Yamaha FX500

I have owned this thing for about 18 years, so it's kinda like the back of my hand.

The reverbs are sweet - vocal reverb rules.

It has been very reliable over a lot of years.

Yamaha has a number of websites around the world and they are all easy to navigate. I have no recent experiences with customer service.

I hope this will help someone - I also submitted this to the KB on yamaha.com.

FX500

FX500 Factory Reset procedure

WARNING: All user stored data will be deleted.

1. Turn the power off.
2. Press and hold down the [COMP] button and the [MOD] button simultaneously while turning on the power.

Reference: Reset list found here: http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/uk/service/030_support/index.html


FX500

Memory data warning message on an FX500 with a newly installed Lithium battery

The Factory Reset procedure needs to be performed to clear the ''** WARNING ** MEMORY DATA'' message from RAM.

WARNING: The Factory Reset will delete all user stored data.

1. Turn the power off.
2. Press and hold down the [COMP] button and the [MOD] button simultaneously while turning the power on.

Reference: Reset list found here http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/uk/service/030_support/index.html

it's easy to dial up sounds on this unit, it's just that you need to know what you're doing. being a sound engineer helps (really)

havnt gone deep into editing, but managed to get a good sound. like most multi efffescts, you have to go threw the pages... duh.

i like aloot of distortion and very nice chorus sounds - probably like most guitarists that play rock. i find the clean sounds to be good. distortion threw and amp isnt.

threw the headphones at the back of the unit the sound is nice, also the distortion.

i think its ok

i had this unit around and didnt use it for a long time. today i played around with it and realized that its actualy pretty good for plugging directly into a 4 track (got an old great fostex! plugnplay:)) she gives much pleasure. i thought of selling the usnit, but after today i wont. if you got an old one like this around, plug headphines into it and listen. it's pretty darn good. worth keeping.

Bought it new back in the late 80's. wow it's that old. at the time i managed to get great sounds, so I thought out of it. In it's day I think it was almost better than anything out there in terms of tweakability. the patches are tricky to edit by todays standards, but the manuals were clear enough so I could get great sounds for the top 40 of the day.

It used to be used alone, but now it's in a rack with a midi octopus, BBE sonic maximizer, sansamp classic, and a pod 2.0. The yami now sounds kind of characterless compared to the pod, BUT the quality of the reverbs can't be beat. I used the yami for years going direct to the board with the sansamp in front. This was the best of both worlds, analog transistor and digital reverbs. The pod is now an additional angle on my sound, but I should be able to get everything. The distortions on the yami are very edgy, lots of fuzz but not subtle, warm or responsive. No one's mentioned the EQs which are PARAMETRIC. This and the many reverbs will save this box from obsolesence. Years ago I almost bought the korg a3, but comparing the reverbs on specs and sound, you can't beat the 22-22k frequency response of the verbs. Also check out the "soft focus" patch. You won't find that on any other guitar processor.

Front panel is loose. Power switch was broken years ago. It's fine for me now since I've hardwired it on, and just switch a power bar. It shares duty with my POD, the sansamp, and in a pinch I could use a reverb from the p.a. Sure I'd gig without a backup.

never dealt with them.

I've played all styles with this unit. Mostly paid gigs, but it was used for quite a while as a preamp for acoustic guitar in a church setting. Lost or stolen, I'd buy another since it's so cheap. The unit can be a little noisy at times when used with some mixing boards, but other than that it's fine for me. I always thought the green display was great. The switching times are slow, which i found out in midi studio when punching in to tracks one day. Just a note that no one seems to have mentioned that you can program the unit to cycle through any range of patches (e.g. 52-58) with a momentary switch. Read the manual -- it's a decent unit for the money.

I've been using the fx500 for 15 years, gigging and jamming. Useability is pretty good except for a couple of things: this unit changes slow between patches, you have to time the patch change carefully so the dead air isn't too noticeable. Also, I don't have the right footswitch (I have a Roland switch) - I can only change "up" or "forward",ie: I can't change to the next patch and then back again after the solo. So I sometimes end up changing patches by hand (a hassle) or set up a "chain" for a song . This sucks because you use up too many patches. Somebody please tell me if the Yamaha pedal lets you move back and forth in the patch sequence. What pedal?? Where to get one??

