Effects for $200?

J

jiffy feet

New member
Hola!

I am looking to buy a rack unit for effects, but not to spend very much money. I am looking at a few different units from Lexicon and Alesis, as well as some of the really cheap stuff from Behringer. I really don't want to spend a penny over $200, and prefer to buy new.

What am I trying to do? I recently bought a Yamaha Motif, and I am just screwing around with that in my room. I also have a Korg Electribe ES-1. The only effects I have, aside from the ones in the Motif, of course, are whatever crappy ones come bundled with Cubasis. I just use reverb and delay from that software since all the others suck, and even those two pretty much suck. In addition to much better reverb and delay, though, I thought it might be nice to get some modulation, phaser, distortion, etc. to play with.

So my basic question is this: Are these $200 or less effects units worth the money? I don't have the dough right now to buy anything more expensive, so it's either something like this or nothing for now.
 
jiffy feet said:
So my basic question is this: Are these $200 or less effects units worth the money? I don't have the dough right now to buy anything more expensive, so it's either something like this or nothing for now.
Click to expand...

I think the newer Behringers are very impressive considering how cheap they are. I also think the Boss VF1 sounds much more expensive than it is. You can usually score those off ebay for $200 or so.

Chances are neither of these will be replacing a TC on a major release anytime soon. But who knows? Chances are you'll find one particular preset that, when tweaked to your liking, will give you a particular sound/effect you can't find anywhere else. And even after you upgrade to the $1000 + effects, you'll probably keep that one around just for that one setting you like to use from time to time.

But then, if you try either of them yourself and don't like them at all and think they sound like ass, then I suppose they wouldn't be worth the money, and you'd be better off with nothing, then, right? :D
 
Well, I usually buy most everything from Guitar Center. I get them to match prices with MF or whoever has things cheap, and I can take it back if it ends up seeming like junk. Basically I am not risking abything by buying these things to try out for a couple weeks, so the ultimate test will be just picking something up and taking it home for a while.

The only bad part is that the guys there probably already hate me for doing this. I bought a Mo Phatt module, returned it to trade up to a Proteus 2500, then bought a Behringer preamp, then took back both the pre and the Proteus to trade up for a Motif. Oh, I also bought a Roland GR-33 and took that back. All of this within 2 months hehe.

They did say something at that point, but basically they were just asking if they hadn't done a good enough job of helping me, since it seemed I was never getting what I really wanted. I told them they were, in fact, doing an extremely sub-par job of selling, since they either won't or can't ever answer any of my questions. Oh well, they make the rules, right?

Anyway, I am looking at the Behringer Virtualizer PRO 2024, the Lexicon MXP 110 and the Alesis Akira. Anyone have any experience with any of these units specifically, or have any other units I should look at?
 
I can't believe I'm defending the Guitar Center guys . . . but damn, you'd be the nightmare client. :D I'd probably run in the back if I saw you coming in, and tell idiot to go help you out. :D :D

"Oh, my God, it's Jiffy Feet. Run! ! ! He's probably got something else he wants to return!"

"Hey Peabrain, quit standing there with your thumb in your ass and go help out Jiffy Feet! Come on, I'll give you 5 bucks." :D
 
From my limited experience you can't go wrong with Lexicon...even their cheapest units...which I have used a lot are eminently usable. I was also impressed with the cheap Behringer unit....of which the name escapes me...

Effects units are like most things...very subjective...one persons gem is another persons joke......and vice versa.
 
Well, to my credit, for all the stuff I return I still keep some of it, hehe. In the past 6 months I have bought (all from the same GC) the Motif 6, M Audio Studiophile Monitors, a Line 6 POD XT, a small Behringer mixer, the Korg Electribe ES-1, and AKG c1000s, 2 mic stands, and lots of cabling to hook all that crap up. Plus at the beginning of 2002 I bought a Martin acoustic from them. Surely they can't hate me TOO much!

But yeah, I am sure they think I am a jackass. I can't really help it, though. How would I ever know if something sucks when they aren't willing to do a little work to demo it for me?
 
I've had good results with the MidiVerb III and IV. The III is not made anymore, but if you'll spring for the tax, you can get the IV right at $200. Lexicon is tough to beat to, I've just never gotten around to buying one.

