Product: MXR Delay System II
Price Paid: US $100 used
Submitted
07/25/2000
at
08:30pm
by
Nathan Craddock
Email: naycrash<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
It can take some tweaking, but that is the fun of it. I love just sitting in the dark except for LED lights just fiddling with this thing (Ass well as all the other s*it I own). This is MXR's 2nd attempt at an early digital delay in a rack form. It has much versatility including a fine adjustment for the already present delay time knob, modulation speed and width, a mix knob, dry defeat, delay invert, regeneration, repeat hold and delay bypass. It also has jack inputs in the back for a bypass switch and infinite repeat switch (that is spaced out fun). This isn't a simple deal but the fact that you can blend the modulation with delay for instance makes it worth it. Not rocket science either. It has an early analogue era feel in that there are knobs to turn and buttons to push so that with a little effort, very cool sounds can be had. Some tweaking does not bother me as this isn't a simple stompbox. Oh, and it has this really cool LED readout with numbers that change in conjunction to the delay time effected by the modulation section. It reminds me of an old Atari video game.
Sound Quality
:
10
I use a Gibson SG, sometimes an Oasis Artist through all kinds of junk. Let's see, um, Floor: Big Muff, Boss Hyperfuzz, Boss Super Feedbacker/Distortion, Boss Octave pedal, EH Electric Mistress, Rotovibe, Morley wah, sometimes a Crybaby. Rack: Trace Elliot dual channel preamp unit (it crushes, the damn thing has NINE 12ax7 preamp tubes in it!) Furman four band parametric EQ, Boss GX700 multi effects unit (I think there's a kitchen sink in there), MXR Digital Delay II, Korg SDD1200 dual digital delay unit, Ibanez AD202 Analogue Delay, sometimes I'll whip out a Roland RE301 tape echo unit but rarely. All this goes strereo into two Marshall 1970's era 100 Watt heads and cabinets. I of course turn the Marshall preamps down to about 1 and 1/2 or 2. Keep in mind, I don't have all this stuff turned on at once. I have a serious desire to get a Rocktron Patchmate with an All Access pedalboard.
Here's the deal. I don't even use the MXR for delay; I use it for chorus, which I will get to in a minute. As for the delay, it is sharp, focused, and ultra clean. If you add some modulation by subtlely tweaking the speed and width knobs of the modulation section, you can get a beautiful fluid sound with waves of slight chorus. the thing will regenerate for a long while, maybe about ten seconds, which is plenty. If you regenerate it for an unusually long amount of time, it gets this wacked-out distorted delay as it trials off in the distance. I don't have problems with this distortion as it sounds cool and I wouldn't normally set the thing for this long anyway. Then again, maybe its so old that it needs some cleaning up on the inside. I've never been able to tell much with the inverted signal; maybe I need to fiddle with some knobs a bit.
the infintite repeat sounds like a sharp, well, infinite reapeat. It can have that staccato-like sound of a CD that is scratched.
As a chorus it sounds beautiful. the fact that it is both old and yet digital gives it a flavor all its own. The unit has in general a clear metallic tone. Perhaps it is futuristic in the way that 2001 A Space Odyssey is both futuristic yet retro. Trying to put words to electronic aural appliances is quite dificult. Anyway here is what I do. I set my Boss GX700 to a deep stereo chorus, a long echo, JC120 amp simulator, some reverb, then I run this with the MXR (before and mono) set to a chorus along with the Trace Elliot (clean or distorted) and parametric EQ in to the Marshalls, and this combination just sounds unreal. The combination of the old and new digital technology uncluding layered chorusing is completely unique and massive sounding. It sounds chimey even. the best way I could describe it is similar to Alex Lifeson's Chorus tone on Hemispheres but perhaps more radical.
The only problem I have is that there is some hiss. However, a quitar biz guy in Cincinnati tells me that when these things first came out they were absolutely quiet. It is, after all, about twenty years old and could probably need some pots cleaned out or replaced.
Reliability
:
10
I have owned it for about five years and haven't had a problem. I will definitely gig with it. I actually used to own the first MXR rack digital delay system, and I lugged it all over the country with no problem, so I am sure this will hold up. It is built with some pretty sturdy metal.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
New Sensor (Electro Harmonix) seems to own the rights to MXR these days. I have heard they are very helpful people. I bet they have the schematics if it were really necessary.
Overall Rating
:
10
I play mostly harder artsy, sometimes alternativish, kind of music. I guess you can tell that I am into the monster effects laden guitar sound. Here are some influences: King Crimson, Sonic Youth, Mahogany Rush, Some older Rush, Zepellin, Robin Trower, Some Punk (Black Flag, Dead Kennedys), Soundgarden, Sabbath, ELP. Oh, and sensitive girl stuff like Fiona Apple and Tori Amos. I guess I run the gammet from light to loud with a good lean toward loud.
I have been playing about 25 years and have pretty much checked out all the gear that's out there aside from some very new high tech stuff like Roland. If I lost this MXR unit, I would be seriously pissed. It is integral to my chorus sound. Due to the unique tone it has, I can probably only get this chorus sound by using it. A TC Electronics chorus is expensive and will probably be a "better" chorus, but for uniqueness of sound, the use of the MXR is golden.
It would be nice if it were capable of stereo chorus but it is not necessary for my application. I used to think, "wouldn't it be great if this chorus were stereo," but then I hooked it in line with the Boss GX700's rack stereo chorus, which is pretty much a Roland. Incidently, if you want a killer rack multi effects unit cheap, get the Boss GX700. It gets like 9 effects at once and it can do some pretty fancy things like ring mod, three part harmonizer, stereo delay (left, center, and right in three different times) some crazy phase stuff that their OK floor unit doesn't, and its midi. I paid $250 for this thing and it even cleans my house.
anyway, back to the MXR unit. It adds a certain exotic flair to my sound that I would be hard pressed to get any other way. I will always have one of these MXR's in my rig. These things can go for cheap and I wouldn'd mind having another for backup. They aren't hugely in demand like some vintage Electro Harmonics effects, so look around and you might get one for $100-$150. It is well worth it.
