Looking for old hardware FX unit

[YEK]

something i can put in my mixers aux send for my volca beats mostly. i'd like to be able to use more than one fx at a time. something nice sounding, not too expensive. doesn't matter if it's old of course

 

what goes well with a drum machine? i'm thinking distortion but i'd love to be able to pick and choose, like be able to have distortion AND delay...

[modey]

Behringer Virtualizer Pro

Multi effects rack unit. Lush reverbs, delays, nice filters, distortion/amp sim, a really great vocoder, a crude sampler/looper, rotary speaker, and a few other things. Usually you can pick one up used for under $100. Probably the best reverb I've heard for the price; on par with the Quadraverb (though not as controllable).

 

edit: it's mostly one effect at a time, but there are some combinations, usually reverb or delay and another effect

[YEK]

thanks modey.

[Alcofribas]

a little more expensive but the ensoniq dp2 or dp4 are amaze

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

Behringer Virtualizer Pro

...a really great vocoder,

Whoa, I didn't realise that has a vocoder.. what is it like?

[modey]

I'm not familiar with different styles of vocoder so I can't really explain, but with a bit of tweaking and good strong input signals you can get a nice clear sound out of it. It has a built in noise generator too, so you can just modulate white noise if that's your thing (it actually sounds pretty great).

[kausto]

Lexicon LXP-5 is pretty awesome if you have a decent MIDI-controller (sysex capable). There could be faulty front panel encoders though, you should check 'em before buy.

 

Also as Alcofribas says, DP/2 is amazing too.

 

You can do crazy things with this stuff.

[Guest Chesney]

You can pick up Drawmer Comps and Gates cheaply.

[TubularCorporation]

Ifyou can find one cheap, a Boss SE50 or SE70 is still pretty cool. If you can find one that just shows a bunch of gibberish on the screen when you turn it on, and can get it cheap or free becasue of that, do it because almost guaranteed it just needs a new battery, and it's very easy to replace. I'm mostly familiar with the 50, the 70sis apparently lower noise and has a better vocoder, but is missing some effects that are on the 50. Also I believe the distortion in the 50 was an early, failed attempt at a digitally modeled distortion; at any ate it sounds utterly terrible in a really great way, and they replaced it with a proper distortion in the 70.

 

Ebay prices are to high right now.

[YEK]

thanks guys, i have lots to consider

[ganus]

For distortion with a lot of range/tone control, I suggest getting a tube distortion pedal, and then swapping out the cheap chinese tube for a vintage tube from ebay, etc.

 

This is the pedal I use, I use it all the time. it's great for adding to the final mastering chain as well.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000W00X1Y/ref=mlt_B0011WJ638_B000W00X1Y

[Paega]

I really like my Lexicon MX200, it has everything but distortion though. Two fxs at once. Can be used via a VST in your DAW and uses the unit's DSP (so doesn't use system resources, or very very little). As four routing options. Can get them for peanuts ~100USD. Get one with a power source though! I had a heck of a time finding an aftermarket power source...

 

It is rather bread and butter, but pretty much everything sounds good on it.

 

For distortion you could also just drive your drums into the mixer channel a bit. Depending on your mixer, it might not sound good, but worth a shot.

[TubularCorporation]

For distortion with a lot of range/tone control, I suggest getting a tube distortion pedal, and then swapping out the cheap chinese tube for a vintage tube from ebay, etc.

 

This is the pedal I use, I use it all the time. it's great for adding to the final mastering chain as well.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000W00X1Y/ref=mlt_B0011WJ638_B000W00X1Y

 

Just in general, it's a good rule of thumb that whenever you can you should get two of whatever you're buying, becasue in almost every case having two opens up a ton of possibilities (cheap chorus pedals are a good example, on their own they aren't all that exciting, but running two of them in series or parallel can get some really cool results). This seems like a good candidate, it's cheap and running a distortion into another distortion can sound amazing.

 

A stereo tremolo pedal is really nice to have, to, especially one with tap tempo.

 

Akai Headrush for all of the outputs.

[Danny O Flannagin]

 

For distortion with a lot of range/tone control, I suggest getting a tube distortion pedal, and then swapping out the cheap chinese tube for a vintage tube from ebay, etc.

 

This is the pedal I use, I use it all the time. it's great for adding to the final mastering chain as well.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000W00X1Y/ref=mlt_B0011WJ638_B000W00X1Y

 

Just in general, it's a good rule of thumb that whenever you can you should get two of whatever you're buying, becasue in almost every case having two opens up a ton of possibilities (cheap chorus pedals are a good example, on their own they aren't all that exciting, but running two of them in series or parallel can get some really cool results). This seems like a good candidate, it's cheap and running a distortion into another distortion can sound amazing.

 

A stereo tremolo pedal is really nice to have, to, especially one with tap tempo.

 

Akai Headrush for all of the outputs.

 

I second this, I have 3 distortion pedals, Bass Big Muff, Boss Distortion, and Behringer tube amp modeler. turning them all on opens up a world of possibilities that one pedal could never achieve on its own. out of all of them, bass big muff sounds great with drums, especially a kick drum.