Steve Stallings
From:
Houston/Cypress, Texas
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Posted 23 Sep 2002 8:29 am |
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My trials with my new rack setup are over. My trusty old Evans amps have been retired to the picking room for good.
Folks who have read my posts about this will recall that the original setup for steel was as follows:
Furman Power conditioner
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre
TC Electronics M-One Multi effects unit
BBE 862 Exciter
VHT 2/90/2 power amp in separate rack with some rack stuff for regular guitar.
All going into two Pacific Cabs with 15BW.
I had some initial problems at the first gig. I kept hearing what I perceived as a high frequency distortion. No one else could hear it, but it drove me crazy.
I bought another preamp, a profex II and tried this with just the power amp. This sounded great, but I really did like the Mesa Boogie Studio Pre better as a pre amp.
The effects on the Profex II, while quite good, don't quite measure up to the more modern 24 bit TC electronics unit. Besides, the TC has a delay tap function which is invaluable.
I went back to the Mesa Boogie setup as originally configured. I played this at ear splitting volumes and confirmed that yes... some type of high freq artifact was present.
I tried varying the input level to the TC unit but that did not work. I tried using the TC first in line like Johann recommends, but I still heard this artifact/distortion.
I took the BBE out of the picture......
YES! Something in the BBE was causing the weird high freq distortion. Once this was removed, voila! Tonal Earvana 
Final (this week  ) setup:
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre
TC Electronics M-One
VHT 2/90/2 stereo power amp
All in a shockmount rack. This is heavy but I generally don't have to carry it other than to put it on the stand. If you have to carry this setup any distance, you'll need a dolly.
I can not say enough good things about the VHT power amp. Utterly clean and powerful.
I am playing this Saturday night at the Waller County Fair in Hempstead if anyone local would like to check it out.
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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas
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