Lexicon MPX G2

I found it easy to use.

Sound quality is fantastic when it works.

Bad! Well, I bought mine new in 2001 and it worked great for about 5 years, then all of the sudden it started rebooting on me. It would reboot over and over never getting through the start up sequence. Sent it in to Lexicon and they would not tell me what they did to it, just $150 for service. It worked for another two years and then started doing it again. So I just picked up a used one because mine wouldn't boot up. I used the used one twice and now it won't even power up, no front display at all when I turn it on. Since Lexicon no longer supports this product I guess after spending over $1000 I am just out of luck.

They don't support this product anymore. I won't buy another Lexicon product. Can't afford to take a risk that it will fail and they stop supporting it.

I play hard puchy ROCK!

Not easy to use for most people. But I love gear and manuals so for me it is actually very easy to use. If you think using this is hard, check your IQ or patience.

Sound quality is beautiful. I mainly bought the unit for the reverb and I love it. The only way to get better reverb is if you by a Lexicon PCM 91 but that will set you back 2k just for reverb! The effects are great. The models do a good job at modeling. A model will never sound as good as a real amp. But if you use this with a real amp you can get great results.

Had mine for years and never had a problem with it. Played hundreds of gigs and several tours with this. Rock solid.

Never needed support so I have no comment

If I lost this I would definatley buy another one. I am a professional musician with over 20 years experience. I have never seen a single rack unit with so many features.

Look, this is the best single guitar unit ever designed. This awesome flexibility means you are going to have to RTFM. If you do, you will be rewarded with the most amazing palette of sound effects for the guitar that have ever been squeezed into a single rack space. So, I gave it a five, because this unit is for guys who know what program parameters are and how to adjust them to get the desired result. Less than 50% of guitarists fall into this category.

It's a Lexicon. I've used Lexicon products in my guitar rigs since I bought my first PCM 41 in 1980. Their sound is legendary, and if you can't get a good sound out of this unit, you do not know how to match input and output levels to get the best possible signal to noise ratio.

I own two of these units (And, am currently looking for a third), and one had a resistor failure. It was the one I bought used in 2004 though, so I can't attest to how it was treated before I obtained it. My original unit, which I bought in 1999, is still going at 100% SEVEN years later. I'd say that was reliable. Especially since I gig with it 3-5 times per week. Look, I got rid of a MESA/Boogie TriAxis and a ten space rack and just use these in stand alone mode as my preamps and FX now, m-kay?

When they repaired my malfunctioning unit, they even sent me a LexiconPro t-shirt. Turn around time was about a week. Not bad for a "legacy" product. The rep that handled my claim was a super nice guy and followed through to make sure I was a happy camper.

Nothing will ever be a ten in my book. This unit is limited by it's memory: If you use processor-intensive effects, you'll run out of space quickly. This is a real and genuine problem for me, as I like to use small amounts of several effects to create subtle ambiance. Try combining a stereo phaser with a full featured comb filter and a smidge of pitch shift doubling, and you better not desire a multi-tapped delay, because there won't be enough room. But still, even several years after it has been discontinued, it's still the best guitar processor ever. Nothing else even comes close. I'm sure, by the way, that these units were discontinued because they were 1) Expensive, and 2) Fully featured. This means - inevitably - that a lot of instant gratification bozos are going to buy them and gripe about having to Read The Frickin' Manual.

This unit is very hard to use. I am a professional touring guitarist.
I have used many different units and have never came accross such a demand piece of equipment.
It is terrible to edit, the manual is a horrible monster.
I am a musician, I am not a tech.
This unit tries to be all things, that is impossible.
Lexicon what were you thinking.
I know I know we are all dumb :p

Sound quality is ok. I have a set of stomps which I use on stage which blow this thing away.
What makes me sad is the attempt and good distortion.
This unit thinks it can reproduce some of the great stomps of music.
No chance. I am very dissapointed in the Tube Screamer attempt.
Wow, bad bad bad.
The chrous and delays are ok, My Boss Super Chorus is way better, and much easier to manipulate, my LINE 6 delay modeler makes this thing look stupid, again trying to be all things never works.

Haven't had any problems.
BUT I WOULD NOT EVER EVER EVER TRUST IT AT A GIG !!!!!

n/a

I think for the money this unit is a terrible buy.
My band does over 70 show per year and i will tell you what, this unit is an absolute joke. It pretends to be a big boy toy, and really is a Tonka trunk.
Hey players, stomps and a TC Electronics G System is the ticket.
This Lexicon is really good in the music store, but for the stage no way, stay away, yuk, yuk ,yuk
BTW Lexicon what's with all the Hisssssss?

The interface:
Once get familar with it, it farely easy to get around.

The effect parameters:
You have to know what your doing. Take the time to read the manual. You'll gain a better understand of the effect parameters and how these parameters alter the effect. Once you understand what parameter(s) to adjust and how much, you can acheive excellent results.

My Setup:
Guitar -> MPXG2 send(or insert)-> JMP-1 (speaker sim output) -> returns into MPXG2 -> into onstage monitor system and split into FOH system.

Midi to the G2
^
|
Boss FS5L - MPXR1 - VPJR Ernie Ball (for expression pedal)


I mostly use VPJR Ernie Ball patched to the ExtVolPedal in EQ effect and place it post insert in the chain. This allows for spill into any effect post insert/preamp (ie, delay)

The Boss FS5L is patched to ExtVolPedal Level param 0 to +3dB for boost (solo function)

In most of my patches I use the JMP-1. On some patches I use the G2 preamp (mostly clean). Some of the reviews have mentioned noise problems with the preamp in the G2. Just back off the 'level' in any one of the Gain effects (Crunch, Preamp, etc...). You can recover the signal loss in your preamp/amp(if using the G2 with a stack or combo amp)
If your using it direct(as I am) simply turn up gain on your channel strip on your mixer. This should cure your noise problems.
Make sure your using cables that are not capacitively coupled. Quality cables (cables with quality solder joints)...Hosa makes a good cable.

The pre-insert wah effect is very close to a cry baby or vox pedal.. If you know what your adjusting you can get a cry baby wah effect...no problem. I have done A/B comparisons...the wah on the G2 comes very close to the real thing. You just need to take the time to adjust the parameters in the G2.

The noise gate on the G2 is excellent..good analog response/feel. I usually set the noise gate attack to 150 ms. This allows for a light strum swell when I want it.

All of the effects are excellent (except for the harmonizer). I think they could of done a better job with this effect.
The whammy effect lexicon programmed is pretty good...a few tweaks and you'll won't need to buy a digitech whammy.

The Gilmour patch comes real close to the TC2290. Again, I've done A/B comparisons...It's pretty close.

This where the G2 falls short. I've recently sent my G2 to Lexicon Pro in Utah for repair. Lexicon will be performing minor to moderate repair on the G2 for the next 4 years (this may be extended). After that...that's it. If your G2 has a board level problem...your out of luck. They don't make the boards anymore.
Repair (minor to moderate) is flat rate of $180. It includes diagnostics, repair and return shipping.

The R1 is pretty solid (for me so far). The only downfall I see in the R1 is the footswitches. The pad switches on R1 internal pc board wear out quickly. Do yourself a favor a buy a bunch from Lexicon. There only 37cents. You can also get them from DigiKey.
Either place will be selling these pad switches for a long time.

I gave this a rating of 5 because the G2 is now a legacy product from lexicon and I have experienced my 1st unit failure.

Customer Support has always been responsive and helpful to me. If you are looking at adding a footswitch to your R1...don't add a digitech(I think it's called the FS3). This is one Lexicon recommended. IT STINKS. Very noisy...not 100% functional with the switch circuitry on the R1. The Boss FS series footswitches work 100% of the time.

I really like the G2. It's really too bad they aren't making these any more or making a next generation G2 / R1 system. Something to take on the TC Electronics G-System.

not very
too many menues scattered all over the place.like mixing options that effect the sound with ones that don't...crazy amount of editing to get simple sounds...patching confusing and very easy to spend half of your life figuring out what sounds best.I could go on and on but it hurts...
for this kind of dough I feel like a true sucker.

I will admit the reverbs and time based stuff is really good but not much better than the cheapo digi stuff.
The pre-amp in this thing STINKS,YUCK.
If you're a pro you will be sadly disappointed with this sterile,unnatural uninspiring tone.
Once again,for this kind of cash it should have some cream but this thing is sour milk!
Too noisy for metal unless you're a fan of the chattery noise gate tone.Total dissapointment as a pro preamp...needs a tube or something...maybe my foot smashing it into oblivion,but too expensive for such indulgence.

NO NO NO
I'm on my second foot controller first one went up in smoke
If you play with the Jam-man too much the thing locks up and goes into rec mode foreverand only after considerable power ups and button juggling the thing resets.
Using this live would be suicide .full of bugs ceases up all the time .confuses itself with its own foot controller...NOT COOL...GARBAGE!
LEMON CITY...

with a unit this expensive they'll help you but who cares .I've had to call way too many times and flaws are flaws...THis thing is laden with bugs even if it were re-brained this bad taste will never go away.

I play many styles as well as my own stuff.playing 20yrs+.HAve a lot of other gear and have never been so burned by a purchase...WAY TOO PRICEY for what it does.
I just got rid of this thing and if I ever see another one I will
surely feel the bile rising in my throat...NEVER AGAIN.
Icould say more,but it hurts

Not easy to use, but that is the nature of what this incredible box delivers- a wide range of stomp box style and gain effects in front of your amp and full-on digital studio effects in the efx loop all under programmable control- how could that be simple to master?

The "front end" (gain, overdrive, fuzz, etc) effects are all very good. You might be able to get slighter "better" sounds from hand picking boutique pedals, but in the end it will cost more and not be programmable!

The "digital" studio type effects are the cream of the crop for guitar devices.

I have used it both with the matchined Lexicon 284 amp in stereo and a killer Zinky Blue Velvet in mono. Both with excellent results.

I also have the R1 foot controller which I consider indispensable, once you get over the learning curve it works great live (don't try to change patches for new sounds, program the buttons within the patch for the changes you need)

So far so good, would not necessarily think you need a backup.......

Excellent documentation, quick response to email

Excellent sounds, transparent bypass, more sonic power than most people could possibly use. I think the real challenge is harnessing this incredible beast. If you are highly technical you will feel at home and be humbled by the possibilities. If you want instant gratification, go buy something else. If you are dedicated to learning and using this, it may just be the best single guitar device ever created.

Wow, some really mixed reviews here, and I guess that says it all !! you can't please everyone all of the time.
I've had the MPX G2 and R1 for about 6 months now and I love it !!
The manual is huge, but only read the 'initial set-up' pages and then go back to it when you need to. Editing patches is a piece of cake, and I can even do mine on stage now.

