Lexicon MPX G2

This unit is easy to use as long as you read the manual and documentation. I am using the new updated version of the MPX G2 software. Which is now currenty at v1.1. They say that nothing is perfect but I don't see how this unit could get any better.

I am using the G2 with a alesis 3630, MPX 550, and a BBE sonic maximizer. The rack gear goes into a Peavey XXX. And I must say that the sounds I get are the best I have ever heard.

It hard to say what any rack or system setup will do under stress. It all depends on weather and whos setup it up for gigs and things. The G2 is all digital so there is no tubes in this unit.

Lexicon has the best support of any other units I have used. If you send an e-mail to support they will get back to you the next day.

I play metal and experimental music. I have been playing for 5 years.
If this unit were to be stolen I would like to buy a new one :) but they are so expensive :( But overall with the new Rom ver this unit is the best fx ever that was made just for guitar.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Once you know how to tweak the settings, it is very easy to get the sound you are looking for.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)? If you read it 10 times and have an IQ of 140+ this manual will be of use to you - get the idea??

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? Basically an Ibanez K7 & Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier :: Want to see and hear my full rig? Check out my website for Video Clips & MP3s @ www.jim-horne.com

I have been using this unit for over a year with no major problems and I use this 4 - 10 hours a day. BUT, several times it seemed to have a mind of its own and I had to shut it down and restart it - after restarting it was fine...

Perfect 10 - they return you calls and are very helpful - believe me, this is important if you plan on using this thing to its full potential, unless you understand that manual...

It is a bit pricey, but there isnt anything or any sound you cant get from this unit :: Want to see and hear my full rig? Check out my website for Video Clips & MP3s @ www.jim-horne.com

Extremely powerful unit, can get great sounds but you will have to work a little at it. Editing takes some getting use to, had it down in a couple of hours. Excellent Manual.

Have Triaxis and Simul 2:90 suggest you use the MPX G2 interface to the Triaxis as described in Lexicon Knowledgebase. Can get any sound you want. Do not use their preamp distortions, a waste.

So far no problems except a dropout issue on a reverb-only preset. Lexicon said to re-initialize the unit....not easy to do in the middle of a song. Would use it without a back-up.

Excellent resources and response.

I play 60s and 70s Top 40 and Rock. This setup can do anything from that era and much more. Been playing 35 years. Had a Rocktron Intellifex..also an excellent unit, started having some problems and made it my acoustic guitar effects unit. The MPX G2 is much more powerful, but I would say it sounded that much better than the Intellifex. I owned the TC G Force for a weekend and was not impressed. This unit has it all and if you take the time to learn it, it can do most things you could imagine..very well.

They made all the possible patches you may need in factory preset. So you don't even need to adjust it. Just pick them and copy them in to user area.. JUST PERFECT MACHINE.. even the expression pedal assignments are perfect on R1. They just sitdown to table and think what we may need on stage or studio. So its perfect. You really don't need to be a "guru" to play with this machine, believe me.

I have a fender Ultra start. Sounds great. Great. Great. I was thinking if you don't have a "tube" you can't get perfect sounds. This machine change all my ideas about guitar sounding.

I think its looks like tough machine. Especially R1 is built to be on hard work I guess. Its like a tank. I guess I would go to stage with that without having a backup.

Customer service is cool.. I sent them e-mail that I said I bought a G2 in second hand, may I get support? They said its not really matter, we just need to know the serial number. I got response in same day.

I play mostly Rock music, santana, hendrix kind of stuff. This was a good match. I play for 12 years. I used Digitech 2101 Artist, 2120, Boss pedals, Roland GT-16, ZooM 9050, ZooM Gfx 707, EnsoniQ DP4+,
This is the best I ever USE !I think this will be my last proc. I wish it had a SPDIF (digi) out with cool converters.

It's too difficult to understand menu structure.
and control

It's a real thing.
I makes real space sound effects.
and fantastic quality.

reliablity ?
what's the matter ?
It's still working . I bought this last year
But It has no trouble throught this time.

I live in seoul korea .
there was no help or service in seoul distributer.
But I questioned through e-mail to lexicon
email responce was fast than other makers.

I satisfied that difficult thing.
But It's a proffesional Instrument.
Not for guitar kids.
It has a real beautiful delay , reverb , and so many special effects.
But too many parameters make me crazy .
It's too difficult to handle freely.

Pretty tricky to use especially if you use the R1 pedal baord as well and need to understand some of the proprietary functions between the 2 units. Lots of stuff is just not documented. Even trickier if you want to use a MIDI board other than the R1 because they don't tell you about all the functions that are only available from the R1 .... like activating the tuner via MIDI, a master volume control that retains its level when a new patch is called up, etc.

