I've been looking at expanding my guitar rig for a while, and with the new year came the time to do it. It's still a stereo rig using my two Tweaker heads, and my pedalboard with Morley Bad Horsie, Morley Little Alligator and RJM MasterMind, but it's the rack where the changes have happened. I've gone up to an 8U rack, with a couple of sliding shelves, and a whole lot of cable - just had to order another 12m as I've used up the 20m I'd estimated I would need (excluding balanced patch cable etc, but that's a whole other story).

Pics will follow, but the way it's set up is as follows:

Guitar > Wah > Pedalboard interface > modified Pedalsnake > front rack interface panel > MXR Noise Clamp input.
MXR Noise Clamp send > RJM Mini Effect Gizmo # 1:
Loop 1 = Sweet Sound MoFaux Vibe
Loop 2 = Fulltone Catalyst
Loop 3 = Fulltone OCD v4
Loop 4 = Marshall ED-1 compressor
Loop 5 = MXR EVH Phase 90
Mini Effect Gizmo # 1 Out > Korg DTR1000 rack tuner
Mini Effect Gizmo # 1 (CS Out) > Mini Effect Gizmo # 2:
Loop 1 = Keeley modded DS-1 Ultra #1
Loop 2 = Keeley modded DS-1 Ultra #2
Loop 3 = Xotic EP Booster (white ltd. edition)
Loop 4 = MXR Micro Flanger
Loop 5 = MXR Micro Chorus
Mini Effect Gizmo # 2 (CS Out) > MXR Noise Clamp return.
MXR Noise Clamp out > RJM Y-Not

From there, the two outputs go via the rear panel interface to two Egnater Tweaker heads.
Tweaker FX sends > rear rack interface > Palmer Duetto mini mixer > MXR Smart Gate > front rack interface <> volume pedal (via Pedalsnake) > Mini Effect Gizmo # 3:
Loop 1 = Custom Audio Electronics MXR MC401 boost
Loop 2 send > Palmer Y-box buffered splitter > 2 MXR Carbon Copy analog delays > RJM Mini Line Mixer (in stereo)
Loop 3 send > TC Electronic G Major 2 > Mini Line Mixer (in stereo)
Loop 4 send > Mini Line Mixer dry input (mono)
Loop 5 = spare for possible future expansion
Mini Line Mixer stereo outs > rear rack interface > Tweaker FX returns

The Tweakers feed two matching 1x12 cabs with Celestion G12H30 speakers.

Also on the front interface are patch points for the other two Pedalsnake channels for the pedalboard, carrying two isolated 9VDC power signals (for the MasterMind and for the Morley pedals) and MIDI; an XLR microphone passthru and two TRS balanced jack passthrus to the rear panel for my vocal mic and monitors (using another Pedalsnake), along with a 5-pin XLR that isn't yet connected up but could carry power and/or audio to something in the future; and two mic inputs for guitar cab mics, which feed through to a 5 pin stereo XLR output on the back.

Power is distributed by an ART PB4x4 power distribution unit, and pedals etc are powered by a Burkey Flatliner Pro, giving 7 9vDC 200mA outputs to pedals etc, plus a 15vDC 200mA output for the CAE boost, and 9VAC to one of the Mini Effect Gizmos; the rest of the pedals etc are fed from a Custom Audio Electronics MC403 power system, which gives me two 9VAC outlets (one for a MEG, the other not in use), 4 18VDC outlets (one not in use, the other three for the Xotic EP booster and the two Fulltone pedals) and 10 9VDC outlets, for everything else. I'm using 23 separate isolated power outputs in total in the system.

Power inlet is via a (blue) Powercon input on the rear panel; there are also two (white) Powercon outputs on the back for the two heads. The PB4x4 and the CAE MC403 are mounted on the rear rails of the rack, to save space and to make it possible to fit the whole thing into 8U. There is one rear-facing unit of rack space left - if I expand it with another rack unit I can move the rack tuner to the rear panel and put the other processor on the front in its place.

Sounds like fun! I look forward to seeing the results!

The build is all finished, and sounds awesome. Couple of minor wiring gremlins to iron out, but I've built up a few presets now. I find I'm using my digital multi-effects processors less than ever before - just using the Carbon Copy pedals for delay is such a cool sound.

Changes to the detailed description above: I was having issues with the cables too and from the Palmer Y-Box (nothing to do with the unit itself, but it wouldn't fit on the sliding shelf so I had to have three long cable runs to it) so I took it out and am using a simple Y-cable instead to feed the two Carbon Copy pedals. Also, I did take the expansion route and plumbed my Digitech GSP1101 into the spare slot - while the chorus and delays etc don't sound as good as the TC, the reverbs are slightly better sounding IMO (genuine Lexicon chip in it) and it does a very cool Rotary effect, which is lacking on the G Major II. I've also programmed a fairly convincing shimmer effect into it - saves having to fork out for (and find space for) a Strymon Lex and Blue Sky Reverb!

Not at home at the moment, but I'll try and get some pictures of it all on Friday.

OK, here are the pics (excuse crappy cellphone pictures - camera batteries were flat). First the pedalboard with new shiny blue RJM MasterMind:



Rack view from the front:



Lower pedal shelf:



Upper pedal shelf:

Lower pedal shelf from above:



Upper pedal shelf from above:



And the rig as a whole:



The rig sounds great - hopefully get some video footage shot soon. Looking forward to taking this rig out live... next gig is February 18th.

Wow!!! That's a lot of stuff (and a lot of RJM stuff) in a small rack. Let's hear it now!

You must be one hell of a tetris player

Hoping to shoot some footage / record some clips on Sunday. It'll probably only be the live mics, as I've moved out of my studio so I can paint it next week! Although I might persuade myself to run it back into the studio and put the speakers back in the iso cabs.



I'm not bad, yeah

I must say the blue Mastermind looks very nice on your board.

Definitely

Demo video here