Dan Huff’s Rack Gear

[fair.child]

UPDATED:

I finished the whole rack restoration. It was a fun project. Made new friends and reconnected with lot of friends. It was a great journey

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As the title said, recently I acquired a historic musical piece. Yes, it's one of Dan Huff's Giant rack system. It's all started by this video below;

https://youtu.be/pj3lOeH0Ijg

Luckily, I was the highest bidder and Brandon was kind enough to coordinate being the items back to San Diego. Then I ended up in Nashville last week and packed, shipped, brought the items back.

https://youtu.be/Yss8Yz8NNTQ

For reference, it's the same rack that he has been using over the years since 80s/90s. That instructional video has been inspiration for me since I was teenager.


Packed the items and ready to sent it out. I also flew back with some rack items. I didn't drive all the way from San Diego to Nashville. I flew and shipped the item to home.


Rented the truck just to haul the racks away from the studio. I picked it up at Castle Rock Studio. It is the studio that Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Madonna, and many artists to make records. Pretty cool studio and I did quick tour to see the equipments.

I thought it might be a good ideas to write something down while I plan to create a YouTube journal. It's all in work. Let's start with some pictures of repair that I've been going through.

First one is Mesa Boogie Strategy 400



Retubes due to keep blowing fuses. Checked the grid screen resistors and all are in good condition.


One of the cap 22uF is burned so I replaced that as well with higher voltage rating




Checked voltages for the filter caps and all are in good condition; surprisingly. I also changed the power cable due the old one was bad.



Next one is peavey valve verb. It doesn't give output. Trying to replace the filter caps and I'm suspecting the output tubes have gone bad. I don't have 12AT7 handy but it's in order. Same with filter caps. Hopefully, it will work after that. Need to do more diagnosis on this unit.



Mesa studio preamp. Surprisingly, this unit is still good running condition. Only I had to change the tubes. Though it does have some serious hum and I assume it might come from the ground lift. Still investigating but pretty positive that this unit will work just fine.




Korg wave station. The only problem was the battery and that's all I had to change. Everything else works perfect. The rack connects to MIDI controller/keys and it does have amazing preset like in 80s synth. Great addition collection for my synth 80s rack.



Rocktron RSB set. All works and got all the callings the main processor/rack system requires XLR 6 pins replacement. I ordered it and everything else looks good. It has some Dan old patches like rhythm, lush chorus, etc. pretty cool unit. The case was rusted and might need new hinges. Pulled the hinges over the weekend and looking to replace it soon.




Here are the units all stacked. Missing the Boogie Strategy 400 but overall these are the units that left out. I'm getting SPX 90 II and still hunting for H3000/ TC2290. I can't get Kasha Rockmod and plan to just DIY it at some point. If I have time and bandwidth, then I'll do single channel preamp for crystal clean like Fenderish/ Peavey classic add to this project.



SDE 330 Space Echo. Concentric pot is broken and ordered replacement from smallbear. 3D printed the knobs. Apparently this unit can be converted to SRV330. The unit has Dan favorite delay patch before he goes all in with flashback delay.



The power button SDE 330 also needs repair. Ordered replacement from syntaur and possibly recap the power supply.

[Willybomb]

Dude.

There is so much awesome in this I can't even start...

[fair.child]

  rack gear is back and it's awesome. I always want to have sound like Landau/Lukather. Dan Huff is amazing back then. He did tons of session and definitely under rated guitar player. I didn't have a chance to meet him in person when I was in Nashville. However, I think if I have everything repaired/assembled back and all works, then Brandon might share with him. Hopefully, he will notice and appreciate it when everything comes back together.

The hardest part now is getting great condition of H3000 D/SE and TC2290. Dan also uses Kasha Rockmod I.I can't find that unit and even trying to make one, the unit is protected. Rockmod II has some info about the schematic and PCB. Basically, it's two channels preamp (clean and dirt). Other route is going with unpowered Kemper which can be easily obtained these days.

I think the best deal is the strategy 400. That unit itself can cost a lot these days.

[jwin615]

I engineered 8n Nashville many moons ago. Dan carried more rack gear than anyone else. Tone was always dialed. Finished product straight to the desk.

[fair.child]

The final episode of restoring Dann Huff's rack gear.