Lexicon MPX G2

I'm still a novice at guitar electronics. But from what I've used in the past, the MPX G2 really is easy to use as far as getting FX mixed and tweaking sounds. The hard parts comes when routing FX and the like. It's probably just my lack of knowledge. The manuals are VERY detailed but some terms I just don't understand. They outline EVERY FX and how to configure each setting. It even shows you the FX path drawn in charts.

It just sounds great! All the FX are incredible and configurable in almost every way imaginable. Lexicon is well known for this and it shows in the MPX G2. However when using the high-output preamps I get a LOUD buzz. I've tried changing to quality cables but still no-go on fixing this. This is the only item in my rack that I use for FX. So when I'm finished with a song I must run bypass to kill the preamp buzz. I usually add a DS-1 and a Bad Horsie in front to give a little extra sustain when I need it. I hate the pedalboards button-activated whammy/wah/volume pedal. I like the auto-on and optics that Morley offers - that's why I use that pedal rather than the built in Wah. The built in Wah FX are great and easily configurable and I'm sure I could match the Bad Horsie's sound with it.

This this is so damn durable it amazes me. I travel at least 3 times a year with this checked into baggage on the airplane. I pack it in between my clothes. One time the unit wouldn't power on because a connection came loose from the flight, but a simple plug reconnect was all that was needed. I've owned it for a few years now (maybe 3?). It's never crapped out on me during live play. I leave the unit on most of the time when I'm not home and it doesn't heat up. It's scratched and dented in a few spots but the sound quality and reliablity remain. This thing is well constructed - especially the foot pedal. You could swing it at someone as a make-shift blunt weapon and put them out for a long time and it would still work.

Never had to call them and I hope I never do.

I run this through a full Marshall stack. Two 4x12 Celestion 30's 1960 cabs and early 80's Marshall JCM800 50 watt heads. I have a diverse selection of guitars which consist of mostly Ibanez models. However, I most of the time I use a 57 Gibson LP Black Beauty though the rig. My playing style has been known to sound like a cross between Steve Vai and Tony Iommi. Real rough but kinda melodic. I use a custom soothing ballad setting on the MPX G2 for almost everything I do. If mine was stolen or I dropped it off a bridge or something I would get a new one for sure. I'd probably get a used one because they're cheaper and I have high confidence in the durability. The thing I like least is the abrupt delay during patch changes.

This unit is hard to tweak. It is a very complicated computer.

The sound quality is very good. The distortion seems good when you tweak it a lot.

Yes, there is no way you could not use this in a gig setup.

?

I play heavy music. such as black metal and death metal. This unit is bad ass. If you can buy one they are worth the money because this unit will last ten years!

i don't think the factory presets are all that great. the volumes varey from patch to patch therefore you must edit each patch you want to make the volume equal. I got the hang of editing a patch but it seems like when you edit one thing, you mess up another and you have to figure out the problem, not fun! I think the manual helped a lot, but i used it a lot!

i use a mesa boogie triple recitifer with jackson, ibanez and PRS guitars. the patches ones again have to be tweaked out of the box to avoid noise and feedback with my dirty channel for the most part. Some of the effects sound a little weak at first but once again back to the tweaking part. you would think for the price you pay for these things the effects would be very good out of the box.

i do not depend on this unit live. there are delays when switching patches. Within one patch you can have 2 separate effects inwhich you use an A/B button to "glide" from one to the other without the glitch....do you know how to set this up???...lol The unit did erase all of my presets once, i don't know why???

customer support was good

anyone want to buy mine???

This box is very challenging to set up and program if you're not sticking to the factory presets. Level setting, as usual, can get tricky, especially when you change the amp's volume. You have to use a combination of front and back panel knobs for this, which is a royal pain in the ass. Having said that, the unit allows for an incredible degree of tweaking, but there's a cost associated with this due to the fact that you're using a two line dot matrix screen to see everything. A dedicated editor along the lines of Eventide's VSigfile for the 4000 / 7000 series would be greatly appreciated. I would highly suggest pairing this unit with Lexicon's R1 foot controller, unless you need a more powerful controller like the All Access. Using the R1 will save you HOURS of programming the patching for dynamic control of the effects. The manual is indispensible. You are SCREWED if you have to use this box with no manual. The manual itself, BTW, is excellent, and does an outstanding job of explaining all of the features of the G2 to the nth degree. Additional materials (MIDI SYSEX Implementation, etc.) are available in .pdf on Lexicon's site.

