Peavey AddVerb 3

By way of introduction my Peavey Addverb 3 is my Number 1 hardware effects processor (I also own a Behringer Virtualizer Pro, a Behringer Modulizer Pro, a Korg Pandora PX2, a Behringer Bass V-Amp and an assortnent of stompboxes). It is a 1u 19" rackmount "digital studio effects processor. It has 128 factory presets, 128 user presets and is capable of chaining up to 8 algorithms together in series, parallel or a mixture of both.
Out of the box the factory presets are all highly usable and cover a wide variety of applications - in fact I can't think of an area of recording or sound reinforcement that doesn't have at least half-a-dozen presets dedicated to it. It has a 24-bit engine and 16/18-bit converters but the sound quality is as good to my ears as software 32-bit processors using the 24-bit converters of my souncard.
It would be perfectly possible to rely entirely on the factory presets with a minimum of editing and this box would meet every conventional processing requirement the average musician/engineer would be likely to need.
However every effect algorithm has at least five (or very often many more) editable parameters and one can chain algorithms together in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways and save the resulting multi-effect in one of the user preset slots. Editing from the front panel is a breeze, there are three rotary encoders - one for patch selection, one for parameter selection and one for parameter adjustment - it really couldn't be simpler (for such a powerful and complex beast). Editing via midi, on the other hand, is (with two notable exceptions) entirely by sysex - as you can probably imagine, it's hardly intuitive (unless you've been brought up in a hexadecimal culture I suppose) - total nightmare. The notable execptions are midi program changes DO change patches and you can assign a single continuous controller to a single key parameter of ONE of the effects in that patch. Oh well you can't have everything. The manual is comprehensive without being totally inaccessible for a novice but since Peavey insist on using sysex for all remote programming.
One thing I particularly like about this unit is the fact that it has separate user and factory banks, none of my other processors have this facility.
I'm giving the unit such a high rating in this category because using it can be as simple or as complex as the user wants to make it. However, midi implementation is, IMHO, unnecessarily complicated.

I use is as a studio effect, mostly as a send effect, for its reverbs and modulation effects but sometimes as an insert, as it has very usable filter, overdrive and compression algorithms.
Most effects are entirely noise free but some of the more outlandish modulation effects are suitably swishy or swooshy :-)
Overall the sound quality is utterly superb (CD-quality).

Been in use solidly for about 8 years, the plug at the equipment endof the mains adaptor cable broke after about five years and had to be replaced and the backup battery has probably died by now but it never gets switched off so...

Never needed to contact Peavey for anything - and I've used a lot of their equipment of over the years.

A breeze to use. Fully programable and fully editable. Wow! A manual came with mine but I hardly use it except for trying to program really out of this world effects. There's no firmware number and it hasn't been upgraded. The Addverb 3 doesn't need to be upgraded because it's totally up to date with what the big name studios are using today.

God-like is all I can say. Sounds real. Why? 'Cause I've used the real plate reverbs and all the outher old-style analog gear and you know what? The addverb 3 nails every sound down pat. Not noisy at all.
The effects sound great. I use mine with my Fender ToneMaster and a couple of Marshall 1960 4x12s.

Chorus, distortion, reverbs(all types), octave, pitch shifter, delay, ping-pong, fuzz, and all the rest sounds REAL!

I have had mine for a few years and it has never ever let me down. Not once. I do use it on gigs without backups.

I never had to deal with them, but from what I've ehard and read, they are great. I'll leave this one unrated 'cause I don't have forst hand experience.

I play everything but I'm sure you're more interested in the
ADDVERB III. It's just great. I choose this unit 'cause everything out there was either way too expensive or sounded like shit. I don't buy shit. I only buy studio level gear and this is it. If I had more money I'd buy two.

Recently when I was in L.A. doing some gigs and studio work, I went into one of the larger studios (I won't give names) and a very well known studio engineer was using an Addverb 3 on the final mixdown of an album he was working on. I know him fairly well. He just put his finger on his lips and said, "This is our little secret."

