Lexicon MPX-1 Multi-effects

as you can expect with lots of parameters and one knob- horrible but i think as most multis.. Model 200 had the Last real usable Front-
This Unit is for Presets not for tweakin the Sound individualy for any Situation...

i Bought it for Reverb because of the numeorus reviews here all telling its so great...

FORGET IT!!!! even a Lxp1 sounds better. after hours of editing some
semi-realistic small- room stuff comes out wich is not possible with a lxp1...so maby for decent use in a mix it might be useful but units like dynacord drp`s or stuff also do this jobs as good...i hoped it would sound less clinical than m roland srv 330 but in fact it sounds at least that clinical... if people say- here you can have the real reat, warm, lush lexicon reverb they maby never listend to bigger old lexicons...

I would say: Here you can pay a GREAT BIG LEXICON PRICE FOR A BORING
CHARACTERLESS MIDRANGE MULTIEFFECT YOU CAN HAVE FOR PENUTS WITHOUT THE BLUE LABEL!

Feels cheap but just standart- could also say behringer or tc...

Just dont know what reason for somebody should buy this- they are greater lex`s (lxp1 lxp15)for small money on the market and exept of worse sounding this stuff offers nothing new...maby in rental buisness for live application or so?

I used the MPX 1 during 2 gigs. And now i have bought it form my friend. My sound is more alive. I use to own a G-Major but the lexicon is better. It is not difficult to edit your patches.

My setup is : Rivera TBR 1, Lexicon MPX 1, 2x Bag End S12B speakercabs
custom made Booster and Compressor pedals by Ra-jazz and a Claim Field 4 guitar (German made). I only use the Reverb, some Chorus and the Delay. This processor is realy good. My sound has come more alive.

Yeah there is a steep learning curve, yada,yada yada,,,,,,
The pay off is there if you spend the time.
Keep the manual handy.

Verb: Not a 480 or PCM! However, the pulsating chorusy verbs are truly beautiful and inspiring. Way beyond an Alex-Reflex.

EQ: so-so. The filters are a little cold and digi-sounding. What do you expect from a digital EQ? A Neve? A Moog? That being said, the fact that it even has eq/ filters makes the overall unit extremely strong

Pitch shifting is above average. With a foot pedal, makes a great Whammy Pedal. Tracks great!

Chorus is great, magical!
The flange/phase is typical digital style and have no analog mojo.

Mod: A very useful weapon in the arsenal.

Delay: Above average

Mix them all together= Nice!

You can get some incredible pad/washy/textural sounds. And epic solo texures.

With guitar: Gives your overall sound a bit of a "Digital Sheen" which is not analog, but still warm in a digi kind of way. Ala 80's Lukather-Landau, etc.
You cant get rid of it because this thing converts your guitar signal to 18/20 bit digital EVEN IN BYPASS!

It's somewhat fragile but typical rack gear. no more no less.

I would suggest a back up if you have $$$

They were good to me. Helpful, sincere.

VERY inspiring sound.
Inspiration is VERY valuable.
Complicated user interface
The delay between changing programs is real.
18/20bit constant D/A-A/D conversion is a bummer.

For studio it's great.
For live; On a mixer on a bus send (for vocals for instance) it makes a great verb/delay multi processer.
Can even automate stuff via midi. Great bang for buck value.


For guitar it has some it has some issue's and would require some work arounds. For instance you could use it with a Robert Keely True Bypass Looper and make it a true bypass pedal. You could use it in an efx loop on an amp and blend the digital signal with your natural (analog) tone. This would be fine with verb but this pedal has some cool sounds that require the blend to be balanced in the box. By blending dry signal, you would lose/water down some very cool presets. Also its a bit tricky using with stomp boxes. I think the guitar version of this pedal might solve some of these issues. I dont have that unit so I dont know.

Certainly not the easiest piece of gear I ever used, but not nearly as hard to as other people make it out to be. I bought it on ebay with no manual and spent a good hour learning my way around it. Once you learn how its all setup, its not that bad at all but the TC fx units interface is far more user friendly in my opinion.

Sounds very good. I pretty much only used it for the reverbs. The tweaking parameters on this are pretty detailed. It can be a lot for someone unfamiliar with all of the parameters of reverb but offers a lot of control for someone who is. I was using this for live sound and had considerably more success using this for a vocal reverb over a drum verb. I'm sure had I spent more time trying, I could have came up with a killer drum verb. Honestly though, I compared this to the TC m-one xl which is almost 1/2 the price and I like the TC better. Both units have great verbs, but I was able to dial in a drum verb way easier with the TC, and the TC scores more points over the lexicon because of the independent dual fx engine allowing the user to use to separate fx returning on two different channels. Not the case with the lexicon which ended up being the reason why I sold the unit and bought a TC m2000, which at the same price, I'm expecting to be better than the mpx1 given how good the m-one xl was at almost 1/2 the price. The mpx1 does have far more tweaking parameters than the m-one xl, but the TC m2000, at the same price has more parameters and independent fx routing.

I used it for 2 weeks before I sold it for a TC, but in those two weeks in worked fine and sounded great with no problems. I think I would need to own one for longer before I have a valid opinion on the subject however.

I did once email a question to lexicon regarding a different product, they did respond but not nearly as timely or friendly as the customer support for TC electronics.

I used this for live sound for a couple weeks and it worked great. The reason I sold it is because the TC electronic units sound just as good if not better at a fraction of the price, and are far more user friendly. Not to mention the fact they offer dual engine routing of independent fx, which ended up being the deal breaker for me when it came to choosing TC over lexicon. Nonetheless, this unit sounds great but if you ask me, anyone going for an fx unit in the mid range level will get more for their money buying a TC unit. I said the same thing in my review of the TC m-one xl. Lexicon really shines with their really high end studio verbs which have been the standard for decades. But TC offers far more product at a great value for anything entry level or midrange. Which is why I would advise anyone considering this unit to save a few hundred and buy a TC m-one xl and get very comparable reverbs (if not better) and more routing options. Or the TC M2000 with better verbs and more routing options at the same price. Then again, some people just prefer the sound of a lexicon verb over a TC verb and there's something to be said for that. But not only to I like TC verbs better, they give you more for your money.

Maybe the first Lexicon I ever had and for this reason I don't turn to understand how I use in perfect way. I have not the user manual in italian (my language) and i don't speak a good english.

Really good. Reverb are more less really however digital. Usefool the LFO parameters; delay really good and tap tempo are important for this machine.
I have a Fender prosonic head, a 2x12 cab and tube line mixer -Advance The Missing link- I use a Fender custom '60, blade Durango deluxe, greg Bennet RL2. In front I use a radial tonebone classic and Advance overcatdrive yellow.
For a guitarrist use is important a line mixer because even if the MPX1 has a good converter (AD/DA 24Bit) you loose the real signal and the "boom" of your amp.

no opinion

ZERO.
I've ask an italian user manual and The lexicon support can not help me!!!!! For example the TC-electronic get the user manual of the product in their website in all languages. Why the lexicon don't do this?
The strange thing is wich can not will never be available.....crazy?

I have a Fender prosonic head, a 2x12 cab (V30/Modern lead G12M70), tube line mixer -Advance The Missing link- and a sinth Roland GR30. I use a Fender stratocaster custom '60, blade Durango deluxe, greg Bennet RL2. In front I use a radial tonebone classic and Advance overcatdrive yellow.

I play guitar for 15 years.
I've ever used the digital rack effect: Roland GP100 (fantastic!), eventide H3000, G-force, G-major (bleah!), Intellipitch (great!), intellifex, ZOOM 3030 ecc.
I play a psichedelic noisy music. Is like a last King Crimson kind of music. I play often the sinth guitar, and lexicon mpx1 effect, swap with this great. I love the spacial reverb you can get with this. I have find a good parameters for a vintage spring reverb, but You have to use a line mixer if not it not work well!

If you can read? You can learn this piece of gear over night, but spend time with her, this is not plug and play, yes they have presets. However, if you want to use it correctly learn it live it, try sone presets then work off that. I have version 1.10, the manual is nicely laid out, a must read tho!! Thats why they make manual's read it keep it near by until you master here once that occurs you are off to lushness and forever!! I would give it a ten but hey it takes some work thats for sure ;-) But the outcome well worth it!!!

Unless you have the PCM models this is the best, many usable patches. I use with my guitar rig which consists of 5150III to Palmer PDI-03 to mixer. Yep I use a mixer on my rig and run my effects parallel, I dont like the typical boring in series chain!! There is zero noise with my unit, all reverbs are beautiful and lush, detune, Delays awesome, chorus all 10+ for that thicken up stereo tone, evh anyone lol.

What can you say its a Lexicon!!! Built to last never have had a problem with mine, I have two actually just in case but never had to use her only in studio!! And Yes I would gig with a backuo, but as stated never had a problem!!!

E mailed for info, got same day response, Now thats the icing on the cake customer service, hey these cats have got there act together,not like ummm Eventide, Sorry those guys well I wont go there its like dealing with Kurzweil some kind of geek cult or something? Lexicons people very down to earth and there to help you, thats what business is all about!!!Ask them and you shall receive!!

I play fusion jazz, and metal, rock and roll, blues all of it!! I have been playing 20 years, my gear is Peavey/Marhsall 100 watt heads, VST Headbone Amp Selector, Fur. Power supply, Palmer PDI-03 EventideH3000 maxed,MPX1 Lexy,Podtxt Live,Dunlop Wah pedal, George L's god love them,5 musicman axes, homemade evh strat, homemade ebmm, all di marzios and seymour duncans, Tone Zoners Air Nortons, strats i use di marzios paf pro ;-) and of course mackie 12 channel mixer to a seperate peavey power amp pV900 to push two marshall 4/12 1960 A cabs! Life is good ;-)Dont let the price fool you on these lexicons MPX1 get them on ebay all day long buy one learn it and you will be in love!!!

I initially was worried about purchaseing this unit as the prior reviews put a bit of a scare in you about use..I am a Guitar player and have used analog effects as well as rack gear for years..If you can read , it is easy!!! Get comfortable with it and explore the unit...the more you use it the easier it is,..simply that!!! It is a PRO unit used by soo many recording artists..

Absolutely great sounds!!! Far better than most of the competition..The only other units I would consider are the TC electronics stuff(which I do own also).
Strictly a Multieffects unit with excellent reverbs!!!
I play through Mesa amps, Musicman LUKE guitars,Fender strats, and a Guild custom shop acoustic electric. Too many other guitars to mention...

GREAT!!!

Spoke directly with them prior to purchase!!!Excellent !!

