We just had to vacate our practice space. It was a bummer, but there was a Magic Dumpster out back that I'll be sad to leave. When I needed a mic stand with a round base, it provided one the next day at practice. When I needed a big clean beater amp for down 'n' dirty live gigs, it provided a surprisingly nice Crate 2x12 combo that I've fallen for. Over the years, it gave me a set of old PA speakers, an '80s DOD rack preamp, a 15" speaker cab I use to this day, drum hardware, etc. I once saw a Marshall head of some kind in there but was unable to take it, and I still wish I had.
Last month there was a filing cabinet NEXT to the dumpster. In the top drawer was a half a case of Miller High Life, our Cheap Band Beer of choice. Nothing a disinfecting wipe and a red cup can't cure. The Mrs. says we're a punk band, we can't be above free dumpster beer.
Nothing's ever been wrong with any of it other than its being dumpster-adjacent, and I don't dig deep into wet stuff. I just see what Magic Dumpster is offering for the day. Because I usually need it. And... "Boston Rock will provide".
On our final trip out of the building, a sad day, my wife sees a trash barrel and peeks inside the big black plastic trash bag sitting on top.
"It's all cables and gear," she said. "But how about this?" she asked, before pulling this out:
She didn't know EXACTLY what it was. But she's no dummy. She says it was the "Alesis" that told her to grab it, 'cause she's got gooooooood taste.
No power cord. Get home, look it up, see it takes an AC power supply, I bite the bullet and order one. Wait 3 days, fire it up, and the thing works perfectly.
Now, I'm an aging shoegazer and ambient/electronic guy. I love me some Alesis rack reverbs. My Midiverb II and Quadraverb both need a trip to the shop for some minor issues, but I love those algorithms. This, while made later, is cut from the same cloth. AND it says right in the manual to go ahead and plug and instrument right into it. AND it's tiny. The halls and plates are luscious and the adjustment knob takes it to just about infinite decay. Other than in/out levels, you get a Mix knob and a knob to adjust one parameter - for the reverbs, it's decay time.
And, on top of all that, it does the MBV/reverse reverb really well, too. When I looked these up, a thread from 15-20 years ago came up where it seemed like everybody around OSG was snapping these up.
Tiny enough to mount on top of a pedalboard, toss a TB loop switcher on top of it, and it's trem-dip heaven. Put it at the end of the chain and I'm into Seefeel/Aphex ambience. And it's about the same size as a Strymon or something.
So tiny, useful, and lives in that "lower-bit rack reverb" realm I love so much. It's gonna pull double duty as a floorboard guitar reverse machine and an outboard mixer reverb for my acid house stuff.
...until I snatch up another one.
So, thanks for all the stuff, Magic Dumpster, and so long. Thanks for one final "this is exactly for you, Mikey" gift.
We're gonna miss you.