I am very very very very happy with this effects processor.

Very easy to use. I can program what I want and viola it does it! Excellent! Every parameter is editable. Yum. It came with a manual but I really didn't need it.

Studio. Pure studio quality. Very clean and very warm sounding. Where's the tubes? I luv it. I use the delys, flanges, and sweet reverbs. They always sound GREAT. I am a bassist so I use it in the effects loop of my SWR Workingmans 15 and in my Ampeg tube head.

Because this effects-unit has a distortion setting and an overdrive setting, I can get 60's blues bass, 70's rock, and 90's grunge with just a turn of a dial.

Yes. In the year that I've had it, no problems at all. I have used it in the studio and at many many gigs.

Peavey has the very good customer service, great warrantee, and the super parts department.

I play 60's, 70's and 90's rock. The ADDVERB 3 is the best effects unit I have ever used. Awesome. I luv it. It works perfectly for bass. It is was stolen I would be really dissapointed, but with the insurance money I would go buy another one right away. This totally works for bass and keeps the trueness of the original signal. It can even handle the low lows of 5 string bass. The ADDVERB 3 is truely a miracle for the bassist.

This is the first effects processor besides simple stomp boxes.I've used. It did not take long to figure out the basic function. I figured out how to edit the patches and move them pretty easy. After screwing every thing up I decided to read the manual. Once I read how to reinitialize unit the manual was easy to use it looks scary at first. I am pretty much trial and error but after reading PARTS of the manual it's a breeze to Master

I would give it a seven because I don't have anything to compare it to. Some of the preset patches are pretty good and of course some suck but it easy to edit the patches and get a sound you would like. There are 128 patches on A and 128 on B there a lot more than I need. I am using the Addverb in a guitar rack pluging directly in then to BBE maxmizer-Alesis 3630 Comp.-Alesis 230 EQ- Hush ICX noise reduction out one chanel Twin other chanel Ampeg V-4. I can get some good sounds out of the unit and am still learning about and experimenting the one sound I haven't found is a good distortion.

I have had 3 months no problems

I have contacted Peavys web sight and received the information I was looking for, but they have a forum you post questions on and then you magicly get an answer. pretty round about way but it works.

The adverb III seems like a decent unit. But I would like to compare it with other effects processors. I like to play Blues/Rock and don't play in bands just self enjoyment. I have a lot of fun with some of the effects and get some great sounds that I really like I also bought a Midi foot control for it which is great when you put the effects you like in a row. I paid $100. used and it's worth that and then some.

Because the LCD has only one line, the text on it is a bit cryptical. Once you get over that, editing existing patches or creating new ones from scratch is quite easy with the 'parameter select' knob and the 'parameter adjust' knob. A maximum of eight effects can be chained together, routed serial or parallel. Every effect has a sensible amount of adjustable parameters.

It can be a bit fiddly to keep the noise level down. Tweak the input/output volume controls a bit and you'll be fine. The Ultra-Reverbs are very good and, once set up properly, noise-free. Very usable factory presets.

My unit has a software-bug: When an effect uses distortion, and the midi input receives a bunch of 'All Notes Off' commands, the machine locks up. It's LCD turns black, and it won't respond to button presses, except, of course, for the power switch. This is quite frustrating when using Cubase, which sends ANO-commands when pressing the space-bar. Apart from this bug, no complaints here.

This is a great unit. I'm considering buying a second one! No other fx-box I know of in this price-range has all these features or can be edited in this way. Because of the eight fx-blocks you can use simultaniously, the most weird and insane effects can be created, as well as the more standard effects. Any parameter can be controlled in real time over midi. Effects included are chorus/flanger, delay, reverb, distortion (noisy), overdrive, exciter,EQs, speaker simulators, and more. My favourite is the resonant envelope-filter, which can make any sound mellow, and can make any sound aggressive. Too bad it doesn't have phaser, though, and it would have been nice if it could be used as a tue stereo, dual fx-processor.