Sound quality is exceptional.
I play a Ibanez JS1000BTB into a Mesa Boogie power amp, then slpit the signal, stereo out into two Marshall 2x12 cabs.
I also play a JS700 and a Gibson SG.
There are numerous variations on fuzz, overdrive, distortion, reverb, chorus, delay etc.. and if you can't tweek one of these to produce exactly the sound/tone you want.... then you really are playing the wrong instrument... go buy a nose-flute.
The reverbs are legendary, and all the other fx are very useable (although the pitchshifter is not great, but I never use that kind of sound anyway).
I'm a big Satriani fan, and have tweeked the 'Satch Patch' to get an almost identical sound to his!! (although I'm sure the JS1000 helps)
I play in a rock covers band, and have programmed the Lexicon to duplicate every sound I need (from Whitesnake - Foofighters - Velvet Revolver). I also play in an AC/DC Tribute band and I have programmed the Angus sound completely.
For people who say this unit is noisy, well they must have a problem elsewhere in their set-up. I've never had any noise problems and the noise gate functions work extremely well.

Never had any problems

Never had to use them

I've been playing for over 20 years and this is the best rig set-up I've had. A friend of mine was playing in a semi-pro band using the Lexicon and it completely blew me away when I heard him live. It was as if he had 10 different guiar/amp combinations throughout the 1 hour set, and all acheived from the MPX G2. Once you've learned how to use this unit, you'll never need to buy another.
For people who have no technical ability, it can get a bit confusing, and for people who want to just plug in and play.... go and buy some pedals. Live or in the Studio the MPX G2 is the best you'll get in this price bracket

The manual is great however this piece of equipment is for serious tone heads. If you are an amatuer/novice you may be better off with some of the line 6 stuff. It's easy enough to manipulate if you take time to read the manual

I read reviews before my purchase and was a little leary due to some bad reviews. I use this piece of equipment several ways and i always get great tones. THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT FOR A GREAT AMPLIFIER SO DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE! Even lexicon will tell you if you read up on this gear that it is not recommended to replace your amp but as an enhancement tool. Stop complaining about shitty tone and learn how to use this thing before you give it a bad rap. It sounds fantastic if you know what to do with it.

No problems so far.

Customer support at lexicon is great . Very eager to help.

I am a 20 year professional and play all types of music as well as use it for various studio applications. I primarily play les paul, fender and gretch depending on what i am doing and i use fender and marshall amps. This piece of equipment is a great asset to my music and i give it a definate A+, again it is not for beginners.

Easy to use, provided you have normal reading abilities. People not comfortable with programming VCRs, answering machines and the like may stick to pedals or crosswords.

The sound quality is incredible, way above all the other processors for that kind of price. Unless you buy separate high-priced specialized gear, there's no other all in one unit that will do what the G2 does with the same quality tone.

Apparently, many people below have problem obtaining correct levels or noise ratios. Particularly, several people said they couldnt obtain proper line level from the unit. Here's my advice for them : stick to acoustic guitar once and for all because you can't handle electrical gear properly. This unit can output +20 dBu without any problem. Of course, you have to actually turn knobs and match levels correctly for that, something many people apparently can't handle. So once again, you need to read the manual and have basic understanding of what input level is etc. It is not plug and play like pedals, but no much more complicated either (still too much for some people).

I never had a problem with mine.

Didn't need it but Lexicon is a serious company.

I'll recommend the thng to everyone loving the Lexicon reverb sound and needing other effects too. The low-pass filter is cool along with the integrated jamman. Great piece of gear, much better sounding than its direct competitor, the TC GForce. Can be had used for cheap, hence it's a fantastic value IMHO.

I work as a sound guy. So I should know how to handle this one. The manual doesn't tell you everything, especially the MIDI details. Overall, the G2 even in combination with a R1 is not user friendly at all. It takes so much time to dial in that you might forget what instrument your supposed to play. But I knew all that before I bought it.

I use mine before the Amp (Marshall 6100) and in the serial FX-Loop. The preamp is the shittiest I've ever heard! Even my Boss GX700 is better. Noisy, harsh, lifeless. Forget it! The preamp loop has one more disadvantage: the buffer amp. It definitly muddies up my tone at low frequencies and adds some harsh highend. I put the blame on my Wireless first. But without the wireless it was the same. Standard FX are ok, but the harmonizer sucks, esp. because it has only one voice. The wah sounds boring. The MIDI controlling is incredible slow. I exspected some whammy effects. Forget about it unless you wait 30 secs for the tone shift. The internal levelling sucks. Even if you put everything on +6 db it isn't louder than the dry level!

Never left me alone. Even generator powered. No probs so far

Never needed. Distributor in Germany is quite o.k. COntacted them once for the software update.

I really regret my decision to buy the G2 and sell my GX700 for it. I could have bought a new MAC for the difference. Gonna go out for a used GX700 again

it's good but not worth $1500, more like $400.anytime you buy a processor the presets are never good so you'll have to ajust them yourself witch is a on going task and by the time you master it it's time to sell it and get the newest gadget. i do like the sound over all i just wish some things were more clear cut like storing programs and tweaking tones can be quite touchy but there is no perfect world and we'll never be happy with gear

like it

don't know yet

I consider myself a pretty smart guy and I had the worst time dealing with this thing. I figured I could just plug and play.. NOT SO FAST!! After reading the novel of a manual they give you. I connected it to my rig.. 2 months later I got my sound dialed in. But god help you if you have to change things on the fly.. you are screwed. It is good for set it and forget it... as in never touch it again. I owned a digitech 2112 before this and that thing was as easy as a microwave. The only more un-user friendly then the Lexicon was my Eventide Harmonizer. Great units... but not fun to use!!

the sounds are great.. if you ever get that far. They factory presets have a lot to be desired. They didn't give you any creative sounds off the bat. I like delays/ reverbs and choruses.. most of the patches are single effect sounds with a little reverb added. But again, you can create your own if you get that far.

I only had the unit for a few months and it never left my studio. It seems to be built well.

I play mostly rock, jazz and blues. I am a huge Dream Theater and SRV fan so I like both tone and crunch. I play a bonger XTC 101A and i tried the unit in both the loop and before the amp.. it didn't sound what I was looking for. My Bogner is great and I just wanted something to add a little fx hear and there. Like I said, delay, reverb, chorus, phaser..just a touch here and there is all I ask!!
I sold the unit on ebay a few weeks ago and just bought a TC Electronics G Major. I am SO MUCH HAPPIER WITH THIS UNIT!! It compliments my Bogner to a tee.
FYI.. don't buy the Lexicon without playing it first for a few hrs. Take your time with the unit. Make sure it fits your style before you drop the coin. It is one hell of a unit if you have the patience.

I've owned it since 99'. This thing is woderfully deep but I found a flaw in the preset programming that I fixed after a few torturous days of re-programming.
It has to do with the R1 foot controller or any pedal assigned to the preset patches. The R1 controls the MIX (wet/dry) parameter by default on many of the programs. So, if you increased the reverb mix, your dry volume would decrease which made it impossible for me to use live as I need to dynamically change how much verb I use in a song.
I found that if I saved the preset to a user patch, I could change the pedal patch assignment from MIX (dry/wet)to reverb level only. This way, the dry volume would remain unaffected. I would also assign the A/B switch to jack up my post level 2 db for solos.
It works great this way.

This thing still sounds great! I'm not crazy about the preamp and the diatonic harmonizer is useless. I have a feeling that they changed the front end buffers on some units because I don't get a stiff sound like some of the reviews state. I would check the cabling. I have a monster cable that just doesn't sound good as an insert send cable. I use a cheapy that sounds good. I use a Strat+ with Joe Barden pups, a Reverend with stock and Barden pups, and a PRS. I plug in the front end and run the insert send into a Rivera TBR rackmount stereo tube head. Then I send out of the Rivera to the G2 in stereo.
I use a Boss TU-2 tuner( what else is there?)so I don't use the G2 tuner.

I've had a crash a few times while using the compare feature and the unit sometimes doesn't find or loses the insert status which means your preamp is bypassed. A reboot fixes that.
I have had small volume jumps before. It might be the amp, but I doubt it.

They were very fast with the software upgrade.

I play for a fairly popular singer/guitarist/songwriter with whom we have had the privilege to open for some great national acts. I had a Strat/Marshall/Univibe setup back in 1973(Jimi fan). I play jazz, blues, rock, acoustic, and classical and whatever comes to mind.
I've been playing for 35 years and I've always been very critical about my tone. I also use a Reverend Hellhound and a stomp setup for most shows because the Rivera can be a beast to lug around.
It was easier for me to purchase this unit in 1999. Things are tight but I would like to replace it if it got stolen or lost.
MY UNIT is transparent and sounds fantastic. I was fortunate to have had prior experience programming fx units so I was able to discover the aforementioned programming flaw on Lexicon's part.
The gentleman that I play for, loves it when I bring the Rivera/Lexicon though the Reverend setup sounds great too.
I've recently been taking out the Rivera/Lex/R1 and the stomp setup for a fun toe tapping time.

its easy to pan through the presets, thats about all i had time to do since i spent most of my short lived relationship with the unit trying to get it to stop fucking up my tone

the effects sound good enough, but the problem is that if you plug your guitar into the g2 and your preamp into the g2's "effects loop" as you are recommended to do to get the fuzz compression wah and envelope functions before the preamp, you have radically shittified your tone. And it is unavoidable. I tried everything. Too bad, because conceptually, this multi-effects processor is great - and one would think that someone would have noticed this lameness before it left the factory. Therefore the only effective way to use this product is after your preamp, as you would the mpx1 which is great, except then the g2 may as well not exist

not an issue although the buttons on the r1 suck - i opened it up to try to figure out why and its pretty obvious - inside the switch is a spring loaded plastic pin that pushes down indenting a soft rubbery pad on a flexible circuit board to make the connection - however, when the weight of your foot comes down on the r1, the whole thing flexes in response and the connection fails to occur. yet another r&d blunder

WHen i called they were relocating from Massachusetts to Utah and all the gear was en route and the staff was bitter and not about to help out, what could they do anyway?

its a really expensive unit and if you get one you will be disappointed, unless they've changed it lately - mine was made in 2001

The presets are bobbins, so you need to do a lot of tweaking. This however is a daunting task, so unless you are a 'Tech-Head' forget it!

Lexicon reverb is excellent - Full Stop. The rest of the effects in this unit suck Big Time! Noisy! Almost impossible to get rid of digital distortion and retain a decent line level!

I have tried the G2 in every mode, i.e effects loop, stand alone and amp input only. I have tried it with and without pre-amps, with 4x12s, 2x12s power amps, combo's etc. It still sucks!

Crap! I have had all sorts of problems with the G2 and the R1. This is the 4th unit I have had and this one is faulty also!

Long story! The UK distributors take forever to do anything and send it back exactly the same as it was when you returned it!

