DigiTech 2120 VGS Artist

Well, getting a good sound has nothing to do with the processer itself. You must rely fully on your ear, or else you should have stuck to foot pedals. You've got to hear the sound in your head first then get it on the processer. The manual is amazing, it's so descriptive, I can't imagine how there could be so many complaints about it. It's about as easy as spelling the word "a". If you can't understand it then I can't understand how you saved the money. Very easy to use.

I use an Ibanez JS-100 with a Super Distortion in the bridge, and a Fred in the neck. I also made an operational amplifier and put that in the guitars cavity. From there it goes into the 2120, out the
FX-LOOP into a Crybaby 535-Q>>then an XP-100 Whammy Wah and in right before the distortion. That deserves a standing ovation. From there I run in stereo into a BBE sonic maximizer(invaluable for 170 bucks) then into a carvin HT-1000 power amp. Then into a homemade 4X12" with carvin BR-12's. It has a very clean sound I'm impressed.

Well, it has frozen up a few times, but it still works great. I dropped it along with my whole rack from about four feet and its still cranking. Thanks to SKB!!!

I had e-mailed them right after I bought and they took about two and a half weeks to reply. I was very frustrated, and there reply was very vague.

I play mainly Thrash metal, but also slow beautiful music, like ballads, and blues, some jazz, and just crazy stuff thats out there. I have yet to find a truly awesome trhash tone, but like I said, it's all up to your ear. Yes I would replace it if it were stolen, definitely. I love the Reverse Gated reverb and the 10 second delay, and the phasor, and the flanger, and the quad chorus. I love everything about it. Just read the manual to finf out what I love about it. I compared it to an array of old foot pedals, the 2120 is programmable, end of story. I wish could hear whats inside my head, then it would be alot easier. I feel it helps once I have found the sound in my head. I calculated the money you would save by buying the 2120, rather than foot pedals. There 100 presets times 24 FX configurations time over 50 FX times about 100 bucks for each effect. And we basically got this unit for free. Thats 100x100x24x54=12,000,000 dollars now that is amazing.

I have created a ton of patches for this unit. It's very, very easy. I make a new one almost every time I sit down with it, and they all sound completly different.

The preamp section definitely colours your tone - make sure that it has the feel you are looking for. It is versatile and otherwise clean though - I have used it in the most esoteric recording setups with good effect.

For the price, it's very, very quiet and clean.

I've had to hard reset it once, and lost all my patches. I'm not sure what caused this.

I play chapman stick ( www.stick.com ) and have set up one for each side ( bass and treble ) of the intrument. I play with a lot of synthetic sounds that are created entirely in the 2120s. This unit has the power and effects to do everything I need.

My biggest annoyance is that the delays are in ms and seconds and not bpm. This makes synchronizing to loops and the like very, difficult. Basicly, I am stuck with certain 'perfect' tempos - 60, 75, 80, 100, 120, 125, 150 and a few weird ones which are 'close enough' unless I am looping for several minutes or more - 137.14, 139.13 143.07 an the like. This really sucks, since otherwise the unit is as good as it gets. However, if you aren't looping much, this won't be a problem. Still, a second loop, plus four effects, plus preamps in each unit is very, very good.

This unit rocks, especially for creating new sounds and tones. I'd by another one if I lost it right away.

At first editing programs is a bit over whelming. After you play with the processor a while editing becomes easier. It's a good idea to have the manual with you when you first start playing with processor. The manual could have more information than it does, but trial and error is the best way to learn how to use preamps. If it sounds good keep it. If not you can hit the program button and scrap your editing and then start over.

I'm using Hamer and Epiphone guitars. Running through a Laney head and a 4X12 cab. I have to back off on the bass and when I play at loud volumes my Epiphone screetches(nothing that new pickups can't cure). Other than that the effects are great once you dial in your sound. I will try to emulate George Lynch's sound but haven't tried as of yet. I thing the Wah Wah is the weakest effect out if the bunch. Luckely I don't use the Wah, then the chorus would be the next weakest sounding effect. I like rich sounding clean tones when needed and have not been able to produce that kind of sound as of yet.

I've only had the preamp for 2 weeks so we are still getting to know each other. So far so good. We'll see once I start playing out on a regular basis.

I called customer support and they were very nice all though the guy I spoke to didn't sound so sure of him self. I've sent 2 E-Mails to digitech regarding the C1 foot controller and have not heard back from them.

I play anything from Dokken to Melissa Ethridge to alanis Morisett. This product allows me to create programs in all styles of music. I like the built in tuner. We tune to 438 and the 2120 makes this task as easy as pressing a button and turning a knob. I like Digitech products. This preamp seems to be made very well. I'm a bit frustrated with the fact that so far I can only program 5 presets per bank, the other 5 presets are for turning effects on and off. This will suck if I have to bank up to use 5 more presets. I wish the manual was more in depth about using the foot controller the processor came with.