I am a session Guitarist, so my stlyes range from Rock to Jazz, Blues to Fusion. Classically trained. I strongly dislike country (and will leave it at that!!)I can achieve amazing sounds for covers when live and superior studio sounds as needed...It is a very simple user ready gift to making your pallate of tone increase....I dont understand the prior reviews as some of these guys had difficulty programing/navigating the MPX-1..? Read the Manual!!!This is a PRO unit, very musical in many ways without compromising the dry tone of your preamps..

You really got to read the book for this one! Manual could be written in a more 'non techi' way, us guitarists want an instant fix! Was version 1.0 rom, upgraded to V1.1 so it now has different effects and recognises the R1 controler.

Amazing effects! No noise, not too much tone sucked away, nothing too over the top (after the ROM upgrade!). Used with twin marshall DSL100s and an Ibanez JS1200.

Seem solid, 7 years old now!

USA Lexicon were a good help. E-mail contact only.

Metal....

Setting up this unit is bit of a steep learning curve. It's a shame the manual doesn't have examples to get one up and going. You have to read almost every chapter in the manual to fully understand this unit, but the reward is a very good sounding multi fx. The manual is decent written, but as stated above, lacks some examples. At first you seem to strugle thru menu's and submenu's, but bit by bit it gets easier. You do have to take some time to take the hurdles of learning.

I have a unit with firmware version 1.10

I use this unit mainly for mixing in my studio, and bypass the convertors by using the SPDIF. It takes some time to get good results of the unit, but overall the fx's are nice and usable

The MPX-1 is patched with a Roland VS-2480CD recorder.

The sounds from the reverb is a real Lexicon sound due to the Lexichip, and I like it!!!

Nothing sounds bad, some are more usefull than other fx's

As far as the debate goes about bitdepth - a good 20 bit system sounds better then a pourly made 24 bit system - keep that in mind. This is a real Lexicon - not a cheap toy for beginning musicians or studio owners. I us it in my homestudio, and it is better than many fx units I heard in my life!!!

I never gig with the Lexicon; it is only used in my homestudio. If I go on stage, I don't need it - I'm a bassplayer......

Then again, it never failed during studiouse for hours and hours.

Never dealt with them yet.

As said before, it's used for every kind of music in my studio. I wanted to have the touch of Lexicon in my studio, and therefore I bought it. It doesn't dissapoint me for that, only the programming is a bit daunting at first.

Playing around for a while with this unit makes it better to understand - and I'm still in the learning curve.

I think if I needed a reverb in the future, I'll guess I buy myself a PCM series Lexicon, but maybe also a MPX-1 again.

Not a Plug ad Play Multi Fx! you have to lose I lot of time to get the sound you want! INCREDIBLE latency on CHANCING PATCHES! does anybody knows how to eliminate it?? please let me know !!(rauldelmoral@hotmail.com)

The sounding is perfect, so real sensation in Reverbs and delays, I love it! Now I'm using a JTM Marshall amp and the combination is great!bu for instance you can't put some simultaneous effects like SHIFTER stereo and DELAY stereo!bad thing!
Very silence unit!

I want to use it on gigs(guitar playing)can I eliminate the 0-1 second latency when change patches??????
I think is most useful in the studio...

I play rock and it rocks! I've been playing from 1996 I listen a lot of gear, and I insist that it is a good MULTI FX but with I few inconveniences!

THe presets are incredible -- with no tweaking at all, the unit is incredibly versatile, plenty of signature lexicon sounds. However, if you can wade through the manual and figure out how to edit patches, you're either a computer programmer, or you have way more time on your hands than I do. The R1 footcontroller is a must with this unit. So -- although you can get great sounds straight from the box, assuming the idea is to be able to easily tweak and fine tune your sounds, forget it. This will take considerable time before getting comfortable with this unit.

I'm using a Mesa Boogie Triaxis / Simul 290. Pendulum SPS-1 acoustic instrument preamp, PRS custom 22, Moonstone Deluxe Eclipse, Olson Acoustic, Guild Artist Award. It's quiet -- most of the effects are to die for.

Completely UNUSABLE on the gig. I tried a few times -- failed every time. Freezes quite often, every hour. Cheap feel, not at all roadworthy -- fragile even in a shock-mount rack. If you have a studio to keep it in, fine. Don't use this on a gig. You'll be playing dry.

Although the unit was bought new and immediately failed (on the very first gig), and although Lexicon had admitted that the problem was a batch of bad chips that had slipped through their fingers, THEY REFUSED to send a new unit, saying they would repair the defective one. Even though the music store stood behind me on this, they refused.

They were good about returning calls -- some of the techs were freindly nad helpful -- some were snotty, arrogant because i do not have a degree in electronics.

Eventually, they returned the unit. It still had similar problems. i now have a TC Electronic G-Force which I'm completely happy with, in all respects. Especially reliability. I had such respect for Lexicon, and wish I could use their gear because of the incredible sound quality -- but it fails every time, and was never properly repaired.

I play all styles -- I'm a pro, Berklee grad, MM., teach guitar at two respected universities, performed with many top flight acts, many theatre gigs, reknown symphony orchestras, rock, jazz, blah, blah, etc.,etc. I do admit, i'm a player, not so much into midi, programming, etc., but far too experienced for anyone to say any of this was my fault. If I had problems with the manual, with reliability, with service, with Lexicon's return policy -- you might, too.

Horrible. I have to pull out the manual everytime I want to add delay to a patch. the works I have ever used in 25+ years as a working musician. Just horrible. To my way of thinking, this could not be more confusing. And I've had 2 for over 5 years.

I will never buy another product from them.

I use the unit between my preamp (RealTube II) and power amp (Carvin Tube 100)

Over all I am happy with the sound.

I've used the rig for 5 years. It has never failed on me.

RTFM. It's all in there. that is the first response I got from them. It took me 6 months to finally contact them again, and this time I got something written in English (my native laguage).

Sounds great. I can just never figure out how to tweek it, so I usually use the presets.

Customer support: 2 times I've contacted them and once gotten the answer to my problem.

I would have been happier with something from Digitech, Roland, or any number of other manufacturers products I have used and don't need to spen an hour with a poorly written, poorly organised, and basically worthless manual.

Ok so you must be of scientific mind to understand the logic (and manual) behind the interface of this unit; but once you have transformed yourself to said 'robot', everyhting becomes clear (your children have become old and you STILL have a few quirks).

But all you need to do is play a little...then if you can get just THE GIST of what this machine can do (by trial/error), you will quickly realize you have purchased the most amazing effects processor!! (for the money, 'cause obviously the Lexicon PCM series is TOPS)

EVERYTHING this machine does is incredible...too bad it can't tweak the sounds for you. I sold mine only because the buyer gave me $750 and I know I can find one for much less pretty easily. It won't be long before my rig can sound sooo good again. For live use, studio use (unless you got a PCM), JUST TO RECORD YOUR DOG "DO NOT" SETTLE FOR LESS THAN THE MPX-1!!! (And I promise I don't work for them, I was truly sad when I saw it leave my apartment)

I suggest that for any electronic equipment you cherish, you... A) Not toss it across a concrete floor; B) Not plug it up between your power amp and speakers; C) Not let you dog/cat/roommate pee on it.

I had mine for 4 years. This machine will last forever in a rack with normal use.

Just call and they answer.

I cannot think of a better processor anywhere near its price range, especially in the used market (I baught mine new, put will find another used one shortly). I will try ti get the R1 foot-controller, but I know I'll have to change all the switches (the reason they discontinued the floorboard). Better for studio anyway unless you need the BEST reverbs live.

Bought this on ebay, took me about one day to listen to all factory presets, change parameteres to my liking, do the MIDI mapping for my Behringer FCB1010, etc. I am not a computer specialist, just able to read a manual while doing my thing. This thing is great, logical menus, etc. Some features in the manual, like the patches could have been explained a little better, with examples, which would have been a 10. Due to the manual its a 8.

I am using a marshall JMP-1 preamp, Furman power conditioner, Behringer Virtualizer Pro, the MPX1 with a Behringer FCB1010 Foot Controller. Guitar is a Fender Stratocaster.
Unit is extremely quite. Effects all sound great. Get all sounds I need, like Steve Lukather, David Gilmour, etc.

Just bought it, so can't tell.

Never dealt with them

I play all kinds of music, mainly classic rock. Play for 25 years. Would buy it again immediately if stolen.

This is my second review of this product and I believe that my previous rating for this category was at one. Now some time has passed and I would say that it is still difficult to use, though I am understanding how to edit and such. I have went back over key parts of the manual, but find that I am having better results by going head first into unit itself. I am actual drawing up a map on how to maneuver my way through the mpx-1 on engineering paper as opposed to the manual's guide. Basicly, for me anyway, it takes memorizing the layout and since I'm finishing my last symester in construction management my time is limited final projects (I'd rather play guitar when I have the time).

Its sound is wonderful, full, transparent, and big. I paid $395 used, but in excellent condition. For that price and along with its abilities, nothing can touch this thing. The factory presets are great and I just can't get enough of the Callwaiting and Telephone presets. The blues sounds that come out of my speakers w/those two settings are so sweet! And... I'm not even good at playing the blues, except when I have either of those two settings. I can just feel it (Me Mojo). I could keep going on about the presets, but I won't.

If it were stolen I would replace it, unless I tried and liked the new Boss GT-8. Then again I couldn't find one of those used yet, so the price would be more.

Built-in patches should suffice, but when you want to edit ...

You will definitely have to read the manual. Lexicon should really provide editing software (I think they have old, unmaintained software somewhere). You quickly realize this when you want to re-order routing, especially if you have stereo routing and want to change the effect from which the right channel connects to.

Great sound quality even in analog mode. I now only use the S/PDIF interfaces as an external effect in Cubase SX3. You must really listen to the patches in a mix instead of, say, a solo vocal track. For example, the "Chamber" patch seems to have too long a tail in a solo track but works great in a mix if you punch in the right amount and eq the return a little.

Back when emagic also made Logic for Windows, I used Logic Platinum 4.7 on Windows 98 and it had an awesome reverb - platinumverb - which I missed when I moved to Cubase. I can now get the same sound from the MPX1.

It is the only reverb I use now; no plug-ins. I would gig with this if I already didn't with a Yamaha SPX2000.

N/A; I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I play whatever style is required in my studio. So far, the MPX1 suits my needs.

If it were stolen or lost, I would definitely get another MPX1 or maybe even one of the PCM models.

It does have one flaw. I have a MOTU2408mkII and a MOTU308. When I switch sync sources in the 308, the MPX1 does not automatically re-sync; you have to press a button. A little annoyance but not a show-stopper.

This thing is monstrous and absurd. Though I have not read the manual in its entirety, I have read the high points and spent a great deal of time pushing buttons(While pushing the buttons on this thing I was trying to get a feel for parameters of the software programed in this thing). I feel like I'm trying to crack a code in some top-secret computer. No, I got it! Its like trying to look into one of those secret 3D pictures, where if you look into it just the right way you can see beyond the initial image. And who knows how long you'll have to stare into it either? Before you know it, your going cross-eye.

