Lexicon MPX 100 Dual Channel Processor

Easy to use. Most of the presets are pretty good,
but I'm mainly interested in the reverb, hall, and ambience settings.
I'm trying to use it with Keyboards (Roland XP-30, XV-5080), with an interest in recording. Haven't tried out many of the other settings, and haven't tried out the MIDI stuff.

Again, I'm mainly interested in the reverb, hall, and ambience settings. The reverbs sound pretty good, but I'm not totally satisfied with the way the MPX interacts with the rest of my system. I find that when I introduce the MPX100 into my mixer EFX send loop, it adds a bit of background noise. It does spread out the stereo image nicely, though. I leave the Mix knob set to 100%, like the manual recommends for AUX sends. The biggest problem I'm finding is that it's difficult to set levels on it properly -- I have to monkey with the INPUT level and my mixer AUX send level incessantly -- play too hard, and the the sound gets distorted (and it distorts dreadfully!), set the settings too low to compensate and not enough noticeable EFX.

NOTE: Sometimes it will distort without the red LEDs coming on -- but perhaps that's my setup. Maybe I'm picky, but I would like to be able to set the knobs at some nice compromise position and forget about it--but I can't with this unit.

Like some of the previous posters said, I do get the impression that there's a decent engine somewhere underneath the hood, but Lexicon cut a few corners and shoveled in some cheaper accessories to keep the cost down.

Have only had it for a few days. Can't comment too much.

Again, have only had it for a few days. Can't comment too much.

Well, guess I'll try to see if I can live with its limitations for a while. Haven't tried yet, but I'm worried the MPX100 may not be too suitable for recording purposes. I may try to sell the thing and buy a Roland 3030, which several people here seem to think is a better product in this price range.

As with any unit, there are some presets you'll like, and others you'll learn to avoid. I find the front panel layout to be pretty
well tought out. Visibility is very good, so long as you're looking
straight at it -- otherwise some of the PROGRAM and VARIATION choices
are a little tricky to see. Keep twiddling the controls, though, and
you should get something useful once you've picked a preset you like.

I tend to keep the MIX control at 10-11 o'clock (slightly biased
towards the DRY side) because I don't like to be swimming in reverb.
I generally keep MIX set halfway until I've made my adjustments, then
back it off a couple of notches.

The TAP tempo is, in my opinion, a necessary feature on a delay, and
the MPX 100 has one.

One thing I'd like to see which is missing is a high-frequency rolloff, though this is available on a few of the presets as the
ADJUST button value.

All in all, a good layout for the user who's not into building his
own effects from scratch.

I initially bought this for a remixing project I did, restoring and
remixing some early '80's Portastudio things for transfer to CD.

I had an old 16-bit ART Multiverb, which was pretty much impossible to
adjust, so I did some research and ended up settling on the MPX100.
It seemed simple and flexible, without either a huge learning curve
or a huge price tag.

I don't find it noisy (and I am pretty sensitive to hiss.)

Some of the effects are only so-so (the TREMOLO settings are particularly mediocre.) I generally use it for 'verbs and delays.

The verbs are decent, though maybe a bit "fizzy". The vocal plate
setting gets a bit of use, as well as a couple of the halls. Most
of the verbs seem to be a bit "bright" sounding, which no doubt
contributes to the fizz factor.

The delays are varied and decent -- the "tape" delays sound better
to me than the "digital" ones (treble rolloff on decay makes them
a bit more natural-sounding to my ears.)

Chorus on vocals is ok, tho as a rule chorus gives me the '80's
heaves. On vocal, a pinch won't kill ya, and these choruses are
sufficiently adjustable so that they don't overwhelm.

As I say above, setting the MIX less than halfway results in enough
reverb so that the ambience is perceptible, without getting swimmy.

The PITCH settings have the most audible "delay" between the input
signal and the effect signal. The unit needs time to identify the incoming pitch so it can generate the adjusted pitch. I find the
delay time on these to be unacceptable, but pitch shift is an effect
I'd hardly ever want anyway. I don't have golden enough ears to hear
any phase or comb-filtering in the 'verbs, tho at least one other
reviewer has alluded to it. Could be variability between individual
units. It's certainly there on the pitch shift, tough.

Flange is an effect which has always struck me as being too much
of an "effect" rather than an enhancer, so I leave it alone. The
MPX100 does have a couple of extreme flange settings, though.
Overall, if you don't expect it to sound like a $700 unit, it's
a decent-enough box.