My main jobbing setup has my guitar (I have several all sort of customized to suit my needs for that night) plugged into the G2. The Insert Send goes into a 1/2 rack Boss CL50 compressor and then into the input of a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis programmable tube preamp. I have to use the FX loop of the Tri-Axis to send the signal back into the G2 Insert Return (R mono...I'm rarely in stereo these days) because the full line level at the preamp's final output is too hot for the G2 to handle without clipping. The Tri-Axis' FX loop is approx. -10dB and the actual output jack is probably at +4 dB. I would not use the preamp's FX loop at all if I did not have to. It's redundant. So, the G2's main output (R mono) goes into the FX return of the Tri-Axis and the output of the Tri-Axis goes into a Mesa Simul-Satellite powered speaker.

The Pre-Gain Path, i.e. all the analog distortions, the Wahs, etc., as far as I am concerned suck. The overdrives and the preamp models sound like bad fuzz boxes and the distortions are worse. The Wah pales when compared to a real Vox wah or Crybaby. I didn't realize this back in 1998 when I bought this thing because I convinced myself that here was a decent rack mount wah I could use. Live and learn. I still use the G2 wah but I know better now.

But the thing about the Pre-Gain Path that nobody else seems to be hearing here but me is this....

The buffer that they use right after the guitar input (see page 1-10 of the owner's manual, the Pre-Gain Path diagram) is anything but transparent. It is edgey and IMO very unmusical sounding ... and it can NOT be disengaged. That "straight wire bypass signal path" they rave about for the Pre-Gain Path is after this buffer. That's hardly "straight wire" if you ask me.

Try this: Plug your guitar in the G2's Guitar Input and plug the Insert Send directly into the input of a quality tube amplifier. Don't return the signal back into the G2. Make sure no FX are assigned in the Pre-Gain Path. Hint: If the Input Volume knob on the front panel still affects the guitar's volume then you still have some effect or other in the Pre-Gain Path. Now just listen to the unprocessed "straight wire" guitar sound. Now plug your guitar right into your amp instead of the G2 and listen. They are noticeably different and the unbuffered sound is noticeably more musical sounding.

I notice the this objectionable "edge" especially when I'm using a dark Ed Bickert-ish jazz tone. The warmth is lost when I go through the G2's front end. This buffer is good at maintaining the highs, which is what a buffer at this point in the signal path is supposed to do, but it is just not a musical sounding buffer. This circuit, and the fact that it can not be disengaged, makes this unit anything but transparent. That's a great place to have a buffer, even a bad sounding buffer, if you are actually using any of those Pre-Gain Path effects but if you just want the clean sound of your guitar to go straight into your preamp's input it's a lousy place for a buffer because it colors your sound, badly.

Actually it can be disengaged by simply not using the Pre-Gain Path at all, but then the tuner can not be used and you'll have to find some way to stick a 3rd party tuner into your rig somewhere else.

Now some days I tell myself that I can live with this but it's getting harder to justify the tone I'm getting for the amount of money I paid for the G2/R1 combination. The R1 was REALLY expensive when I bought it. The price on these seems to have come way down. The G2 is still too expensive.

Now as for the sounds in the Post-Gain Path they are all top notch although somewhat limited in their feature set and some of the good ones just hog too much memory so that the number of simultaneous FX becomes limited.

For the 4 years or so that I've been using it it has been pretty reliable. But every once in a while some really weird thing happens and the gizmo just won't work for me. It's always my own fault but the complexity of the G2/R1 combo makes troubleshooting a real hair puller most of the time and I have STUDIED these things for several years now.

The first week I had it I accidentally hit one of the L/R arrow buttons while in Program Mode. There is no mention in the manual that this is the way to change the active MIDI program map. So all of a sudden I could not recall any of the programs I had just spent a week programming. Luckily I figured it out myself, a few days later!

I really abused the privelege of their email support. I was sending emails to Greg Hogan almost everyday for weeks. Still, the things I was having trouble with, I shouldn't have. This business about needing special stereo cables made up in order to be able to use the footswitches on the G2 and the R1 is bullshit. There is a bug in the way the R1 and G2 interact when calling up presets in Program Mode that Greg confirmed. It drove me batty. I never could understand how they could have let that get by. It's too hard to explain. It was a weird one and it happened a long time ago. I have had to use Direct Access Mode on the R1 ever since.

I am a jazz player who plays all styles to make a living, weddings, R&B, blues, whatever.
I'm now 48 and started playing guitar at age 12.
I've got lots of other gear. Over the years I have owned or seriously checked out most well known guitar products and many of the more obscure boutique baubles as well.
If the R1 were stolen I'd buy a Rocktron All Access with the insurance money. If the G2 were stolen I'd probably get a good buffer (VHT Valvulator) and a good wah wah pedal and a TC G Major multi FX unit. It's great that Lexicon designed a product with this signal path. It's surprizing to me that everybody else hasn't jumped on the band wagon too. But IMO Lexicon blew it on this one. Maybe they'll get it right if and when they release a G3.

