Boss SE50

[Arpangel]

Picked up one of these yesterday, my favourite effects box of all time, regardless of price.
It’s going on the end of my Moog, the distortion sounds are amazing, so are the reverbs, which have been used by many producers in favour of more upmarket boxes.
This is all over our album Low Life, which ai posted recently, and it’s going to be great getting those sounds back again.
There’s a guitar preset in there, that I tweaked a bit, it’s a scary imitation of the Fripp guitar sound, that fuzz/sustain, my favourite sound, it turns any keyboard into a very convincing guitar.

[Dave B]

I had one of those back in the day. They were a bit of a star for those of us who couldn't afford a H3000.

I always wanted to try the SE70 as it was supposed to be slightly better sounding. All those effects - and a vocoder too! - at a knock down price. What's not to love?

[BigRedX]

IME a lot of the character of the SE50 is down to the fact that the effects aren't very "hifi" and some are distinctly grungy. Back in the 90s I bought a supposedly better multi-effects unit as an "upgrade" for processing the drums and sequenced sounds in my band's live rig. I ended up having to keep the SE50 and use both because the better unit was simply too clean to replicate some of the original SE50 sounds.

[The Elf]

I think we still have an SE-70 at 'the other place', though we found the MIDIverb GT more to our liking, mainly since it was racked and ready to go. It hasn't seen any use since the Line 6 Helix arrived.

We had a lovely chorus patch on there that used to get used most often. I liked the stereo tape delay too.

The Zoom MS70-CDR does a pretty good job in a similar vein.

[ManFromGlass]

I have an SE50 that doesn’t remember it’s presets. I’m hoping it’s just the internal battery.
I remember really liking the unit back in the day, especially some of the chorus fx. Might be time to blow the dust off and patch it in!

[BigRedX]

That will almost definitely be a battery problem.

The good news is that the battery is reasonably easy to locate, a common type, and doesn't require soldering - I've had to change the one in mine twice.

[ManFromGlass]

Good news. Thanks!

[Dave B]

This may be my old, befuddled brain mis-remembering, but iirc the SE70's pitch shifting was improved which made it a much better 'poor man's Eventide'.

A quick look on ebay finds a couple of each at not many pennies and close by. It's almost tempting to buy one of each and set them up to have a play. But then, plugins will do the job much better....

(sigh)

I hate this whole "getting older, wiser and more sensible" thing ... it's just no fun anymore

[ManFromGlass]

a more practical approach is to buy a few, have fun with them and then hope some young star uses them on their song making them an instantly desired piece of vintage gear.
Sell them at a huge profit and buy the plugins.
That’s how it works, isn’t it?

[The Elf]

I hate this whole "getting older, wiser and more sensible" thing ... it's just no fun anymore

Get your paws on one of the units I've mentioned above that lets you change the order and routing of effects - all the fun of moving guitar pedals around, with none of the hassle. The fun returns!

[Arpangel]

This may be my old, befuddled brain mis-remembering, but iirc the SE70's pitch shifting was improved which made it a much better 'poor man's Eventide'.

A quick look on ebay finds a couple of each at not many pennies and close by. It's almost tempting to buy one of each and set them up to have a play. But then, plugins will do the job much better....

(sigh)

I hate this whole "getting older, wiser and more sensible" thing ... it's just no fun anymore

You’re spot on Dave, I had the 50 and 70, I preferred the 50 for its distortion effects, guitar stuff, the 70 didn’t quite cut it on those things, it was too "bloomy" ? impossible to get right, but the 70 had "amazing" pitch shifting, it was the first budget unit that actually gave the H3000 a run for it's money, you could get the famous Crystal Echoes sound easily, and not tell the difference. When I eventually got an H3000 it wasn’t the major change I was expecting.
Also, there’s a crazy program on the SE50 I tweaked for pitch shifted drums, instant Michael Brook!
I never tried a VF1, that looks interesting too.
I’ve just unwrapped my SE50, going to have some fun later!

[Tomás Mulcahy]

IMIDIverb GT

You mean the Quadraverb GT, right? There was no MIDIverb GT. Still have a Quadraverb in the rack here, about to replace the display. The reverbs were an inspiration for the dude who makes the Valhalla plugins.

[The Elf]

IMIDIverb GT

You mean the Quadraverb GT, right? There was no MIDIverb GT. Still have a Quadraverb in the rack here, about to replace the display. The reverbs were an inspiration for the dude who makes the Valhalla plugins.

Yep, that's the fellow. Thanks - my mistake.

Never looked at the QV since the Helix arrived. It wipes the floor with it!