My G2 is used in a large rack system with a variety of different heads, preamps, power amps, and other effects boxes. I've found that this unit is best at emulating effects which are typically placed in front of the amp. Its UniVybe and MXR emulations are very convincing. Gain effects are better than average for a microchip box with no tubes (it's no POD, but it's not bad either). The wah effects sound OK but pedal response time is too slow when using a foot controller other than the R1. Everything sounds very clean. Again, setting your levels properly is the key to getting this box to sound good, especially with the Gain effects. As to comments regarding "glitching" when switching between presets, I would say that much like the GTR 4000, this unit allows for virtual pedalboards (or "rigs" as Lexicon calls them) to be set up inside one preset, with the individual effects toggled on/off through the use of foot switches and Dynamic MIDI. Read the manual, folks. Yes, you're going to hear a dead spot when you go from on preset slot to another, but if you do that in the middle of a song you're not using the G2 the way it was intended to be used! Toggle the individual effects instead. Eventide's processors work the same way. The box is simply loading too much data at once during preset changes to do it transparently. However, bear in mind that Reverb is globally configurable and uses a dedicated chip so you don't have to cut the tails off of the reverb when switching presets.

No problems so far. Lexicon's high end stuff is of the best quality and construction. Too expensive for a backup.

Haven't talked to them.

If you're looking to clear up a lot of the mess of pedals and dead batteries on the floor, and use some other rack stuff already, you should check out this piece. As usual, I recommend getting your distortion sound from the amp or preamp itself, even though the G2's distortions are better than most non-tube distortions I've heard. This box, if properly set up, can help you add a variety of different effects to your rig, and most of the effects are highly useable. It won't do really off-the-wall stuff like an Eventide will, but this is a more straight-forward, workhorse type of box rather than a freak machine like the 4000 series. If you've got the cash, check one out, but don't pay more than $1000 used for one. They're available in great shape on eBay all the time.

pretty easy to use if your a gear junkie and like manuals

currently using a mesa b mk111, 5150, old 50watt marshall, strat, tele, les paul, etc. tried this unit in every conceiveable way including as a stand alone studio unit and have to say iam still scratching my head as to why i bought it. noisy, noisy,noisy so much so i contacted lexicon and was asked had i set the input level high enough!! the concept is good but lexicon have to go back to the drawing board

have not used it in a commerical situation because of the hiss and would welcome any realistic suggestions

friendly but doubtfull of my experiance

have used so much stuff over the yrs(20) and thought this could be the one, still searching.........

It is reasonably hard to use, but the manual is clear. The "problem" is that it is an incredibly powerful box, so you need to be ready to play with a lot of parameters. If you want simple, you're not looking for the MPX-G2. This thing is for people who know what they want to hear and want to adjust the box to make it work. That said, I end up playing presets a lot and then adjusting from there. The presets are a real treat.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh. My. God. You can do anything with this. I've recently traded in my lawn mower and coffee maker, because this could do it. The reverbs are incredible. The distortions are completely adjustable (in ways that I didn't even think of before). There is not an effect in this box that wouldn't be first rate if it were in a stomp box. It is quiet - my amp produces much more hiss/buzz than the MPX-G2. I am now using a straight clean amp because any distortion or effects would be a step down, and then I'd have two things to have to adjust!

I've had it for a couple of months, and I need to send it back. One of the little LED lights (not an important one, but still) went out. I also had some problems initially because it lost a couple of my programs, but it hasn't recurred. Perhaps it is on a cleaner 110 volt circuit? I really wish, though, that it were easier to dump (and therefore backup) the programs to a PC. I just can't figure it out.

They've answered every question I've emailed, and they seem to know what's going on. It would be great if there were a support group to swap patches, etc.

I play blues, psychadelics, punk, and a little jazzy stuff. But it doesn't matter. This thing is expensive, but it is totally flexible. I wish there were a PC user interface. But I love it. Put it this way: before I got it, I was putting songs on the PC, with guitar & midi. Now I'm just playing straight guitar again (for the first time in a while) because I just love my sounds. I can make my strat sing like a strat, or I can make it nasty and ugly. I think I'm going to get the MPX-R1, though, because I have an awkward layout in my studio and I can't always reach the box in the rack.

When I tried it out at the store, it seemed easy enough. If you are as familiar with effects processors as I am, you should have no problems. If stomp boxes are your only point of reference, better get yourself to Rack Processors 101.

Sounds pretty good. I don t feel it's worth $1700, but here's the rub. When you change patches there's a massive glitch of at least a second. Sure your dry tone doesn't cut out, but if live you do quick drastic changes in tones, this is unacceptable for even a budget processor. Rocktron processors, Boss, my Marshall JFX-1, and many others that sound good and cost much less dont have this problem. Why the Hell would anyone who plans to use this unit live pay $250 for this unit nevermind $1700. What were the people at Lexicon thinking? That's why I didn't buy this piece. I don't care how good the unit sounds, if it leaves me hanging when I change patches it ruins a performance and the mood of the piece of music being performed. If I played with a big band and I had a lot of other instruments to cover me then it might not be a problem, but I don't so it is. What a piece of crap design.