Getting a good sound is practically impossible in my opinion. I've never been so dissatified with a processor. Unless your into nothing but powerchords and metal leads, this is a failure.

I'm using a Rickenbacker 1997 model with a Roland JC120. Effects are extremely weak. No life to any of the efeects. Distortion alright, but honestly you can reproduce that same sound with Boss pedals. All the digital effects are weak.

Can't say.

cAN't say.

Don't buy it. Even used. The value of the effects are about $200 maximum.

You plug it in you turn it on and bam, great sounds. Asided from a minor problem with the noise gate, but I figured that out in about 5 minutes, I think that DigiTech did that on purpose to force you to learn how to use this thing. The manual has lots of useful information, but it is in no particular order. I found that the best thing to do is study the manual ayway from the unit, and then plug in and go, that way when your using the unit and you come to a stumbling block you can refere back to parts you've read instead of standing infront of your dead silent amp bitching about how crappy the manual is.
So to sum it all up study the manual very carefully before you get into operating the unit.

I use a Fender Strat and a Danelectro U2. My amp is a Mesa Boogie Simul 90 into to 2x12 Cabs. None of the effects I have and alot of the ones I've heard don't compare to sounds that come out of this machine, Very flexible, nothing beats this bang for the buck.

Only had it a week and a half

Haven't needed them yet

I play rock, blues, and everything else that squeezes in between, this machine covers all the bases and then some if not for the random layout of the manual I'd give it and 11 if I could.

It is so difficult to get a good sound. It's because there is so much to look at. I was frustrated when I would show up to band practice and I would have to change something because of clipping, digital clipping, or it would just sound bad. I like it now though because it's still surprising me on all its tricks even after 2 years. When you get familiar with it you can manipulate it to what ever u want and it usually can handel it and it sounds great. When they said it was fully programmable, they meant it!

I have it ran stereo through a Mesa 50/50 and a peavey 4x12. The tone is huge(if you know what your doing)!!! It's parallel tube and digital distortion seems to have limitless possibilities. It's not noisy because you can make the noise gate to what ever degree you want. I can get a semi-Petrucci tone(he is too good),and maybe a little Van Halen tone in there. I don't try to replicate so it is more personally me than there's. I has great effects. They are all pretty much all around good. THe pitch shifter isn't that solid but it has it's moments.

My first one broke!!!!! I am nervous every time I turn it on but no problems since. ON my old one I remember it always digitally clipping and that could have been the problem but it shouldn't have broke down on me. I don't have the money for a spare one, but I'm not worried about having an extra, shouldn't need it

WHen I wrote to the company via e-mail, they told me how to fix it and were nice. I had already got a new one so I couldn't see if there advice was any good. They seem like good people.

I play shred guitar solos with the type of musical geneious of Sean Lane or Vai and the rhythm in my band is pretty metal. I think the 2120 can handle it all(of course not as good as an eventide-nothing is). I would get another one if stolen because it's a cheap processor that is good sounding and easy to understand. I have a few songs in my band I couldn't do without my digitech.

I give it a 10 because you can plug it in and play right away. While maybe 5 or 10 out of the 100 presets are cool, the rest are junk. Tweaking the noise gate is a must because it is almost impossible to right hand tap on most of the presets.

I give it a 10 because the individual effects are great. The seemingly random shot in the dark patches leave a bit to be desired though.

Just got it today, so I am have no idea. I know Digitech in general is good stuff though. Plenty of my friends have other Digitech equipment.

Like I said, I just got it today

I really think that it is one of the best all around processors that you can get for under $1,500. There are a few patches for everyone in this thing so you can get an idea of how it works. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to use it, just a little patience and a copy of the manual. Would I buy it again if it were stolen? Sure, it is a good value, major bang for the buck. Now don't be mislead, this thing is not an Eventide, just a good processor for a good price

Pretty easy to edit patches and change parameters once you understand the operating system. Lots of nob turning, but not much button pressing. The manual licks ass. Some of the not so obvious parameters (and there are lots) require trial and error. There are ten different cabinet emulators, but they all sound almost the same to me, like crap. The manual does not say what so ever what each one is supposed to emulate either (1x12, 2x12, 4x12?). The built in tuner and tapit feature for setting delay times are both useful features.

My setup for recording is a cheap korean iceman w/ duncan humbuckers into a soldano atomic 16 head to a thd hotplate (for silent power tube distortion via the direct out) to a sansamp bass driver di (for speaker emulation) then to the 2120 and finally into the computer.
The preamp section is a joke, so I BYPASS it completely. The distortions all suck, we're talking bad fuzzbox level no matter how much you tweak the eq. The two 12ax7s are a gimmick since there is little difference between distortion generated by preamp tubes and a transistor. My cheap vox is better then the built in wah. On the other hand, the digital effects are all great. The quad delays, octal pitch shifters, and stereo dual reverbs will keep you smiling. The effects are worth the price of the unit alone. I'm very happy with my current setup.

No problems with it at all, but it does not leave the house. I use it strictly for practicing and recording. The included foot controller (great for whammys) seems solidly built.

