I Play A Legendary 1980s Multi-Effects Processor.. Does It Still Rock? || Yamaha FX500

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  • čas přidán 12. 09. 2024

Komentáře • 134

  • @kurisurokku
    @kurisurokku Před rokem +31

    This man's ability to go from 3 seconds of noodling to get himself started and then just blaze for 3 or 4 minutes on the perfect song / progression is amazing.

  • @larryb3946
    @larryb3946 Před rokem +9

    Very cool Jay! You can totally hear that 80's gated reverb on preset #4 that totally sounds like "Time after Time" and possibly the clean tone on Dokken "Alone again". Or maybe my ears are giving out, but I felt a bit of nostalgia when I heard that sound. Thanks Jay

    • @JackPeloquin
      @JackPeloquin Před rokem

      As that’s the song he was riffing on… (time after….)

  • @joesatchton212
    @joesatchton212 Před rokem +9

    Great idea Jay, similar to what RJ has been doing. Here's my own view on this kind of thing, especially quality digital gear: if it sounded good/OK back then, it must still sound good/OK today. The gear didn't change. WE DID. Our tastes. Our expectations. Our comparisons against newer, improved gear. But that does not mean the original sounds bad. :)

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +5

      100% truth. Great gear doesn't have an expiry date.

  • @mojotronix3994
    @mojotronix3994 Před rokem +5

    With your infectious positive personality, and extraordinary guitar skills, I expected to see at least a million subscribers for your channel. Your ideas both (verbal and musically) keep me entertained. More so than some other dudes that have millions of subscribers. I usually get bored pretty quickly. Your parents did something right.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      I really appreciate the kind words (I sure my folks would too, haha)... Rock on and thanks for watching!

  • @dogfalcon
    @dogfalcon Před 13 dny

    Oh My gosh!
    I think I'm going to take mine again...
    Used to use one back in the early 90's. What a unit! Inspired me so much!
    Tks for this video.
    So nostalgic to me!

  • @UjjayaEthnoambient
    @UjjayaEthnoambient Před 5 měsíci +3

    You must get away from the factory presets to know this beast . It's really made for ambient / experimental music .You can push the effects beyond the pale (especially the flanger) and have some really strange and spatial effects . The patch Delay + reverb is amazing . It push any sound out of this world . Have try many reverbs since the mid-90 and always get back to the yamaha fx 500 . I've got 2 (one is for the spare) . The fx 550 is cleaner and have some pictch-shifter but is really inintersting because you can't push the effects so deeply.

    • @AnalogFlava
      @AnalogFlava Před 21 dnem

      Is the spx90ii similar?

    • @UjjayaEthnoambient
      @UjjayaEthnoambient Před 21 dnem +1

      @@AnalogFlava don't know, but the fx500 should be more powerful (it was built in 1989, and the spx90ii i, 1986, even if the delay is 2s long (and only 380ms for the Fx)

    • @AnalogFlava
      @AnalogFlava Před 21 dnem

      @@UjjayaEthnoambient i see thanks, that would make sense then. It sounded good to me. But for a good price i dont think you can go wrong with either

  • @osatchema3598
    @osatchema3598 Před 9 měsíci +2

    The soft focus and monk akka patches make it worth it alone to me, those are some amazing sounds

  • @tremelo68
    @tremelo68 Před rokem +1

    Amazing. First chord on Soft Echo and I immediately thought Time After Time and then you played it! So funny. I have had one of these since 1992 or 1993 and used it a lot in those days for Soft Focus mostly, sometimes stereo panning two amps. Nice demos, as always.

  • @jeffreyp1855
    @jeffreyp1855 Před rokem +8

    The FX 500, was my very first effects processor, back in the early 90s and I loved it!. I'm going to pick up another one soon. 🤘🏻

  • @christopherguzzi1316
    @christopherguzzi1316 Před rokem +1

    That is one of the coolest Telecaster's I've seen in a while. Great demonstration of this cool piece of gear!!!

  • @jaskiniamestwa
    @jaskiniamestwa Před rokem +2

    I always enjoy the energy and love for the instruments you play...not to even mention sick skills. thanks!

  • @ExilesGate
    @ExilesGate Před 5 měsíci

    This has to be a guitarists ultimate gear review! What a cool guy! Beautiful playing! I just ordered one from Japan!😎✨👍❤️ I'm hearing 1980s Northern Pikes!

  • @JimWalkerMusic
    @JimWalkerMusic Před rokem

    80s gear is right up my alley as I am an 80s kid! A multi fx you might want to check out is the Digitech RP1. I bought one when they first hit the shelves and used it well into the 90s when I upgraded to an RP5. Then just a few years ago I picked up another RP1 off of ebay really cheap and boy, did it take me back! I since traded it off but enjoyed the flashback. Thanks for all you do Jay. Love the Channel!

