Yamaha FX500

Es muy facil de usar, a pesar de que npo tengo el manual, la edicion de sonidos es muy simple. El unico problema de este procesador se llama MIDI, aun no entiendo bien como se usa.

Depende de cuanto se haya pagado por el procesador, ami me costo $100us, y creo que por el precio tiene muy buenos sonidos. Editando se pueden crear sondiso muy retro, como es un procesador antiguo, tiene sonidos antiguos, y eso lo hace atractivo.

Yamaha siempre me ha dado buen servicio, es una de las ventajas de este procesador.

Es un buen procesador para estudio, en vivo el cambio de efectos es muy lento.
Una de sus ventajas, es que se puede usar para cualquier instrumento, tiene buenos sonidos para bateria por ejemplo.
Por el precio este procesador no tiene comparacion, si alguien sabe de un porcesador con tales caracteristicas y es mas barato, por favor aviseme.

For people using electr.circuit-easy.But for other peoples some problems occured !!! Editing is so easy. Manual is great (I use MIDI tabl.) Firmware is 1.07 /89. Units may upgraded if you know programs EEPROM.

I use MARSHALL Valvestate 65, epiphone guitar with 2xhumbucker AMSTRONG. There is no noisy from guitar,but digi effect can some noisy... You must so play with patches in YAMAHA and than you can do sound great ! I play an Y.Malmsteen style and his LP Sevent'h sign has great guitar sound.I try create this sound with YAMAHA and for solo sound is good,but rhytm sound is so difficulty.(I must use ZOOM 1010's lead !!)

No comments.... In Czech ???? Chachacha....

I buy this YAMAHA like a older. (About 90 $ in bazar) Batery was down I must replace it myself.No problem... But display still blinking BATERY LOW (it's error in EEPROM) No support,all of recover I do.... Maybe in USA but not in Czech

Yamaha is goo for homestudios,smaller studios,but not for LIVE playing! I use midimedal for switch between banks and delay time beetween switch banks is so long (about 1 sec !!!!) For speedmetal and hardrock styles is good. I play 12 yers in Czech group TANKER and I use YAMAHA for studios,and like a backup stuff for LIVE playing.(or second effect for vocal)

One read through the manual was enough to know how to program it. If you're the type of person who hates reading manuals (I'm not one of them), then it may take a little time to figure it out. For the most part, however, it is quite simple.

If I could rate clean and distortion sounds separately, then I'd give it a 4 for distortion and a 7 for clean. Because I think I'm being generous on the distrotion rating, I think a fair comprimise is to give it an overall rating of 5. None of the factory presets are very good. I don't know what it is, but Yamaha just doesn't seem to know how to program their own gear. If you want to make this thing sound like anything, be prepared to scrap the presets and start from scratch. With the right combination of modulation and reverb effects, it is possible to get some nice clean sounds with a very crisp edge. I found that using the EQ, with a fair bit of a high and mid boost, and the compressor are essential to get a decent sound. I hate lugging gear around and bought this thing so I could go direct into the front end and monitors (I'm sure some people are cringing at this). Actually, I tried it through my Peavy Renown, but it sounded like garbage. I think a bright clean tube amp would work much better. Nonetheless, it actually sounds OK direct, as long as the EQ is set properly. Distortion is another matter for this unit. There is a ubiquitous buzzing sound when using the distortion. The best I could do is to back off the high end substantially in the EQ, with the trade-off of a fairly dark distortion. I also found it essential to use the distortion's LPF set between 1.0 and 1.6 kHz. With a great deal of tweaking I can get the distortion to sound almost OK, but distortion is definitely not a strength of the FX500. Some people may think they are able to get good distortion sounds with it, but I suspect it is more a case of masking bad distortion with a pile of delay and reverb.

I used it at well over a hundred gigs and it never failed. However, I'm not one for spilling beer all over my equipment. After a few years the power switch did eventually die, but it was only a $5 part plus about an hour to repair it. Would I use it witout a backup? Well, I did, but not so much through choice. I plan on getting a new processor soon (maybe an RP7 or a GT-5). I quess the FX500 can become my backup. If so, I sure hope I'll never have to use it.

Never had to call for customer support.

I've been playing for 22 years now and used this unit mainly with a casual weekend party band. I mostly play an American Strat with Lace Sensor pickups, and occasionally play an Ibanez Artist. We played everything from classic rock to polkas and Jazz standards. This unit barely met my needs, but it did work. I bought it because, at the time, it met my needs for price and features. I wanted something small and portable and was more interested in making money then spending money. When I bought it I felt it was the best deal for under $1000. Today, however, there are much better products out there.

By today's standard it is quite difficult hiding all the editing parameters behind a little LCD screen and fiddly lttle selector pads. But I suppose when it was new it was as good as most things in the price range. the manual is quite good but you need to read it a few times to understand the midi implementation. Having said that I have created a Cakewalk panel to control some aspects of the midi, this makes things easier. In a live set up you can assign various patches to be cycled through on a footswitch. This make is useable but not very flexible - you have to cycle through to reach the patch you want!

