Hi RJ, I actually wrote most of the patches for the ART stuff starting with the Multiverb through the SGX series. I used to write the patches in exchange for gear, at one point I had 10 or so ART units in a rack to a point where I lost track of where everything went 🙂. I started right after ART transitioned from MXR, back the Tony, Richard and Phil had some great ideas at the time. I had a great time doing the patches and learned a lot at the time, glad to be a part of history. Thanks for the blast from the past, love the channel. BTW I've always been a Brian May fan, hence the English Tubes LOL!
So crazy how 1980s guitar tones are back.. Some friends in Europe would make fun of my 1980's tones and now people want those tones again.. Lesson is to never get rid of equipment, it always comes back around.. So glad I still have my Rockman..
Kept all my BOSS micro rack graphic eq’s and Hush rack units. Never any problems almost 40yrs. Rockman+Hush+RedBox direct was my clean sound live. Friggin’ sound man loved that Rockman setup back then.
Hey RJ... What fun going thru the memories with that old piece of gear. I knew guys who had it in school. Guitarists and the 80s!! Being older than you, I had a medium sized rack after graduating from GIT in the 80s. My roommate was Toshi Yanagi (the guitarist on the Jimmy Kimmel show). His rack was a mirror image of Michael Landau's rack. He still has it and uses it. I don't think Mike has it anymore. Mine sorta mimicked Paul Jackson Jr's "little" rack. We lived in the same neighborhood as Mike Laudau (around the block), Brian Setzer (a few blocks away), Steve Lukather (up the hill), and Stevie Stevens (somewhere in the area). We still didn't know what we were doing. At some point still during the rack phase, I switched back to pedalboards and combos. Ahead of the game?? Lost in space!! LOL
This was a great piece of gear. Played through it but never owned it. Still have my ADA MP-1, Alesis Quadraverb and SPX 90 though. Fun to power up and dial in the nostalgia from time to time!
I still keep checking the usual places to find an MP-1 or MP-2 at a decent price. Oh I wish I knew in the late 90s what I know now. You used to be able to get MP-1s all day for $150!
Dude!!! We lived parallel lives!! This was my first rack gear too…. And I recorded love song with that pitch shift preset on my tascam porta studio… with a fake strat and an Ovation acoustic.
Great vid RJ, I still have a ART SGX 2000 rack, I've had since the 80s. I pull it out every now and again, and transport back. I'm amazed at how well some of the patches sound today. The SGX was kind of the modeler of the 80s. I just finished two new rack systems with tube pre-amps, and stereo tube power amps. It's fun stuff and prices are right! Alexis Quadra-verb, lexicon MX 200, Yamaha SPX 90, BBE Sonic Maximizer, all cool stuff! Brings back my youth! Thanks again for the memories RJ!!!
I had the same journey with the SGX-2000. I bought one new from Musician's Friend pre-internet (1992?) and it was my main piece of gear for a few years. I even bought the X-15 controller pedal and I also installed the SGX Express mod chip that ART offered a couple years later. Eventually I sold my SGX rig only to miss it 20-some years later. So I too found one on Reverb (same hot pink motif as my original SGX...Yesss!) and I even found someone who was making and selling aftermarket Express chips so that I could get it up to the "latest" revision. (I also bought an X-15 although one of the expression pedals has a bad sensor.) So now it sits in one of my racks and I'm using it fairly often. I think there's something special about that era of early-digital processing that has its own charm and idiosyncrasies. Clearly it sounds dated but it is absolutely great for some things (including as a hardware FX send in a mix) and I find myself embracing it in ways that I never fully understood in my early days. Have fun with your new "old" toy! 🙂
I brought my ART SGE Mkii in 1990, and still have it today + another one I picked up as a backup (even though I haven't switched either of them on for awhile). I love the 2 second Sampler in it, you could capture a sample and then plug in a midi keyboard and play back the sample from the SGE Mkii at different pitch.
Hey RJ, once again RJ from So. Oregon here.I worked at MF and got one of these. I still have it. Used it for years. It would Errp once in a while, but for the most part it never let me down. As always your videos are AWESOME! Guess I should fire mine up again 💥😱🤙
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I had one of these back in the day, used it with a Marshall JCM 800 100 watt 2 channel amp. Can’t really say I miss it, but it was fun to hear some of those presets again.
This rack has possibilites. I have the SGX 2000 and I LOVE it for my 80s tones - minor tweaks here and there with a Charvel Soloist HSS and the sky is the limit! I really enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting this and other guitar sounds from the 80s. :)
I have one as well. Out of commission at the moment. Need to replace the battery. Think it has to be soldered in, so it's been sitting for a while. Some of the presets were ear-screaching terrible. Others were very good. Did you ever upgrade the tube? One day I'll get around to dealing with it.
What a blast from the past! I had the Alesis MidiVerb 4 , ART Ultrafoot controller, Mesa Mark III head and Marshal 4x12 cab. What a rig! Took me FOR-EVER to dial in good tones. I think I was happier to get rid of than when I got it?!? 😅
I have an SGX 2000...the reason all of these units didn't have power switches, was because they were intended to be part of a rack ecosystem with a power conditioner that would be your master power switch for the entire rack 🙂
What would make for an interesting video is if you created a stereo rig using this device and some pedals to create a go to rig that you would be able to use today. Those old processors were often under utilized so seeing how we could use one today would be really cool.
I also only had one bit of rack gear. Mine was a Digitech GSP-21 that I think I bought in 1990. In hindsight, I think the sales guy was actually trying to convince me not to buy it, but when he said I needed to start with a distortion tone I liked, I liked what I was hearing from the GSP. I used up until about 2008. I think I still have it in storage.
This was my first efx processor that I bought back in 1988, I was blown away at that time but sold it with original foot controller a few years ago as I didn't use it for years.
