Had one of these as a kid back in the 80s, LOVED IT. Made for an awesome bedroom metal setup, worked great direct into a 4 track. I sold it in the 90s because I was stupid. Bought another one around 2008, still have it, still love it.

Famously used by one Kurt Cobain. From Nirvana!

That Mesa Boogie looks boss.

This welcome thread has caused me to remember how "rack unit" was like a total dealbreaker when I was an ignorant teenage indie snob circa 1993.
If somebody had a stack of rack units in a box on stage we'd sneer or maybe just exit the venue.
LCD screens on an amp? It was just the epitome of what we considered lame back then. That seems silly to me now.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:47 am That Mesa Boogie looks boss.

This welcome thread has caused me to remember how "rack unit" was like a total dealbreaker when I was an ignorant teenage indie snob circa 1993.
If somebody had a stack of rack units in a box on stage we'd sneer or maybe just exit the venue.
LCD screens on an amp? It was just the epitome of what we considered lame back then. That seems silly to me now.

I felt the same way & I think contextually it was a fair assessment even if there were exceptions. Most of the dudes playing rack rigs in those days were fucking wankers wanting to be the next guitar hero and not actually making any music that resonated.

Let's also not forget that included w/ those racks were almost always those awful digitech units that usually were dialed-in badly by inexperienced dudes.

All that being said, I get the personal growth component of this too and try to go in w/ an open mind. I think these days if I saw a spaceship parked on top of someone's cab I'd be more intrigued than derisive.

Garth wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:58 am

Teacher's Pet wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:47 am That Mesa Boogie looks boss.

This welcome thread has caused me to remember how "rack unit" was like a total dealbreaker when I was an ignorant teenage indie snob circa 1993.
If somebody had a stack of rack units in a box on stage we'd sneer or maybe just exit the venue.
LCD screens on an amp? It was just the epitome of what we considered lame back then. That seems silly to me now.

I felt the same way & I think contextually it was a fair assessment even if there were exceptions. Most of the dudes playing rack rigs in those days were fucking wankers wanting to be the next guitar hero and not actually making any music that resonated.

I think it was more of an obligatory move, the same way the average bass player now has 8 pedals on their board. I liked a lot of hardcore/metalcore/emo back then and every band had large racks for.. distortion? boosted distortion? occasional clean/reverb? Why did every player need 6 rack units..

The Indie Snob thing is an interesting subject IMO. Awhile back I bought this guitar:




My taste is really more classic Fender than shiny shredder but I just thought this thing was so damn pretty. Anyway my BFF and I were talking about "what if someone had shown up with a guitar like that back in the late 90s at the Middle East (indie rock HQ in Cambridge, back in the day)? We would've laughed them out of the room."

And we were wondering if that's just a generational thing, like do young indie rockers now care about any of this stuff or was it just that era?

Anyway back to rack preamps.....any New Englanders remember the East Coast Music Mall down in Danbury, CT? Sometime in the 80s I was in there, looking at a Lee Jackson preamp. I go up to the counter, ask hair farmer salesdude if I can try it out, he looks at me like "ugh, I guess", gets off his chair, plugs it into a power amp/speaker....and then proceeds to spend the next 10 minutes playing all his hottest licks, staring at me the whole time like "aren't you going to bow before my awesomeness?"

After standing politely for what seemed like an eternity I just asked "erm......do you think maybe I could try it?"

Poor guy looked so sad as he grudgingly handed me the guitar.

I haven't been able to try it yet, but I finally purchased a Model T preamp pedal. I'd prefer to sound like Wino in The Obsessed moreso than Sunn O)))).

Also, I have an old Washburn A20V that's my favorite to play. It has the maligned Wonderbar trem. I'm a little out of the loop, but I think local indie rockers are required to use an MIM Jazzmaster.

Mmmm, this is my kind of thread. Def been through a few weird old rack preamps looking for my sound. I'll take pics of my rig and post ASAP.

This Model T preamp is badass. I ran it into a 100W 6L6 power amp, and it could cause a cataclysm. It sounds like the real deal.

I like those old Mesa ones, as well.

Not yet. But I have a Gyraf G9 valve mic preamp on its way. It has a DI, and if you think that I am not going to push my bassman with it then guess again : )

OT but what was the original "Fearsome and Mammoth" thread? Someone with a better memory than me must remember.