ART SGX-2000 Express

The best. The distortions are warm, the modulations are pure. There is no unwanted noise what so ever. I use the SGX2000 Express with a Engl Thunder or a Randall RG75 G3. It sounds better through the Engl as it is a full valve amp. I play an Ibanez S520 with Seymour Duncan pups, an Ibanez S470 (stock) and an Ibanez JEM. They all sound fantastic running through the ART.

The overall reliability is excellent. I haven't had a problem with this one. My previous SGX (a standard one from 1992) broke, one of the digital components went (i presume this was a one off as i have heard no body else complaining of a digital failure)so it would of cost a fortune to repair. I took this opurtunity to buy an Express model from 1994, its an actual express model not an upgraded SGX2000 original. I would gig without a back up.

This is a fantastic effects/preamp unit and i still think its better than the majority of newer processors. You can pickup fantastic bargains on 3Bay, i had a 94 express and 94 X-15 foot controller for ¿¿160. My favourite feature has to be the dual pitch transposer ( dual octave divider), you can get some really wierd tones from it. The only problem that i can see in the future for these units is the fact that there will be very few spare parts for them. Alot of the things on them you can replace yourself, LCD's, knobs, switches, the valve, power supply, transformer, etc...But its the digital components that will be hard to get hold of. I am lucky enough that i have another SGX (although its broken) and a spare X-15 that i can use for spares.

 

If you see one on for sale, buy it !