Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 23 2014, 03:34 PM

In keeping with my love of "vintage" Digitech gear (pre "RP" anything, e.g. pre crap) I've finally acquired a piece I've wanted forever. A rack mount DIGITECH 2112 with the chip upgrade to 2120 ARTIST. The 2120 has a purple/fuchsia face place which always struck me as a bit to "Purple Rain" so I'm glad I got the other one

Anyhoo, I've wanted one of these for quite some time after seeing them on youtube. Wads of wacky presets and can't wait to try them out. It's on it's way and I'll record some bits when it shows up. This will be my third vintage digitech unit after my GNX3 and my GENESIS 3.

Anyone else partial to obscure gear?

Posted by: Sensible Jones Aug 23 2014, 06:28 PM

I absolutely love older Zoom units and pedals!! Also my old 80's ART!



i also have a Genesis 1 and some older Digitech pedals!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 23 2014, 07:48 PM

nice!!! Now that is some vintage 80s gear!!! Some folks love vintage 70s gear, some folks love vintage 60's gear, I love vintage 80's - 2000s gear I've always been curious about those ART rack units, how is the gain?

Posted by: Mertay Aug 23 2014, 07:56 PM

I had some experience with the purple one long time ago, but I do remember rp's at that era too? anyway, I'd still expect it to sound very good

Posted by: Sensible Jones Aug 23 2014, 09:39 PM

The ART SGX 2000 is the better unit than this one. This one is a bit like a 'Light' version, so it has presets that can be adjusted whereas with the 2000 you can make custom patches from scratch. As for the gain? All I can say is it's pure 80's Hair Metal, I haven't tried using it for much else in all honesty! I used to use the Zoom 9150 for almost everything else. It has a Tube Preamp stage and the effects are far superior!!

Posted by: klasaine Aug 24 2014, 02:04 AM

The SGX2000 was indeed a good piece of rack gear. Every studio out here had one.
I also remember the Digitech 2112 having great tones in it.

This was my 80s rig ...








* Stock photos ... all that gear is long gone.
Though I do have a hard on for one of the new Korg SDD-3000 delays ...
http://www.korg.com/us/products/effects/sdd3000_pedal/
Pedal version of their very famous SDE3000 rack unit with some modern updates.

Posted by: Sensible Jones Aug 25 2014, 08:01 PM

Oooh, Ken I remember those SPX 90's!!
A studio that we used to use a lot had 4 or 5 of them!!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 26 2014, 12:38 AM

Takes me back!! I actually had one of those rack mount delay units you you have on your post about your old gear!!! I had a gig nightmare with it though as I set the feedback too high and during my solo it whent WWEEEEEEEEEHHHEEEEEEESCREE$EEEEEECCCHHHHH and I sold it the next day. IT was pure user error, but that killed it for me.
I ran pretty dry tones for gigging for some time after that

I also remember the SPX90!! That and the LEXICON PCM70. Remember those?



Every studio had to have at least one But that's back when studios used to need wads of "outboard gear" like this!


Of course, these days, those racks are mostly for looks

Posted by: klasaine Aug 26 2014, 04:02 AM

The PCM 70 is still a much used piece of studio gear! That one and the PCM 42 have some sounds in them that nothing else gets.
A lot of guys and studios had two 42s in their rack so they could get a true Lexicon stereo chorus.
A later incarnation, possibly the 90s series of Lex's had a patch called 'Twin 42s'

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 26 2014, 04:14 AM

Thankfully, these days, all one really needs is a powerful computer and the right mix of plugins LEXICON makes a KILLER reverb plugin based on their long and gloried history of PCM units.

http://www.lexiconpro.com/en-US/products/pcm-native-reverb-plug-in-bundle


I remember having to patch rack units through a patch bay just to get reverb on a snare on a single track. I really don't miss that at all. Being able to assign a reverb with a couple of clicks is just a wonderful thing IMHO


Still, I do still have a soft spot for some rack gear. Mostly guitar processors. There are tons of guitar plugins and I LOVE some of them!! And I don't really need rack gear that does the same exact thing, yet I do own two rack units that are dedicated guitar processors. So rack gear does still have a place in my world even in the sea of plugins