GT Rack Effects Benefits
It's easy to see there are many benefits of using Gerlt Technologies' custom rack effects. Just look how long this page is!!!
Get the rack effects you want, customized the way you want them
We have effects. Lots of them. Chances are good that we already build an effect that Compares To what you need. If not, we probably have other effects of the same type that would be good alternatives. There are many options for customizing our effects. An effect you wouldn't normally use might be just what you are looking for with one of our available customizations. Or perhaps you have a tweak in mind we don't have listed - let us know and we'll check it out and perhaps add it as another option.
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We can add switchable and adjustable options to the majority of our effects. Let's face it - some pedals are one-trick ponies. They do one thing, maybe really well, but it is still just that one type of sound. You can only use that sound so much, excellent as it may be. Do you take up space on your crowded pedalboard, or in our rack enclosure, for just that? Maybe. Suppose you could add an option that would give you some additional useful sounds out of that same effect with the flip of a switch. Wouldn't that be better? While we don't really recommend going "option crazy", many of our options can be configured as switchable, perhaps even on a footswitch for changes while you play. Others can make your one-trick pony's one sound into a setting on a new control knob, providing you with a range of adjustment on a previously fixed circuit feature. These options can be anything from barely noticeable all the way to making the effect sound like some other effect entirely. Those options usually cost only a fraction of the amount of a second effect and may take up little or no extra space. An example is that you might like the smooth, creamy fuzz produced by the "Tall Font" Sovtek Big Muff Pi. But by flipping a switch you could also get the more aggressive sound of the earlier Sovtek Red Army Overdrive, a rare and expensive pedal. We have those types of options for our effects.
You might now and then order a new pedal, planning to ship it off as soon as it arrives for a cool mod you've found out about, paying for shipping and modifications on top of the cost of the pedal. With GT, there's a good chance we already offer the mod and you can order the module with that mod already in place. The GT cost for getting the mod added to the module when it is built is generally lower than what you would pay to send a pedal out for modification. Some GT mods don't cost anything extra at all. They aren't mods when you can just build the circuit that way in the first place. It's good to have options, especially low-cost ones!
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Some of our modules have some pretty major customizations available. Entire portions of the circuit can be bypassed or replaced with a different sub-circuit, almost making them into different effects altogether. Like the vintage Marshall Bluesbreaker but wish it had Bass/Mid/Treble controls instead of just Tone? No problem. Wish your Big Muff had an input boost? No problem. These sorts of options often require some design work, and probably also changes to our circuit boards. But we have options like these for some effects ready to go.
Many of you are very knowledgeable about effects. You've gone through quite a number of them and know what you do and don't like. That experience may even get you down to the level of having certain types of components you prefer. Perhaps you prefer silicon over germanium transistors in your fuzz boxes, and just can't get enough of those BC109C metal can transistors. No problem, we can do that. Or maybe when it comes to overdrive clipping diodes, asymmetric red LED crunch sounds best to you. No problem, we can do that. Or perhaps, even though metal film resistors cause less noise, you just dig the "good noise" of carbon comp resistors in a vintage Tonebender circuit. We can do that, too. All these and more are examples of options available in our effects.

Maybe you've been Jonesing or GASing for a vintage Ibanez OD-9, one of the more difficult to find vintage pedals produced. You've only seen one for sale in your whole life, it was all beat up, and they still wanted over $1000 for it - way over. The clones you've seen don't use the same transistors as the original, so you don't know if they would sound right. What to do? One thing you could do is order an OD-9 Pi module from us. That's our version of that super-rare pedal, built with the same transistors used in the original, costing only a fraction of what an original goes for. Ours is brand new, and with that killer OD-9 sound. Options - we have a lot of them.
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There are a few vintage parts that have now become virtually unobtainable. Some others are headed that way, but are still available at premium prices. Others are available but increasingly difficult to find. We're always looking for those rare parts so we can provide them as options. We're often able to stock enough of many of them to stay ahead of demand. We also offer a choice of other parts that are more available. In fact, we often recommend them. It turns out many of those magical, vintage mojo parts don't have quite so much mojo as you may have been lead to believe. We believe our ears, and can usually offer substitutes that sound as much like a vintage pedal as a second one of those same vintage pedals would sound. Quite likely for a lower cost, too. When they sound different, we note it and you can decide. Different isn't always bad. What's the point? You probably guessed it already - more options so you can get what you want, the way you want it.