I should be playing the guitar, not the processor.

I have had other processors, none of which sounded rearly a good, but did program much easier.

Out of the box this thing rocks. Great sounds come from the factor presets, but I can't help but feel like there is so much more that it can do. The reverb, delays, echos, etc. are all top notch. Lots of head room and transparent sound. No noise, I cannot complain.

I haven't had it long enough to know.

I haven't called them yet, but if I don't figure this thing out soon I might have to.

I play hard rock, not so hard rock, blues, violin solos (I try at least), country twang, and jazz. This unit has gotcha covered. I really like the Call Waiting (blues), AeroFreezeAB (with & without some dist, Zappa's air sculpting solos), Broken Speakr w/ Dist. (Very Vai, Attitude Song), Bla Bla Bla, and Bla Bla Bla.

If anyone can help me with programing, please drop me a line.

Now, I keep seeing written reviews about how this sucks to program. Here's a hint! SPEND 15 MINUTES OF YOUR DAY TO READ THE MANUAL AND ACTUALLY LEARN HOW!! After you know what you're doing, it's easy and efficient to edit, change, and program your effects the way you want them. Also, the editing is very detailed so you can produce the exact delay, or whatever effect, you want, the way you want.

The effects are mint! You get amazing sounds from all types of effects. I use it with the R1, and it sounds fine!

Never had any major problems!

Now, let's see. I emailed customer support once with a quick question, and I must say that was the best customer support ever. They answered my question, and gave me detailed alternatives too. VERY HELPFUL!

Easy enough if you use the presets, but this is a engineers unit. It took me 3 days to engineer "My sound" for vocals and guitar through this unit. That said no-one has "my sound" If you want control; then, you have to understand everything.

Perfection

perfect

My presets where always wrong- I emailed to the company- they told me that I had software version 2. they emailed me the pdf file for those presets. they knew there business

get this if you like being a techy and inventing new stereo effect. Live and for recording----Perfect sound and powerful

First off, I?m a studio-based producer, not a guitarist. I mostly do sample-based music, from hiphop to Autechre-esque electronica. I?ve had this unit for over a year. At first, I was VERY confused by the operating system. It took me a while to figure everything out, and somtimes it still takes me a couple of random button presses to get where I want in a menu. I actually read some bits of the (good) manual, as opposed to the manuals of my Midiverb IV and boss VF-1. On the other hand the reverbs on these units sounds like a fart in a tin can compared to the lexicon. If you learn how to work this unit, it REALY pays of. I can now do pretty much anything I want with it, which is great. Arpeggiated pitch-shifter, under full midi control, through a modwheel-controlled filter, into stereo delay and reverb? No problem. Try that on your midiverb. That said, learning curve IS steep, and you have to be prepared to spend some time with it. It's actually pretty easy when you know how...

I gave this a ten, because I can honestly say I know of no other unit that comes close at this (secondhand) price. TC?s M-one would probably be the nearest competitor, but isn?t nearly as flexible. Same goes for Lexicon?s own MPX500/550. I have no experience with TC?s M2000/M3000.
Reverbs are obviously great; you?d have to pay a hell of a lot more to better this. Choruses are lush, Phasers go from smooth to piercing. But mainly, on this unit the total is greater than the sum of it?s parts. The way all effects can be combined, and midi-controlled if desired, is what makes it special. I do use ?plain vanilla? reverbs, delays and choruses, but the fun really starts when I get into creative sound design. For this sort of thing, the next step up would probably be TC?s Fireworx, which is slightly out of my budget at the moment. A step down, the Boss VF1, which I also own, does a lot of nice sound-design tricks, but is horrible for reverbs.

The MPX1 does not have a vocoder, amp modeller, compressor or distortion. I have other units that specialize in these things, so I don?t mind. (alright, there is an overdrive, and with a little work you can make a compressor, but it?s hardly worth mentioning). If you?re looking for these FX, get some seperate boxes and some analogue stuff. If you just want plain vanilla reverbs and choruses, it's only a little better than an MPX550. See the MPX-1 as a MULTI-FX; you can get it for just the reverbs, but total is greater than the sum of it?s parts.

Noise is NOT an issue if set up correctly which, IMHO, is a breeze.

Seems good, got it s/h, never had any problems, very decent construction throughout.

Never needed them.

A great unit, especially at the price it goes for now. It is however, a little complicated to operate. This doesn?t bother me much anymore, but it did when I first got it. I?m sure it could be simpler, but with a display this size, and this many options (a LOT of options!), it?s hard to see how.

Again, I'm no guitar player, I use it mainly as a flexible multi-fx, and it's my main reverb (also own an MPX100 which is nice and quick). The really wild stuff in my studio gets handled by analogue filters (sherman, akai, Macbeth), Boss VF1, Line 6 echopro, and stomp boxes. I patch everything into everything and resample stuff a lot.

Lost or stolen: I'd get it again, or if the insurance company really comes through maybe get a TC Fireworx. And an MPX on the side.

Anything you wish it had?
Bigger display. Knobs. More crazy stuff like the fireworx.

Anything else you'd like to share?
Yes: get it ONLY if you're prepared to put in a little work. It's great value as a main reverb unit, but even better as a Multi-FX unit.

This is the second unit and an add on/update to my prior post of the MPX1, that I couldn't get to program. This second unit was programmable however it was noisy and it too was returned. The first one had programming problems but was dead quiet, this second one got noisy with the output volume set at the 1/2 point on the pot.

This second unit was programmable however it was noisy and it too was returned. The first one had programming problems but was dead quiet with both the input and output set at max, this second one got noisy with the output volume set at the 1/2 point on the pot.

I've had two units and both had hardware problems. "Zero for Two"

N/A

With the unit being noisy, I didn't have it long enough to try out. Obviously I will not be buying a Lexicon again.

Very confusing Programming Interface. I was unable to program this unit. Any parameter that I changed had no affect on the signal. I went through the book several times. I'm an electronics/computer tech and also worked as a programmer so I'm not a beginner in this area. I sent it back after 4 days of disgust trying to program it to work with my guitar.

Sound Qality is very good, and should be for a unit of this type. There is no noise or distortion of any kind. This unit was bought to be used with an Evans SE-200 steel guitar amp and a Pedal Steel Guitar. Because it would have been used with a Pedal Steel Guitar, the effects would have to be modified.

Not Applicable, I didn't have it long enough to comment on.

No Comment, I didn't have it long enough.

Because of the poor programming interface and the fact it didn't work (or at least this particular unit didn't) Overall I would rate it Poor. I also own a Peavey Transtube Fex Preamp/Effects Processor and have had other units that will program (although the Transtube Fex tends to be a little noisy and the noise gate must be used).

very old interface.
not user friendly at all.
you get lost in menu and sub menu and then other sub menu
A Nightmare, the worse I own/tried
and THERE IS A 1-2 SECONDS DROP WHEN CHANGING PRESET...
Forget using that tool if you need to change quickly the preset.

Beautifull transparent sounding reverb, superb on vocal.
chorus is great too, delay as well, lots of filter and cool stuff.
so bad it drop sound when you change the preset !
I was hopping to use it for my guitar, but it's impossible...
so I now use it for vocal and am really happy with it.

It failed me one time in 3 years. (a cap in the power section)

it tooks two times for they to fix the problem.
first time I got it back, they put A wrong value for the cap
and it burned again. second time was the good one.

interface is Nightmare...
sound is a dream...
If I can live with the interface, I can't give an excellent mark, due to the drop sound problem when changing preset. they are other product way better now IMO like the TC M-ONE or TC G-Major which are not that expensive regarding to what you get.
buy that unit if you need a very good reverb/delay an that's it.

Just a comment, after reading all the reviews, I couldn't help but notice everyone who complained about this unit, tend to be guitar players, who were comparing it to a bunch of stomp boxes in a row.
Many of my guitar friends tell me they like even like noise, grit, and other sonic by-products. For you guys I suggest you go buy a Boss se-70, this will replace all your Boss stomp boxes, and if you let the noise gate open .. it will add some nasty dirt, crunch, distortion, and flange that you are missing.

Now for the acoustic, new age, pop, and ballad types. You will love this unit, and are the ones who typical rave on and on about the legendary lexicon sound. This will add swirl, lushness, ambiance, sweetness, and yada, yada. And you guys will actually appreciate its 18/20 bit quiteness. As for all the double talk about not pulling enough DBs, please forgive those metal head guitar players who have been playing too close to their tower speakers.

I have a Boss se-70, and a lexicon, and let me tell you don't want to confuse the two. I wouldn't try and serve the Queen tea in a beer glass, ... just like it's important one uses the right gear for the proper job.

This unit is not straightforward to use. I found it very intimidating to begin with, but persverance pays off. This is a great sounding unit. Lexicon have tried to give the user as much control as possible, but this has led to endless navigation through menus, though the main stuff is only a couple of button pushes away.

I bought this unit for the reverbs and I am not disappointed. I use it in my project studio all the time for mixing down Compared to a PCM 70 (the only high end reverb I've tried) this thing has so many parameters and choices. In terms of sound quality there's not much in it. The reverbs do sound fantastic. I've also used some of the other effects, all to good effect. I have not had to do any serious tweaking on this thing - the presets are good and can easily be fine tuned. For the price, this gets a high rating.

Had it over a year and still going strong.

Not needed.

For a mid - price multi effects unit you could do a hell of a lot worse. This machine will keep you in busines, so many presets so little time..........

Ok, first, my review is from the point of view of a guitar player. I wanted a rack-mounted, midi-compatible unit that would handle all of my effects needs. I hate stomp boxes, and after reading several reviews I opted for the Lexicon. I have no interest in being a technical guru or studio engineering God in order to make my effects unit work, however...

This is the pits. The MPX-1 might have the most beautiful textures of any multi-effects processor, but I can't get at them. Editing patches is like trying to figure out how to launch the space shuttle.

And no, I'm not a dumbass. For those interested, I'm actually a professional computer programmer (and have, in the past, wored on communication satellite systems, and nuclear missiles). Part of my job is to build applications that are intuitive to users who don't have a clue. My company spends a lot of time (more time than most) researching user-interface design and making sure our products are usable by complete computer novices.

The guys at Lexicon obviously didn't do any of this kind of work, because this unit is as non-intuitive as they come. I don't think you could make the editing process any more complicated. Not only is the process complicated, and non-intuitive, but dialing-in the sound you are looking for can take WEEKS. Not minutes, not hours, not even days.. but WEEKS of tweeking. You literally need to be a complete expert on the unit in order to get the full benefit from it.