Never dealt with them.

Despite the fact digitech designed this unit to be a complete guitar system ready for recording (with built in cabinet emulation and preamp section), this is not the case. As the top of the line product for digitech, it has many flaws.

1) There is only one input and it's located in the front.

2) The effects loop is located before the distortion. Too bad if you want your wah after the distortion. Inserting some power tube distortion (via a miked amp or thd hotplate) between the preamp and digital effects where it belongs is not possible.

3) The unit has an overkill maximun ten second delay (anybody who can actually use this let me know), but it can't record a passage for learning licks and solos.

4) No digital out.

5) Most of the effect configurations uses only one sdisc chip. Why am I paying for two chips when the unit wants me to use one most of the time? Some basic configs are also ignored. A chain using both chips in series with each one divided into half modules would seem like a logical setup but it is not available.

On the plus side, the unit is excellent for digital effects. Good for guitar, bass, and even vocals. If the digitech s400 has two sdisc chips (I'm not sure if it does), then it is a better buy because the preamp section of the 2120 is useless.

Extremely easy to use, especially compared to the Digitech floor units. Big, realtime knobs, big illuminated buttons, and huge display that you can read from across the stage. I love how easy it is to assign FX paramters to the Control One.
Of course, in order for it to make sense you will have to understand how the SDISC processor works by dividing the processing time into "slices". For this you will have to consult the manual. As you probably have heard, almost all Digitech manuals are pretty sad. I've used a few Digitech units before so it wasn't too hard for me. You'll simply have to use some trial and error.

All FX are fantastic - particularly the reverbs. I only have two complaints. The first is the Wah. It's no Dunlop Crybaby but it does the job if you're a casual user. Secondly, the whammy effect is digital which means it appears after the preamp/ distortions. This means that when you start pitchshifting the signal, it is pitch shifting the distortion as well. You end up with a pretty rough sounding whammy effect, particularly after shifted up a couple octaves.
All is not lost. There is an external FX loop that will rememdy the wah and whammy issue if you don't mind going out and spending the extra money for the external fx.
Keep in mind that I often do not give 10s. However, if it wasn't for the wah and whammy issue it would be a 10.

No problems yet. It survived FedEx so that has to mean something I guess.

Digitech is usually pretty prompt with any questions via email.

I play many different styles. This unit compliments my newly acquired Parker deluxe. I can cover many different sounds with this combination. With tube, solid state distortion plus cabinet emulators, 31 band EQ, and the ability to add other FX units via the loop, there's just about no ground you cant cover. The noise gate keeps things quiet when you're not playing but this effect is used too heavily in the factory patches (what the heck were they thinking?).
I've been a Digitech fan for some time and have used many of their RP units but was disappointed with the FX limitation of the SDISC (ie. you can't have two "full" effects like smooth whammy and bigverb together) but the 2120 has dual processors so this is much less of an issue. With this issue out of the way, there is so much flexibility with FX routing it's mind boggling! Digital outs would be cool but I hear you can "modify" your unit to do so (what warranty?). My only other request would be a headphone jack but it's really no biggie. Again, the large display and knobs are a dream come true. I wish all my rack gear was the same way.

Extremely non-intuitive. I am still struggling to figure it out. The users manual is hopeless.

Using a Schecter S-Classic and a Godin LGXT with a class A tube amp, a Trace Elliott acoustic, and a Roland KC-300. I must admit the sound quality is very good. I went through a Rocktron voodoo valve, an Intellifex, and a bunch of pedals before I settled on this. I tend to prefer cleaner, glassy tones, with a bit of warmth, and that is very easy to dial up with this. Pristine reverbs, choruses, and flangers. It's also possible to isolate the effects from the pre-amp which is what I did not like about the VooDoo valve. I must complain, however, about the presets with the Noise Gate set to blast your windows out. I did not understand this the first time I happened to try it out, in the middle of the night, and thought, at normal strumming attack, someting is wrong. So I wacked out a power chord and fell back over a chair, damn near dropping my guitar. I watched as lights went on all over the neighborhood, and the next morning, there were nasty notes from my family on the breakfast table. Pub-lease. Who would want to restore such factory presets? Hello Digitech, this is your wake up call. However, in spite of these significant defects, I am keeping the unit. It really does accomplish what I am looking for and could not find with Rocktron.

I would gig with a dependable rack, but it is a little on the fragile looking side, if you ask me. Plus, its fulla tubes.

We shall see. I may have to call about the fusion powered distortion presets. They've got me a little gun shy, now.

Overall, the sound quality supercedes the crappy user interface. I could not ask for more options--with no noise or hum of any kind(could not say that about Rocktron).I figure I'll learn to control the thing with a lot of experimenting--and that is a danger, because instead of playing yer guitar, you end up spinning a bunch of dials, but I will tolerate this process, because the sound is THAT good! I would have like to have been able to afford TC Electronics, but hard to justify that kind of money. The 2120 is quite a value.