I posted my review of Avid’s Eleven Rack guitar amp and effects processor back in August, giving users an overview of my thoughts. Since then readers have been writing, asking all kinds of questions.

I’ve taken the most asked questions and my answers below.

Would you trade in your amp for the Eleven Rack?

No. But you need to understand, I don’t get rid of any piece of gear. I’ve still got pedals from the 80s, and I fire them up once in a while too. For me, gear is like a treasure and I just can’t bring myself to get rid of any of it.

Currently I have 15 guitars, 8 amps, half a dozen pedals, and countless USB and FireWire interfaces. Depending on my mood and the type of music I’m playing, I could break out any combination of those and be perfectly happy.

Is it easy to see in low light?

It’s great in low light situations. The screen is lit, but even better — and in my opinion, more important — the knobs are well lit. This means you can see what level the settings are on from a good distance from the unit. If you need to make a quick adjustment to your amp tone, you can just shuffle over and turn the knob.

Like amp knobs, the Eleven Rack comes with large knobs that are well spaced, so your fingers can grab it and make the adjustment.

What it’s like with different guitars?

I tried the Eleven Rack with a number of guitars. Mostly, a Les Paul with EMG 81/85, Fender Strat, Jackson, and a Taylor SolidBody. Obviously, lots of different types of music in there.

What impressed me the most is that they all sounded like they were supposed to sound. The Eleven Rack didn’t try to make the guitar something it’s not, but rather just let it be what it is.

How accurate is the amp modeling?

I’m impressed with the modeling for sure. There are little nuances that you get to know about your amps and how it reacts to different things. Even running your hands over the strings gives you a certain feel on a real amp.

Not every amp is the same, so it would be impossible for the modeling to capture my exact Marshall JCM 800, but I do get that feel from the Eleven Rack. I know when I turn on a preset and it has an 800 amp. That’s pretty impressive.

How about the effects?

When I’m in my studio, I tend to put most of the effects on after I record. However, for live situations, I did use the effects on the Eleven Rack and they easily met my expectations.

Avid included some of the classic models of delays and distortion, so you’ll know right away what you’re putting on your tone.

To be honest, the more years that I play, the more I like to find the right amp for the tone instead of piling on effects.

Do you use Eleven Rack with an amp or by itself?

I did everything with it. I had the Eleven Rack plugged into my JCM 800’s front input, I had it going through the effects loop of my 5150, and I had it going straight into my Mackie 1640 and out through the PA speakers.

What was really fun was running the stereo outs to the board and then running one of the Eleven Rack’s amp outs to the 800 or 5150. Now that just lights up your tone.

It takes a little tweaking to get a setup like that sounding just right though. It all depends on your personal tastes, but I liked having the amp drive most of the tone with the PA bringing up some of the undertones.

Do you need a computer to make changes?

Not at all. You can use the Eleven Rack interface included in Pro Tools, but you can also do everything you need to on the hardware unit itself. Whatever changes you make on one is reflected in the other.