Strat, tele, Fender 75 amp. Modulation effects are really good, but I often use the amp's tube distortion. Got some great clean Tele sounds (edited Brass Burst, Brass Energizer) for punchy country picking with some quack about 10 years ago. Get some decent U2, The Cult, etc 80's sounds with symphonic and delays. Some of the all out distortion is OK (Trad Dist edited) but the more modest distortion for bluesy playing is really lame. Nothin like tubes. What it does good it does really good though (clean, modulated with some good reverbs).

I've depended on it lots. It's only fallen off my amp a few times, battery still good, no probs at all. I've gigged without a backup a few hundred times.

dunno. I should call them and ask about the pedal I guess.

I play mostly blues/classic rock now. Wish the distortion was better but hey I can use the amp right? Best feature is the versatility. I'd buy another if the price was right. Seems like they go pretty cheap now. If it got stolen I'd have a good reason to try something else.

To answer my own previous questions: the mfc06 midi foot pedal *does* allow one to turn the individual effects (comp, dist, eq, mod, rev) on/off within a given patch, without any interruption of the signal. (changing patches will break the sound for 1/4 second or so). The mfc01 might also work for this, but I haven't tried. I highly recommend this accessory for increasing the usability of the box.

Yamaha support got my question flat out wrong. They were quick and courteous, but spent even less time researching it than I did. Once I figured out the midi diagrams in the back of the manual, the unit does accept effect on/off messages (msgs 114-118 or around there somewhere).

Again, the interruption when changing patches makes it a bit of a pain to use sometimes. Do get some sort of foot control for it unless it is intended as a set and forget effect. The Yamaha mfc06 seems designed specifically for the unit. The mfc05 can *only* change the patches, while other foot controllers might be able to do both.

It is fairly straightforward, once some time is spent with the manual. Most of the presets are fairly useless, but all can be tweaked with some showing some promise. The ability to cycle through a set of patches with a "normal" footswitch pedal is interesting (I only use two patches on it usually, so I set them up to be adjacent patch #s). Midi footpedal control is a bit disappointing: I have seen the MFC06 various places (ebay) and it seems to be made for the fx500 and supposedly allows one to turn off the individual effects *within* a patch. I have an MFC05 and it is only good for changing patches, unfortunately. [if anyone knows if the MFC06 *does* allow for dis/engaging individual effects w/in a patch please let me know, especially if it does entail the drop out/hiccup that comes with changing patches). Pick up a cheap yamaha sustain or switch and you can change patches on the fly. It is no fun to try to do it by hand while playing.

The clean sounds are, as have been mentioned, very very good for something this inexpensive. I am only just starting to get into changing the numerous parameters within the patches, but there are a great deal of possibilities there. It sounds absolutely amazing with headphones, a bit less so through an older tube amp. I would definately encourage at least another delay pedal and a distortion pedal of some kind, since the distortions are poor.

No problems at all.

I wrote to the yamaha customer support re: the different possibilities for midi control. They replied in a timely manner (but gave an answer I didn't want, i.e. the fx500 only accepts patch changes). If they are right, 8, if it turns out the mfc06 does deal with the individual effect, 3. A .pdf of the manual is online, so that is always a bonus.

I play sort of a mid-to-late 80s dark shoegaze sort of thing (seriously for a few years, bedroom taping for the last 15 or so) and I think this is a fun and (now) essential part of my set up. It adds a huge amount of depth to the sound (even running through a mono amp) and would be a fine supplement to whatever tools for creating dreamy drone noise shoegaze stuff. I'd definately hunt down another if it wandered off. Cons: midi control, the .5 second drop out when changing patches (especially bad since I run delayed signals in that get cut), no effects loop (to be able to run a distortion or delay within the internal effects chain). PROS: nice clean sounds, ability to tweak them in bizarre ways, fairly easy to use, 1/2 rack size, reverse reverbs. A bargain (I've bought individual pedals used for around that price!) that has the potential for making some unique sounds. A fantastic value, if there ever was one, esp. under $70 or so.

It's not the most intuitive unit, but if you have the manual, (which I do) then you can figure it out quick enough.

I've been using this unit for years... it has to be about 9 years now, and although some of the others knock it's distortion capabilities, I have managed to dial in the Eddie Van Halen Brown Sound. It just takes some work.

Acoustic and other sounds are A+

Again, easily 9 years on my unit, and I have the footswitch to compliment it.

I figured I would have to replace the internal battery by now, but still has my presets... I need to write those down, as eventually the battery will need to be replaced. I try to keep it plugged in, and maybe that helps.