No more pedalboard problems
You're probably already familiar with many of the problems commonly encountered when using pedalboards. Even if you go to a lot of trouble to build a nice, clean pedalboard layout, it is still a pedalboard and capable of being a source of annoying problems from time to time.
Here are a few hassles you can say goodbye to when you switch to GT racked effects:
- Out of space on your board, again
- Reconfiguring your whole pedalboard to fit a new pedal or swap a pedal
- Pedals are jammed on the board in a way that makes them difficult to stomp, or difficult to stomp without stomping another pedal at the same time
- Pedals are jammed on the board in a way that makes them difficult to stomp two at a time when you need to
- Pedals are difficult to stomp, so you have to add a switching pedal just to use them properly
- Need to secure pedals so they won't move around when you need to move your pedalboard, need to secure them in a way that also allows you to move them around to reconfigure your layout
- Difficulty covering and moving your pedalboard without causing connection problems
- Difficulty cabling pedals of different sizes, with jacks in different locations
- Cable connectors are too big or at the wrong angle, available cables not ideal length
- Problems routing all your cabling and getting it to fit on or in your pedalboard
- Small changes to your chain can require reworking your entire pedalboard
- Building your own expensive, custom cables to fit your pedals and meet your cabling needs, rebuilding cables every time you need to swap some pedals or reconfigure your layout
- Custom built cables aren't as reliable as you expected them to be, have to tighten or reattach connectors too often
- Troubleshooting connection problems during setup and sound check after moving your pedalboard
- Not enough power available from your pedalboard power supply
- Not enough of the right type of power connectors from your pedalboard power supply, discovering that by frying a pedal
- Cabling in positive ground effects
- Using batteries to get around power cabling and power supply issues
- Dealing with effects that require wall wart power transformers to be plugged in
- Taking up space on a crowded stage.
- Running multiple power and long audio cables on stage between your pedalboard, guitars, and amps
- Ground loops and hum
- Numerous other complications or annoyances you've probably encountered that make good stories now, but weren't so funny at the time...
With GT racked effects, you can ditch the pedalboard and all those problems. Your new "pedalboard" could look like this:

Get your effects off the floor...
There is another set of conveniences when you get your effects off the floor and into a rack:
- No need to get on your hands and knees, strain your back or knees, or bang your guitar on the floor to adjust pedals
- Get out of the dark

... and secure your valuable effects investment

Perhaps you know the satisfaction of finally getting *the* pedalboard setup finally going, and you're thrilled with it. Well, "stuff happens". Here's some "stuff" that you might not have to deal with if you are using racked effects:
- Spills and damage during shows, transportation, setup/teardown, practice, etc.
- Fans or bandmembers stumbling or tripping into your pedalboard setup and wreaking havoc
- Expensive, rare, or vintage pedals stolen before or after the show or during breaks. We even know of one instance where a "fan" grabbed a pedal and ran with it while the band was playing.
- Your vintage pedals sound great, but you realize they may be building some serious value. Perhaps you want to get them off your touring rig before they need inevitable repairs and lose value due to damage, wear and tear, repairs, or non-original replacement parts
If you've been playing for a while, you no doubt have some pedals that you really wouldn't want to lose. They may be rare vintage pedals, commercially available but expensive, or just that one out of a hundred common pedals you've tried that sounds exceptionally good. It could be really difficult or expensive to find replacements for them. This is doubly true for the vintage pedals. The prices of vintage pedals continue to rise, and those that are available continue to get older and more scarce. Not only are they difficult to replace with another unit that sounds as good, but you may have some significant value building up in those old pedals. Sure they sound good, but there are some obvious risks associated with gigging with that original gold Klon, triangle Big Muff, Marshall SupaFuzz, Fuzz Face, Uni-Vibe, or Tychobrahe anything. You could trade a couple of those for a decent used car (OK, more likely another good guitar or amp...). Maybe it's time to consider other options to keep those vintage pedal investments safe. Moving to customized rack effects could be a good way of doing that. We build a variety of those vintage circuits, and our customizations may make it easier to configure one that is more likely to sound like yours.
