Yamaha GEP 50 - Poor Man's SPX 90?

[@Gatopanzon_1976]

I have a couple SPX50D, same idea. It goes like this SPX90 = base, SPX50D = SPX90 with distortion made for guitar input, has effect loop. GEP50 = SPX50 with a few extra early reflection algorithms.

[@TimV93]

The "Heavy Metal" preset is what Page Hamilton and Peter Menegede used on Helmet's "In the Meantime" album in 1992. Legendary heavy tones!

[@LeonTodd]

For real? That album crushes!

[@jakedibiase7404]

@@LeonTodd Yeah, they used the Heavy Metal preset through the low gain inputs of JMP 2203's. That's the sound on the Meantime album.

[@seventhsealhere]

Never underestimate Yamaha gear is what I always say 🎸

[@LeonTodd]

You got that right!

[@ericharbauer]

Reminds me of my alesis quadraverb GT. Effects were cool distortion was ...well yeah kinda like this.

[@PBRGuitar]

Bought one for half the price of an SPX90 and really like it. I only use the effects and ignored the distortion for a long time. I recently started working with it for fun. There’s good sounds in there if you really work at it. Nothing “holy grail” or anything and unless this is all you have it’s probably not worth the energy when you can buy a Nux or Zoom, etc and sound good immediately.

[@RedstuffAmplification]

Hey Leon , have something similar that also has the symphonic preset . It is called Yamaha REX 50 and seems to be very similar to the GEP 50 , it is no rack unit but a desktop enclosure

[@justinyeager7121]

I love it! Played the GEP 50 for a few years in high school through an old Fender Stage 185. Great video as always Leon!

[@armandomorenotherevival7827]

This was my first multi effects rack !! I believe I got it around 1990

[@LeonTodd]

Still rocks 30 years later!

[@sethchafee6080]

Helmet used this piece of equipment for Strap it On. Set to the Heavy Metal effect.

[@LeonTodd]

Sick record!

[@daveesco1]

I have one of these! i like it. $25 bucks at a pawn store. I love pawn stores. trash and treasure.

[@LeonTodd]

Bargain!

[@Imokyourok440]

My whole rig is pawn shop except for my MP1. Quadraverb GT, Furhman Power conditioner and MIDI moose($50 at Lyndas pawn shop!). I got my hand on a Peavey adverb fox processor. Not bad! I prefer the Quadraverb but the Adverb is cool. $30!!!

[@Imokyourok440]

The Adverb didn’t have a power cord so I had to search through various plugs at the Goodwill to find one that worked.

[@LeonTodd]

@@Imokyourok440 you're doing the rack thing right - these units are super fun in their own right, but even better when you can find them cheap. World class tones on a budget!

[@RasCuban33]

$70 in excellent condition, looked for one after watching this and getting a Digitech 33B on trade. Going to make a Walnut 2U rack case for them.

[@johnh7918]

Got one in the early 90s, and still have it today. I thought it was a piece of crap, but I plugged it in for the first time in 20 years and I want to use it now for my main distortion with a TS copy, MXR Distortion +, and Big Muff PI sitting on the bench.

[@LeonTodd]

Funny how these things work hey

[@Eventual420]

Very attractive user interface, and the sounds aren’t half bad either. I wish Yamaha would release modern rack gear. Inspiring video, as always. 🙏🍻

[@shermanpup]

I used one of these as a stereo preamp into a stereo 31 band eq and then into crown Micro tech power amp into 2 12" EVM speakers in two cabinets, both miked up . Compact and big sounding, great for travel .. I did not use the Yamaha GEP 50 distortion. I used it for an input volume control and there is one patch that has eq and delay on it the delay is only 330ms but it worked for faint echo left on all the time ala early VH . I had my distortion in the effects loop of the Yamaha. The symphonic came in handy on certain songs ,gave it a big sound . Anther setting that is more useful than chorus is to detune one side and slightly tune up the other side with the pitch transposer. I used an ADA preamp within the same midi rig .I had a super useful unit called a midi cross patch which was a 8 channel patch bay that had gain and cut on each channel and allowed switching between the preamps and the stereo EQ. It could turn on and select amp channels from clean to dirty . I had a rack amp that drove my talk box and I would use the channel selector to drive the talk box I used a midi mitigator for a control pedal which was really durable, transmitted on all 16 channels (no mapping) and beer proof . I used this rig on the road in the mid to late 80's in night clubs across the midwest and south. My midi rig was versatile and sounded good , I had a lot of time in programming everything but once done it was reliable. I enjoy your videos they are informative and you playing is really good also

