80's - 90's multi-fx units vs today's units?

T

Thunkful

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Anyone here who has compared these units in cheaper price range such as 100-300€/$? I'm talking about the rocktron, yamaha and maybe alesis units from 80's and 90's and TC g-major, Nux Cerberus and some newer Digitech and BOSS units from today.

I'm thinking about the Nux Cerberus as it is a floor unit so it would be pretty compact. I'm just wondering if you're able to go as crazy with delay and reverb as you can with the older units?
 
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
 
flatheads_4ever":3sj0wqdz said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
 
Thunkful":2gkg4j8z said:
flatheads_4ever":2gkg4j8z said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
Click to expand...
I have an Intellifex online, it does the trick well..BUT picked up a Lexicon MPX1 and it is a better sounding unit to my ears. Both very good though. The Intellifex is more of a surgical non colored unit, the Lex has a warmth/color that is really nice. If you are gigging the Intellifex is a little easier to use/program and plays well with a midi mate pedal. It was designed for guitar. The Lex is more of a studio unit but can be paired with an MPX R1 controller for stage use, there is a little lag in the channel switching though. Also, I have a Roland SDE 3000 which can be set to a certain setting and then bypassed with a footswitch, if you play out. It also has a nice warmth/color to the tone. All of these can be had for 100-200 US usually.
 
Thunkful":367sol3n said:
flatheads_4ever":367sol3n said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
Click to expand...

I meant Eventide. I had two different things on my mind.

I say just give the intellifex a try. You can find them for under $100 these days.
 
Racerxrated":2pgrnkbl said:
Thunkful":2pgrnkbl said:
flatheads_4ever":2pgrnkbl said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
Click to expand...
I have an Intellifex online, it does the trick well..BUT picked up a Lexicon MPX1 and it is a better sounding unit to my ears. Both very good though. The Intellifex is more of a surgical non colored unit, the Lex has a warmth/color that is really nice. If you are gigging the Intellifex is a little easier to use/program and plays well with a midi mate pedal. It was designed for guitar. The Lex is more of a studio unit but can be paired with an MPX R1 controller for stage use, there is a little lag in the channel switching though. Also, I have a Roland SDE 3000 which can be set to a certain setting and then bypassed with a footswitch, if you play out. It also has a nice warmth/color to the tone. All of these can be had for 100-200 US usually.
Click to expand...

The SDE 3000 is a great unit. The Online was the worst version on the intellefex imo. The original blackface version sounded best.

Ed
 
flatheads_4ever":qpilqlgy said:
Racerxrated":qpilqlgy said:
Thunkful":qpilqlgy said:
flatheads_4ever":qpilqlgy said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
Click to expand...
I have an Intellifex online, it does the trick well..BUT picked up a Lexicon MPX1 and it is a better sounding unit to my ears. Both very good though. The Intellifex is more of a surgical non colored unit, the Lex has a warmth/color that is really nice. If you are gigging the Intellifex is a little easier to use/program and plays well with a midi mate pedal. It was designed for guitar. The Lex is more of a studio unit but can be paired with an MPX R1 controller for stage use, there is a little lag in the channel switching though. Also, I have a Roland SDE 3000 which can be set to a certain setting and then bypassed with a footswitch, if you play out. It also has a nice warmth/color to the tone. All of these can be had for 100-200 US usually.
Click to expand...

The SDE 3000 is a great unit. The Online was the worst version on the intellefex imo. The original blackface version sounded best.

Ed
Click to expand...

The SDE 3000 seems to be a Delay only unit. A lot of gear back then probably were doing only 1 effect at a time.

Nux Cerberus is tempting because it is small, compact and doesn't have too many effects that i wouldn't probably use anyway. G Major is a good example of a unit packed with almost everything imaginable. Also it being a ground unit and having MIDI capability as my amp does, i could probably program it to switch amp channel and a series of effects at the same time.
 
I was able to try Cerberus like few minutes ago and was really disapointed. The Delays and Reverb were really weak and chorus was nothing to write home about either.

I've read so many negative reviews about G major 2 about tone suckage and gaps between changing patches that i'm going to skip it all together.

I'll see if i can still try some BOSS stuff and report back the results. If all these modern effects end up sounding like garbage, i will just get the damn Intellifex.
 