Loved the video. The chorus/delay/reverb sounds are on point! I have an SGX T2 that has a setting from the previous owner that makes the sound stage HUGE in stereo. Once I get the Right input repaired, It will be the last piece before my Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp in my stereo rack rig.
As a teenager I used a digitech gsp7 into a Peavey Backstage 50 and an Art midi switcher that was probably for that Art rack unit. Brings back memories. I then upgraded to a rack mount power amp and a 2x12 cab. Big upgrade over the Peavey. There’s some decent tones in those old units.
Are you talking about the Digitech RP-7 Valve multi effects unit with the 12 AX7 tube in it? I used to have one and liked it. Used it for practicing mostly and some recording. Had this SGE before the Digitech, it sounds pretty good doesn't it? This old gear certainly brings back some memories.
@@Marcus_C51 no it was the GSP7 rack mount effects processor/preamp. It didn’t have any tubes. It came out around 1990 and is very similar to the Art unit RJ is demoing. Even a lot of the patch names are really similar.
@@ryanchamblee2758 Oh sorry about that-my bad. So some of the patch names were similar in the Digitech? Wow. Yeah, the SGE did have some good patches in there, brought back some memories of mine listening to RJ. I was knocked out by the Sweet Clean Jazz and his playing on that one! The crunch tones generally were useable and so were the cleans with chorusing and flanging.
Bring on the rack gear! Also, thanks for educating me on the history of musician's friend. I would have never guessed it started out as a mail order catalog.
Brings me back. Me and a drummer friend were trying to get something going with a singer and another guitar player back in the early 90’s. He had a full stack with all ART stuff. I think he may have been using the 2000 (not really sure - rack stuff confused me back then - I kept thinking “where’s the amp/head?”). I was completely in awe. Not long after I got an SGX LT. I couldn’t believe how I instantly sounded like I was getting “pro” tones (albeit in my basement) To me it just shows that you can get great tones out of (almost) anything if you know what you’re doing, what you’re working with, and of course, can actually play (ie it sounding like “you” regardless of gear). Great vid!
Love these kinds of vids from you RJ; tons of fun revisiting the gear of our youth! My first multi was the Korg G1 Distortion processor, it had all sorts of suspect tones + delay and auto wah. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was tons of fun. Still have it, but unfortunately it doesn’t work anymore 😂
The ART PRO VLA II compressor/limiting amps are still great. I use two of them in my studio as outboards; one for inputs the other for mixing down. For the price they compete at a much higher pay-grade.
Still have mine. A cool tone sculpting trick i used to use was to add the multi-tap delay, set the delay time really short, like 5-10 mS, then adjust the taps between 1-7 and it gave a great filtered sound that was great for leads. NIce video. I need to replace the Audio Harness in mine, I think that's the only thing keeping it from being 100% at the moment.
Wow. Better than I remember. These analog Input/Output/Mix-faders are gold for quick first adjustments! Also the coarse value steps in the menu are great for ultrafast decisions. I have to think, the engineers got the most off that limited processing power: Presets, "stunning" enough to impress a customer and sell it. Enough tweakability later, to get at least one useful patch for every style.
My 80s rig was a Mesa Boogie SOB and a ‘74 hardtail Strat. Effects were a vintage Crybaby Wah-wah pedal, an EHX Clone Theory chorus/vibrato, a RAT, and an Ibanez Analog Delay (the pink one). I was not into Hair Metal but rather the Butthole Surfers in 1987, and my rig made those Paul Leary tones. The bands I played in were kind of 60s psychedelic and early 70s glam influenced, Hendrix, Clapton and Beck being my icons of tone. I got an ART multi-effects rackmount processor (not the one RJ has) for $40 before covid, and an Alesis Midiverb III for $30 about a decade ago. In the stereo effects loop of my Ampeg VH140C they sound pretty awesome. I just got an Avid Eleven rackmount effects/preamp unit that pairs really well with the ART & Alesis units for my own hybrid of 80s, 90s and contemporary sounds.
OMG - i used to play through that exact processor years ago. Controlled it with a MIDI pedal, ran it through a Marshall 9600 tube power amp, and Marshall 4x12 slant cabinet. Got rid of it because it was super convenient and flexible, but couldn't get the tone I wanted. Then again, I still can't get the tone I want all these years later.
This was great! I bought a SGE Mach II around 1989-1990 I think and it did the trick for a 17 year old at the time! I actually gigged with it a bit and it sounded pretty good as far as I could tell at the time, who knows! I still have it, but had to change the storage battery. It still has my 30 year old programs in there. Good times!!
That was awesome! Back in the day, I rocked an ART DST-4 and an ART Multiverb LT. These sounds seemed very familiar. Also had a sweet Digitech GSP2101. I kind of miss my rack gear. I use a Line 6 Helix now, and my tone is exponentially better! haha
Nice Sounds 👌🏼! My favorit Sound of the 80's (when i was 20/25 years old) was the TriChorus. Now I'm 60 years old 🤷🏻♂️ and i never had a "Real" Trichorus for my guitar 😭. THX for your Videos 🫶🏼great Job 👍🏼. Uwe from 🇩🇪
I know so little about the rack effects as I was listening to music in the 80sbmirevthan creating it..but my internet lately is definitely captured as I ponder how we went from these early effects processors back to stomps etc and the re emergence of today's dsp powered modelers etc is just mind blowing..the Io and ui are the most impressive advances imo as the effects just became cleaner and more studio perfect...most anyway...it's all fascinating
Incredible memories. I an just a few years older than you and for me I always wanted a rack set up as a kid but by the time I got my 1st one (early 90s?) It was the Alisis Quadraverb GT. Fun times and great memories.
I still gotta SGX 2000 express!! My sgx nitro died a about a year back. Horrible distortions but everything else was awesome (for the time) oooh that ultrafoot x 15 died about 2 year ago. It got a lot of abuse over the years I’m surprised it lasted that long!
