DigiTech 2120 VGS Artist

So much easier to use then then the digitech 2101. Pretty easy. If you take 45 mins to read the instructions and 45 mins to dink around with controls, youll be set for the rest of your life with this thing! Digitech made it alot easier to EQ and change the gain on the fly incase you want to tweak some tone.

Lot better then any other multi effects proccesor i've used. I play with a gibson paul and SG thru a rack into a Sovtek mig-100 tube and a marshall 4X12. I used the BOSS GT-3 for over a year and i liked it and got used to it. As soon as i got the 2120, i noticed the Boss effects 'colored' the tone unlike the digitech. The digitech digital effects is very close to stomp pedals... which i love! I would get stomp pedals but i hate carrying a huge board and have multiple pedals for different effects. As far as the distortion...I LOVE IT! it took me a month to tweek with it but FINALLY i found the perfect distortion i was looking for. The Digitech has two Tubes which allows you to run real tube distortion which sounds amazing! i almost cryed when i dialed it in. Perfect crunch, sustain...man...it also has solidsate distortion if your into that sort of thing.

If you need a great rack multi-effects processor, this is your guy. If you can find one of course.I play emo/indie/experemtal and it suit me well. It has everything you need to play the nessecities an also some experemental stuff. Let me tell you tho...the pre-sets BLOW! they suck hard. You will have to find all the right tone yourself. Once you find tones you like, you will be in love. Dual S-disc proccesing allows fast switches between banks which is key as well. One thing i wish it had tho was a input in the back...but thats not a huge deal. Good luck to all those that can find one!

This kind of toys are not easy to use. You have a lot of places to visit and you have to take lots of important decisions. Naming a patch "Creamy lead" is a whole different philosofy than naming it "Solo - 3rd tune". You really have to put yourself into learning to use this thing. But I think that once you spend a couple of days with the manual, everything comes pretty easy.

I play modern jazz. Basically clean, clean sounds; I like to focus on the music on not get hooked with the classic "nerd with tons of equipment that has a great sound but plays shit". Both things are important, but sound is just a way to say something. The important thing, at least to me, is what you are saying.
Gibson 335 or Gibson SG -> (Several effects) -> 2120 -> Fender Twin Reverb (reissue (no effect loop)).
The 2120 has a lot of fantastic sounds, and none of them are listenable in the factory patches. Specially if your not into heavy stuff. You must really take your time exploring, playing with EQ and thinking "how can I tell this thing the sound I have in my head...?".
Digital effects are incredible; try them in stereo. The preamp is just good, but nothing other-worldly. If you really want to use the preamp, dont even think about not using your effect loop.

Its good for recording direct. But when I record direct is because I'm trying to find a different sound that the one I get with my amp. If you want to hear an amp, look for an amp. All emulations are just that: emulations.

Changing the stock tubes is an excellent idea.

The knobs are not at all well made. They feel loose right out from the box. Like all this kind of equipment, extra care is needed. Also, its basically a computer, and not an old Ford that you can open the hood and fix everything with your hands. I always keep my old pedals around.

Great, great, great thing for clean sounds. Used in stereo its incredible. Once you understand the lousy and incomplete manual, you can make patches without using your mind.

I truly dont recommend getting used to your computer for programming; the idea is being able to be in a jam and change things on the fly. And the RPEdit does not have all the parameters you can find when you edit patches directly.

After a few months of daily "sound searching", you can get a ridiculous amount of great sounds from it; but dont get lost in there, the real things are out theeeeere.

Getting a good sound from the 2120 is not a 5 minute affair! Don't get me wrong it has some totally awesome sounds in there you just have to play around a bit to find them, which can be difficult has you cant really get the volume at home to do it and when rehearsing no one like you messing around. But I have built up some great sounding pre amp modules that I use as a basis all my sounds.

The foot controller is great you can put any parameter on to a footswitch or the continuous controller. One of my favourites is to set the tube gain onto the controller and also the level but set it so that the volume decreases as the gain rises, you can move from a clean sound to full on overdrive just by rocking the footswitch!

