Question: Rack gear and mounting it

[Learning]

I have never used rack gear before but am looking to clean up my floorspace. Most of the gigging I do is in venues with smaller areas for bands so lugging around a big pedal board is starting to bug me. I'm also sick of having 4 cables + amp channel pedal + power chords running out to my feet. The duct tape barely covers it all anymore!

Anyways I'm looking for something that will cover all of my "effect loop" effects as well as give me amp channel switching. The G-major looks to be the way to go, I also have a rack tuner + wireless.

The question I had was actually about rack cases. I know the units screw into the case at the front, as the case has screw mounts. But what supports the units at the back? Surely they don't just sit in there held up by the screws at the front? The weight of these things surely must make this impossible? Or is the idea to start at the bottom of the case and just stack them on top of each other?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

[Repner]

I've yet to mount my gear, but I've also wondered the same thing. I assume it's all right

[spacebard]

Yes the units are screwed in the case at the front only. The front panel of each unit is strong enough to support the weight of the unit, even a 6 spaces unit!

And it is better to start from the bottom and stack them on top of each other, not because of the weight but because it's easier to stack them this way instead of holding each unit and putting the screws at the same time. But you can also start from the top, the result will be the same.

[reguv760]

Or is the idea to start at the bottom of the case and just stack them on top of each other?

that's pretty much the idea... FX units, tuners, and some pre/power amps are light enough to be mounted without bottom support. There are some exceptions, like Mesa Boogie rackmount units as they're deeper than other similar rack units in which the case you stated above is kinda mandatory.
Unless of course you have some piece of gear that's as deep as rackmount servers, you might need front and back rack rails but that's whole another discussion about racks in general :P

Reg

[John01W]

Not dumb questions.

Hmmm....I would say it really doesn't matter which direction you start at as much. You don't want to do it that way because you don't want the chassis of the units touching each other for possiblities of ground loop hum. The units need to be isolated from each other(using plastic washers, or humfrees for the rack screws as well to isolate the unit from the rack rails).

The best way to mount the gear in the rack IMO is to put the rack on it's back so to speak and drop it in from above(not drop, you know what I mean). Have the face of the rack pointed up and the rack sitting on it's back. This way you can really tweak the spaces and move it around freely. Makes it very easy to install.

MOST of the time rack units can support themselves, but in some cases they sag a little bit and it's best for some units to have some rear supports, especially when moving them around(my old triaxis had a little sag that always made me nervous)

What I do in some cases is actually very simple...put some picks(or rubber feet) snugly between the units(make sure it doesn't move the units(rear), just so it's snug. It will keep the chassis from touching as long as the bottom unit it well supported.

Rear rack rails work great, but you will have to find rear supports that work well. Hope this helps.....

John

[chaos731]

Yeah...I think just about everybody has this question when they start looking at rack gear. It never seems like it's going to be strong enough, but generally speaking, rack units are made of very high-gauge steel...probably strong enough to support a medium-sized child, or two largish-dogs. Would ya believe several large turtles?

[DEADTUNES666]

Power amps tend to get hot, so you might want to leave the space above it empty and get a one space rack cover to place over the empty space...

[Learning]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have another question for you. I have a wireless system I am going to use also. However the antennas are on the back. It came with a rack mount kit, but will there be any signal loss or problems with the antennas around the back? I've seen kits that let you put the antenna on the front but I don't know how/where to start looking.

Cheers again!

[microdmitry]

Originally Posted by DEADTUNES666

Power amps tend to get hot, so you might want to leave the space above it empty and get a one space rack cover to place over the empty space...

This isn't that much of an issue, actually - most rack power amps have fans built in. There's another, less obvious issue, however - power amps have huge power transformers inside. These transformers radiate 60Hz in their close vicinity, so it's usually not a very good idea to place a high gain preamp directly underneath. FX units are usually OK - they deal with signal levels that are not as prone to interference.

[china]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

This isn't that much of an issue, actually - most rack power amps have fans built in. There's another, less obvious issue, however - power amps have huge power transformers inside. These transformers radiate 60Hz in their close vicinity, so it's usually not a very good idea to place a high gain preamp directly underneath. FX units are usually OK - they deal with signal levels that are not as prone to interference.

Good point! Along this same line, I've been told by some that not having spaces between your rack units is okay; because they are touching, the heat transfers through the metal faster and escapes faster (preventing overheating) rather than getting trapped in a dead space between units... any opinions on this?

[chaos731]

Originally Posted by china

Good point! Along this same line, I've been told by some that not having spaces between your rack units is okay; because they are touching, the heat transfers through the metal faster and escapes faster (preventing overheating) rather than getting trapped in a dead space between units... any opinions on this?

Basic thermodynamics would seem to corroborate that principal. It's effectively creating a "heat sink".