Wow back then I played thru my blackface Vibroluxe Reverb with an old tube screamer. Still play thru that rig. RJ I like your playing a lot. God Bless Us All.
Bought a SGE Mach II around 1989/90. It was my first and only effects unit through the 90's (besides a Wah) and I loved it. I think it sounded good. I can't remember it had OD/Distortion (maybe they were not integrated in the Mach II version). I mainly used chorus, reverb, delay in combinatin with compressor and eq in the effects loop of a Fender Twin Red Knob, i.e. only mono. I still got the SGE somewhere in the house, but stopped using it end of the 90'ies due to some electronic problems resulting in lots of noise and hiss. Fun to hear similar sounds I used back in those days but now in stereo! :-)
I just bought this unit. Look forward to playing it. Art was in direct compition with Digitech. Art units sound warmer...Digitech gsp 2101,2112 and 2120 units sound digital but nailed the tube tone and effects. Art gave up. The Art Sgx 2000 tube is good too. Rock On!
Right on RJ I love this old school sound I started playing in 85. I'm getting ready to turn 49 in a few weeks man I've been playing since I was 13 I still gig regularly
Wow RJ-talk about a blast from the past! I saw SGE in your title, recognized it and realized I'd forgotten that I ever owned one. That's sad, Well, it's been awhile-ha ha. Traded it and something else for a plane ticket and kind of regret that. Thanks for taking us through it again, yeah some of the patch titles rang a bell, British Stack of course, Warm Tube Blues and English Tube were all ones I used to use too. Damn, you sounded great on your Tyler, everytime I hear one I'm impressed.. Sweet Clean Jazz-that actually sounded excellent as a patch. You nailed it! The chorus and flange patches in general weren't too bad, yeah I turned the effects down in the mix fairly often because it was so saturated. The Arpeggiator was cool. Oh god, the Auto Wah-I have always hated that effect.I have nightmares when I just think of the Edie Brickell and Dead songs using it. All in all a pretty decent effects unit back in the day, with some tweaking it usually sounded good. Thanks for the memories RJ, Wow, so you had one when you were in Eighth Grade? Living large sir-ha ha.
That's fun! My only 19" rack unit was the ART SGE Mach II. I programmed multiple different sounds for every song I wrote (I think I used a broken Boss ME-5 to switch between my presets). My amp was an old AC30. That's it. But then one night I had a gig with my band and I couldn't get my ART unit to work, so I had to play the whole prog rock gig with just a guitar and the old AC30 that I wasn't aloud to turn up. Imagine wanting to sound like the perfect blend between Rush, King Crimson, Zappa and David Bowie using just one clean sound and not even a reverb. That's when I decided to go back to pedals. I made that switch a couple of times by the way. 😄
That brings me back lots of memories, I had the SGE Mach II, but most of the presets were the same. Actually some sounds with mix down are quite good! Wish I could try it out now, having bit more of a knowledge of FX chains!
In the ‘80s I was using a pedal board with several Ibanez and Boss FX pedals, and some kind of volume/wah pedal-I think it was a Morley. When that whole setup got stolen out of a club I was playing, I got a Boss ME-10 multi-FX and an expression pedal. The ME-10 wouldn’t let me switch to the wah using the pedal like I could with the old analog setup, actually, I don’t think it did wah at all! It didn’t do tremolo either-that was a dated effect back then. It had all kinds of whooshy phasers and flangers, which I never used!
I used this onstage, and didn't know much about anything. In the Army band I put it directly into the front of a solid state Yamaha amp, and for my own band later on, I had it in the effects loop of the red knob Fender Dual Showman stack for reverb and some effects. Never used for stereo back then.
This was fun. I’d love to see a deep dive on the Zoom 9000S Black, which was my first processor. I chose it over the Roland/Boss GT-16 because the Zoom had a footswitch.
i have one and they are great units very versatile and editable also good for any instrument you can customize and make your own presets good for aux send on mixing boards
You should do a shootout between this and whatever the modern equivalent is, a kemper or a helix or whatever other thing I’m never gonna buy. But I’d TOTALLY play this!
OMG! I remember working in a music shop and selling these back then!!! We had them set up stereo in a rack...I thought it sounded pretty good back then ha ha. Shout out to Kingdisher Music in the UK :) TG
It is fun watching you revert back to a teenage boy right in front of our eyes. I rejected rack mount gear. Kinda glad I saved the money, but that is technology moving forward.
I used the SGE Mach2 with a GK250ML thru a stereo 412 with Clestion 30's for a whole lot of gigs. Bunch of stompboxes into the front end of the GK too. Big time fun. Still have it all...unused for many years now. Thanks for the memories RJ.
I remember seeing ART units advertised in guitar magazines, but I don't remember seeing this particular unit however. I was twenty-five and playing mostly acoustic guitars because my favorite electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul Standard) had been stolen and I was pretty down about that. My tone at the time was a Scholz Rockman I plugged into a Boss Cube 60 amp for electric guitar. I also had a Fender Stratocaster, but I didn't enjoy playing it that much after playing the Les Paul. The sounds of this unit bring back some memories though, I remember rack units were the rage up until grunge became the thing and everyone started getting rid of their racks and going back to pedals and less processing.
I reckon it sounds pretty good! Especially the modulation and time based effects. Used and tweaked properly I think it would be very serviceable for regular use.
Brilliant trip down memory lane R.J. I jus literally got back from my storage room this afternoon (having a de-clutter) and I'd picked up my 4U Rack Bag which hasn't seen the light of day for well over a decade & a half..!!! inside it was my Marshall JMP-1 an ART SGE (no shit.!!) and a Zoom 9120 plus a line 6 pod and short-board I'm going to plug these in and have a blast... and I'll probably remember why I stopped using them..!!!
