Lexicon mx200

ok so this is an appendage to the last review i wrote. I traded the mx for a tc m350..... well i went right back to the music shop and got the mx200 back because it sounds way better. so read on

for the money the sound quality is very nice and has way less background noise than the tc m350. I can't even hear any. the m350 buzzes like a bee.

well i got it to respond to midi clock... my fault.... as i assumed my DSI prophet 8 transmitted clock to the mx200. a quick parameter change solved this. I still have not figured out why the mx200 "freaks out". i've narrowed it down to this: the program knobs seem to get stuck in between parameters thus locking it in edit mode therefore not allowing you to change programs. delicate tweaking seems to correct this. i've emailed lexicon regarding the problem. so i'll let you know. As far as reliability. it's got a 1 year warranty, hey it's made in china so what do you expect for a bottom of the barrel priced processor. you get what you pay for.

lexicon returned my email regarding the supplied software problem, and they said...."there is no software support for the mac leopard yet, but is in the works" so i'll give them a 10 to offset my previous rating

there is no other hardware effects processor currently available with this kind of power or sound quality for the money, so i'll live with it for now. Hopefully lexicon releases the software for Mac leopard sooner than later. Once again i'll give it a 10 to offset my previous
rating

once you figure it out its pretty ez

sounds pretty good

heres were it gets ugly, sometimes when you power it up it freaks out eg: led's flash uncontrollably( it has to "load it's software") and there is nothing you can do unless you power it down and power up again. lotsa fun without a power switch
supplied software does not work with mac. there on-line download does not work either.
only one of the 2 processors delays will sync to midi properly. and with the one that works, it doesnot indicate it the way it is supposed to. oh yeah and it's sync is intermittent.

customer support sux. i emailed them and got no reply

the mx200 is a pile of you know what. i'll be taking this one back to the music store. thank the gods they have a 1 month return policy.
hopefully a tc electronic m350 will fair better.

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

i use the unit almost exclusively for delay and reverb. the reverbs are great, from minimal to massive. the delays are generally ok but here are my major gripes with the unit. first, the internal clock is not stable. when using "tap tempo" it drifts out of sync fairly quickly. i prefer to use the midi clocking but here's gripe #2; the internal clock seems to be constantly adjusting the delay time to be in sync with the midi clock. this is good because it DOES stay in sync, however whenever the clock is adjusted it causes clicking sounds which are of course introduced into the delay creating a horrible racket of clicks on the output. and finally gripe #3; the output is noisy, tons of hiss unless the input level is dept down very low.


* How about Editing patches?

not bad, it would be nice if they used some sort of logical delay time values like (1, 4, 8, 16 etc) when syncing to midi, instead you are stuck with bizarre values like 38 that you can never remember.

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

it's pretty good, unfortunately i have to use it a lot.

* Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

no and not sure.

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

as i mentioned above, the delays are pretty much not syncable to a clock source, which almost entirely ruins the whole thing for me. the reverbs are nice for a $200 unit. the pitch shifter doesn't work on short transient sounds like drums.

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

i use this as a reverb/delay unit for an alesis ion in my studio.

* Is it noisy? On what settings?

yes, it's very noisy.

* Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

if this thing would sync to midi keep a constant time when using "tap tempo" i'd be writing a glowing review.

* What amp are you using it with?

amps are for guitar players, why does everyone assume you're a guitar player?

* Can you depend on it?

to be a total PITA when using delay, absolutely!

* Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

i wouldn't gig with it.

n/a

* What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

electronic, industrial, prog house, trance....

it would be a great match if the delay worked properly.

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

i'd buy a TC.

* what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?

i love the reverbs. i hate the delay and noise.

* Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

i chose it because it had the vst option, which i later found out wouldn't work on my OS anyways. a month later TC came out with the VST option and i wished i had the TC since.

* Anything you wish it had?

a stable clock.

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

a little of both. i won't record it, but it works for writing.

