If you're look for the ultimate reverb sound at a bargain price, get hold of Alex.

Lexicon have been setting the standard for stage and studio reverb for well over a decade now, and although other manufacturers have come up with units that offer excellent quality in their own right, there is still that indefinable something about the Lexicon 'sound' that makes it the most desirable name to have in your effects rack.

Until recently, obtaining that sound would have had a potentially devastating effect on your bank balance. Then came the LXP-1 and LXP-5, half-rack Lexicons that offered that reverb at a semi-pro price. Now? Well, now there's an even more revolutionary product bearing the Lexicon name - a truly versatile, full rack, full spec budget processor. And yes, it has that reverb sound.

Front-panel-wise, you'd never really suspect Alex of being the powerful processing tool it actually is. But simplicity of operation turns out to be one of this device's major selling points. There are very few controls - five knobs and three buttons, to be exact - and they operate in a wholely straightforward way. Input and Output (obviously) are used to adjust the signal levels to and from the machine to match it to your own setup, while Mix allows you to set a balance between the dry and effected signals - much like any budget processor.

But Alex's real delights only reveal themselves when attention is turned to the two remaining rotary controls - Register and Parameter. 16 factory preset effects are included and these are stored alongside the 16 user memories - or 'Registers'. Both Presets and Registers are accessed through a single rotary, with an adjacent button to select which of the two categories you are stepping through. The number of the Preset/Register currently in use is shown in the LED display, which also indicates the values of the parameters when you delve into editing.

The preset effects on Alex are probably best regarded as 'starting blocks' - to be edited according to your own tastes. Once complete, the results may be stored in one of 16 memories - but not over the Presets themselves, as these cannot be overwritten. Of the 16 resident effects, 12 are dedicated to various reverbs, from large halls and massive ambient spaces to some gloriously tight 'plate' sounds.

Personal favourites included the lush 'String Hall', a booming 'Large Hall' (if you're into ambient, this effect is an atmosphere in itself) and the superb 'Brass Plate' - guaranteed to add balls to any horn section. This, clearly, is one of those processors that can wow you with its preset reverbs alone. But then I suppose this is to be expected. After all, Alex does employ the same central processing chip that Lexicon use in the likes of the LXP-15.

The remaining four Presets are allocated to Chorus, Flange, Echo and Decay, which are again uniformly excellent. But I think these are best regarded as useful extras; most Alex users will, I'm sure, find themselves sticking to those fantastic reverbs most of the time.

This particular Lexicon model doesn't offer you quite as many editable parameters as its bigger brothers - you can only alter the reverb decay, predelay and level, and certain essential values for the other effects, such as the amount of recirculation in the Chorus preset. However, most owners will probably be delighted at this quick and simple approach to getting a near-perfect sound; the idea of using the excellent Presets as 'building blocks' really works well.

Omissions? Well, sequencer fanatics might be disappointed at the complete absence of MIDI implementation on Alex (personally I couldn't be happier at the absence of the dreaded DIN sockets), but adding MIDI would have pushed the price up prohibitively. More effects memories and more parameters might have been nice, but not essential. And the external 9-volt power supply is perhaps a little too rough'n'ready.

But such niggles are easily forgotten when confronted with legendary Lexicon reverb quality. Alex offers you incredible effects, easy editing and a sound you could die for, for under £400. One couldn't reasonably ask for more.

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