Rack Mounting a Marshall Amp?

V

virtuocity

New member
Hi, newbie question...

Say I bought an Amp like this:

marshall_mg250dfx-dw.jpg


Or a head like this:

images


Could I take the amp out of the case (in the first image instance, obviously disconnecting the amp from the speakers) and rack mount them?

I want a rack mountable guitar amp for my home studio to run into my audio interface.

Would this be too powerful for the interface?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
virtuocity said:
I want a rack mountable guitar amp for my home studio to run into my audio interface.

Would this be too powerful for the interface?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the mechanics of racking the amp, but if you go from the amp's speaker outputs into the interface, you are heading into a mess of trouble. If the amp has a line out or DI out, you will be okay with that. However a significant part of an amp's sound comes from the speaker.
 
If you are thinking of racking a valve amplifier you will need a lot of space.

A quick stab with a guessing stick shows that my modest 20 watter (EL34s) would need 3U rack space. They also get very hot so anything else in the rack would need to be under it.

Then, amps are heavy and you would almost certainly need a rear support bracket.

As Gekko said, you MUST run a valve* amp into a load and then arrange some way to "pick off" the -10dBu or so you need to feed the interface. Mr G also says speakers matter. Yes, you can get power soaks that mimic to some degree speaker properties. The best of these is said to be the Sequis Motherload (rack mounts IIRC!) but tis expensive. There are cheaper and worse of course (life innit!).

*I would also, for reasons we need not go into here, put a load on a transistor amp is it is to be racked on a permanent basis.

Dave.
 
If you aren't planning on travelling with the amp rack, I wouldn't bother. It isn't very easy to do. For touring, the amps are left in the case and are shock mounted. basically, the feet are taken off and those screws are used to mount them to a plate. It's all very expensive and only necessary for touring.

If your concerns are completely asthetic, there are much better ways to waste your time.

Like has been said, you can't use a guitar amp the same way you use a Pod. The amp will need to be plugged into a cabinet, or at least something that simulates a cabinet electrically. You cannot connect the speaker output to your interface without the fire depeartment getting involved. If the amo has a line output, you can use that, but it will sound like crap.

If you aren't going to mic a cabinet, you will actually be better off with an amp simulator than you would using the line out because a good deal of the tone comes from the speaker.
 
Thanks all, particularly Farview who answered questions I hadn't even posted but had been thinking about. Great forum.
 
marshall rack pre JMP 1
marshall_jmp-1_jcs_2.jpg


marshall rack power amp 9005
m9005m9005m9005.jpg


into the cab of your choice. perhaps a 1960A
DV019_Jpg_Regular_605013.306_angled_R.jpg
 
It does sound like a question a guitar tech might ask for a tour. As for studios, the head is what matters. I worked in one studio where they had a slew of guitar heads from Orange to Bogner, Marshall, Kepner and more. There were at least twenty in a wall of shelves and everything was run through a patching system so the guitarist could relax in the control room and be all there you go. A lot of guitarists during the eighties brought a pre-programmed Pod and worked through that. I would leave the Marshall alone for now unless you have a really good reason to start tinkering. Stick the amp in a room, crank that puppy up and put a mic near it and far away to two separate tracks. Killer.
Rod Norman
Engineer
 
Rod Norman said:
A lot of guitarists during the eighties brought a pre-programmed Pod and worked through that.
Click to expand...
They weren't using a Pod, unless they were all time travelers. IF they were time travelers, they would have known when to trade in the spandex for a flannel shirt.
 
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I have had a Line 6 PODxt Pro in my rack that I like for a while.
Have thought about buying a 2-channel power amp and a couple of cabs to go with it.
I use it a lot for recording and playing.
A lot of nice adjustable amp-sims!!!

0616442826d9bbdb65967e693258411e_c59f_k3dg.png
 
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