Guitar Rig part V : Eventide H9 max and H9 core vs Lexicon mx series
ok well, were were we...oh yes, I was working out a new guitar rig and choosing effect processors. Ever since I got a Lexicon mx 200 and mx400 processors I have been obsessed with how clean an effect processor is and its audio quality including how large the stereo spread is, lack of hiss and the lushness of the reverbs and delays. the lexicon's surprisingly are low dollar budget effect processors, yet they are among the cleanest sounding I have encountered.
So, in my infinite wisdom, I thought, wow these lexicon's sound so very good, I wonder what the state of the art processor sounds like. To that end, I purchased, on payments an eventide h9 max pedal and an h9 core pedal for a price near $1000. Compare that to a used Lexicon mx200 for less than $100 and a used mx400 for under $200.
first, I must tell you how guilty I felt spending $1000 on a couple of guitar pedals.I have always enjoyed and even reveled in using cheap gear and making it sound just as good as the expensive gear.Thoughts of someone slipping the h9 into their jacket and walking off with it at a gig came to mind.In any case, I unboxed the h9 with great care , I went to hook it up.While the lexicon's worked perfectly in my f/x loop, I was stunned to find that the expensive h9 max did not do well at all in the effect loop. I got a nasty distorted sound. So, that was a real disappointment. For the money, I had high expectations for the h9 and expected a lot.I eventually settled on running it in front of the amp as it was designed and using it as a stompbox.
h9 Pros
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I eagerly loaded the software editor on my PC for the h9.This allowed me to choose presets and algorithms. Then, the fun began. I tried every preset just about and each algorithm. My findings are that the sound quality is excellent, it is also super clean with no hiss. 90% of the algorithms sound great and all from a tiny pedal. The imitations of one algorithm at a time sucks and this is why I had bought the second pedal which I did not hook up.The stereo spread was large and the reverbs lush and dense.The delays and reverb were superb as well as the chorus and flanging and even the pitch shifting were super.I also loved the pc editor for editing and choosing presets via usb.So, reading this, you must think ,well whats there not to like then?
h9 cons
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Well, lets begin with the cost. I just couldn't get that out of my mind. $1k isn't that much, granted, but for 2 f/x pedals it is a lot!! you could by 2 budget real all tube combo amps for that and for $1k it had better squeal like Ned Beatty in "Deliverance".
The Sculpt and Crushstations algorithms just didn't do anything for me and sounded terrible in my setup. Kind of 1/2 distortion in a clean preamp sound considered bad by most.So, completely useless for me.I also found some of the presets useless and more like toy sounds. I was also never overcome with sounds I had not duplicated before really. After a while, all the different delays and reverb kind of mesh into one overall type of sound.The pith shifter was just too gimmicky for me anyway other than used as an octaver. However, I did realize the sound quality of each preset was great sounding.
Sound quality wise, I was astounded to find my budget lexicon's holding there own against the newcomer. The Lex's sounded just as good as the h9's.Just as quiet and just as big a stereo spread and the delays and reverbs as good. I suppose not as extreme as in the h9, but the Lex's always seem to stay in the usable range. I would have considered ditching the Lexicon's if the h9 blew them away, but it simply did not at all.
On top of that, the Eventide has the h9 control pc editor which is really well thought out and works great, however , the Lexicon's have their own pc editor as well to control the mx200 and mx400 (mx edit). both run off of a standard usb port. The eventide can use an ios (Apple) device which I don't have so and no it wont run off my android tablet.The lexicon is usb only and it works great.
Lastly, I tried the h9 with the Lexicon's and it added a little sweetening of the sound but most of the time was so much effects that it turned to a mushy mess of guitar with over processed f/x sound wise.
Conclusion
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Had I not had the low budget Lexicon's to begin with,I would be thrilled with the eventide h9 .But when you compare the price to the similar sound quality of sounds and the Lexicon's covering all the useful effects I could use and that the Lexicon's also had a pc editor.Granted it was possibly easier to get a good sound with the h9 editor, but not really as the Lexicon mx-edit editor could not be much simpler to use.It became clear that I was paying $1000 for some sounds that are toy like and I would not really use and for effects I didn't need and made to sound over processed when used with the lexicon's. I re boxed and unboxed the h9 3-4 times to give it another shot,but eventually the conclusion was always the same. So I re-boxed it and returned both the h9 max and the h9 core.
After I returned the h9's I was feeling a bit more relief in my decision to return them and no longer felt the apprehensiveness of paying 1 k for 2 pedals..Lessons I learned, is 1) the most expensive is not always best 2) budget gear can sound as good as the expensive gear 3)take some time and really learn your gear inside and out , all the parameters and effects and what they do,etc...4)sometimes, "less is more", in this case, the Lexicon's and the eventide was way too much effects processing and sounded like an out of control mess of sound. Each repeatedly was plenty for getting a clear guitar signal.5)for some reason, the small "pedal" form factor is all the rage vs the rack unit such as the lexicon's. Usually this means no midi and very limited number so sounds and presets. you just usually get more features,connections and options with a rack unit instead of a pedal most of the time, usually due to the pedal size.I prefer rack gear.
overall, the Eventide h9 is amazing if you can afford it and don't currently own any effects units, but similar sound quality and effects can be had via the Lexicon mx200 and the mx400 for much less money.
author: Denis taaffe
http://www.lexiconpro.com/
https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/stompboxes/multi-effect.../h9
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