I lived in cocoa beach in 89 and my Brother and I had one of those and the quadroverb gt, Good times,Thanks RJ.oh yea, We played the plus five lounge a few times in lauderdale,and got to open for some great acts,,
I have a small rack case with an SGX2000 (with the tube preamp) and a Marshall 8008 Valvestate amp sitting in storage. I really should dig it out and power it up.
I ran a ADA MP1 to an Art SGX Nitro. I used the ADA as my main pre amp and the Art as post effects to an ADA micro power amp into two 4x12's cabs, stereo. All controlled by the midi Art Ultra Foot pedal board. Pretty versatile controller but a pain in the ass to figure out initially. Not bad for early mid nineties metal stereo rig..
I used the exact same unit around the same time. In my case the unit was connected to my amp's effects loop. My dirt and distortion came from a Rockman Sustainor. Later I used the Rockman Octopus and accompanyying ab/b/y boxes to use the same effects in a two amps rig (my old trusty JC-120 and a Marshall Valvestae combo. Soon after, in the mid 90s, the JC-120 was replaced by a red knobs Fender Twin in the same 2 amps rig and I eventually replaced the Art with a Korg A3 which was from '89 as well but sounded much better (I had seen Roland Orzabal use one at a Tears For Fears concert) ;) Those were good times! I eventually sold the Valvestate aand only kept the red knobs Twin which I still have now. But that Art unit was also my introduction to real rack gear. I was 25 myself in '89 and played in a band trying to make it on the pro scene so it was a different thing for me then and the Art (then Korg) enabled me to get on with full midi rigs with presets and all. I only had a volume pedal on the floor in addition to the Rockman MIDI foot controller. A big change from my '80s pedalboard with 7 or more Boss pedals all connected in series... ;) As I said, good times!
I loved the look of the SGX with the footpedal board. Got one loaded it into the front of my amp and got harsh harsh noise. I didn't want to pursue it further so I sold it.
I've recently begun building an 80s rack for the studio. I can't remember all of the models, but I got the rack mount Yamaha DX-7 rack unit with some enhancements. TX-??. I still have my SGE Mach ][, but now I need to get it working. I have the SPX-900, which was the SPX-90, but more. I have a QuadraVerb GT for the reverse reverbs, I have the Digitech RPM-1 roack mount roatary speaker, which is really cool, and a couple of other odd pieces. All I really want now is some Rockman pieces and an old MP-1 or MP-2. It's fun recreating those 80s tones, but it's also fun putting otherwise decent sounds through those devices mangling the crap out of them and finding something cool by accident.
I had the SGE when it first came out. I had to bag a lot of groceries at $2.85 an hour to pay for it. I also had the midi foot controller. Ran it all in stereo into my JC120. I still have the midi pedal floating around somewhere. The SGE started wigging out around 1997 or so. I don't miss it, but I do miss that JC120.
same at that time I used to live in Italy. .. I ended up buying a Yamaha multieffect after a lot of savings... but I remeber trying this everytime I used to go to my classmate home and I loved it badly...
Reminding me of my own days with the SGX Nitro complete with the massive pedalboard! Hafler Hellrazor pre into the SGX Nitro to ADA Microtube power amp and duel JBL 1x12 guitar cabs. I still have everything except the SGX Nitro. More than a few people said I had the cleanest clean they'd ever heard! lol Luckily the Hafler pre had good distortion so I didn't use the ART for that and the FX, blended in tastefully was pretty good for the time!
Great walkthrough! Thank you for creating this! Im looking to get one of the sge models to plug a synth into or use it as an aux effect on the mixer. Really curious how that would work
also bought one in 1988 or 9, still have it... back in the day it was quite the feat to have al those effects in one box.. definitley focused on quanity not quality -- that and a Tascam 246 I was in high grass!
My first two pedals I got early own was a Hendrix Wah, cuz I was a fan of his music (to this day as well), and a DOD Ice Box Chorus. That Rack sounds good for ‘89.
Hi RJ, I actually wrote most of the patches for the ART stuff starting with the Multiverb through the SGX series. I used to write the patches in exchange for gear, at one point I had 10 or so ART units in a rack to a point where I lost track of where everything went 🙂. I started right after ART transitioned from MXR, back the Tony, Richard and Phil had some great ideas at the time. I had a great time doing the patches and learned a lot at the time, glad to be a part of history. Thanks for the blast from the past, love the channel. BTW I've always been a Brian May fan, hence the English Tubes LOL!
Back in the day I had the SGX2000, even had the MIDI floor controller with the two pedals IIRC
In Rochester, correct?
If you're still in touch with whoever did the programming on the DST 80/80, tell them I salute their work! I love that amp to this day.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this!
@@zoomzoom3950 Had that too...a wonderful beginning of my multifx journey.
So crazy how 1980s guitar tones are back.. Some friends in Europe would make fun of my 1980's tones and now people want those tones again.. Lesson is to never get rid of equipment, it always comes back around.. So glad I still have my Rockman..
Kept all my BOSS micro rack graphic eq’s and Hush rack units. Never any problems almost 40yrs. Rockman+Hush+RedBox direct was my clean sound live. Friggin’ sound man loved that Rockman setup back then.
Hey RJ... What fun going thru the memories with that old piece of gear. I knew guys who had it in school. Guitarists and the 80s!! Being older than you, I had a medium sized rack after graduating from GIT in the 80s. My roommate was Toshi Yanagi (the guitarist on the Jimmy Kimmel show). His rack was a mirror image of Michael Landau's rack. He still has it and uses it. I don't think Mike has it anymore. Mine sorta mimicked Paul Jackson Jr's "little" rack. We lived in the same neighborhood as Mike Laudau (around the block), Brian Setzer (a few blocks away), Steve Lukather (up the hill), and Stevie Stevens (somewhere in the area). We still didn't know what we were doing. At some point still during the rack phase, I switched back to pedalboards and combos. Ahead of the game?? Lost in space!! LOL
This was a great piece of gear. Played through it but never owned it. Still have my ADA MP-1, Alesis Quadraverb and SPX 90 though. Fun to power up and dial in the nostalgia from time to time!
