DigiTech 2120 VGS Artist

This is the DigiTech 2120 rackmount effects processor. If you don't know it, it's a very versatile little beast. It's a 2-space rackmount with a tube and solid-state preamp and a ridiculously versatile digital effects section. Seriously, check out the manual in the Discontinued Products section of www.digitech.com to see all of its capabilities.

Getting a good sound out of the 2120 is not difficult, but requires some serious time investment. In particular, you'll have to experiment with different preamp/EQ/effects combinations to arrive at exactly the tone you want. If you aren't scared to experiment and technology doesn't befuddle you, then this is one of the better one-stop guitar effects machines around. You can replace every stompbox you own with this, unless you're a ridiculous tone freak, in which case the 2120 will very nicely complement your other effects.

Editing patches is very easy. The whole display is broken down into a flowchart showing the path from input to output, so you know exactly which effect is feeding into what. Editing patches is done by turning various knobs on the front panel which can be a pain sometimes, because one or two of my knobs is a little flaky and sometimes jumps around when changing parameter values. Overall, though, if you know which values change your sound in what way, you should have absolutely no problem getting however much nuance you want in your tone.

The manual is so-so in quality. It explains how to do the basics and gives some valuable diagrams as to how much of an S-DISC each effect takes up. (If you don't understand that, download the manual - it explains the concept well.) It even explains what each parameter in each effect does. Then it patronizes you by telling you when you'd want to use each effect. If I didn't know what a chorus does to my sound and when I should use it, I don't deserve to use this piece of equipment. Other than that minor gripe, the manual gives you a good overall look at the 2120 and provides a useful springboard for your own experimentation, which will be absolutely necessary to make the 2120 achieve its full potential. One thing the manual really drops the ball on is explaining the Assign section of the 2120. This lets you assign different parameters to foot controls on the Control One foot controller. So, for example, you could assign one of the five parameter switches on the Control One to boost the volume and turn on a slapback delay for a juiced-up solo sound. Then, when you press that button again, they would both turn off. This is much faster than switching patches, which incurs a momentary but noticable delay. The manual doesn't even really get into this ridiculously useful utility of the 2120, which I think is a shame. It took me a fair amount of poking around before I discovered that.

Oh yeah, firmware is 2.10. I'm not sure if it's the most recent version, but it does what I need it to.

I play an Ibanez S470 and an Epiphone Les Paul, both stock. (Yeah, I know they're not great, but it's the most this college student can afford for guitars, and they do the job for me.) This unit isn't particularly noisy, especially if you use the noise gate (an average piece of equipment at best).

The digital effects are, by and large, very good. The unit as a whole tends to have a bit too much treble, but that can be balanced out one way or another. The big thing about this unit is: YOU MUST EXPERIMENT. Just taking the stock presets for effects, plugging them in, and expecting to sound like Satch or Vai will result in a very dissatisfied customer. You need to play around with ALL the parameters to make this sound good. I've had my 2120 for over a year, and I'm still discovering new things it can do. If you have the patience, the time, and even a minor amount of technical ability, you can do ANYTHING with this. I mean, it's not a G-Force, but for a third of the price, it comes pretty close. The 2120 allows you to choose the flow of your effects path, so you have control over which effect feeds in to what. So, you can have Chorus -> Delay -> Reverb or Reverb -> Chorus -> Delay if you wanted. The possiblities are limitless.

I've been running it into a Marshall 1x12 combo amp, but that'll change once I can buy a cab, because I just bought a TriAxis and a Simul 2:90. This brings me to my next point - the preamp. Honestly, the tube preamp probably could've satisfied me for another few years. It's a pretty damn good distortion section. You can get some singing highs and crunchy lows with the same settings if you use the tube distortion, and if you back off the gain and/or change distortion modes, you can get a decent bluesy sound too. I never tried changing to better tubes in it, but it probably would've gotten even better. It's not a TriAxis by a long shot, but for an all-in-one package, it's probably the best for your money. The solid-state distortion is very hissy, with a lot of high end noise. If that's the kind of hard/metal sound you're going for, then the 2120 can deliver. Otherwise, stick with the tube section.

