ART SGE Mach II

When i first brought this unit new in 1990, it was my first ever rack-mount effects unit, i had only seen a nice colour advertisement and never tried it, but i brought it anyway.
The manual stated it was a preliminary printing and looked as though it had been hand typed, but it explained everything you needed to know, ( i still have the manual).
It all seemed mind-boggling at first, but once you went through the whole menu system and tweaked every setting, it all became easy to use.

the first thing i noticed was the back ground hiss, for the price i paid for this i thought it must have been my bass amp.
the distortion seems a bit over the top, very 1980's sound.
the reverbs and delays are very good, compression was so so, not very adjustable. the 3 band eq was useless. chorus and flanger was good.had no use for the panner. the exciter had to be always on for a normal sound.
For 1990 this unit had every effect under the sun, all in one box.
using this for bass, i found the ass dropped out of the sound and had to be eq'ed accordingly on my amp.
the use of midi controllers was easy to setup, but the large switching steps (8 steps from 0 - 100%) sounded horrible when used in real time.

all was good for the first 2 years, then the unit screwed up when the internal memory battery went flat, replaced the battery and had to re-invent my effects again after they got wiped.
then the display started flickering and sound would randomly attenuate it'self. this would come right with a little thump, and as time went by i would have to thump it harder and harder until on day it stopped, i opened it up and re-attached the pluggin connectors which had come off, stripped it down and cleaned the faders and connectors. still today it gives me grief, and is only used as a effects 2 reverb on my mixing desk for gigs.

never even wanted to go there.

i wasted a lot of money on this one, now i have a boss GT6B.
Had i have known what trouble i was in for i would have been better off spending the cash on drugs and prostitutes.

THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE VERY EASY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND.I BOUGHT MINE
NEW IN THE EARLY 90`S AND HAVE TOURED WITH EVERY HAIR METAL BAND YOU CAN NAME,AS AN OPENING ACT.THE THING KICKS ASS.I USE A SOLDANO SLO 100 FOR DISTORTION,AND JUST ADD MODERATE DELAY/REVERB ECT...
WISH I CAN FIND ANOTHER ONE FOR BACKUP.IF ANYONE HAS ONE PLEASE CALL ME.209-481-1723 RICH.

I PLAY HARD ROCK/METAL/CLASSIC
BEEN PLAYING 32 YEARS IN MARCH 06/NOW IM 39
I WOULD LOVE TO OWN ANOTHER ONE IF I COULD FIND IT.
EASE TO USE/RELIABLE/ONLY BAD THING IS VOLUME DROPS SOMETIMES.PROBALLY DIRTY SLIDERS.GIVES ME KILLER TONE
ONLY UNIT IVE EVER OWNED.
WISH I HAD ANOTHER ART SGE MACH II AS BACKUP
HUGE HELP/GET ANY SOUND I NEED.
IF YOU CANT UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE IT, LEARN TO READ!!!!!!!!!!

I bought mine new In 1990 with th X11 pedal once you get passed the figuring out of the programming (was Comp. Iliterate)its not to bad.

You "can" Edit the factory presets!! ,Manual was good but I lost it

I dont use the distortion I use the ART Powerplant (preamp) along with a rack mount power amp A Four x 12 marshall or four x 12 Laney cabinet rack mount EQ. you can get some great sound. I tried it with
A 100 watt Marshall head but it sounds better going Rack mount with a preamp.

About A week after I bought My SGE it freaked out on me I gave it a good slam on top and has worked fine ever since.

Like the Manual says YA GOTTA KICK THE SON OF A BIACH TA GET THE ROTORS GOIN.

