I've just built the cleanest Axe-Fx rig you'll ever see (for a forum-member)! OCD

SOAWM

SOAWM

Inspired
Today I finished the rack of forum-member J-P. We've known each other through another forum and did some gear-trades in the past. Most recently he made the switch to Fractal and after seeing my selfmade patchbay and pedalboard, he wanted one too! Wednesday he delivered his rack to me and thursday evening I started working on it! Worked until 5 in the morning, tested everything this afternoon and the rack is ready to rock!

I really like super tight and tidy rigs and as this was my first project for someone besides me, I tried to push my limits! I think the rack came out great and to be honest I am really jealous. It's such a beautiful case and it provides the room to really think everything through. My rack is cramped into a 3U bag and I really had to puzzle with everything. I'll also post pictures of my rack into this thread.

I'll give some elaboration under each photo!

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As you can see the rack consists of a Line 6 G90 Wireless, Matrix GT1000FX, Axe-Fx II, Patchbay and a 1U drawer for the transmitters.

The patchay from left to right:

- Powercon: Power in
- Powercon: Power out (to power a active wedge for exemple)
- Ethercon: MFC-101
- Jack: Pedal out from Axe (for the possibility of 5 expression pedals)
- Speakon/jack: Matrix out 1
- Speakon/jack: Matrix out 2
- XLR: FOH 1
- XLR: FOH 2
- Jack: to patch G90 to front input
- USB: computer connection

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Cable routing as seen from the front. Fun fact: I didn't know that the speakon/jack combination sockets were pcb-mounted. The lugs were far to small to solder thick speaker cable directly, so I had to go McGyver-style. Luckily I had some veroboard so I made my own mini-pcb for each lug.

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Cable routing from the back

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I used a three-way IEC-splitter for powering all the devices. Trimmed to the right size and used right angled plugs for the G90 and Matrix. Since the Axe-Fx was further to the back I could use the original cable/plug.

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Cable management to the right

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Cable management to the left

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Look how beautiful

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I forgot to connect one cable from the Matrix, but you get the picture of how the total picture looks!


If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm sure J-P will post more pictures of his whole setup when he gets the chance!
 
jakel said:
Very cool. Great work!
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Thanks man! It was hard to measure everything out, but I'm really happy with the results. The pictures don't justify how it looks in person, I should try to take some decent non-cellphone pictures! I wished I had to room to use a rack like that myself.
 
Very Nice 6 clear rack and work !!

I don't see any Furman-like device , I had several problems in the past with electric flow issues (not on my Axe ) that literally fried my gear , so may I suggest You to take a look around for something like that ...

Anyway GRAT WORK :razz
 
Noriuky73 said:
Very Nice 6 clear rack and work !!

I don't see any Furman-like device , I had several problems in the past with electric flow issues (not on my Axe ) that literally fried my gear , so may I suggest You to take a look around for something like that ...

Anyway GRAT WORK :razz
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Thank you for your comment! The electricity isn't that bad here in Belgium and to be honest I don't see the added value of a high-end Furmann when you're a hobby player. If I'd gig regularly I'd look into it, but I know the places where I currently play have clean electricity. The owner of the 6U rack has just sold his Furmann, but he should be good normally!
 
cool job...and nice cabling also! Looks great ;)
I have a 12 space rack that I insert my AxeII into for bigger shows (when I want to drag out the heavy load) that I have cabled up nicely. I am debating on grabbing another 6 space rack to do something similar.....thanks for getting my GAS going again....hah
 
Objector said:
Thank you for your comment! The electricity isn't that bad here in Belgium and to be honest I don't see the added value of a high-end Furmann when you're a hobby player. If I'd gig regularly I'd look into it, but I know the places where I currently play have clean electricity. The owner of the 6U rack has just sold his Furmann, but he should be good normally!
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You' re totally right !
It's all about the frequency of gigging out in unknown places ... ;(
 
GuitarMan86 said:
cool job...and nice cabling also! Looks great ;)
I have a 12 space rack that I insert my AxeII into for bigger shows (when I want to drag out the heavy load) that I have cabled up nicely. I am debating on grabbing another 6 space rack to do something similar.....thanks for getting my GAS going again....hah
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You know what I would do in your situation? Get a nice slick 2U bag for your Axe-Fx and make a patchbay in the back. Make another patchbay for your bigger rack with power-amp etc. that you use for playing out and make simple patch cables to connect the necessary stuff. At home and studio you have your Axe in a convenient package and from live you just position it on top of the other 6U rack.

I don't know whether this is viable for you as I don't know your setup or how often you play or move the gear. But if I had a bigger rack, this would be my approach!
 
Very dangerous to leave your powercon terminations exposed like that. Those are designed for an enclosure, not an open panel.
 
Gorgeous job! Even nicer than my own (grrr!), but one question: are you sure that audio lines are far enough away from AC Power? Can't truly tell from the photos...
 
funny_polymath said:
Gorgeous job! Even nicer than my own (grrr!), but one question: are you sure that audio lines are far enough away from AC Power? Can't truly tell from the photos...
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I tried to cross them as much as possible. In my my own rackbag I don''t have interference of the powerlines and everything is scrambled together in comparison to the 6u case. I don't have all the equipment and cables at home to check everything out and couldn't get to our rehearsal space today with the case. So everything will be tested by the owner as we agreed. If it turns out he has interference I just rewire it! ;) But fingers crossed.
 
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