After 2 years of frustration, sending faulty units back and forth, losing all of the value in depreciation while I was actually left without anything to use - They gave me a demo unit for about a month, the 3rd time i sent mine back for repair! As you may imagine, I kicked up a fuss and asked for compensation. They offered me a cheap mic - Wow!

My advice is to spend your money on something that works and actually sounds like it's worth this sort of dosh!

Buying the G2 is the worst mistake I ever made. It has almost made me feel like giving up playing a guitar! You can't get any practical advice on using the thing, or find anyone with decent patches to share!

The unit requires some skill in tweaking the knob but when you've got a hold on it you'll get a sound you'll never forget.
The patches are easy to edit, but there are some hidden options you'll find back in the manual.
The manual tells you everything you want(and that's a lot !!!)

I'm playing on an Ibanez RG-series which goes directly into the lexicon.
The lexicon goes (stereo) into a Peavey 50/50 classic tubedriven poweramplifier.
Allthe noises come from a marshall 1969A cabinet (also stereo)
The unit becomesnoisy when you put a lot of gain in the pre-amp section.
This can be solved by using the great noise-gate.
All the effects on the unit are outstanding.
I've read a lot of negative comments of the pre-amp section but those guys are not capable of tweaking the knob right.
After reading the negative comments, I thought my sound would be better with another pre-amp.
So I tried peavey,marshall,rocktron,digitech,ada,and soldano, but none of these had better sounds than the pre-amp from the lexicon.
So all that talk about a bad pre-amp section is BULLSHIT !
They have a very bad setup or they can't turn the knobs the right way.
If you only put on the pre-amp with a little reverb you'll get a great sound.
Not like those plastic boxes who'll kick your guitarsound to the back.

Reliability is good but the only thing that has occurred was that a thing leg of the memory-battery broke and I lost all my programs.
I've put in a new one with a little bit of foam between the battery and the chassis and the problem was solved.
I've never used a backup, when it breaks, the gig is over.

Customer support is great.
All my programs can be dumped in my computer thanks to a dump-program Lexicon send me by e-mail.
All my other questions were answered correctly within two days.

I play mostly rock/metal covers with my current band and sideways I'm playing a lot of blues like rory gallagher and stevie ray vaughn.
Even with the Ibanez guitar I can get an amazing stevie ray sound.
I'm playing for about 16 years and this is the best setup I've ever had.
I don't know if I buy another one if stolen because there are some new products I've never tried.
If I don't find something better it's gonna be a mpx g2 again.
The thing I really like is that the unit is only one rackspace and the mpx R1 controller only needs one midi cable so everything is very small with only one wire on the floor two for the cabinet and one for the mains.
Very easy and quick to plug in and very reliable.
This thing is not compareable to floorpedals like zoom or digitech.
People who say they got a better sound out of a floorpedal must come over and hear the lexicon with the programs i'm using.
The only thing that is a minor point is the price.
Lexicon is great but the price is a bit too high, especially the controller.

it's easy to get started with it, but it gets trickier when you come to realize the endless possibilities that you have with this bad ass machine!!!

I used to use the G2 in my old live set up. It was in the fx loop of a mesa boogie triaxis, and I mostly play les pauls and a tom anderson.
First of all, I'd like to make clear that I hate everything that's supposed to emulate classic sounds (i.e. line 6 should be crucified). The lexicon has a couple of fx that are supposed to emulate different stomp boxes. They don't, nothing can emulate the real thing, but sometimes, if you stop thinking of your "orange phaser" as an mxr 90, it becomes a pretty cool phaser on its own!
Lately I've only used the G2 for home recording. I switched to a more basic stomp box oriented setup.
I record everything through the lexicon at home.
The preamp doesnt sound like a real amp, but it's still better than any of the pods and similar.
I've had it for 4 years, and at this point i can say that I'm able to get any sound i want.
I've used it to record some U2 songs for a U2 egroup, and nobody believes me when I say that I've only used a lexicon mpx g2 and I got this close to the Edge's sounds.
It's a great processor.

never had a problem in 4 years.

dont know....

The only thing that bothers me about this processor is the delay when you switch presets. You get these 20ms of silence between 2 sounds that are quite usetting coming out of a unit with such great features.....other than that, I think it's the ultimate processor!

Quite easy. Manual is nice to have, but you dont need. The "Soft Row" is a neat feature.

The effects in this unit are pretty decient, but the preamp is horrible. Use the effects, it is worth that much, but by pass its built in preamp. I was actually let down by this product's sound.

No reason why it should break.

Very responsive to any question you might have.

Id recommend this to a guitar player looking for something fun to play with, but not to perform with. If you want effects, get the lexicon's multieffects processor - it is the only thing you will use out of this unit, cause you will search for ages trying to get a good preamp sound out of it.

I don't have the r-1 controller yet, but w/ its addition, should be even easier, I like how it stays on the page you're editing, w/ you go to another, actually seems easy to me, but I come from a sound design background, so most interfaces become familiar fairly quick for me.

Using an Ibanez guitar,and a hafler hellraiser pre-amp, the fx are very high quality, except for the pitch-shifting, w/ for a unit in this price range is very disapointing..Some features I like that are not in the promo literature are: the delay feedback allows you to feed in the pitch shifter or flange chorus, whatever.....makes it interesting..Best feature that you don't see as often as you should; in addition to putting fx in any order, you can set up a parallel signal path, but it can go back to seriel, then back to parallel, very flexible, I was able to set it up so the guitar signal w/ go straight to the reverb,while branching off the pitch-shifter, and delay, so the original note is not pitch shifted, but 2 different delayed versions are, one, say an octave down, another a fifth down/ up whatever, the effect is like playing with 2 other guitars ,who stay in rhythm, and pitch, but syncopate, with your original note, absolutely trippy, and an enormous creative tool for improv, and composing...

so far, so good,and Mine was an old demo,

Mine came w/ older rom, I sent them an e-mail, they had the new rom in the mail, before I could give them the alternate address I wanted it sent to. How many times can you complain about a co. being too fast in their resonse!!!!(I'm not complaining)The installation went fine, and I'd never done anything like that before

with this,I do a kind of experimental solo guitar thing, but it could do most anything, By the way, the factory presets were not very useful for playing music with, but did provide insights into, 'some' of the programming power..For my own deranged purposes, I had the thing making whale sounds, sitar sounds, etc, almost immediately, the chorus section is very powerful, and this unit has internal real time modulation capabilities that many others don't, (notable exceptions, t.c. fireworx, eventide eclipse, but they cost more) Better pitch,shifter, and more delay lines are on my wish list, but as a central guitar" brain" for your system it is rivalled only by roland's discontinued gp100, I find this unit musically inspireing

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.

You basically get out of it what you put into it. Decent manual, but I
usually prefer just diving in.

If you read all of the other reviews, it becomes apparent that the
wildly varying opinions go beyond mere subjectivity. One also wonders why, if someone is so unhappy with this product, would they buy it
in the first place?

Here is the answer to these puzzles.

Between demos, loaners, replacements and swaps, I've had FIVE of these
things. Sound quality and function varied from one to the next and no
two were the same! The lesson here is that if you hear one that you like, TAKE THAT UNIT even if you end up with a floor model. If you
get one new in the box without carefully auditioning it, know that
you're in a crap shoot.

With all that out of the way, if you get a good one you'll really
like it. As with any "do-it-all" device there are some compromises
(the UniVibe effect comes to mind) but in all, the sounds are usable
and inspiring. Though the apparent lack of quality control is out of
character for Lexicon, the spatial effects(reverb and delay) are not.
They are detailed and three dimensional.

Don't know yet but my fingers are crossed.

Called them on one of the units that was totally unusable right out of
the box. After the usual questions which start with "have you hooked it up right?" the tech guy said, and I quote, "that thing is fried, take it back where you got it." Several loaners and replacements later(Lexicon actually refurbished and returned the totally defective unit and the thing was as whacked-out as when they got it!!!) I ended up with a "good one" and am enjoying it thoroughly. This is all so
confusing that I can't begin to rate this category.

Very cool if you can endure the inconsistencies and find one that
works for you.

Hardly any useable presets (like most effects units, the presets are smothered in every effect possible), but finding a decent starting sound is fairly easy if you study the manual, which is excellent and VERY necessary to unlock all the deep features of the device. There are some quirks in the interface and some things could have been organized better, but overall it's not so difficult to use if you understand what processors are all about. I wish the insert loop was a true effects loop, instead of a preamp-insert only, but I have some esoteric uses for the thing, so I can't complain. The tuner has trouble tracking lower frequencies (hard to use for tuning bass).

My setup is simple: Chapman Stick > MPX 100 > direct into mixer (sometimes into power amp of SWR WM12) with a Gibson Echoplex in the insert loop. This thing sounds incredible. I used to play through a Boss GT5, which had great distortions and wild effects, but really degraded the clean, natural tone of my instrument (a buffering issue, I'm told). The Lexicon is super clean, even with the input gain all the way up. The tone is rich and detailed. Effects quality is beautiful, subtle and clean. Reverbs, delays are awesome, and I never liked playing with chorus effects until I heard the Detune in this device. Some people have complained about the distortions, but I have found several great (and noisy at high gain, but what do you expect?) distortions here, some subtle, some huge. No all-out fuzz like I could get with the GT5, though. Compression works great to overdrive the gain section. Tweaking the EQ in the distortion patches seems to be the key. But I'm mainly a clean player, and the clean tone of my Stick (even, or especially, the bass register) really shines here. Bass frequencies just sound incredible. Also sounds wonderful with my acoustic guitar, using a B-Band pickup system. The speaker simulators are the best I've ever heard- all of them are very good and this is very important since I'm going direct most of the time. If I use a lot of distortion or crank the output gain ALL the way, I get some background noise. So I try not to do that.

I've had this unit for 6 months, racked, and I drag it to practice 2-3 times a week, and have even gigged with it outdoors, in less-than-ideal weather conditions. I wouldn't recommend this, and I try to take good care of my gear, but it has held up fine; never had a problem with it. The foot controller is great (with superb functionality), but the switches click loudly when stepped on. Also I find the toe-controller under the footpedal to be a great idea, but not built so well- I always feel like I'm pushing my toe through the floor to click that switch. This has me a bit worried, long-term. Score is lowered due to this foot issue only. Both rack unit and foot controller are very solidly built.

Never dealt with Lexicon.

Style: post-rock, "ambient" (I hate that term), noisescapes, jazz-prog. You know, I hate all these terms. Anyway, I play a lot of basslines, rhythmic arpeggios, and various delay-and-volume swell-based sounds, and do some loop-based compositions. Unit is awesome for everything I do. With the Jam-Man effect and my Echoplex, I can have two loops at once; I just wish there was more flexibility in the EXTERNAL signal routing (internal is unbelievably flexible), but I guess a built-in Aux bus would be a bit over-the-top, as few but myself would really need it. What else? XLR outs, headphone jack, phantom power for MIDI controller, etc.