I still keep checking the usual places to find an MP-1 or MP-2 at a decent price. Oh I wish I knew in the late 90s what I know now. You used to be able to get MP-1s all day for $150!
Dude!!! We lived parallel lives!! This was my first rack gear too…. And I recorded love song with that pitch shift preset on my tascam porta studio… with a fake strat and an Ovation acoustic.
There is a tube on the input side of the device. it's an1 2ax7 tube.
Great vid RJ, I still have a ART SGX 2000 rack, I've had since the 80s. I pull it out every now and again, and transport back. I'm amazed at how well some of the patches sound today. The SGX was kind of the modeler of the 80s. I just finished two new rack systems with tube pre-amps, and stereo tube power amps. It's fun stuff and prices are right! Alexis Quadra-verb, lexicon MX 200, Yamaha SPX 90, BBE Sonic Maximizer, all cool stuff! Brings back my youth! Thanks again for the memories RJ!!!
I had the same journey with the SGX-2000. I bought one new from Musician's Friend pre-internet (1992?) and it was my main piece of gear for a few years. I even bought the X-15 controller pedal and I also installed the SGX Express mod chip that ART offered a couple years later. Eventually I sold my SGX rig only to miss it 20-some years later. So I too found one on Reverb (same hot pink motif as my original SGX...Yesss!) and I even found someone who was making and selling aftermarket Express chips so that I could get it up to the "latest" revision. (I also bought an X-15 although one of the expression pedals has a bad sensor.) So now it sits in one of my racks and I'm using it fairly often. I think there's something special about that era of early-digital processing that has its own charm and idiosyncrasies. Clearly it sounds dated but it is absolutely great for some things (including as a hardware FX send in a mix) and I find myself embracing it in ways that I never fully understood in my early days.
Have fun with your new "old" toy! 🙂
I brought my ART SGE Mkii in 1990, and still have it today + another one I picked up as a backup (even though I haven't switched either of them on for awhile).
I love the 2 second Sampler in it, you could capture a sample and then plug in a midi keyboard and play back the sample from the SGE Mkii at different pitch.
Hey RJ, once again RJ from So. Oregon here.I worked at MF and got one of these. I still have it. Used it for years. It would Errp once in a while, but for the most part it never let me down. As always your videos are AWESOME!
Guess I should fire mine up again 💥😱🤙
Thank you for the Flaskback!!! That was my first multi effects processor back in '91
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I had one of these back in the day, used it with a Marshall JCM 800 100 watt 2 channel amp. Can’t really say I miss it, but it was fun to hear some of those presets again.
I had an SGX-200 with the Ultrafoot Controller :). Black 'n Pink baby!!!!
Splatter paint 🤘🏽
Still have that same stuff. Haven't turned it on in many, many years.
Guess what I gotta do now?! lol
This rack has possibilites. I have the SGX 2000 and I LOVE it for my 80s tones - minor tweaks here and there with a Charvel Soloist HSS and the sky is the limit! I really enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting this and other guitar sounds from the 80s. :)
I have one as well. Out of commission at the moment. Need to replace the battery. Think it has to be soldered in, so it's been sitting for a while.
Some of the presets were ear-screaching terrible. Others were very good.
Did you ever upgrade the tube? One day I'll get around to dealing with it.
What a blast from the past! I had the Alesis MidiVerb 4 , ART Ultrafoot controller, Mesa Mark III head and Marshal 4x12 cab. What a rig! Took me FOR-EVER to dial in good tones. I think I was happier to get rid of than when I got it?!? 😅
You was da man!!
I have an SGX 2000...the reason all of these units didn't have power switches, was because they were intended to be part of a rack ecosystem with a power conditioner that would be your master power switch for the entire rack 🙂
Ive used this rack for years it has a nice chorus. I always had it hooked it up in stereo through effects loops
Thanks for sharing this trip down memory lane!!
Wow, this unit holds up surprisingly well. You’re right - lowering the Mix improves most patches.
What would make for an interesting video is if you created a stereo rig using this device and some pedals to create a go to rig that you would be able to use today. Those old processors were often under utilized so seeing how we could use one today would be really cool.
I also only had one bit of rack gear. Mine was a Digitech GSP-21 that I think I bought in 1990. In hindsight, I think the sales guy was actually trying to convince me not to buy it, but when he said I needed to start with a distortion tone I liked, I liked what I was hearing from the GSP. I used up until about 2008. I think I still have it in storage.
i remember the ART pieces growing up!!! thanks for documenting all this great overlooked gear, pare!
ART was the Washburn of rack gear.
This was my first efx processor that I bought back in 1988, I was blown away at that time but sold it with original foot controller a few years ago as I didn't use it for years.
Loved the video. The chorus/delay/reverb sounds are on point! I have an SGX T2 that has a setting from the previous owner that makes the sound stage HUGE in stereo. Once I get the Right input repaired, It will be the last piece before my Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp in my stereo rack rig.
As a teenager I used a digitech gsp7 into a Peavey Backstage 50 and an Art midi switcher that was probably for that Art rack unit. Brings back memories. I then upgraded to a rack mount power amp and a 2x12 cab. Big upgrade over the Peavey. There’s some decent tones in those old units.
Are you talking about the Digitech RP-7 Valve multi effects unit with the 12 AX7 tube in it? I used to have one and liked it. Used it for practicing mostly and some recording. Had this SGE before the Digitech, it sounds pretty good doesn't it? This old gear certainly brings back some memories.