Rack cabling is much easier
We mentioned some of the pedalboard hassles related to cabling above. That's part of what can make a pedalboard a major pain, particularly if you often change up your pedals or pedal chain. You already know that. It's much easier with our racked modules. It isn't so critical to have the right length of cables - there's room for some extra length. You shouldn't have problems related to the size of your cable connectors or their orientation (angled vs straight). You don't have to move any modules around to change your chain - just adjust your cables in the back. There's plenty of room back there, so you don't have to spend so much effort optimizing the cabling just to get everything to fit. Your cabling won't interfere with using or arranging your pedals like it can on a crowded pedalboard. Here's more info Cabling Guide
You can "leave it messy" and change it easily

or clean it up when you get it how you want it. Your choice - we won't tell if you choose the messy option!

Quick and easy performance setup and tear-down
Pictured below is one of our demo rack setups with some gear. Here's the setup process:
- Unload and roll it in.
- Take front and rear covers off rack.
- Plug racked power conditioner into wall power.
- Take amp out of case, plug it into the power conditioner.
- Turn on power conditioner and amp to start amp warm-up.
- Take footswitches and footswitch cables out of rack drawer, cable to rack module. (Note you may not have the two module-specific extra footswitches, depending on your config.)
- Take amp cable out of rack drawer, cable amp to rack module
- Take guitar out of case, put it on stand.
- Take guitar cable out of rack drawer, cable guitar to rack module
- Turn on power module, noise reduction unit, and tuner - you're ready to tune and start sound check.
That's quick and simple. Reverse it for tear-down.


Interoperability with guitar pedals and third party rack equipment

If you still want to use some pedals, we make it easy to put them in your rack and control them with our switching system so you don't need a pedalboard for them. Or maybe you still want to use a pedalboard, perhaps less complicated, along with our rack effects - no problem, we're completely compatible with that. It's also easier and cleaner to cable in other rack products you may be using, such as power conditioners, tuners, pre amps, power amps, or other third-party gear. In Interoperability we provide specific examples of how this works. It's simple.
Again, we provide the options and you decide what works best for you.
Avoid pedal maintenance problems...
Pedals are generally pretty durable and can provide years of service if you take care of them. Most of you have experienced loose or broken jacks, switches that stick or stop switching, scratchy, noisy pots, burned out LEDs, lost battery doors, and similar problems with pedals. Some mechanical parts are going to fail eventually, no matter what you do. There are lots of ways to cause those parts to fail sooner or more often. Many of them are related to the abuse pedals receive by being on the floor and getting stomped. Various unidentifiable substances we'll call "dirt" find their way into jacks, pots, and switches. Repeated stomping, transportation, setup and teardown, and other "normal use" activities also take their toll. It's the nature of pedals.
If you've ever needed to repair a pedal, you may have found it isn't quite so easy to get a quality repair done. Even in a city the size of Dallas, there aren't that many shops that work on pedals, amps, and other gear. They tend to have quite a backlog, especially the good ones. You may be in for a wait, or perhaps there's an extra charge you can take for skipping the line if you have a show that night. Many repairs are pretty simple - replacing a jack, pot, or switch might be all that is necessary. Minimum bench charges of $75 or more, plus a like amount per hour for longer repairs can quickly add up. In some cases, it's cheaper to get a new pedal, at least if it is a commonly available one. Trying to find vintage replacement parts for an old effect can result in lengthy wait times and considerably higher charges.
Our rack effects are not immune to those common part failures that come with use - we plan for it. However, you won't be stomping on rack modules, and your rack modules won't be on the floor collecting dirt and beer. You won't have some of the problems associated with pedalboards that cause lots of cabling, un-cabling, and re-cabling, resulting in earlier jack failures. Racked effects are simply not exposed to as much abuse as pedals. You can expect less problems and longer times between failures.
