I propose a ROTM (Y)(E)... (picstory ensues...)

[shotgunn]

Earlier this year I decided my rig needed an overhaul. I am a big fan of MORE IS DEFINITELY MORE!!!!!! However, when my previous band (now no more) was gigging my back simply could not handle moving my rig. Call me a wuss, but my 12 space (at one point I had a Mesa 22 space shock rack!!!) and 4 amp heads (RG-100, MK-IIC+, MK-III, and Carvin Legacy) was a bit much even for an insane dude like myself.

So I opted for the Mesa Triaxis and my trusty 2:90 in an 8 space rack. Long story short, I want more gear in LESS space.

So I racked my brains... Ha, no pun intended!!!! I realized that except for my 2:90 and my Triaxis all of my rack gear was less than 8" or 9" Which is 1/2" of the depth of my Road Ready 12 space shock rack.

So I drew up a way to saw it in half depthwise and came up with a logical layout for where each piece of gear would reside based on its depth.

So I finally got around to doing something with this project this week. The rack is finished all I have to do is modify the wheel plate.

Geez, I said So quite a bit...

Bill of Materials:

Penn-Elcom Hybrid Aluminum extrusions - $20
Penn-Elcom Medium Latches $20
Penn-Elcom Corner Braces $8
Extra un-needed stuff to meet the $100 minimum order $60 (BOGUS!!!!!!)

Total on debit Mastercard roughly $130

Cramming 24 spaces of rack gear into a 12 space rack PRICELESS!!!!!!!

Here are my pics...

Here are some tools that I needed...

Latch template dimensions...

Latch template complete...

God's greatest gift to woodworkers, the Festool OF 1400 EBQ router. Superior dust collection, second to NONE...

Template taped down with double sided tape...

Not strong enough for this job, curse you ABS laminate...

Benny SCREW YOOOOOOOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hole is complete...

Cutout removed. Honest to God, I did not vaccum between photos. This router is just simply amazing!!!

Latches laid out...

Miter saw for extrusion miters, circular saw for sawing rack in half. Freud Diablo blades, cut like a hot knife in butter!!!

Outer shell successfully sawn through...

Removing foam adhesive...

Outer shell slid down...

Outer shell separated. Can anybody see what is wrong with this picture???

Inner shell...

New extrusions laid out...

Clamp rack lid on to ensure proper extrusion placement...

Both halves with extrusions temporarily installed...

In order to secure the free hanging back half of each rack side I will suspend it with carriage bolts 3" from outer edge of rack...

Center punch to prevent drill bit wandering...

3/8" drill bit used for holes...

First carriage nut, bolt, and washer assembly...

First half complete...

Second half complete...

I somewhat loosely tightened these, I did not want it to be super rigid. This was done to retainsome sense of shock absorption. It's pretty much unneccessary since this part really doesn't even bare a load.

I was in a hurry to get to work and I forgot to take the pic of the rack all latched up.

Some of you might be thinking, "This is cool, but how the hell is it gonna stand up on just two wheels???" I'm way ahead of you...

I have drawn up a way to cut the wheel plate so that I may have 3 casters on each half. I will post more pics of that when I can. This stupid holiday is gonna hold me up a bit...

And the most important part of all, my rig blueprint...

Oh and since I drew this up back in February, I have gotten into the MIDI guitar world. My rig now includes 2 AXON AX-50's and my MacBook Pro. I have yet to decide which DAW and plugin suite I want to use for my sample library.

I know I can't nominate myself, but geeze, is this not the Rig of the Month, Year, Eternity?!?!?!?!?!?!

Merry Christmas,

shotgunn

 

[Isan]

wow

 

[BigPhi84]

Holy crap!

 

[Arminius]

That is impressive. I would nominate you.

 

[-K4G-]

Crazy...

 

[PirateMetalTroy]

Admittedly extremely impressive, but don't those carriage bolts totally ruin the point of the shockmount?

I suppose if you already had the case sitting around and had no other use for it, then good on ya.

Post some pics with all your gear in it!!!

 

[shotgunn]

The original shock mounts are still in tact. I didn't tighten the nuts around the inner shell. There is still some room for movement. That being said, the shock absorbers that they use are pretty freakin' stiff. Not to mention that I have never once even remotely come close to dropping my rig or any gear.

Also, the gear is being held in the rack by the rack ears and screws up front. This is bearing the load. So if the rear part of the rack is slightly more rigid than the front it really doesn't make much difference.