  • @Ambientnauts
    @Ambientnauts Před 6 měsíci

    Bro I love how you present with a relic looking guitar that looks like it's been through a zombie apocalypse, and then just purely blaze on it. And soft focus , well, the Strymon Big Sky of the 90's.

  • @richardleveille3254
    @richardleveille3254 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Very cool! Back in '89 my friend (keyboards) and I (guitar) rented one of these for a weekend of recording (or maybe a month - we would rent gear once and a while as we didn't have much cash to buy) on a 4-track cassette recorder. Anyway, I have a demo cassette with a song called Monk Akka that must have resulted from this session!!

  • @CraigCrider
    @CraigCrider Před rokem +1

    OMG, I HAD one of these! I totally forgot about it. Have no recollection what I did with it. Thanks for cranking up the wayback machine for me. #15 Power Leads was my jam!

  • @jjcale2288
    @jjcale2288 Před rokem +2

    You get real music out from any box be it digital or analog! This is what I call a demo. You could be a valuable asset to any music gear producer/seller/advertiser.

    • @xboyertownx
      @xboyertownx Před 8 měsíci

      Agreed, I’ve owned this for years and this by far is the best demo of it ever made.

  • @alheeley
    @alheeley Před rokem +1

    love this - mine is still going strong from the 80's :) you missed out my favourite Lush Strings

  • @neonether
    @neonether Před rokem +1

    That Time After Time was so sweet!!

  • @gazeunderthesunmusic
    @gazeunderthesunmusic Před rokem +2

    The soft Focus is the definitive shoegaze patch for me, that's one of the reasons why I bought one because on the 40th patch

  • @Dr_Satan
    @Dr_Satan Před rokem +3

    Just call it "Jay Plays". It's short, it's simple, it conveys the message.

  • @sons7429
    @sons7429 Před rokem

    I still have this unit and it still sounds great. Also, you got the best rhythm hand in the biz man.

  • @chrishansondc
    @chrishansondc Před rokem +2

    You should play those tablas for us sometime!
    Great playing, this was a lot of fun.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Haha, I might just do that one of these days!

  • @cmdrsocks
    @cmdrsocks Před rokem +1

    From the first chord I could feel the spandex and see the pink neon shining through a mullet with enough hairspray to stick an elephant to the ceiling. I miss the 80's.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      I was barely in the 80s and I still miss it, haha

  • @ricardorodrigues4277
    @ricardorodrigues4277 Před 8 měsíci

    Super my man! I've been using by myself old gear, specially from 80s. Never forget that time was the golden age of our beloved instrument 🎸. When I remember "Always with me, always with you" was recorded with a Rockman cigar box, every theory about good tones has been debunked.

  • @raycochrane3971
    @raycochrane3971 Před rokem

    My wife bought me one of these when it was 1st released in Australia. She went to the store to buy me a flanger and left with this machine that cost an HUGE AUS$600 back then. I've used it ever since. It's great for recording BUT I always mute the distortion and use an overdrive in front of the unit instead. It's a brilliant, if very 80s, tool. I've tweaked about twenty of the presets and stored them in the unit. Some effects, like brass burst, are meant for things other than guitar...keyboard horns, mic'd sax etc work REALLY well. I also have the full rack version of the follow up iteration.

  • @um3899
    @um3899 Před rokem +1

    that sitar setting sounded awesome, I would totally use that on some recordings

  • @MikaFastfinger
    @MikaFastfinger Před rokem

    Heyyy Jay! It’s been a long time! Love to see you with FX500!!! I got it part of my main rig. Use it everyday. Got it mainly because of Symphonic, but I love it for flangers and stuff too! I got dry + stereo setup so FX500 doesn’t mess with my precious dry tone while gives me stereo fx.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Hi!!!!!!!!! Long time to see... You rocking the FX500 in 2022 is proof enough that great gear doesn't have an expiry date. You are 100% right though, the symphonic is a bit of a scene stealer on this one. Great idea with the stereo idea too :)

    • @MikaFastfinger
      @MikaFastfinger Před rokem

      @@JayLeonardJ Yeah, yeah. So good to hear from you. I love the idea of combining old stuff and new stuff. Something fun about digital vintage. Always in love hearing your playing! I got to return to your channel more ofter. Wax on!
      btw. If you want to take a quick look at my weird rig. (the only addition that came to this lately was R1 reverb Walrus audio, great combo with FX500)
      czcams.com/video/S9Y-QFJ3YdA/video.html

  • @TheGmcFilms
    @TheGmcFilms Před rokem +1

    The FX500 is a timeless pedal rather than a pedal for the times if you see what I mean. The reason its a bit pricey is behind the mechanics of the pedal is the intelligence level of the people who designed the machine. The scope and vision they achieved with the FX500 is peerless in my opinion, The schematic was and still is visionary ...G...