... and lower maintenance costs

Racked effects should experience less problems, but GT racked effects go a bit further than just benefiting from being subjected to less wear and tear. We've made it possible for you or a qualified tech to easily and inexpensively replace the common parts that will eventually fail with use. With only a few exceptions, jacks, switches, LEDs, and pots come in replaceable assemblies. No soldering is required to replace them. You disconnect the part's cable connector from the boards in the module and remove a nut and/or knob that holds that component to the module's front or back panel, and remove it. Plug in a replacement assembly, attach it to the panel with a nut, and you're done. Sometimes you may have to take the module out of the enclosure to get in there more easily, or maybe you have room and don't even need to do that. We show the details of how these assemblies can be replaced here: Maintenance.
Of course, that requires getting the replacement part assembly from us. You can purchase them in advance, or when you need them. Your choice.
What if you don't have the replacement part and there's no time to get one from us? Repairing our component assemblies is also designed to be easy. Suppose a jack isn't making a good connection with your cable. All of our jacks (and switches, pots, and LEDs) are commonly available parts. A repair shop should have them in stock. Or you can find them at electronics parts dealers. The cables in our assemblies are purposely made a little too long. So you can note how the old part is connected, cut it off, strip some wire (carefully!), and solder on the replacement part. Of course, you may want to get a good tech to do that for you, but anyone that can solder and has a little electronics repair experience can probably make that type of repair to get you out of a tight spot. Once you have the jack assembly out of the module, a repair shop could replace that jack in about 5 minutes. If you can make repairs yourself, then your repair cost is just the replacement cost for that one part, from less than $1 up to maybe $5 if you get gouged in a retail parts store.
If you have time, we can do repairs for you, too. You have options.
There is another point worth making about repairs. One is that we use almost no surface-mount components. At present, we build one module that has one optional surface-mounted part. It should last a few lifetimes. We still build our products with "through hole" components, which is becoming kind of old school. Through-hole products are much easier for most shops to repair than products that use surface-mount components. In fact, you may find your surface-mount pedals are disposable, depending on what goes wrong. You may not find anyone willing or able to fix them. The only good news is that they almost certainly won't contain any vintage or hard-to-find parts. Unfortunately, pedal builders are increasingly turning to surface-mount builds, often built in not-in-the-USA. In some cases, the manufacturers drop their prices to reflect these inexpensive builds. Others still charge "boutique" prices for their inexpensive, surface-mount products, entirely or almost entirely, built not-in-the-USA. Be aware of what you're getting for your money.
Better effect power protection

We already discussed some of the parts that commonly fail with use and cause pedal failures. Those account for many of the pedal failures we've seen and repaired. The biggest single source of pedal failures isn't in that list, though. Power problems are the most common type of pedal failures we've seen. Some of those are due to mechanical failures such as loose power jacks, broken battery clips, and broken/disconnected power wires. Fixes for those problems are generally pretty easy, even if they take some time and cost some money. In GT modules, there aren't any battery problems since we don't use batteries, and power jacks are replaceable cable assemblies. The worst of the common pedal problems are caused by plugging in the wrong kind of power, usually wrong voltage or wrong polarity (swapping positive and negative connections). That's pretty easy to do on a pedalboard with a mixture of old and new pedals using various types of power connectors, voltages, and polarities. Your nice pedalboard probably came with an assortment of handy power conversion cables with different types of connectors. Having those makes it easy to hook up a pedal requiring some odd connector - either correctly or incorrectly...
With vintage pedals, you may get lucky if you plug in the wrong power and quickly unplug it when it doesn't work. But you are also pretty likely to damage critical components in the circuit. Then you have a dead pedal that may be difficult or impractical to repair - perhaps a really expensive and rare dead pedal, with damage to key transistors or ICs that are hard to find even if you try. We hope that never happens to any of your pedals.