Most of the digital effects have enough versatility for anything you could want to do. The 2120 has something in the neighborhood of 35 effects, so it can do pretty much anything. It's got your standard chorus, delay, flanger, modulation, reverb, and even some more far-out stuff like Reverse, Leslie and Sampler. Overall, the 2120 has a somewhat digital sound, so that's something to be very careful of when crafting patches. You can compensate for it pretty well, but it definitely will color your tone. One of the bigger selling points of this thing is that it's a mono in/stereo out system, so you could conceivably connect it to two amps on opposite ends of the stage and get stereo effects. Almost every effect has a stereo version of it (i.e. Reverb, Dual Reverb, Stereo Reverb) which is cool if you have the resources for stereo separation, especially for something like PingPong Delay. Some of the preamp section effects are weak, most notably the wah. It's a piece of crap, even an entry-level Crybaby is ten times better than the built-in wah. In any event, the expression pedal on the Control One foot controller is much better suited for realtime expression and MIDI continuous control signals, which will be explained later. The noise gate can be very heavyhanded, too. I'd probably buy a better noise gate as my next equipment purchase, since this one's sweet spot is real hard to find. It does okay, though, especially if you turn it off for solos and turn it on for silence in between riffs.

One of the neat things of the 2120's preamp section is that is already has an 8-band EQ for each of the distortions (tube and solid-state), so you don't have to take up precious S-DISC space with an EQ effect. If this sounds confusing or overkill, it's only a testament to how much function

I've had this 2120 for about a year and a half now, and it's pretty reliable. Some of the knobs are a little flaky and they're all pretty flimsy, so I'd be real careful about letting something hit the front panel of the 2120. The knobs are plastic, and I could see them shattering or snapping off pretty easily if you're not careful.

I use it without a backup because I don't have enough money for a backup, but it'd probably be good to have. The 2120 occasionally reboots, but only when I'm playing with patches, and it's never done that to me in performance. It also went a little weird on me a few weeks ago when I was integrating it into the TriAxis/Simul rack, and I had to reset the memory. I lost all my patches, but that's the first time that's happened and it hasn't happened since, so it's pretty reliable.

Never dealt with them, so I can't say.

I'm a hard rock/ska player, so the 2120 has the ability to do whatever I need it to. All I need to do is spend some time playing with patches before rehearsal, and I can have any sound I need. I've been playing for 8 years, and this thing was my first real piece of rack equipment (I'd owned stompboxes before that). I don't see that changing for a long time. I'd absolutely get another one if it was stolen, because it's a discontinued product and 2120s are real cheap on eBay. ;) I love the MIDI capability of it, you can control anything you need to with the 2120 in a mid-sized rig. The only thing that really bothers me is that the input gain on the front panel is a pot, not a controllable parameter, so I have to go back to my rack and play with the volume pot a bit if I change guitars. That's a pain in the ass, and they would've been so much smarter to make that an electronic control. Otherwise, I could just have different sets of patches for each guitar and let the software balance between them. The tube distortion section really makes this a great deal, but at some point you're going to want more. That's why I got the TriAxis. The TriAxis/2120 combination is unbeatable for my price range and demands. The only thing I really wish the 2120 had was an input on the back of the unit. The only input is in the front, and so every time I set my rack up, I have to run a 3 foot cable from the back of the rack to the front input on the 2120. A minor gripe, but for aesthetic and practical sakes, a rear input would be a great idea.

This thing will make you sound great, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn its nuances and advanced features. It's like having all the different stompboxes you see at Guitar Center and Sam Ash in one machine, and infinitely more controllable than if you chained five boxes together. Because of that functionality, you get what you pay for. You aren't going to get the best chorus, the best distortion, and the best reverb in one package. But, for a moderately skilled hobby guitar player, the 2120 is a great piece of equipment at a great price.

when i bought this unit i had never had a processer. the 2120 was surprisingly easy to use and has knobs on the front for quick global eqing of all patches for room changes. the manual was pretty easy to understand. it took a while for me to get my tone cause i didn't like the distortions at first but after some time eqing i got it right. very flexable is can get a lot of different tones. patches are easy to edit even for newbees. you can get lost a little at first because everything!! is adjustable from the 15 band distortion eq to learning to attach effects to the volume pedal and move effects on the fly. i bought mine in march 98 version 2.01. i later upgraded to version 2.10.