@@Marcus_C51 no it was the GSP7 rack mount effects processor/preamp. It didn’t have any tubes. It came out around 1990 and is very similar to the Art unit RJ is demoing. Even a lot of the patch names are really similar.
@@ryanchamblee2758 Oh sorry about that-my bad. So some of the patch names were similar in the Digitech? Wow. Yeah, the SGE did have some good patches in there, brought back some memories of mine listening to RJ. I was knocked out by the Sweet Clean Jazz and his playing on that one! The crunch tones generally were useable and so were the cleans with chorusing and flanging.
Bring on the rack gear! Also, thanks for educating me on the history of musician's friend. I would have never guessed it started out as a mail order catalog.
They had full color mail order paper catalog back in 1996
Brings me back. Me and a drummer friend were trying to get something going with a singer and another guitar player back in the early 90’s. He had a full stack with all ART stuff. I think he may have been using the 2000 (not really sure - rack stuff confused me back then - I kept thinking “where’s the amp/head?”). I was completely in awe.
Not long after I got an SGX LT. I couldn’t believe how I instantly sounded like I was getting “pro” tones (albeit in my basement)
To me it just shows that you can get great tones out of (almost) anything if you know what you’re doing, what you’re working with, and of course, can actually play (ie it sounding like “you” regardless of gear).
Great vid!
Love these kinds of vids from you RJ; tons of fun revisiting the gear of our youth! My first multi was the Korg G1 Distortion processor, it had all sorts of suspect tones + delay and auto wah. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was tons of fun. Still have it, but unfortunately it doesn’t work anymore 😂
The ART PRO VLA II compressor/limiting amps are still great. I use two of them in my studio as outboards; one for inputs the other for mixing down. For the price they compete at a much higher pay-grade.
Still have mine. A cool tone sculpting trick i used to use was to add the multi-tap delay, set the delay time really short, like 5-10 mS, then adjust the taps between 1-7 and it gave a great filtered sound that was great for leads.
NIce video. I need to replace the Audio Harness in mine, I think that's the only thing keeping it from being 100% at the moment.
Wow. Better than I remember. These analog Input/Output/Mix-faders are gold for quick first adjustments!
Also the coarse value steps in the menu are great for ultrafast decisions. I have to think, the engineers got the most off that limited processing power: Presets, "stunning" enough to impress a customer and sell it. Enough tweakability later, to get at least one useful patch for every style.
RJ scaring other kids at Halloween was not on my list of things I expected to hear in this video, but I’m glad it’s in there. 😂
My 80s rig was a Mesa Boogie SOB and a ‘74 hardtail Strat. Effects were a vintage Crybaby Wah-wah pedal, an EHX Clone Theory chorus/vibrato, a RAT, and an Ibanez Analog Delay (the pink one). I was not into Hair Metal but rather the Butthole Surfers in 1987, and my rig made those Paul Leary tones. The bands I played in were kind of 60s psychedelic and early 70s glam influenced, Hendrix, Clapton and Beck being my icons of tone.
I got an ART multi-effects rackmount processor (not the one RJ has) for $40 before covid, and an Alesis Midiverb III for $30 about a decade ago. In the stereo effects loop of my Ampeg VH140C they sound pretty awesome. I just got an Avid Eleven rackmount effects/preamp unit that pairs really well with the ART & Alesis units for my own hybrid of 80s, 90s and contemporary sounds.
OMG - i used to play through that exact processor years ago. Controlled it with a MIDI pedal, ran it through a Marshall 9600 tube power amp, and Marshall 4x12 slant cabinet. Got rid of it because it was super convenient and flexible, but couldn't get the tone I wanted. Then again, I still can't get the tone I want all these years later.
"Glistering chorus" patch is amazing!
This was great! I bought a SGE Mach II around 1989-1990 I think and it did the trick for a 17 year old at the time! I actually gigged with it a bit and it sounded pretty good as far as I could tell at the time, who knows! I still have it, but had to change the storage battery. It still has my 30 year old programs in there. Good times!!
That was awesome! Back in the day, I rocked an ART DST-4 and an ART Multiverb LT. These sounds seemed very familiar. Also had a sweet Digitech GSP2101. I kind of miss my rack gear. I use a Line 6 Helix now, and my tone is exponentially better! haha
Oh man, this was such a trip into memory lane.
Nice Sounds 👌🏼!
My favorit Sound of the 80's (when i was 20/25 years old) was the TriChorus.
Now I'm 60 years old 🤷🏻♂️ and i never had a "Real" Trichorus for my guitar 😭.
THX for your Videos 🫶🏼great Job 👍🏼.
Uwe from 🇩🇪
I know so little about the rack effects as I was listening to music in the 80sbmirevthan creating it..but my internet lately is definitely captured as I ponder how we went from these early effects processors back to stomps etc and the re emergence of today's dsp powered modelers etc is just mind blowing..the Io and ui are the most impressive advances imo as the effects just became cleaner and more studio perfect...most anyway...it's all fascinating
That 80s compressed tone makes me smile. Takes me back.
A local guy to me has a SGX200 for sale for under £100! After watching this, it's mine! 😋👍🏼
This was great RJ. I love when you do videos like these!! Some of those cleans sound surprisingly good! Great presentation!
Incredible memories. I an just a few years older than you and for me I always wanted a rack set up as a kid but by the time I got my 1st one (early 90s?) It was the Alisis Quadraverb GT. Fun times and great memories.
I had a Digitech rack effects -pretty close as far as the presets. It did have some good sounds. I especially liked the time based effects.
I still gotta SGX 2000 express!! My sgx nitro died a about a year back.
Horrible distortions but everything else was awesome (for the time) oooh that ultrafoot x 15 died about 2 year ago. It got a lot of abuse over the years I’m surprised it lasted that long!
I had the SGX 2000 and regret selling it. That unit was a lot of fun back in the day. Also had all the Rockman rack units too, also sold.
