What's in the mailbox? 📬 📦

[jwin615]

That’s awesome. I had no idea.

There was a magical era for electronic equipment around 85-92 where there weren't a lot of corners available to cut, in regards to DSP and pro audio and outboard. "Cheap" mics were sm57s. "Cheap" recording was adat which cost 2.5 Toyotas. Sounded ~okay~ but was a percentile of a tape machine and 1/2000th of the short lived sony digital 24 track(which sounded awesome). Then there was RADAR which is still used today! Most everything was made in the US, Germany or Japan with hand soldered through hole components.

Just standing back and looking now...
Yeah. The technology now can do sooooo much more, but anlotnof it is either cheap plastic crap that can't be serviced or isn't worth the time or it 1s and 0s.
That era was the peak for outboard gear in my opinion. There are great pieces today, but there aren't a lot of pieces pushing the boundaries of what can be done. The lexicon reverbs are terrible, spec wise, by today's standards but they still sound great because they were crafted, not just made. A 480L has never been worth more even though it's a bucket of nearly 50 year old tech.
Over the last 6-8 years, these old fx units have reversed course and are increasing in value. We've all seen it happen else where to every other piece of gear we "wanted but never got"
They're not all gold, but the higher end ones are bronze at least. The yammy SPX and Rev5(clip a snare into it on a gated plate, i dare you!), the Jorge like this one that run the same dsp except 2 of them!!!, even the Alesis stuff. Midiverb IIs used to be $40. I think the same theory holds true to these units as a silver face etc. if you acquire the units that were the best at what they did in their time, there will always be a market. Anyone considering buying an old fx unit, go for it. We are at that point where they aren't going down in value ever again and if there's one you always wanted, now I'd the last time it makes sense.
I sold one of the early DigiTech rack units a decade ago (GSP11?) For the $60 unpaid for it. I dodnthe evh/hair metal delay well, but that's it
They're going for 5x that.
Buy em. Recap the power supplies, at least and leave em to the grandkids. Once all the deluxe reverbs and formerly $40 big muffs are gone, the lawyers have to buy something.
Excuse any typos. Thanks for sharing with the group tonight. Goodnight.

 

[szukalski]

Just cracked open my tayda order. I meant to click on the SPST stomp switches….. I whiffed. Now I have $25 worth of on/off toggle switches. This is my biggest ordering error so far haha .

These are still really useful. A lot of builds calling for SPST just need on/off instead of on/on.

I made the mistake of getting (on)/on once, so I have a bunch of switches that are only good for relays in test rigs..

 

[Harry Klippton]

There was a magical era for electronic equipment around 85-92 where there weren't a lot of corners available to cut, in regards to DSP and pro audio and outboard. "Cheap" mics were sm57s. "Cheap" recording was adat which cost 2.5 Toyotas. Sounded ~okay~ but was a percentile of a tape machine and 1/2000th of the short lived sony digital 24 track(which sounded awesome). Then there was RADAR which is still used today! Most everything was made in the US, Germany or Japan with hand soldered through hole components.

Just standing back and looking now...
Yeah. The technology now can do sooooo much more, but anlotnof it is either cheap plastic crap that can't be serviced or isn't worth the time or it 1s and 0s.
That era was the peak for outboard gear in my opinion. There are great pieces today, but there aren't a lot of pieces pushing the boundaries of what can be done. The lexicon reverbs are terrible, spec wise, by today's standards but they still sound great because they were crafted, not just made. A 480L has never been worth more even though it's a bucket of nearly 50 year old tech.
Over the last 6-8 years, these old fx units have reversed course and are increasing in value. We've all seen it happen else where to every other piece of gear we "wanted but never got"
They're not all gold, but the higher end ones are bronze at least. The yammy SPX and Rev5(clip a snare into it on a gated plate, i dare you!), the Jorge like this one that run the same dsp except 2 of them!!!, even the Alesis stuff. Midiverb IIs used to be $40. I think the same theory holds true to these units as a silver face etc. if you acquire the units that were the best at what they did in their time, there will always be a market. Anyone considering buying an old fx unit, go for it. We are at that point where they aren't going down in value ever again and if there's one you always wanted, now I'd the last time it makes sense.
I sold one of the early DigiTech rack units a decade ago (GSP11?) For the $60 unpaid for it. I dodnthe evh/hair metal delay well, but that's it
They're going for 5x that.
Buy em. Recap the power supplies, at least and leave em to the grandkids. Once all the deluxe reverbs and formerly $40 big muffs are gone, the lawyers have to buy something.
Excuse any typos. Thanks for sharing with the group tonight. Goodnight.