Use it without a backup? Sure only use one rig

Online help is Non existant

NOPE

Metal ,
70's 80's 90's
Main stream rock
Some Classical

Been playing 24 years

It's my first rack FX processor, but i used to have a Boss GT3, so i didn't have any problem getting this thing to work right away. I took a look at the manual to see explanations for effects i didn't understand, and it was ok, not great, I'm not sure it would help you understand how the unit works. Editing effects is not very intuitive, as mentionned before, you have like 7 or 8 values between 0 and 100%, which is dumb, because it prevents me from getting an even signal with the COMP, it goes from 63% to 75%, too big a jump. Some effects have 9 different modes, instead of just one with selectable parameters, again, very stupid. VERB 1-2-3 or Gate-verb 1-2-3 etc, what the hell is that? You can move some fx in the chain, so that's nice. Oh, and the 110 first presets are fixed, you can't edit them, so if, like me, you're switching preamp presets and fx at the same time, you have to reassign every patch to match the preamp. And those factory presets are not usable, maybe 5 or 10 out of the 110, ridiculous. So it's easy to use, but there are some functions i haven't tried to use, like the sampler, and i probably won't, sounds complicated anyway.

I use mostly Jackson guitars with humbuckers or coil-split into a ADA mp-1 preamp. The Mach 2 is in the FX loop of the ADA, so i have preamp patches with the loop off, the mach isn't always in the signal path (thank allah, god, or whoever else...). I plug the ADA into a valvestate combo for the moment, gets the job done for now.

The mach2 is a bit noisy, i haven't compared it to many other units, but it's not that bad. It muddies the tone though, but you can compensate with the exciter effect. The comp isn't too noisy, i was surprised, i just make sure the input doesn't clip, you have leds to show you, very useful. Delays and reverbs are nice, mostly what i use, a bit of flanger too, but it's a bit weak, even though i've never heard a great flanger. For chorus, i use the ADA. I've used the EQ a little, it's got 3 bands, wow, how convenient.......ahem...not.

Due to the volume dropping for no reason in the middle of a song (solo, usually, because i don't use much fx for rhythm), i've started using the compressor to keep the level constant, seems to be working for now, but if the volume ever kicks up, my ears will hurt, i dunno. i'm trusting the "comp trick" now, hopefully it will work like that. And i have to put the exciter in there so i don't lose all my treble, weird that the more FX you add, the better it sounds, oh well...

(sex, to SAVE the relationship...)

I don't know why people rag on the distortion, it's not a preamp, it's probably there for keyboards or other uses, not as a guitar preamp. It's useable plugged into my soundcard, bluesy tone for direct recording, but that's it. 12 different distortions, level 2 of each type is loud, others are quiet. I don't know what these people were thinking.

No, it's not reliable. I mainly play at home now, and i don't use that many fx, so it's ok. If my "comp trick" works for some time, i could use it with a band or live, as long as i know the volume won't go crazy on me. I keep all the sliders on 50%, so i can't hit them and lose my settings, they get stuck in the dent thingie, and that's nice.

I emailed them, sent me the manual i asked for a few weeks later, so it's cool. I wouldn't send it in for repairs anyway.

I've been playing for over 7 years, it's ok for delay and reverb for lead playing, the odd effect here and there, i like being able to keep it out of my chain when it's not needed, my only other effect is a Morley wah. If i could get the levels to match easily with my preamp and if it didn't do the volume drops, i'd be satisfied, but it's just a big hassle setting it up.

I wanted the X-11 midi controller and they were bundled together, so for that price, i said why not? The pedal is great, and the fx unit is acceptable for what i paid. If i had money and were looking for a fx unit, i would look elsewhere, obviously. But in my current situation, i can't complain, it's just alright.

SGE Mach II
I have the manual and it is clearly worded. I have never had a problem programming the thing.

Only a few of the presets are worth using on a long-term basis, though I have copied/edited and tweaked them to good "effect."
Unless you bought the pricey pedal for this gizmo, it is a pain to use live. I am using reverb switch pedals from old Fender and Ampeg amps to get in or out, but have to click twice. I'll probably make a footswitch from parts ala Radio Shack.

I like making my own patches. But the desireable effects which can be used live are limited to Turbo distortion, compressor, echo, reverb, harmonic exciter, and equalizer. It would be a good idea to use the gate/limiter for live performances if you want to punch in and out of the processor. Otherwise getting volume levels to match up creates problems.