I told them they were, in fact, doing an extremely sub-par job of selling, since they either won't or can't ever answer any of my questions. Oh well, they make the rules, right?
Click to expand...
These bozo's could avoid the returns if they asked the proper qualifying questions before showing you 15 products that only confuse you, and you'd most likely get the correct product for your needs the first time around.

These guys are not salesmen, they're clerks.
 
Well, I went in there last night to check it out. I talked to one guy for a few minutes, then another guy who I have dealt with quite a bit came over. We talked for around 30 minutes, during which he talked me out of buying anything. As I was leaving, I couldn't believe that he had actually talked me out of spending money in there.

We got to talking about what I already have, and he is saying that the effects in my Motif are far superior to any of the cheap rack units. I said I agree with that, but I only have one insert effect when playing live and would like some more, blah blah. Anywho, it came up that I have a POD XT, and he starts telling me to go home and play with that for a while. He says it will be better than a cheap unit.

So I did exactly that. I had been meanin g to try that anyway but kept forgetting because the POD was in a different area than the rest of the stuff.

I ran the Electribe through the POD, and the Motif already goes through the Electribe. He was right, I had fun with it. All I did was twist through some of the presets while changing pattern on the Tribe and letting a little of the Motif's pattern come through as well. Pretty cool I guess.

I still need to try a few different routing configurations to find out how I want to use it in that setup though.

Here's a question. I have the Electribe in the effects loop of my mixer, so that I can have all my other audio sources run through it. I was thinking to put the POD in the other effects loop, but then I won't be able to run the Tribe through it. What should I do about that?

Sorry for the long-winded post, but I am bored at work.
 
Some good effects have been named here so I will just re-enforce something or whatever..

For $200?

Alesis Quardaverb 4
Behringer
Lexicon
 
I always thought the Alesis Wedge was a cool unit. I have several of them, and they are really inexpensive used on Ebay..less than $100 most of the times. I prefer them over the cheapie Lexi units and feel they have waaaaay more adjustment over the parameters of most budget rack units. I use a couple of settings like "cedar room" and "airy hall" all the time. If and when one of them takes a dump, I'll buy another to replace it. I gotta have a couple, without a doubt.
 
Well, most of what I was thinking has been covered. I second the Lexicon as the best rack mount unit in your price range. I happen to like TC electronics M300, but it's $250. The other thing is, the guy at GC was right. The effects in your POD are probably as good or better than most of the units you're considering. Try the tube preamp model on manual, and start playing with the reverb and various effects.-Richie
 
You have more effects than you think...

Study the voice mode of the Motif more.... There are over 100 eefects to insert into your sequence... With Resampling you can copy a full 4 element sound with insert effects then resample in the same sequence without using your insert effect... This does take time but you can master it......

Plus its free....
 
Yeah, I am well aware of the Motif's capabilities, but it's so much easier to use outboard gear instead of spending so much time with resampling and such. Even with practice, it will always be much more time consuming to use the Motif in that way than it would to just turn a few dials on a rack unit. Not to mention, the Motif isn't the only piece of gear I use, so a rack unit would simplify things all around.

I did decide not to buy any cheap rack units, though. The POD XT sounds great on the drum parts, and it's not as though I am dying for lack of inserts, at least not yet.

My eyes are now on the TC electronic D Two. Quite a bit pricier than $200, but looks like a really cool delay unit.
 
Your POD should have about all you need. If it doesn't, get a few pedals that do something it cannot.
 
jiffy feet said:
Hola!

I am looking to buy a rack unit for effects, but not to spend very much money. I am looking at a few different units from Lexicon and Alesis, as well as some of the really cheap stuff from Behringer. I really don't want to spend a penny over $200, and prefer to buy new.

What am I trying to do? I recently bought a Yamaha Motif, and I am just screwing around with that in my room. I also have a Korg Electribe ES-1. The only effects I have, aside from the ones in the Motif, of course, are whatever crappy ones come bundled with Cubasis. I just use reverb and delay from that software since all the others suck, and even those two pretty much suck. In addition to much better reverb and delay, though, I thought it might be nice to get some modulation, phaser, distortion, etc. to play with.

So my basic question is this: Are these $200 or less effects units worth the money? I don't have the dough right now to buy anything more expensive, so it's either something like this or nothing for now.
Click to expand...

I'd definitely go for the Lexicon MPX110 24-bit Dual Channel Processor

I have one and it sounds GREAT!

Daniel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top