Man the Boss GT-100 delivers.

No tone suckage, Modulations are HUGE, transparent, warm and they do the 80's stuff with ease. Delays and Reverbs are some of the best that i've witnessed.

Tho it didn't come as a complete surprise as i've tested numerous BOSS pedals and they've always delivered.

I'll test some Line6 gea and maybe some other stuff and see what they offer.
 
Roland space echo for the win!! Nothing more fun and satisfactory than taking the time to open it up,cleaning the recording and playback heads and putting in a new loop of fresh magnetic tape.

All these new fangled digital effects processors are just a fad.
 
I'll put in my .02 cents as I owned all of the below at one time.

Rocktron Intellifex, as was stated above all are good barring the "online" model. However the original blackface was the best IMO. I had this unit as a backup multi for years. Great delays, verbs and of course a fantastic chorus. Zero latency between patch changes.

Boss - Most of the half rack stuff was excellent. The SE 50, SE 70, VF-1. The full rack SX-700 was nice as well. I especially liked the SE-70.

Lexicon - MPX-1, very nice unit. I preferred this to the the G2. However, for me...there is a programming curve and I feel like I can program most anything or maybe I was just getting tired of that end of it. I don't know if they ever improved the units as production continued and then ceased but the latency between patches was the reason I removed it. Other than that, it's top quality. And in terms of pure sounds, the best I owned. But the latency was a no go.

Roland - GP16 and GP8. Both solid, never were my favorites.

TC - G Major. The first edition. Unfortunately I had phasing issue's I could never dial out however I like the layout and programming. I believe they addressed that issue but by then I had gone back to my go to.

Alesis - Quadraverb Plus, the upgrade of the original, my favorite. Quadraverb 2 - good sounds if you take the time to program.

My fave and one I still own and still use occasionally, Alesis Quadraverb Plus. I used it for Delay and Verb "only" and frankly, it's just so easy to program. Most of the other sounds are average at best, and depending on what you use in the unit can be noise but for just Delay and Verb, for me it was perfect and the unit I would always come back too. I've owned so many Quads, once they would die I would just buy another and data dump my programs into them. Even now when I hook it up my delays sit perfectly in the mix for me, so much so that any delay unit I've owned, I try and copy everything from it. Close as I've gotten is the Source Audio Nemesis which is what I use on my board now.

Depending on what you are after sound wise and programming wise I don't think you can go wrong with any of these older units. Most problems you'll encounter with these older units is the internal batteries going out. Screens dying etc...

My faves >

Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Rocktron Intellifex

Today's multi's...as was stated above. Get the Fractal FX8, learn the manual, learn to program it. It's an amazing piece of gear that can be had used for a decent price. Everytime in the past when I went down the floorboard multi hole there was always something that whatever unit I had didn't do, connect right etc... whatever. Not the Fractal. In fact this time the only issue with that unit was me. After decades of programming I know what I want and I simply didn't have the time to properly learn that unit. But the sounds I did dial in, the routing etc... was incredible. My only complaint was I wished it had a couple loops to throw in a favorite pedal. Fantastic sounding unit.
 
I wouldn't call the fx8 used cheap as it seems to be Around 700-800$ atm compared to BOSS GT-100 which is around 400$ new.

Also forgot to mention, i highly prefer the stomp buttons of BOSS to the standard silver little buttons.
 
I have never owned any rack gear, but the only piece of kit that REALLY got me gassing was the quadraverb+. I don't think that I will ever actually buy one, but I have seen and heard so many great tones come out of that unit. That would be the one I would own. I am all stompbox for the most part. For what I do it fits my needs.

The only multi I own is a boss GT1. I love it. Lasts long on batteries, and is nice if I have to be quiet. I have gigged with it with just mod/delays in the loop of a mkIV and it did a great job. Small enough to fit in a gig bag. Kind of a niche thing for me, but I do like it for the size, battery life and price.

If I were gigging with mfx, I would probably for axe.
 
Thunkful":21rtd4nn said:
flatheads_4ever":21rtd4nn said:
Racerxrated":21rtd4nn said:
Thunkful":21rtd4nn said:
flatheads_4ever":21rtd4nn said:
It all depends on what you are going for I guess.

