I agree with the last post. I also use the H9000 in a guitar rack, so we share the same goal. I got the H9000R which is the cheaper version of the H9000, and except for the long awaited and soon coming Emote version with Scenes capability, I see no use for the front panel for a guitar rack.
The discussion to me is less about stereo versus the number of processors, because the H9000 is really 4 processors into a box. In fact, my setup is stereo, and I use a Switchblade with 16 IO in which I literally have 4 stereo virtual pedals named H9000-1 to H9000-4. This way I can route the IO any way I want between H9000 algos used in mono or stereo only. Please note that emote cannot do that, as linking the IOs between FX chains is not available.
‘if someone said that my budget was less than the cost of the H9000R, then I would probably say that the next step down with same functionality would be to buy 4 H9’s and wire them in my Switchblade. This would be the physical equivalent of my current virtual setup. For a guitar rack, I 100% agree that the sound quality would be absolutely adequate. With any good midi programmable switching system, you’d get an awesome rig.
I have never owned an Eclipse, but I had an H7600 wired in stereo before my H9000. What I can say is that except for losing certain algos which H9’s cannot do, I would take 4 H9’s over one H7600 any day as it gives way more routing capability for a guitar rack unless you want to become an expert VSig file programmer. Besides, the new vSigfile software doesn’t work for the H7600, which is one reason I upgraded to the H9000 to begin with.
i guess if Eventide wanted to re-enter the guitar only world with a new high end product, i.e. what should be the Eclipse 2.0, maybe they should build some sort of nice switching system that could integrate 2-4 H9’s with a nice software GUI to combine them and a connected pedal board with MIDI switching capability. But there is already a world out there doing that (SwitchBlade and similar). Or to keep it cheaper, combine 4 H9 CPUs into a modular box (users could buy from 1 to 4 H9s or H9 “cores” with it) with switching capability as above and keep the cost in the under $2,500 range, which would be quite cheaper than 4 H9’s and a Switchblade, and would be a direct competitor to the AxeFX3, which is the other product I had considered when upgrading from the H7600.
So this approach for stereo guitar rig would make sense to me, whereas downgrading the hardware of the H9000 to be stereo only may have very limited cost savings implications. It would offer an extendable stereo product from 1 to 4 CPUs and answer 100% what guitar players want.