Over time, pedal manufacturers started adding in some safeguards to help protect against wrong voltage and polarity problems. The problem is they usually don't have much extra space in a pedal to add the circuitry necessary to handle these problems and prevent costly failures. One of the most common shortcuts used is to add in a diode that will stop extra voltage or reversed polarity. Depending on exactly how it is done, that might or might not really solve the problem. If you plug in the wrong power, chances are it may take you a few minutes to figure out why your pedal isn't working. During that time, that diode could burn up in a valiant effort to save the rest of your pedal circuitry. Or maybe you realize your problem and unplug it quickly enough that the diode survives - maybe. One of two things will likely happen if that diode burns up. It may leave a "gap" in your power circuit, preventing any power from flowing, including the correct power when you realize your mistake and connect it correctly. Damage limited, but dead pedal. Or the diode fails and leaves an electrical connection in your power circuit, allowing the wrong power to damage the rest of your circuit. More damage, still a dead pedal. Either way, if you want that pedal to work again, you're in for a "real" repair, requiring diagnosis, parts, and soldering.
GT modules are designed to prevent the majority of common power problems. Wrong voltage - shouldn't be a problem. Wrong polarity - no problem. AC instead of DC - that's OK, too. If you manage somehow to plug in some type of power the module can't handle, then we try to limit the damage to a part you can easily replace yourself. Each module has a separate power board that can easily be replaced with a replacement board from GT. We also avoid problems to start with since all of our modules have the same power connectors and require the same external voltage and polarity (regardless of what they use internally), which is the same voltage and polarity provided by our 18V Power module. Just use our power module and connect everything with normal power daisy chain cables and you're good to go. One of our power modules will power more of our effects than you are likely to ever use.
These are great features, not available in any pedals we know of. See more details about our power scheme here: Power.
Made and supported in the USA!

Easy effects chain routing and setup
There must be an infinite number of ways to get sound from your guitar(s) to your amp(s). Obviously, you have to figure out how to chain your effects together to get the tone options you need. But you might also have some "extras" in your rig - ABY splitters/joiners for multiple guitars and amps, amp selectors that break ground loops, a looper for a tuner, buffers, special effects switching gear, or other bits of gear that result in setup complexity, extra cable runs, and occasional problems.
Our rack solution makes the pedalboard physical space and layout problems go away. You don't have to move any modules around when you add a module, remove a module, or change their place in your chain. You just adjust your cables on the back of your modules instead. That generally means you won't suddenly need a new cable or some different connector type to fit into a tight space, or have those other annoying cable problems that often accompany even the simplest pedalboard layout changes. You don't have to velcro or cable tie anything down. You don't have to route cables through your board, under other pedals, over/under other connectors, or any of that nonsense. You won't have to change your power cabling at all, let alone deal with routing power cables, running out of power supply connections, or needing some weird power cable to connect some old pedal, or any of those other power cabling problems that can be somewhere from annoying to pedal-killing. Since it is simple to make changes to your chain, you can try many different configurations and see what sounds best instead of getting "stuck" with one chain configuration because it is so difficult to make changes. Once you separate physical pedal layout from cabling and signal chain design, it gets much easier and you'll be able to try new options easily.
We won't tell you we can simplify or solve problems with an infinite number of setups, but we can help with many of them. Moving to a rack solution can help in and of itself by centralizing some cabling, but we have signal routing modules specifically designed to address many common needs, in your rack, without some of the "extra bits" scattered about that might be a part of your overall cabling. We presently offer ABY, looper, amp selector, mixer, and effect order swapping modules, and have additional routing modules on the way. These can help further centralize the cabling and simplify your rig setup. We work toward a simple setup model of "plug your guitars and amps into your rack, plug your rack into some power, and start playing". Yeah, we know it isn't quite that simple. Just placing amps in the right places can be a challenge. But some things don't need to be a challenge or source of potential issues - we provide options for addressing them.
Flexible remote switching options
Most of us can get by most of the time by stomping a single switch at a time to engage or disengage a single effect as we're playing. Sometimes you find it would be really convenient to switch multiple effects at the same time, so you experiment with laying out your pedalboard so you can turn your foot sideways and stomp two switches at once. After a few mis-haps, maybe you switch to a looper pedal. Then you realize you need one of those pedals in that loop sometimes, but sometime you need it alone, or maybe looped with another different pedal. It's not difficult to wander into a situation where multi-effect switching can become a challenge. Is it time for midi controllers? Maybe you need to learn to program? You find yourself spending a little less time playing and a little more time figuring out some new digital switching technology that complicates your life instead of simplifying it.