Wow back then I played thru my blackface Vibroluxe Reverb with an old tube screamer. Still play thru that rig. RJ I like your playing a lot. God Bless Us All.
Bought a SGE Mach II around 1989/90. It was my first and only effects unit through the 90's (besides a Wah) and I loved it. I think it sounded good. I can't remember it had OD/Distortion (maybe they were not integrated in the Mach II version). I mainly used chorus, reverb, delay in combinatin with compressor and eq in the effects loop of a Fender Twin Red Knob, i.e. only mono. I still got the SGE somewhere in the house, but stopped using it end of the 90'ies due to some electronic problems resulting in lots of noise and hiss. Fun to hear similar sounds I used back in those days but now in stereo! :-)
I just bought this unit. Look forward to playing it. Art was in direct compition with Digitech. Art units sound warmer...Digitech gsp 2101,2112 and 2120 units sound digital but nailed the tube tone and effects. Art gave up. The Art Sgx 2000 tube is good too. Rock On!
Right on RJ I love this old school sound I started playing in 85. I'm getting ready to turn 49 in a few weeks man I've been playing since I was 13 I still gig regularly
17:50…awesome. Also 21:31 and 22:31, so much fun!! Love this thing
Wow RJ-talk about a blast from the past! I saw SGE in your title, recognized it and realized I'd forgotten that I ever owned one. That's sad, Well, it's been awhile-ha ha. Traded it and something else for a plane ticket and kind of regret that. Thanks for taking us through it again, yeah some of the patch titles rang a bell, British Stack of course, Warm Tube Blues and English Tube were all ones I used to use too. Damn, you sounded great on your Tyler, everytime I hear one I'm impressed.. Sweet Clean Jazz-that actually sounded excellent as a patch. You nailed it! The chorus and flange patches in general weren't too bad, yeah I turned the effects down in the mix fairly often because it was so saturated. The Arpeggiator was cool. Oh god, the Auto Wah-I have always hated that effect.I have nightmares when I just think of the Edie Brickell and Dead songs using it. All in all a pretty decent effects unit back in the day, with some tweaking it usually sounded good. Thanks for the memories RJ, Wow, so you had one when you were in Eighth Grade? Living large sir-ha ha.
That's fun! My only 19" rack unit was the ART SGE Mach II. I programmed multiple different sounds for every song I wrote (I think I used a broken Boss ME-5 to switch between my presets). My amp was an old AC30. That's it. But then one night I had a gig with my band and I couldn't get my ART unit to work, so I had to play the whole prog rock gig with just a guitar and the old AC30 that I wasn't aloud to turn up. Imagine wanting to sound like the perfect blend between Rush, King Crimson, Zappa and David Bowie using just one clean sound and not even a reverb. That's when I decided to go back to pedals.
I made that switch a couple of times by the way. 😄
That brings me back lots of memories, I had the SGE Mach II, but most of the presets were the same. Actually some sounds with mix down are quite good! Wish I could try it out now, having bit more of a knowledge of FX chains!
In the ‘80s I was using a pedal board with several Ibanez and Boss FX pedals, and some kind of volume/wah pedal-I think it was a Morley. When that whole setup got stolen out of a club I was playing, I got a Boss ME-10 multi-FX and an expression pedal. The ME-10 wouldn’t let me switch to the wah using the pedal like I could with the old analog setup, actually, I don’t think it did wah at all! It didn’t do tremolo either-that was a dated effect back then. It had all kinds of whooshy phasers and flangers, which I never used!
wow ! i still have my ART night bass rack too !
This was my first piece of rack gear as well. Thanks for a trip down memory lane.
I used this onstage, and didn't know much about anything. In the Army band I put it directly into the front of a solid state Yamaha amp, and for my own band later on, I had it in the effects loop of the red knob Fender Dual Showman stack for reverb and some effects. Never used for stereo back then.
yeah i recognize these tones . played in a band with a guitar player who used this unit and his was in the shop more than in his rack .
This was fun. I’d love to see a deep dive on the Zoom 9000S Black, which was my first processor. I chose it over the Roland/Boss GT-16 because the Zoom had a footswitch.
We are about the same age. I was 13 in 89 and that is when I got my first Charvell I believe. There was the GSP 21 pro. They were awesome.
I say this is your new rig going forward. Throw everything else away!
i have one and they are great units very versatile and editable also good for any instrument
you can customize and make your own presets good for aux send on mixing boards
cool, that reminds me that I have an old Art Powerplant lying around...time to play with it again :)
I remember those rack units. I went with a Boss ME-5 around that same time. I had the same Peavey practice amp.
I had an SGE for probably 30 years! Bought it from Soho Soundhouse, London in the late 80s.
Metal concert immediately gave me thoughts ofthe openning few bars of Dead Kennedys 'Police Truck'!
You should do a shootout between this and whatever the modern equivalent is, a kemper or a helix or whatever other thing I’m never gonna buy. But I’d TOTALLY play this!
OMG! I remember working in a music shop and selling these back then!!! We had them set up stereo in a rack...I thought it sounded pretty good back then ha ha. Shout out to Kingdisher Music in the UK :) TG
The very wet cleans if I remember correctly were amazing sounding.
It is fun watching you revert back to a teenage boy right in front of our eyes. I rejected rack mount gear. Kinda glad I saved the money, but that is technology moving forward.
Still use my ART SGX LT to this day - Great little Preamp\Processor, Nails all my 80's metal tone
I used the SGE Mach2 with a GK250ML thru a stereo 412 with Clestion 30's for a whole lot of gigs. Bunch of stompboxes into the front end of the GK too. Big time fun. Still have it all...unused for many years now. Thanks for the memories RJ.