awesome!!!!my set up is an ibanez 2027v violin. killer axe!! 7 string with piezo pickup, tone zone 7 (bridge), air norton 7 (neck). vgs2120,aphex parmertic eq, bbe sonic maximizer,pevey classic 120/120,and a randall 4-12 with jags. i play progressive math/death metal. meshugga,opeth,tool. the cleans are pretty good out of the box but the distortion needed help. i switched to goove tubes found a distortion patch that was close and started tweeking. boy did i find it! killer ripping clear tone. that dream theater tone with no boogie. thats also cause i use some toys to help out. (parametric eq,bbe,and a good sterio poweramp)....and get a bad horse if you want wah. the effects are good and very flexable. the pitch bending (whammy)is a little slow(if you use that sort of thing)but the harmonies are tight. synths are good, verb is bad ass,all fully programable. endless possibilites all seamless!!! please use all tube power amp!! the only solid state amp that can do it is the ampeg vh 140-c it sounds good but plug it into the back. using the ampeg preamp will sound pretty bad

yes!!!!! i've been giging for years and once the fuse blew. i just popped a new one in and it was fine. one time it took a head first dive off my amp at a show and it did stop working.(my life passed before my eyes) nothing broke later i found out that the input jack had bent so it wasn't making contact. i repaired it and its still kicking. i'm surprised it works.. that was an ugly fall

good! nothing to complain about...i asked if they had an upgrade and they sent me it for free... 1 easy to install microchip

this thing is sick! i can go from clean to distortion with a the volume pedal, all effects fading out while distortion is slowly being applyed. it a live studio trick. everthing is seamless (effects overlap the switch) so theres no pause. i've had it for years and still don't use it's true potental. if it got ripped off i would be pissed! lol.. it's damn fun to play. you could get lost in one tone and write a whole song! its so flexable you can do alot with it. one thing i hate is only one of the dual procressors can be assigned to the tubes at a time. so to have the killer tone you need the tubes for distortion, so when you morph back to clean your not using the tubes. which isn't so bad cause you can switch to your main clean with tubes. morphing is killer sounding cause of the crossfade between the processors. if it had 2 12ax7s for each procressor it would be a better product. its not quite the best but unbeatable for the price. as i said before this was my first and only processor. i've always been analog.i think digital will only work with tubes tubes tubes. this is perfect for me. i can't afford john petrucci's rig!!

Ive dealt with a TON of multi effects processors in my day, old and new. This isn't hard to edit, or get started. The factory presets are next to worthless however, so reading the manual has its benefits. The knobs are convenient, but mine seemd to malfunction slightly, make it very frustrating to add values to certain parameters.

At the time, i used a Jackson RR1 with an EMG. Got sick of looking like a metal freak and got a decent Ibanez, and added an EMG-81. I ran that into the 2120, into a Mesa Boogie 2:90, into either a Marshall JCM 900, or my Mesa Boogie Recto Cab, both have vintage 30's. To get a decent sound, you REALLY have to tweak. I was never a fan of Digitech multi processors, the distortions were always lousy (the Grundge? gimme a break). The so called Tube distortion waws a step up, but with 2 tubes....i had a feeling they were installed for the looks, as it still wasnt a straight up analog distortion. The effects were usable....kept best using a clean sound. The wah was ridiculous. I dont know if the fellas at Digitech have heard a wah, or steped on one, but thats not it. The Whammy was the most disappointing. I owned the Digitech Whammy II years back and loved it. I dont think the proccessor speed can really handle its work load, as there was a noticable signal delay when using this effect. The pedalboard i got with it, the control one, had its plus' and minus'. I like how its set up, but the CC pedal was lousy. Sometimes it didnt pick up every movement....i was told it uses light sensory....Another thing i HATED...I upgraded to the Mesa Boogie tri axis, and the pedal board, which retails for about $250 alone, is NOT a midi controller, only to be used with the digitech, which made it worthless to use with the tri axis.