Until they get rid of the glitching between presets, Lexicon can kiss my big, hairy, butt! They should be ashamed of themselves for putting a guitar product to market that doesn't make seamless patch changes for the outrageous price of $1700. I'm sure this is a wonderfull unit if you are a studio only guitarist, but for the real world, it's useless. Get yourself a good MIDI switcher and some killer pedals like Fulltone, Roger Mayer, Prescription Electronics, Visual Sound etc. for the same money and go home happy.

I found this device very straight forward to program and edit. More than enough control over each effect to get any sound you would ever need. I am using this unit with an Egnater IE4 preamp and a Marshall EL34 50/50 preamp. Starting with an empty patch, you can add any 1 effect from each group (gain, effect1, effect2, chorus, reverb, delay) wherever you want (before or after the preamp) in the signal chain, tweak it to your liking and switch it on or off using the R1 footcontroller. It couldn't get much easier. Sometimes it is a little confusing wading through all of the available parameters with the small LCD screen, but not to bad.

The reason I gave it low marks on ease of use is that there is one major flaw in the unit. Each individual effect does not have separate dry and wet level controls, but only a mix control such that dry + wet = 100%. This is not a big problem for effects such as chorus, trem, flange, EQ and such where the effect sound (wet) plays at the same time as the dry sound (all though it would be useful, because there is a loss in volume using some effects and this could be used to compensate for that). But this is a big BIG problem when using the delays and reverbs, as the effect sound is heard following the dry sound, and increasing the effect decreases your dry sound. I am used to my old Digitech effects unit where, when adding an effect to the patch, you can set the dry signal (0 to 100%), and the wet signal (0 to 100%) for each effect. For example, when adding a delay, I would set the dry signal at 100% (to retain my dry signal) and add a wet signal of anywhere between 0 and 100% depending on the amount of delay that I want. However, with the MPX G2, starting from an empty patch (with all of the levels set up correctly for unity gain) and adding a delay (which defaults with a mix of 100%), the signal is 100% wet (all you hear are the delays). I can add dry signal to the mix by decreasing the delay mix level, however I have to decrease it to 0 before I get back to 100% dry signal. Then adding any delay back in decreases the dry signal, which is unacceptable. For example, if you make up a patch, and you start by adding a delay with a mix of 20%, you only have 80% of your dry signal left present at the outputs. Next if you add a reverb with a mix of 20%, you only have 64% of your dry signal left at the outputs. I know that you can make up for you drop in dry signal by increasing the level of the output, however, if you then are using the box live, and you switch out the reverb and/or delay within a patch (as the machine is designed and advertised to do), your dry signal volume jumps back to 80% (with one effect switched out) or 100% (with 2 effects switched out). It could be compared to a combo amp with built in reverb such that the more you turned up the reverb, the more you reduced the volume of your dry signal - to the point that with the reverb on full, all you could here was the reverb effect with no original guitar sound?????????? I have never encountered an effect unit for guitar which did not allow you separate control over both the dry and wet levels. This includes boss pedals, rack mounts, digitech units, rocktron and any software effects that I have seen. Even any DSP theory that I have read showing block diagrams of effects showed separate dry and wet controls. It is useable in its present state, but this box could be so much easier to control with separate dry and wet parameters for each effect, that I could only give it a 4.

This unit is totally transparent. Close your eyes and switch between an empty patch and bypass (which is a hard wire bypass) and you cannot tell the difference. It does not affect your sound at all. Also, the quality of the effects are such that they do not take away from your dry sound, but color it. I find all the effects of high quality. I have not experimented much with the internal preamp though (as I use the IE4) so I cannot comment on it. But the gain effects (tube screamer etc) are excellent. The wah is also outstanding for a rackmount processor.

I have had it for 4 months. Bought it second hand. It has been turned on for a couple of hours all most everyday since I got it. Haul it around to practices and gigs in an SKB rack. No problems to report.

I contacted Lexicon about the absence of dry level control over the effects in the unit. Over the course of a month and a dozen or so emails, the customer support suggested that I did not know how the unit operated, that I did not have it set up right and that it must be broken as I should be able to add effects, even delay and reverb, without affecting the dry level volume as far as changes when switching effects in and out. Finally they admitted that yes, this is the correct operation of the unit and they will add it to there list of bugs and look into possibly correcting it with an update in the future, but I am not going to cross my fingers (it didn't sound to likely). Actually, after the customer service guy realized my point, he was quite nice about it.

I have heard through the grapevine that support for the MPX G2 and upgrades (bug fixes) are not the highest on the list of priorities at Lexicon (meaning, it will probably not get done). There are also a few other bugs that I have discovered dealing with the tuner not communicating to the footcontroller and the harmonizer effect when it is not set at 440 hz.

