Worst Hardware Multi-FX That Deserve Emulation?

[jens]

2003 was the first one yeah
time really does fly!!!

Amazing really - just not in a good way...

[jens]

Ok, that's not fair. This is a place for salty bickering and callous indifference. That's all a bit easier if it's just words and pictures of machines.

[vurt]

2003 was the first one yeah
time really does fly!!!

Amazing really - just not in a good way...

yup, enjoy the next few years as much as possible! puberty is a terrible time as a parent
once it's done though, they relax a bit and you can too

[ghettosynth]

In fact, really, this entire thread is about puberty. The audio DSP industry was roughly in its teens when many of these products came to be.

[jamcat]

Every studio had one of these in the '80s.

[zerocrossing]

The Ibanez UE400 was an interesting analogue device: https://www.tonehome.de/ibanez/multi-effects/ue-400/

I've got to believe that the vast majority of the guts of that have already been emulated, no? Is there even any routing in there at all? I think that I've only ever seen one in the flesh.

And I like the Digitech Studio 400, it would be nice as a plugin: https://www.recordproduction.com/Digite ... %20400.htm

Related question to this thread. I wonder what is the most underrated DSP based multi-fx box from the 90s/00s? It of course has to be super cheap.

I remember seeing endless variations on Digitech and Art boxen, and then I don't. It's like the craze just ended.

I think what happened is that some part of the guitar population split off and became “the modelers” and the rest went back to tube amps and stomp boxes. The modelers bought things from Line6, Vox (Korg) and later Fractal and Kemper. Those people had most of their effects done nicely in their modelers so there was no need for a 2120 or SGX.

I could never go back to the tube/pedal mode, as nice sounding as it is, because I was always crafting pretty complex guitar patches that needed to be called up with a single press. In one song it was not uncommon for me to have 3-4 different patches for different parts. I got so tired of the tap dancing and compromising I had to do with pedals that I happily left that world.

I am slowly returning to it now, though. I just sort of used my Kemper’s effects with only a Blackstar HT-5 Dual tube distortion. It worked 90% of the time and when I wanted something more complex I’d just turn to Guitar Rig or other plugin. Kemper into Molekular. That sort of thing. I was getting itchy for a change so I sold my Kemper and I’m awaiting delivery for a Quad Cortex, which I surmise is stuck in the Suez Canal, or on the opposite side of the continent in the ensuing traffic. That will give me back the dual/stereo amp setup of my rig in the 90s and I’m going to pick a few pedals to augment it with because I miss that sort of thing, but it’s not going to be a giant pedal board full of stuff like I used to use. Just a Fuzz-Wah, tape delay emulation and maybe a Möbius for modulation effects. I can do this sort of thing now because I’m no longer performing.

[jens]

Every studio had one of these in the '80s.

Oh, never hear of/ seen that - looks good somehow - is it any?

[jens]

yup, enjoy the next few years as much as possible! puberty is a terrible time as a parent
once it's done though, they relax a bit and you can too

You know, in some ways it seems to us he's knee-deep in it already... it's like... like all this omnipresent and seemingly omniscient new media (as much as we try to moderate access to it) totally accelerates it all. In school he's surrounded by kids who seem to have sort of seen it all already... or least of all far too much of it - and then he comes home and says the weirdest stuff.

[ghettosynth]

I remember seeing endless variations on Digitech and Art boxen, and then I don't. It's like the craze just ended.

I think what happened is that some part of the guitar population split off and became “the modelers” and the rest went back to tube amps and stomp boxes. The modelers bought things from Line6, Vox (Korg) and later Fractal and Kemper. Those people had most of their effects done nicely in their modelers so there was no need for a 2120 or SGX.

I could never go back to the tube/pedal mode, as nice sounding as it is, because I was always crafting pretty complex guitar patches that needed to be called up with a single press. In one song it was not uncommon for me to have 3-4 different patches for different parts. I got so tired of the tap dancing and compromising I had to do with pedals that I happily left that world.

That sounds about right. The form factor definitely changed as more people wanted foot control. The processors moved out of the rack and onto the floor, then just back up into the amp.

When I was playing in cover bands I preferred the variety and immediate recall of the rack. Like you, I had multiple sounds for specific purposes. At one point I even incorporated a GR-50 guitar synth and I had a rather complex environment setup controlled by my midi floor pedal.

Part of what triggered my move away from that, live, was that there is an unforgiving universal truth of live setups: The likelihood of completing a gig without a fuckup is inversely proportional to the number of cables in the rig. That and my rack kept getting heavier.

I just gave up on effects for live and never went back to the floor of pedals that I started with. For me it was only about six or so. This was before the rack craze and back then average people didn't have giant pedal boards. My rig at that point was an original TS-808 tube screamer, a tube 1x12 combo, and a Roland analog delay pedal.