Geez -- you had to ask.
The first one I bought lasted just over a year, at which point
I started having the problem described above by a reviewer named BEN.
The unit would freeze up, with no signal, and all LED's blazing.
At first, a hard boot (yanking and re-inserting the power) would
reset it, but one day it just flat-out croaked.
Now this thing had never been out of the room it was in, so I
know that the problem was electronic, not damage-related.
I run all my gear off surge strips to protect them from damage. So
I think that's a pretty bad endorsement for reliability. And seeing
someone else describe the same problem makes me think that some
chip supplier was selling Lexicon borderline components, some of
which have failed along the way.
I used to build pc boards for Lexicon, and they were very quality-
conscious (they disqualified us as a supplier, if you need to know)
so I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt - they probably
just got a few bad chips which croaked.
I bought a second unit because I was comfortable with the control
layout and familiar with the sounds; it has so far performed flawlessly.
So will it croak? Who knows? I'm rating reliability at a cautious 5.

I didn't approach Lexicon when my 1st unit failed. When I bought the
second one, the price had dropped, so I just held my nose and went for it. I was more concerned with getting up and running again, so
I went for another unit, rather than dicking with service, or changing
brands.

It's a decent low-priced unit -- more flexible than the real low-end
stuff, less gorgeous-sounding than the high-priced stuff. Easy
to use, easy to operate. The manual is excellent, and is small
enough to actually have open near the unit in a cramped work
environment (are you listening, Roland?) I have a Zoom 1204, which
has smoother-sounding reverbs despite its 18-bitness. But the
Zoom lacks the TAP tempo button, and its manual is in translated
Japanese -- nearly as bad as translated Czechoslovakian. So, though
the jury is out on RELIABILITY, I'd say that, if you like enough
of the sounds, then you'll do ok with this model.

Easy to use, but haven't really ventured into the storing or midi aspects of it.

I use for vocal, guitar, keys, and amplification for digital recoding on computer. There is no noise, and the reverbs/chorus are great. But there is a slight delay on some of the effects that doesn't cause too much trouble, but is apparent.

I wouldn't drop it, or smash it, but it's strong for a rack unit. Why would I want a backup?

N/A

Great for my reverby trippy music. I use it to process almost everything on my recordings. Some flaws, but a poor person like me could afford it.

This is very easy to use. Once You learn where the certain delays/choruses etc. are it's just go.
However - the control via MIDI could be much easier to use.

I have it loopbacked through a 16-channel old mixer, to add mainly delay to the Kurzweil HX1000 Horn expander and the Kawai K4 keyboard.

I would never go on a gig without backup! That goes for everything.

It's a new equipment, no repair neede yet. The manual was very easy to find on WEB.

I write and arrange jazz music for bigbands and brass bands. For that the MPX100 is superb. I ahve a lot of musical gear, but my main instruments are the double bass and the trumpet.
If you have to make a choice between the MPX100 and another brand ...
there's a lot of junk out there, but this sure is worth it's value.

Very easy.

Many unfair reviews as this unit is meant to be inexpensive
and yet give you elements of Lexicon sound.

It delivers in that 100% and anything <10 is unfair given
the price; of course in comparison with the very best
units you could say it's 8.5 absolute scale, but in reality
comfortable 9 and everybody should buy one !

I plug my Sure SM57 often directly and sing through this baby !

No problem.

Don' need it.

It's 100 for the price.

I am well off and can buy anything but I bought this
for my studio and I am happy: I use it in the loop of
my Mesa-Boogie Studio preamp or my prosonic combo
or in my vocals and it does great job ...

Everybody should buy one, although my next one may be
TC Electronic M300 as things are moving ...

Very easy to use but plan on spending time finding ?your preferred variation of the effect?. The MPX100 has 16 stand alone digital effects like chorus, flange, delay, echo, tremolo, pitch and various types of reverb Lexicon is famous for. It also has a mode to incorporate the use of dual effects (4 reverb types + delay, flange, pitch or chorus / 3 delay types + flange, pitch or chorus). The control panel is simple and very easy to operate. Controls are; Input level, effects Mix (wet/dry), Output level, Effect Level/Balance for stereo applications, Variation control that provides 16 different variations of the effect, and the Adjustment control which allows you to custom tailor the effect within the variation. Changing from one effect to another is just a rotation of the Program knob. What sold me are the 16 programmable User channels. It?s breeze to use. Adjust the effect to your liking, hit ?Store?, spin the Program knob to ?User?, spin the Variation knob to the user number you want to use and hit the ?Store? button again. Bingo, stored user program.

I run the MPX100 through the parallel effects loop on my Mesa-Boogie Nomad 55 Head. It is a very, very quiet unit. As for sound quality of the effects ? There are a lot of gripes about the sound but none apply to me. I enjoy what I use.

