efx processors

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Hello, my name is Robert. I am new to the board, and fairly new to home recording, and I just wanted to say thank you for all the information I have found so far. It has been very helpful.

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on outboard efx processors. This has probably been covered a lot in the past, but for some reason I haven't seen too much on the three pages of the "Rack" forum.

Anyway, I am looking for a professional quality effects unit that will give me reverbs, flange, distortion, etc... Any suggestions?
 
Hmm... in the "Guerrilla Home recoding book.." there are no much especific brand or prodct recommendation. But, in the case of the FX gear, the autor is proudly to recommend the Yamaha SPX90 as the best effect processor. You can get it a Ebay for about 100 bucks if you're lucky.
 
Thanks,

Do you know how that unit might compare to some of the TC electronics or Lexicon units? They're more expensive I see... is there that big of a difference?
 
The SPX90 is basically "vintage digital" at this point. 16 bit, noisy, no digital I/O, but having a tone that appeals to some for certain things. Still in demand, but kind of specialized.

If you are getting your first digital fx unit you'd do a lot better getting a more recent all-purpose type box. Depending on your budget, something like the Lexicon MX200, TC Electronic M300 (or one of the new versions of this), or the TC M-One XL.
 
Hey, thanks for the help. I'll definitely check those out. I guess I should have said this in the first place, but I am going to be recording to tape if that makes any difference. I don't do so well in front of a computer all the time.
 
I should also mention that I could probably afford to spend a little more than the units that have been listed if needed. If these $100-$200 units work as well as the $500 ones then that's obviously fine with me. But I would much rather spend a little more to have quality effects than really cheap sounding ones, if there is a big difference.
 
Kurzwiel Rumour has been getting a lot of good word lately. I have a TC M-One that I like a lot in the lower price range.....add XL at the end now. I love Lexicon, but not necessarily their low end units.
 
The Rumour is a great box, I used to own one. The reason I didn't suggest it is that the Rumour is heavily focused on reverbs. You will find a few delays in there, but flange, distortion, mod effects, etc. are extremely limited. Kurzweil also has a box called the Mangler which has all those other effects in spades. The idea is that you buy both for $1,000 and have a really amazing sounding fx rack.

If reverb is you main need though, you can't find anything better than the Rumour for $500 in my opinion.
 
I would need all of the effects (reverbs + flange, distortion etc.) so that is definitely something to consider.
 
If reverb is a real important effect for you, the Rumour is great. Excellent verbs. I have a Lexicon M500 as well which has it's own unique Lexicon lush verb sound (which some like and some hate), but the Rumour definitely has the better verbs. The converters in the Rumour are also excellent. It provides other effects as well (chorus and delay for example). Used, they run about $400-25 or so. If reverb is not so important, you could consider the Kurzweil Mangler which has less "polite" effects, but also has about 14 reverbs or so. There is overlap between the two in terms of teh effects covered. See this article for a review:

http://www.sonicstate.com/articles/article.cfm?id=74

If you want vintage delay sounds, check out a Delta Labs Effectron II or III. Discontinued, but can be had pretty cheap on e-bay. A great budget effects box. The number in the title/label refers to the maximum length of delay that the specific model provides.

If you just want tube warm up, a Peavey (yeah, I know) Tube Sweetener provides a nice subtle coloration. It is part of the now discontinued AMR line that included the VMP-2 pre and the VC/L-2 Compressor/Limiter. Well built box, but the effect is nice in some instances. About $100 or so on E-Bay.
 
Well, I see Albert beat me to it. I think that is his review I pointed you to.
 
does the lexicon mx2000 or the TC M-One have distortion? I always thought they had pretty much everything but distortion.
 
You can download the MX200 manual here:

http://www.lexiconpro.com/mx200/downloads.asp

I don't think it has distortion. In fact, I've found that very few rack mount digital fx boxes have distortion. The Kurzweil Mangler is one of the few. But I wouldn't get the Mangler unless I already had an fx box I could devote to reverb.

I think the Korg "A" series has distortion, if I remember correctly.

For distortion you might want to get a specialized box. Or even maybe some good quality guitar fx. It's just really limiting to choose your main fx unit based on it needing distortion.

Oh, and thanks for linking to my review of the Rumour and Mangler. Glad to know someone is still reading those articles!
 
check out the new lexicon for around $200, if you are using a computer to record it has usb capability and can save you some processing power by doing it externally. The tc M300 is around 200.00 as well and is probably the easiest to use but doesn't sound all that great except maybe the tap delay. both have all of the above mentioned effects
 
Thanks Peter. I'm actually not using a computer, I'm going to be recording to an 8 track with 1/2" tape. I'll check that unit out though, even if I don't need the USB connection.

Question: If I am processing guitar, vocals, bass, keys, + more with reverb, distortion, etc. all at the same time during the mix, will I need an efx processor with as many inputs and outputs (say 6-8)?

For instance, I saw the KURZWEIL KSP-8 has eight channels. But... I think that might be getting close to out of my price range. I could always save up longer, I guess, if that is what I really need.

How about the Kurzweil Mangler and Rumuor? They seem to only have one channel each... unless I am completely wrong and missed something. That would mean I would have to buy multiple units to process multiple tracks at once? I'm a bit confused I guess.

Oh yeah, SonicAlbert, I think that would be a good idea to not make my decision based on whether or not the unit has distortion. I could always just use one of my guitar pedals. Thanks. :rolleyes:
 
I sold my Rumour and Mangler a while back and bought a KSP8. It's sounds great, and having eight channels is fantastic. If you can spare the bread, it's an awesome unit. You do need the analog I/O expander to use all eight channels though, so that's an additional expense.

If you have enough or almost enough bread for the KSP8, then another approach would be something like this: Pick up the Rumour and Mangler, and then with the extra budget you'd have spent on the KSP8 pick up another fx box or two. This would get you your 6-8 channels (the Rumour/Mangler are stereo) and you'd have a little bit more variety as well.
 
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