[@andyjett]

This unit Yamaha GEP 50 along with later Yamaha FX-550 actually has got some pretty interesting drive/distortion tones + with very broad EQ possibilities you actually have some wide range of guitar tone adjustments. I personally got my FX-550 back to my rack recently and pretty much playing every day! Using the distortions of it for the reason that nobody else or just few people maybe doing it so it gives you some kind of originality tonewise apart from modern unit users all over the world. Thanks for the review! Amazing! and the main thing is - if you're gonna play through this unit onstage i bet nobody would notice any difference and probably appreciate your guitar tones afterwards!

[@nicholastotoro7721]

I was 15 and sat in a music store for hours playing one of these in the Summer of 1988. They had to get tired of me, but I still patronize that music store to this day (albeit in a different location... same people). As much as I loved that unit, I actually wound up buying a BOSS SD-1 LOL!!! Hey... 15 and little money. Still have that SD-1. Ironically, that sound at 8:20 is what you get when you use an OD on a clean channel LOL!

[@LeonTodd]

To be fair, the SD-1 was probably a very good choice. So cool that the same folk still run the store too.

[@paulbeharrell]

Thank you Leon for introducing us to this gem! I just picked one up off Reverb for $75. It is in great condition, just battery was dead so the seller didn’t want much for it. Soldered in a CR2032 holder and it’s as good as new. I can’t put my guitar down! 🤘🏻😎🎸 P.S. the factory reset is needed to clear the battery message - switch off, press Parameter & Bypass together while switching on.

[@LeonTodd]

Score! It's worth it for the Symphonic alone

[@barrylafratta5720]

wow i had one back in the day . lent it to someone with my first guitar my mom bought me . never saw them again .. funny i just ordered again from guitar center.. just a couple of days prior to seeing your video. it was easy to use i remember .user friendly

[@LeonTodd]

That will be fun to revisit!

[@johnguilbert1349]

I have the GEP50, SPX90 and a REV7, definitely some cool old school gear.

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Good morning and Thank you to Troy! Thanks for sharing brother and Be Well All!

[@rs52594]

Eric Clapton had one in his massive Soldano rack rig but I don't know if he ever used it. He also had the SPX90, as well as the following: Drawmer tube compressor, Dyno my Piano Tri Stereo Chorus, TC 1210 chorus, Roland SDE-3000 and TC 2290 delays, and a Dynacord CLS 222 rotary speaker simulator.

[@magicalsynthadventure3216]

Great vid. Sounds similar to the SPX50D & REX50. I have a circuit bent REX50 with variable clock on all the effects. It gets lush in a weird/crusty/metallic way and is featured in my “Favourite Reverbs pt1” KZbin vid if you’re curious 😊

[@chrishastings]

I purchased an SPX 990 that has symphonic sounds pretty close to the SPX90 but haven't been able to A/B them

[@larslevinberget9558]

Much better than expected! I remember they existed, from a magazine ad, never saw one irl. but one friend of mine had the FX770 that absolutely smoked! We tested it with my KORG A3 back-to-back in stereo, through Peavey amps and direct ... the nice 1990s !

[@barrylafratta5720]

better than most of the early line 6 stuff my experience

[@riccovrea841]

Wow I was worried about you Leon, I didn’t see any videos in days on your channel ✌🏻

[@mattpicone1466]

Memory lane. They had one of these at the studio where I used to record.

[@LeonTodd]

There's some classic sounds in there - even the bad sound are bad in a good way.

[@Yupppi]

To me it sounds like you could gig with it perfectly fine, you get a solid sound. To me the sounds you can get out of it are better than you could get from home amps and some modellers for a long while. Still would rather put the effects of spx90 to other amp and have the ability to tweak them over having a distortion sound from the unit. Would've been nice to have an overlay tell which one was in use, because they were so close in general that you missed it if you didn't pay close attention. They were noticeably different (close but different) when you knew to expect the change. I'd describe the symphonic of spx90 "more lush" and perhaps "higher fidelity". After symphonic I was completely lost though, had no idea which one was active. The pitch shifter demo song bugged me for a good while, reminded me of something. I finally figured out, just like the sounds Annihilator had. Unfortunately I haven't seen these on sale at all! When I saw a spx90 but it was gone, I made a buying listing and there has been 0 spx90 either. You, Nielsen and Baker are making these go extinct because people are hiding them deep inside their closets and studios.