In my opinion, an excellent sounding effect unit with the potential to be the last word in guitar rack effects. However, because of the lack of a dry level control parameter within each effect, the box cannot live up to its capabilities and it is less than desirable to use it in stomp box mode as advertised, because you cannot match the effect levels with the bypass levels and when you switch individual effects in and out within a patch it causes volume changes. If an upgrade is not made to add dry level control to individual effects in the near future, sadly, mine will have to go up for sale.

I cannot understand the reasoning behind using a mix parameter (as opposed to separate wet and dry parameters) for individual effects in a chain that are designed to be switched in and out within a patch. If anyone has a good reason for this, please let me know. The MPX G2 would just be so much more intuitive and useable if this capability were available. I am surprised that nobody else has mentioned this.

This ain't no Boss pedal with 2 nobs, thats for sure. This is my 3rd effects unit. The first a simple Zoom pedal, 2nd a Digitech. All moving up in the difficulty of programming. The Lexicon G2 is as complicated as peeling potatoes, one can leave the skin on and cook, or make mashed. Every possible parameter of adjustment on an effect can be altered, including the order of FX. I wouldn't reccomend it to a first time multi FX user, since the manual was no help to me. But for an experianced user of multi FX units, this one tops them all.

I started playing guitar when I was 10, in the next 10 years i have mastered not only the guitar but every instrument i cna get my hands on. I use my G2's with every instrument I play on stage and in the studio. My G2 i use with my '94 40th Anneversary Strat I run through a Lexicon 282 Studio All Tube Amp, with the presence knob fully cranked. I use the XLR output on the amp to go into a Mackie mixer, that I use to fade in reverb FX from my Lexicon MPX 1. I also use my mixer for the other instruments I play on stage. From the mixer I go to 2 Mackie 2600 amps, which I use to power 4 Peavey Black Widow 15's and 4 Lexicon Cabinets with 2 10's each. I can get the Cleanest of sound with all the power I need to achieve awesome acts of distorted feedback. With all the parameters being able to be adjusted, I can achive any sound I want.

I would have to say that the G2 is the most reliable processor I have, that is why I use one for almost every instrument I play that I need FX on.

I've never had any problems with any of my G2's and i've never needed to ask questions. Everything about is so perfectly right.

I play nearly every kind of music, on stage and in the studio. The only other processor I use is a Peavey Tube Fex, for my steel guitar. The Tube Fex is the musician's standard FX unit for steel guitars. For all other guitars-(String instruments) , keyboards, harmonicas, Horns and Sax's, the G2 is the best processor a musician could ever want. It has 2 problems that I can see. 1. The clock speed for different wave speeds and styles can't be changed, therefore, effects like Auto-wah, or Techno styles are greatly limited. Although, Auto-wah can still be activated by volume or the expression pedal too, but the expression pedal is hard to use when standing on top of a bar, or while trapped in a mosh pit. The second problem is the price, $1700 has been worth every penny for me, but not everyone has that kind of money. The price to me reflects how good the unit is, and i wish everyone could afford it.

This is one of the most complex devices that I have ever used. I don't think that this is a bad thing however. This unit is not for everybody! You have the ability to control EVERTHING! The complexity of this unit is a selling feature. In the guitar player review the reviewer complained that it didn't have an easily adjustable master effects wet/dry mix. That is because every single stage has its own. I can only think of one effect that would vary for me from place to place and that would be reverb. One cool thing about the G2 is the ability to use the global reverb option, this overrides your individual reverb patches so you don't have to rewrite every single patch for different playing venues.

You can just plug and play using the pre programed settings but if you are going to do that buy something else, you will hate this unit. The patch editing has no limitations and the manual is intense.

I am using this with a Mesa Triaxis and a 50/50 through a mesa open back 1x12. I DO NOT use any of the gain settings on the G2. They all sound fake and thin and add a lot of noise. The effects are all great, they may not be as lush as their stompbox counterparts but in a live situation with a band they are easy to use, never run out of juice and can be routed in any configuration that I want. I have tremolo routed in three different configurations and control the tempo with a stop switch. It my not have the harmonic complexity of my supatrem but it sounds great live and I don't have to stoop down to match tempo with the song. This unit has amazing reverbs and delays. I agree with the other reviewers, if you start with bad tone don't look to this unit to bail you out. It is dead quiet when you leave the gain stages out. All in all I now look to incorporate different sounds with the songs we are playing because I know they won't suck my tone but rather just give a different feel to the music.

Way Cool!

Time will tell

Had a question that wasn't covered in the manual. Tech services returned my call promptly and answered it easily.

This device opens up the musical horizon for me and make playing FUN!
If it were stolen I would buy it again, but just to be safe I will keep the manual in a different location. That way if someone did steal it they would return it complaining that it was too hard to figure out. I still can't believe how much $ I have wrapped up in this rig....