A lot of people say this unit is hard to use but I think it is the easiest effects processor to use out there.

I use a Lexicon mpx 500 and the Mpx g2 with a Alesis compressor.The g2 is very quiet. I use it mainly for distortion the digital effect are some of the best in the world right now. If you want a modren sound the g2 is the way to go. the only bad thing is the factory patches they suck bad.

In side of the g2 it is a fairly simple system setup. Therefore you can depend on it. The unit does not get hot at all so in a stage setup efficiency and dependability are key words to keep in mind.

I have not had to deal with the company yet.

I play metal music and complex clean sounds. I have been playing for 4 years. I love the lexicon g2 it is the best thing I have in life. It is well worth the money. But I hope that a software up-grade will soon be made so that the factory patches will be better and more useful.

First things first. The factory settings are limited-use at best, over-processed and unusable at worst. My recomendation: start with a clean slate and build sounds from the ground up.

Editing is easy once you get the hang of it. I LOVE to tweak effects and sounds though, so for the technically inept among us, stick to the three knob boss effects. Once you figure out how to speak it's language though, it's very easy to deal with.

The manual is very good. It walks you through a great deal of what you need to know. However, I think it is aimed at the more technically savvy user. There are some things that are clearly omitted to save space however. For instance, I can't figure out how to get the Jam man to sample say exactly 8 bars of 4. I think that it could have gone into much further detail on the individual effects parameters and what they do, but these are things that your ears could probably tell you better than some tech writer from Lexicon.

PRS-like guitars custom made by ME, and one PRS Custom 24 ==> Lexicon ==(insert send)> (input)Carvin Quad X Amp =(master EFX send)> (insert rtn)Lexicon =(master out L+R)> Carvin Quad X Amp(master EFX return) =(stereo out L+R)> Mesa/Boogie 50/50 => two ADA split stack 2x12's

On this unit, high gain = high noise. The gate is very sensitive and useful however and can offset this. It is globably defeatable for studio use.

The Effects are godly. Compression is perfectly tunable, wah sounds better than a lot of the analog ones that I'm used to, way too much to list here, but the best is the Verbs and Delays. Absolutely 3 dementional and lush. Not just cavernous, but truly give you a sense of space.
It should be mentioned that I really HATE the preamp section in this. It misses all of those beautiful in-between colors that a good tube preamp can give you. In the gain stage, I either just use some tonal coloration, or the Tube Screamer sound. Not quite TS-9, but close enough.

Why in the world would I want to sound like another artist? I suppose you could. I think sound is more about technique. BB king would sound like BB King through an Ibanez Jem and a peavey side-kick....nuff said.

BTW, the 8 is for how much the Pre-amp and pitch shift suck.

dependable. I've dropped it 4 feet in my rack with no adverse effects. Gets kind of warm. I gig several times a week with it in my rack. It's the most durable thing in there.

spoke with them once. Very helpful. It helps to fully explore any problems before getting them on the phone. The more you can tell them, the better equiped they are to help you.

I play lead guitar in a groove rock band. I am the only lead instrument, so I need a lot of different tones to keep it interesting in a 2-3 hour set. The G2 is a huge improvement over the 2 acre pedalboard I was using prior. Lots of sounds, less real estate.

I've been playing for 15 years. Own lots of gear, but see above for my gig-rig.

I really like the flexibility of this unit. I love the control I have over every little detail of the sound. There are certain effects that I find completely useless however (the 'preamp' and the pitch shift.) I'm finding a place for most everything else though. I love being able to change a number of parameters at once. (chorus rates and delay decay with a foot controller for instance) Tap delays from the G2 are my new best friend.

If it were stolen, I would bring my pedalboard out of retirement until I could purchase another one.

I think I played just about every effects rack that I could get my hands on (I sat in a few different guitar centers for hours at a time) and this was my favorite. There are some things that do certain sounds better, etc... but nothing had that verb and delay. Also, nobody else let you tweak as many parameters as the Lexicon did.

I wish there was some way to link it to my PC just for editing. I hate having to look at that little tiny screen. It would be great to be able to set my laptop up to it and move a few sliders (a la 960L) to get exactly the sounds I want.

This piece of electronics, more than anything else I've ever bought (with the exception of guitars) inspires me to play and innovate. When you build a sound from the tools that the G2 provides, the results can really take you to another level.

Don't even bother getting this if you can't invest time into tweaking it to perfection. If you're the type who scrolls through factory presets and expects great tone, this isn't for you. If you're the plug it and crank it type, don't even bother. If you have the patience and a taste for adjusting nuances, then this unit is for you.
Oh yeah... if you're going to put this in your rack, get a tube preamp like a TriAxis or Quad x amp or something.

Some cool sounding presets. Pretty simple to copy presets and tweak and save to a user....but, to create one from scratch will take some time and effort. This product is not easy to configure. I have been using the G2 for 4 months and can't seem to find POD comparable user groups on sharing usersets, tips, etc. All support comes from the manual (absolutely necessary) and email support.

I use this with Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo along with a Fender Midi Switcher so I can use the Boogies 3 channels along with the G2 (simply, all tube is the way to go!). The G2 does not steal the Boogie tone! The reverbs, delays, chorus - basically are professional quality and DO NOT get any better. Whats cool about the G2 also is that you can use it on any instrument or voice. And, can be used on dry pre-recorded tracks - very flexible. All the effects have very advanced tweaking for example: the octavater can have 2 other notes - my favorite is orginal note, then another note 2 octaves down and another 1 octave higher - sounds fricken monstrous! and you can use the pedal to fade in the effect! The pre-amp distortion is really flexible and can get some heavy metal sounds but usually need to pull back on the post distortion bass (cool cuz you have pre and post distortion eq'ing) I actually use some through the Boogie Clean channel to get scooped analog Pantera type heavy distortion - however, a double coil is needed. I play live 2 or 3 weekends a month with 2 types of bands - progressive metal (Vai freak!) and a dance funk band. Between my 70's strat and my Ibanez RG 7620 7 string the G2 allows me covers all those easliy. The wahs aren't the best, maybe a 6.5 out of ten - I prefer the Bad Horsie switchless-but are good for live. Just have to deal with one pedal board and one cord! I like the idea of the toe switch cuz it allows switching between volume pedal to way easy - and can even swith some effects with the toeswitch. The gates aren't the best but good and very effective (8 outta 10) and between the digital gate and analog gate it just plain works! Oh yea, smart harmonizer for all modes and keys - very fast tracking-totally usable. I could go on and on....

The first unit I got the delay and reverb were really noisy and loud - got another one and not one problem. If you get a good one you should be good to go for years to come. I've had my G2 for 4 months and I use it everyday. I transport it to practice and gigs 2 or 3 times a week. Not any problems. The pedal board is all metal and the buttons seem rugged. A friend has a Line6 pedal board and sometimes those buttons just don't seem to work. This replaces my old pedal board with volume, wah pedals, delays, amp switcher, compressor, etc. I would have to go to that if the G2 took a dump - but, don't see that happening. In all these reviews not one talks about the G2 taking a dump live - once you get a good one that is. I give it a 8 cuz the first one I got was broke.

I use email support for all my questions. They have always been happy to help with my questions no matter how stupid as they realize this is not the most easy unit to master. Lexicon is world famous and its products are used by hollywood and professional producers - they are not going anywhere.

I have been playing for 15 years influenced by yngwie and vai. I am total tone freak. I love the fact of having just one rack and one cord to one pedal board. Only thing I disliked is it took me about 3 months to get everthing tweaked between eq'ing, volume settings between presets, etc. But now have it dialed in and its fricken smooth and effortless. People have complained about the delay between presets - I, however find it acceptable and not noticeable playing with a live band. Basically, there is about a 100ms delay loading presets but this can be minimized by setting some global parameters and allowing the original signal to pass through (and not noticeable when using an amp). Also, that is not its intended design. A single preset can be used for a whole song by switching individual effects plus there is an A/B switch for each preset. Example: there is a Metallica preset that has heavy crunch distortion, little reverb, little delay and wah then press the A/B to get a clean sound with compression, heavy reverb, and heavy chorus - happening instantly since its in the same preset. I use it that way and also change between presets in songs - no one notices. Needless to say - The R1 foot controller makes all this happen very easily.

I checked out the reviews here and on some other products and:
Eventide: not really a preamp with distortions, wahs and stuff. Kinda pricey but killer over-the-top crazy effects. Basically, the best effects processor out there but, costly and extra gear needed.
Digitech DP2101: has built in 2 - 12AX7 tubes but I've read reviews comparing it with the G2 and the G2 actually sounded as good if not better. Plus, the 2101 doesn't have the routing ability if you wanted to use it with a multichannel amp head.
Line 6 POD 2, Spider - You know I like that stuff but the distortions just can't get the feel, tone, focus of my Boogie High Gain channel. I mean it gets close - I've played them, but there is that presence and infinitely sensitive touch felt through the fingers of tubes - especially clean. The other guitarist in the my band uses a POD and it sounds good. But side to side with my setup - he just shakes his head.
TC Electronics - nice too, but it doesn't do half the things the lexicon does.

Its expensive but considering all that it does - its a great deal. There is no perfect do-it-all, all-in-one rack mount. But this is as close as it gets. Only upgrade to my rig would be to the Boogie Triaxis with a 2:90 or wait for the new Boogie Road King 4 channel combo amp. Shred on!

We`ll i orderd the Lexicon mpx g2 package with the floorboard from musicians friend about a week ago and to my luck it came today right after i smoked a
BIG!!! fatty....I went down to my studio and hooked everything up and started her up and messed around with it and right away i said holy shit...this thing does everything just how to make it do everything is the hard part... i could tell right off the bat this thing is gonna take alot of time to get used to(and a buzzkiller due to fustration) me and my bass player sat there for hours pushing buttons and laughing at the blinking lights..that got old so we whiped out the (phone book) manual and it all started to come together one thing after another..without the manual i would have never figured out some of the great things this thing can do.....read the manual

The sound is great, everything seems to be crisp and clear no hiss just great sound...everyone whining about the hiss and other noises are stupid...
good good good sound........

for the $$$$ this baby cost it better out live all my pets.........the unit it self will be as reliable as you treat it..its high quality this babys tuff...
the floorboard is heavy enough to knock some drunk fool out cold...that also means tuff...

i hope i never have to call them.....

i will write in another review in a couple of weeks when i get this thing down to a science.....
it will be a project and a half but i know the out come will be great............i love you lexicon

The lexicon g2 is the best and easyist unit to use for any tpye of music. It does require you to read the manual. as for all fx unit you should read about all the features of your units.

