Originally posted by ianmcnll:
Sounding "impressive on stage" also depends heavily on your choice of sound system.
Personally, sounding impressive onstage has about 10% to do with your gear... the other 90% is up to you
The truth is, most of the best players out there, that use studio gear for recordings, etc., don't go out on stage with a big Lexicon TOTL reverb, or LA2A's, or boutique preamps (especially if they are doing their own mix). They don't use Fairlights on stage much any more, or Synclaviers. Even Oasys's are rare (never seen one outside of a concert tour by a major act)...
What's 'good enough' for live? Whatever makes you comfortable, whatever makes your audience want more... And MANY great players do that with FAR from the 'latest, greatest'....
Arrangers tend to vary most in either ease of use, or the available styles, and those style's overall 'philosophy' (busy, sparse, aggressive, subdued). The effects section is probably the least important consideration compared to those. If I were you, I'd spend most of my time auditioning the styles, and giving the T3 and PA2X a good try out before a decision. See which styles suit you best. Your audience will be hard pressed to tell the difference between reverb sounds on stage, but they'll SURE hear the style (especially bass and drums) differences.
Asking for a recommendation on this forum is basically just asking 'what do YOU use?', because it's rare to see anyone think past 'if it's good for me, it MUST be good for everyone else!'.
You might do better to state what KIND of music you intend to play, as it's a little easier (but not much
) to get an honest opinion about what's best for Latin, or country, or bigband, etc..
Tell us a bit more about what you want to do other than it's got to have a good reverb!