[@petelucchini1168]

For just noodling around this doesn't sound bad.. Yamaha made so great Digi stuff!!

[@barrylafratta5720]

not as bad as i expected

[@NudnikShpilkus]

0:19 - Holy sh*tballs, you found a GEP50!

[@NudnikShpilkus]

1:25 - LOL. As if your face didn't already say that for the past 10-15 seconds.... :D

[@NudnikShpilkus]

1:37 - I suppose, so far, that's high praise. :)

[@NudnikShpilkus]

2:20 - Yes, not too bad, really. I used mine mainly for the effects, but did use the mid-band for the way it fed back with some extra drive from some stomp pedal or another - heck that was 1989, and what exactly it was is lost in the cobwebs between my ears....

[@NudnikShpilkus]

8:03 - LOL at the grimace. No words needed....

[@NudnikShpilkus]

10:55 - I used the gated reverb occasionally....

[@courtney2018]

Combining the two sounded really good! The distortion sounds were pretty much junk. Lol. I see you blew right through 50k and into 51k. Wow! You'll hit 100k in no time at this rate.

[@jezzbass1826]

My dad got it went it first came out I used to use a microphone and use the pitch shift to play with we had no video games also the symphonic stood out not that much I remember pressing shift and something and getting more sounds try that

[@Dejoblue]

In today's stock news; Yamaha futures soared with news that their GEP50 processor has the same Symphonic patch as their flagship SPX90. The Reverb gear exchange reports site crashes every hour on the hour. We will keep you updated as the situation unfolds. And now, here is analyst Leon Todd with details:

[@ZzzzzzzxxxzzzYZ4]

But not 24 bit

[@petelucchini1168]

the confessor by Joe walsh, and I head a little Ozzy Zakk Wild going on.

[@gkol69]

As soon as I thought that it sounded like a cheap Zoom pedal you mentioned Zoom 707, ha, ha! The distorted sounds were better through amps (that's how it supposed to work, probably) but you want it for the effects and particularly the Symphonic. The delay is generic and I suppose the flanger and the chorus are, too. Maybe it was cutting-edge technology in the '80s or early '90s, I don't know when it came out, but today we can have much better "toys" to play. I have a Line6 M5 pedal (stompbox modeler) that is more inspiring than this because it can sound like an A/DA Flanger or a Boss Dimension C and not like a generic effect. Someone must create a Symphonic pedal!

[@jdg1279]

Yamaha did put the Symphonic effect in their Magicstomp pedals, along with a lot of the other SPX effects.

[@gkol69]

@@jdg1279 I meant a Symphonic pedal available for buying. I think the Magicstomp is not in production.

[@johnh7918]

The chorus is what set this processor apart. Used by Clapton in the early 90s. Flange is crap

[@ChipRobertsOfficial]

Question: is there the same latency issue when switching patches as the SPX90?

[@johnh7918]

Yes, about 1/2 a second.

[@dpalaoro]

can i plug a drum machine or synthesizer into this??

[@LeonTodd]

yep

[@steffenbrix]

The GEP50 is more expensive on eBay than SPX90....and is impossible to find....

[@frankpaush]

..there was an SPX 50 D as well, isn't that the same stuff?

[@LeonTodd]

Similar idea

[@paulbeharrell]

Rack gear rules!

[@mrparkinson]

For me, the Rex-50 was the poor mans SPX90. Why? Years ago I got one in a trade for 3 blank cds from a guy I knew. I dont think the CD's even included the jewel case... It was his idea for the trade, so I dont feel bad for coming out way ahead in that deal. haha

[@LeonTodd]

Now that's a wild trade

[@mrparkinson]

@@LeonTodd Yah, he was kind of a rich kid, so I guess the value of things didnt make a lot of difference to him.

[@sonicaids]

watch the prices shoot up now. lol

[@jcalzada74]

Heavy metal patch, he started dialing knobs and end it up sound like ac/dc🤣🤣🤣 i thoght he going to ad more gain all the gain

[@ianfurqueron5850]

Oh great... another old rack unit to look for. For better or worse, none on Reverb right now (other than a manual...).

[@ZzzzzzzxxxzzzYZ4]

Manual is a free PDF on Yamaha’s website!

[@johnh7918]

I'll sell you mine :)

[@twat75]

I recently picked up an SPX50D, partially your fault, which is halfway between this and an SPX90 in terms of purpose and features. Needs some TLC but cool units.