Delay/Reverb Recommendation

[Chip Roberts]

I think I might hate my Quadraverb.

Not hate, but there has to be better options out there for me.  Something about it just feels like it's taking away more than it's giving, and I hate the wall wart.  The only reason I have it is because the MIDI selections are quick and the logo matches the MP1 and Furman.

I'm looking for something a little bit gritter, like an SPX90, Midiverb II, or SDE.  Big thing is I'm not using the SPX or SDEs due to the switching issues.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  I'm curious about an Intellifex or Replifex, but I'm wondering if that'll be too clean sounding?

I'm also curious about Korg DRV 2000 or even an A3, if I can find one at a decent price.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Chip,

        Years ago, I had a Digitech DSP 128. It had some decent reverb/delay combinations in it. You might be able to find a used one pretty cheap. Just a thought.

         Also, some of the Lexicon units like the MPX-110 or similar, are also pretty cheap too, but they also use wall wart power supplies, and they only accept MIDI program changes on channel 1. That being said, they have Lexicon quality effects.

        All of Alesis rack gear uses wall warts.

        A3's are pretty hard to find, although I couldn't tell you why. When I switched to Lexicon from the Digitech, I never looked anywhere else for reverb.

Harley 8)

[rnolan]

I'm really liking my TC MOneXL, it's in my studio rack really nice reverb and delay, downside it only does 2 fx at a time.  I still like my Quadverb in my live rack, it's one of the really early ones, great interface and tracks program changes very well, they are pretty versatile, maybe have a read of the manual again, my manual has a great explanation about various parameters and what they do, maybe you'll like it again  , then again, they are quite dated these days I spose.  The Intelliflex stuff is supposed to be very good also, not that I've used one.  TC GMaj2 are also good but not cheap.

[Dante]

Can't go wrong with a TCE - get a G major or better yet, a G-System. For a budget unit, look around for a Boss GX-700.

[Zilthy]

I have both the Rocktron Intellifex and Replifex, and they are both great units.   I think their best feature is if you bypass the Hush, they actually have an analog dry though, and zero tone suck.   It also makes patch switching pretty seamless, even though there is a little delay in patch loading, the dry keeps going.

I like the Intellifex delays and reverbs better, but, the delay times are limited to 420ms if you use chorus + delay, delay + reverb, etc.   That's not a show stopper for me, I rarely used reverb live if ever, and recording I always do delay and reverb effects post on busses.

The Replifex is way less deep on the delays and reverbs, but it does have longer delays, and also can do spillover which is a nice touch for live.

The Intellifex and Replifex use wall wart power supplies.

I also have a Lexicon MPX-G2 (which is similar to the MPX but has additional features including some analog effects) and is geared for running 4 cable method so can put some effects in front of amp and some in the loop/after pre-amp.   It also has an analog path and is super transparent.   And finally, I have a Lexicon MX400XL which is similar in a way to the TC M-One XL (which I considered) in that the MX200/300 series could only do 2 effects at once, but the 400 allows for 4 (it has 2 processer chains so can do 2x2).   One thing I really like about the Lexicon stuff is that you can do delay and reverb in parallel, which can make them a lot cleaner, or you can chain them in either direction.

Now, that being said, I don't actually use rack stuff any more, and delay and reverb were the last holdouts in my setup - I've switched over to pedals and recently got a NUX Atlantic Delay/Reverb.   I'll post on that in the effects section, but I would seriously consider that if you already have a pedalboard, and I'll go in to why in my post on that.  The short is: it has some features that made me not miss having delay and reverb in a rack back with my rig.  :D

[Harley Hexxe]

      Hey Zilthy,

                  NUX makes some very surprisingly good quality pedals at an affordable price. I'm almost finished building a NUX fly-rig pedal board, that consists of the following:

               Bumblebee Pedal Board (Large)
               Cerberus
               Sculpture
               Horseman
               JTC Mini
               True Tone One Spot CS-6 Power Brick

I'm waiting for a local shop to get the new Fireman pedal, and 2 Solid Studio pedals to complete it. I may also add the Joyo Multimode Wah II pedal to it, if I can fit it on the board.

             So far, all of these pedals have been impressive, but I find the Sculpture pedal to be a bit noisy, so I may delete it. The purpose of this, and all the pedal boards I'm building are to make great sounding pedal boards that can be used with my amplifiers, and/or run directly into a mixing desk or DAW.
             The Cerberus allows me to run direct into the front of my vintage amplifiers, but can also run 4CM with more updated amplifiers, and it is programmable, so I can save tone and effects combinations in it. The Solid Studio, (Verdugo Series), is by far the most impressive unit if it's kind, offering more than the Strymon Iridium does, at half the price. That box may find it's way to other pedal boards I'm building.

Harley 8)

[Chip Roberts]

These are all great tips, thanks all.  I didn't realize the Replifex/Intellifex had analog passthrough.  It's one of those things where, once you hear the difference, it's hard to go back.  My GP8 has analogue passthrough and it's m'wah, m'wah, m'wah.  If it didn't have the lag switching from the analog to digital section, I wouldn't think twice about using it for live.  I'll keep an eye out for that Rocktron stuff, though.  I used to run into them on local listings all the time, but these days they're a bit harder to find.

[Zilthy]

Chip,

If you are interested, I may be selling mine.  I really don't use them anymore.   I could probably go a bit less than what I would list on Reverb/Ebay if we could cut out the fees.  PM me if interested, and I will think and make sure I want to sell them.

[Chip Roberts]

Okay, here's a curveball for you all.  Do you know what vintage, like pre-1991 units, respond to MIDI clock tempo?  I know the Lexicon stuff does, and maybe a few others that are outside of my price range.

[Harley Hexxe]

Eventide and TC Electronic, (limited ones), do and I think Sony(?) The A7 unit that Edge from U2 uses does that. I'm not sure if Roland or Yamaha have that in any of their DSP processors. Possibly Digitech may have gotten into that by the late 80's, but I'm not sure, I had moved away from them by that time.

Harley 8)