Nothing wrong with my unit, no issues with the plug in ports etc.

Never had to use Customer Support

I just was browsing around and found this board, and decided to leave a review because I have had the unit so long, and it's been great to me, so if you can find a good one on ebay that isn't abused or something, then it sounds like a good buy to me.

I don't plan on selling mine anytime soon.

Once you get the hang of it, it's no big deal. You need a foot switch if you're going to use it live.

The clean sound is incredible. Everyone who has heard it has been blown away. I have not been able to get as good of a clean sound with any other equipment (more expensive). Pearly, lush, smooth rolling chorus and delay - it's tremendous. Don't use it for distortion - it's digital so why bother? I've seen some people complain about the distortion but I don't know what they were expecting. I have never heard a goo digital distortion in my life. This thing is the ultimate for a good clean sound - it really thickens up the guitar.

The output jacks are mounted directly to the circuit board and I've had some trouble with one of them.

Never tried contacting them.

Incredible clean sound. I use it with a marshall valvestate and several guitars. It works well for any type of music. Start with "Lush Strings" (I think) and edit it a bit. I have not found another unit that sounds as good as this. If you can find one at a good price - get it and hang on to it.

The answer to this question really depends on if you resist the temptation to patch right in and actually spend 20 minutes with the manual, which is short and straight-forward. This is especially true if, like me, you've grown accustomed to the flexibility of plug-ins and computer effects; these proto-digital effects are tedious--hey, they didn't know better at the time--and are time-consuming. A good chunk of the learning curve here is patience.

Now, if you've worked with early digital rack gear then the scrolling and button mashing shouldn't be all that difficult; I found this infinitely more intuitive than a Alesis Quadraverb--though that's not saying much--and actually found myself enjoying putting presets together. Well, except for the recall button, which may just be the dumbest thing I've ever seen on an fx processor...so worthless.

I switched to the fx500 after becoming frustrated by my Quad GT; although the reverbs are great, the Alesis unit is noisy and annoyingly feedbacks at low frequencies, even when you adjust appropriately--which is to say nothing of cloying it is to program settings in that thing. The Yamaha is a much more streamlined rack experience, and I've discovered that I actually like what it can offer more than the Quad, which has been a pleasant surprise to me.

I bought the fx500 for the reverbs and delays; I figured if Slowdive's Christian Savill got good use out of this thing, then surely I could too (You can actually get his sound right out of the box, which i didn't know whether to take as cool or pure laziness). Do know that the presets loaded onto this thing sound very "circa-1989" digital: there are some weird and wild settings that people into drone and shoegazer will love, but most have that cheesy phased sound I can't stand. Not that you should judge a unit by its presets, but it tells you a lot for this box: not to bother with the 500's distortion because it is worthless; not to expect any indulgences when it comes to dynamics (though I liked the simple compression and EQ options); and to expect to tinker with the modulation effects.

That said, if you're a reverb junkie, this is such a great little expression tool for not a whole lot of money. There's got to be at least a dozen reverb settings on here: the four obvious ones, four early reflection modes (including the infamous yamaha reverse reverb that was the cornerstone of My Bloody Valentine), a couple of echos and delays, and really great reverb-delay mix where you setup the order and how one feeds into the other. The reverbs are so heavy here that straight-up delay is an afterthought, hence I suggest supplementing your setup with a delay pedal and do your delays there; in the meantime, dig this: you can set reverb decays at up to 40 seconds, and it is unreal the kind of oceanic thrust you can put out with this. This thing lives and breathes space rock.

I'm not so bowled over by the modulations; I like the tremolo, really hate the chorus (very tinny) and have no opinion on the flange. There's also "symphonic", which is really just Yamaha's way of saying their phasing is a bit more liquidy than others...it's the first effect you want to experiment with, but it's also the most erratic; I think it colors the sound too much, which would be great if it didn't sound so 80s-esque. A little goes a long way with this.

As noted by others, the fact that you have to call up a program and then hit the "recall" button makes playing out with this unit exceedingly difficult--at least if you want to switch presets during songs. I can't see how the box could fall apart on you, but be careful of the buttons: they look like they're waiting for but one hard mashing and then they'll be stuck forever.

This was an impulse purchase on ebay, though at $46 I think I got a great deal. These should be bargains for some time to come...I mean, if I got a bargain on ebay--where there are no bargains anymore--it must be something.