I started with a Yamaha SPX90 back in the 80's and have always had a few pieces of rack gear on hand since. Some of the older gear just has a much warmer sound than the newer gear to me. I'm not a fan of the TC G Major as you mentioned. A lot of the cheaper Multi fx units were/are very noisy. Avoid anything Digitech.

A good older Multi fx unit was the Rocktron Intellefex. I cad pretty much every version of it at one time or another. If I were looking for a multi fx unit today, I'd just get a Line6 unit or the Lexicon H9.

Ed
Click to expand...

I'm aiming for the Hair Metal thingie, lot's of Delay and Reverb and a chorus for cleans would do it for me and Intellifex happens to be a prime example of that.

Have you compared Intellifex to any newer units and if so, what are your thoughts on that?

Also, by Lexicon H9, do you mean the Eventide H9 as that was the result i got when i tried to google that.
Click to expand...
I have an Intellifex online, it does the trick well..BUT picked up a Lexicon MPX1 and it is a better sounding unit to my ears. Both very good though. The Intellifex is more of a surgical non colored unit, the Lex has a warmth/color that is really nice. If you are gigging the Intellifex is a little easier to use/program and plays well with a midi mate pedal. It was designed for guitar. The Lex is more of a studio unit but can be paired with an MPX R1 controller for stage use, there is a little lag in the channel switching though. Also, I have a Roland SDE 3000 which can be set to a certain setting and then bypassed with a footswitch, if you play out. It also has a nice warmth/color to the tone. All of these can be had for 100-200 US usually.
Click to expand...

The SDE 3000 is a great unit. The Online was the worst version on the intellefex imo. The original blackface version sounded best.

Ed
Click to expand...

The SDE 3000 seems to be a Delay only unit. A lot of gear back then probably were doing only 1 effect at a time.

Nux Cerberus is tempting because it is small, compact and doesn't have too many effects that i wouldn't probably use anyway. G Major is a good example of a unit packed with almost everything imaginable. Also it being a ground unit and having MIDI capability as my amp does, i could probably program it to switch amp channel and a series of effects at the same time.
Click to expand...
Nope. The 3000 has modulation too...I have a nice Chorus preset that is a total 'wet' 80s tone....and, after I bought my Intellifex online for 75 bucks a few yrs back, I A/B'd it with a USA made blackface version, the stock presets I use sounded identical. Maybe there's a specific effect that differs between the 2, but I couldn't tell.
 
jabps":2kz4mime said:
I'll put in my .02 cents as I owned all of the below at one time.


My faves >

Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Rocktron Intellifex

Today's multi's...as was stated above. Get the Fractal FX8, learn the manual, learn to program it. It's an amazing piece of gear that can be had used for a decent price. Everytime in the past when I went down the floorboard multi hole there was always something that whatever unit I had didn't do, connect right etc... whatever. Not the Fractal. In fact this time the only issue with that unit was me. After decades of programming I know what I want and I simply didn't have the time to properly learn that unit. But the sounds I did dial in, the routing etc... was incredible. My only complaint was I wished it had a couple loops to throw in a favorite pedal. Fantastic sounding unit.
Click to expand...


Agree with this. I've owned a lot of the older stuff, because that was my era and I can afford it now. The blackface Intellifex is great, the only downside is that the delays are tied to the chorus, meaning, you can't have delay without chorus. That was a little strange to me, but you can dial the chorus down to 0 rate, which is effectively off.

The next step up for me was the Replifex, which did analog effects in a box. The modulation effects are top notch and it has warmth that new units do not. This would be my recommendation if you are going to use phaser/flanger/chorus a lot and do not want to have them on the floor. The tremolo unit on this killed! So warm. The delays and reverb are good, but again, designed to be analog on purpose.

Alesis Quadraverb. This is the unit that was in EVERYONE's rack through 92. Why? It has the best reverb and delay of the non-studio gear (read Lexicon/TC/Eventide). These units are transparent, can do a good chorus (flanger and phaser are meh), but great reverbs and delays. I still have two of these.

