rack system?

[mr blubbs]

i'm looking at investing some money in a rack setup for my guitar. first thing i want to start of with is a pre and power amp. i'd assumed the power amp to be my normal amp head. is that true? any other suggestions of what to buy as rack mounted stuff? reverb, delay and harmonisers seem to be mroe commonly used in racks. but i reckon for other effects i'm gonna go stomp boxes. i have a digitech rp-6 which is ok, but sounds reeally processed. i play melodic heavy stuff, but with plenty of experimental bits and some clean breaks. basically i want something thats not gonna change the sound of my prs too much, but still give me the versatility to do all kinds a weird thangs.

i've been looking at the pod pro which looks reeeeally nice but i'm two minds about whether to go for something with versatility like the POD, or just search for my ultimate tone and go for a normal pre like the marshall jmp. i've always found that versatility is a trade off for quality.

any suggestions?

[ElectricAuntJemima]

MR Blubbs, how you feeling? For my bass I use an Alembic stereo pre-amp, Furman EQ, QSC power amp.....EAJ....

[cornflakeofdeath]

Just to give you ideas here's my setup:

POD Pro, Echo pro, Filter pro, Boss VF1, all plugged into a Sound Sculpture (http://www.soundsculpture.com) Studio Switchblade (basically a MIDI controlled patchbay) Which feeds a Mesa/Boogie Simul 2:90. everything is MIDI controllable including FX routing and Order. Series, Parallel, stereo, mono anything.
Digital amp modeling and effects W/ all tube power. The best of both worlds.

I'm looking to add a Sony HR-MP5 If any one knows where I could find one.

[mr blubbs]

Been looking at the Line 6 DL4 for echo modelling. Anyone got any ideas how does this compare to the Echo Pro?

[cornflakeofdeath]

They're basically the same, but the Echo pro has +4 balanced connections, very comprehensive MIDI control, and 99 overwritable presets. In terms of the effects I think the only difference is the loop sampler is longer.(60 sec)