I can't imagine you're here because you want to sound like a cock rock band from the era whence this unit came; it's 2004 and you want the kind of meaty reverb they don't make anymore. For $50, this is a killer box of great spacial effects; it's really the first device I've seen where you can approximate the shoegazer sound without really needing anything else--it's all in here. Of course, if you're into such things you probably already own way too many pedals to begin with (welcome to my life), but this baby still has life in it yet.

If I should inspire you to seek one out, do email me and let me know settings you used to get cool sounds.

There are plenty of factory presets in the FX500, and some user selectable ones. I've used about 8 of the user settings so far, and have plenty more free. I've found maybe a dozen of the factory presets that are useful to me (I rarely use distortion). Some are just plain dreamy. To set your own presets, I highly suggest going through the manual bit by bit (which I downloaded easily enough). This thing does alot, and there are alot of settings to cycle through and utility functions. I haven't used midi with it. So I give it a 7 because of the big learning curve in figuring out how to get the sound you want. Once I spent a few nights with it, I understood more of what does what. I don't have the optional foot switches which I'm sure would have made cycling through effects easier while you're playing!

I generally play directly into a system or to recorder (no amp). I get BEAUTIFUL sound out of this thing, and it's very clean whatever setting I use. The reverbs and symph settings lush and can give you a very different sound using acoustic or electric through it. It sounds excellent with an acoustic which is my primary guitar. I use a parallel setup, one line direct and one through a volume pedal to FX500. Then I can control how much effect I get. Haven't used it long enough to know if it's pristine or not... the settings they offer do what they're suppoed to do.

As great as the sound is, I would use a separate pedal for the delay simply because 1) it's 380ms max with the settings I use, and 2) it would be easier to control the delay settings on a pedal on the fly. I use delay alot. Also if you use distortion alot, or chorus, you probably already have your favorite pedal. Use them. The beauty of the FX500 imo is the symph/reverb/lush type settings that add depth and beauty.

I use it mainly for shoegazer effects, and bought it because Christian Savil of Slowdive used it (guitargeek.com). So the first patch I attempted was the Symph guitar stuff like on Spanish Air. I was able to mimic the sound pretty closely without using other pedals he uses. Here's what I think I got, through acoustic guitar:
Comp - You might use it, I didn't.
Dist - Set this fuzzy and low at an even level so it won't amplify it too much, and kick it in when you need it.
EQ - LoG +1 MiG -3 MiF 900 HiG +6 (these will be different for you)
REV - Erd Rsz 10 LIV 10 DLY 0.1 MIX 70 LVL 0
MOD - Flg Sped 1.3 Dep 70 Dly 4.3 FB 15 Mix 50 LVL 0
You can use any other MOD setting, the random plate reverb is what really does it. I use sel/asn at REV>MOD.

I love it, I love it. My only concern is the 1/4 jacks on the panels don't seem very well fixed, and can't help thinking it's putting stress on the PCB solder joints. But time will tell. I bought it used, I've been using it alot, and no problems so far. I don't think I could afford a backup. If it broke, I'd cry and look desparately for another...

I found the manual easily. But haven't dealt with customer support.

I never play without it. Maybe it gets in the way becuase I'm now obsessed with its lush sound... but that's not a problem with my creativity style! I haven't found the delay between changing patches particularly annoying (about 1/4 sec) because it doesn't come in with a pop, it's clean and quiet.. I generally use one setting per song anyway, but even if not, there's generally some silence I can add somewhere in order to push a couple buttons. I use a volume pedal to the fx500 in parallel with a line to either clean or other effects and I can control how much I use it that way. Fantastic value!

The Fx 500 is easy to use, but it took me a long time to get the sounds out of it that I was looking for. The pre-programmed settings were not useful to me and they certainly don't show you all the possibilities this device really has. The manual is OK to get started, but it doesn't explain you how certain sounds can be obtained (e.g. a trash-metal sound). You have to find out yourself how the different effects interact and it sure takes a while before you can fine-tune your sound. Every section (compressor, distortion,equalizer, mode and rev/delay) has a separate level control and if for instance you turn down the equalizer volume too far, you will get popping sounds when switching patches with your foot controller. To avoid this you have to turn down the mode level and leave the equalizer level at -2. They don't explain that in the manual ! Another thing I discovered was that the delay setting in the flanger section determines your distortion sound ! This is how I managed to get the Boston rockman sound or even a dark metal sound, because in the distortion section they give you only one distortion ...