If that's a distraction from actually playing music, our switching system may help you out. It's pretty easy. There's no programming, no digital controllers. It's just simple "plug it in" analog switching, but with options, of course.
We have a more detailed discussion of our Switching, so we'll keep it short here. Our footswitches are configurable by cabling the switches to modules of your choice, effectively changing the order of the footswitches to make them easier to use . Our modules have switching override switches so that they don't actually require a footswitch if you want to leave them on the same setting all the time. If you don't need to switch them, you don't have to connect them to the switching system at all. We also offer a switching module that allows you to switch multiple modules on and/or off at the same time. And we have one admittedly confusing-sounding module that lets you control a single module with multiple different switches. We're not sure, but we're starting to think that with those options you can hook up our switching to address most complex switching needs.
In addition to on/off switching and the usual routing switching such as ABY switching, we also have module customizations which allow you to put more effect functions on footswitches. You've seen pedals that have an additional Boost switch or Channel switch or something of that sort. Not every function in every circuit can be switched in that manner, but some can and we offer them as footswitch-able options to give you extra control while you play. A small number of modules also come with their own separate footswitches to handle switching needs specific to those modules, such as selecting digital pre-sets or tap tempo.
These forms of switching can be combined, if you can keep your plan all straight in your mind! All of this switching is done only with control signals. Your audio stays in your rack modules and does not make long runs down to the footswitches and back.
No tone-sucking
Everyone knows long cable runs can cut high end sparkle out of your tone. You probably also know that some specific, mostly vintage, pedals are in your signal path affecting your tone even when they are "off". Some pedals also have impedance issues that can impact your tone or cause problems for other pedals. It's not difficult to encounter problems with tone degradation, particularly when using vintage pedals and long guitar and amp cable runs. And you've probably encountered another form of tone destruction - popping when switching pedals on and off.
You can find all sorts of facts and opinions about the cause of these problems, whether they are "real", how to avoid them, how to fix them, which pedals are offenders, how to re-order your effects to deal with it, etc, etc. We won't weigh in on all that here. But here are some things we do to successfully avoid these tone-sucking problems.
The modules used to connect your guitars and amps have the option to be buffered in case you're using long cables.
By keeping your signal routing completely in the rack, you can avoid those extra cable runs you might otherwise have to and from your pedalboard
We're not sure any switching scheme can guarantee silent, noise-free switching due to the physics of analog signals. Maybe NASA could do it, but not at a price any of us would want to pay. If you listen closely enough with the volume up on your quietest "super silent true bypass" pedal, you can hear very tiny switching artifacts once in a while. Our switching is like that, which is about as good as it gets. Under normal circumstances, even when you aren't playing, you'll have a very difficult time hearing even a faint "pop". It's there, but it just isn't audible. Our switching is as quiet as we think analog signal switching can reasonably be. This was the first critical R&D issue for our product line. If we couldn't get clean, silent switching, we simply would have abandoned the entire effort.
We also have mods available to some of our modules that address tone-sucking properties of some vintage circuits, and perhaps also making them get along better with other pedals in your chain. Most modern pedals include these "fixes" by default since they help prevent tone loss. For some of those vintage pedals, their tone loss is now part of the "great vintage tone" many expect from those pedals. The artists using them back in the day probably didn't appreciate it in quite the same way... Maybe you like it that way or maybe you'd prefer to hear all your tone instead - you have the option!
"Go pro" and upgrade your effects setup

Moving to GT rack modules may be just that last reason you need to justify some pro upgrades to your rig. Those big rack tuner displays you can see from a distance are pretty nice compared to that little tuner display on your pedalboard. There are some pretty decent noise reduction pedals, but perhaps you prefer a more sophisticated noise reduction system available only in rack format. And for goodness sake, please use the excellent rack-mounted power conditioning, power noise filtering, and surge protection that is available!!! There's a lot of great rack gear out there that is much easier to utilize if you make the move to a rack system.
Community
GT is small, which has its advantages. One of them is that we pay really careful attention to what our customers and prospects tell us. We often have the ability to act on those suggestions quickly. We care a lot more about what you want than what we want you to want.