  • @cchavez248
    @cchavez248 Před rokem

    Oh snao, I remember those!!!! Man, I wanted one, but alas, I couldn't afford it back then! For those 80's sounds, I think this still sounds great!!! 😀🤘

  • @rob550
    @rob550 Před 8 měsíci

    I love how it sounds and also how it looks like a head unit it'd stick in my old EG Civic.

  • @narvul
    @narvul Před rokem +1

    I don't think I told you before but anyway: you're an incredible tasteful gitarist and I know a few.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +1

      Thanks so much!!

    • @narvul
      @narvul Před rokem

      @@JayLeonardJ You deserve it Jay...!!

  • @mythcrab6047
    @mythcrab6047 Před rokem

    I love this thing. And your playing is so fun!

  • @JesseJuup
    @JesseJuup Před rokem +1

    At some point, around 1991-1992, I had the Rocktron Pro GAP, a Lexicon LXP-5 and this Yamaha FX500 (borrowed from firend) in my rack and it was pretty damn sweet. Controlled them with the Rocktron MidiMate footpedal + Expression pedal. 🎉❤

  • @chrisrussoroos6091
    @chrisrussoroos6091 Před rokem

    Dude- you are great! Playing and attitude/insights. Thank you 👍🏼

  • @MarkFromHawaii
    @MarkFromHawaii Před rokem

    OMG, I had one of these! When I bought the FX500, I also got the midi foot controller for it. There was a a very noticeable delay between preset changes when using the controller, probably attributed to the unit's processing limitations. I also found the distortion totally unusable. What I loved were some of the modulation and reverb/delay settings. I especially liked the "symphonic" modulation as I recall. At the time I was using a Boogie MkII and tried putting the unit through the effects loop. It worked but because the old loop was unbuffered, I'd lose a lot of volume. I also tried using some of the vocal settings through a rack PA, but it sounded aweful - it just created a lot of hiss along with a nasal quality to the sound. Jay, tone must really come from the fingers, because you really made it sound good.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +1

      Thanks so much. After spending more time with it, I do think the Symphonic modulation is the star of the show. Too bad it didn't work with your setup. I should experiment with the effects loop on mine and see how it reacts!

  • @guenterbortz5957
    @guenterbortz5957 Před rokem +1

    Name that series "still alive?" - and pls do the L6 Pod 2,0 or those Zoom pedals for us poor tiny studio'ists. Pretty good idea to let us old players have a look back 😉😄 love it, thanks for that❤

  • @nowgearthis
    @nowgearthis Před rokem +2

    Yamaha did some great effects in the 80’s and 90’s. I had a GW50 effects processor for years. Thanks for the throwback!

  • @bloemundude
    @bloemundude Před rokem +1

    I bought my FX500 used back in the early '90s. I totally forgot I have it in its box in a closet somewhere. The presets were good, but you could adjust everything. That's where the real power lied.

  • @raulvalderrama6720
    @raulvalderrama6720 Před rokem +1

    Bravo jleonardgear... 🤙🏻🔥🔥🔥🤙🏻

  • @rickymangum8977
    @rickymangum8977 Před rokem

    I own one and I bought the midi foot pedal which could operate off of batteries. I found making my own presets sounded the best. You can almost get that boston tone. Lots of fun but sometimes very digital. You need to adjust but this Guy (JayLeonardJ) does an excellent job.

  • @fazalkmd
    @fazalkmd Před 7 měsíci

    LOL…I used to have this! TBH, I was glad when I replaced it with a POD.

  • @guitarelaxed
    @guitarelaxed Před rokem

    Neither the FX500 nor the Boss SE-50 / SE-70 were meant to be used only with guitar in mind. They were multi purpose tools for your budget home studio. So you would find presets for guitar or bass as well as studio fx for vocals and keyboard tracks. Brass burst for example sounds great if you feed it with a synth brass patch from a Juno 60 or a JX8P. Many of the earlier synths didn´t have a built in fx processor.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Yeah, I started realizing that as I was digging deeper into the presets! I originally thought this was an all guitar box!

  • @WarrenPostma
    @WarrenPostma Před rokem

    Could you find those early floor board multi effects from the late 1980s and early 1990s that are long before the Pod and Pod XT, Digitech made a bunch of them, boss, etc.
    Man I love how you play. Great job.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Original red bean Pod might be a great next choice!