The sounds are very decent and noiseless, but the noise gate is hard to control. You can't set the thing off unless you turn off the compression section. But when you use the compressor it tends to cut off the signal too quickly, so there's a bit of a problem, right ?
A Boss compressor-sustainer and noise gate solved my problem. I am currently using the FX 500 with a Hiwatt DR 103 amp and two Marshall cabinets with greenbacks. I used it in the effect loop ( which I had built in for me ) and straight into the amp and in both cases the FX 500 does a good job.

Mine never broke down and I don't use a backup.

I 've been playing hard rock, blues, pop and funk for twenty years now. The FX 500 can do all these styles, if you can ! As it is one of the first digital processors it's certainly not top notch, but very practical to use. I compared it with some Digitech and Zoom processors and I couldn't find any better in this price-category.

it is very simple to use. the editing is as easy as you can expect out of a programmable device.

the sound quality is amazing for its price range...the variety of presets is good, and you have near complete control over all aspects of a particular sound. I've used it with my guitar, bass, and vocals and it does all well.

It seems to be well built, although I haven't had it for very long.

Haven't had to use them.

I play industrial type music and it has been a blessing for me. I can put effects on nearly everything I use and can't think of a bad thing to say about this processor. It is more of an overall brain than for any 1 instrument.

1. It is very easy to use
2. I've had no problem with editing, all the directions are on the top console
3.I have the manual in english and in 3 or 4 different languages and its ease of use is great
4.no

1.Fender HM strat, Crate gl600 full stack.
2.No
3.sound great from my house
4.Crate
5.yes, death
6.very good

1.after years of abuse, yes I can depend on it
2.yes

1.never needed to
2.never needed to

1.speed metal,blues
2.20 years. 5 guitars,moniters,mics,bass,amps,tascam 4 trac
3.buy it again
4.all the sounds and editing,the foot pedalMFC06 cuts out a milli second on sound swithing,DISTORTION!!!
5.yes,roland,the look and the sounds and the ease of use.
6.The unit i've had for 10years and it still kicks!!!
7.theres nothing like it sitting alone mixing tracks and having it on all the time.
8.no

The presets are somewhat useful although some tweaking needs to be done. Somewhat easy to use until you get into the edit mode. I never got the manuel for the unit and I am sure it would of come in handy. I am curretnly looking for the power cord for this unit.

I thought the sound was good, although the distortion was a bit fuzzy, i could not get that in your face crunch with out it sounding to tinni (is that a word)I did not like the lapse in sound in between program switching, that was aweful. All the effects sound good especially the chorus! I used my fx500 through an old marshal as well as in my little home studio.I could not get the warm Malmsteen solo sound that i was looking for.

The unit itself is very dependable although the power cord kept giving out!

never got through, i kept getting a recording that said operators were busy helping others. :(

Good little unit, i like it cause its small and easy to carry around.

An untrained monkey could use this processor, although editing is a little cumbersome. The manual is good enough to get you started but as with all effects units, an understanding of sound principles will help greatly. For the less knowledgable there are plenty of presets that may need minor tweaks to produce a good sound.

Sound quality is very good for the price although the delay produces some nasty harmonics when used with high feedback levels. The distortion sound is a little fuzzy and lacks crunch, but I have never heard a good distortion from a processor anyway and if thats what you are looking for you should by a good amp with a "natural" overdrive on it. Flange and Chorus sounds are excellent with tons of depth, some of the best I'd heard at the time (I bought mine in 1992!). My biggest gripe is that when combining the reverb/delay you are limited to a delay time of around 380ms, which is nowhere near long enough, but for the price its still a great unit.

Very dependable piece of kit. Mine has been stood on, had beer spilt on it and it just keeps on going. I've not had to change the internal battery in the 9 years I've owned it. I would and have used for gigs without backups. However despite these good points the power switch is a piece of crap and mine has been held in an "on" position for the last 4 years with a piece of electrical tape!

What's that? Never used it.

Ultimately you get what you pay for and at the time of its manufacture this was a very good buy. These days it still holds it's own against heavywiegh opposition when used in the right environment. It's best use is for recording as the stereo sound is very sweet and it is also good to use as part of the effects loop on a console. If you can pick one up cheap, buy it.

Easy enough to switch patches, but editing is a REAL PAIN... especially without the manual. If it had been easier to navigate, I would have kept it. There are definitely easier units out there.

