Magicstomp and the elusive "rack tone"

[Tito83]

By "rack sound" I'm not talking about the stereotypical 80's tone, but how pristine it sounds. Even though I have limited experience with hands on rack gear, that's how I perceive it. I can't really describe, but pedals for whatever reason don't usually sound like that. Is that a real thing or am I just imagining it?

Enters the Magicstomp. First pedal I've ever played that felt the same as the good sounding rack units I've tried. I know the Magicstomp has a a bit of a cult following, but has anyone tried it and compared with the more highly regarded stuff? That's just curiosity really, but IMO it sounds GREAT!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Good to see you here Tito! Welcome

 

[mbenigni]

By "rack sound" I'm not talking about the stereotypical 80's tone, but how pristine it sounds. Even though I have limited experience with hands on rack gear, that's how I perceive it. I can't really describe, but pedals for whatever reason don't usually sound like that. Is that a real thing or am I just imagining it?

Enters the Magicstomp. First pedal I've ever played that felt the same as the good sounding rack units I've tried. I know the Magicstomp has a a bit of a cult following, but has anyone tried it and compared with the more highly regarded stuff? That's just curiosity really, but IMO it sounds GREAT!

Frequently described (in its day) as a "rack in pedal format" - and embraced by none other than Allan Holdsworth, who moonlighted as a refrigerator salesman.

 

[KingsXJJ]

The Magicstomp was great. Except for it’s dirt.

 

[dk_ace]

By "rack sound" I'm not talking about the stereotypical 80's tone, but how pristine it sounds. Even though I have limited experience with hands on rack gear, that's how I perceive it. I can't really describe, but pedals for whatever reason don't usually sound like that. Is that a real thing or am I just imagining it?

Enters the Magicstomp. First pedal I've ever played that felt the same as the good sounding rack units I've tried. I know the Magicstomp has a a bit of a cult following, but has anyone tried it and compared with the more highly regarded stuff? That's just curiosity really, but IMO it sounds GREAT!

I’ve compared it to axe-fx, helix, and the source audio Ventris.

I’ve had the magicstomp since the original one released, the mk 1. It’s still a really cool unit and I’ve held onto it all these years. It used to be my favorite acoustic guitar processor, haven’t gigged on acoustic in years though. I know a few touring pros used it for that too.

As for how it compares, it has its own unique charm. Very few devices have a multi delay that is as powerful, if you’re into that. Plus the symphonic stuff and reverse gate reverb sounds that are hard to attain elsewhere. When you get beyond that and into the things that are duplicated by modern units like hall or plate verbs, it is nowhere near the fidelity and power of something like the modern units I mentioned at the top. Those sounds still have their own charm though, dated and lower fidelity as they may be.

It hasn’t been in my live rig in years. It’s hard to power and I just don’t need those unique sounds that it does often enough to tie up the board space with it. I like it enough that I keep it though…

D

 

[Tito83]

I’ve compared it to axe-fx, helix, and the source audio Ventris.

I’ve had the magicstomp since the original one released, the mk 1. It’s still a really cool unit and I’ve held onto it all these years. It used to be my favorite acoustic guitar processor, haven’t gigged on acoustic in years though. I know a few touring pros used it for that too.

As for how it compares, it has its own unique charm. Very few devices have a multi delay that is as powerful, if you’re into that. Plus the symphonic stuff and reverse gate reverb sounds that are hard to attain elsewhere. When you get beyond that and into the things that are duplicated by modern units like hall or plate verbs, it is nowhere near the fidelity and power of something like the modern units I mentioned at the top. Those sounds still have their own charm though, dated and lower fidelity as they may be.

It hasn’t been in my live rig in years. It’s hard to power and I just don’t need those unique sounds that it does often enough to tie up the board space with it. I like it enough that I keep it though…

D

Yeah, the presets I go for the most are exactly the ones using algorithms from the UD stomp, which is a multidelay unit, isn't it?

I'm trying to replicate those sounds for a few weeks on an HX effects without much success.

 

[DrewJD82]

I wanted one of these for the longest time but ended up getting a G-Force for dirt cheap instead. It’d be fun to play around with one now but I want to buy pedals I’m going to keep on a board before the more novelty items. A Digitech 2101 w/floorboard popped up for $400 this weekend and I almost grabbed it for the nostalgia but that’s several other pedals right there!

 

[dk_ace]

Yeah, the presets I go for the most are exactly the ones using algorithms from the UD stomp, which is a multidelay unit, isn't it?

I'm trying to replicate those sounds for a few weeks on an HX effects without much success.

Yeah that’s the multi delay stuff. There’s a FB group that has a lot of archived presets including ones that are holdsworth based things. Quite a few good multi delay sounds in there.

For recreating that stuff in HX gear it depends on which multi delay algos you’re liking. You should be able to get close to some of them especially the serial ones or the ones that are 4 delay lines in parallel. For stuff like the 8 delay line parallel ones you probably won’t be able to get it right as the HX fx can’t have enough parallel signal chains for those. Not many units can run 8 delays in parallel though.

The H9 is supposed to have some good multidelay stuff. I think the Dd500 might be able to do some of the ud stuff too with the pattern delay potentially.

D