AMS RMX RMX16 500 (2020–)

The reverb that made 1980s drums explode, now reborn in 500 series with the same magic, minus the fan noise and crashes.

Overview

Power it up and the red OLED screen flickers to life with the bouncing AMS logo, like a digital ghost from a John Hughes soundtrack. The RMX16 500 is the 1980s distilled into a three-slot 500 series module. It isn't a reimagining or a reinterpretation. AMS Neve took the original 1982 RMX16 - microprocessor-controlled, full-bandwidth, the first of its kind - and rebuilt it from the ground up for modern studios, keeping every algorithm and every quirk. It still has the Nonlin program that made snare drums sound like they were detonating in a cathedral.

What made the original RMX16 legendary wasn’t just its technical novelty; it was how it sounded. At a time when most studios had to choose between the weight and cost of an EMT plate or the artificiality of early digital delays, the RMX16 offered something new: a reverb that felt both synthetic and organic, bright and lush, clinical yet musical. It didn’t simulate a space so much as invent one. And now, in this 500 series incarnation, it’s not just preserved—it’s improved. Gone is the whirring fan, the occasional reset toggle, the fear of scanning a barcode wrong and crashing the whole thing. In its place: silent operation, 32-bit DSP, 24-bit/48kHz conversion, over 100dB of dynamic range, and +22dBu of headroom. The sound remains faithful, but the reliability? That’s 21st-century.

This version includes all 18 original programs - both the factory nine and the once-elusive second set that required a barcode wand and a steady hand. No more hunting for rare remotes or risking a system crash by scrolling past Program 9. You get Ambience, Room, Hall, Plate, Chorus, Echo, Reverse, Freeze, and of course Nonlin. All are intact, all tweakable, all storable in 100 user presets. There's also a wet/dry mix control onboard for the first time. It's a small addition, but it makes the unit far more DAW-friendly than its auxiliary-send-dependent ancestor.

Engineers who've used both the original and this reissue report that the 500 series version sounds smoother, quieter, and more stable, with less hiss and less grain and none of the soul lost. If anything, it integrates better into modern mixes. Some purists miss the slight roughness of the original's converters, which added a faint digital grit that cut through dense tracks. This one is cleaner and more polished.

Specifications

Key Features

The Sound of the 1980s, Bit-for-Bit

The RMX16 500 doesn't just emulate the original. It runs the same algorithms, bit-for-bit. The Ambience program still wraps vocals in a smooth, bright halo that somehow avoids muddiness. The Plate setting still has that dense, slightly chorused shimmer that made it a favorite for snares and hand percussion. The Hall programs deliver the big, cathedral-like decays that filled out synth pads on countless records. The Nonlin program still steals the show. It's a short, sharp burst of reverb that cuts off abruptly, creating the gated reverb effect that defined Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and half of 1980s pop. It's not subtle. It's not natural. It's huge. With modern converters it's also more controlled, with a lower noise floor and more punch.

Modernized Control Without Compromise

The single smooth-turning pot of the original is gone. In its place are a stepped rotary encoder and a full numeric keypad, which make parameter entry faster and more precise. You can nudge values up and down with dedicated buttons, or dial them in directly. The OLED display is a major upgrade - clear, bright, and always showing the active parameters. The original required patching through an aux send to blend wet and dry. This version has a dedicated mix control, so you can set the effect level right on the unit. That makes it far more flexible in hybrid and in-the-box setups.

All 18 Programs, No Barcode Wand Required

The original RMX16 shipped with nine programs. Nine more were available, but only with the optional remote with barcode reader and the patience to scan them in without crashing the system. The RMX16 500 includes all 18 programs from the start: the standard set (Ambience, Room A1, Hall C1, Plate, Hall B3, Chorus, Echo, Nonlin, Reverse) plus the second batch (Nonlin2, Reverse2, Freeze, Image P1, and others). No rare accessories, no system lockups. With 100 user presets, you can store your own variations - tweaked decay times, filtered echoes, custom gated reverb tails - without losing factory defaults.

Historical Context

When the AMS RMX16 launched in 1982, digital reverb was still in its infancy. Lexicon had the 224, a powerful but expensive beast. EMT plates ruled the high end. Most studios made do with spring reverbs or tape delays. The RMX16 changed the game by offering a programmable, microprocessor-controlled digital reverb at a fraction of the Lexicon’s cost. It wasn’t just cheaper—it was *British*, a point of pride for UK studios. And it sounded different: brighter, more aggressive, more musical in a way that cut through dense mixes.

It arrived while synth-pop was exploding. Drum machines needed space, and snare drums needed impact. The Nonlin program, with its abrupt cutoff, became a secret weapon. Engineers used it to make snares sound like they were cracking across a stadium. It was reverb used as rhythm and drama rather than ambience. The RMX16 turned up on records from Peter Gabriel's "Intruder" to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight."

By the late 1980s, the Yamaha SPX90 and Lexicon's own more affordable units began to erode its dominance. The 500 series reissue brings the sound back as a working studio processor. It isn't competing with modern convolution reverbs or algorithmic monsters, and it isn't trying to sound like a real space. It's aiming for 1983.

Collectibility & Value

The RMX16 500 isn't vintage in the traditional sense. It's a modern reissue, but it's already collecting a cult following. New units sell for around $1,495 or £1,194, and the market hasn't seen significant depreciation. Used units in good condition typically go for $1,100 to $1,300, depending on the seller and included accessories. Unlike vintage gear, there's no need to worry about capacitor plague, failing power supplies, or brittle circuit boards.

It does have quirks. The front-panel USB port is for firmware updates only - no computer control, no MIDI, no remote editing. To automate parameters, you'll need to do it via your DAW's outboard control or manually. Some users report that the OLED's bouncing logo screensaver is annoying and not immediately obvious to disable, since it requires a specific button combo. The unit also runs hot in tightly packed lunchboxes, though not enough to cause failures.

For buyers, the main concern is fit rather than reliability. The RMX16 500 is tall and wide for a 500 series module, and some chassis (like the Radial SixPack) have tight clearances. Check your rack before buying. It's also mono-in/stereo-out, so you'll need to use both Slot 1 and Slot 3 in your chassis. It doesn't do stereo input processing.

Anyone chasing the original's slight digital grit might find this version a bit too clean. Anyone who wants the RMX16 sound without the maintenance headaches gets it here.

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