Back to the effects/distortions/sound quality. For the money they want, its really not worth it. I dont rate this as a high end proffesional multi effects, and after this, ive learned to go back to stomp boxes. I have been buyin em up, running them into a GCX switcher, controlling with a Ground Control, and couldnt be happier. I like this unit a LOT more than the Line 6 products however. I like this unit a LOT more than the Line 6 products however. I give this a low score because i still do not see mutli effects processors as the way to go, and this one isnt changing my mind.

The knobs were shakey, the controller's switches would sometimes not work, snap off, and like I mentioned, the CC needs some work. It never shut down on me, but i only gigged it a few times before giving it the boot.

Never dealt with them, ive heard good things about them though. I imagine they have their work cut out for them, ive heard nothing but bad things about thier lousy products.

I like to play a bit of everything, i play in a couple metal/hardcore bands. It did all it could for me, i wasnt all together happy with it. If it were lost or stolen, id find the person and demand full payment, and buy something worthwhile. I did love how easy it was to use....but i get the same thing out of my new set up, with better tone and effects. Like i said, i have compared it to all the Line 6 products....the only thing i like about them is their delay modulator....they need some work on thier amp modeling, computers dont sound like a tube amp. Digitech has them beat. I wish it had 6 distortion tubes, and some better tone. It did help me write some interesting stuff, with all the wierd effects and stuff, kept those ideas for my new set up, and they are doing a lot better these days.

In my experience, if you have that much money to spend on the 2120....look into the ground control system on Ebay, along with a Boss Delay, their Phase Shifter is a fun one, a Crybaby Wah, and any other effects you wish to add...

1. i think its easy to use and get unbelivable sounds
editing patches are easy
the manual gets to the point
this unit has not been upgraded
from what i've read, its not worth it to me
like i said, the unit was very logocal for me
people complained its difficult to use
i don't think so. you have a bunch of effects chained together
you can pick 1 of 24 effect configurations
i think the tuff part is just tweaking, with all the parameters.
but, hey thats wuts fun !

i've had many effect unit, i mean many many to infinity and beyond !
then i got this unit, man o man wut a difference.
one of the main things that impresses me about this unit is how quiet it is. The tube overdrives you get are very very impressive.
i would say, how quiet and the tube OD are the key seller on this unit, besides all the paramaters you can adjust on all effects.
The EQ's for the solid state channel and the EQ for the Tube OD channel is also impressive, and provide any tone desired.
i use a fender hot rod 4-10 with the unit
i'm currently trying to achieve the david gilmore tone
of coarse, i've been trying this for years

no problems
yes, i wood gig with the unit

they seem to be pretty good
i called on a upgrade kit, $20
they got right back with me

i like the unit very much
it sounds very good and provides many tones
the stock sounds that come with it are not that great
i think they're meant as a starting point for tweaking
so, if your looking for a very quiet, great tube tone unit with many effect options, then this is a great choice !!!!

takes a while to figure out, but you begin to find your way around.

very versatile. ive been trying to nail a good pantera tone forever. the clean and the crunch. it took a while, but i got it dead on. i use a washburn dime 3 and a 60's strat with fralin blues specials. works great for metal or blues. i run the 2120 through a furman pq-4 parametric eq, then an aphex 104 aural exciter, to a rocktron guitar silencer. i didnt like the way the built in noise gate clipped alot of the harmonics and i couldnt do any fine adjustments. problem solved with the rocktron. with a little tweaking you can get virtually any sound. but i wouldnt have the low end or screaming harmonics without the aural exciter. 10 times better than when i used the 2120 alone. i also changed the tubes to jan phillips. made a big difference in warmth from the groove tubes. perfect setup, wouldnt change shit.

it crashed once while editing a patch and i had to do a system restore and reprogram the patches. write down the parameters just in case!! now its working fine again.

i play metal and a little blues. with the way the whole rack is set up now i wouldnt change a thing. its made shitty peavey/crate amps sound badass! its worked excellent for blues through a '73 fender champ, and excellent for metal pantera tones. ive been using a crap peavey half stack and im amazed with the sound, but just bought a marshall dsl 50. with a good set of pickups and the eq, exciter, and noise gate i can get any sound out there, and it always sounds great. i would recommend this setup to anybody looking to add great versatility to the 2120. ive been playing off and on for about 8 years and really seriously for the past year and a half. i dont think ill be changing anything with my preamp for a long time. before the additions to the 2120 i would give it a 5. but now a definate 9.