Feel free to fill me in on cheap/sleeper rack gear. I'm currently on the lookout for a reverb unit as well

 

[Giorfida]

Feel free to fill me in on cheap/sleeper rack gear. I'm currently on the lookout for a reverb unit as well

Well before this post, I would have considered letting my old Microverb II go for cheap. Not so now lol

 

[jwin615]

Took a gamble on some Chinese germanium on AliExpress. They actually came in a box and it was still intact!

 

[DeadAirMD]

View attachment 69508

Let me know how that Multiwave Guitar Synth works out. Always been curious about Parasit

 

[Diynot]

Let me know how that Multiwave Guitar Synth works out. Always been curious about Parasit

Parasit shit is legit. They are the one stop shop for all your 80’s 8 bit/PLL sounds. I built the Multiwave mega and even though it has a steep learning curve as to what all the switches, knobs, and buttons do, it is damn cool. Most recently built the Theremin fuzz and it’s good bang for your weird buck.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Let me know how that Multiwave Guitar Synth works out. Always been curious about Parasit

I've done quite a few of the others and there's some fun to be had. I currently have his bit crusher on my pedalboard, the sonic reducer.

 

[jwin615]

View attachment 69551
Took a gamble on some Chinese germanium on AliExpress. They actually came in a box and it was still intact!

Don't bother. 16/32 either wouldn't read as transistors(some read as jfets!), or had 1-4hfe. One had 26hfe and 995uA!
4/32 had somewhat usable gain/leakages with 1 at 250hfe and low leakage.
10 had high leakage but worked. Most in the 45-85 hfe range.
So 4-5 possibly usable PNPs for $11. Add in the dried shrimp smell and God knows what's in the corrosion on these legs that I had to steel wool off...
And I only bought 20 and they sent me 32...
The 3ax31c were all bad.
2/3 of the 3ax31a functioned but only 1 "good" one.
3ax31d had a few "good" ones and the rest were diodes, caps and jfets.

 

[jwin615]

Feel free to fill me in on cheap/sleeper rack gear. I'm currently on the lookout for a reverb unit as well

If you're just looking for reverb, the midiverb 4 in the $75 range is a great buy. The MVII has its own sound.
If you can find a Yamaha rev 5 for a good price, go for it. Try to get one with a remote. The 5 is better than the 7 btw. Yammy SPX 90/900 are great if you can still find a cheap one. Plus, Symphonic!
On the newer side, the TC M one XL(get the XL version) packs a lot of sounds for <$150.
I haven't messed with any of these but the Lexicon MPX series are still lexicon verbs for under $100.
Another dead simple Lexicon unit is the Alex. Has In, Out, Mix 3 parameters and 16 preset sound, 12 of which are reverbs. Should run $75. I haven't plugged in my Korg DRV3000s for testing yet. Maybe tonight.
Roland SDE/SRVs are on my watch lists as well but have little first hand experience. We had a sde that got occasional use in the last studio I was at, but not often.
The midiverb 4 is probably the most flexible, as far as reverbs here go. The other fx aren't great, just okay. But it is a bit of menu diving.
The lexicon mpx and Alex are probably the best if you want a handful of flavors and just a few knobs/buttons.
The M1XL and spx90 series would be the best all around fx units that include reverb.

 

[Harry Klippton]

If you're just looking for reverb, the midiverb 4 in the $75 range is a great buy. The MVII has its own sound.
If you can find a Yamaha rev 5 for a good price, go for it. Try to get one with a remote. The 5 is better than the 7 btw. Yammy SPX 90/900 are great if you can still find a cheap one. Plus, Symphonic!
On the newer side, the TC M one XL(get the XL version) packs a lot of sounds for <$150.
I haven't messed with any of these but the Lexicon MPX series are still lexicon verbs for under $100.
Another dead simple Lexicon unit is the Alex. Has In, Out, Mix 3 parameters and 16 preset sound, 12 of which are reverbs. Should run $75. I haven't plugged in my Korg DRV3000s for testing yet. Maybe tonight.
Roland SDE/SRVs are on my watch lists as well but have little first hand experience. We had a sde that got occasional use in the last studio I was at, but not often.
The midiverb 4 is probably the most flexible, as far as reverbs here go. The other fx aren't great, just okay. But it is a bit of menu diving.
The lexicon mpx and Alex are probably the best if you want a handful of flavors and just a few knobs/buttons.
The M1XL and spx90 series would be the best all around fx units that include reverb.

I've been looking at lexicon mx200 and mx400. What's the difference with the mpx models? I'm really a fan of the digitech stuff with lexicon algos so I'm assuming the mx/mpx is at least as good or better. Mostly just want a usable plate

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Don't bother. 16/32 either wouldn't read as transistors(some read as jfets!), or had 1-4hfe. One had 26hfe and 995uA!
4/32 had somewhat usable gain/leakages with 1 at 250hfe and low leakage.
10 had high leakage but worked. Most in the 45-85 hfe range.
So 4-5 possibly usable PNPs for $11. Add in the dried shrimp smell and God knows what's in the corrosion on these legs that I had to steel wool off...
And I only bought 20 and they sent me 32...
The 3ax31c were all bad.
2/3 of the 3ax31a functioned but only 1 "good" one.
3ax31d had a few "good" ones and the rest were diodes, caps and jfets.