I use this with a Mpx 500 and a Alesis 3630 compressor. the unit is very quiet. the effect are very strong. I use a alesis power amp and crate monitors. I can easily simulate any sound from any artists.
The distortions are not very good but the per-amp sound very good so I use that for distortion.

You can depend on this unit
You could use this for any setup of any kind it all depends on your tastes in music

? dont know never called

The lexicon g2 is good for any type of music. I don't recommend using this with a amp.

THIS UNIT IS VERY EASY TO USE COMAPIRED TO OTHER UNITS ON THE SAME LEVEL. GETING A GOOD SOUND IS VERY EASY ONCE YOU READ THE MANUAL

I USE THIS WITH A LEXICON MPX 500 AND A ALESIS 3630 COMPRESSOR. IT SOUNDS VERY GOOD. THE PREAMP DISTORTION IS THE BEST I HAVE EVER HEARD. THEN IS UNIT HAS DISTORTION SUCH AS ,TONE,SCREAMER,CRUNCH AND DISTORTION THESE EFFECTS DONT SOUND THAT GOOD. I ONLY USE THE PREAMP BECAUSE I USE IT AS A STAND ALONE FX PROCESSOR.

YOU CAN DEPEND ON THIS UNIT. IT IS CONSTRUCTED OF THE BEST MATERIALS

I HAVE NEVER CALL SUPPORT.

I PLAY METAL, MOSTLY THINGS SUCH AS EMPEROR AND OTHER BANDS LIKE THAT
IF THE G2 WAS STOLEN I WOULD BE PISSED THIS UNIT IS VERY EXPENSIVE.
OVERALL THE LEXICON G2 IS THE BEST UNIT IN THE WOURLD EXCEPT MAYBE FOR THE EVENTIDE GTR4000. THE UNIT IS VERY GOOD I WILL ALWAYS BUY LEXICON UNITS BECAUSE THEY ARE THE BEST. THE LEXICON G2 SOUNDS BETTER THAN ANY TUBE FX PROCESSOR. THE G2 IS DIGITAL AND SOLID STATE.

Writing reviews is not something that I care to do but this product has driven me to this keyboard. It has be 1 1/2 years of frustration that culminated in this review. Today I turned on my system to find that many of my programs don't work as they did yesterday. The manual is poorly organized and in most cases useless. For example: when copying the wah-wah patch to the "lead" program that I use the G2 doesnot copy the toe switch patch. This most be added later. But where in the manual (in language i can understand) is it??? I had to make 4 phone calls during east coast business hours(Texas to Mass) to get the answer from a very helpful guy named Jim. Today, Saturday, the wah-wah inexplicably comes on every time I switch to that program. That's not how it was the last time I switched it on. Who do I call today??? Nobody!!!!! The rhythm program that I use is inacessible. Why??? That's not how it was the last time I switched it on. Who do call today??? Nobody!!! If I had a gig tonight I'd be going without any effects.
In the manual there is an assumption that you know how to run this unit. The entire pathway for setting up programs and patches is not given, let alone in a language that I (not an electrical engineer) can understand. The people at Lexicon could care less. I'm not saying that they won't help you. But, they won't listen to criticism and then do something about it. If you have ANY reservations about using a very difficult and complex piece of equipment, STAY AWAY.
I bought this unit to simplify my rig. One unit vs a pedalboard. I guess it failed. I've had a for-sale ad in the local paper for two weeks and not a single call. I'd take 1/4 of what I paid for it. I guess the word's out. I sold a Rocktron Replifex to get this. Big Mistake!!!!!

I use it with PRS guitars and a Mesa/Boogie Mk IV amp. The sound quality is stunning. The overdrive and distortion are processed sounding but I have a Boogie for that. Everything else is not to be believed. Absolutely super!! Even the Wah-wah is great. The pedal feel is nicer than the Dunlops I've had.
Here is the realization of digital technology. Analog devices don't compare to this unit. There is no added noise. No clicks thumps or buzzes.

Physically it's indistructible. But, after the irratic behavior I'd have little faith in it.

Jim is very helpful. In fact I called them from home and left a message and they hunted me down at my office to return the call. Unfortunately I'm usually with patients and can't spend a lot of time inthe phone. As I mentioned before they don't 'want' to help. If you don't know what I'm expecting for $1200 just buy a shirt at Nordstrom and you'll quickly get the idea.

I've been playing for 25 years and have had lots of equipment. I play mostly jazz and funk. I thought this would be a solution. Instead it has created more problems than it solved. And it's very, very expensive. You would think that this kind of money would buy some ease of use, but not so. That can't happen until Lexicon reads some of these reviews and respond to the complaints by addressing the problems. They are in denial. They feel that the problems are with the customer. It will be a very,very long time before I consider buying another Lexicon product. Now, who has the problem??
The sounds are great but you must spend hours and hours to get them. That's an impediment to creating music. I don't mind some investment but this has been more than I'd care to make. As I said, I'd love to have my Replifex back. If I could sell this I'd buy something else.

Writing reviews is not something that I care to do but this product has driven me to this keyboard. It has be 1 1/2 years of frustration that culminated in this review. Today I turned on my system to find that many of my programs don't work as they did yesterday. The manual is poorly organized and in most cases useless. For example: when copying the wah-wah patch to the "lead" program that I use the G2 doesnot copy the toe switch patch. This most be added later. But where in the manual (in language i can understand) is it??? I had to make 4 phone calls during east coast business hours(Texas to Mass) to get the answer from a very helpful guy named Jim. Today, Saturday, the wah-wah inexplicably comes on every time I switch to that program. That's not how it was the last time I switched it on. Who do I call today??? Nobody!!!!! The rhythm program that I use is inacessible. Why??? That's not how it was the last time I switched it on. Who do call today??? Nobody!!! If I had a gig tonight I'd be going without any effects.
In the manual there is an assumption that you know how to run this unit. The entire pathway for setting up programs and patches is not given, let alone in a language that I (not an electrical engineer) can understand. The people at Lexicon could care less. I'm not saying that they won't help you. But, they won't listen to criticism and then do something about it. If you have ANY reservations about using a very difficult and complex piece of equipment, STAY AWAY.
I bought this unit to simplify my rig. One unit vs a pedalboard. I guess it failed. I've had a for-sale ad in the local paper for two weeks and not a single call. I'd take 1/4 of what I paid for it. I guess the word's out. I sold a Rocktron Replifex to get this. Big Mistake!!!!!

I use it with PRS guitars and a Mesa/Boogie Mk IV amp. The sound quality is stunning. The overdrive and distortion are processed sounding but I have a Boogie for that. Everything else is not to be believed. Absolutely super!! Even the Wah-wah is great. The pedal feel is nicer than the Dunlops I've had.
Here is the realization of digital technology. Analog devices don't compare to this unit. There is no added noise. No clicks thumps or buzzes.

Physically it's indistructible. But, after the irratic behavior I'd have little faith in it.

Jim is very helpful. In fact I called them from home and left a message and they hunted me down at my office to return the call. Unfortunately I'm usually with patients and can't spend a lot of time inthe phone. As I mentioned before they don't 'want' to help. If you don't know what I'm expecting for $1200 just buy a shirt at Nordstrom and you'll quickly get the idea.

I've been playing for 25 years and have had lots of equipment. I play mostly jazz and funk. I thought this would be a solution. Instead it has created more problems than it solved. And it's very, very expensive. You would think that this kind of money would buy some ease of use, but not so. That can't happen until Lexicon reads some of these reviews and respond to the complaints by addressing the problems. They are in denial. They feel that the problems are with the customer. It will be a very,very long time before I consider buying another Lexicon product. Now, who has the problem??
The sounds are great but you must spend hours and hours to get them. That's an impediment to creating music. I don't mind some investment but this has been more than I'd care to make. As I said, I'd love to have my Replifex back. If I could sell this I'd buy something else.

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....

Learning curves are of all different shapes, and this one is a sharp, steep angle. I have to say in all honesty that once you get over the top of the curve, you not only feel great, but you think, hey, this is how it should be. It's tough to explain, but if you've owned lots of digital musical gear like me, they all follow a certain type of logic, which is usually wholly illogical. Programming the G2 is logical, which is why its almost impossible at first. But then you get it, and it's rewarding.

However, some other negatives come into this section, which is really what drags down my rating here. I'm not submitting a separate review on the (completely necessary) MPX-R1, so I have to add here that its scheme for doing amp switching was annoying and tough. I'm sure it works great on some amps, but for my Tech21 T60 and/or my Fender Blues Deluxe, not so much. There was no way to change the functions of the two relay switches, even though the manual led you to believe you could.

Finally, as everyone below correctly surmises, this thing is a tweakers dream. It is an awesome concept to be able to route any effect or parameter to and from anywhere else, to control the mix level of every portion of the signal chain, etc. And mind you, I'm a gearhead for sure, but I have to say the unthinkable: for a piece of gear to potentially be used live, this thing is just plain over-engineered. After every rehearsal and gig, it was back to the knobs and buttons to refine and tweak more and more, and it just got to be too much. I would have kept it though, but I didn't, as you'll see below.

My setup with the G2 was basically just my Fender Am. Dlx Strat and/or a Godin LXG-SA into the G2 and a TC SCF stereo into the Tech21 and Fender, using the preamp of the Tech21 for lead sounds. The ability to separate the pre-amp and loop portions is just genius.

I'm not going to get into comparing the models of the certain specified effects to the real deal, because obviously someone who has used both can tell the difference. I could. But, that doesn't mean they don't sound absolutely great. They do. The review below me nails it down: the genius of this piece is that is TOTALLY TRANSPARENT. The sound of your (hopefully great) guitars and amps shine through. I can't say enough about how good everything sounded-- the wahs, delays, verbs, rotovibes, compressors, etc. were all amazing.

Well, what comes after a 5 on ease, and a 10 on sound?

A 1 on Reliability. My first R1 arrived and had a bad switch on two functions, so that when you stepped on the switch, it turned that effect on and off like 4 times quickly, usually ending up the opposite state of what you wanted--kind of a drag. I called Lexicon, they said to return it. AMS was cool--they shipped a new R1 immediately, in time for my next weekend of gigs. Guess what? This R1 was bad too. The screw that adjusted the tension of the pedal did nothing, and the pedal just flopped around. Another call to Lexicon, and this time I returned the whole package, thinking I'd be better off with a local dealer than AMS for this particularly high-end item (I usually have great luck with AMS). So I got a third set. And guess what? Three switches on the R1 were broken.

The whole thing here, folks, is that I have a lucrative day job, and gig frequently every month, BUT $1800 IS A LOT OF MONEY TO HAVE SOMETHING THAT UNRELIABLE UNDER MY FEET, NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT SOUNDS? I mean, you can't really gig with a backup here, you know?

Two more things I add to this catagory. Because of the inflexible relay switches, it was all too easy to be going for the only switch that would do the lead channel of my amp and accidentally hit another switch instead.

