I was going to buy a delay pedal but I've got a spare rack slot and I've realised I can probably get more for my money with some used old rack multi-fx. Sadly it seems like rack gear isn't quite as unwanted as it was a few years back, but there still seem to be some bargains about.
It would mostly be for messing around with 80s rock silliness, so I'd normally only use delay and reverb. However, if it comes with a preamp, that would mean I could use it as a backup in case of catastrophic amp failure, which might be useful (although I do have other backup plans already).
What should I be on the hunt for? Are the Behringers clones of something better?
On my shopping list:
Boss GX700
DigiTech GSP1101 (probably more than I want to spend)
Roland GP-100
Rocktron Intellifex
Alesis Quadraverb
Any others to look at?
My YouTube channel,
Half Speed Solos: classic guitar solos demonstrated at half speed with scrolling tab and no waffle.
Comments
Does anyone know about Lexicon units? The MPX100 seems to sell very cheap. As it's so much newer it's theoretically 'better', but I wonder if I actually want 'better' when I'm after an 80s rock tone. I don't actually know what delays and reverbs hair metal guitarists used. When I google rackmount gear, the discussion is usually about shoegaze artists.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
The effects were pretty decent but by today's standards, the COSM amp models were, let's be charitable here,. errr 'out-of-date', shall we say.
For what it's worth, I found that the best 80s lead tone delays I ever heard came from an old ART SGE Mach II unit. They're notorious for overheating (you need to drill holes in the casing to let them breathe), they've only got 16-bit A/D converters, and they're from a time when "shitty bypass" was the norm, but by the gods...it sounded glorious.
Sadly a lot of the rack stuff isn't dirt cheap now. Most of the ones you mention are closer to or above three figures in good condition. The best cheap rack in my view is the Yamaha SPX50D as the studio muffins don't go for them as there's guitar bits on them and it's got most of the classic Yamaha effects that people pay more for on the SPX90. The big win on this unit: Symphonic chorus (bloody awesome) and the reverse reverb.
So the stuff I'd look out for is Digitech. Stuff like the Studio Quad and the GSP racks. Zoom as well, look at the RFX and Zoomstudio stuff.
The ability to switch the order of the effects blocks around was one of its strengths if I recall correctly and could yield some 'interesting' results.
I still wish I'd known about this about six weeks before I first read your mention of it on here. Could have had an SPX50D from my local Cash Generator for about £30.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
And as I'm browsing through racks, let's mention the Lexicon MPX1. It's a fiendish bastard of a device if you're not confident with dials and rack programming. Once you crack it, then it's a bloody awesome box of tricks. These are £100 to £150 on t'bay.
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous
But wait... there's a vocoder? A proper mic input for this? And a ring modulator?