You can even set parameters to change depending on how hard you hit the guitar I have done this with the gain and volume again so that when I play gently I get a great clean sound, but as I play harder the 2120 cranks up the gain into overdrive awesome!!! I even have it rolling the chorus effect off as the overdrive comes in. All from the level of my playing.!

Anyone who tells you these units don't sound great is talking rubbish! You can get almost any sound you want out of the preamp. I switch all the effects, gate and compressors out so that I am just left with the tube preamp and eq module then I spend time getting a great flat tone from the pre amp. I have been using a Marshall DSL for a few years and can easily get just as good sounds from my 2120. In fact I just run the output of the 2120 straight into the effects return of the Marshall so I can use its valve power amp!

The digital effects are awesome... takes a bit of understanding to figure out which ones you can use together full s disc half s disc quarter etc... but once you have figured that out thee effects available are awesome... the chorus flange and phase are brilliant again you need an understanding of how to set these effects up as you would with anyone! in fact every effect is great even the harmoniser! with a bit of fiddling you can get a 12 string sound using the pitch shifter! cant recommended this unit highly enough!

Been using and heavily gigging with Digitech gear since 1990 never had a problem with it even when drop or trodden on!

I recently upgraded my old GSP 21 Pro to legend spec with a chip from the Digitech factor, I emailed them asking if it was still available , they promptly replied said yes they had one chip left. I gave them my address and it arrived a few days later complete with fitting instructions and new user manual, and guess what... no charge! it doesn't get any better than that!!!! these guys are great!

I play in both a function band and an original material band. With the original material, the digitech stays at home, its just me my Marshall, rickenbacker and lead... but for functions the Digitech is invaluable I have different sounds and setups for every song sometimes 3 or 4 sounds per song! Couldn't be without it!

Initial use is bonehead simple -- you plug it into your amp or power amp of choice, spin the wheel to pick a sound, and rock. Unfortunately, the stock patches ALL SUCK. Horribly. Too much noise gate, too overboard on the effects. If the 120+ factory presets, I would say that about ten of them are usable in a live situation. Learning to edit patches, if you've never used one of this family of Digitech units, is a little slow at first, but once you get the hang of it (a few days in my case) you can fly. The manual is pretty good.

I use this with a Peavey Classic 120 (not the 120/120), into a Marshall 2x12. My main guitar is a 1999 Les Paul Custom loaded with Seymour Duncans (Custom 5 bridge, Pearly Gates neck). This unit really does sound great. The distortions get a bad rap from some people, but I've found the tube distortions in particular to be quite good. Put it this way -- before this rig, my last two amps were a Mesa Dual Rectifier and a Mesa Mark IV, and I don't particularly miss either of them. It did take a while to get them sounding good, but the good sounds are there. As far as the effects go, the delays and reverbs are excellent, especially for the price of the unit. The choruses, flangers, and phasers are also very good. The Leslie simulator doesn't sound anything like a real rotary speaker, but it's a nice subtle effect as well. The wah is laughably bad, and the pitch shifter and harmony patches are bad as well. All in all, this unit does a lot of things well, and it gives you incredible control over every little detail.

I can and do gig without a backup. The knobs aren't very confidence inspiring, but the unit itself has been bulletproof.

I downloaded a manual from their website. I've never had to contact them -- I live 5 miles from their factory, though. Cool, huh?

I love this thing. It gives me the versatility I need, in a compact, easy to use package. I can and do play virtually any style of music on my current rig, and I don't have to tote a fleet of amps or a pedalboard the size of an aircraft carrier to do so.

It's very easy to manage this unit. Just read the manual.

