Lexicon JamMan

The sound is 90% cd quality. It's a loop. You have 14 seconds to lay down another guitar part. If you have a mic inside your acustic you can do more than just another guitar part,but you can tap a beat,and sing 3 harmony parts. That's what Phil Keaggy does. And we all know he's the best. They stoped making them, but you can find them in a used store.

The sound is 90% CD quality. That's good enough,people can't tell the 10% difference.

It will run forever.

Nope. Never delt with the company before.

You can have a one man band.

very easy. having a footswitch makes it that much simpler. midi operations take a quick peek at the manual,..but that's it.

excellent sound quality. it's amazing what Lexicon can do with "lower" sampling rates. my JamMan and Alex sound AS GOOD if not BETTER than units i've demo'd with much "higher specs".

never had a single problem,..and i have TWO units. only used at home to this point, however.

always had calls returned. nice people who LISTEN. repairs are NOT cheap, however (remembering the $100 tab on an MPX100 fix).

i prefer ambient/space sounds and the JamMan works wonders in this department. you can layer yourself into aural heaven. i've also used it for multi-layered background choruses which i've "midi-triggered" to reproduce themselves on cue. having TWO units has opened up NEW WORLDS (i must admit). i use a stereo pan pedal and layer ALL OVER THE STEREO FIELD (which is a joyous experience). the reverse feature is fantastic and loops can be "triggered" much like a sampler. with the 32-second expansion, you can have the longest delay times immaginable (when the JamMan is set to "Echo").this is a great unit. i bought one on it's intitial release and purchased a second on lucky find at a used gear store. i see these things for $1000 on E-bay,..which is ABSURD,......BUT,...they are great units. if you find one (memory expanded or not) for $400 or less DO NOT HESITATE. more that $500 is tough to swallow (unless you have unlimited funds). i've demoed the Boomerang and (being a JamMan disciple) was NOT impressed by the sound quality. i HAVE heard the Echoplex Digital Pro which was both an excellent and superior unit to the JamMan,..but these are impossibly expensive to find USED. AT ANY RATE,...i love my JamMan units. i'd be crushed if i lost them. they are versatile and sound FANTASTIC!

JamMan is a pretty easy unit to use. It did take me a while to get the hang of it, but mostly because it requires tapping on the beat and if you're singing and tapping it can be a little tricky. I only use it as a looper and I upgraded it to 32 seconds (which was a pain in the butt getting the darn thing open). The manual is okay but experience is where you learn how to use it (ain't that always the way?). Also, the little footswitches require some dexterity.

I run the JamMan along with a Vortex, an Alex, and an MPX 100 thru the effects loop of a Peavey Ecoustic 112 and I play a Takamine LTD 1998 acoustic/electric. I have 12 Boss pedals going into the front end of my amp as well. The JamMan faithfully recreates what I put into it. With all of that processing placed into an acoustic setup, I've never been disappointed with the quality of the sound. While I've never played thru an Oberheim Digital Echoplex Pro, I have used a Boomerang(good), a Line 6 Delay Modeler(very good), and an Akai Headrush(okay), and the JamMan beats them all. The Line 6 is the only one that comes close to matching the JamMan's sound quality, but it only provides 14 seconds of looping. The only complaint I have with the JamMan is that you can't stop a loop and then recall it at it's beginning point. If you set it up to restart the loop, the JamMan has been playing silently while you do your thing, so when you tap back into the loop you may find it in the middle of the loop instead of where you want it to be. The Line 6 and Boomerang can be a little easier to control in that regard.

I bought it used and have never had a problem with it so far in three years.

I e-mailed Lexicon when I began searching for a JamMan and they were very helpful. Also, I have always received prompt and courteous responses when I've had questions or needed to place and order for extra footswitches or cords.

I do mostly solo improv and extended jamming within the context of songs and the JamMan is a very cool piece of gear. I would be really bummed out if it broke or was ripped off. I'm sure I'd never find another as easily or as inexpensive. I wish it was easier to recall existing loops so I didn't have to rebuild them if I left the jam in a song and an easier footswitch would be nice, but overall, I love the JamMan. I've learned to use it as an instrument within my style of music and in the context of a solo jamming musician, it's indespensible. It's not as rugged as the Boomerang or as versatile as Line 6's Delay Modeler, but it does what it does most excellently. Lexicon! If you read these reviews , MAKE THESE UNITS AGAIN!!! Most of us can't afford the G2 or an Oberheim (if you could ever find one), or even a damn Boomerang for that matter. Make 'em and sell 'em. Hell, I'll be your biggest advertiser.

Once you get a chance to play around with it, it's very easy to use. The manual is good but you really just need to be able to get your hands (and feet) into it to learn how to use it. I had a little trouble upgrading mine with the 32 second chips but am glad I did. The sound quality is great (especially compared to the Boomerang (which is good).

No noise, easy to tweak, and it is consistent. You can always get what you expect. I run the JamMan through my effects loop of a Peavey Ecoustic 112 along with a Vortex and a MPX 100 and a boatload of Boss pedals through the front end of my amp and I play a Takamine LTD 98 for e vry processed acoustic tone. The JamMan handles anything I throw at it and only occasionally the volume flucuates depending of what effect I'm coloring my sound with (but that's not the JamMan's problem). I've also used a Line 6 Delay Modeler' looper and they both are clean sounding and reliable.

I've rarely taken it out of my studio but I wouldn't have any concerns about using it live, I just don't need to take rack stuff with me. I've never had any problem with it so far and I bought it used.

They're easy to contact via e-mail or phone and they responded when I enquired about info or help.