Shock absorption in racks is pretty much a marketing gimmick. If you drop your rack down a few stairs, something is very likely to break.

So no, IMHO I don't feel that I have negated the shock mounts.

Hopefully soon I will load it up with gear.

Man, it's gonna be SWEET!!!!

shotgunn

Admittedly extremely impressive, but don't those carriage bolts totally ruin the point of the shockmount?

I suppose if you already had the case sitting around and had no other use for it, then good on ya.

Post some pics with all your gear in it!!!

 

[Apophis]

wow, just wow looks so awesome

 

[Wi77iam]

Impressive..

but, no blinky lights = no win.
so hurry up and get it filled with awesome gear.. and lights

 

[Bevo]

Nice work, looking forward to seeing it done.

 

[shotgunn]

Impressive..

but, no blinky lights = no win.
so hurry up and get it filled with awesome gear.. and lights

Oh there will be pleny of blinking lights. I may even put cool unnecessary blue lights. Hopefully I can get my gear in there before the end of the year!!!

Tomorrow I should be able to finish the caster plate.

I may have to buy some more George l's cable to finish the wiring.

Shotgunn

 

[Hollowway]

You're Macgyver! You are the king of all things mod, no doubt. Make sure and post pics of the final rig in all its glory!

 

[TemjinStrife]

Well done! I can't imagine hauling a 22-space shock rack and amp heads around... my bass rig breaks down into a 50-lb rack case, a 50-lb 2x10, and a 70-lb 2x12, and it's bad enough to move.

If you ever decide to rid yourself of the IIC+ because of how awesome this rig is, let me know

 

[shotgunn]

Ladies and Gentlemen, somebody call 'America's got Talent'!!!!!! We have our selves a comedian here at ss.org!!!!!!!!!!!

JK.... Dude, I literally haven't seen or played it in the 3 years since I have put my Triaxis rig together. I brought it out the other day since I had to mod this rack... I was practically in tears as I played. (And it even needs new tubes DESPERATELY!) I have said this about MANY pieces of gear... I will NEVER sell this head. It has none of the cool options, no silum-class, only 60 watts, no GEQ... But man does it sound sweet. Not to mention it was basically a wedding present from my wife.

I also paid only $1100 for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shotgunn

Well done! I can't imagine hauling a 22-space shock rack and amp heads around... my bass rig breaks down into a 50-lb rack case, a 50-lb 2x10, and a 70-lb 2x12, and it's bad enough to move.

If you ever decide to rid yourself of the IIC+ because of how awesome this rig is, let me know

 

[Fred]

Jesus Christ... I genuinely have no idea what you just did but the outcome sure looks impressive, haha.

 

[7slinger]

ambitious, and impressive

 

[TemjinStrife]

Yeah, IIC+s (even the non-GEQ ones) fetch a LOT of money these days, especially since a lot of guys bought a Mark V and realized it didn't quite live up to the sound they remember from the IIC+.

Luckily I avoided that trap.

 

[shotgunn]

I took a tour of the Mesa factory in April of '04. It was amazing, still, but they use PCB's and therefor have lost a LOT of tone. Randall Smith claims that his PCB layouts utilize stray capacitance to simulate to a hand wired amp. We all know they haven't sounded the same for about 15 years now.

The worst thing they did was change the Rectos to 3 channels. I bought one back in 2000. I ended up selling it on ebay for a loss of $200 (just outside of the G.C. return policy, DOH!!!)

JP's MKV sounded pretty sweet on the new DT album. Even though they destroyed the sound of the album in mastering due to the ever increasing Loudness War.

Tangent....

I'm about to cut the caster plate for the rack now... That is if I can ever get off of the dang toilet........

shotgunn

Yeah, IIC+s (even the non-GEQ ones) fetch a LOT of money these days, especially since a lot of guys bought a Mark V and realized it didn't quite live up to the sound they remember from the IIC+.

Luckily I avoided that trap.

 

[Rick]

I can't even follow that diagram.

 

[TemjinStrife]

See, I disagree about PCBs sucking tone. My Budda sounds great as a PCB amp, and the Stiletto Series IIs and Lonestars are fantastic new Mesas. Their bass stuff is great too... the Walkabout series are fantastic-sounding and very loud for such a small package. All PCBs.

I don't buy the PCB versus point-to-point argument. However, I do know that the original Recto design (the one the 2ch Duals were based off of) was originally aimed at George Lynch as a lead amp. It was only when they changed the Recto tone stack to play into the nu-metal/down-tuned craze that things started to go south.

Also, TMI on the toilet thing