The early Alesis stuff, starting with the MidiVerb II was great. I love these things. I still have my original MidiVerb II I bought in the late 80's. I had the even older MidiVerb and MidiFex, but got rid of them some time ago.
The Midiverb II was supposed to be uncomplicated as far as parameters by design. That was the beauty of it... 99 presets to choose from and you can focus on more important things than endless tweaking.
But back then there wasn't much around that was affordable either. I also had the original Yamaha SPX-90 (endless tweaking
), which I bought new a couple years before the MidiVerb II.
I used to have the MidiVerb III as well and thought the reverbs were a bit better than the original Quadraverb.
The MidiVerb II and III still have a place, but of course there are so many more choices. IMO they still run circles around many of the Asian outsourced budget units, including the Lexicon MPX100/110.
It depends how you are using these devices of course. They are best used with the effect sends on a mixer and their strength is the reverbs. The ping-pong delays and thickening programs are useful, but I generally prefer analog delays and chorusing.
I can’t whole-heartedly recommend any newer budget stuff, except the MidiVerb 4, which has been around a while.
The Lexicon LXP-1 and ReFlex are good choices for vintage boxes, and would be an upgrade.
I have three Alesis products among my effects collection right now... Midiverb II, Quadraverb 2 and Midiverb 4, and they are all keepers for various reasons. The Leslie simulator on the Midiverb 4 is a killer… really well done.
P.S. I regret selling my MidiVerb III.