The G2 is complex to use but the way that the system is designed to very ahead of is time (about 5 years ahead of it's time.).

I run the G2 into a MPX 500 with a BBE sonic maximiser, Alesis compressor and EQ. I am using this as a stand alone device. It sounds better than most device combined.

I am not sure yet. The unit is very complex. I think that it would fail if not in a proper studio enviroment. But I really think that is was only made for the studio any way.

They are the very best I have ever dealt with.

I play a style that does not have a definition yet. I have been playing for six years. I would not use any thing else inless some made a device of equal quality. This is the very best that I have seen as far a quality is concerned.

i play through a mesa boogie triple recto stack,i was using the preamp from the lex but now i got someone to show me how to used the head's preamp,in the lexys switching system,which is great,dont need any additional switchers the r1 will switch the head automatically through its relay sys.,but again a pain to figure out,i got a experienced guitar/bass player/tech to show me what the manual was trying to say with the help of lex customer tech(they are great).we play melodic metal.I primarily play jacksonusa guitars,but have a strat,had a wolfgang,ibanez s series.the effects are beautiful they fill out anything you play,the lexy g2 is for any style of music.

the lexicon mpxg2,with the r1 contoller,this processor seems to have all the bells and whistles,clearity is excellent,and it is not noisy like other processors,using it with the r1 pedal makes life easy,because you can just follow the book.But that is my only unhappiness with this product,it seems you almost need a college degree to follow along in the book.I'm a guitar player,not a engineer,ive used other proceesors like alesis and ada,they were simple to use compared to this thing,I've talked with a few big name players and some said i picked the most difficult processor to use on the market,i bought it because a lot of said clarity,clean,one of the best on the market.id rate this thing 10,but a year later i still have a hard time figuring it out,basically i got what i need but as i expand i run back into a hard times.still an awesome lexy.

year later still goin...........

lexicon is great with email or phone calls,they take time to listen,and spend time in detail,i wish the book was written in better
language for those that are not techs.

I have been playin for a long time,quit for awhile,and am back now.would i buy it again?....not if i found something that did what this did and sounded as good,unless they made it more user friendly.

Very easy to use once you are familiar with the work flow.
The manual is very informative and helpful.

This is a wonderful sounding peice of gear. Beautiful delays and reverbs and the rotary effects are great. If I had to find a
complaint about the effects, it would be the pitch shifter - its very
weak in my opinion, but if blended very lightly it can pass. By far
the worst feature with the MPX G2 is the pre-amp. Its just not my
style, but others may like it.

The direct recording feature is nice for clean guitar tones/effects, but once again it fails to capture a nice crunch/distorted guitar.

For live applications I could not imagine using another system. When
combined with the MPX R1 foot controller this turns into a very versatile unit that works flawlessly! The MPX R1 can control external amps/effects, so when I play my Parker I can trigger my acoustic amp on or off while in effect mode.

Yes, this unit is very reliable. Its never failed on me and I've owned it for close to two years now.

Lexicon has not released any upgrades to my knowledge, so I pester them about once a month about making the JamMan engine truly like
the original - the reverse feature not available! I also mention that I would like to see them release some reverse delays/reverbs as well.

Anyway, they always respond to my emails, so that is nice :)

I play pop rock, and the MPX G2 is a perfect match for really any
genre. I've been playing for about 18 years and this is by far the best product I've ever owned. I play a Parker, PRS, & a Hamer Newport through the MPX G2 and they all sound excellent. I complement the G2 with a Yamaha DG130/DG-S412V and a Yamaha DG100-212 to achieve some nice tube-like qualities.

It comes down to this - I love the MPX G2 for its versatility and the quality that comes along with the Lexicon name. So yes, I would be happy to purchase another G2 if mine were stolen.

This thing has a lot of hidden features that are hard to figure out but once you read the manual it's easy to work with.

I use the g2 with a Alesis 3630 compressor and a lexicon MPX 500. I use Jackson SL-1 USA made guitars. The only problem I with this unit is the limited amount of effects that this has. All the effects are top recording quality. I like the preamp it sounds like a peavey 5150 head all by it's self.

So far it seems like it is very dependable. It is all digital and analog. So if you want to play live the G2 is not a good idea because it is best suited for recording

Lexicon answers all e-mails that are sent to them but they don't answer questions very well.

I play the heavyist of metal I can. I am very picky on the sound that I have. The lexicon is the best thing ever to happen to guitar effects.