Finally, including a toe switch on the pedal seems like more genius, but in performance it was far too easy to switch it off when sweeping the pedal (i.e., with Wah) to the top. Again, not good in live performance.

And from a 1, we go back to 10. Lexicon responded to every question and request promptly, courteously, and always with the result I needed. I thank them for that.

My band plays R&B and Rock. Jimi, Bonnie, Stevie Ray, Bill Withers, Hiram Bullock, many others. The G2 & R1 combo seemed a perfect match on paper, but just wasn't in the end. I've been playing 23 years, 18 of those professionally. In the end I went back to individual pedals after years of inferior multi-effect units. My signal is now Vox Wah - Boss Octave - Ibanez TS9 - Tech21 pre-amp. Then, in the fx loop: TC SCF - Line6 DL4 - Alesis Nanoverb - Tech21 return and Fender (stereo). I couldn't be happier with my sound. I had to build a pedal board and hard-wire it to avoid the hassles of constantly setting it all up, but since then, the sound is everything I ever wanted.

Note above that the price paid includes the R1. Yes, I miss that incredible sound, but now I have 98% of that sound for less than half of that cost -- and it has yet to break down. No regrets.

Well this unit is not cheap but if you're looking at getting it you're probably aware of this and at a level of playing where you don't mind droping some bucks on your equipment in order to achieve good tone. As this is a high end item it has a LOT of features and in-depth programmin ability, this means that it's not as easy to use as a lot of other equipment out there. You need to be a tweaker to enjoy the full power of this unit.

Very transparent, your guitar tone comes straight through so make sure you have good tone to start with (as it should be!) the effects are blended in well and sound good through the over all mix. Everything is really top quality. The pre-amp/distortion sounds are in there but this requires a LOT of tweaking - much more than anything else in the unit. Very hard to get a great sound and you'll probably never get a metal type distortion but Zeppelin or Hendrix...yea it's in there SOMWHERE. The thing is this unit needs to be set up very different depending on your set up. I am using two different strat plus model guitars one with the EMG David Gilmour pro series pick-up config and the other is the same thing except I put the EMG 89 humbucker in the bridge (these are great see EMG's site for more info)
I go to the Lexicon then to a Mesa 50/50 power amp out to a Mesa 2X12 Recto Cab (vintage 30 celestion speakers) I play somewhere between David Gilmour of Pink Floyd Fame and Page of Zeppelin. For me, almost every patch I have, I need to turn the bass on the lexicon down to zero OR LESS. Took me a while to figure out why my pateches were so boomy (sounded horrible) I was worried that I had just spent a lot of money on crap but then the tweaker in me came to the rescue and after a few weeks of tweaking I have some <REALLY GOOD SOUNDS> Overall, top notch but will ned to TWEAK A LOT depending on set up and tone desired. Patches it came with were not usable for anything through my set up. My current patches have NAILED some Hendrix/Page/Floyd sounds and the way the unit works with the R1 controller is fantastic for live use- this controller is really powerful!

Made very well, I've owned a lot of units, my last was a Boss GX-700 and the Lexicon is made much better of course. It's still an electronic item so you don't want to play football with it but put it in a good rack and no worries.

Alright... There are other companies that have patch exchange forums on their site and I would LOVE to see that. I have e-mailed and suggested this but I don't think it's going to happen. They always respond to e-mail though so that's pretty good.

I would say that having the control unit is a must (R1) this is a big statement considering the controll unit is pretty expensive in it's-self. IF you have the control unit and IF you are a TWEAKER then in live or recording situations this unit is a solid 9. if you're not a tweaker don't even bother. If you don't have the controller then it's still fine for studio use. Good equipment but you pay for it too.

not for the midi impared

Actually sounds good . Great delays, chorus, echo, Distortions are good if you tweak them.

fragile

Got a call in now. has a FAQ site that gives good pointers.

Nice attempt at a tube screamer. you have to tweak it but it can be done. I have an original TS and it comes close enough to give it a second listening to tell the difference.Great delays, chorus, tap echo
etc. This unit is a good live performance unit. Dual inserts for analog befor amp effect and effects loop inserts. the midi foot controller is a must to realy use this unit. the manual is probably the worst writen night mare for the midi impared but you can figure out the nessesities. nice to have a users web site with tweaked settings. come on guys lets help each other out here.

not for the midi impared

Actually sounds good . Great delays, chorus, echo, Distortions are good if you tweak them.

fragile

Got a call in now. has a FAQ site that gives good pointers.

Nice attempt at a tube screamer. you have to tweak it but it can be done. I have an original TS and it comes close enough to give it a second listening to tell the difference.Great delays, chorus, tap echo
etc. This unit is a good live performance unit. Dual inserts for analog befor amp effect and effects loop inserts. the midi foot controller is a must to realy use this unit. the manual is probably the worst writen night mare for the midi impared but you can figure out the nessesities. nice to have a users web site with tweaked settings. come on guys lets help each other out here.

I have to admit, when I first started editing patches for this unit, I was blown away. There is a lot to tweak and play with, and working through the manual was kind of tedious. The best thing to do with it is to just start editing the factory presets until you get used to the controls, then start building your own from scratch.
As far as an all-in-one unit goes, the g2 is intelligently laid out. I use it primarily for live sounds, and I feel like I can tweak on the spot if I need to on stage. The soft row function is great. It gives you easy access to settings that you tend to change a lot.
This unit is clearly geared towards tweakers. If you're the type who uses factory presets, you should get something else. In the end, I spent about a week building presets to use in my band.

I play a PRS Mcarty with duncan JB and Jazz. I run this into the g2, out to a boogie triaxis, back to the g2, back to the triaxis and then to a boogie 50/50 stereo amp. Usually I have 2 2x12's, but for smaller gigs, I have another 2x12 wired for stereo.
The G2 has a very noisy pre-amp section. Especially when higher gain is pushed in the vertual pre-amp section. To be honest, I HATE the gain section on this thing. It could have been designed far better. There are very few things that it is really usable for. The only time that I really use it is when I want to get a SUPER saturated sound. The tube screamer sound is a let down. Trying to get tube-warmth out of this thing is impossible.
That being said, there are LOTS of really good sounds that this unit can make. The reverbs and delays are the best I've ever heard for a unit designed for guitarists. THE REVERB IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THE UNIT ALONE. Wah sounds are good (with no tone suck!) univibe sound is right on. Chorus is super lush, but tends to kill the volume significantly.
Some sounds are a little cold and digital by themselves. Namely detune/harmonizing.

I DON'T RECCOMEND THIS AS A STAND ALONE UNIT!!!!!
If you don't have tons of warmth coming from your guitar and amp, don't bother with this. This unit is transparent. If you start with bad tone, you'll end with it.

I depend on this little baby big-time. I replaced a lot of gear with this baby. I play gigs with it. I rely on it, and it doesn't crap out on me like some of the vintage stuff that it replaced. I don't have to go to gigs with a soldering iron and extra 9-volt batteries anymore.

The lexicon people are great. The CS guy didn't know much, but he got back to me with specifics when he didn't know the answer to a question. Pretty laid back and got the job done. Better service than I've gotten anywhere else recently. (not saying much)

I play in 3 different musical groups. My main project is a groove-rock band. Lot's of opportunities to play with funky effects and stuff. Lots of squeezed liquid gain leads (the overdrives don't come from the lexicon).
My second project is a small jazz/rock combo. I use all clean sounds with some spacial effects.... mostly reverbs and eq.

As I said before, I woldn't use this unit if I didn't feel like I already had tone. It is transparent, so if I have a heavy rock tone going through it, I don't lose it, or if I have warm jazz going through it, it works. This isn't something that you buy to get tone, but rather something you buy to get effects. Tone is another matter.

This is Lexicons attempt to offer an 'all in one box' for guitarist. Let me just say that one must tread lightly with these swiss army approaches for obvious resons. Lexicon, however, has the recording professional in mind and this box costs over $1300. Plus the $500+ pedal board which is a MUST for this unit. That's a lot of money! Is it worth it? Maybe. Let me just say that this aint no Boss GT-5. BUT For the money I could buy a hi-end time based effects processor and reissues of many of the vintage effects offered by the MPX G2. It wasn't worth it for me. Mainly due to the buzzy, spoungy, digitized preamp gain textures. Now that you know the punchline, read on for the review proper....

The MPX G2 is no different in ease of use than any other processor, IMO. Everything is logically laid out and the manuall is well written with lots of background on different types of effects. The preamp section was wonderfull in that there were many parameters for shaping the tone from vintage to modern sounds. The controls are very responsive to a light touch. Very easy to to move your way around. Actually, ease of use is probably a step above most rack processors. I enjoyed programming and editing and felt the controls were very powerfull.

I used the MPX G2 with a Lexicon 284 Signiture amp (with all Mullard tubes) and a Mesa 2x12 with celestion vintage30's. On the floor is a Fulltone Fulldrive2 and a Teese RMC2 wah. My main guitar is a LoneStar strat with a PearlyGates humbucker.

The preprogrammed patches are pretty good. For instance I could jump right into things using the VintageRig or BlueChip. The EVH patch was another great, but it sounded more like Bush than EVH (I actually used this to do covers of Bush songs during our set and even learned a few new Bush songs to take advantage of this patch)! As far as the other artist patches, none of them sounded like who they were supposed too, but who cares. The effects themselves were great. Very lush sounding. I especially likes the Flange24 which is the best, most lush flange I have ever heard! The univibe effects were also right on the money. Unfortunatly, adding more than 3 effects at once severly depreciated your signal and the unit was very noisy! Well, not very noisy, but too noisy for a $1300 doller effects engine! The noise gate worked okay but was substandard. Even the Boss GT 5, a great middle of the road guitar processor, had a better noise gate with less parameters to boot! An example of the noise level: do you think adding 20% reverb at 0db at the end of effects loop should cause an audibal hiss to your signal? The weakest link is the preamp section. Like I mentioned, it can best be characterised as buzzy and spoungy with no real warmth. I tried to mainly utilize hi gain settings and even after I finally dialed in what I wanted, I found it lacking in what other amps or processors could give me. Do not even bother going for a more classic rock vibe. The tubescreamer effect was good within the muck of the other Lexicon gain offereings but -- I A/Bed it too a cheapo sound tank tube screamer and found they were very similar in noise level (remeber how notoriously noisy the soundtanks are because of the plastic casings), and uh, the soundtank sounded better. When compared with a vintage TS808, it was embarrassingly (for Lexicon) not even in the same sound spectrum. And I'm a player who is not particularly found of TS's nor do I use them much. The wahs were okay for crybaby emulations but the Vox was poor, and nothing came close to beating the wah sounds produced by a Teese wah.

I sent this $1700 (w/ the pedal board) investment back before anything could go wrong.