It passed my "Plug and Play" test with flying colors. however, it takes a long time to find a good sound. i don't mind that at all, as that's the trade-off for incredible versatility.

first i must make something VERY clear. DO NOT USE THIS UNIT AS A PREAMP INTO AN AMP. you must use a dedicated poweramp or else shit will result.

i am using it with a TubeWorks ProValve stereo tube poweramp (with 4 6L6's) and a 4x12 cab. at first it sounded overly clean, overly eq'd, and not very dynamic. after fiddling, this preamp turns into a gain-spitting monster with the most versatile EQ i have ever seen in a preamp. of course, i am talking about the tube distortion. the solid state section i have found to be worthless. clean, the preamp can be very warm and tubey, or light and twangy. i have found a perfect dark jazz tone, and on a RG 7620 no less!

the effects are so numerous and feature-laden that i don't think i could find a use for them all. the reverb is particularly good, especially for a subtle stereo ambient reverb. also good is the delay and chorus, which range from subtle thickening to Edge-style washes of atmosphere.

i can hear the "digital" sound, and boy do i love it. even under heavy distortion, the notes retain crispness. my power amp seems to make everything a little bouncy too.

It has gone out on me a couple times when i was practicing, but never in public. i think the tubes may be going. otherwise, the 2120, combined with the power amp, are as hot as a blast furnace. i really think i am going to need a fan soon.

i e-mailed digitech, after they discontinued the 2120, and told them i needed the new firmware revision. the sent it out to me free of charge, within 3 days.

I play mostly very dark thrash and death metal like Nevermore, Opeth, and Soilwork. the 2120 is actually classic death metal gear, mostly because of the stunning precision it has, as well as the great effects. the unit is great for me, as it is very versatile, from metal to jazz to classic rock.

I am VERY happy with it, but i am still keeping my ears open for perhaps a tube preamp. if i get the money, i will audition the mesa triaxis or the VHT valvulator GP3. but i am so content, the thought of spending that much for only a marginal improvement is distasteful.

to sum up: "A 2120? for 300? sold!"

Hello all, I've owned the Digitech 2120 for over a year now and figured it was time to submit my two cents.

Ease of use... hmmm, well let's just say there is a steep learning curve with this unit. You might find yourself quite frustrated for a while until you get a handle of all the options. I would say I have experienced "option-overload" on many occasions (sometimes you just want to plug and play.) Of course, once you grasp all the options, it's pretty mubh a no-brainer. But, I'm not kidding. Be prepared to spend time on this thing (it's not the interface, it's just the tons of options it offers.)

If you don't like to program patches, this may not be for you.

By the way, the manual offers very little insight. I've read it several times and ultimately had to learn on my own.

The more I use the 2120, the more I appreciate the sound. It is basically split into two sections, the preamp and the effects. I love the effects. Great reverb (use it in stereo!), delay, etc. You will find lot's of pleasure here. There is no shortage of quality. The only ones I have been really disappointed in are the auto wah and envelope filter. But overall, Digitech gives you tremendous control over the quality effects. I also like being able to program the control-one foot pedal, turning effects on and off at will.

The preamp side is what shapes your tone and is what I consider the hard part. Let me begin with some background information (forgive me if I sound preachy.)

First, if you are recording direct with the 2120, it sounds fantastic. You can easily manipulate the tone and it will sound great. I would venture a bet that digitech created the unit in a studio, making it optimal for direct recording. Run it stereo, you'll be happy. (note - the 2120 offers an amp simulater which is supposed to shape the overall sound for direct recording. To my ears, it's nothing more than a low-pass filter of some kind. But it does help.)