I remember seeing ART units advertised in guitar magazines, but I don't remember seeing this particular unit however. I was twenty-five and playing mostly acoustic guitars because my favorite electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul Standard) had been stolen and I was pretty down about that. My tone at the time was a Scholz Rockman I plugged into a Boss Cube 60 amp for electric guitar. I also had a Fender Stratocaster, but I didn't enjoy playing it that much after playing the Les Paul. The sounds of this unit bring back some memories though, I remember rack units were the rage up until grunge became the thing and everyone started getting rid of their racks and going back to pedals and less processing.
I reckon it sounds pretty good! Especially the modulation and time based effects. Used and tweaked properly I think it would be very serviceable for regular use.
Brilliant trip down memory lane R.J.
I jus literally got back from my storage room this afternoon (having a de-clutter) and I'd picked up my 4U Rack Bag which hasn't seen the light of day for well over a decade & a half..!!!
inside it was my Marshall JMP-1 an ART SGE (no shit.!!) and a Zoom 9120 plus a line 6 pod and short-board
I'm going to plug these in and have a blast... and I'll probably remember why I stopped using them..!!!
wow, I remember those sounds/tones.
Thanks alot RJ for doing that. Much appreciated.. May the guitar be with you, always. LOL
I lived in cocoa beach in 89 and my Brother and I had one of those and the quadroverb gt, Good times,Thanks RJ.oh yea, We played the plus five lounge a few times in lauderdale,and got to open for some great acts,,
I have a small rack case with an SGX2000 (with the tube preamp) and a Marshall 8008 Valvestate amp sitting in storage. I really should dig it out and power it up.
I ran a ADA MP1 to an Art SGX Nitro. I used the ADA as my main pre amp and the Art as post effects to an ADA micro power amp into two 4x12's cabs, stereo. All controlled by the midi Art Ultra Foot pedal board. Pretty versatile controller but a pain in the ass to figure out initially. Not bad for early mid nineties metal stereo rig..
I used the exact same unit around the same time. In my case the unit was connected to my amp's effects loop. My dirt and distortion came from a Rockman Sustainor. Later I used the Rockman Octopus and accompanyying ab/b/y boxes to use the same effects in a two amps rig (my old trusty JC-120 and a Marshall Valvestae combo. Soon after, in the mid 90s, the JC-120 was replaced by a red knobs Fender Twin in the same 2 amps rig and I eventually replaced the Art with a Korg A3 which was from '89 as well but sounded much better (I had seen Roland Orzabal use one at a Tears For Fears concert) ;)
Those were good times! I eventually sold the Valvestate aand only kept the red knobs Twin which I still have now.
But that Art unit was also my introduction to real rack gear. I was 25 myself in '89 and played in a band trying to make it on the pro scene so it was a different thing for me then and the Art (then Korg) enabled me to get on with full midi rigs with presets and all. I only had a volume pedal on the floor in addition to the Rockman MIDI foot controller. A big change from my '80s pedalboard with 7 or more Boss pedals all connected in series... ;) As I said, good times!
I loved the look of the SGX with the footpedal board. Got one loaded it into the front of my amp and got harsh harsh noise.
I didn't want to pursue it further so I sold it.
Nice Giant shirt!!! Dann is the man!!!!
Nothing against the new guys.
Fun video brother. It did sound "decent" -- I liked the clean chorusy sounds the most.
I've recently begun building an 80s rack for the studio. I can't remember all of the models, but I got the rack mount Yamaha DX-7 rack unit with some enhancements. TX-??. I still have my SGE Mach ][, but now I need to get it working. I have the SPX-900, which was the SPX-90, but more. I have a QuadraVerb GT for the reverse reverbs, I have the Digitech RPM-1 roack mount roatary speaker, which is really cool, and a couple of other odd pieces. All I really want now is some Rockman pieces and an old MP-1 or MP-2.
It's fun recreating those 80s tones, but it's also fun putting otherwise decent sounds through those devices mangling the crap out of them and finding something cool by accident.
Very cool, I would of loved to of had something like this back then.
Fascinating. I am certain I had this exact unit too in the 80's
Awesome t-shirt
oh the 16 bit glory days! :)
Very fun ! I still have the same rack in a corner
That 90 was useful in front of People. Good Stuff .
I had the SGE when it first came out. I had to bag a lot of groceries at $2.85 an hour to pay for it. I also had the midi foot controller. Ran it all in stereo into my JC120. I still have the midi pedal floating around somewhere. The SGE started wigging out around 1997 or so. I don't miss it, but I do miss that JC120.
Funny , I still have this unit . Haven’t powered it up in 25 years. I traded in my Roland GP8 for it . Lol
Hopefully you can visit the Philippines soon for a show or a guitar clinic :) it would be awesome!
I wanted one so bad but couldn’t afford one. Settled for stomp boxes, which are still on my board and still kicking. I do still have a BBE unit.
same at that time I used to live in Italy. .. I ended up buying a Yamaha multieffect after a lot of savings... but I remeber trying this everytime I used to go to my classmate home and I loved it badly...
Reminding me of my own days with the SGX Nitro complete with the massive pedalboard! Hafler Hellrazor pre into the SGX Nitro to ADA Microtube power amp and duel JBL 1x12 guitar cabs. I still have everything except the SGX Nitro. More than a few people said I had the cleanest clean they'd ever heard! lol Luckily the Hafler pre had good distortion so I didn't use the ART for that and the FX, blended in tastefully was pretty good for the time!
Great walkthrough! Thank you for creating this!
Im looking to get one of the sge models to plug a synth into or use it as an aux effect on the mixer. Really curious how that would work
also bought one in 1988 or 9, still have it... back in the day it was quite the feat to have al those effects in one box.. definitley focused on quanity not quality -- that and a Tascam 246 I was in high grass!
My first two pedals I got early own was a Hendrix Wah, cuz I was a fan of his music (to this day as well), and a DOD Ice Box Chorus. That Rack sounds good for ‘89.