I did not take advantage of the CS for this unit but I did call Lexicon once for info on the signiture 284. The person I spoke with was nice and friendly but didn't seem to know very much. I got general asnweres to specific questions and I think I informed him more than he did me! But hey, CS is always like this 90% of the time.

This would be a must have stand along effects processor if it did not have the preamp section. Even if the effect signal is a bit noisy. The bypass feature was great and adding effects or using the processor never colored the signal! The preamp section is piss poor, however. I mean, it really is bad. I feel like this is a joke because it costs so much!! I would have used it just for the effects but the cost does not make it worth it. Maybe I sound poor, but do some math, man. You can get the new TC Eclectroncs M1 and D2 and still have cash left over to buy a couple floor effects. Or you can get a Rocktron effects processor for time based effects and have a chunk of cash left over for Fulldrive vintage reissues including chorus, flange, tremolo, univibe, wah, or overdrive. Create your own scenerios people because you can easily come out with more sound [quality] for your money than the Lexicon MPX G2.

At first this unit looks like it prety hard to operate,but when you`re geting use to it it`s very easy.

I`m using the G2 with a Egnater ie4 preamp and Marshall el84 20/20 poweramp thru a 4x12 Marshall cab.The pedalsimualtions are great,like the wah pedal and the tubescreamer.The delays and reverbs are good to.
The week part is the chorus and pith effects.
Im using a Tc 1210 chorus insted.With this setup I can get the same sound as Lukather.He is using Lexicon for reverbs and delays,and Tc for chorus.

It`s very reliabel.

Don`t know.

I`m playing pop/rock Like Toto,U2,Simple Minds.It`s a god match.
If it was stolen I would buy it again if I could afford it.
It`s pretty exspensive.I had a G-forse but it did`t sound that good.
The reason for that is because the G-forse are prosessing all the signal and there are only one prosessor.The G2 have one Lexi chip for reverbs and a motorola chip for multi effects.It also have a direct path of the singnal to the output.You are mixing the eff. with this signal.

OK, I'm really into digital multi-effects and I found this difficult to use at first. But I *LIKE* that because it means the unit is very flexible. After using it several times, it became a lot easier to use and I got used to the interface. It does have a good interface as you don't have to carry the manual around once you learn how to use it (some units require the manual for effects reference). The manual is fairly large and all of the settings are in there, but the table of contents is a good thing when you need to remember what a perticular setting does.

This thing is awesome!! The delays are the absolute best I have ever heard. The reverbs are... well, it's a Lexicon. The distortions aren't bad as long as you use them right. Some of the distortions are for use with an amp and others are not. Use the right ones or else it sounds pretty bad.

I use this with a Strat, a SansAmp, and direct into the board. Generally, I play classic rock music like some Pink Floyd, Cream, Tom Petty, and even some Black Sabbath. The sound of this unit is fantastic. I use the SansAmp for a slight overdrive and the Lexicon MPX G2 to drive it over into distortion, but I occasionally use the Lexicon MPX G2's distortion on a clean setting or a hard distortion on the SansAmp. It took a bit of playing with, but I eventually got some really good sounds out of it. The SansAmp is in the effects send of the MPX G2 and this lets me drop it out if I want to use the G2 on its own. Likewise, the G2 has a &quot;straight-wire bypass&quot; (I believe it; you can hear the relays click) so I can use the SansAmp without the MPX G2. (Although, I really don't do this as I like having some reverb or delay)

Unfortunately, the unit has 250 presets and 50 user programs. I would have preferred the other way around. The presets are usable, I guess, but I generally prefer creating my own sounds instead of using someone else's.

This unit is pretty reliable for me hauling it around like I do. I'm pretty careful with my gear, but I've had the wall wart fall onto it out of my power strip. No problem. I did have it boot up once and not detect the insert cables. I shut it down, checked the cables, and turned it back on and it worked.

The software version is 1.00 and it has never locked up or become confused. The software seems to be rock solid.

I haven't dealt with the tech support, but Lexicon has a decent knowledge base on their web site which was good to browse for some information on the unit. I wish their knowledge base was easier to browse, but the information there was pretty good.

This unit is perfect for me. I like the sounds of vintage gear, but prefer the quietness and flexibility of digital gear. This lets me do both. It certainly took a while to become familiar with the unit and now that I did, it really shines.

I used to use a Digitech RP-10 which I wanted to upgrade to something better when I knew what that was. I looked at the Digitech VGS2120 as I was happy with the Digitech gear at the time. When I saw that the Lexicon MPX G2 had digital recreations of vintage effects, I knew what I wanted. I compared this to the manuals of the VGS2120, the TC Electronics G-Force, and some of the Rocktron gear. This unit beat them all IMHO. The G-Force seemed to come the closest, but the MPX G2 made it easier to get the vintage rock sound I was after. My friend has a Digitech Studio 400 which is basically the digital section of the VGS2120 and this unit is MUCH, MUCH better than that. I've seen some ok delays, but the G2 has the best ever.

The only thing I wish this unit had was more memory for user presets. (Or even a PCMCIA card expansion slot)

I have this paired with the MPX R1 foot controller which makes controlling all my gear easy. It works with my MIDI gear and also has analog switches for the analog gear. (I wish this was on the G2 instead of the R1 foot controller)

I am extraordinarily happy with this unit. At first, I was concerned about the cost, but it really makes up for it. It is fully routable (including the effects loop) and has a fantastic sound. If you add up all the gear it emulates, this unit is a bargain.

Like any rack mount effects device, you are going to have to be somewhat patient, as well as, willing to read the manual. The G2, at first, is a bit overwhelming. The amount of parameters is kinda scary, but once you spend some time fooling around with it, things come together. The sort function helps you find presets based on effect, guitar style, function (input, input + effects loop, stand alone, etc.) as well as, midi maps, and the last 10 presets loaded. The patches can be tweaked as much or as little as wanted, and the most frequently used parameters can be saved to the soft row key. The manual is very well written and layed out, and if you need more info---customer service is very fast and friendly. The only thing I don't really like is the Screen. I think Lexicon should have made it larger like the T.C. G-Force. Aside from the screen, the G2 is about as easy as they come. Moving effects, progrming,adding modulation, etc.. is really easy AFTER YOU READ THE MANUAL, AND PLAY AROUND WITH THE UNIT!

I am running the following set-up in order: Gibson Les Paul + Tom Anderson Pick ups---Zvexx Super Hardon---2 Justin Everman Fuzz Drives---Zvexx Fuzz Factory---H&K Tube Factor---MPX G2---Bogner Ecstasy Combo. The G2 is hooked into both the effects loop and the input of the Ecstasy (One of the main reasons I bought the G2 was for this feature of placing the effects where I wanted them). The unit is very quiet on eveything minus all of my distortion boxes + channel 3 of the Bogner maxed out (any unit will be overdriven into chaos and feedback)---you have two noise gates if you do get things out of control. All of the effects sound great, especially the Reverbs and Delays( which are the best I have heard in a while). The Tube Screamer, Uni Vibe, and Tremelo, are very convincing, and sound so similair to the original, that the differance and price of the originals compared to the G2 is negligible.This is the first effects processor I have played that had a believable Wah pedal! The Distortion sounds pretty good but, it is really unfair to compare the distortion tonesof the G2 to the Bogner. The preamp section allows for a great variety of distorion from light clean boost to all out flame thrower. Do these sound like the real deal?...it just depends your set up. If you are playing quality gear then the answer is yes, but if you are running the G2 through a Peavey Predator into a Bandit---then the answer is no---you're still going to sound like shit! I would say the G2 sounds as good as the T.C. Electronic G-Force, only the G2 tends to lean more to the traditional/vintage sound, where the G-Force goes to the edgeof weird effects and back. I actually sold my G-Force to buy this unit and I'll tell you why. The G-Force sounds awesome don't get me wrong, but the presets sounded sterile, and really too weird. Aside from the few artists I recognized, the Patches sounded too similair or too weird and not really usable. The G-Force had no kind of preamp or distortion---as the G2 has a fully programable preamp that can be plugged directly into the console, power amp, or head phones. The distortions can be really good on the G2, if you take the time to adjust parameters. The presets on the G2 are usable out of the box, with little to no programing on some of them. The Delays can also have other effects inserted into its feedback loop. This is one of my favorite features about the G2. The control over the G2 by the MPX R1 is superb. I can mute, tune, control tempo, volume, continuous control, move banks, just about anything I need a controller for with the R1. It is built road worthy tough, and I don't hesitate to stomp hard while I am playing. Again, I can't rave enough about the G2, and what it allows me to do with my set up. I have had all kinds of processors---Digisuck, Roland, Roger Mayer, Fulltone, Boss, T.C., etc., and I sold everything for the G2---and don't regret a thing.

I have not gigged out with it, but it seems well built. The MPX R1 is the nicest foot controller I've seen. Its not cheap like the Digitech Control One, or the Line6 controllers. I would gig out without a back up---and trust my sound completely.

The customer support is great. Everytime I e-mail with questions I get a responce usually that day. Everytime I've talked to Lexicon, they have been great! They let me ask the stupidest questions without making me feel like a dumb ass!

I am a singer who plays rhythm guitar. I bought the G2 to simplify my rig and allow me to concentrate on singing the song. The sound quality is excellent and the unit allows me to add some flair to the my stage presense without tripping over a bunch of stomp boxes. I like just about everything about the unit except the small screen. Again, the sounds are amazing! As I said earlier, I sold my G-Force to buy it, and don't reget doind so. If you are going to buy an effects processor, you've got to try this baby out. Don't settle for what your local guitar store has, take the time to drive and see for yourself what quality sounds like. Whether or not you get the G2, or G-Force, get out of town and really listen to what's out there!

Although the overall intuitiveness of the unit is well achieved, and the flexibility of the unit is damn near as-good-as-it-gets, this power comes at a price: complexity. Of course, as anyone who has ever attempted programming one of these units could tell you, it's never an easy feat; there is always something of a learning curve even if it's only adjusting one's thought process to the interface. The MPX G2 is no exception in that regard. A good sound can be achieved right away- I think the presets in this box are among the best I've encountered of the many other rack units I've tried. And tweaking the presets to accomodate your own personal sound and tone is straightforward enough. But there is sooooo much available to the user- a ton of effects, an extremely versatile routing and ordering scheme, and a myriad of controller/patching combinations. And so it only makes sense that in order to really utilize this power, you have to be willing to spend some quality time working with the unit.

The manual is extensive and covers just about anything you'd need to know about the MPX G2, although I think an index in the back might be helpful so you could find stuff more quickly. It's pretty big, though (in fact the first page has an article titled "Why is This Manual So Big?") and I have yet to find a detailed rundown on the available internal control sources (i.e. sine & cosine for LFO's among many others) but I'm sure it's in there somewhere. Once again, an index would do the trick.