I use a multi-amp set up, with the ART plugged into the low gain jack of its own amp (this is critical for keeping the noise level down. It is line level matched for a low gain input). The problem with digital effects is that you can't turn down the guitar volume without losing the signal via the processor. So I plug into the high gain jack of one amp, run a cord (daisy chain) from the low gain input jack of amp one into the processor and then from the processor into the low gain jack of a second amp. This way I can punch in and out of the processor while still retaining control over the dynamics of the first amp. When the processor is being used, it will be a mixed sound, like running two amps at once, which is cool.

I am playing old Gibsons through a 50 watt Marshall (2204) into four 10 inch speakers in a Super Reverb cab to flesh out the midrange and natural tube crunch, a 50 watt Peavey Backstage Plus (solid state, 2 channel switchable between clean and overdrive) running through four 10 inch speakers in a Super Reverb cab for a nice scooped bottom and top end, and the processor is going into a 20 watt Marshall bass amp (solid state for cleanliness and reliability). This produces a full tone, and the processor augments the other two amps with nice, smooth effects.

I like the early Clapton sound, from the Bluesbreakers album through Fresh Cream, and then his live sound on the Wheels of Fire album. I get that sound using the effects listed above.

I've also gotten Hendrix sounds like on Third Stone From the Sun with a '62 reissue Strat.

I bought it new and had to send it back to ART twice for repairs within the first few weeks of owning it. The first time they replaced the sliders, board to board harness, audio harness, and ten-pin jumper. I didn't notice an improvement. It kept losing gain in one channel intermittently, and never produced stereo effects. I sent it back and they replaced the LCD harness. Since then, it pumps out a signal from both outputs, but has never ever produced stereo effects, which has been disappointing.

see above. It was mostly fixed, enough to use as a guitar toy, but not enough to record with and produce truly stereo effects. They discontinued the SGE soon after and went with the 2000 Night thing.

I play rock, blues, and jazz. There some very inspring presets, but most of the presets are one-time only gee-whiz bs.

One major complaint is the foot pedal issue. Using this thing without the pedal is too complicated on stage. The processor's main strength is produing concert level sustain (ala Marshalls on 13) at low volume. The drawbacks are matching volume output between dry and wet signal (when punching in and out of the processor), lack of dynamic control over the signal because you can't turn down the guitar volume and still feed enough signal into the processor to produce an output signal, and the limited way of getting from one patch to another. For regular guitar guys, they let you punch in and out or channel up only through a line of predetermined patches.

Simple to use, intuitive, a little over-programmable.

Use it with Ibanez and Tak acoustic. Reverbs good, but sometimes glisteny. Delays very programmable. Chorus too wishy-washy. Use it a rach after Rockton Pro-gap and before Marshall 9100 and Marshall 2X10 cab.

Dreadful and undependable. I have the original SGE and the SGE Mach II. I once thought the cutting in and out of one channel was the fault of a studio monitor, and after trying to record with it over and over again plunged the headstock of my guitar through the speaker cone... to find out it wasn't the speaker cone anyway!!! Don't use one if you get frustrated with being surrounded by crap Equip! Both units suffer the same issues, and opening htem and jigging with the ribbons and leads make no difference, even cleaing out the faders.

I live in the UK and wrote a letter to ART asking them for advice. They didn't reply.

I wish this unit worked as designed, it would be great to have a unit as some above that never had faults. It would/could have many uses. BUT due to the 'pin the tail on the donkey' issues and faults makes this overall experience a rainy day. I recommend Get an INTELLIFEX. The overdrives in the ART are simply 'Schweppes-FIZZ'.

Bought the SGE MII (FW 1.23 - 1991) for 75 Euro incl. manual, mint condition (I angled the LCD display and put it closer to the front which much improves readibility). Programming is easy and there's (almost too) much for guitar in it - patches are easily edited real time: change and play to hear the effect. Copy and change at your own location (100)is equally easy (If you don't have a manual, dl the SGX2000 manual from art).

I have a Challenger VP Strat with 1 HB and 2 SC's, Peavey Rockmaster Vintage 120W tube amp and currently have the SGE on the low gain input of it. With the SGE input level on the high side and line out on the low side I experience almost no noise - can even be improved by having the SGE in the effects loop, in between pre- and main amp.
I get from a nice clean Santana sound to heavy metal - in some of the the presets distortions are pretty heavy and other settings are somewhat overdone also, but can easily be edited to suit your own taste, possibilities are almost endless.