Now, playing through your amp is an entire different story. Get to know your amp first. I recommend running your guitar directly into your amp and set the tone (duh!). I mention this because before you spend hours programming the 2120 (and you will), you have to be confident in your amp settings. Ultimately, your amp is going change the tone of your signal. Therefore, spend days getting to know the nuances of your amp and guitar! Then, once you are totally satisfied with your amp settings, you can add your 2120 in the chain and begin the process of finding your tone again! You will notice a change is sound immediately. Frankly, getting back to the natural sound of your guitar/amp is not easy, even if you bypass the 2120. Because it is a preamp, it changes the tone of your guitar and you must go through the process of building your sound.

The overdrive and distortion on the 2120 give you a wide spectrum of tone and sound quite good. However, they go hand and hand with the EQ. That means, you will be spending a lot of time adjusting the EQ settings to get that tone you like. (Some have recommended changing the tubes in the 2120 for better tone, something I am considering doing.) It has take me a while to get comfortable with the distortion/eq options but I am finally enjoying the fruits of my labor. You might find the overdrive/distortion a little dis-tasteful at first, but keep in mind that you must program the EQ. I have come to really enjoy the sound of the preamp.

Following the distortion/EQ settings, the 2120 has a solid noise gate that comes quite handy for controling noise and buzz. You'll like this.

Remember, the 2120 is basically a digital unit. The sound can have that plinky digital quality to it if you're not carefull. But you can work through it with eq settings, etc.

Final thought - One reason I bought the 2120 was so I could change patches without a drop-out in sound. This a little deceiving on digitech's end. Basically, the way it works is that the effects from the first patch will hold-over (overlap) with the next patch. For some patch changes it works great. Others, not so great. There is still a little delay time in the change... but maybe I'm being unreasonable.

I bought the 2120 used and I did have problems with reliability. What I discovered was that the foot-controller was broken (thanks dude!), which was causing the system to crash! It was ugly for a while. I had to buy a new foot-controler and it has been very reliable ever since. I also replaced the battery inside the 2120 (bought from radio shack) while it it was down.

There is a person on the internet who offers a great free software download for backing up your patches onto your computer. This person is a God-send. He deserves to be given lots and lots of money. I highly recommend this download. (note - when backing up your patches to a computer, unplug all of your cords from 2120 except your midi cables.)

I've called digitech like three times. They were very helpful. No issues here. But keep in mind they no longer make the 2120 (as far as I know)... therefore, they may not offer much support for it in the future.

Overall, I love the unit. It lives up to its billing. The price is reasonable and you have a ton of effects, features, and options. Just keep in mind you will be spending a lot of time programming with this one. You have to work for your sound. It will take time. Are you on the fence? Go ahead and buy it. You'll like it, with time.

This one is hard to master. I haven't been playing for long but I do have some sound engineering knowledge and I kinda know what I'm doing. The rpedit is a great help but you must consider the fact that once you program an effect it won't sound the same if you run it directly into the soundcard (way too bright) or into another amp that isn't yours (it totally changes your sound. The manual is great explaining what effects do and how they work, but they don't seem to give you precise examples of what each one of them would do ( not that I needed them to tell me). definitively not a begginer's choice

I use an ibanez rg 7620 thru the 2120 straight to a peavey studio pro 112 combo amp. I've managed to get my rig going and I've kinda reached the sound I was looking for , but now I'm playing on a cover band and the band guys say I'm too much of a metal head. no can do I've been listening to metal all my life and that's the way it's going to sound. we play everything from dream theater to venezuelan rock bands covers. it sounds awesome on the clean tones and the time based effects are unbelievable, but just don't get me started about the distortions. I had been thinking of getting new tubes and see what that would do for my sound, but it's not going to happen anymore, I'm going for the tech21 psa-1, a bbe sonic maximizer and a boss ns-2 noise suppresor ( the noise gate on this unit sucks big time, either it cuts your notes or the feedback will kill you and believe me I've tried every setting you could possibly imagine, specially if you turn on the wah). For a cover band is great, not much to tweak if you really know the sound you're looking for.

I've had it for six months, the screen didn't light up at first, so I opened it and I connected since the plug was loose (if this ever happens to you don't panic, just open the unit find the cable and find the four pinned connector that will be it). So far I've had no problems other than with the tubes I would be replacing if I wasn't going for the psa-1. I live in caracas venezuela and it's not easy to find the tubes or the psa, so I guess ebay it is again!!!