I play acoustic-electric jam based stuff and Dead, Floyd, folkadelic type music and the JamMan really allows me to stretch out, either alone and a one-man band or in and ensemble. It's like playing multiple instruments at once, especially when using different effects as colors to "paint" with. I have a Boomerang as well (which I take when I play out) as well as a plethora of pedals and some other rack pieces. I'd definitely seek out another one if mine broke down or were ripped off (unless I could get an Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro at a reasonable price). My opinion of Lexicon stuff is: buy it you won't be sorry. If you can find a JamMan, take a risk but don't let someone take you for more than $400, they didn't pay that much for it.

Well, I use a JamMan for a very niched purpose. Live Sound mixing! Extremly easy to plug in, and let it go. Using echo/delay mode only. TAP TEMPO as a predelay to other effects.

For delay it is above average. Sampling, could be stereo (only mono),and a few KHz more on the top. But I'll use it almost exclusively as a TAP TEMPO DELAY with feedback set on 1. On a live sound rig, I wire it before ANY other reverb or delay FX. And upon listening to the club/halls natural bouncing reflection delay, AND adding that to each song that's played, I tap my finger to the BPM of the song, to get a delay or reverb that doesn't get in the way of the song. It is very useful for pre-delaying reverbs in a live situation. I know it's a bit overkill, but I don't know of any other effect that has TAP TEMPO DELAY only...if it does exists, it sure has a lot of other stuff too.

Yes. It hangs now and then when twiddling too much with the front panel settings at the same time as you pressing these (actually lousy) footpedals. Since it doesn't use any patches, its not too much of a big deal really, having to unplug and replug the power cable. Definetly using it on gigs without backup.

Well actually I mailed the people at lexicon and they've supported it for some time. I requested a few things, like MIDI clock sensing in delay mode, and a bypass-input feature, that would allow you to jam over a newly created sound-loop in delay mode. Now, some folks have quit Lexicon just in order to provide support and ROM upgrades to JamMan since it's been discontinued. So, full marks!

Live sound mixing, occasionally guitar/ambient dance music. played/engineered for 16 years. At the time, no competition existed. Primarily aimed to DJ's anyway. Would be nice to see any comments on this unit here, by a swift DJ!

The JamMan is a delay/sampler/loop machine. You can use it as any of these features, but you can't combine them. The interface is cryptic. I got mine as a floor model, and had to have the store copy a manual for me. It was too weird to figure out without one. Generally, you tap in delay times, after adjusting the repeat rate, decay, and level on the unit's face. As a looper/sampler, you tap in at the beginning of your phrase, tap out when you're done. An additional footswitch allows for additional functions. I've never used them. Mine came with the standard 8 seconds of memory. I upgraded it to 32 after about a year. Once you learn your way around it, the JamMan is conceptually very easy to use. The Lexicon footswitches were designed by aliens, I think. They require frankfurter toes, if they are to be of any use at all. I have heard of people using those 2-pedal sostenuto pedals from digital keyboards. I haven't tried that, though it's on my list of things to do. The Lexicon footswtiches are awful.

Excellent sound, excellent functionality. No noise. This is a surprisingly robust sounding unit for a Lexicon being used on a live guitar rig. I have found their signal chain usually swallows tone, and is therefore best used with an amp with an effects-loop built in. However, the JamMan isn't bad in this regard.

Mine arrived with a problem- the tap function wouldn't work consistently. This was fixed quickly, and I haven't seen or heard a problem since. I believe these low-priced Lexicon units are cheaply made, and therefore prone to breakdown. Nonetheless, I never have problems with mine now.

Lexicon was great when I dealt with them for the memory upgrade. It arrived quickly, and the staff was kind & courteous. I contacted them about a customization idea I wanted done, and they managed to talk me out of it without making feel dumb. Nice folks!

I have found a number of ways to use the JamMan. Sometimes I sample a rhythm phrase, and trigger it back later under a solo. Other times, I loop some atmosphere or chord-progressions indefinitely. For these roles, you MUST have an attentive band following the tempo. I used a MIDI connection to a drum machine, and had the JamMan trigger a click-tempo. I can't conceive of ever using this kind of technology regularly, though. Too many variables. Usually, I use it as a tap-tempo delay. I considered adding another JamMan to my rig, but that would be too many high-tech gadgets. They've also gotten too damn expensive, now that they are out of production. There are jokers who won't take less than $500 for a used one. I don't get it. Unfortunately, if mine died or disappeared, I'd definitely replace it. This is a useful tool for delay-freaks like me. If you can find one cheap, buy it. I would.

Controls are pretty simple and instructions are surprisingly good for a piece of electronic equipment (they could use a little better organization of the topics IMO though). I haven't tried using the MIDI features. Unit comes with a maximum of 8 sec. sampling, which can be upgraded to 32 seconds.

Excellent sound quality on samples and echoes. You do see a slight drop in the tone compared to a 100% dry signal but this is to be expected from just about any piece of equipment. Balancing the input, output, and mix levels is a little tricky. Using a stereo rig with the Jamman would greatly improve its functionability.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks although Lexicon is a pretty well known company.

See above comment. I am going to upgrade the memory in it, so I might soon find out how their customer support is.

I would definitely buy it again. It offers a lot of cool possibilites, both in performance and composition. I like being able to lay down a chord progression and then jam over it. It eliminates trying to talk my friend into playing the same chord prog. over and over again 8-). It definitely needs the memory upgrade (gives you 32 sec. of sampling) for maximum utility, which I think Lexicon should start with as the base memory level. 8 sec. really isn't enough.