That sucks. I had a similar experience with a bunch of transistors I bought last week.

 

[Fretless]

No hate for the Midiverb.

Keith Barr was an absolute genius!!

 

[jwin615]

I've been looking at lexicon mx200 and mx400. What's the difference with the mpx models? I'm really a fan of the digitech stuff with lexicon algos so I'm assuming the mx/mpx is at least as good or better. Mostly just want a usable plate

I'm not really sure what the difference is. I feel like one of the cheaper Lexis only has unbalanced IO, if that's a thing. There's also the DigiTech TSR 24S(I think) rack unit.
It was basically a studio rack version of the sdisc multifx units. Not sure if it has Lexi verbs or not.
If you can spring for a lexicon PCM, you'll live that plate and that's a unit that will definitely keep going up. One went on eBay last week for ~450 which is a steal.
Either of the Yamaha units or at least some lexicons should do a good plate.
Really, all the above should have decent plates. If you're only going to have 1 or 2 outboard pieces, the spx90 or M1XL would probably be the way to go. Note, the spx 90 is mono in, stereo out. I think the 90-II and 900 are stereo io.

 

[jwin615]

No hate for the Midiverb.

Keith Barr was an absolute genius!!

No hate here. I have 2 midiverb 1s,(need a backup) a Midifex(it's sister box), a midiverb 2 and a 4. The 1s and 2s have a sound to them. For sure. It is not a *good* sound. It's just *that* sound.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I'm not really sure what the difference is. I feel like one of the cheaper Lexis only has unbalanced IO, if that's a thing. There's also the DigiTech TSR 24S(I think) rack unit.
It was basically a studio rack version of the sdisc multifx units. Not sure if it has Lexi verbs or not.
If you can spring for a lexicon PCM, you'll live that plate and that's a unit that will definitely keep going up. One went on eBay last week for ~450 which is a steal.
Either of the Yamaha units or at least some lexicons should do a good plate.
Really, all the above should have decent plates. If you're only going to have 1 or 2 outboard pieces, the spx90 or M1XL would probably be the way to go. Note, the spx 90 is mono in, stereo out. I think the 90-II and 900 are stereo io.

from what I've looked at, the lexicon mx400 has 1/4" balanced io and the mx400xl has xlr io. 1/4" is fine with me because everything is going through my 1/4 patch bay anyway. not sure about the mx200. I'll have to give some of those other units a peek. I haven't seen any PCM listings even near that price but I haven't been checking ebay as much either.

 

[Fretless]

The guy has an entire forum section here around a DSP chip he designed and brought to market. Amazing inventor and serial entrepreneur

 

[synthesiserror]

Don't bother.

The 3ax31c were all bad.

I got burned on 100 of them I ordered back in November.

At the end of the day, I had a few "usable" transistors which may or may not have actually been 3ax31c. Completely unsolderable due to the level of oxidation. I got so fed up with trying to clean them that they've only made one fuzz pedal. Sounds pretty good, but not worth the price of admission. I think I'll stick to boxed soviet parts for now.

 

[jwin615]

from what I've looked at, the lexicon mx400 has 1/4" balanced io and the mx400xl has xlr io. 1/4" is fine with me because everything is going through my 1/4 patch bay anyway. not sure about the mx200. I'll have to give some of those other units a peek. I haven't seen any PCM listings even near that price but I haven't been checking ebay as much either.

I completely forgot.

Sony mu-r201/Ibanez sdr2000+.
Amazing verbs(sony made both, same guts)
Don't buy a 100v version from japan by accident though. It has a different mains transformer. Ask me how I know.

 

[PedalBuilder]

I got burned on 100 of them I ordered back in November.

At the end of the day, I had a few "usable" transistors which may or may not have actually been 3ax31c. Completely unsolderable due to the level of oxidation. I got so fed up with trying to clean them that they've only made one fuzz pedal. Sounds pretty good, but not worth the price of admission. I think I'll stick to boxed soviet parts for now.

I was lucky with the 3AX31C’s that I bought—about 75 of the 100 were good and had very usable gain/leakage specs. Quite a few have found happy homes in Peppermint Fuzzes, various Tone Benders, Dizzy Tones, and a Gemini IV. I was pretty pleased with them, so I went back and bought a set of 100 3BX31B from the same seller. Unfortunately basically every one was dead. I complained and was able to get a refund without much hassle, but after that I’ve given up on sourcing germanium transistors from China—it’s too much of a gamble when our friends in Ukraine have plenty of good germanium in stock.