Old rack effects a waste of money ?

Creed_Clicks

Hi all. I am looking at getting another reverb pedal with a reverse setting and while there are some basic options like the digiverb or marshall out there, I’ve also seen some midiverb 4 racks for sale for around the same price. 
One disadvantage is it would be a pain in the backside to bring to gigs but it seems to be action packed with effects.
I am also thinking that as tech has progressed, these rack units could be pretty redundant now. Thoughts?

mrkb

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Stratavarious

I still use my old Lexicon and Yamaha rack gear for some gigs ..my boogie sits on their little rack.. actually smaller than my pedalboard bag.  So really no different gear wise.

Its all fallacies / regurgitating marketing when it comes to gear.   

Rack is great for fx loop / time based stuff..then you usually have the benefit of patches too.  Also save extra runs of cables.

tekbow

mrkb said:

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Strymon have a MultiFX unit?

mrkb

tekbow said:

mrkb said:

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Strymon have a MultiFX unit?

Does the mobius only have one effect or multi- effects? I assume multi fx means many different effects are available? Or does it only mean multiple effects in a chain?

swiller

I still own a lexicon MPX1 and will never sell. Superb for those with synths/studio etc. Guitar wise, wont do amp style distortion, but for most else, especially the ambience reverb algo, its pretty stellar. £250ish last time i checked.

tekbow

mrkb said:

tekbow said:

mrkb said:

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Strymon have a MultiFX unit?

Does the mobius only have one effect or multi- effects? I assume multi fx means many different effects are available? Or does it only mean multiple effects in a chain?

To my mind it's more than one type of effect, like Delay, modulation and reverb.

That being said I guess the mobius does actually count because it has Flangers, Chorus, Trem etc.

It's prob not a semantic debate worth considering TBH, but I would say things like the timeline arent because it's different types of Delay

tekbow

tekbow said:

mrkb said:

tekbow said:

mrkb said:

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Strymon have a MultiFX unit?

Does the mobius only have one effect or multi- effects? I assume multi fx means many different effects are available? Or does it only mean multiple effects in a chain?

To my mind it's more than one type of effect, like Delay, modulation and reverb.

That being said I guess the movies does actually count because it has Flangers, Chorus, Trem etc.

It's prob not a semantic debate worth considering TBH, but I would say things like the timeline arent because it's different types of Delay

And also yes, I suspect even a regular strymon pedal like the Brig etc prob has quite a bit more DSP than the most powerful FX processors in the 90s

digitalscream

Yeah...I've got a TC G-Major that's sitting in the corner. Fabulous effects, but so hard to sell it's barely worth the effort to do it.

BlueStrat

Things have moved on considerably in 20/30 years - just compare your smart phone or tablet with anything available back then

Sassafras

In a few years rack effects will enjoy a resurgence like all other vintage effects and you'll be sorry you sold off all your rack gear for pennies.

Creed_Clicks

BlueStrat said:

Things have moved on considerably in 20/30 years - just compare your smart phone or tablet with anything available back then

Yep, that's what I am thinking. VSTs, the new racks!

lustycourtier

tekbow said:

mrkb said:

I’ve thought similar. I’ve got a Digitech TSR24 that was about £800 in 1990, but suspect a strymon multifx has way better sounds now.

Strymon have a MultiFX unit?

Yeah, its called the Line6 M series from 15 years ago 

english_bob

Sassafras said:

In a few years rack effects will enjoy a resurgence like all other vintage effects and you'll be sorry you sold off all your rack gear for pennies.

Already happening.

Creed_Clicks

Well I bought a midiverb 4, let’s hope it’s all working properly !!

normula1

digitalscream said:

Yeah...I've got a TC G-Major that's sitting in the corner. Fabulous effects, but so hard to sell it's barely worth the effort to do it.

I'm in this very boat. I bought a Helix rack earlier this year in theory making a couple of G-Majors effectively redundant but I'm going to keep hold of them not least as I'm using one of them for MIDI controlled remote relay switching to get round a "feature" on the Helix.

Roland

It’s sometimes useful to hang on to early devices. After a few months it can be useful to compare them with your current set up.

octatonic

Creed_Clicks said:

Hi all. I am looking at getting another reverb pedal with a reverse setting and while there are some basic options like the digiverb or marshall out there, I’ve also seen some midiverb 4 racks for sale for around the same price. 
One disadvantage is it would be a pain in the backside to bring to gigs but it seems to be action packed with effects.
I am also thinking that as tech has progressed, these rack units could be pretty redundant now. Thoughts?

Midiverb IV might be cheap but it is very much a product of its time.

18 bit converters were the limiting factor, alhought the internal signal path was 24bit.
Also IIRC you could have a couple of effects at once but you couldn't change individual effects in a patch like you would these days with Axe FX et al.

It also depends where in the market they were situated.
I had a bunch of old effects units lying around for ages- pair of Midiverb IV's, Rockrron Intellifex, Lexicon MPX G2, Lexicon MPX1, Lexicon Vortex- the budget-ish stuff. FOr more than a decade, taking up space and never getting used.

That usually isn't worth hanging onto and they won't be worth anything down the line.
They all got sold for a few hundred quid a piece and I am glad they are gone.

High end units are a different ballgame: Eventide H3000/H4000, Lexicon 224/224XL, TC M6000 etc still command decently high prices for a lot of complicated reasons, partly due to sound, workflow, prestige and artist endorsement. 
You'd never use them in place of a Strymon Delay though.

My advice is to get a small modern capable device unless you have to save money, then go for the cheaper older rack mount equivalent and live with the sonic, process/workflow compromises.

monquixote

I think the current trend to have a collection of mega pedals at your feet (Stryfecta etc) which you then run through a looper and control by MIDI doesn't make a lot of sense. 

You've got a ton of gear at your feet, loads of cables and stuff to go wrong and degrade your signal (or get beer poured over) and cables snaking back and forth.

Some kind of rack gear + a MIDI controller actually makes a ton more sense if you want something massively flexible to go with a conventional amp.

octatonic

monquixote said:

I think the current trend to have a collection of mega pedals at your feet (Stryfecta etc) which you then run through a looper and control by MIDI doesn't make a lot of sense. 

You've got a ton of gear at your feet, loads of cables and stuff to go wrong and degrade your signal (or get beer poured over) and cables snaking back and forth.

Some kind of rack gear + a MIDI controller actually makes a ton more sense if you want something massively flexible to go with a conventional amp.

I've done this a number of ways over the years- rack and remote, loads of pedals on the floor and simple set ups.

I have decided that it comes down to one simple conclusion, which is that having highly articulated effects chains doesn't really matter for a live performance.
A guitar, an amplifier with two channels, a single, simple delay with tap tempo, a wah and an octaver/Whammy is all I need and all I want.
Any more and it gets too complex and the performance suffer.

Rack devices like Axe FX are worse in a live setting.
Great in the studio. mind.
The problem is you get your sounds sorted in a rehearsal room or in the studio and walk into an overly bright, dark, live or dead venue and everything needs tweaking- right before the gig.
If I was playing gigs where I had a tech then fine, but I don't.

I want to be able to walk over to the devices and tweak them on the fly and not have too many options.
YMMV.

Creed_Clicks

This will be for home use only to be honest and i’ll stick synths through it too