I have a Ibanez RG with V1 S1 V2 pickups, Marshall MG100HDFX Head, 2 Straight 1960 Marshall Cabinets. This thing is really quiet, the noise gates are great if you learn how to teak it. Clean Sounds are amazing. The dirty sounds are good but you need some hours, days or weeks to get a desired one. I play Satriani, Dream Theater, Metal. Dream Theater Sound was very difficult to get, maybe you can get that sound if you buy a triaxis, boogie and some Lexicon PCM 80 with a price of $ 6000 or more. I think this unit is great for Metal, Hard Rock, Jazz. The wah is really bad, buy a Cry Baby 535 Q. The Whammy is good. The best thing of this unit is the configurations of effects you can use. You can have a tube dist paralel with a Solid Sate Dist, or maybe you can bypass both and put the Fx loop with your favorite amp or preamp, then in the digital section you can combine up to 8 digital effects (you can get really weird cool new sounds). The foot controller is really great yo can control-activate/deactivate every effect parameter. You can also add and buy 2 more expression pedals to obtain more control. (example: you can put a volume control pedal, a whammy pedal and change delay time with another pedal ). You can also program a footswitch with solo boost (from now on your solos would always be heared).
Remember you can have a really good State of the art equipment or some pedals and Multi effecs processors but the most important is how you play guitar. Joe Satriani get his distorted sounds from a Boss Distortion Pedal. http://www.guitargeek.com

I haven't had any problem with the unit.
I have a furman PL PLUS to protect it against hi voltages and noise.

Never need in any of my digitech products.

I would definitely buy it again. This units work greater if you combine it with other stuff like other preamps, BBE Maximizers.

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

The manual seems easy when you read it, but when you go to put what you think you understood into practice it doesn't happen. Stick with it! At first you think how can something so easy I want to do be so difficult? Then once you've mastered it you think how didn't I understand something that's so easy! I have read some user comments about setting patch levels. Hey this is so simple my pet cat Liddy does it for me now. All of the factory patches are set at to 100% so high gain patches are louder. Just set this type of patch to 50% then adjust the others to equalize the output volume. How? Press the levels button ( Doh! ) turn the 4 knob to set the output % then compare your patches and adjust till you get it right. If you want to get a good understanding of whats going on, download a copy of RPEdit by that wonderful fellow bruce james, from harmony central (software section) and all will be revealed. If there is a bad reveiw on the 2120 then it's because the user is too lazy to spend the time getting to know the product. It didn't take you five minutes to become a great guitarist why should you think it will take you five minutes to get a great sound. This unit is not as easy to program as a standard floor effects unit but that's because it has so much more to offer. So make the effort, the rewards are worth it.

I have 2 USA Custom Jackson SL2H's Yellow Bengal/Red Ghostflame (alright stop drewling) a Gibson Les Paul Standard and an Ibanez JS1. I use the 2120 through a Marshall EL34 50/50 Stereo power amp into a Marshall 1960A 4x12. The sound is just amazing. The effects are fantastic and you have so many. There are just endless possibilities if you spend the time. The noise gate is a bit strange. I tried out the Satch 3 patch in my front room at low volume and the noise gate kept cutting in not allowing them fantastic feedback harmonics or sustained notes to ring out. I thought this patch is shit! Then I tried it at a gig at a loud volume and thought I'd gone to heaven, It's enough to give you a woody! So be patient,spend time and you can achieve any sound you want. Iv'e got to give this product a 10 because any lower would mean that I am incapable of programming the unit because it is so comprehensive any sound is achievable with effort.

I have only had the unit for a couple of weeks. I have reprogrammed, renamed, tweaked and have had no problems. Hey and I have firmware version 2.02. I have kept my Zoom GFX8 floor effects unit as standby but have not taken this to a gig yet. I feel very confident with the reliability of the unit. I may submit another review in a couple of months once Iv'e had more experience.

Well, this is where Digitech excell. As mentioned above I have at present firmware 2.02. I e mailed digitech on a Saturday from the UK to ask about a UK firmware upgrade supplier. On Monday they emailed me back with the information. On Tuesday I rang the distributer and they sent out the upgrade free of charge on that day. I sent a further email to there technical department requesting information on the best pre amp valves for the unit as many user comments recommended these to be changed. The following day I received an informative helpful reply. Living in the UK I have never experienced customer service of this standard. You just have to log onto their website and go to the "contact us" section. You can guarantee a prompt reply (In my experience).