The SGE is 11 years old, with one LCD repair. I noticed that the thing warms up because of the power supply (11 years...no switching supply), so I checked the mounting of the heatsink and transistors on it (so the heat really can be sunk) - screws needed some fastening.

I loved it after a few days of use - it's pretty old but still has a lot to offer - I don't play heavy metal but I found much in it for rock, blues, jazz. Almost clean/bypass for semi acoustic is easy.
I play a Spanish guitar for classical music and reference (and to misuse it for all other acoustic songs).

It will take some time before I get the most out of it (over 30 algorithms with each a lot of parameters), specially when tuning presets and storing them under Santana, Clapton Blues, Hendrix etc. (in the SGX that has been taken care of); next project is to use the midi interface with the computer.

Very easy for me to use. as posted in other reviews the mix slide is very sensitive and the gain staging can get wierd, but once you get to know this thing it is great.

I use this in my home studio and put it in front of a art tube-mp for practice. I run this thru my computer for demo recordings also. I dont really like the heavy distortion, but I like the mildly overdriven sounds and the compressor sounds good. I can get that carlos sound, and also very jazzy flavorsi also like the cab. sim. (line eq). the edge setting is all I use. I have used this with many different guitars and always had good luck. Its not very noisy in my setup. I currently use a G&L Commanche with it and it sounds great

Had this for at least 5 years and I have not had a single problem with it.

never have used them for this product. I have emailed them about my tube mp and they got back to me within 24 hours

This machine does just what I need it to. It sounds good and I dont have to set up my pedalboard and Amps when I just want to play right now. I just plug in my guitar and go. Its great. Compared to my old Digitech G7 the art is the bomb.

I bought this piece of junk in 1990 for almost $700 with the X-15 Midi Pedal, and even though it was fairly easy to program, it's much nicer to have knobs to mess with (especially on digital delay).

The unit is fairly noisy and tin can sounding on distortion settings, I ended up using it mostly for vocal tracks on recordings, that is when the unit would decide to work at all.

This is the most unreliable piece of junk on the planet. I had to send it back to ART for repair, and they had the nerve to charge me $150 when it was their inadequate technology that was at fault. Then it broke again, and they agreed to replace it, and the replacement broke, now it sits in my garage collecting dust.

Terrible customer support, I would NEVER, EVER, EVER buy another product from ART, they are the worst. They should go out of business. I wish I'd have bought the Digitech DSP 128 instead like my friend, his Digitech is still working today (12 years later) !!!!

I play hardcore industrial style music, and this piece of garbage never made it through two songs on stage without overheating and the display getting all scrambled. I used it about three times at gigs, and it let me down every time. A real loser, I wish I'd never bought it.

I used this with an Ampeg SS-150 with a Carvin 4x12 cabinet and a Jackson Soloist Guitar with Seymour Duncan pickups. The distortion sounds were horrible and I could not use them in any band setting or I would have been embarrased. The chorus and delay sounds were pretty good back 10 years ago and the Noise gate and Reverb were ok. The pitch shifter was pretty worthless for anything other than weird sounds cause you couldn't even get an octave effect to be completely in tune and sound good. I haven't heard this thing in about 5 years , so now it may even seem worse to me.

Had this thing about a year and only used it in my bedroom. After a few months of rehearsing and giging with a band it started cutting in and out and the volume would get louder or lower by itself. Got it repaired and it was ok for a few months then the same thing happened again. Stopped using it for gigs and only used it for practicing at home. Then a book fell on it and it stopped working. I threw it out a few months ago after it was collecting dudt for 5 plus years.

Been playing for about 15 years and this is probably the most regrettable $500 I've spent on any musical equipment. Bought this about 12 years ago and I also bought the footswitch for $100 at the same time. The X-15 footswitch just started to malfunction about 3 years ago and I bought the same one for $25. The Mach 2 sounded ok with my rig ,since all I used it for were the Chorus, Delay, Reverb and Gate. Would have been OK if it cost $200 back then. If you want to buy one used for $50 and use it for home rehearsal, go for it otherwise your wasting your money.