Never dealt with them, and for what I've heard not easy to do it either, specially when you're in a third world country that sucks big time.

like I've said we play everything and our list keeps growing, we play many covers from bands from Venezuela, but we also play stuff like ozzy, papa roach, system of a down, faith no more, alice in chains and most of the time I've gotte the sound I wanted, but you need to work very hard to figure that one out

This is a RE-Review. I have had the unit for over a year now, and have just bought a VHT 50ST amplifier. I was expecting to get rid of the 2120 thinking that the VHT would blow it away. It didn't. What it did do was make the 2120 sound better than I could have emagined. On to the review:

If you don't know effects and how they work, this unit can be overwhealming. I am an EE and use the computer with the RPEdit program. This makes it easy enough that anyone familiar with the various settings of various effects can easily achieve their sound. The unit can be changed real time, so you can hear the tone change as you click on your computer to change settings until you get it JUST RIGHT.

Out of the box the patches are pretty lame. I found about 4 or 5 out of over 100 that I wanted to keep and modify. I have downloaded several others that I have tweaked and now use. I have a total of around 15 that I actually use in any given night.

The manual is adequate if only barely. The front panel controlls are passible, but I never use them since I have the RPEdit to edit the patches with.

This unit has revision 2.1 firmware which was something I was looking for on e-bay when I bought it.

The control1 foot controller is fine. The unit has the ability to send a MIDI patch change to other devices if you want to syncronize your patch changes with a single controller. This is very useful if you have many effects.

The LCD on both the foot controller and the unit are easily viewable in direct sunlight which is a plus if you are giging outside :)

The bottom line is it isn't a beginners toy.... but at the price these go for, I doubt many beginners will own them. It is a professional product.

This is the reason for the re-review. I have just purchased a VHT 50ST head and have both a 2x12 and 4x12 bottom to play with. I had honestly thought I would get rid of this unit when my VHT came in. VHT is after all a renouned boutique amplifier. Why would anyone use effects with it?

My setup:
Fender American Strat(s). 1 with Lindy Fralin pickups, the other with Kinman pickups. VHT 50ST amplifier. Sennheiser 421d microphone. PA with 2 way crossover into Cerwin Vega folded horn subs and Klipsch FOH speakers through a QSC 2400 stereo amplifier and a QSC 3000 bridge mono for the sub amp.

If you know gear, then you will quickly realize that mine is all top notch. I am serious about tone.

The unit is dead quiet. This was not the case with the VHT drive channel. The VHT was quite quiet compared to many other high gain amps, but not the dead silence of the 2120. The noise gate is set too high out of the box on all the patches. Adjust it when you get it.

The WAH sucks. Don't use it. (My lead player has a Dunlop 535Q which is very nice). Everything else is above average to outstanding. It doesn't have the reverb of a Lexicon PCM91, but then it doesn't cost $3000.00 either. What it does have is every effect you will ever need in any combination you choose to use them in.

I won't say that the 2120 blows away high gain amplifiers, but it can do what they do so well that the difference being good or bad would be up to the listners taste.

I have been playing through a Fender HRD for the last 3 years. The 2120 sounded great with only that little amp; however, there was an entier world of tone I was missing.

The VHT amp has SOOOOOO much tight bottom end that the 2120 has come alive. I played at volume with my PA and rig until my head and fingers hurt. The tone is to die for. The HRD had been eating up the bottom and distorting some of the tone of the 2120. I am inclined to believe that the quality of the tone you get out of the 2120 is limited by the quality of the amp you put it into. I knew that other guitar players had better tone than me, but had assumed it was mostly that I was using an effects processor for leads and rythm crunch. WRONG. I would stand behind the 2120 for tone over ANY amp I have ever heard. It is incredible.

It has been very solid. I have giged it for a year. I have been in the blistering heat, the smoke filled bars, and even a thunder storm. I had to wipe the mud off of the control 1, but that is the only upkeep I have had to do.

Never had to call them on this unit. I have e-mailed them on other products and received good e-mail support.