I play in a rock covers band. We do everthing from U2, Bryan Adams,
Thin Lizzy, Def Leppard, Metallica and so on. This requires some great crunch rythm sounds, screaming leads and clean chorus sounds. This unit does it all. Iv'e been playing now for some 30 years and have had numerous effects modules over the years from stand alone stomp boxes to good quailty floor effects systems (Boss, Zoom)and this unit is quite frankly the best unit I have ever owned. The features I like about the 2120 in conjuction with the control one foot pedal is the great "solo" setting for boosting a great sound so you can use it for lead (6DB boost) and the built in chromatic tuner which can be veiwed either on the 2120 screen or the foot pedal display and the fact that you can name the banks as well as the patches. So instead of U1 or U2 you can name the bank for instance Bon Jovi then name the patches RS Lead, rythm dirty, rythm chorus etc,
This makes it simple not to get lost changing banks and flaging which patches are in that bank. My only one moan (maybe it's because I haven't sussed it out yet) is high gain/lead patches played at low volume(rehearsing at home) do have a tendency to be cut off by the noise gate too early. Perhaps at this volume I should turn the noisegate off (this is easy to do)This unit is just great if your thinking of getting a 2120 and are not sure, stop thinking, put your hand in your pocket and go out and buy it. Be prepared to spend time understanding what it can do.

Easy to use if you've got tin ears and enjoy the presets (I liked 3 of the 140, but the potential was obvious). Programming is another ballgame, and it's a given that you'll be doing some. Personally, it doesn't scare me as a music technology major, but that's cause anything with a graphical user interface is relatively user-friendly, and I quite enjoy that you have so much control of everything. Tweakers will revel but others might not enjoy themselves so much. In addition, the manual is near-worthless and it's worth your while to upgrade to firmware 2.11.

I use a home-made hot,hot,HOT guitar as well a much warmer, richer, friendlier '78 Ibanez musician. I tend to program banks of patches SPECIFICALLY for each guitar because they are so different and because I am quite literally an obsessive compulsive. I have the 2120 mounted in 3 rack-space case/floorboard with all my analog non-true-bypass stompboxes in the 2120 effects loop (which I program to be footswitchable in each patch), a Fulltone Clyde deluxe wah in front, and the outputs hooked up to an Alesis NanoCompresser, followed by a hum-elimator/impedence shifter (mostly to take care of the analog stompboxes when I have the effects loop switched on), THEN to a small patch-bay built into the floorboard (so that I have patching options for either a studio (stereo) or into my guitar amp (mono)), AND FINALLY into my all-tube combo. *Phew* That describes the more fundamental parts of my setup at any rate, but it changes, evolves, and becomes more complex by the day. And now to the POINT: it can please even the most discerning ear (built-in wah not included), impress your friends, astound audiences, make you the center of attention, and boost your reputation, all with only x-amount of tweaking (x depends on the programmer) and a little performing skill and/or personality on your part.

Firmware below 2.11 has freaked me out a little (intermittent crashes and the like). DO NOT...I repeat...DO NOT use your baby on a burning hot day on a stage above a roaring mosh-pit (or "skank-pit"? as was my case) that is kicking up swelling clouds of dust all over your suit, your wonderful guitar, and your God-awful expensive gear. It's the kind of stress you really don't need in your life and it takes some mad patience and compressed air to clean everything up. Would I gig without a backup?...well, I can just repatch my board in about 2 seconds to use just my stompboxes and not the 2120, but the need hasn't arisen thus far.

