Which Echo unit to go for ??

[tonyryman]

Help needed to decide which echo unit to buy, i am considering a quadraverb Q2 or possibly a Magicstomp box.

Tony

[sheendigs]

Hi Tony
It depends on your budget.
The Q2 is an astonishing machine and can be controlled by a midi foot pedal, which is the fun part.
No intelligent software is available that can be used to modify the parameters.
Magicstomp has an excellent software..but no midi connections.
But could be cheaper..if you can find one!
Personally I would go for a Q2 or Q20. ;D
You will have a tough choice to make.
Sheendigs

[Deleted]

HI TONY ,,, If I were you knowing what I now have learned over the 3-4 years of trying various unit's I would go for a Q2 & load it with charlie's 79-09 patchset !!
THE magic stomp is the next best thing & the patch-set from charlie is cheaper ,but you will get a Q2 from us the well known auction site cheaper than a magic stomp & therefor end up about the same outlay in the end & the Q2 has a more authentic-vintage sound in my opinion & I have both as well as a zoom rfx 2200...
THE Q2's on the us the well known auction site have been going around $100.00 -130.00 US.. as of late ...

If money is no problem there are other analog avenue's but wer'e talking big dollar's there!!!

THAT"S my experience with the digital unit's I have been involved with & although I do not play that well my ear's for the-sound's are very good,,,

Tony you will get much help from other member's on this friendly site ,so stick in there & make a choice to suit your budget & need's as I have spent plenty on the not so good unit's before actully making the right decision!!!

GOOD LUCK TONY..............................barry..

[BarryH]

Hi Tony,

Welcome to the site.

You already have some good advice from Hoadlies and Sheendigs. I'll just add a bit more of the same. I prefer the Q2 and then the Quad GT over the Magicstomp, but as you'll find out on the forum everyone has their own preferences, we all have a different set of ears.

Cheers
Barry

[Deleted]

HI ALL & BARRYH ,,,,,,,,,you are so right there barry with the different''ear's comment too-true...

cheers fella's ...........barry..

[tonyryman]

Hi to all

Thanks for the information. I have decided to look for a Quadraverb Q2.
Many thanks
tony

[Deleted]

I have no intention offending people but reading through this makes my couple of hair, I still have, standing straight up in disbelieve.

All Alesis and Yamaha devices in this discussion are, when defect, ready to be binned. There are no spare parts and all that's invested is then thrown away. It is a pity that no firm strategy exists that allows for the guitarist to continue playing on other, possible not yet existing gear, or other means.

An example that possible would help for a better understanding: There is a library just made available from www.redwirez.com/speakerbox.jsp that covers a wide range of speaker cabinets and speakers. We, and a couple of other guitar players, have tested the AC30 with Blue Alnico's library and are flabbergasted towards the quality and the cost of this being about 8 Euro and a required free VST module. This new library allows for exact emulation of the AC30 utilizing various mic's and positions.

These days dedicated single board computers with touchscreens can be bought that would be connected in-line with the guitar directly to accommodate for those functions. Yes, even eTAP2 can be loaded to this and it would be a full functional device also for life performances. Line6 Tonecore products are there ready to be programmed.


-Piet

[tonybiker]

Piet.

I think you have missed the point of the question. Tony was asking for advice on the best available echo units he can just plug in and play, therefore the right advice followed. All the suggested units are available at low cost, Alesis, Zoom etc. None are made anymore granted, but hundreds are on the well known auction site ready to be loaded with Charlies accurate patch's. I even bought a spare Quad Plus for £50 just in case. So your wrong when you say no spare parts exist.

I think Tony is after an affordable unit and that will cost from £100 to £200. He does not want to stick his guitar into a PC.

I have used a Quad Plus for over 11 years and its never failed and its also gigged on a regular basis. I would not say its bomb proof but its as good as.

[UK Brian]

Here is my twopenneth : great advice all these posts Tony, I use magic stomp 2 , I did buy a spare unit but after a couple of years I sold it, as a matter of interest it went for £180 but I had loaded it with Charlies EFTP, great units and I feel sure that sooner or later one of our "boffins" on this friendly site of ours will be able to fix these things, if not already, welcome to our friendly forum.
cheers
Brian

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Piet,
I have always been prepared to allow an EFTP user to install programs to a different similar unit if the original fails and is not repairable, so the investment in EFTP need not be wasted.
Regards,
Charlie

[graeme]

Although I can see Piet's point, I, for one, would not want to use a computer in a live situation - mainly because I've been there before and it can be a real PITA when things go wrong.

Other than a few exceptional cases, the hardware route is still the best way. I acknowledge a lot of these particular models are no longer manufactured, but most of them have proven to be extremely reliable and replacements are cheap if you are unlucky enough to have one fail on you.

[Deleted]

All,
Thanks very much for your answers and remarks. In my initial posting I did not refer to a PC connection at all! I was referring to an existing unit that would be part of the signal chain like the Alesis and Magicstomp kind of equipment. This V-machine is already capable of this www.smproaudio.com/produkte/v-machines.html . There are other initatives around if you would work under Linux type of singleboard computers. It's a clear defined path toward the future.

The general feeling that Alesis and/or the Yamaha Magicstomp are special vintage related gear resembling the analogue world is not correct at all. All those units are with at least one DSP chip and therefore exactly the same as the modern PC's (although the architectural part is different, they both perform the tasks 100%).
The designer of the Alesis Q2/Q20 DSP is presently on the market with the AL3101 & AL3102 DSP chipsets. Line6 is marketing a Echopark stompbox where you can replace the echo-park unit directly with a new to be programmed DSP board (tonecore development). So, most of you without tape echo's are already using (slow,limited) DSP units and this technology path is already loaded with new gear.

This world is changing fast....


-Piet

[graeme]

Piet

Maybe I read more into your original post than was intended. Had you provided the link to the VMachine in your first post, it would have made more sense.

This is an interesting development. I take it to be something similar to the Muse Receptor - a device I've hankered after for some time now, but could never justify the cost. If so, then I might well become a customer for this thing.

I do take the point that modern hardware units are little more than dedicated computers. However, that was point I was trying to get across, dedicated computers are far more reliable (if less versatile) than using laptops, etc. in a live situation.