I am looking for a $200 - $300 reverb unit to use for live sound for my acoustic trio. To start, it will be used globally on guitars, acoustic bass and vocals (though ultimately I would like to have two units, one for instruments and one for vocals).
We play small to medium size bars that don't have the best stage setups, and all kind of wacky room configurations, and our audience numbers swing wildly (say from 10 to 100 people) show to show.
To get by, I just bought an Alesis Microverb 4, but now have read a few comments about Alesis that say their sound quality is poor. Luckily, I have 14 days to return it if I find something better.
Any suggestions for a better unit in my price range?
Thanks!
Comments
For a reverb unit check out the TC Electronic M300 average of $2
For a reverb unit check out the TC Electronic M300 average of $200. I myself have one and love it compared to Digitech, Alesis, behringer and Yamaha products in the same price range. It is very easy to use and has a tap button for the delay so delays are in time with your music, real helpful for live music were there is not session time to lock to. Very clean I/O and you can use the unit as a standalone A/D/A converter if needed. I would suggest you look for a quality product, feel the controls (do they feel cheap?) if it is menu based (the M300 is not) make sure that you will be able to change the settings of each effect with ease. Before you buy anything I would listen to a few units, some of the lower quality boxes have a very gritty hi end sizzle to the reverbs, this does very little for me...
As far as Alesis, its not the highest end of gear but many of the products are a good value, I own a RA500 and M1 MKII and each product works great for my needs!
May the best reverb win!
You get what you pay for. Alesis, $100 unit, probably $50 in pa
You get what you pay for.
Alesis, $100 unit, probably $50 in parts, labor, marketing, etc MAX! But, you cannot go on that alone. The build quality is going to be what it can be for $50. It is no worse than anything else out there, and will probably last you a long time in your environment. Will sound like crap? To me it does. There is nothing usable and there is too much noise. But I am in a different market.
I would look no worse than a TC MOne. You can tap in your reverb tales, delay times, etc, have more programming potential, and control of parameters. Find some poor sucker in a spot, that is needing to get rid of it to pay bills. Otherwise, you ar in for $400.
Sheet: Man, ruthless . . . I'm usually that poor sucker! Anywa
Sheet:
Man, ruthless . . . I'm usually that poor sucker! Anyway, thanks for the input. After reading about, it sounds like the MOne offers a lot more unit-wise for not that much more $$.
Also, being new to this - in this price range, am I correct in asuming that these units are "single channel" - meaning that you can't assign some instruments to Preset A and others to Preset B? It seems your only level of control in this aspect is using more less of the aux send volume, but that everything will have the same effects on it. Correct?
Don't feel bad if you don't buy the TC M One, it is indeed a gre
Don't feel bad if you don't buy the TC M One, it is indeed a great reverb but for the same price if not more you can still get a mid 1980's reverb, the Lexicon PCM60.... [if you want your reverb tail to sound like a trash can].
Listen for yourself to any units you are thinking about. If an M One is $400ish, is it worth it to you in the application? Maybe! If you can't tell the difference between the extra $200+ of any of the more mid to better level live reverbs whats the point in spending the money on it. If your playing at a larger venue down the road expect that the venue or sound company will provide something better than the reverb you got for ~100 people. I promise you that any audience you play for is not there to listen to your great reverb tail, its the music man!
Chris: You know, you're right. We have a crappy little setup n
Chris:
You know, you're right. We have a crappy little setup now and everyone tells us we "sound" great. Plus, we're basically weekend warriors. But ... I'm just can't handle not having the best tone and sound that I can afford and understand.
I've just bought a Mackie Onyx 1620 so that I can run it live and record oursleves for fun, so I want complimentary gear that gets to us that "next level" in sound quality.
I just have to find that balance (read: good quality without pissing off my wife!)!
Thanks again to all,
If I may say, for 250-ish you can get either a Lexicon mpx 500/5
If I may say, for 250-ish you can get either a Lexicon mpx 500/550 or a TC M-One, used of course, either of those units will suit you just fine as well as allow for some extra tinkering of other fx as well.
I have owned both, and the Lex is better for reverbs and the TC is better for everything else.
dbc: Alesis tries to make too much stuff, IMHO. I have complaine
dbc:
Alesis tries to make too much stuff, IMHO. I have complained about their Masterlink and mixers on this forum. But their reverbs are the thing they started with and, FOR THE $$$ ( I hate that phrase!), they are very hard to beat. Certainly not crappy-sounding, and no one else makes one that can touch them for quality in the under-$300 range. You may rest your fears.
One thing that I will warn you about is the damned AC power adapter ("wall wart"). Make sure that you rack the 'verb. With some sort of power conditioner. Then secure the little power plug going into the Alesis so that it can't come loose on you. That can be a real irritating problem. I use gaffers tape to hold it in. I have a bunch of DSP effects units. Still have a pair of Midiverb II/IIIs for a jam band PA I play with. Great bargains!