Ok... Honest f/x advice needed

[Velvet Elvis]

Ok... so in my studio I get a pretty decent sound... but I'm looking to upgrade my f/x units.

Right now I've got the following:

Sony DSP-v55 (love it!!! will keep in studio)
Digitech DSP-128+ (needs to go away)
Alesis Microverb (needs to go away)
Digitech GSP-21 (needs to go away)

and of course....

Behringer Virtualizer Pro (needs to go away)

I've been looking at some TC Electronics and some Lexicon gear, but there are of course a billion models from both companies now ranging from "pro-sumer" to "pro".

The units will be used for basic drum and vocal verbs... sometimes delay etc.

I'm looking for something in the $500 and below range (used would be fine).

Those of you with "bigger" studios... what units do you like etc?

Thanks!
Velvet Elvis

[Robert D]

TC Electronics M-One is pretty hard to beat for that budget, and will leave you some change to play with. I like the high end Lexi's, but I think below $500, TC has a more natural tail.
RD

[SonicAlbert]

Velvet, you have correctly identified which items to get rid of.

The M-One is a good box, but I would highly recommend the M-One XL over the original version. It sounds noticably better and has a number of improvements.

If you are in the $500 range you *must* take a look at the Kurzweil Rumour and Mangler. If you are looking for reverb, the Rumour is the one, and if you are looking for stuff like filters, flange, pitch fx, compression, distortion, rotary, etc., then the Mangler is the one to consider. I own both of these and find them very useful and excellent quality.

[Velvet Elvis]

Robert and Albert

Thanks for the replies...

Yeah... I'm primarily looking for verbs and delays... the Sony (albeit unbalanced) has some great "effect" type patches, so I'm really only looking for a unit to handle the verb beds etc.

The Sony is an amazing unit... I got it REALLY cheap off a friend who used it in his live pedal steel rack and thought it was too much of a unit for live guitar usage (he was right).

Its footprint is all over our album (there were two or three patches that I love and used often)...

Velvet Elvis

[Han]

IMHO the Lexicon MPX series are nice sounding multi effect processors.

[Velvet Elvis]

Thanks Han...

The Lexicons confused me, as there are a LOT of different units.

MPX 1
MPX 100
MPX 110
MPX 500
MPX 550
MPX 1000
MPX G2
PCM 41
PCM 42
PCM 70
PCM 80
LXP 1
LXP 5
LXP 15
Jam Man
Vortex

And those were just from a quick scan of Ebay...

I've used the LXP 1 and LXP 5 before and I think those might be a great basic replacement for things like my Microverb (where I typically would just use it for drum verb etc)... are they still considered "pro quality"?

Velvet Elvis

[SonicAlbert]

In the Lexicon range I personally wouldn't go below the MPX-1. That would rule out the MPX 100, 110, 200, 220, 500, 550. Never heard of an MPX-1000. I used to have an MPX-1 and it was good, but not as good as the PCM-81 or PCM-91 that I have now.

If it's reverb you are after then I would again suggest you take a look at the Kurzweil Rumour. The Rumour also has delays. The TC M-One XL is another good one for reverb, although the Rumour has a wider variety of reverbs to choose from. Avoid the original M-One, as the reverbs in the XL version are much improved.

If you can find a really incredible deal on a PCM-80 or 90 then they would be fantastic, better than the MPX-1.

Another box that's good for reverb is the Roland SRV-330. Often overlooked and pretty cheap on eBay these days I believe.

If it were me, having used most of the above equipment, I'd be looking at the Rumour, M-One XL, or MPX-1.

[Velvet Elvis]

Albert,

Yeah... I used to use on of the old Roland reverb units... it did sound pretty good. I just wasn't sure if that was STILL considered 'good' by today's standards.

I'll have to do some checking into the Kurzweil box... I had never even heard of it until you mentioned it.

Thanks.
Velvet Elvis

[Fishmed]

Originally posted by SonicAlbert
In the Lexicon range I personally wouldn't go below the MPX-1. That would rule out the MPX 100, 110, 200, 220, 500, 550. Never heard of an MPX-1000. I used to have an MPX-1 and it was good, but not as good as the PCM-81 or PCM-91 that I have now.

If it's reverb you are after then I would again suggest you take a look at the Kurzweil Rumour. The Rumour also has delays. The TC M-One XL is another good one for reverb, although the Rumour has a wider variety of reverbs to choose from. Avoid the original M-One, as the reverbs in the XL version are much improved.

If you can find a really incredible deal on a PCM-80 or 90 then they would be fantastic, better than the MPX-1.

Another box that's good for reverb is the Roland SRV-330. Often overlooked and pretty cheap on eBay these days I believe.

If it were me, having used most of the above equipment, I'd be looking at the Rumour, M-One XL, or MPX-1.

What issues do you have with the 500/550?

[sdelsolray]

TC Electronic M2000. New, they can be found for slightly over your budget ($650 or so). Used, they're running in your budget range. Great reverbs, decent delays, plus other fx and features too.

[6gun]

lexicon mpx-1 is just a great unit for 400.00 (used).

[Robert D]

"What issues do you have with the 500/550?"

Oooh can I answer? It's the tails, theyr'e just not natural. The meats there, but it's like the diference between a ram based sampler and Gigasampler. I can hear a sort of looping artifact in the tails on the lower end Lexi's that I don't hear with the TC. or the higher end lexi's. Otherwise they're pretty thick, and certainly better than anything Alesis.

MHO, RD