Midiverb, MPX 200, M300, RFX2000

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exit assassin

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Right, I am hoping to get any combination of any two of the following rack units:

Alesis Midiverb
Alesis Microverb
Alesis Quadroverb
TC Electronic M300
Lexicon MPX 200
Zoom RFX 2000

The units will be used in my guitar rig (probably in the effects loop of my amp) and in my studio rig.

What I want from the units:

Fairly long reverb (For sort of shoegaze ambient music and to put on recordings)
Good Delays (maybe an analogue sim)
A compressor (for mixdowns)
MIDI functions so that I can use a floor controller to to control them

At least one of the two units has to have:

Gated/reverse reverb
patch switching with no gaps in sound/dropouts
reverbs that trail after the unit is bypassed (maybe I could live without this)
Some sort of analogue/tape delay sim
An octave up pitchshifter that tracks well

Added bonuses that would make me strongly consider one unit over the other:

Self oscillating/pitchshifting delays
Infinite reverb
long delay times
Infinite delays
Dual pitch shifting
Harmoniser

Most importantly the effects have to be of a good quality and quiet in a studio situation. In a live guitar rig, a bit of noise wouldnt bother me too much but I dont want stupid amounts of hissing/buzzing either. At the moment I am heading towards the TC Electronic M300 (it seems to have the best sound quality of the lot) and Zoom RFX 2000 (seems to have a lot of usefull features such as the voocoder) but I can't find much information on the length of the delays or reverbs, or if they trail when bypassed.

Also I am open to suggestions on more expensive single units that would do as good a job as any two of these units or a suggestion for one of these units + a MIDI floor controller if you think that would be a more versatile option.

So people, which two units should I get, cast your votes NOW.....

:)
 
Effects units

I have the Microverb 4. for the price it works quite well. Simple to dial up the type of effect you want. You can then tweak it with the knobs if the preset isn't right.

You can also create your own presets. pretty much idiot proof.
 
I would lean towards the TC M300, very clean sounding, the presets sound good, and its very easy to use. I'm not sure of the midi features, I use it for live sound. it also has S/PDIF co-ax connections.

The other unit on the list that i would go for would be the QuadraVerb. it's older, it's a little noisy, but it has lots of effect routing options, and it has more that just delay and reverb.

Unfortunately, the cheap Lexicon stuff sounds really cheap to my ears. I usually stay away from it
 
How does the M300 sound in a guitar rig though??? Can it do those lush Slowdive esque reverbs??? I have also heard that patch changes arent seamless, does it bypass seamlesly, and do the reverbs and delays trail after you bypass it?

Sorry for all the questions. :)
 
Hey,
I use two Midiverb II's which I think sound great for the price. They sound better than the Midiverb III and IV in my opinion, more warm and natural but they have less options. They've worked great for me though, that's why I bought a second one and I just picked one up on ebay for 65 bucks! Sweet. Good luck shopping.
 
FX in general

I run a dual channel guitar rig, and I have been experimenting with fx a lot recently. Basically, one channel is reasonably clean, and I feed in ambient effects with the other. I currently use a Quadraverb GT, Midiverb 4, TC M300 and Lexicon MPX550. EQ is an Alesis DEQ230D, each channel has its own stereo Marshall pre-amp.

To answer your questions, steer clear of the Alesis effects if you want clean. They can be noisy, especially the Quadraverb. The TC and Lexicon are very quiet. Both the TC and Lexicon do good tape echo simulations. The MPX550 is better for the studio, the M300 better for live. The Lexicon is much more flexible, and has pitch and harmoniser effects, although it can take a while to fine tune a program. The M300 does sound good and is simple to use, but is very limited. I think the max echo on the TC is 1 second, on the Lexicon it seems like forever ( > 2secs), depends on program. The lexicon can be set to handle bypass in various ways, can mute its output or input. The TC trails on bypass and patch change. I have not been able to get the TC to do a good infinite hold yet. The Midiverb and Lexicon do.

I suggest getting hold of the manuals for the units you are interested in off the internet and have a good read. I can answer other specific questions if required.
 
Any two from that list? I would pick the Lexicon MX200 and TC M300, in that order.

The runner-up would be the Alesis Quadraverb. Did you know there was also a Quadraverb GT, specifically geared toward guitar? For guitar purposes, I'd probably go with that over the M300.

But there are other fx boxes that I'd put on your list ahead of some of the ones you have there.

For example, the Korg "A" series boxes. The A2 or A3 are specifically aimed at guitarists and have a great variety of effects. You can get these pretty cheap these days.
 
SonicAlbert said:
Any two from that list? I would pick the Lexicon MX200 and TC M300, in that order.
The runner-up would be the Alesis Quadraverb.
Click to expand...

Good answer. If you must buy Alesis, the Quadraverb is the best one. But Sonic is right......in that order.
 
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