Yamaha SPX1000 rack effects unit

Allright lads and lassies, here is my first review...

Yamaha SPX1000
Price Paid €250
Purchased on E-Bay (put a sneaky bid in 20 seconds before the item closed)

I recently picked up a second hand SPX1000 rack unit on Ebay. They have been discontinued due to newer more expensive additions to the Yamaha line but there are plenty floating around second hand. These units were one of the most popular rack effects units in professional recording studios (I have recorded in 4 separate studios in Dublin and everyone of them had an SPX1000) so when I saw a chance to get one for 250 euros I jumped on it (originally retailed at over 1200 sterling). Anyway, I have it hooked up to a Rectifier Recording Preamp and a Marshall DFX100 - depending on the tone I want. The sounds out of this thing are amazing. I have Cubase SX2 and have a huge number of pro plug-ins but none of them come close to the ease of use and the sound quality of this piece of equipment. Effects include (as per the online spec):

Preset Effect Programs 1 - 27
1. Rev 1 Hall, 2. Rev 2 Room, 3. Rev 3 Vocal, 4. Rev 4 Plate, 5. Rev 5 Echo Room, 6. Early REF. 1, 7. Early Ref. 2, 8. Early Ref. 3, 9. Gate Reverb, 10. Reverse Gate, 11. Delay L,C,R, 12. Stereo Echo, 13. Stereo Flange A, 14. Stereo Flange B, 15. Chorus, 16. Stereo Phasing, 17. Tremolo, 18. Symphonic, 19. ADR-Noise Gate, 20. Pitch Change 1, 21. Pitch Change 2, 22. Pitch Change 3, 23. Freeze 1, 24. Freeze 2, 25 Pan, 26. Triggered Pan, 27. Distortion

Preset Effect Programs 28 - 40
28. Multi (CHO and REV), 29. Multi (SYM and REV) 30. Multi (EXC and REV), 31. Plate + Hall, 32. ER+REV, 33. Echo+REV, 34. Chorus+REV, 35. Pan+Pan, 36. Compressor, 37. Low LVL Expander, 38. Exciter, 39. Stereo Pitch, 40. Stereo Freeze

The sampling frequency is 44.1 kHz the unit gives a full, flat frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. You will really notice the quality on a good set of studio monitors (I am using passive Tannoy Reveals).
I have a PODxt and a GNX-1 and the effects on those suck the big one in comparison to this unit. My only gripe is the fact that you can't download any patches or presets. Also, you can only use five effects at any given time... I have yet to ever use more than three effects at a given time but one day I may need that 6th element to nail a certain tone (I doubt it though).

So basically:
Pros: excellent sound quality, very user friendly (you don't have to be sound engineer to be able to use this unit efficiently within 5 minutes of hooking it up), realistic 'full' sounding effects, one 19 inch rack space, black with nice glowing green lcd (looks cool in the rack!), midi compatable, excellent value now (for the price of a middle of the road effects box you get a genuine pro sound)

Cons: discontinued item, no online libraries of settings or downloadable patches (for that quick fix), does not come with foot switch for live application (I think I read somewhere that they can be bought separately though)

The user manual is very user friendly and actually explains the effects in a way that is educational.

Just in case anybody sees one out there and was considering it, I thought this mini-review might help.

BTW if any of you guys have one of these units, I would love to exchange some fx set-ups!