I feel pretty confident reading the other reviews here that this unit has some great sounds, and I'd love to be able to get them out of my unit, but the fact is this: I'm a guitar player, not a studio tech. I don't want to have to spend WEEKS to get the sound I'm looking for, and I shouldn't need to be an expert technician to be able to get the sounds I want. I mean, Lexicon includes the schematics for the signal routes in their manual. Why do I need to have the same level of intimate knowledge with this unit as the people who made it?

This is just bad design. A person shouldn't need to know *how* the code to a computer program operates in order to use the program for its intended purpose. Likewise, I shouldn't need to know every single freaking detail of this unit, down to the wire, in order to turn some knobs and get some tones...

My Setup:
Mesa Boogie Traixis Pre-amp
Mesa Boogie Simuclass 2:90 power amp
Rocktron Hush II-C Noise Gate
Rocktron MidiMate footpedal
Alesis Microverb IV
Lexicon MPX-1
Ibanez Guitars
DiMarzio Pickups

My system is as quiet as I've ever heard for a tube-amp setup. I've been amazed. Unless I'm playing outside in a loud venu, the noise gate doesn't get used because it's completely unnecessary. If I could get some nice textures from the Lexicon, I'd be in heaven. Since I can't, I don't think it's fair to rate this catagory.

Who knows? I can't get what I want from it, so I always go back to my Alesis, which doesn't color my sound, but isn't very fleixible or programmable.

Never called them - no rating

I play mostly progressive rock. I use effects to create textures, like a keyboard player uses different sounds to emphasize a particular mood or emotion. I try and do the same with effects. I wish I could give a A+ for this unit. But the difficulty in programming it just doesn't make it worth my time. I want to sit down with an effects unit and play, and create textures. With the Lexicon, I sit down and create frustration.

This gear was NOT intended to be the easiest to do editing. Lexicon tried to give the users a decent amount of control over it, but not as hard as other high end stuff. Whenever you get a gear, it is always a good idea to go through the manual once trying to get the general idea of what the gear can do. Then play with it, and whenever you wonder how you can do what you want to do, go back to the manual. Otherwise, it would be such a waste of money and time. It is when you finally feel pretty much comfortable using/editing it that you get the most of it, and can really decide whether the gear was really for you or not. To be fair, I don?t think editing this is that messy, obviously they tried to be logical when they wrote this program. But ?logic? depends on the person. That?s another reason why it is important to read the manual first and try to get the basic picture of it.

I have Yamaha MU90 sound module, which has 5 effect blocks including reverb. This is not a high end stuff, let alone an effect box. This is just ?by now already cheap? ?sound? module for desk top music. But I was very impressed with the effect quality of it, especially reverb. ?Early Reflection?(This is like ?Ambient? in Lex I guess.) ?Small Room? ?Chamber? ?Plate? and ?Hall? all sounded good to me, with a very smooth tail and everthing, right? So I was thinking, ?man! if this cheap, not even an effect box, can do such a good job, a dedicated effect box, especially if that?s a Lexicon, it?s got to be so good.? So maybe I was expecting a ?magic? out of it, probably. So my initial reaction was not that big. But after a while, I realized that it did not produce any noise at all, if I can hear some hiss noise, they are coming from either my Mackie or POD, (I have been testing the presets with my guitar in ?serial? connection.)
but that?s when I turn the volume up so meaninglessly high, which one would never have to do anyway. So it?s dead quiet, very good resolution, clean sound. Those who think it?s noisy, be careful with ?Balanced/Unbalanced? switch button, and clip. Once it reaches its clip point, suddenly the sound becomes distorted. The presets are just for ?Showing off? what it can do, and they are for everybody, all type of music. So don?t complain if they suck when you are only interested in, say, ?Death metal? and looking for a particular good effect. They are a good starting point and good indicator what sounds you can produce out of it. Just one concern. Depending on the preset, there is some latency, there is a slight gap between the time I play and the time I hear the sound, which makes it a little hard to play. I am not really sure if there were created that way or it depends on how many effects I use at a time. Well but the bottom line is its sound quality is pretty good and definitely better than using software reverbs I have tried. (Logic, Sound Forge, Wave etc. Too much CPU usage!)

Haven?t used it for a long time myself but looks pretty good. Definitely more ?heavy duty? gear than just a toy(of course). I am more worried about its software than the hardware. Hope it won?t crash or anything.

n/a

Overall, it?s a pretty good, decent gear you can expect from a mid range priced gear. ( but I geuss $700 new is kind of expensive for this, isn?t it ? when you can get pretty comparable boxes from others, like Yamaha or Roland etc.) Just because there are so many parameters available doesn?t mean you ALWAYS HAVE TO use them all. I like to have many parameters, so that I know there are there when I need it. In that sense, MPX1 is good. Balanced I/O and gold plated SF/DIF make this a lot more attractive. I am thrilled to explore more and find out more goodies on it later.

OK. The panel has a learning curve to master in terms of shaping all of the paramters. The left right arrow buttons the rotary knob, and the sublevels simply take time to master. It is not strictly intuitive. I think the engineers did the best they could with this type of interface, but, it is hard to treat the parameters for all the different effects this unit supports in the same manner. That being said, if you take the time to learn the interface, you have almost total control over each effect and where it sits in the chain. There are limitations on how many of different types of effects can be combined, but, it does come with 2 dsp chips, so its really not that much of a constraint imho.

The reverbs are not at the level of their higher end unit, but they are pretty damn good, and infinitely tweakable. I don't use phasers and flangers much, so I can't really compare, but the pitch shifting and EQ is great, and the modulation effects are also pretty good. All in all, if you take the time to shape the effects to your tastes, it is hard to be unhappy.

Fairly standard construction for a rack mount unit. I've had it a couple of years and take it here and there and never had a problem.

never needed em

I play edgey, ambient jazz influenced by a variety of sources, from film scores and spaghetti westerns to surf music and rockabilly. If you are going to perform with it, you pretty much need the fancy pedal, or at least a momentary footswitch and your patches laid out in a linear fashion. That way you can advance through the patches and reset for the next piece.

The editing absolutely SUCKS! I ditched mine because of this alone. The sounds are good but if it ain't easy to use it's not worth buying and this thing got me real pissed!

Very good sound quality. The verbs are nice.

No problems while I had it.

Never dealt with them.

Bottom line...the programming and editing of this unit is complete crap. If you are looking for something easy to use and program like a BOSS/Roland effects processor is, then this damn thing is not for you. I had this thing for a year and wanted to throw it out on the freeway and watch it get smashed to pieces. This friggin' thing is an absolute nightmare to work with. I don't recommend it!

Quoted from a review below :
"The reviewers who claim that 24 bit conversion is not necessary and 18 bit does just as well for guitar are mistaken. 24 bit conversion yields significant increased resolution in the digital reproduction of your tone over 18 bit conversion. People who say otherwise don't understand digital audio basics. "

I work as a signal processing engineer (aside from playing guitar of course). The guy quoted above must apply his own statement to himself : HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND DIGITAL AUDIO BASICS. 18 bits resolution enables more than 100 dB dynamic range and an electric guitar CANNOT produce at all such dynamic range. If you set the input levels properly on your sampling unit (MPX-1 for example), your guitar producing a dynamic range more in the region of 50 dB, the resolution offered by 18 bits sampling is already overkill.... It is widely different with a whole studio mix, but we're talking here about guitar tone, right ????

I am a programmer by trade so I cannot comment on what someone else's idea of ease would be but it didn't take long to learn my way around ( I have not investigated the MIDI mapping capability yet however ). Sit down and give the manual a good read cover to cover first before you do anything. You'll get a lot more out of the unit, be able to take advantage of the many, many features the unit has to offer with greater agility, and generally be much happier with your purchase.

Top notch. Excellent. Particularly the reverbs ; I bought this box primarily for the reverb after I heard it in the store. For digital recording I use: 44.1K out of a Kurzweil into the Lexicon into the SB Live into Cakewalk PA 9.0 out to MP3/RA G2. For this price point / quality ratio nothing comes close. Period. I know people with 150K worth of gear under their roofs and they're finished product doesn't sound any better. I'm not a digital chorus fan ( prefer to double the tracks with different patches and takes for a truer effect ). I found the delays extremely clean and some EQ pathes ( i.e. PCM 60 room ) particularly excellent for drums / bass. If you play keys / use samplers / write classical or instrumental music just turn the board's effects off and use this. You'll be very very happy.

In my opinion, This piece of equipment is designed for home / pro recording studios and not for gigging. I guess you could use it for gigging but I would be a little wary of taking it on the road for any length of time. Road worthy gear typically weighs a lot more than this baby due to the armour casings. I won't take my K2000S on the road anymore either for the same reason. Just being mildly paranoid.

This isn't a stomp box / point-and-shoot piece of gear ( if that is what you are looking for look elsewhere; don't complain if the quality of the sound later is nothing like the MPX1 though ). This is a fairly sophisticated piece of equipment. I would hope some reviewers would recognize the distinction.

I had to do a hard reset once and found it in their FAQ on the site. ( ver. 1.1 ). That was it. Never had a problem with it in over 2 years. Hope I never do.

I would give this piece of gear a 10. It does everything I expected it to do and more( and my expectations are high ). For home / digital recording studios I highly recommend this piece of gear. The most overlooked aspect is the fact that you can digitally capture any analog signal.

Virtually every parameter one could think of is adjustable including effects placement. This is good and it is always going to be a bit confusing when you have this many available parameters to set, but I find that it is more confusing than it ought to be. I think the manual could of been layed out better as well as the front panel.

80% of the presets are poor sounding. You will need to make adjustments to get good reverbs.
The reverbs are good but not excellent in general. I can hear that they are made up of tiny echoes on some settings so they aren't as smooth as I wish they were. By tweaking some parameters I can minimize this greatly and get some better sounding reverbs. I've heard much, much worse reverbs before. Without a doubt, you can get some good reverb sounds out of this unit, but it's full of presets that sound horrible.
The quality of the chorus is poor and the flange is horrible. I've heard better chorus and flange on much cheaper units.
The delays are excellent and offer a lot of parameters.

The reviewers who claim that 24 bit conversion is not necessary and 18 bit does just as well for guitar are mistaken. 24 bit conversion yields significant increased resolution in the digital reproduction of your tone over 18 bit conversion. People who say otherwise don't understand digital audio basics. Not only that, the 44.1k sampling rate is also outdated. ALL manufacturers of digital effects processors should be making the move to 24 bit 96k (and eventually 192k).
As for the drop-outs when changing patches, they ARE there and they ARE annoying. I expect more from a unit that originally cost $1000 when first released.

It seems very dependable.

