Conference napalm::guitar

    
    There are a few notes on this device in NOVA::COMMUSIC.
                                                 
    At least one noter has bought one.
    
    General consensus there was a good guitar effect, less useful as
    a recording/PA effect.
    
    
    

    
    It sounds like a nice effect. I have demoed the Roland DEP8, and
    it sounded unbelievable. It is a lot more money though (~899.oo)
    How is the Digital distortion in the the Yamaha?
    
    One question. Isn't this unit packaged in a table top package as 
    apposed to a rack mount unit? If you like the package, that's fine,
    but I prefer rack-mount equipment. I Think there was a write up
    in Guitar Player about it a few months ago, and they made the same
    comment about the package.
    
    Mark J.
    
    

    Table-top...:^(
    
    Edd

    
    My God, Brian!!!  More than 20 replies to it in commusic with
    virtually all of it arguing about rackmounts.   I know it's a
    consideration but talk about a waste of replies.  Ok, it's not
    rackmountable!!
    
    How does it sound?  How is it in a performance situation?
    Ease of switching back and forth?  How much is the optional
    footswitch?  Is there anything better at a comparable price?
    
    If I'm playing rythmn and singing and want to switch to a
    distorted lead, what's the process?  
    
    Tom

    
    I don't know if Yamaha is offering a foot controller just for this
    unit, but they do make floor midi patch controllers. I am not sure
    of model numbers but I looked at one for around $175.oo from Yamaha
    I also looked at the Peavey Intellegent Foot controller. I would
    like something that I can use to control my MidiVerbII. I didn't
    like the idea of using either of these units for one reason ...confusion.
    O.k. first I have to assign the MVII program I want (program x)
    to patch location y (can be 1-16), then I set the foot controller to 
    transmit on midi channel Z. Then I store that program in foot controller
    location A1. Now I am on stage, and I need the effect. I have to
    remember that program x is assigned to midi patch location y which
    is contolled by the floor controller channell z, in bank A, location
    1, right. You get the picture. It is ugly. Alesis make a midi patch
    transmitter (MPX) which is basically what I would want, except that
    it is a table top hand controller, not a foot controller. The way
    it works is set the midiverb for chanell 0, and all 99 programs
    are accessable from the MPX under their normal program number. Now
    if they made this in a stomp format, us guitarists would be in business.
    All they need is a box with a 10 key numeric keypad, with the pads
    large enough to stomp on. They could have Fisher Price design it
    for all I care. I intend to wait until something comes along that 
    either works on this principle, or offers an alternate "easy" method
    of controlling my Midiverb.
    
    Other than being confusing to use, I would say the Yamaha midi
    controller is definately much nicer than the Peavey IFC. For
    one thing the Peavey controller is big, and ugly. The Yamaha
    is much smaller and nicer looking, and is more powerful than
    the IFC.
    
    Ah, the wonders of MIDI. Will us guitarists ever get our fair
    share of midi in a user freindly format ???
    
    Have Fun
    Mark Jacques
    
    PS. And I didn't even say "rack mountable". 
     
        

    the wonders of MIDI are there for the taking although it's early
    yet. The ADA MP-1 midi programmable preamp is an awesome sounding
    device, in my opinion it blows the roland out of the water, and
    the yamaha etc...multi effects units that are midi selectable abound
    ex: Midiverb II. A larger number of freq to MIDI converters exist
    out there that will allow us git players to "synth up" and make
    some unusual sounds. The good news is that this is just beginning
    for guitarists where the synth hackers have had their way for a
    while now......
    
    What they really need to work on is a midi foot controller that
    is small enough to be useful in small clubs where stage space is
    very limited. Most of them I've seen so far are way too large; on
    the order of 5 times too big for me...
    
    dbII

    Scope out note #538 if ya wanna read about the unit that I tried.
    The floor pedal(s) were about 2'x3'... Had this "way-cool" "gas
    pedal" (programable) for varying dry/wet mix, and also delay times...
    The thing I liked about the Roland GP-8 unit was that it would also
    patch/contol other rack mountable units; which, by the way, could
    also be mixed into each patch...  Sound similar to the Yammie ?
    Jeff
    

A couple of weeks ago, LaSalle Music in Boston and Hartford had the 
REX-50's on sale for $299.  I bought one.  I'm strictly a homebody 
when it comes to guitar-playing, so I bought it as a new "toy", to 
make some different noises with.

I like it.  The programmability of each individual effect is very 
good (i.e., when changing pitch, you can change a full octave, up or 
down, in half-step increments.  Additionally, you can then further 
modify the pitch between the half-step you're on and the next 
half-step, using a 0-100% scale in 1% increments.)