The firmware version is 1.0. No upgrades necessary since the unit first shipped.

I use the MPX G2 with a Rivera R55 (55 all tube 2 channel combo). Because the MPX G2 provides several different connectivity options, I can use it hooked into my amps effects loop, as well as infront of my amp. Tone afficionados will aprreciate this as you can place pedal-based effects before your preamp and time-based effects after the preamp (this is the best way to connect an amp and an effects unit without resorting to isolation cabinets et. al. and really makes a difference in sound if you're used to guitar>>processor>>amp setups).

Personally, I can't see why anyone would use distorion built into a rack effects processor- espcially if you've got a happening tube amp to do the job. As a result, I haven't used the gain options in the MPX G2 much. Only for a little EQ boost or just experimenting with some new edgier tones. I've use many rack units and never found one with a distortion that really did it for me. That's why god gave us amps. If you're using it to record, I suggest micing a a good amp.

All the other effects sound excellent to my ears. The UniVybe sounds real nice, as does the pedal wah. The chorus is smooth and clean, but did seem a little thin. The delays are out of this world! Really... Lexicon really has their act together on the delays, asd well as the reverb which is everything you'd think it would be coming from Lexicon.

Back to recording- I've never been a fan of cabinet emulators, but when you absolutely must record direct, they can help smooth out the "directness" of the sound. The MPX-G2's sound very good. And some of the patches, when played directly through a board (or headphones) are mind blowing. I see no reason why you couldn't get a good direct tone out of this box- it might take a little tweaking, but you'll be psyched in the end.

I've been hammering away at this thing- giving the controls and interface a thorough workout, and if it hasn't locked up on me yet, I don't know why it wquld! I even stress-tested it, by maxing various parameters and changing things around very fast, but saw no evidence of weakness.

I never use a backup. If my efeects unit failed, I'd play thorugh my amp with just overdrive and spring reverb for the rest of the gig. I feel safer using this as opposed to others because I realize the level of engineering that went into designing and building it.

I talked to tech support a number of times before I even bought the unit- just to confirm the unit's capabilities and possible flexibility. They were always helpful and very knowledgable (come on, when was the last time you called tech support and the first person you talked to knew what they were doing?). I have since contacted them both via phone and email and they've always responded as I would have hoped.

Overall, this is hands-down the best piece of guitar effects gear I've owned to date. I've tried stuff by many companies (e.g. Roland, Sans-Amp, Digitech, Boss, ART, etc. etc) and nothing comes close. I think the only thing similar might be higher end Rocktron, Eventide, or T.C. Electronics, but I researched them all and the MPX-G2 looked like the most flexible unit (which is what I was after).

I play rock/jazz/blues/funk of a hard/heavy foundation. I use a full range of effects from phase and wah to tremolo, pitch shifting, and serious delays, and I like to have full (and I mean FULL) control over my effect parameters in real time. The MPX G2 handles it all and then some.

The only drawback is that there is so much processing/patching/controlling available that it's a little overwhelming at first, but still well worth the time it takes to become well acquainted with the capabailities of this processor.

Fairly easy to use, if you like programming MultiFX units.
Editing the patches was painless. I purchased the MPX G2 a few days ago through a mail order.

The actual quality of effects are good. Mostly the real time effects.
Where Lexicon drops the ball (and you need balls for this), is the dynamic effects. They've got reverb and delay down well.
Chorus and pitch fairly good. But the distortions and compressor...well, what do you want for 1100 bucks? Doesn't even come into the same "city" as my Marshall. Even for just a boost...my stomp pedals were the same...so then you go back to "is the money spent worth it?"
Also,my biggest gripe, the configuration of routing the effects to the "front" of the amp and "in the effects loop".
This is a great idea, the reason why I purchased the darn thing. But something is lost when you connect it this way. I a / b'd this type of configuration compared to my standard config, which is a MPX 100 in the effects loop, and my guitar going into a Boss tuner pedal, compressor CS-2 (old one), and a old Boss Graphic EQ, both made in Japan, not Tawain.
My old setup sounds better! The chorus is richer (very close), fuller. The dynamic response with my guitar in relation to the amp is more...responsive and real. Something is lost with all the processing and routing. I messed with this for 3 days...aprox 6 to 8 hours a day. No quick judgement here. Also, I played in a band situation. Again, effects didn't seem as rich and full and my stomp pedal (compressor) sounded smoother and not as harsh.
I really liked the Jam Man though. Let's see Boss come out with a 25 second looper in a stomp box...you can do it!

The rack seems fairly sturdy. But the pedal boards pedal seems kinda flimsy. I did not have the unit more than 3 days. So if I had to guess how it would be a road worthy piece....I would say, don't drop either.

Never called them.

I did return this product. I kept it for 3 days...but after and only after a b'ing it with my Lexicon MPX 100, which I paid only 190.00 for. But then, I have a Marshall TSL 100 and my tastes are different.
Hopefully similar but to each his own. There is definitely something lost with this new routing concept. I made it apparent to myself when I quickly switched back to my own setup and then played.
I think stomp boxes still rule. If you don't mind the harshness (mild to moderate difference) and the fuzzy distortions (the "preamp" is pretty damn good)then it could be a decent box for you. I will stick with my Marshall TSL 100 with 3 channels and seperate 4 x 12 cab. Actually, I returned the G2, sold my other amp (Flextone) and bought another TSL 100 combo.
Hope this helps. I did read other ratings previously before I purchased the Lexicon...thanks to you guys for giving me the heads up.
The unit is "still" worth checking out. I'm keeping my MPX 100. The detune is killer for chorus type sound...and the delays and reverbs are great for the price.

The manual is good and gives details and block diagrams for all the effects. Programming is pretty simple. It can be controlled via MIDI and/or footswitches/ analog volume pedals. It can be used as a stand-alone preamp w/ fx, before an amp w/o an fx loop, or before the preamp and in the fx loop.

Some of the effects can be noisy when used before a preamp. I use a separate preamp, so I haven't really explored the preamp part of it. It has some outstanding pedal emulations (tube screamer, wahs and others) plus a very flexible chorus and some strange rotary type effects. Delays and reverbs are excellent. Pitch shifting is pretty good too. I run in stereo and it's stereo imaging is excellent. It has a noise gate, but in live situations, it's not as good as a Hush unit.

It locked up on me once in the 8 months I've had it. Unfortunately, it was during a show. Never did figure out why. Other than that I've had no problems with it. Too expensive to have a backup.

Haven't dealt with them.

This is my 3rd rack processor. I changed from a Rocktron Voodu Valve to this because I needed more flexibility in the fx configurations. I play mostly heavy alternative/metal and I like to have a bunch of effects available. I use it with an Egnater IE4 preamp and a Marshall EL34 stereo power amp. It's not perfect, but it does a lot. If it got lost/stolen, I'd replace it.

Although it was fairly easy to hook up and get going, the manual does not state that you cannot use the xlr outputs with the 1/4 outputs simultaneously, unless if you use a transformer which may defeat the the reason you are using the xlr's.

Inserting anything before the insert send does introduce noise, but this is to be expected with any stomp box type effect that is placed before the input stage of your guitar amplifier. This unit has an unbelievable univibe, wah (vox or crybaby with variable bass, gain). The mutrons sound awesome as well. Most important you have level control over these units. You can use the MPX-R1 foot controller as a "stompbox" setup for instant on/off as opposed to the typical time 1/2 second time lag for loading a program. However, you can smooth out the loading by setting the temporary bypass levels as your load a new program. The post return f/xs (post guitar pre-amp if your using your amp's fx loop), sound pristine with a lot of control and you can use one global reverb that you like to soften new program loads even further. I use this with a Rivera stereo TBR 1M amp which has an fx loop, then for speakers I'm using 2 celestions and a horn loaded monitor cab for my acoustic. The speaker simulations are not boxy sounding models like you find on a number of other units, but very simple and useful simulations for direct recording and plugging directly into the pa. Very good for taming direct line buzzyness when running direct WITHOUT taking the life out of your sound. Too much more to be listed here!

I had 1 lock up when using the compare feature. No other problems so far.

Very good and responsive but I was dissapointed that the service rep. that I dealt with did not have any first hand experience when dealing with the aforemention simultaneous xlr/1/4" out. instead I got an e-mail describing various loads that should work in theory. I confirmed with other users and retailers that you can't use both outputs simultaneously(return to your amp and send to a mixer/recording console. A simple yes and no confirmation through actual use would works for me

I have never plugged into a unit that remained 100% transparent when using it with my guitar amp. Obviously ,the 24 bit i/o converters make all the difference in the world and if your not using an effect before the insert send, the unit switches a relay providing a straight analogue path to your guitar amp input. Ive used a GX-700 from Roland that was ok at maintaining a similar sound to my Rivera when not using any fx, but the lower quality converters were gobbling up some dynamics and "velvet" from my Rivera. I wish that the R1 foot controller on/off status of the toe switch would update when loading a new program. I programmed the toe switch out of my user programs so I wouldn't have to think about it's status except for 1 or 2 that I use in stompbox mode. I highly recommend getting the R1 because of the visual feedback,stompbox mode and most importantly, it's the only way to access the tuner by using a floor pedal. Clever...heh heh

This unit is fairly easy to use, but could have been made easier. Editing patches is easy and the manual is big and goes into a lot of detail. I have version 1.0 and it should be the newest version since I bought this thing new.

I have the Lexicon in front of a Carvin F300 power amp and a Peavey 4 twelve cabinet. First I'll go into the good qualities: nice wah, good tremolo, good reverb, nice chorus, flanger, phaser and nice warm clean sounds. Now the bad qualities: On the distortion settings, this thing is noisy, I don't know about what tweaking the noise gate will do, but right out of the box on factory distortion presets, it's noisy. The distortion itself is weak, you can get a lot of bite out of it but not much tonal control. The pitch shifter sounds too digitized, you can hear digital noises going on while you're playing. Another thing that I didn't like was the time it took for the presets to load. Every time that you select a new preset it takes about a second to load. So if you're playing live and you switch presets, you have to lose a second of lead before the new preset kicks in. A lot of the factory presets serve no purpose except to demonstrate what all the different effects can do. Some presets are trying to emulate different people's sound, such as patch 160 Jimmy P... (Jimmy Page), the only one I found that sounded like the artist was patch 172 Cold Shot (SRV).

I sent it back not too long after I bought it so I don't know about how reliable it is.

I've E-mailed Lexicon several times and have recieved a reply in about a day or two. Paul Forman is the guy who responded to the MPX G2 questions and gave good answers.

I've been playing guitar for about 6 years and searching for a good multi-effects unit with a built in preamp. This one won't cut it for me. If you like good clean sounds and basic effects, you might like this unit. But if you like good distortion and a low preamp noise, you won't like it.