I wouldn't buy one of these now. They are outdated and probably won't even be around much longer. Lexicon needs to release a new unit in this price range that is 24 bit 96k, wihtout the drop-outs when patch switching and is more user-friendly.

It's not as easy as stomp-boxes, but it's a pro-product and some professions ain't easy. Read the manual.

I think it's great sounding. At first I was planning to run it in a parallel effects loop, but this is the first machine I can live with using in the serial loop. And I did try a lot of stuff, like the "not as good as it looks" G-force.

The quality of the effects is great, but I reckon the quality of Chorus and Flanger is a mather of taste. I don't like to hear a single (or double) sine-wave. Makes me car-sick. I like the lush sounds of the Lexicon Chorus.

Reverb is much better than the G-force. Same for the delay. And most important: No software-bugs so far (unlike the G-force)

10 years ago I purchased a Rocktron Intellifex. It was a great tool for that time. Twoo years ago I purchased a G-force, and it was a big disappointment for me. I never really liked the sound of it. In fact.... I like the GT5 better!

But now I purchased the MPX-1.

If you really think every 24 bit AD or DA converter is better than a 18/20 bit version: Buy an other product and never look into a mirror again. Otherwise...buy the MPX1

Takes a while to get the hang of editing programs, but after soaking up the manual for a week, I'm starting to get the hang of it. The options on this unit are absolutely staggering! While it's not anywhere near as easy as multiple stompboxes, once you learn its functions, you can do 100x more than you could with pedals. I have Version 1.1 - getting the R1 footcontroller this week - if you're a guitarist, the R1 is a MUST HAVE to get the most out of the MPX-1

OKAY, HERE I GO . . . All of the reviewers who gave the MPX-1 the crappy reviews & retarded analogies below - I echo the other guys on this forum - YOU DON"T KNOW SH*T!!! You guys need to stick with Boss pedals, because you obviously don't know ANYTHING about the unit! Start off by reading the manual, I bet every negative reviewer NEVER did, or just don't know how to read. All the long dropouts you hear about are utter B.S! This unit is utterly transparent in the loop of my guitar amp, but I'll bet most of you have Mesas, Peavys, etc. Those companies make horrible effect loops, they don't work, they sound like ass, so of course a processor run in a crappy loop will sound like . .. crap. All the effects can be tweaked to sound incredible. The reverbs are to die for. The best in the business. The delays, choruses, flangers, eqs, etc., etc. sound rich, dynamic, and huge. All this talk of 'only 1 effect at a time' is a joke. I can get sounds that blow a hole in the stratosphere. Effect Processors don't sound any better than this. Oh, contrary to other's beliefs, you CAN edit ANY of the factory presets, what are you guys smoking?!?

Haven't had it long enough to say.

So far, so good. they've helped me out with tech questions & other matters.

Been playing 20+ years, most of 'em professionally. Have owned & played it all (almost . . ), the MPX-1 has allowed me to retire the pedalboard of 8+ stompboxes & get BETTER sound! FYI - I was a hardcore 'analog stompbox junkie' of the vintage/boutique variety UNTIL I tried this out. For multiple effect changes, amp channel-switching, pristing sound that reacts to your dynamics, unlimited routing possibilities - the MPX-1 rules. Oh yeah, for the record: this unit KILLS the TC G-Force,G-Major, etc. (not the 2290 - different story). For the price I got it for, it's the best gear purchase I've ever made. All you MPX-1 whiners - keep playing with your toys, cause that's ALL they are! Can't wait to hit the road with my new rig!

Not too hard to get a good sound. Some of the presets are pretty good; just a little tweeking gets them up and running nicely. You need to read the manual and learn the architecture of the unit, it probably doesn't take any more time to do that with this device as it would any decent rack unit. I was getting around on it pretty well in a couple of days, and was pretty efficient at setting things up within a couple of weeks. An a year and a half later, I'm still finding new ways to manipulate it.

It's very quiet and the sound quality is pristine. I've used it as a stereo guitar multi-effector although I'm starting to use it for recording as well.

I'm playing a Fender Strat, an Ibanez RG550, and a Hamer archtop through a Tophat Embassy. I run a line out signal from the Embassy into the MPX-1 for a post power amp signal. I then send a stereo signal from the MPX-1 into a solid state Kustom power amp and into a couple of cabs I had sitting around.

Reverbs and delays are great. I like a number of the EQ settings, I have 5 or 6 different ones that I use with various reverbs. Flanges and choruses are decent, nothing extreme here, but they do the job. The pitch shifter and the phaser are pretty basic, I wish the phaser had some additional steps. It sounds fine, but it's kind of limited. And I wish they had had at least a basic harmonizor for this unit.

If you want extreme, organic phasing, flanging, etc, buy a high end analog stompox, like a Lovetone or something. On the other hand, this does some detailed, subtle stuff that is useful, even playing live.

Lexicon wisely limited how many effects that you can run on this unit at one time so that what gets used has sufficient processing power to sound good. You might not be able to add a flange in with that delayed' eq setting. However, single or dual effects are very present and tweakable.

And even the few patches that do allow you to run a bunch of effects at once, sound decent. There's some loss of high end perhaps, but you're always gonna get some sort of sonically confused sound anytime you have a bunch of effects running at the same time, even if they run independently.

The effects do drop out for a moment when changing patches, but I rarely find myself having to do that. Why does anyone need to change from patch to patch to patch within a song anyway?? You can turn effects within a patch on and off immediatly as you'd like. Or you can use the expression pedal to change parameters, or the switch under the pedal or the a/b switch, or other internal or external switches...lots of stuff you can do.

It's been relliable in the time I've had it. I am gigging without a backup. If I have the extra bucks sometime, of course I'll get a backup. You should always have a backup on hand if you can. Duh.
On the other hand, there are few songs that I couldn't play without it.

One caveat: when changing patches within the Midi map on the fly, be very careful. If you accidently hit the wrong button, it will delete the Midi map (the assignment of your effects to your pedalboard) WITHOUT EVEN ASKING YOU "ARE YOU SURE"? That sucks. Lexicon, you need to fix this next time you upgrade the software. It's happened to me 2 or 3 times, and then I need to go back in and put all of my patches back in order. It can make for a pretty stressful situation.

Pretty good. They usually respond quickly, and if it's a critical issue, they come through pretty well. They have ignored me on a couple small complaints I've made.

They have walked me step by step through a couple problems. I came up with a glitch once they had never realized before, but they came up with a solution.

I play rock, blues, funk, and stuff like that. It's a very good sounding processor for the money. I tried a G2, and thought it sucked hard for all that money. This is nice and (relatively) simple. I'm not using digital distortions, just time delay effects and eq's. I A/B'D this against an intellifex, a roland unit, a rocktron unit and a couple other units when I was trying it out, and it sounded clearer than any of them, hands down.

I''ll buy another one when I can.

My ratings are conservative, ( I don't think I've given anything a 10 on Harmony Central) nothing is perfect, your mileage may vary. But I like it.

I'd like to corroborate the Anonymous posting complaining about some of the user reviews for this product. While some portions of these reviews are opinions, some contain significant factual errors or omissions. For example:

"In a nutshell, I think you could get the same sound quality and much more flexibility if you lined up a bunch of Boss stomp boxes."

"Also, the ADDA conversion specs, 18 bit in and 20 bit out, how long ago was that competitive? And they're still the same today. Think about it. It might explain some of the shortcomings in the sound quality-dynamic range with those converters is like 10-15 dbs less than 24 bit. Sometime I'd like to SPDIF the MPX 1 through a 24 bit converter to see if the sound gets better."

I am appalled at the sheer ignorance indicated by these comments. Put simply, the people who wrote these reviews should not be writing reviews on harmony central. Converters are important, but someone who only uses an MPX 1 in a guitar/amp rig and/or clearly has such limited knowledge of pro audio is not qualified to pass such sweeping judgements.

Very easy to get great sounds Reverb, Chorus,Delay & EQ spot on The Leslie FX is poor. Patch edit takes some time to get into, however you don't have to go into deep at first, but it is worth getting into. Manual is large but is quick reference card is included. Version 1.10

I am using this unit in a project studio as main mixdown reverb. However as a guitar player I have used this for FX for tracking etc; If you mike up amps/direct amp simulators etc; and use th MPX1 for FX only you can get a great sound recorded. I think the guitar presets if modified are good, much better than my Zoom 9001 advanced studio processor rack unit. I can get sounds ranging from hendrix/curtis mayfield funk to Byrds/Stone Roses/JohnnyMarr Jangle! You couldn't use the overdrive/distortion for metal/hard rock( the Wah Wah is cool though!) but I believe this unit is aimed at recording musicians primarly. I don't think the MPX1 is noisy at all

Very well built, it is a expensive unit to take to a gig! but it would be reliable, no doubt.

N/A

Music I play is Guitar Pop/Soul/Funk. I feel a lot of equipment in the marketplace is aimed at Heavy Metal/Rock/Grunge etc;. Have been playing Guitar(mostly recording/ vocals lately!) 16 years & have Project studio at Home. I would consider this unit again, unless something better value waas released. I compared it against the TC M2000 at the time. I love the Lexicon sounds my own presets & the plate / chamber reverbs. There sould be more room for user presets/or a storage card. I've made my first solo album/CD with the MPX1, it bought the quality FX I needed especially for Vocals/Drums. I know that it's not a Lexicon PCM80/90 but for the price it's outstanding. People who use it for Guitar FX only do not realise how good this unit is in the recording studio. I have recorded in other 24 track studio's with much worse processors/FX than this unit.

Just a quick comment on the 4 or 5 reviews below. Either you guys are not talking about the right product, or you don't know shit about effect processors.... Some of you also seem plainly dishonest. First, a bit of technical rant. The MPX-1 HAS indeed the lexichip in it. If you knew something about signal processing, you would know that such resolutions as 18 bits input 20 bits output are plainly sufficient, even superfluous for a guitar, an instrument that doesn't have a huge dynamic range... All the 24 bits products you see popping out every day are just marketing bullshit, only worth in full-blown mixes and very special situations like the huge dynamic range of an opera singer or something like that. To the guy who talked about the flexibility : read the manual again and maybe you'll get it right this time. Every parameter are fully tweakable, much more than on a run-o-the-mill TC M-ONE or G-Major. Saying that you can get the same quality with a couple of boss stompboxes is utter bullshit. About the dropout between presets, you must have defective units. I timed it on mine too and it takes between 0.1 and 0.4 seconds in the worst case (6 effects at the same time whis obviously is rarely the case).... And stop bitching about the presets.... They are only demo presets and like with every other processors, they are not adapted to your particular needs. Wake up, it is not a stompbox. It's a full pro unit and you are meant to create your own programs (of course, that means reading the manual and actually understanding it). All I can say to all the people that may have been frighten by those dumb reviews, try it for yourself and see what you think. IMO, it's the best value along with the G-Major in that price range for now. I prefer the MPX-1 because unlike the G-Major, it has a 5 band eq, the reverbs simply sounds much better and using the dedicated pedalboard is a breeze. To sum up : fantastic value for the price.

