Old rack effects a waste of money ?

octatonic

Creed_Clicks said:

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

Pedals are still more immediate.

But if you can live with the limitations then fill your boots.
New stuff = moar gooderer though when comparing old budget rack gear stuff to good quality modern effects pedals.

Creed_Clicks

I don’t have reverse reverb, chorus flanger etc so this could be handy. A line 6 m5 or zoom cdr might have been handier !

monquixote

octatonic said:

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.

Yep.

Wah, 2 drives (or 2 channel amp), basic delay and mod and I can do anything with ease.

 

Creed_Clicks

Live, I’d use delay reverb and a blues driver and that’s it usually 

Axe_meister

For studio stuff I think they will be fine l. Really nothing wrong with a lot of 80s recordings.

Fez

I still have a Yamaha spx90 no idea what to do with it. Hoping for a renaissance of rack fx.

octatonic

Axe_meister said:

For studio stuff I think they will be fine l. Really nothing wrong with a lot of 80s recordings.

They didn't tend use the cheap stuff- (Eventide 3k/4k, Lexicon 224/PCM 50/60 TC6k etc) and they were recoded to 2" tape on a big SSL 4k and mixed down to 1/2".

I'm not trying to be discouraging, just putting it all in context.

Danny1969

I have used a a few rack units live over the years. The Alesis Quadraverb, Lexicon MX200, Roland GP100. In some cases they will work a lot better in the loop of an amp than a typical pedal. One setup was the Lexicon in the loop of a Bugera combo, switching in the Lex on the footswitch was nice as I programmed a 5dB bump as well for solo's. 

grappagreen

Waste of money? I don't think so... of course the new stuff sounds so much better.... not

uksaint7

I think the best sounding and most iconic effects units will keep their value irrespective of format. The run of the mill units won't and I think most mid-range digital units of 20 years ago won't stack up that great against modern alternatives. And unless you have an iconic unit the rack format is pretty unpopular at the moment.

But that does mean bargains can be had, I just noticed a great condition TC Electronic G-Major for £70 on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/555688382702422 , no affiliation!) which is a great sounding processor for very little outlay. With a little MIDI pedal on your board it could sit on your amp in the loop and take the place of a number of pedals.

Creed_Clicks

I restored factory settings on the Midiverb 4. I bought it mainly for the reverse reverbs. There are 2 factory presets, from what I can see so far, with reverse, and they don't seem that bad to edit.
Could a small cheap pedal do what I want to do instead of the rack. Yeah possibly,but some of the other presets aren't bad and are useable for sure.

blobb

Tweak your midiverb 4 with Paul White.....

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/improving-sound-your-reverb

Creed_Clicks

blobb said:

Tweak your midiverb 4 with Paul White.....

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/improving-sound-your-reverb

Thanks!

thermionic

I have an old Alesis Microverb that I initially bought to use with my Tascam 4-track cassette machine… I still have in my rack mainly because it does one thing well that I haven’t been able to reproduce by pedals or software - 100% wet with a massive decay to produce a dense, lingering wall of sound that works well with tremolo picking. I don’t use it as a mix reverb mow so I plan on just patching it in to my Pod for that kind of speciall effect.

I also have a relatively basic Lexicon that I do still use as a mix reverb, as I can set send/returns in Logic using optical in/outs. 

Springywheel

The only rack gear I own is an old quadraverb...it's not any better than modern reverb pedals, but it has a character I like that can't be replicated by anything else. 

StuartMac290

Some of those old rack effects have a sound that nothing else can get near. My studio has three Bricasti M7s, an Eventide H8000FW and an Eventide H7600, but I still have and use an ancient PCM70, an H3000 and an SPX990, because they have a sound I love.

Don't throw out old rack gear!

Creed_Clicks

Well, that didn't last long. Sold it this morning. Some interesting effects, but nothing a pedal or plugin couldn't do taking up less space. I think this could be useful for a producer or someone working a home studio recording full on demos etc.