My biggest complaint?  The LCD display is very difficult to see...it 
should be back lit.

If you're only going to buy one box, this one will be hard to beat 
for $300.

						Mike

	Used price of an REX50 in Colorado Springs = $125.00

	I bought a used one of these & I find that some of the effects
	are very usable, but I don't care for the way digital distortion
	sounds. Maybe I'm spoiled by using 4 different analog distortion
	boxes (I use 2 when I play live) & having the ability to pick &
	choose what I really like (I use an Ibanez Sonic Disortion box, a
	very old & wierd Roland unit that has Distortion/Wah Wah, a
	PAIA Quadrafuzz (It does't seem to like my Gibson P90 soapbar
	pickups very much) & one that I built. The Quadrafuzz is the
	most versatile, but the least portable out of the bunch.

	The distortion sounds very thin on the REX50 & not very warm
	(I like that tube type of sound when I send the signal directly
	to my tape deck). The other effects are useful, but work best
	in sterio. I find that tweeking & storing things is real easy.
	Sterio effects are fine if you have a sterio set up, or if you want
	to send one channel to the P.A. I don't like sending things to
	the P.A. & my guitar amp (levels are really a pain to get right
	when you have to do this).

	I'm having my sequencer drive the patch changes for me & in general
	find that the REX50 is a better vocal processor than a guitar
	processor (except for the distortion, which is not really a desirable
	vocal effect too often).
							Jens

	Can any of you REX50 owners give any comment on the  units Pitch 
Transpose capabilities?  I tried one out the other day and it sounded horrible.
Since I didn't have much time to play with it, I was wondering if it could be
made to sound better.  I was looking for it to give me a good bass sound when 
processing the signal from my guitar.  What I got was something that sounded out
of tune (and I DID play with the tune parameter for as long as I could - nothing
seemed to fix it) and it was 'warbly'.

	Is it just that it's not good for emulating bass?

	Dan

	The pitch transposition seems to be a bit off in both directions
	(+ or -), and in general, its not spectacular. I tried tweeking
	the fine pitch adjustments to correct it & had no luck.

	I basically use mine for vocals & tweek/delay fine (8 to 10
	cents) to fill out the sound (a common studio trick). I really
	don't use it for guitar (the distortion is not really to my
	liking, but, I don't use it for that, so...).

								Jens

    
    The rack-mountable followup to the REX-50, the SPX-50 (also known as
    the GEP-50, same box with different factory presets) is now being blown
    out.  Original list $700 (can you say "An SGE is less than that"?) now
    priced at $220 from Sam Ash, other Y-word delaers may be doing
    likewise.
    
    Note this box does *not* allow multiple simultaneous effects other than
    having distortion and one delay effect (verb, chorus, etc.) on at once.
    It does have a funky harmonizer, and is *programmable* for less than a
    MidiVerb II.  Plus a *programmable* effects loop....
    
    

    
    My SPX-50 arrived yesterday via UPS and I got 15 minutes to play with
    it before heading off to a gig.  This is my first digital processor,
    I've been living with spring reverbs and analog stomp boxes for many
    years, so my first reactions were "wow" followed by "this feature is
    really dumb".  We are talking a *Yamaha* product here  8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    I think this unit is worth checking out as it's current price is less
    than the highly touted Alesis MidiVerb II, and compared to that unit
    (which I think sounds very good) you get to program your effects (real
    important for delays) and it *doesn't need a wall bug*.  8^)  8^)
    
    I'm about to lose all my credibility by going on record as saying the
    distortion is OK and usable.  It does *not* sound anything like a good
    tube amp.  It *does* sound like any number of transistor stomp boxes
    except it is much quieter.  You do get a three band active EQ with
    sweepable midrange to tailor the distortion sounds.  It took me about
    20 seconds to tweak one of the presets into a sound more to my liking.  
    
    Anyway, if you're buying this box for the distortion, you're crazy.  I
    wanted the reverb most, the delays second, and the rest is just icing
    on the cake.

    
    Anybody checked out the Yamaha FX500 effects processor yet ?

RE < Note 500.14 by AQUA::ROST "Chickens don't take the day off" >

	How are the reverb settings?

	Dan

    Re: .15
    
    I haven't seen or heard the FX-500, but the new GP reviews it (they
    liked it) plus has a big Yamaha ad for it.  The list is $495 in the
    U.S.
    
    In a nutshell, it seems like an SPX-50D minus the pitch shift and
    parametric EQ effects with the ability to run up to six effects
    simultaneously.  It's half-rack size, with a rack adaptor available.
    
    Funnily enough, while the REX-50 had 30 presets/60 user programs and
    the SPX-50D was 50/50, the FX-500 is 60 presets/30 user programs.
    
    							Brian