It's not a hard processor to get around if you read the manual. What I'm referring to is the flexibility of the processor. The programs in this box are not designed to be manipulated to any great degree. In some cases, the MPX-1 simply won't accommodate even slight modifications. Mine is the 1.10 software version, which basically means that some presets have replaced other presets to become a little more guitar oriented and can facilitate use with the MPX-R1 midi controller

My MPX-1 is hooked up to a 5150 II which drives a Mesa Recto Cab. My guitars are Ernie Ball and Strats.
The delays are, for the most part, quite good and the reverbs are real good and a little more flexible than the other effects seem to be. The chorus seems a little muddy. Certainly, they could take a lesson from t.c. electronic. The flanger is quite weak to the point of being not useable as a flanger. There is one phaser preset, and it sounds very buzzy.
In a nutshell, I think you could get the same sound quality and much more flexibility if you lined up a bunch of Boss stomp boxes.

I've owned it for over a year, and has never given me a problem, as far as operation.

Never dealt with Lexicon's customer support.

If you're looking for an upper-mid quality level of effects where price is an issue, you may consider checking out the MPX-1. Out of the 200 presets, only about a third of the presets are designed to be guitar oriented. The MPX-1 is the only Lexicon rack that Does NOT have the Lexichip built in it, so that effects sound quality and flexibility. Admittedly, my 5150 head does not have stereo capabilities, so I can't make full use of the MPX-1, so that makes sound quality and flexibility all the more important for me. Presently, I'm saving up for a G-Force.

This review is for guitar rig applications, so if you had another use in mind for the MPX1, my recommendation might be different. Some things are easy and others are not. You have about five or six things to remember in order to edit patches, if you're buying an effects box, you should be able to handle that. Trying to set the bypass level is a cumbersome, stupid process that I can never remember. Some of the presets that are supposed to use a pedal require you to actually have to create the patch or activate the pedal or effect mix. It's a PRESET guys, come on! That's really dumb. Kind of shows how much they care about their low and mid-range product line. They upgraded at one point with a 1.1 version chip, basically changing some presets and adding some footcontroller accommodations. They didn't change anything substantial. The manual is good, a little confusing. The MPX1 is a stereo unit and the manual recommends using a two into 1 jack for mono effects loop applications, although you can set it up as mono. Again, come on guys! I have to jerry rig your product to work properly in a guitar application, when you say that's what you designed it for? One reviewer on this page said he got better results setting it up for mono internally, I recently tried it and for simple effects I'd have to agree. Thanks buddy.

First there's the time lag, waiting for presets to change somewhere between 1 and three seconds. A digitech RP6 from the same year performs better on this. It would be forgiveable if they upgraded, fixed it, and sold new units that worked properly. But five years later and the unit they sell...still the same. Jeez! Also, the ADDA conversion specs, 18 bit in and 20 bit out, how long ago was that competitive? And they're still the same today. Think about it. It might explain some of the shortcomings in the sound quality-dynamic range with those converters is like 10-15 dbs less than 24 bit. Sometime I'd like to SPDIF the MPX 1 through a 24 bit converter to see if the sound gets better.

Reverb is great, provided you get the setup balls on right, and good luck with that. EQ is good, real nice. Pitch is adequate. Delay is good. Chorus is good.

The rest of the effects sound really good, but they lack depth, particularly the Phaser. Want to sound like Keith Richards? Forget it. The phaser sounds like a strong chorus, really. Adjust the parameters? I could've worn out the friggin knobs adjusting the parameters. It's nice that you can choose between a cry-baby or vox wah, but did I say wah? I meant blah! Again, no depth.

Yeah, its reliable enough. Sometimes it spikes and you have to reboot it, which takes two minutes.

Need a good reverb and low key effects for your studio? If you already have a 24 bit device and can spdif, you might get one of these. For a guitar rig, get something else. Too many disadvantages.

I HAVE ONLY OWNED THIS UNIT FOR 3 DAYS & THIS PIECE OF JUNK IS GETTING RETURNED TODAY. I will get a real guitar processor instead... The TC Electronic G-Force (although much more expensive) comes to mind.

Very good, but.... This unit has a SERIOUS DROPOUT PROBLEM. I bought it to use as a guitar processor. This was a BIG MISTAKE because when you change patches there is a 2 to 3 second delay before the new patch is loaded & starts processing the signal. That's right folks, I timed it. The sounds are very good but this unit is better suited for studio procesing & not as a guitar effects unit. In short DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT IF YOU WANT TO USE IT AS A GUITAR PROCESSOR (UNLESS YOU NEVER CHANGE PATCHES DURING A SONG!!!). For this reason alone I give it a 2 as far as sound quality in terms of guitar processing. For $700 this thing should not have such a huge dropout problem... I mean I have an old ART box that I bought back in the early 90's & as far as speed it is much faster & the technology in that box is 10 yrs older!!!! It does not make any sense that Lexicon would let this box go out the door like this. It's all about the $ kiddies... be warned & watch out.

Who cares, it's going back today.

Who cares, it's going back today.

Who cares, it's going back today.

I use this for guitar in my amp's loop. There is a steep, long learning curve with this unit if you want to get into deep down editing and create your own sounds using all the vast features and options. One thing that sucks is that out of the 250 programs, 200 are uneditable factory presets that are either pretty generic, or too wild and unusable. You only get 50 blank user presets to do what you want with them. But the biggest thing that sucks about this unit is the 1 second program change time. 1 long second of NO effects, just a crude audible dropout. Note to Lexicon: This is 2001 and IC chips that can remedy this delay are cheap and plenty. Do something about this long dropout on your next processor in this price range! Hell, add $100 more for it and I'll pay it.

Sound quality is very clear and clean, but like I said above, the presets are either generic, or they are too wild, so I spend time making my own programs that sound way better for guitar amp use than their presets. The previous reviewer said that the reverbs sound sterile and digital, but a lot of this comes down to how the reverbs are eq'd. Some of the preset reverbs have too much high freq for my taste, so I edit them with a lower high freq cutoff and they sound smooth and warm. Sounds like the previous reveiwer didn't get down to editing it at all. It was once reported in a major music magazine that around 90% of all users of rack effects units, synth modules, and other programmable musical gear only end up using factory preset sounds and never edit them or make their own sounds! So take most "reviews" with a grain of salt because most people don't know or care enough to get the most out of editable gear anyways! They just base their reviews on the presets, which is always down to the opinions of the programmers, and not the end user. This unit can do virtually anything, but you have to get down to editing it, and that takes a while to understand and utilize fully.

Sometimes it locks up or freaks out from a voltage spike on the AC line, so then you have to reinitialize it and it's ok, BUT you lose your user presets, so make notes on them before reinitializing them, or dump them into your computer via midi first.

Depends on who you get, like most phone support people in general. I called twice. Once the guy was very impatient and treated me like a dummy for not knowing how to do something on it, and then told me how to really fast and not step by step, so he was an unhelpful ass. But another time, I got a guy who was new to their tech support line, and although I knew more than him about the unit, he found out the answers to my questions and called me back right away like 5 times on their dime with the answers to my questions. But, this was probably because he was a "new guy" and wanted to do a good job, so he wasn't around long enough to get burned out on the job yet. Telephone support jobs suck and have high turnover rates. I've been there.

Overall it's the best effects processor so far (as of dec. 2000) under $1000 *IF* you learn to edit it, and *IF* you can stand the 1 second of program change time. If not, look elsewhere.

Basically very wasy to use. Manual really helps.

I use the unit with a a Digitech 2101, 2112, Lexicon Vortex, Oberheim Echoplex. My preamp is a Mesa Formula into Fender Jensen and JBL cabs.

The unit is very quiet.

Here's the deal, though. I don't like the reverbs. Yes, that's right! Very stale. Very digital. Forget lush, big, smooth, round. They sound cheesy. Same is true with the other effects (see other reviews). The reverbs in my Digitechs are way better - at least to my ear.

Seems to be very reliable. No problems, yet. Maybe it's because I never have a need for it.

They were helpful in taking my credit card number when ordering the manual. Very supportive!

I play blues, surf and ambient, textural stuff. Been playing for 25+ years. On a number of CD's. For blues and surf, stick with the Fender reverb cans. For ambient. I don't know. Still looking.

I do have a MidiVerb which I like Much better than the MPX-1. It sounds richer and fuller.

My suggestion is to try one first. Spend a few days with it. If you like it, great! Don't let the name fool you.

If the unit was stolen? I would be listening for the musician with the stiff sounding reverb! No, I wouldn't buy another MPX-1.

Easier to use than most of their other stuff just based on simplicity of design, but reading the manual still is laboring because you get caught up in the terminology and have to think more about what is written, rather than what the procedure is.

Used with guitar equipment and the transparency kicks butt! MAJOR DISSAPPOINTMENT with a delay in MIDI switching patches. Around a full second of delay between switching patches. MAJOR let down. I expected at least that basic commodity out of such a company. Otherwise the sound quality is top notch, very transparent, nice array of options (considering what you pay for the unit) and reasonable "tweakable-ness".

Haven't really ROAD tested it yet, but unit seems rugged enough to try it with confidence.

My basic setup is MIDI switching (Rolls Patchmate) with the MPX-100, a Mesa Mark IV and wah and volume pedal with some higher end Ibanez guitars. I get sound super high quality sounds that dont sound like cheap 80's effects units. For the price.......I'll take one anyday. Quality quality quality. If there wasn't at least a full second delay time while MIDI switching, it would be perfect and my search would end. I fear I'll have to buy the next model up to overcome that hurdle, but it WILL be another Lexicon!

Setting up the MPX 1 with my home studio was a piece of cake, and if you start out by using some factory programs it's very easy to get that stunning Lexicon sound. The OS can be rather confusing though, because of a two-level editing structure--the first level just contains some basic parameters, but the second, which offers more comprehensive settings is difficult to find. When you select an effect, a cluster of buttons to the right of the small LCD window lights up to indicate which specific effects are active (e.g. for Rich Hall, the EQ button, the Delay, and the Reverb buttons illuminate showing that those are the basic effects in use). This feature is very handy IMHO. The small display doesn't help the ease of use factor, as it can take quite a few button presses before you find the parameter you need, and since the MPX 1 is such a deep machine this can take longer than expected. Another thing that makes the unit's OS confusing is that sometimes you turn the jog wheel to select parameters, and the "<" or ">" buttons to change the value, and sometimes it is the complete opposite (i.e. the jog wheel to change values).