  • @jwstout007
    @jwstout007 Před rokem

    I feel obligated to say that Jason fella sounds like a pretty cool guy! RJ's recommendation (Sharp Chops) sounds like the gated drum reverb that made the 80's era sound. After hearing a few of these presets, I bet this was used on more than just guitar, I bet that brass burst preset might do well on a brass instrument. Great playing through this unit, my dude!
    Series name suggestions: "Does it still rock?" "What's that sound?" "Weird gear" "Retro tone" & the aforementioned "Jay Plays Old Gear for the First Time on CZcams Live but not really Live."
    Gear you should seek out to play: an actual Leslie rotary speaker, or Yamaha RA 50 (or 100, they're horizontal Leslie units), a Gittler Guitar, anything double necked (standard / slide / 12 string / etc...), & maybe a Danelectro Backtalk (reverse delay).
    That was cool to see the process put together, thank you!

    • @chickenlickin3820
      @chickenlickin3820 Před rokem +1

      I have a 1963 leslie cab as well as this FX500.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Double neck guitar would definitely be a fun one! I've actually never even played one!! Thanks again man :)

  • @mightyjb5261
    @mightyjb5261 Před rokem

    I used to have its big brother, the FX770 (19") and although the amp models were less than convincing, it did have a pleasing sound.

  • @BLOODFLY1
    @BLOODFLY1 Před 11 měsíci

    Tear it up Jay!

  • @EgoShredder
    @EgoShredder Před 10 měsíci

    Editing on this unit is a breeze, very simple and quick. The FX900 is the more pro version and that does have way more extensive editing, better reverbs and cleaner DAC output. I own both models.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před 9 měsíci +1

      Might be worth checking out! Thanks :)

  • @andyjett
    @andyjett Před rokem

    There was also FX550 released later in 1992, also very good unit.

  • @claudecat
    @claudecat Před rokem +1

    How is this channel not huge? So many inferior competitors doing essentially the same thing: selling us pedals. Sure some of 'em are fun despite bad or boring playing, but nobody touches Jay for getting the best sounds out of whatever's being demoed, not to mention sheer technique and fire. Proof positive that either people are dumb or algorithms are mostly garbage. Probably some of both.
    As for this thing? Well, it's Yamaha. They do not make bad things as a rule, and this is no exception. Sounds as decent as anything else from that terrible, awful decade of music (Prince notwithstanding). Let's face it, Jay could make that guitar you ran over with the truck last year and used duct tape to repair sound amazing.
    ** edited to add that I really enjoyed the sitar setting, which had more of a koto feel at times. Loved the quote from "Inner Light", my favorite George tune ever!

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Really appreciate it! Might not be the biggest page ever, but I wouldn't trade our subscriber community for anything :)

  • @SSquirrel1976
    @SSquirrel1976 Před rokem +1

    Next up look for a Lexicon Vortex. Believe it was the first rack that could morph between effects and stop partway thru if u were using one of the expression pedal inputs. Full stereo, lots of interesting stuff

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Vortex you say... Looks like I have some Google learning to do...

    • @tonyscardaci2089
      @tonyscardaci2089 Před rokem

      @@JayLeonardJ I had one, it was very cool, yet...I never found it useable for my stuff, and no-one else of any notoriety used them on anything hot. Cool, unusual, inspiring, yes. Usefulness....you must obtain all the external switches and pedals to utilize it correctly, and at the time I was interested in oddball stuff, but too broke to have the whole setup.
      It may be great for Ambient stuff however, unusual sound devices are great for experimental stuff generally....great show !!!

  • @ilmisxx2
    @ilmisxx2 Před rokem +1

    I would love you to check out Digitech GSP2101 tube preamp/processor some time in the future

  • @brysimm404
    @brysimm404 Před rokem

    “Digital”, yes - but a little box of magic nonetheless. Picked one up online about 10 years ago for $80 (with power supply). It IS “satisfying” and definitely a keeper forever! Note: All the FX500 units I’ve seen have a lighter gray color plastic face - maybe the unit here is a later version with the same darker face like the FX500B (for bass) model? Interesting 🤔

  • @pangloss9
    @pangloss9 Před rokem

    Here's a suggestion: Tech21 PSA-1. Back in the 1990's these things were in a lot of pro racks. Great idea for a series btw.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Another one I haven't heard of! Definitely look deeper into this!!

    • @steverherb
      @steverherb Před rokem

      I still love my PSA-1, a Great analog preamp

  • @MikeMcDonald32
    @MikeMcDonald32 Před rokem

    thanks for this. i own and use two one for pa and one in my home studio.