Very nice sounding stereo effects and there are several parameters for each effect so that you can do just about anything... if you have the manual. I use a Fender Strat and Gibson Custom Les Paul going into a Rockman XP-100. It sounded great, but the distortions weren't heavy enough for me. I love playing Boston, Triumph, Poison and it's great for that stuff.

Seems built well enough.

I've been playing for almost 11 years and this thing was the most difficult piece of equipment I've ever tried to program. Because of that and because I already had other great sounding effects that were easier to operate, I sold the thing.

I bought this thing new about 10 years ago, I paid $ 550.00 cdn for it and at the time thought it was great, in time I realized that when played in mono (not throught my head phones and 4 track) it was ok, this thing is really good for stero and that's about it. the delay is bogus in mono, a good analog delay ppedal does a better job, if someone knows how to set it up better than I, I welcome the comments. Basically it is pretty easy to use, to copy a preset to an open slot to modify to your liking, but the manual should have had all the setting for each sound recorded, this would have saved both time and also helped when the battery dies on you and you loose some of your setting and have to re-create them,

This thing has never crapped out on me when I am playing live....yet

I've been playing for 20 years and think of my self as a hack, I used to have a whole host of other pedals some of which I kept cuz they did a better job in some cases than this unit. I like to play some good old rock and roll, and some things like Third day, Collective Soul, U2 etc.

This is the category where a lot of products lose points. I'm a songwriter and spend exorbitant amounts of time looking for, and fine tuning my sound, so I'm used to not having it "easy". It's really a tricky thing because the most difficult parts of operating my setup is my guitar and the recorder. If an effect is going to work or not does not take hours - it takes seconds, and if you have to work for it, so what? This box has quite a few sounds that I would pay to have in stompboxes, and be willing to pay more for it.
I'm no techniod, but it seems that anything MIDI gets slagged in this section. I dont use MIDI, but think about it, it's got to be working for someone, right?
Anyway, the unit features all the buttons you need right on the front panel, scrolling, pushing, selecting, deselecting, but it's all very straight ahead. Each patch contains one of five effects, the modulation and reverb are at the end and the order can be switched.
This can have a very dramatic effect on the sound. Usually, I just turn the reverb off on the unit and use an outboard unit in the mix (if I'm recording). True, you cannot change the order of all the effects, but you can use other boxes if neccesary. All things being relative, one should not view this rating as good or bad. It is what it is, and is good at what it does. It does require a wallwart.

I use this unit straight into amp, into the FX loop of my 4track, and just with headphones. The factory patches give a pretty good representation of what the box can do, and you will be tweaking them almost immediately. I dont have a stereo amp setup, but I can record stereo, thanks to the stereo output. In stereo, this thing sounds amazing! Sometimes I'll plug a Univibe into the 500 and pull up a stereo pan, sync it with the 'Vibe, and run it into the 4 track and it sounds amazing. a stereo Deja Vibe costs Four Hundred Dollars, a Microvibe and this shouldn't cost more than 250. A lot of people complain about the distortion in this unit, but I find that if you fool with it a little bit, you can get some usable tones. The Fuzz patch is pretty good, in fact I run that direct into the 4 track and can actually get feedback! I do pretty convincing o-dub's with this at 2 in the morning. Usually, I have to wait till Saturday afternoon to get this type of sound. FX500 is pretty transparent and is not noisy. Like I said, I spend a lot of time on my sound, so in the end I get the siganl under control. Lets just say, the FX500 doesn't make my job any harder than it is.

I am a complete fanatic. I have or, try to have two of everything.
I dont back up equipment-I have two of these and use them both.
I have heard of the power buttons going south on these but mine are feelin' fine 1969. One thing though, the memory is kept by an internal battery that needs to be replaced by a tech.

Yamaha is pretty good about customer support and product knowledge. Better than Way Huge, Charlie, Stringer, Kern etc....