Still it's not difficult to do what you need to do with the unit, meaning that if the chorus is too thick, or your sound is too bassy you can easily correct the settings once you get the hang of it.

IMHO the manual is excellent; in fact I think it's the best manual I own. It's well-organized, well-written, and fits the intended market like a glove (it doesn't bore you with pages of technical jargon, but at the same time it doesn't provide obvious information that only a beginner wouldn't know, or try to capture the reader's attention with incredibly lame puns or "jokes" like sme of Mackie's manuals do).

My MPX 1 is version 1.1. Version 1.1 adds support for the guitar control pedal system (the exact model escapes me at the moment) and replaces about 25 version 1.0 presets with presets intended more for guitarists.

The sound quality is absolutely superb, with 18 bit A/D and 20 bit D/A conversion, and beautifully transparent particularly with the reverbs. You probably know by now that the reverbs are the main selling point for the MPX 1, and they most certainly deliver the goods. Whether you put sounds through deep hall effects, like the Madison Square Garden preset, or the *very* useful ambience reverbs, this unit will not disappoint. The sound is rich and full and adds a certain polish to whatever you put through it. The reverb tails are noticeably smoother than the MPX500 if you listen carefully, and sound slightly fuller and more realistic. As for the PCM91, I listened very carefully, and it definitely sounded a *little* bit different I think, but nowhere near what it would take me to spend an extra $1450!!!

The delays are uniformly excellent, the choruses are nice and thick without being muddy, although I agree with another reviewer that the flange effects are rether tame. The pitch shifting is not bad at all for such an inexpensive unit (inexpensive compared to an Eventide that is). You can program some monster effects with this unit though, by using the sweepable resonant filter with a pitch-shifted delay for example--with 2 LFOs, 2 ADSR envelopes etc you can have some fun.

I've had the MPX 1 for about 2 1/2 months or so, but it's been installed in my studio rack the whole time, so I can't comment on its gig-worthyness (although Lexicon has a very good reputation ). When I first opened the package I was kind of surprised at how cheap-feeling the buttons are on the front panel. Some of them get stuck in the down position, which doesn't interfere with the processor's operation, but it's not exactly confidence-inspiring nonetheless. The unint I used in the strore definitely did not have these cheap buttons. A quick investigation revealed that earlier MPX1s were made in the U.S., while newer units are made in China, presumably to cut costs (the price used to be about US $1000; I bought mine new for $650). . .

Never dealt with the firm, but they have a very good reputation.

I write electronic music, but I play rock and classical quite a bit. I highly recommend this processor for any use, except for guitarists specifically looking for amp simulators or distortion. I particularly like to use the reverbs on sampled realistic acoustic drum parts. . .The sound is fantastic of course, and the MPX1's awesome midi implemention can be very useful for techno fiends such as myself. The build quality leaves a little to be desired, but at $650 for something that sounds this good, I'm not really complaining too much. Connectivity is good too, with balanced XLR and TRS I/O (+4/-10dBu switchable), S/PDIF in and out, and separate MIDI in/out/thru connectors. I suppose it would be nice to have the 24 bit converters on the MPX500, but for the kind of music I make I wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference.

This is the 1.1 version I am writing about. Unit sounds incredible on alot of factory presets, obviously the verbs are excellent. Editing is actually pretty easy once you get into it. The manual is a MUST HAVE to fully understanding this thing.You will be referring to it ALOT!! The midi-mapping has been my only headache..but after alot of mistakes Im getting it down. Well worth the money. However, if you really want the most out of this toy..you NEED the R1 controller!! What a difference it makes!! You then have total control on all patches including factory ones, of what you want on at any given time,making every effect an instant access type feel. Great combination especially when you get into making your own presets and want different effect sounds within a song without changing presets.

This is being run thru a Mesa 395 power amp thru a mesa Quad preamp and a sansamp PSA1 into a patchmate which controls the TC 2290 and this piece into 2....2x12 mesa original cabs for full stereo. The sound is unbelievable..clean and not noisy at all!! Adjust the master mix levels internally if a patch drops out on you..not hard at all. I play Morse, Petrucci, Vai and its sound is right there!! I liked this unit because of having no distortion. With two seperate preamps..why have a third. Anyway..I have never heard a multi effect with a distortion that comes close to a real stand alone preamp. Rotary effects and split cabinet stereos are KILLER!! Have made a great patch with chorus and different left and right delay times using only the Lexi...when you add the 2290 into it...forget about it!! (Thanks Frank!!) Again..get the R1 controller to really appreciate the flexibility of this thing.

Mine has never locked up or done anything unusual..it is in the rack to stay. I listened to the TC M-one and D-two and G-force before i bought this. Loved the g-force but didnt want distortion. This ruled over the other two unit.

Lexicon has been GREAT!! I have spoken to the rep at least a dozen times as well as downloading all the FAQ on their website about this piece...a great feature I think!! They may write a complicated manual that takes a while to understand but they are there for you if you feel the need to "chat".

Ive been playing over 25 years and teaching guitar for 21 so I have used quite a few things in my life. This is one of the best. It really has alot to offer for the money once you get into it. Use it in stereo..if you use in mono..go internally and set the unit for mono operation to get the right sounds from the patches. It is a hard unit to work at first, but its worth it when you get it right. After all these years, my rig is finally done!! Of course my wife doesnt believe that but......!!

Well, that's one of the biggest weaknesses of this unit. The display is a two-line alphanumeric type and you must constantly move between pages with these forward and backward buttons. Very awkward. The other big gripe is that there are a gazillion presets but only room for a few user patches. The store lost the manual so I can't comment on that but the really stupid thing is you can't download one from their website. They'll glady charge you for one though.

I used this with a Fender Strat Ultra into a Mesa Triaxis preamp and a VHT 2502 power amp into a couple of single 12" cabs. The reverb is very nice as are the chorus and flanger. The EQ's are ok but, and this is a big but, if you are using the chorus you can't fit any of the EQ algorithms except for like some silly ones like autowah or something. Forget having a nice 3-band parametric along with chorus: won't fit (even the one-band won't fit, sheesh). The pitch-shifter is surprisingly good. The Leslie simulator is decent.

A big problem though is the level difference between normal and bypass modes. When you bypass the effects the level goes up dramatically. Not very practical for live use.

The routing leaves a lot to be desired. You can order the effects any way you want but there are only two parallel paths. So you are pretty much stuck with serial routing and an occasional route around an effect.

All-in-all the sound is very good but for something that brags about having two-processors it should have enough horsepower to run a chorus with an EQ. I have to knock a few points off because of this.

In a word: terrible. The thing locks up about once every few hours. I would not use it on a gig. Even worse, the only way to reset it is to turn it off and back on again and it take about 15 seconds to start up.

Overall the unit has a cheap feel to it. The buttons and knobs feel cheap. The chassis is average, not quite as solid as my Q20. I thought Lexicon was a high-end product but this product feels like they were doing everything they could to keep costs down (except for the XLR inputs).

The lock-up issue is a biggy though, minus five points.

I've been playing for over 20 years and I've owned a closet full of processors including an Alesis MidiVerb, Quadraverb, Q20, Digitech TSR-24, etc. The MPX 1 sounds great but it has some serious problems and I cannot recommend it. I'm currently using a TC Electronics G-Force and overall it beats the snot out of the Lexicon.

So far the presets are keeping me occupied, many seem more than useful right out of the box. After browsing through the manual, I think I could find my way around the unit for editing (as long as the manual was within arms reach for frequent research!)

I'm using this primarily as a studio reverb, but wanted the option of having other effects on board (should I need them). Sort of a "kill two birds with one stone" choice. I've also ordered a Lexicon MPX500 as a secondary effecs unit. Seems quiet "provided" it is run balanced, a bit noisy otherwise!
I am aware the high end Lexicons have extremely great reverbs, this was the next best IMHO, at a price slightly higher than my budget (Isn't everything?!) Having said this, I am very satisfied with the reverbs, as well as general effects, to the point I would really have to consider the usable difference versus price before going to the higher end units. But if you can afford it....

Don't know, just purchased. Good reputation, bought from reputable dealer, so I won't lay awake at night worrying about it.

Same as above, don't know....would deal with store where purchased anyway.

I tried other reverbs/multi-effects as well as stand alone digital reverbs, liked some (Roland SRV 3030) but had to demo a Lexicon as well before deciding...chose the Lexicon for one reason...sound quality of the reverbs!!!

Easy enough if you consider the editing options that the unit offers. Spend a little time with the manual if the units operation is not intuitive enough for you.

Sounds fine in most applications. To extrapolate on that statement, as long as the external effects interface of your amp/mixer/whatever, doesn't mangle signal trying to send/return it, it sounds good enough.

No problems encountered yet. Have only had it a month.

Once you get used to how this thing works its pretty easy to use but at first I had a hard time getting it going. I had to email lexicon support several times. The manual is not written very well in my opinion. It was almost no help to me.

Im using this thing with a triple rectifier and a les paul and with the presets ive made it sounds pretty good. i havent tried the tc electronics or eventide processors but this sounds just as good or better than everything else ive tried. its very low noise and it hardly takes anything away from the tone at all. i play mostly heavy metal and i can get sounds out of it like korn which is pretty cool.

hasnt failed me yet.

Ive had to write to lexicon several times and i was pretty disappointed. it took them several days to write back and they werent always all that helpful. a couple of their letters were incredibly brief and useless.

The one thing that pisses me off about this thing is that it has 200 presets most of which are useless to my style of playing and there isnt a way to erase them and ive only made a few of my own programs and there already isnt enough memory left to use many of the effects. for example i tried making a program with only an eq effect and i couldnt do it because there wasnt enough room. on a blank program? i have 40 of them left! i wrote to lexicon and all they said was i used up too much memory with my other programs. maybe if they werent so cocky about their presets i could erase them and make room for what i want.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Butter. It couldn't be any easier. You turn it on, hit PROGRAM, bada-boom-bada-bing.. you're on broadway.

How about Editing patches?

Dunno... haven't got out of the presets yet. There are over 200 presets and IMO, every single one is OUTSTANDING.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

Than manual is written by fluent english writers (Roland, listen up). My 2nd grader can follow it; I'm not kidding, it's that straight forward. Butter. Ever read a Mackie manual? Well, subtract a bit of the entertaining sharp wit and replace it with a dash of arrogance, and you've got your Lex manual ;)

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
1.02 I believe

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

I'm using it for vocals primarily. But I also use it for my grand pianos, string ensembles, etc. As a self producer, there is nop better effects on the planet.. IMO.

Is it noisy?

Hahahaha.. for $800 it BETTER not be ;) No, it is silent.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

You CAN'T make it sound it bad. Trust me, the sound is heavenly. 'AMBIENCE' is a word that should not be allowed unless it is used in the same sentence as Lexicon.