I have a handful of pedals today, maybe five total? I don't ever use them for anything anymore. I Plug into my Eleven Rack to record and I capture both the effected sound and the raw guitar sound then sometimes I go back and voice with plugins.

If I want to jam in the living room I have a couple of tiny amps. I little mother of toilet seat magnatone that I rebuilt using a vintage princeton schematic combined with a modern reverb driver. It has two knobs, volume, and reverb. Then I have a little modern Fender modeling amp that someone threw in the trash.

I haven't played guitar live in years though. I doubt that I ever will again TBH.

[jens]

The Ibanez UE400 was an interesting analogue device: https://www.tonehome.de/ibanez/multi-effects/ue-400/

I've got to believe that the vast majority of the guts of that have already been emulated, no? Is there even any routing in there at all? I think that I've only ever seen one in the flesh.

And I like the Digitech Studio 400, it would be nice as a plugin: https://www.recordproduction.com/Digite ... %20400.htm

Related question to this thread. I wonder what is the most underrated DSP based multi-fx box from the 90s/00s? It of course has to be super cheap.

I remember seeing endless variations on Digitech and Art boxen, and then I don't. It's like the craze just ended.

I think what happened is that some part of the guitar population split off and became “the modelers” and the rest went back to tube amps and stomp boxes. The modelers bought things from Line6, Vox (Korg) and later Fractal and Kemper. Those people had most of their effects done nicely in their modelers so there was no need for a 2120 or SGX.

I think that might be a pretty accurate picture.

The most underrated DSP board may be the Johnson J-Station btw., which apparently housed two very powerful DSPs, with one of them being used for the amp sim and the other one for the FX - amp/cab aside it could run comp, gate, wah, modulation fx, delay and reverb all at once and it sounded glorious for the most part of it (i.e. imo clearly head and shoulders above the typical digital run-of-the-mill stuff such as (say) Excalibur). There was a software-editor for it too.

I could never go back to the tube/pedal mode, as nice sounding as it is, because I was always crafting pretty complex guitar patches that needed to be called up with a single press. In one song it was not uncommon for me to have 3-4 different patches for different parts. I got so tired of the tap dancing and compromising I had to do with pedals that I happily left that world.

I have one of these (plus far too many pedals ):

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_fxl8_pro.htm

[ghettosynth]

And I like the Digitech Studio 400, it would be nice as a plugin: https://www.recordproduction.com/Digite ... %20400.htm

^^ Ok, yes, I quoted the wrong post .. I'm talking about the vintage Ibanez analog multi-fx, not the Digitech, not quite so vintage digital multi-effect.

It seems you could adjust the routing of this. Awkward to do, but could be done.

https://www.tonehome.de/app/download/86 ... _ue400.pdf

Also, while I didn't look at all of the schematics, a quick glance at the overdrive in the model meant for guitars and it's really clear that it's essentially (if not exactly) the clipping and tone sections from a TS-808.

So these boxes are basically Ibanez's guitar pedal circuits with the low level preamps and output buffers removed between each of the stages.

[plexuss]

It seems you could adjust the routing of this. Awkward to do, but could be done.

https://www.tonehome.de/app/download/86 ... _ue400.pdf

Also, while I didn't look at all of the schematics, a quick glance at the overdrive in the model meant for guitars and it's really clear that it's essentially (if not exactly) the clipping and tone sections from a TS-808.

I was going to comment early on your idea that Ibanez repurposed pedal tech in this. I used to have one and I can tell you they were unique effects and didn't sound like similar Ibanez pedals of the time. I think they did this to differentiate the UE400 from other products, which would make business sense. I can't say for sure, never having access to a UE400 schematic.

[Weasel-Boy]

How 'bout this 'un?

FX500-2.jpg

[ghettosynth]

It seems you could adjust the routing of this. Awkward to do, but could be done.

https://www.tonehome.de/app/download/86 ... _ue400.pdf

Also, while I didn't look at all of the schematics, a quick glance at the overdrive in the model meant for guitars and it's really clear that it's essentially (if not exactly) the clipping and tone sections from a TS-808.

I was going to comment early on your idea that Ibanez repurposed pedal tech in this. I used to have one and I can tell you they were unique effects and didn't sound like similar Ibanez pedals of the time. I think they did this to differentiate the UE400 from other products, which would make business sense. I can't say for sure, never having access to a UE400 schematic.

It's online, I downloaded it this morning. The overdrive is clearly the core of the TS-808. I didn't look at the rest of them. However, the output buffers and input preamps will contribute to the sound. I'll explore for fun over the next few days as I have time, unless someone wants to beat me to it, of course?

[ghettosynth]

How 'bout this 'un?
FX500-2.jpg

These half-rack units were all the rage for a while. Small enough for a backpack, more stuff than a pedal. I have a Boss SE-50 and the Boss VF-1. I'm too lazy to find pictures ATM.