We have a long list of non-technical things to do someday, including adding Community features to our website where you can communicate more easily with us and other community members about our products and service and provide us product direction input. Follow us on Facebook "Gerlt Technologies" to get occasional updates about new products and services. You can always drop us a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know what's on your mind.
Value
We believe that GT effects offer more for your money than similar setups with pedalboards and pedals. We were going to include some specific cost examples here, but quickly realized there are so many different types of setups and effects requirements and so many options available in our product line that examples like that were either too clogged up with details or the examples we chose wouldn't be the example you would want to see for your specific needs. Instead, we'll keep the discussion at a higher level, allowing you to look over our offerings and plug in pricing that applies directly to your needs. We'll break this into three pieces: initial setup, adding modules, and ongoing maintenance. There are numerous options in all these areas, so you can decide what makes most sense to you, while getting some general guidance on how to size up your situation. Before you dive into the details, you may want to get through all the "GT Effects" articles and more info about how the modules work at: Modules
Initial startup costs
To get started, as a minimum you would need a 3U Enclosure, a Rack Switch and Footswitches, and some initial modules. You can see the modules at Compares To or by navigating from Products -> Modules -> Modules By Type from the menu bar. We recommend that you also use our 18V Power module. We don't do much testing with any other power supply, as ours is uniquely designed for our solution. Among the initial modules, you'll need one that is available in each of the left and right "wing" positions of your enclosure (see Wing Modules). If you want to mix in some pedals or third-party rack products, you may also want some Bypass Looper modules. And you may need some Filler Module modules to fill your enclosure if you don't have enough other modules to fill up 17" of horizontal space. You can get an easy start with one of our Start Up Bundles in our Products section of the site.
You'll have to figure out what you should compare that to for your situation. It isn't a simple one-to-one "replace this with that" analysis. Probably you should consider your pedalboard, power supply, any extra switching or remote switching hardware you might be using, and whatever pedals you might be replacing to start with. Don't forget to "subtract off" the value of any pedals or equipment you may be able to sell to offset your purchase.
There's nothing universally true about the cost comparison between various setups and approaches. If you have some expensive and/or vintage equipment that you'll be freeing up possibly along with a remote switching setup, you might end up with some cash in your pocket. If you use a small amount of inexpensive equipment, then you could end up spending a few hundred dollars more. While continuing to use some of your old pedals is possible, if you want them to be integrated into our switching, then you'll want to look at the costs related to doing that vs replacing those pedals with some of our modules.
Cost of adding rack effect modules
Again, we can't give a universally true statement about the cost of our modules vs the cost of comparable pedals. We offer a lot of options that affect the cost of our modules. As a guideline, our modules cost about the same as quality hand-built pedals from the top boutique pedal manufacturers. If you consider the extra quality features we have that those pedals do not have, then we feel we offer good value for the cost compared to other solutions.
Ongoing rack effect maintenance
In the Maintenance benefits discussion above, we mentioned several reasons why we think that our racked effects with reasonably priced, easily replaced parts will be a better deal in the long run - both in ease of maintenance and its cost.
We know that cost is a major point of comparison between our products and other products, and we think we compare pretty well on that basis alone. The decision to go with our custom racked effects will likely be based on factors that are difficult to "add in" and compare. We have some modules that make effects available to you that would otherwise cost a small fortune, if you can find them, but ours is brand new and configured to your preferences, not some unknown config subject to years of age and use. Using racked effects is much more convenient in the many ways we've described. Setting up and tearing down for gigs might become a lot easier. Or some of the other benefits may appeal to you in some difficult-to-quantify manner. You'll have to noodle through that to figure out your best approach and what it is worth to you. Of course, we're happy to help you with configuration and pricing. The information at this site should enable you to get a good idea, even without an exact quote.
While we certainly have lots of gear for sale, we aren't really here to "sell" you something. You know your needs better than we ever can, so we won't presume to try to tell you what we think you need to make your music. But we are happy to consult with you to figure out how we could meet your needs and earn your business.
And finally... Our effects sound good!!!
If you can catch us at an event, stop by and give them a try - that's why we're there!
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