Newer stuff, I have the TC Gmaj2 and the TC floor unit (I can't remember the name because it wasn't good). The delays are amazing and my unit is transparent. I do not care for any of the modulation effects, they are too fake and have no warmth. I like the extras like the compressor, tuner, and noise gate. This also has a channel switching jack, so I can change channels on my amp. This is in my main rig for that reason (I used to have to run two cables out of my midi board to do this, now it's in the rack). I do run a large floor board though, because I want the best of both worlds, so I have all of my modulation/dirt on the floor running through an effects switcher.

I have not tried any of the other stuff. I have heard the line 6 Helix (more pricey than your budget), which I thought sounded great and felt real, but I do not know how they would play with a real amp.
 
shredhead7":1a3jmtg4 said:
jabps":1a3jmtg4 said:
I'll put in my .02 cents as I owned all of the below at one time.


My faves >

Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Rocktron Intellifex

Today's multi's...as was stated above. Get the Fractal FX8, learn the manual, learn to program it. It's an amazing piece of gear that can be had used for a decent price. Everytime in the past when I went down the floorboard multi hole there was always something that whatever unit I had didn't do, connect right etc... whatever. Not the Fractal. In fact this time the only issue with that unit was me. After decades of programming I know what I want and I simply didn't have the time to properly learn that unit. But the sounds I did dial in, the routing etc... was incredible. My only complaint was I wished it had a couple loops to throw in a favorite pedal. Fantastic sounding unit.
Click to expand...


Agree with this. I've owned a lot of the older stuff, because that was my era and I can afford it now. The blackface Intellifex is great, the only downside is that the delays are tied to the chorus, meaning, you can't have delay without chorus. That was a little strange to me, but you can dial the chorus down to 0 rate, which is effectively off.

The next step up for me was the Replifex, which did analog effects in a box. The modulation effects are top notch and it has warmth that new units do not. This would be my recommendation if you are going to use phaser/flanger/chorus a lot and do not want to have them on the floor. The tremolo unit on this killed! So warm. The delays and reverb are good, but again, designed to be analog on purpose.

Alesis Quadraverb. This is the unit that was in EVERYONE's rack through 92. Why? It has the best reverb and delay of the non-studio gear (read Lexicon/TC/Eventide). These units are transparent, can do a good chorus (flanger and phaser are meh), but great reverbs and delays. I still have two of these.

Newer stuff, I have the TC Gmaj2 and the TC floor unit (I can't remember the name because it wasn't good). The delays are amazing and my unit is transparent. I do not care for any of the modulation effects, they are too fake and have no warmth. I like the extras like the compressor, tuner, and noise gate. This also has a channel switching jack, so I can change channels on my amp. This is in my main rig for that reason (I used to have to run two cables out of my midi board to do this, now it's in the rack). I do run a large floor board though, because I want the best of both worlds, so I have all of my modulation/dirt on the floor running through an effects switcher.

I have not tried any of the other stuff. I have heard the line 6 Helix (more pricey than your budget), which I thought sounded great and felt real, but I do not know how they would play with a real amp.
Click to expand...
Ahh, I forgot about owning the Replifex. I owned it twice lol. And correct again, the pedal type effects were really good i.e. phase, flanger, chorus, trem etc... but I could never dial in good delay's on that unit. Got rid of it and then ran into a deal and got another one thinking the outcome would be different. Nope, still couldn't ever get the delays I wanted. Cool unit though.

My main delay on the Alesis Quad was built off the Multi Tap delay line. I only used two of the delays in the Multi-Tap and I could get this little effect where the repeats where slightly modulated sounding. Still my favorite delay. Sits perfectly behind the note. Whereas with the Boss effects and really a ton of delays from racks to pedals that I've owned it was hard for me to get that level right. I like it sitting behind the note. Gotten seriously close with my Source Audio Nemesis and why I pretty much built my entire pedalboard around that delay unit.

G-Major - loved the layout of that unit. Reminded me of a modern Quadraverb, very easy for me to get around but at that time I owned it, didn't jive with my 5150 effects loop at all. I think they fixed that phasing issue with later units. Great delays and verbs in that thing. Always thought I would check out the G Major 2, just never did.
 
rottingcorpse":3q127vfz said:
Roland space echo for the win!! Nothing more fun and satisfactory than taking the time to open it up,cleaning the recording and playback heads and putting in a new loop of fresh magnetic tape.

All these new fangled digital effects processors are just a fad.
Click to expand...


:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
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