This is a follow up to the previous review. The unit failed again in the same manner as before. The repair dept had it for three weeks and sent it back not finding anything. The suggest keeping it powered up all the time using a supressor. If you can find a unit with the same features as this model of Lexicon I'd stay away from this one, at least for PA applications.

I would have expected them to replace the unit just to protect their reputation. If we pay $200. for it they must get the mother board for considerably less.

Not being a musician I found I had to find more expanded explinations of the functions included in the unit.

I have had no complaints from the musicians I work with in a contemporary worship setting.

This is the point of the review. I experienced a software lock-up making the processor unusable. The displays just flashed uncontrollibly and no settings could be adjusted. The analog audio output from the unit was "interesting" at best. Lexicon support gave me a software reset procedure not shown in their manual that appaered to clear up the problem. After four weeks of operation the lock-up re-occurred and now has become a hard problem.

Support was quick to email me the above mentioned reset procedure. After that I had no audio output from channel 2 so I requested they look at it. Within 4 hours I had an RA number. Within three days of their receiving it at an authorised repair facility I had a call from the tech saying they could not recreate the failure. They tested it for an additional week and then returned it to me. I have contacted them about this problem again and expect to get the same quality of support, but I'm out of luck without a spare unit. For the cost of the processor I would have hoped that they would have just replaced the unit. We'll see what happens.

The Jury is out on this. It depends on the additional support I get.

Easy if you take time to mess around w/ everything on it, yet MUCh easier than the TC Electronics G-Major. But also the G-Major has many more options.

Effects are good, but not as good as the G-Major. Great price tho, and also MUCH easier to edit/adjust the effects compared to the nightmare G-Major. Just depend son what you like the most. Only other thing is you can only have I think 2 or so effects on at the same time only which isn't as good. Just depends what you use it for.

Yeah probably as long as you don't toss it across the room or something.

?

Greatunit for effects but limited on a few things.

I play bass guitar and for me, one of the MX200's best features is the straight-forward, almost analog pedal-like controls that make it easy to dial in during live use. I also like how you can have two different or even two of the same effects at the same time and you can store the settings, including mix, bypass, and routing for each patch. Then there is the digital recording output and USB for studio use. Versatile, as a rack unit should be, yet as easy to use as a pedal!

There is no menu to have to scroll and page through and as someone else mentioned, there is no EQ to mess up your tone, just the effects, straight up. Also, the compressor is dbx design; nice touch!

I particularly like the chorus, which I find to be very transparent with my bass, yet can get real liquidy if I want it to, and the reverbs and delays are the best in this price range thanks to Lexicon quality (though Lex's higher end are going to still be better, but for a price). These suit me more than fine for bass guitar. Speaking of the delays, I like the fact that the Mod and Tape Delays work like an old analog, allowing you to do the "UFO landing/taking off" effect by turning the delay time knob!

It's been several years since I used a pitch-shifter and I was never satisfied with past efforts in this price range, but the MX200 is quite an improvement - not an Eventide, but still quite smooth and useful, much better than in the past.

The flanger and phaser, etc. modulation effects are basic, nothing special. I do wish the flange could do "zero-through" jet flanging, but you find that on more expensive designs...

I also find that I don't lose any bottom end with this unit, but I do use the effects loop on my SWR head and keep the mix at 1/2 to 3/4.

Sure there are better sounding analog pedal effects, but I wanted my mod, reverb and delay effects to be post preamp, so that meant rackmount for me. No other unit comes close in both sound and ergonomics. My bass is happy and so am I.

I keep mine in a rack, so I haven't had any problems, nor do I fear any down the road. The knobs and jacks are plastic, but in this price range, what unit doesn't employ plastic to cut costs?

I made myself a two-momentary button footswitch to control the bypass of each effect section from the floor and that is working well.

Seems to be a very reliable unit and I use it without a backup.

I dock two points due to plastic instead of metal jacks, but that is the norm for the price...

I haven't had to deal with Customer Support, but they do provide the user manual online as a downloadable pdf file.

I play gospel hymns at my church and outside of that, I play funk, rock, fusion, etc. I have played electric guitar for over 25 years and switched to bass two years ago.

