digitech 2120, TC electronic, rocktron???

[kirksflooring]

I've been updating my rig, and next is the effects... Right now I have a yamaha fx900(what?) for effects. The rest of my rig is a MB studio pre, a marshall 9100 monobloc, and a 4x12 with celestion g12hs and v30s. I know the fx900 is outdated, but I've been reading and reading on the internet and it's hard to form an opinion without the unit in front of you with YOUR rig. I noticed that digitech 2120s are selling pretty cheaply on ebay these days, and they sure were the apple of my eye years ago...(back when they were called 2101) Have they become obsolete? I could really use the help of someone who has sampled a number of units in person. Programability is not a problem. Price and loss of signal is. Lay it on me...

 

[Russ]

I wouldn't say that the 2101 is obsoleted provided it has the PPC-210 upgrade chip for dual processing and the 3.00.00a chipset. This makes it much like the pro versions. You might look at the Artist 3.00.00a with the PPC-210 or just get an Artist Pro. The 2112 was upgradable to the 2120. To me, the 2101's were more tweakable though and had the balanced XLR's. The technology isn't really outdated because it still serves a purpose. There are more modern units out there that don't have nearly the capability. Sure you get a little tone coloring from the units but that was part of their sound. If you take the time to dial them in they sound fine. There are still people writing patches for these and you can download them online. Current software is available for patch editing also.

TC Electronics in about the same price range would be a used G-major but some say the build quality sucks because the knob falls off. There is no tone coloring in these units. There is no preamp in them either. These are good basic effects. Though the effects quality is better I would rather not have a knob that is known to fall off.

Rocktron Xpression is a nice little unit. Considering that Rocktron no longer makes the Intellifex it would be my choice for a new Rocktron product. As typical Rocktron effects fare the units do not color your tone and give a decent effects base. A used Intellifex is what I would buy if I was buying Rocktron because I have had them before and they were great units that didn't color tone and had decent effects.

 

[Spherion]

If the Eventide Eclipse sounds anything like the GTR/DSP 4000 series I'd highly suggest it. My GTR4000 is the cleanest sounding effects unit I've ever heard.

If I could afford the Eclipse I'd probably get it, but since I probably can't I'm thinking about finding a TC Electronic M2000 unit just for reverbs during live play. It originally retailed in the range of the Eclipse when it first came out and demo'd pretty nicely at Sam Ash.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=eclipse

I've tried Lexicons, and although they're known for their reverbs, I found them to be a bit too subtle compared to the Eventide brand.