Can Today’s Pedals NAIL 1980’s Rack Tones?
Great guitar tones were ubiquitous in the 1980’s, especially in Pop Music. However, the 80’s tones that we know and love were generated in GIANT refrigerator rack systems that are almost extinct today.
In this video, I’m re-creating 1980’s Rack tones with my 17″ x 10″ Wet/Dry/Wet pedalboard. If you want to learn more about Wet/Dry/Wet racks and pedalboards, check out the videos linked below!
Understanding Wet/Dry/Wet Signal Path:
Wet/Dry/Wet EXPLAINED:
The Easiest Wet/Dry/Wet Rig:
Table of Contents
00:00 Introduction
01:25 My WDW Signal Path
03:41 Our Goal
04:25 Dry Tone
04:55 Clean Compressed Tone
07:14 Compressed Tri-Stereo Chorus Tone
08:45 Stereo Delay Tone
11:14 Where’s the DIRT?
12:08 Medium-Gain Tone
14:08 High-Gain Tone
17:21 MAX Gain Lead Tone
17:51 Bonus 80s Tones!
21:54 Final Thoughts/Conclusion
Gear Used in this Video:
RJM PBC6X – https://bit.ly/3ykau1n
RAF Mirage Compressor – https://bit.ly/3krMunY
TS Mini – https://amzn.to/38bdnXN
Suhr Riot – https://reverb.com/p/suhr-riot-mini
Custom Audio Japan Twin Tremolo – https://bit.ly/2WqyUJr
The Lilwave Chorus – https://www.redseven-amplification.com/pedals/lilwave/
Boss FV-300L – https://www.boss.info/us/products/fv-300l/
Suhr Line-Out Box – https://bit.ly/3gxCR6l
Source Audio Collider – https://amzn.to/3ygRJMl
GFI Cabzeus – https://bit.ly/3jelitG
⬇BUY VERTEX PEDALS⬇
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⬇ONE-ON-ONE TONE CONSULTING⬇
Private Tone Consulting
⬇PODCAST⬇
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⬇DIY BUFFER DIAGRAMS & TEMPLATES⬇
https://bit.ly/3gu02hU
⬇RECOMMENDED MATERIALS⬇
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https://bit.ly/3kpcFf0
//pedalboards//
https://bit.ly/3B9DVFk
//power supply//
https://bit.ly/3B9aD9D
//cables//
https://bit.ly/3jktF7b
//cable & pedal management//
https://bit.ly/3mCJxUe
//pedalboard tools//
https://bit.ly/3B7AEGq
#WetDryWet #GuitarPedals #GuitarRacks
#Todays #Pedals #NAIL #1980s #Rack #Tones
Originally posted by UC0lvt4Tpj5xI4Cfzfz4SHzg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7DTDT7inaY
What was your favorite 1980's tone in this video? Let us know in the comments below!
Table of Contents
00:00 Introduction
01:25 My WDW Signal Path
03:41 Our Goal
04:25 Dry Tone
04:55 Clean Compressed Tone
07:14 Compressed Tri-Stereo Chorus Tone
08:45 Stereo Delay Tone
11:14 Where's the DIRT?
12:08 Medium-Gain Tone
14:08 High-Gain Tone
17:21 MAX Gain Lead Tone
17:51 Bonus 80s Tones!
21:54 Final Thoughts/Conclusion
Can pro rack effects take 26 dbu input without clipping? I don’t think pedals can do that. If you mic and use preamps the input into effects may be too hot for pedals. I think some racks may even have an analog preamp built in.
sounds amazing!! Do you always have the compressor on?
Sounds so thin
a tuning device would have been less annoying, dude
Got that pedalboard still? Wanna sell it?
Great Job Man Thankyou ❤❤❤
Never heard again the sound of the Rocktron Intellifex
No.
Your playing is fine
Your diction is great for us with hearing issues
That Anderton Strat sounds incredible. You nailed the 80's tones.
The answer is no, you will never be able to recreate the sound of the racks tones with pedals.
fat
7:52 20:53
As soon as you engaged the partical collider with the chorus I was instantly taken back to that era.
Does this compact rig have spillover from preset to preset? That was always one of the most frustrating parts to my midi pedalboards…. I had great sounding presets with my pedals, but my delay and reverb would always cut out when switching presets.
The answer is no.
