Reverb, etc..for acoustic guitar/vocals

  • Thread starter Thread starter herringscales
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herringscales

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Hello...I have a really modest setup: Tascam 424 MKIII 4 track recorder and a Shure 57 mic. I'm looking to add effects (reverb, EQ, etc...) to acoustic guitar, other acoustic instruments, and vocals. Can anyone point me in the right direction. I've got about $100 to spend. (note - I have no problem purchasing used or from eBay). I've looked at some of the Digitech products...I saw a TSR24 for $100. Any good? If anyone has any info on where I begin, I'd really appreciate it. I've never worked with recording before, let alone effects,and I'm really lost. Thanks!
Scott
 
being lost is what it's all about. go brave into that good night
 
What I use...

I just use a simple Alesis Nanoverb...think I paid about $85 dollars for it...It has quite a few reverbs such as hall, plates, rooms, delays, flanger...It may look small but it's quite the bang for your buck! It is also quite portable for that live setup as well, that is if you play out.
 
A budget Lexicon (such as the MPX-100) or even a used Lexi of some flavour will far out-perform the Nano or anything else at that level......... Lexicon wrote the book on 'verb.

Bruce
 
That's true...

Lexicon is the leader, but I was looking at Scott's budget...unless like you said, he can find one used...
 
the nanoverb will blow your head off, especially through a nice speaker cab or bassy guitar amp. you can tweak any effect with a turn of the knob, so unlike those gay digital effects processors, you don't have to hit a lot of buttons that usually piss you right off and end up leaving you cussing up a storm.

~the turtle
 
nanoverb

For your budget, yes go for nanoverb, i'm have one working nicely for all my stuff. However given the choice, I will go for the Lexicon MPX-100 as BlueBear suggested. Go give them a nice listen in your nearest dealer before you go to ebay (eh hem). Audio/Sound quality is a very subjective thing ... your ears will let you know which one to get. Trust your ears cause everybody lies when it comes to recommending equipments .. but your ears lie more convincingly.
 
The key is whatever you use, make sure you're giving it a strong signal from your board (just below clipping) and returning the same. That way when you mix the verb back into the channel(s) you only need to add a bit and you get a much cleaner sound (better signal to noise ratio). You can make even crappy reverbs sound much better this way.
 
i still say that the nanoverb is great for three reasons:

1. simplicity of use
2. it's really cheap
3. great sound with room to tweak your sounds

haven't tried the lexicon though, but hear good things about it. however, it is double the price

~the turtle
 
...REAL cheap...

herringscales,

this goes for acoustic guitar,

i've got a nanoverb. facing backside out i use it as a cord hanger. the end of one cord in each input/output. ok, it's not THAT bad, but it's true that i use it a cord hanger. now i just record the same thing TWICE, and then pan one track left and the other one right. how far do i pan them? until it sounds good. for what this will cost you - it's nothing short of magic. just be careful to not screw up the tracks rythmically. it'll sound even worse than a single track with crappy sound. you can experiment with stuff like focusing one track more on the lower strings and then emphasizing the higher ones on the other, or whatever - go nuts! again - just work out the rythm properly.

it's amazing what you can do with a decent mic (condenser preferably), a decent sounding guitar and a little patience without having to add any effects.

my nano made me understand i don't really need it when recording :D . it even sounds better without it. but it has sure saved my 'rear entry' at some gigs. man, it's simplicity itself to use.

vocals? another story.

good luck herringscales,

micmac
 
I don't know much about any of this stuff, and I am positive Bruce is right (he always is) about the Lexicon. I have an Art FXR that I use live and am very happy with it. It has 16 effects/combinations of effects and then 16 presets for each effect.It also has a mix, input and output knob. It is stereo, so it can give some pretty cool ping-pong type echoes too. I got it for $45 off eBay just to use on vocals as a echo/reverb box for live stuff. I use the plugin reverbs in Nuendo for my recording verb. So, I really don't know how it will sound on a recording, but it is damn cheap, and has a lot more effects then the NanoVerb, for less money if you can find one on eBay. There is also the FXR Elite, but ti's more expensive, and I've never tried it. Overall I've always found ART gear to be REALLY cheap, and not as bad as most people say. The only other box I've used is a Behringer Virutalizer Pro, and I loved that thing. Along with reverbs it has distortions, flanges/ chorus/ and everything else. It's also around $150 new if I remember correctly. It is also midi controllable. I wanna buy one of them myself so my singer can switch patches on the unit live to get cool echo effects. Just my knowledge (which always seems to be dwarfed).

Jake
 
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