I have used it live and it can certainly add a bit of sparkle to an otherwise dry sound. However the distortions are far too over the top for anything other than out and out metal. The chorus and reverb patches are more useful but sound quite elctronic.
For studio work it has a useful set of effects to choose from, but they do sound a bit metalic. The reverb for example is no where near as good as what can be found in the cheap zoom 1201 and 1201. The combination effects are better "Sweet Swirl" and "Warm Strings" can add a lot of movement to guitar and keyboard parts. It is very good for D.I. Bass guitar parts, having nice symphony and compression patches that can get excellent results with a bit of editing.

The electronics like most other similiar units will probably carry on OK untill the Cows come home. I have had a problem in that the spring behind the on off switch no longer works properly. I have removed it so the machine is now permanently on unless I unplug it. Also it's been warning me for the last few months that the battery is about to expire and that I will lose my edited patches. I guess I'll just take that chance.

Yamaha have always been very helpful when I have needed to speak to them.

For a general multi effects unit in a recording set up it is OK, but I definately wouldn't loose too much sleep if I lost it. Today's more upto date processors are far better. Also for live work it's quite limited and slow in changing patches.

This Unit is small and compact, A bit hard to get us to at first, But right away I noticed that the Embeded patches are quite powerfull and give you a good feel for the unit's potental, editing patches Is a nightmare at first, If you read the manual about 5 times while trying you can get it, but A bit hard to get use to Firmware Version 1.0

I have been using this unit through a Samson Mixer Via A Re'an Patch bay to add effects to my Guitar sound mainly. The Sound coming out of the Unit seem's clean and crisp. Sound quality is good, Im not sure how it would sound through a serious amp setup, im patching it into my studio monitors, There are patches such as #34 Sweet Flange that sounds like a tone that Joe Satriani used on The Extremist.

I could not say how dependable the unit is. I havent had it more then 2 month's. But from what I have seen by using it, It seems like I could trust it.

Never Call Customer Support.

I like to play anything from Joe Satriani to Joe Walsh. So My musical range is quite wide. Im Going into Musical styles that compare to that of KMFDM. I belive that this little unit will help me start a style of my own, Small LED and crouded buttons make this unit hard to work with, but for a starter unit, or a constant effect unit, you cannot ask for a better package

Very easy to use. I learnt in couple of minutes, except for the midi stuff, that 'd be easier with the manual..nevermind, MIDI sucks.

The Symphonic effect it's one of two nice thing in this unit (a blend of tremolo and chorus). The other, you can pathe reverb before delay and Vice versa. The rest, S U C K S. Sorry japanise guys at yamaha. Annoing, and constant noise, can't use it, except at home, with headphones, when my amp is somewhere else

no way, too much crap for so basic setup...you better get stomps for its price ( $1000 )

It's not worth it taking it to the shop...rather get a Digitech Rp series

I'd never buy it again. I can't sell it now, because of the noise, and the on/off button, that has to be pressed constantly with adhesive tape to keep it on!!. I repeat Digitech it's the best (if you like "cute" appereance and features, get Zoom, but they break too easily)

I'm mostly a stomp box guy, but even thought I purchased the unit used (without a manuel) I was still able to use in no time. The unit is very straight froward all i had to go on was the diagrams on the top of the unit.

Its not noisy and thats even running a distorted sound through it...I currently have it running throught the effects loop in my amp and i love the sounds Some of the presets are a bit farout but out of the 50 or so presets for guitar i like 15 and only changed a few peramiters. The sounds will sound weak if your guitar sounds weak...its no wonder half rack...crap in gives you crap out...but if your set up sounds good to begin with this only adds an extra dimension to your sound. The effects are all very accessable and you can make them sound exactly how you want within a little bit of time.

As i stated before I bought this used...the chassy is dented up a little but it still works fine...I think that it should be a solid unit.

After writing to them to see if i could get a manual for the unit they have quickly replied and informed me that one is on the way.

I would buy this again in an instant for more money even. I love the sounds and the ease of use thought i dislike the optional foot switch...an ada foot switch is much nicer. I compared it to a used Zoom 9030 and thought the zoom was nice i have heard horror stories of how they break down and as i was using the zoom it did that very thing...it died. The effects can be anywhere from transparent to over powering so it is always musical no matter who you use it. I really didn't like it when i first tried ti but after trying it on my own rig i realized how much the crappy rig i was using colored the sound. The tremelo is nice and smooth...it reminds me of the tremelo that was on my old standel cutsom amp...nice and smooth...even at fast settings.

Not bad. I never like parameter editing.

The presets are hopelessly cheesy. I was hoping to get a decent tremelo, but I guess I did not listen closely enough to it in the store. I don't like it now. With work you can set it up to sounfd OK.

Have had no problems with it.

I am having a serious difficulty with this thing. I use it with a midi pedal also made by Yamaha. The problem is that it switches between programs (esp. between a distortion program and a clean one) with a weird "whump" noise, and it does it too slowly to be usable during a tune. You can't jump on the pedal and swith on the beat. If anyone knows about this, or whether there is anything I can do, email me at my email address. Would also like to get some decent patches..