This is the first Lexicon product I purchased, Lexicon appears to produce reliable stuff. The MPX100 and Lexicon was highly rated by people I trust.

I purchased the MPX100 specifically for use with my electric guitar rig for live and in-studio recording applications and always run it through the effects loop. I wanted a quiet, all-purpose effects unit ? something that would provide effects such as chorus, delay, tremolo and have the capability of being subtly blended into the guitar sound. The MPX100 allows me to do just that. I have stored 5 custom-tailored User programs so far in the unit. During live applications I select the effect in between songs. Really easy. I used it while recording rhythm and lead tracks in the studio. I just selected my user programs for each track or part being recorded. The recording engineer commented on how rich the sound was produced from my rig. I?m not into huge sound alteration via effects processors (although this thing can provide those alterations) so the MPX100 does it for me. If you?re into nice effects and effects all in one unit, this may be a processor you want to consider. I did a cost comparison between well-made effects pedals and the MPX100 ? I found it to be not only much cheaper in the long run but much easier to maintain as well. I am tired of pedals breaking down, switches that don?t activate during live applications, pedal noise, dying batteries, etc. Also, Lexicon just came out with a MPX110 so you should be able to get the MPX100 at a good price. I?ve seen them at ~$180 since I got mine. The MPX100 does what I want it to do and much, much more. I?m still exploring the possibilities.

Really Easy To Use. If you know what effect you want and you can spend a few minutes (under 10) to read a manual, you're all set. The manual explains clearly what each effect is and how to control it, how to create, edit and save your own and even provides a diagram should you want to create your own bypass footswitch. (It has a jack for a bypass switch as well as the little bypass button on the front, but doesn't come with a footswitch.)

I like the chorus, I like the flange and trem effects. Delay is delay and it works like it should, pitch shifting is decent, but it can be a little picky at times. On more than one occasion, the same settings have not produced the same effect. (Only happened with the pitch shifting) I found that I need to turn the output volume all the way up with the input volume just below clipping in order to maintain the same volume I would have going direct into the amp (Marshall VS100).

Some of the effects I don't find effective are the reverb (it seems weak, and I like the reverb on the amp better anway) and detune.


It's perfectly quiet, but it does make a noticeable difference in sound quality when connected without going through the FX loop.

I've had problems with it from the start. The knobs tend to fall off all over the place. I had to have it repaired after a few months of use. When I plugged it in, all the lights remained on and I had no output signal. A hard reset didn't work for this.

Customer support was excellent. They issued me an RMA within a day and had it back in a little over a week. They even called after I got it back to make sure everything was working fine. One problem I did have was paying for shipping it back to them...It took me a while to come up with the money to pay for shipping and insurance (around $25). I just don't see why I should be paying for it when the problem was within the device and not my fault.

Easy to use, as good as a Boss pedal for chorus and flange, doesn't need batteries...

Lower sound quality, reliability issues, limited quality on some effects...

I can't belive people are comparing this thing to a Roland srv3030! The roland is more than double the price of the lexicon mpx100, of course it is going to be better. Nobody compares Ford Escorts to BMWs do they? No, so why do it with music equipment. You have your cheaper equipment and then you have your expensive equipment that only a selwct group of people can afford. Use what you can get, because at the end of the day, it's your creativity that makes the music, not your expensive toys.

This one is VERY easy to use- all the patches are labelled right there, and the variation knobs are easy to use. I especially like that it has a tap button. I prefer this one if I ever have to use a multi-tap delay patch that's synchronized with the beat.

I have a good collection of cheap reverbs, and this one is better than most. I like the reverb sound better than the Yamaha REV100 and Digitech S100, so I guess this is the winner of the "challenge of the 100s" However, I like the tone of the Zoom 1204 BETTER than the Lexicon MPX100. And the Roland SRV3030 is a whole league better than the MPX100.

Lexicon is serious, well made stuff.

dont' know.

I use this in a recording studio. If I lost it I think I'd probably spend a little more for the MPX500- I've heard there's a big improvement in sound. Lexicon is one of those very common names in studios.

I bought this unit and the Roland SRV-3030 and did a side by side comparison. This Lexicon unit doesn't even come close!!! Do yourself a favor and buy the Roland SRV-3030. It gives you TOTAL control over everything. Super rich sounding reverbs. The Lexicon unit gave me very thin/small sounding reverbs. The Roland unit is just about the same price.

The quality of effects is not worth the money. Try out the Roland SRV-3030 instead.