I play in a cover band. I have done songs from Godsmack, SRV, STP, Nickelback, Grand Funk RR (LOL), and even Air Supply (if you can remember them). I find a multi-effects pedal is an absolute necessity to get all the tones in all the songs I play. I love the solo boost feature in particular. If you play covers and need a multi-effects unit, this one can match any tone you care to get.

I have been playing for around 30 years now. I am not a novice. The other gear I own is listed above. I play side by side with a Carvin Legacy head and 4x12 cab. The 2120 doesn't miss a beat.

If it were lost or stolen, or distroyed by the next thunderstorm (We had just done a request for "House of the Rising Sun" and God was listening .... he didn't approve evidentally), I would buy another one. If that one got lost, I would buy another. I have yet to hear its equal. I will never sell it as I am of the opinion that high end gear such as the 2120 is falling out of favor in the market and is being replaced by digital modeling without tubes. No thank you. I will keep my 2120.

If you are in the market for one of these and were wondering if it was worth the money, don't worry. You have found the holy grail of tone. If you already have one and are getting hammered by a better rig, it isn't your 2120, it is something else. Get a better amp/cab/microphone to use with it.

Oh, if you are still using the stock Sovtek 12AX7WA/WB's that come standard in this unit FOR GOD'S SAKE REPLACE THEM. If you can afford a pair of Mullards I suspect this would be the best. The JAN Phillips tubes can be had for $30.00 for the pair at www.thetubestore.com as well as other places. They really make a world of difference in the drive and tone of the heavy patches.

Lets face it. Even used, this unit is 2 times as expensive as most effects pedals on the market today (including Digitech's other offerings). It is what it is. The best guitar effects pedal money can buy (I haven't tried TC Electroncs high end stuff though). You won't touch the tone of the 2120 with 2 effects that cost $300.00, so $600.00 is a bargin.

If you have questions e-mail me. I would be happy to answer your questions.

When you first plug in dont expect too much from the presets cause they all (almost) suck like a Hoover.I used an Ibanez RG470 W/pgm pu's, a Kramer neck thru w/EMG's.Like I said the preset sound pretty much stink, I finally spent a whole night just messing with it to get a sound that wasnt too dark/bright or over processed w/ effects. But the EVH 78' preset ROCKS as well as the panning dano-wak and the naked power tones. When it comesto effect this thing is all world class but be carful not to over do it because a little goes a long way here. Also has true STEREO outputs which can be rare as well as wonderful because it really lets you FEEL the sound and the effects.
It has (2)12ax7's as well as a seperate solid state preamp path which can be used at the same time or seperate.several EQ's and a noisegate (which I hated because right as you started to develope a beautiful wall of spleen tingling feedback it shuts you down to total quiet mode. I geuss I dont know what a "thresh-hold" is, but I alway turned it off. Sooooo much stuff. The only thing that I HATED was that if your at a live gig and you crank your stuff and find out that you rythem is louder than your lead than you gotta go back and tweak it all again and screw with all the digital storing and function trash!!
OH YEH one more thing that burns my bootom is that the friggin foot controller is too big with too many switches that Ill never use and it costs $300. If they made a 5 or 6 function controller for it, that would rock. It also has all that digital MIDI stuff that I dont understand. I like to plug in and play. A 7 due to the hassle but it sounds sooooo good

I think that this pre amp was made in early 98',cause thats when they stopped making them.It DEFINITLY LOOKS KILLER due to the all aluminum chassis and bright green lighted display LED screen, yes this thing is sure to intimidate the other bands when playing at the gig .....even before you start to play!! The styles of music that I play vary from Death/thrash-metal to brown and blusey rock to light contemporary christian worship. Even though I play such a wide variety of music styles this amp had no prob keeping up with me at all times and all genres. With 100 factory presets and 141 user re-writable preset along with just about any effect you could think of this amp has more than enough versatility for ANY playing situation.
A definite "10" for features.

Its all digital and that stuff dont last real long, but I only had it for three weeks due to the fact that I couldnt afford the controller and NEEDED channel switching so I traded it. Ill say no opinion ...but maybe a 7?

N/A

I been playing five, years which seems like nothing compared to a guitar veteran that has 20-30 years under their strap,but I know GOOD TONE when I have it(the perfect tone still eludes me). More than enough features and effects. good sound. overall