  • @guitarelaxed
    @guitarelaxed Před rokem

    I still have THREE Boss SE-70 processors and many of the sounds are pretty good. (Scott Henderson still uses it live for delay, modulation and reverb in a parallel loop.) The only thing that is only very rudimentary is the assignment of effect parameters to a ctrl switch / exp pedal. I also bought a ZOOM 9050, expecting similar sounds, but it just sounds awful in comparison.

  • @thomasd9237
    @thomasd9237 Před rokem +1

    LOLs gotta love it 😂 👍👍

  • @slimsantilli4476
    @slimsantilli4476 Před rokem

    Some modern effects are trying to emulate these tones. My friend had the ADA MP-1 back in the day. Many of the tones sounded like this Yamaha

  • @richc.9273
    @richc.9273 Před rokem

    Time for me to pull mine out of the old gear trunk in my closet and hook her back up, Brought back memories, thanks.

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +1

      Always fun to rediscover your forgotten gems! Have fun :)

  • @rocker5344
    @rocker5344 Před rokem +1

    Or Jay’s VintaJe gear?

  • @chickenlickin3820
    @chickenlickin3820 Před rokem +1

    i have one had it since the early 90's whenever you play through it it sounds like Van Halen lol..

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      It makes me want to play Van Halen, haha

  • @ericajohnson7535
    @ericajohnson7535 Před měsícem

    I see your true colors tone...

  • @ericskinner7355
    @ericskinner7355 Před rokem

    I still have a silver one. Some of the sounds are ok. Might be cool if you were doing a lot of overdubs to get a contrasting sound. I do remember liking the soft focus for cleaner ambient stuff.

  • @rocker5344
    @rocker5344 Před rokem +2

    Or Jay VintaJe J?

  • @jason3000tt
    @jason3000tt Před rokem

    hi, AWESOME DEMO! Does this unit have balanced input?

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +1

      It can take a balanced or unbalanced signal if I remember correctly!

  • @dezionlion
    @dezionlion Před rokem

    Sitar is cool!

  • @Furtheronmusic
    @Furtheronmusic Před rokem

    I had one of those in my recording rack for many years. I'm sad that it went the way of much gear back sone years back. Brilliant bit of kit, I used it with a Boss gl100 rack unit. Soft Focus was I went to more than once

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Surprised how many subscribers out there have had one before! I just found out about it but it seems like there is a pretty big subculture of FX500 users out there :)

  • @TedSchoenling
    @TedSchoenling Před rokem +1

    that sounds so '80s and it isn't so bad

  • @agzagadoo8598
    @agzagadoo8598 Před rokem +1

    i know "JLJ now on Vintage"

  • @prw139
    @prw139 Před rokem

    Sounds awesome! Can you run this in front of the tube amp?

  • @ordinalkirk
    @ordinalkirk Před rokem

    The 80s ruled!

  • @matttorrence2900
    @matttorrence2900 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Is this the Slowdive machine?

  • @gomerhanger2285
    @gomerhanger2285 Před rokem +1

    plug it into my amp and the volume is really low. I have my amp volume 10 that's how low it is lmao Does anyone know why ?

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem +2

      Weird. There is a switch in the back to change the output level if that helps. You can also make sure that your input knob in the front it high enough to barely hit the peak at your absolutely loudest notes.

  • @DTension
    @DTension Před rokem

    I'd buy that Lauper jam.

  • @Bryn-w5z
    @Bryn-w5z Před 3 měsíci

    This or the EMP100?

  • @user-kl4of1bs4p
    @user-kl4of1bs4p Před rokem

    i´m a lucky 30 year fx500 owner. :)

  • @hellvulcanoh
    @hellvulcanoh Před rokem +1

    Nice stuff im own 1

  • @rocker5344
    @rocker5344 Před rokem

    How about just VintaJe Live?!

  • @thomaslthomas1506
    @thomaslthomas1506 Před rokem

    “Bad Gear”. Oh wait someone beat you to it.😎

  • @TelipatiEvolustions
    @TelipatiEvolustions Před rokem

    Looks like car radio?

  • @user-nu7xx7pc1d
    @user-nu7xx7pc1d Před rokem

    great video!! like and susc!!

  • @Danbalambalam
    @Danbalambalam Před rokem

    ‘Horror’ has two syllables.

  • @dezionlion
    @dezionlion Před rokem

    Sounds too processed

    • @JayLeonardJ
      @JayLeonardJ  Před rokem

      Haha, definitely a poster child for 80s Squeeky Chic.