Thinking about moving my pedals to a rack... pros/cons?

thebigcheese

"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
I've started being a little to obsessed with pedals lately and I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't be better to think about moving to a rack system. Most of my pedals are true bypass, so that's not really the issue. Mostly it would be nice to have my pedals somewhere I won't accidentally bump the knobs and a switching system that will let me engage several pedals at once. Plus, I guess I could think about swapping some of them out for rack effects, which might solve some of the potential problems I am about to raise.

First, I use a Nova Delay. Generally, I only really use one preset on there, but I do need to change the tempo for a couple of songs. Since it doesn't have MIDI, I would still need to have access to it. I suppose a G-Major would solve that and could also replace the EQ and reverb units on my board. I also use a POG2 and I will actually need to move through presets on that. I don't know of any rack units that do quite what that does, but as long as I could just push the preset button, that would be fine. The only other change-related issue is my tremolo pedal, which, if I start using it more, I imagine I would need to change settings on that as I go for different songs. I don't think the G-Major has one of those...

Second, why are all the control systems (Voodoo Labs Ground Control, for instance) so expensive? They don't really do all that much to begin with, as far as I can tell. Am I just missing something? Do they allow you to have pedals in front of the amp and in the FX loop through the same system?

TC's G-system is appealing to me, though it only has 4 FX loops and I'm not sure how it would work with pedals before the amp and in the FX loop. I use a lot of their FX anyway, so it could probably take the place of most of my FX loop (except my Supa-Trem). On the other hand, the Voodoo Labs Ground Control system provides more loops through the rack portion, so it might work better.

How do people normally handle these sorts of things?

Here's a list of my FX for reference (in order):
Line 6 wireless, TC Polytune, Philosopher's Tone, POG2, Vortex Flanger, Mastotron, Decimator->Amp->Supa-Trem, Boss EQ, Nova Delay, Hall of Fame Reverb. I also have a channel switcher on there (the amp is an Orange TH30, by the way). Thanks.
 
Well, that works great if you have a tech, but we are not nearly famous enough for me to justify that. Nor am I good enough, honestly... I need a solution I can manage myself.
 
Just kidding with ya.

Have you seen David Gilmore's FX set up? everything within a rack.

Check out THIS site for good reading and major tips!
 
That web site is crazy! I've never seen a place so dedicated to a single artist's tones... He does use a lot of gear, though, so I guess that makes sense. I have been watching the videos Premier Guitar videos where they talk to a guitarist's tech about their rig and show how it's all set up. Very informative... it's incredible how much money they must spend just hooking everything up - probably just as much as they spent on the gear!
 
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