Rebirth of Rack gear?

[Dante]

I feel like we're on the verge of a full circle resurgence back to rack gear.

Kemper has a rack version, Fractal, Axe FX, 11-Rack, Fryette makes a 2u tube amp called the Power Station, Synergy has a rack unit with two ports for their modules....and many more. There's actually new stuff out that mounts in a rack - WHAT?!?

My point is, it's not going away anytime soon. I did not expect that, I thought racks were dead

It's reassuring, to be sure. Let's hope sometime soon that the kids in Guitar Center will understand what we're saying when we ask 'do you have any rack power amps?'

I just get     a blank stare.....like for the last 20+ years or so

What a long strange trip it's been 

[Harley Hexxe]

I don't know about a rebirth Dante,

  Rack gear never actually died, it just fell out of favor with guitar players because it was too complicated for most guitar players #1, and #2, it can get big and heavy when the system gets powerful enough and flexible enough, that you need to hire a road crew to move it around every day. Most of us can't afford that.

  Steve Vai has never stopped using rack gear, but he has trimmed his racks down to a much smaller scale when he's on the road. He uses his Axe FX with a rack full of Synergy modules and the last time I saw that rack he had 10 preamp modules in it. That's just one example and there are many other artists who have racks in their backlines too, but they're hidden behind their amps or behind the stages.

  Racks are far from dead IMHO

[rnolan]

Interesting topic, covers many years of guitar playing history (well for me).  I was an early prepotent of, the majority of the tone happens in the "how you attack/play the strings" and the "tube" preamp, and you could use a lighter weight SS power amps etc. and then attaching a micro processor so you had 128 programs/patches genius...

Removing the pedal dance and having all you need in a midi controlled rack device even better.

For me, a rack setup just makes sense and works.  But the fashion moves on. And I'm sure there are many pedals people like (now turning into VSTs' ??).

Are rack rigs coming back??, well for me I never looked back, they just make good sense.

So my current live rack is a 4 RU (MP-2, Alesis Midiverb4, B200s, stereo cab (2 x 100w Lorantz spks), ADA MXC pedal pack. Heaven on a stick...