My gear consists of: Warwick Corvette $$ 5-string; Warwick Corvette Standard 4-string fretless; Squire Vintage Modified Jazz bass with Bartolini pickups, Leo Quan bridge, and Hipshot D-Tuner; SWR Interstellar Overdrive preamp; SWR WorkingPro 700 head; SWR Goliath III 4X10 cabinet; Aphex Punch Factory compressor; Dunlop Crybaby Bass Wah; Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah Filter; Boss OBD-3 Bass Overdrive; Samson PS9 Power Strip; Korg DTR-1000 rackmount tuner; Lexicon MX200.

The MX200 is a perfect fit for me and I love being able to dial it in like a pedal, with all the power of a Lexicon! Definitely worth the money and more!

Easy. There are not many miracles. However as the display is small, you have to remember the different parameters you are editing, but it's easy, really is.

I plugged it in and it sounded stellar right away, this thing is simple and gorgeous.

For this price the quality you get is stunning. I had a Lexicon Replifex in earlier days, which is why I knew the reverbs and delays will be good, but I didn't expect this level of quality.

Now here's the deal: I bought this unit because someone recommended me to try a studio levels effect in the loop of my tube guitar amp (Bogner Shiva). I have not used the loop because with my other effects, I lost a lot of sound quality, punch and definition (and I am talking each 400 EUR T.Rex Delay and Reverbs). Using a studio level unit was the key to success. Actually, I think the Bogner sounds better with the Lexicon in the loop and on bypass than without.

This unit can easily give you enough versatility to do Gary Moore, Pink Floyd, RHCP etc kind of FX. The Plate Reverb as well as the Mod Delay are perfect, even used in Mono as I do.

I also like the modulation effects. The Tremolo is OK, the Chorus is very transparent.
Some of the FX can result in a bit of level drop which I can work around by adding the Compressor in FX block 2, use it in neutral position (1:1) and make up gain with poti 3.

As with any effect, less is more, and even a slight hint of short plate or a very low echo opens up the sound and makes it sit better in the mix.

Just had it for 2 weeks.

n/a

I would give it a 10 if it had variable output level stored in all programs and a remote tap tempo FS input.

Other than that this is a very good 9 - I would still give it a 9 if it was twice the price.

Fairly intuitive and easy to use.

Here is the problem: The guitar and amp tone are fairly well preserved through the effects paths, which is a definite plus and something one expects from Lexicon. However, there is a very obvious signal drop off when switching between patches. You can hear one patch cutting out before the new patch is activated; and I???m not talking about a soft fade, more like a slower controlled cut. This is really annoying. I was looking to use this as a live digital effect for a guitar rig, and there is no way that I???m going to compromise an otherwise quality tone with a signal drop off when switching effects. Honestly, in this day and age, you???d think that Lexicon would have fixed that.

No time to tell. I've had it 2 days and am taking right back to Guitar Center.

No time to tell. Same as above.

For a straight recording effect, this would probably work well. For a live guitar effect -and Lexicon is touting it as one - hell no! I would rather run without effects, and at least have a constant signal.

Very easy to use. Laid out very nicely.

As a disclaimer, I need to mention that I only tested this in the effects loop of my amp so I have no opinion about using this device for vocal applications.

The reverbs are great. Very realistic and natural sounding. The delay is very good also. The detractor for me was the chorus effects. These 3 effects are the staple of my sound and I need all 3 to be very good but the chorus in this unit just didn't suit my needs. The chorus sounded too much like a flange. I could actually hear the out of phase like a flange. I tried for quite a while to find a chorus that I liked by changing all of the settings but in the end, I had to return it to MF. My cheap little Danelectro FAB chorus sounded much better. Who knows, the chorus may suit your taste and if so, this would be a great unit for you.

No opinion.

No Opinion

I play rock. All kinds. I've been playing for 20 years. I've recently been wanting to rack up my effects loop for the convenience of a rack but I still haven't found a rack effects unit that sounds as good as my analog pedals. Oh well, the search continues I guess. I think I'm going to try some TC gear next.