Rack essentials?

    No worries, thanks a lot for that photograph! Could you provide me with some information, please?


    1) Do I need a special kind of rack for this kind of setup? Or just one with front and back rails? Are there deeper racks that are used for this? Or is it a standard rack?


    2) It looks like some of the rack units are much shallower than other. What do you call the shallower units? What do you call the deeper ones?


    3) How do you get to the back of some of the units that are rack-mounted when there is another rack unit mounted just behind it?


    Hoping you could provide some advice based on the kind of units I want to fit into a rack.


    1) Kemper toaster - About 5U-6U. Not very deep.


    2) TC Helicon Voice Live Rack. About 2U. Very shallow


    3) Akai MPC1000. This is about 2U-3U deep and will require a shelf on which I will mount it with velcro. Deeper than Kemper


    4) Additional shelf/drawer 3U - This will be for pedals like my Moogs and hopefully some Strymons in the near future. No idea how deep.


    5) Power supply (Filter/Surge protector) - 1U. Very shallow


    6) Patch bay - 1U. Very shallow


    This would all make for a ridiculously large rack if I was to mount everything in front, something like 16U would be needed, While I could get one would wheels, I think the best option would be if I could mount some units in the front and some behind.


    So behind the Kemper, I could mount the shallow voice live, power supply and patch bay. And then I would need another 6 RU for the pedal drawer and the MPC1000 shelf.


    The reduces things to about 12U, not great, but better than 16U.


    At least I think so. Is there any better way you could think to do this?

    alright, i'll send some more specific pics later.


    i use a gator gr6-s rack and another 2 racks of the same type with 4 and 2 units.


    in my "kemper-rack" i have installed the following:


    front:
    -tuner/racklight (1u)
    -kemper (3u)
    -palmer macht power amp
    -patchbay I (1u, i'll upload some detailed pics)


    rear:
    -wireless guitar unit (1u)
    -patchbay II (1u,pics will follow)
    -power supply (1u)


    there is not much space behind the kemper but i had the larger, i.e. deeper version (6u)of the gator rack before and that sucked: much more space but no good balance on a cab f.e. so i decided to return to the smaller version (6u)


    the racklight and the wirelss are fixed on opposite sites so that it works perfectly
    on the opposite site of the kpa there is enough space for the power supply, etc


    What are the patchbays exactly for? Why did you choose to Build Your patchbays the way they are?
    I'm interested in specifics.
    And also: Do you have to reconnect the stuff that's plugged to the Kemper or does it remain plugged (can't see itfrom the Pics)

    i decided to build the patchbay just for comfort reasons
    on the front i have easy and fast access to the main in- and outputs:
    direct out (from kemper) midi in (to kemper) speakON out L+R (from poweramp), XLR main out L+R (from kemper), powercon out+in


    so i don't have to open the back of the case to use my kemper at rehearsal, on stage, or during recordings...


    the patchbay on the back doesn't make THAT much sense but is a little more comfortable than to connect directly to the kemper or the poweramp as well


    it contains my not that often used ins and outs:
    -another power out
    -cab out (from poweramp)
    -return in XLR and TRS (to kemper)
    -spdif in+out (kemper)
    -midi out (kemper)
    -monitor out (kemper)


    pics will follow

    it's a lot of soldering... i am a lucky guy, that 'my drummer' is very good at that kind of stuff and he made 80% of that job... okay maybe 95%... or 98... ;)


    the powercon stuff has to be done by an electrician - insurance-wise


    it took about 6hours all together... including the rearrangement of some of the plugs and i built a few "battle tested" guitar cables!


    but it's totally worth it!

    Quote from kzngr

    i am a lucky guy, that 'my drummer' is very good at that kind of stuff and he made 80% of that job... okay maybe 95%... or 98...


    You should praise your drummer. ^^
    I played mostly with drummer which didn't have so much interests for electronic gear. :/