It has always been interesting to me to watch the changes in the musical gear industry. A great example of this would be the general transition from rack effects to individual stomp boxes. In the 1980’s and through most of the 90’s rack ruled the stage from stadiums to small local clubs. The thing that makes this transition somewhat unusual is the fact that it has happened primarily in the semi-pro market. When you look at the rigs used by most touring professionals, you will notice that most of these players use rack mount effects, often in tandum with individual stompboxes.

It is my belief that the difference between pro and semi-pro setups has less to do with the effects themselves, and more to do with time and labor. Racks are heavy and cumbersome, and take a lot more time to set up, not to mention that custom editing each patch to suit the individual gig environments can be a real chore. The unseen and often times under appreciated road and sound crews that keeps the big market touring machines running makes an enormous difference. Highly trained equipment technicians make all the equipment and rack gear changes necessary to keep the guitar player (and the rest of the band) sounding their very best.

Smaller bands however usually need to do their own setup and tonal edits. In addition, time factors come into play since most of these players also work day jobs and have limited setup time. Individual stomp boxes are relatively much easier to adjust to suit room environments, and are generally easier to use.

Which brings me to a question. What if there was a way to get the professional results from rack equipment that is equally if not more user friendly to set up and just as easy to edit for the club environment of the night? In this review we will look at a solution to the labor intensive rack mount system that is both flexible, and easy to use. This unit is the “GSP1101” with the “Control 2” foot controller by DigiTech.