I still run a small rack. I have a little 3 space technicians rack from an old Job. It has little rubber feet and sits perfectly on the top of a typical Marshall Tube style head. My company was moving to Mexico and they threw away a ton of Technical gear. I was able to get a bunch of cool electronics repair supplies and I even got a real Variac from the 50s. I have a RockTron Expression and a BBE 842 Sonic Maximizer in the rack. I just purchased a Digitech GSP 21 Legend because that was the processor I was running in the early 90s. I also run a Pedaltrain Pro with about 12 pedals on it with an ES-8 switcher. I've tried to delete the rack but something about the RockTron gear coupled with the BBE is a perfect finish before splitting to stereo into poweramps. I think it's the RockTron EQ and Compression that I just can't live without. The BBE is absolutely essential too. They're subtle but you miss them when they're gone. I use two 4x12s with two regular guitar heads. My 80s tone is the real deal. The rack is here to stay.
does it mean the chorus effect went in from front of the amp and not is effect loop style?
What guitar pick were you using? Whatever it is works really well with a strat type guitar. I find for nailing those 80s strat tones requires using a pick with the right thickness, material used in manufacturing, and pick shape.
This was one of my favorite videos. Really like this era and great playing as well.
Have you heard of Soda Stereo from Argentina? They were big on this era and had this specific sound as well.
P.S. Might grab that Lil'Wave instead of a digital simulation.
Please stop using the bubble pop sound effect. It's distracting and annoying.
Since there's a lot of rig talk, I'll share my chain:
Source Audio Zio > ADA MP-1 > stereo outs to 2 DBX 160A > DBX 1 > Fulltone TERC, DBX 2 > Mixer, TERC OUT 1> TC2290, TERC OUT 2> Yamaha SPX 90. Stereo Outs of 2290 go into mixer, Stereo Outs of SPX 90 go to Mixer. Now there's 3 channels: 1 has TERC>2290 stereo delay. 2 has TERC>SPX 90 stereo detune. (if you bypass the delay you get the TERC in parallel and series with detune) 3. Is Compressed dry signal that can sit quietly in the center. The Mixer Main Stereo Outs with the 3 mixed channels then go to a Lexicon PCM 81 for the final touch, concert hall reverb. The balanced stereo signal goes into a UAD interface. One thing I want to try now that I have 2 SPX 90s, is to run each TERC out into an SPX, each with slightly different pitches and see how crazy that sounds. I imagine some tweaking will be in order to make it musical.
Where's the micro pitch after the chorus!? The horror!! Could have turned the rate up a bit to compensate for that… At any rate- Good job milking those pedals though, sounded good for what you had. Also appreciate the great explanation of the signal chain. Those with rack gear and a line level mixer can build off this.
Close but no cigar, You just can't beat the PCM's and Ultra Harmonizer's..
Also what pick were you using?
I wish someone would cover guitar picks used by the studio pros back in that era.
There's not much out there on the topic.
What pickups are in the Anderson ?
Why doesn't vertex come out with a pedal that is like the ADA MP-1 rack because most producers used the ADA MP-1 rack with the Furman PQ-4 on most of the 80's rock records. It would be real nice to have a small pedal that has both the ADA MP-1 rack and the Furman PQ-4 in one small pedal. Also the Empirical lab distressor was another very used rack unit that most producers would use on the mic'ed cabs which would be nice to make into a small pedal the empirical lab distressor. I know eric johnson used the MXR Flanger doubler rack unit which you can make a video lesson about how he used the MXR flanger doubler then went into an MXR 1500 delay flanger unit.
After seeing the signal route diagram I had stop and pick up the brain matter that exploded out of my head on to the floor… TOO COMPLICATED! I really wish there were a non-complicated foot pedal that combined 80's smooth distortion, delay and chorus with that certain sparkle and tight mid and bass tone like I get from my rack units. The BOSS ME70 actually comes fairly close…
80's tones are da best!!
I have a full 21unit rack, filled to the brim with classic rack gear, i even have 5 on top????
I am 20, never used a single pedal
I still have my Rack a Digitech DSP 2101 into a Marshall 9100 amp and 1960A cab, now I want something small and light. The bass rig had one or two SWR SM900 heads with a DBX 160A and an Ensoniq DP4, of course the bass rig of the day needed the Mu-Tron, SCF Chorus, Morley Bass Wah, and Boss Synth Bass pedal.
Just had YouTube playing on random whilst messing with my board and this came on…. Absolutely blown away with that Suhr Riot, definitely going on my board! I'm a sucker for Van Halen I or II tones!
Free plug… I've been doing a similar 2 drive set up with a J Rockett Archer and the Vertex Dynamic Distortion. It nails (At least I think it nails) the 80s Huffaker tone ????
Two questions: Of the 3 main rack choruses is a Tri Stereo type chorus, a TC 1210 stereo type chorus, or a Roland Dimension D more versatile? If I had to have just one do it all type, what would it be? Second, of the two main rack detunes, is a Yamaha SPX 90 or Eventide H3000 better?