[muzines]

Still have a Quadraverb in the rack here, about to replace the display. The reverbs were an inspiration for the dude who makes the Valhalla plugins.

The Quadraverb has quite a distinctive character. Also, surprisingly enough the MIDIverb 2 is still in demand by some folks and priced comparatively highly - not the MIDIverb, and not the MIDIverb III, but the 2 in particular.

And the Roland SRV330 - yes. The SRV3030? - no.

Audio nerds are a weird bunch though, once someone says they like something it turns into some mythical beast you must capture at all costs!

Now, how can I turn my Zoom 1201 into a mythical prized FX box audio nerds must buy at any price..?!

[Martin Walker]

Well this thread makes me glad that I've still got my SE70 mounted in my rack. I can't say I've used it for a long time, but I'm reluctant to sell it as I know the vocoder effects in particular will come in useful one day.

I've also got a MidiVerb4 in my rack (I liked its reverbs), but I don't think that one is particularly favoured by the cognoscenti

Martin

[Tomás Mulcahy]

Now, how can I turn my Zoom 1201 into a mythical prized FX box audio nerds must buy at any price..?!

I had a 1204 for a long time. Good box in its day, but ya plugins! I would like to try a Zoom 9030 or 9010 though.

Never looked at the QV since the Helix arrived. It wipes the floor with it!

Absolutely. Like, it actually can sound like an amp and not fizzy nineties nonsense

[The Elf]

I've also got a MidiVerb4 in my rack (I liked its reverbs), but I don't think that one is particularly favoured by the cognoscenti

It isn't, but those of us in the know understand why we still have one - pure gold...

[Arpangel]

Still have a Quadraverb in the rack here, about to replace the display. The reverbs were an inspiration for the dude who makes the Valhalla plugins.

The Quadraverb has quite a distinctive character. Also, surprisingly enough the MIDIverb 2 is still in demand by some folks and priced comparatively highly - not the MIDIverb, and not the MIDIverb III, but the 2 in particular.

And the Roland SRV330 - yes. The SRV3030? - no.

Audio nerds are a weird bunch though, once someone says they like something it turns into some mythical beast you must capture at all costs!

Now, how can I turn my Zoom 1201 into a mythical prized FX box audio nerds must buy at any price..?!

I have a MidiVerb 11, it’s really good, the reverbs especially, great character, great for far out stuff too.
The Zoom units are just as interesting, I’m desperate to get my old Zoom RFX1100 back, there’s a sound in there that’s just beyond, unlike anything else, it’s on a few tracks of mine, and people always say "what on earth is that sound!?" Those units are very good, it’s strange how they become interesting, these old boxes, it’s all down to the context of the time, what’s around them.

[ManFromGlass]

And I think how a preset or two really reaches out to us and we make it part of our music persona because it just fits.

[Arpangel]

And I think how a preset or two really reaches out to us and we make it part of our music persona because it just fits.

Yes, that’s true, but these days I’ll just skim through the presets of a new box, pick out something that seems to hit the spot, vaguely, and then tweak it to suit, whereas, back in the day, I’d really go in there and make it from scratch, take the manual to bed, not any more.

[olifreke]

I used to have access to an SE70, lovely box. Made one of my all time favourite sounds with it (which I've since lost, gnash teeth). powerful box...you've made me want to go and see how much they are on ebay now!

[BillB]

Now, how can I turn my Zoom 1201 into a mythical prized FX box audio nerds must buy at any price..?!

Well, I have Zoom 1201 and I have used it on countless hit records. I will never part with mine, no matter what the asking price. It provides a sound that nothing else can, like nothing you have ever heard, never come across it on any other bit of hardware. From memory, I think it's called a 'phaser'.

There, will that do?

[muzines]

It's a start!

We need to make a few threads of various audio forums, so that they start to turn up in search results, maybe a few ebay listings at high prices, you know, just generally paint the picture that these things are secret weapons, particularly ones from a particular serial number range, where they used extra high-spec components in the audio path, etc etc...

[Tomás Mulcahy]

[BillB]

Desmond, an easy start would be to create a new post here on the SOS Forum (has very high reputation and ranks well on Google, I'm told) entitled "Zoom 1201 - the secret weapon?".

See what I did there? Is it question or statement? Who knows. Then, yes, we could start to fill it with all sorts of garbage about the unique "weird tricks" it is capable of - which is guaranteed clickbait.

There's only one downside. We might lose the respect of our beloved fellow SOS Forum Folk, the Mods might even step in, we might be banned...

But you know, if our 1201's both go up in value from £49.50 to £71.95, it will all be worthwhile.