View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « Eventide's 1U Effects Processor »
Published on 03/21/11 at 20:39The Eventide Eclipse is a new effects processor aimed towards guitarists. It's a somewhat slimmed down Eventide compared to the huge monsters we're used to seeing, but it's actually more powerful than some of the older, bigger boxes. It includes nearly every feature you can think of and then some. The famous big scroll wheel is still here and what you'll mainly be using rather than the dial pad. The coolest thing is that it's housed in this 1U rack enclosure.
UTILIZATION
This is probably the biggest downside with all Eventide products. They're very hard to use for first timers. It takes reading the manual a few times, and the manual is as huge as a phone book. You can only have so many effects being used at any given time to boot. To top it off, even with the latest software, there's quite a bit of lag when switching between certain presets. You can get by this with some trickery of x-fading and whatnot, but it takes some understanding this unit to fix these flaws. It's definitely not for somebody who has limited time on his or her hands.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound is where all Eventide products excel. The effects just sound amazing. Those looking for that signature Eventide "coloring" will find it in spades here. The harmonizer tracks wonderfully, the reverbs are huge, choruses are lush and it's guaranteed to enhance your tone. Most of the stock presets suck, so keep that in mind. You'll also need to do a bit of tweaking when it comes to levels. The weakness of this unit, in terms of sound quality, is the amp sims. The whole guitar/amp things don't really sound that great, so I recommend just avoiding them.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, if you're looking for a do-all effects processor at this point, I think you're better off looking at the Axe-Fx Ultra. It's more versatile than this, has better support, easier to program and is roughly the same price. If you're limited to just using a 1U effects processor, this could be worth looking into, but I have a hard time recommending it to the gigging musician.
UTILIZATION
This is probably the biggest downside with all Eventide products. They're very hard to use for first timers. It takes reading the manual a few times, and the manual is as huge as a phone book. You can only have so many effects being used at any given time to boot. To top it off, even with the latest software, there's quite a bit of lag when switching between certain presets. You can get by this with some trickery of x-fading and whatnot, but it takes some understanding this unit to fix these flaws. It's definitely not for somebody who has limited time on his or her hands.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound is where all Eventide products excel. The effects just sound amazing. Those looking for that signature Eventide "coloring" will find it in spades here. The harmonizer tracks wonderfully, the reverbs are huge, choruses are lush and it's guaranteed to enhance your tone. Most of the stock presets suck, so keep that in mind. You'll also need to do a bit of tweaking when it comes to levels. The weakness of this unit, in terms of sound quality, is the amp sims. The whole guitar/amp things don't really sound that great, so I recommend just avoiding them.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, if you're looking for a do-all effects processor at this point, I think you're better off looking at the Axe-Fx Ultra. It's more versatile than this, has better support, easier to program and is roughly the same price. If you're limited to just using a 1U effects processor, this could be worth looking into, but I have a hard time recommending it to the gigging musician.