What amp are you using it with?

20/20bas. I can't tell you my instrument setup because I'd have to kill you, but I will say this, with my current kybd and modules, along with my BELOVED Mackie mixer, my sparklin/boomy 20/20bas', and my darling Lexicon MPX-1, I have never been so inspired to write music in all of my life. I'm loving life.. truly.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists?

Errr.. I'm still working on that freakin' Barney song, you know, "I love you, you love me..." but I'm having a major chord composer's block write now and can;t figure out the progression.. hehehehe :)
Listen, my aim was to get the kind of room ambience say, Harry Connick and his trio can get. Now I have it. Sometimes I get so dreamy while playing a grand patch with the "Empty Club Room" preset, I forget where I am.

Who are they?

Too many to list. I like soul and jazz for the most part though.. all the greats in both categories.. yunno... Herman, Sinatra, Strayhorn, Monk, Miles, Diz, Tyner, Roberts, etc etc etc etc.. Stevie Wonder, Womack, Sly, Prince, Clinton, EWF.. etc etc etc

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?

Everything is fantastic; it's a Lexicon, I read some of the other reviews here about noisy effects, etc.. PUHLEEEZE. I guess my ear isn't that discriminating. I wonder how many of the greats thoughout history could even pick up on something so ridiculously small like a microscopic amount of noise like that. I say pay attention to your MUSIC unless something is stifling your creativity or screwing up your mix. Forget the little stuff. There are still guys making extraordinary tunes on the Ensoniq Mirage. Get real.

Dunno. I don't gig. I'm a house rat. Seems fine to me.

No clue.. hope I never have to talk to their Sacks 5th Ave asses ;)

What style of music do you play?

Soul, jazz, hiphop

Is this a good match?

I can't imagine any listenable style of music the Lexicon couldn't enhance.

How long have you been playing?

Playing: 20 years
Producing/Mixing/Recording: 10 years on and off

What other gear do you own?

Ahhh, OK, twist my arm: XP80, Proteus 2000, Mack 1202vlzpro, Event 20/20bas, Event Gina, and a big ol' powerful computer to make it all play nice together :)

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

If it got ganked from my house, it would be insured, so yes, I'd buy it again. If it got ripped from somewhere else, I guess I'd have to start saving again :) Listen, I was SCARED TO DEATH to pay this much for an effects unit... but then I said to myself, "Self, if you're SERIOUS about your music, then you need to have a SERIOUS sound. And if you're SERIOUS about your vocals, you'd best surround them with the best gear money can buy. Suffice to say, I haven't regretted spending a penny.

what do you love about it?

The VIBE/Ambience it creates. This MF is ALIVE. I mean, it breathes and pulsates like a REAL room/hall/etc Do you have ANY IDEA what that can do for your creativity and your inspiration? If not, get your a$$ down to a music store and make them hook one up to a board with a GREAT grand piano... and brace yourself.

What do you hate?

Not being able to afford two more and a 1642 vlz mixer ;(

What is your favorite feature?

Ease of use with presets. I dig presets anywayz. So it's a blast for me.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones?

Compared to the MPX-100 (you get what you pay for kids, beware!) , and some ART, Alesis crap.

Why did you choose this one?

One word: reverb

Anything you wish it had?

Pictures of animated naked ladies that carry cards across the screen like at a boxing match: because this box KNOCKS ME OUT everytime I listen to it. (hey don;t touch that, I just copyrighted it :)

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

It inspires me to heights I could have never dreamed. And no, I have nothing to do with Lexus--errr Lexicon. I just call it like I see it.

Anything else you'd like to share?

Bottom line:

IT'S PRICEY. I know, it hurts to think you could buy another synth for the money it costs. But the way I see it, it enhances everything in your rack, including your voice. It is an instrument all on it's own. How important is your demo? Your performances? The way listeners perceive your skills and ability? I bet you answered "VERY" to all of the abovem right? If you did, you need reverbs like this to make your music SING, to give it life, to give it natural space and REAL ambience. And if you said "Not very," you're lying because you wouldn't be reading a LEXICON review if any of the above weren't important to you.

And now, my friends, excuse me while I disappear... unnoticed, subtly, smoothly, gracefully, beautifully... like the whispering tail of a sonically SUPERIOR Lexicon reverb.

Peace,

MJ

The Lexicon MPX-1... what a box! I've had the unit for about six months now, and have gotten to know quite a bit about it. It's extremely easy to use if you're a 'Plug in and go' type of player (I play guitar and use it as an effects processor for my rig -- It is NOT a guitar- specific processor. It can be used on anything). However, for those of us who like to tweak a bit with the presets, things get pretty involved, but never out of control. It's pretty straightforward as far as editing goes. The patterns for editing are consistent throughout the machine, making things easy to remember. Not bad for a two-line display at all!

I use the MPX-1 in the effects loop of my Mesa Dual Rectifier Solo Head. The amp has a parallel effects loop, which allows me to tweak with the sends and returns from the amp as well as the input and output levels controlled by two knobs on the front of the MPX-1. I had a problem when I had the effects sends and returns on the amp at 50% and the MPX's levels set at approriate levels. I kept getting this ugly phased-out type noise (like when two identical sounds play at the same time at the same volume). This sounded bad and was really noticeable on higher notes played around the twelfth fret on the G, B, and E strings. Not good for solos at all! Sooo... I just cranked the Amp's sends and returns and set the MPX's 'Global Mix' at around 60%. This got rid of that nasty sound but the levels are a little weak in some presets. Nothing MAJOR, but a slight loss in volume. I know this doesn't sound very professional, but I'm NOT a pro, and this is the only way i've been able to correct the sound. I doubt there would be any problem in a serial (in line) effects loop. I kind of discredit my amp for this setback more than the MPX-1. The range of sounds is incredible, especially if you're a 'tweaker'. Noise is not an issue at all with this unit. My amp is noisier than this thing could ever TRY to be, so if it IS noisy, I wouldn't know. I'd ask a studio pro about that. The reverbs... Oh my... Ya gotta hear 'em. They're even better when you start adjusting values. I didn't know there was this much to a reverb, and frankly didn't think it was that critical. But now i've become dependent on them for my sound. These are the best in the biz. The Chorus, Mod, Delay, Pitch, and EQ effect blocks more than suit my needs, and are easily set up to produce a good sound. Effect routing and order are easily accessible, and open up infinite possibilities. Sometimes though, it seems that when i'm creating a sound, especially one with pitch shifting, the availability of other effects is drastically reduced. The manual says this is because the pitch programs require tremendous amounts of processing power and it doesn't have room for many other effects. This is kind of a bummer... but it's a good Pitch shift! The reverb is never compromized, having it's own dedicated DSP so it is available no matter what. Distortion? forget it. I have a Dual Recto, so why would I need a separate source for distortion when I already have the fattest crunch in the industry? It does do some cool subtle stuff with the radio, television and telephone presets though.

It looks to be very solid, and it seems to be evenly balanced as far as weight (meaning the rear of the unit doesn't outweigh the front 5 to 1 creating an awkward stress on the mounting brackets). I can't afford to have a backup, but it doesn't matter. This thing is built to tour and perform as well as sit in a studio.

I've thought about getting the v1.1 upgrade, but other than being able to connect with the new MPX-R1 footcontroller, I don't know of any added benefits for upgrading. I've never needed to contact Lexicon, but when I e-mailed them and requested information in this unit about a year ago, they sent me a nice color and INFORMATIVE brochure at no charge. It came with the brochure, the company newsletter, a list of other products they make, and a fold-out list of all 200 presets with descriptions for the MPX-1. Mouth-watering, indeed.

I play metal/rock/progressive guitar, influenced by Metallica, Dream Theater, and Pink Floyd mainly. Over the last five years since I started playing guitar, my rig has expanded a LOT, and this addition has definitely become a cornerstone in my sound. I compared it to the TC Electronics M2000, but liked this one better, and even considerd the PCM-80, but couldn't convince myself to spend twice as much on a PCM-80 when the MPX-1 does everything I would want the PCM-80 to do and does it just as well. John Petrucci of Dream Theater used both the PCM-80 and the MPX-1 on their latest album, so you know it's good. I would buy this machine again in a heartbeat. You simply can't get a better stereo effects processor for the price. Nothing has complimented my sound better than the MPX-1

Programming is rather difficult at first (compared to Digitech and Roland anyway.) Read the manual. You'll figure out everything much faster.

Unit was surprisingly noisy on "Telephone" and various flanger settings. This can be fixed by adjusting the input/output levels and eq. Otherwise, sounds brilliant right out of the box. Pitch shift, chorus, and of course reverb are all excellent. Flanger could be "whooshier." But it serves its purpose. Phaser, tremolo also good.

Seems sturdy enough. I've only had it for a week though.

If you like treated, underwater guitar sounds, this is your box. I use it alongside a Roland GP-100 and a Digitech TSR-24 and have come up with some very interesting combinations.

Outstanding. Great search/sort function. User can sort by program number, program type (i.e., scroll through only reverbs, or chorus) or by application (live, studio, guitar, etc). User can do quick high-level editing or drop down into micro-editing. Good comprehensive manual, particularly a laminated quick cheat-sheet of menu levels. Unit comes with a wide variety (200) of presets - from bread-and-butter reverbs and choruses to fun and occasionally useful fx.

Unit consists of six possible fx (reverb, chorus, pitch shifting, eq, modulation). Unit has two processors, one of which is always dedicated to reverb to maintain excellence in sound quality.
Unit is a tad noisy on certain flange sounds - but I am using unbalanced cords at the moment (which the manual advises against - I ran out of balanced cords). I will be replacing with balanced cords tomorrow. The flanger is a bit weak, and the rotary speaker and distortion settings are forgettable. But the reverbs! Beautiful, lush! I can distinguish no difference from this unit compared to tcelectronics M-2000 or Lexicon's own PCM-90. Lexicon users - don't kid yourself, this thing is in a very, very different league than the Alex or Reflex. Blows my own Ensoniq DP/4 away. I have always been suspicious of the "cultish" devotion of Lexicon users, but today I am a believer. Buy this thing for the reverbs. Some unique pitch shifting stuff, too (random pitch regeneration, etc).

Unit appears solidly constructed, and this will be a studio piece, not a road piece, so I can't really say.

No opinion, although I understand them to be quite good.

Exceptional MIDI implementation (every parameter can be controlled via anything MIDI, unit can even generate own MIDI clock). True stereo operation; digital outs; deep, deep programming controls, particularly on the reverb and chorus. Readers - do not buy the $400-700 Digitech/ART/Roland/Alesis/Boss/Yamaha pieces. Save your money and buy this one instead. One of the few units I can honestly say makes a mediocre voice (mine) sound like a great one.