On the five switches sending program changes you setup your radical sound changes e.g. 1 for clean, 1 for Crunch and 1 for Overdrive. The last two you might use for special sounds. Each of these sounds you can program with basic effects.
The five switches sending Cc Messages can be used as on/off switches for e.g. Delay, Chorus, Reverb, Compressor, and the last maybe for Tap Tempo.
It is really up to you.

Expression Pedals
Use up to four connected Expression pedals to change parameter values. Which parameter the expression pedal control, is set at preset level. This means that even with a single expression pedal connected you can vary its function form, preset to preset. In one preset it could act as Volume control, in another as a Whammy – or what about free control of Reverb level, the Depth of a Chorus or…..?

The options are endless – and you CAN really express yourself!

If i used the Behringer FCB1010 with the UnO upgrade then I believe I can use 5 pedals for general presets and 5 in "stomp box" mode! Could this be what I am looking for!?

 

[ando]

If i used the Behringer FCB1010 with the UnO upgrade then I believe I can use 5 pedals for general presets and 5 in "stomp box" mode! Could this be what I am looking for!?

That does sound like what you are looking for. Look into it carefully though, I have heard reports that the FCB1010 is limited in its utilization of CC's. I don't know anything about the Behringer specifically, but it sounds like it will do what you are wanting.

 

[jaquetapus]

Supposedly with the uno firmware you can do exactly what you're describing. I bought that firmware for mine, but lost the chip before I got to install it. The G-Major definitely does what you're looking for, but I dunno if it's worth the trouble. I've always just made different patches with the effects I needed and switched between them. For example, I have a dry Mark IV rhythm patch, and a Mark IV lead patch with delay and verb on it. I used 2 different patches so I could crank up the gain, mids and bass a bit for the leads, but still have a real tight rhythm sound. Either way you go, the TriAxis/G-Major/2:Ninety setup rules all.

-dave

 

[Breenbear]

Yeh I guess I will have the options of running the set up either way! It is nice to have options! Just need to learn how to set everything up! (after buying it of course!!)

 

[Breenbear]

Sorry to be a pain but I am also thinking of getting some kind of power conditioner like the Furman. Is this an essential piece of kit? And also how would I connect my gear to the IEC inputs? Would I have to change all the plugs on the power cables? (3 pin to IEC?)

 

[jaquetapus]

Yeah, the Furman PL-Plus is a good buy, just for the peace of mind. That way your gear won't get fried from a surge, and you can see the voltage your gear is getting.

-dave

 

[Breenbear]

Cheers Dave! Its trying to source one in the UK that is the problem I think! I had a look around at some of the cheaper units I could find over here but don't know if they will really cut it! Thanks for all the replies btw....the boogie board is really friendly!