I purcased the FX500 back in '92 or '93 for about three hundred and change dollars. I could not afford to keep it (2 weeks wages) and returned it 6.5 days later (the guy at Sam Ash was really pissed).
This year, I purchased two of these puppies for three hundred dollars, and I'm happy as a clam. To tell the truth, I initially bought this unit for patch #49. The Sitar patch. It gives a realistic aproximation of an amped sitar using flange, comp. and distortion-real fun stuff. I have about 10 dedicated rackmount effect units (mostly delay, modulation), and they all have a different vibe. One flanges better, some chorus better, some vibrato better. The Yamaha, given what I paid for it(them) is great bang for the buck. To go even further, I'd pay what I paid for my DejaVibe to get this - it's that versatile.

that all depends on where and how you use it. I was foolish not to get the footpedal (though I wonder if that would help or not). But when Im just messing around at home, its easy enough to use because I dont have the pressures of playing live and keeping on my toes. For live playing, esp. without the footpedal, I find that its almost a liability (depending on what settings I need). I never use the distortion live... I use a separate pedal for that. But if i need to switch another sound in the middle of a song, I have to demonstrate good timing and good aim to poke those little keypads correctly. Ease of over all use? I give it a 6. Easy of getting a good sound out of it? I give it a 7 (because i like the clean sounds you can get out of it ... the distortion sucks... and i am ignoring the horrendous presets that yamaha sent with it (and Im being GENEROUS because why oh why cant we get RID of those original presets!!! -- unless im totally missing the boat on that). As far as editing patches, I found it intuitive enough. I hate that when i miss a desired parameter I have to recycle through... yet beyond its basic limitations, I do find editing to be about an 8.

I play a DeArmond M75T and a Stratocaster too and both sound decent enough with it. Not noisy in particular (because i avoid playing live with the distortion settings). Everything else sounds good enough. I tweak the EQ for higher end and midrange too. A lot of the sound issues stem from the guitar. But there does seem to be a kind of Yamaha sound to it.. how else to describe it? It just SOUNDS like an FX500. I do hate the distortion, the reverbs are decent enough, cant complain about the chorus or flange, but for some reason I avoid the symphonic setting. Tremolo? Never bothered with it. Compression is decent. I dont normally emulate specific sounds unless Im doing a cover, and it is somewhat limited in nailing some of the sounds I want. But trying to get a sound that I like as my own is frustrating due to the yamahaness of the unit. that knocks its overall rating down a bit for me.

I had one problem with the on off switch and had to basically jerry rig it up. For a laugh, heres what I did. I opened the thing, got to the switch and tied a piece of tooth floss to it. So now, when I push it on, it stays on. When i push it off, I tug on the floss a tad so the switch resets itself. Innovation at its best? Beyond that, I have had no problems with the unit.

Never bothered

I play a lot of different styles, stevie ray, dire straits, XTC, Matchbox 20, all over the map. I dont find this to be the best match but I can fake it (which I hate doing).. so ultimately, its not the best match depending on the song. I have been playing for 26 years. If this unit came out new today, theres no way I would purchase it. Was it a good unit at the time? Yeah, I was happy with it. But I knew there were better things out there. But i bought it at 250$ new so at the time it was a steal compared to the list price. If i lost it, id be pissed off, but I wouldnt buy another FX500.

When i bought it i didn't exactly know what i was getting. for the number of presets on it and the price i didn't think it would be too bad. Unless you set presets it's a little hard to switch to them without constantly pressing the up/down buttons. I never really read the manual, it has some good info on top of the unit. Dunno how to upgrade it or anything like that.

I have a line 6 flextone hd so i dont run it through amps much, infact not at all now. it's not noisy, unles on Metal Overdrive, but that's the only one. i like playing my strat through it, it has vintage noisless pickups and on some presets sounds really good, mostly the clean ones. there is a preset called Soft Focus and is kinda cool, more of a novelty though, but it'd have it's uses on a song.
The distortions arn't the best (as with most digital FX units) but they are ok! I use the distortions with my yamaha image standard, 2 humbuckers. When I run it through my amp it is SO loud, too loud i think. I use it with headphones and think that is it's draw card! just playing queitly at anytime of the night, or day or whatever. i do use it A LOT in my home studio, reverbs, delays etc etc, its ok for that, a little electronic sounding but it does the job for me.

dont gig with it, one of the output jacks is a little touchy, other than that it's sweet!

never dealt with em

i been playin around 12 years, i play all kinds of music and can make it suit what i want. if it got flogged i wouldnt buy another one, but if a 2nd one popped up for a good price i'd buy it. it's fairly compact for what it is, easy to take to the lounge room, plug in the headphones and play and watch telly. i wish user made presets were a little easier to get to, but it's not too bad. it's good to stuff arounf with, flick from patch to patch when in the bedroom, it doesn't get in the way. when i bought it i got the manual and midi board.

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