They've been good to me...got the upgrade free of charge and shipping within a week of asking for it by email. But I work at a Digitech dealership too, so lets hope that doesn't make them less responsive to the needs of others.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd keep my eyes on the preliminary NAMM show reports to make sure nothing was up-and-coming and THEN I'd buy it again. But I rest assured, the thief would be noticed running away with a hulking floorboard case that strains your back and hardly fits through most doors. Although there's a lot of nice stuff out there, at this point I'm convinced there's nothing quite like the 2120 as far as multi-effect guitar processors are concerned. If you can afford some of the other multi-effects processors out there, for not much more you can have one of these and be better off. Get one.

There are so many ways to tweek your sound on this thing it's insane. It took a little while to understand how to use, but I'm doing OK with it now. It's not as simple as other processors that I have used, such as the Boss GT-5. There are still things that pop up here and there, though. The manual isn't the greatest either. It doesn't clearly explain certain options too well. You have to have a lot of time and pacience. One thing I find hard is programming foot pedal FX: wah, pitch shifter, morphing, etc. I can't figure it out for the life of me and the manual doesn't really help. Getting the various FX to have the same volume is like pulling teeth.

Setup: Dean EVO Phantoms w/EMGs, Samson Wireless, 800 Watt Mackie Power Amp, Marshall 1960A 4 X 12.

One thing for sure it's silent. The noise suppression is great. Not even a little "hum". I love the gate as well. It sounds pretty decent I must say. The preset effects have no use to me, though. There are over 100, but a lot of them sound the same. There's really no variation. You really have to mess with them a bit and create your own effects. Once you create your own effects, you're set. If you're looking for distortion with power to it, you'll be fine. Just have to make your own. The wah doesn't have much of a range to it.

Bought one, brought it home, worked for 5 minutes, died. Brought it back to exchange, the new one has a faulty screen. I guess I can live with it. I would have returned this one if I didn't have to drive another 2 hours each way to exchange it again for something different. The Control One gives me an attitude every once and a while, but it's ok. It turns on so I can't complain too much. I still have a bacup because I'm nervous.

Called for more info on using the foot controller. No answer. Waited for a while before I hung up or was disconnected. Happened several times. Emailed Digitech several times...no response. Poor customer support.

It's good for hard rock music. Like I said you just have to make your on FX. Plus, you should really use active pickups with it. A power amp sounds a lot better too. I feel like I'm going to break the Control One pedal. It seems kind of cheap to me. If it were stolen or lost I would probably buy something else if I had the time to learn a new product and get a good sound out of it. Otherwise I would...knd of reluctantly...get another one of these (if I can find one cheap) because I know the system ok.

I have no problems getting sounds out of this unit, or editing patches. It's painless, especially compared to some other units I've tried.

I just got a firmware upgrade chip, and the manual doesn't include all the newer features, but otherwise, it's pretty good.

I have no issues with the sound quality, and had no problems getting the sounds I wanted. There's more in there than I've been able to play with.

Using a Fender DeVille combo for output stages, on the clean channel.

No major issues in 4 years. I had one minor issue programming a patch, see below.

Why I wrote the review. I had a minor glitch programming a patch on the original 2.01 firmware chip. I wanted a patch to load with a certain effect off, and it kept saving the effect on. So I emailed their customer support guys, who said it was probably fixed in the newer firmware chips, and that they'd send me one.

First chip - lost in the mail... so they sent another
Second chip - bad chip, static problems of something... they sent another

These guys never questioned me, and kept trying until they got me an upgrade that worked, and had extra effects that I didn't even expect.
Very nice to work with people who go to such lengths to make the customer happy.

I love this unit. Chances are, if I think of something to try, I can do it, and quickly. Been playing for 10+ years, I had an earlier digitech unit which is why I chose this one, never had issues with quality - I would certainly replace it.

Only wish: Stereo external effect loop. I use this alongside a Roland synth unit, and i'd love to be able to patch the roland's stereo outputs through the external effect loop so that the synth tones could take advantage of the digital effects too.

It's not that obvious to edit. You need to know how the effects work because there's a lot of parameters to adjust for each effect. I find easy to use. But i recommend to use RPedit to edit patches. It's easier to understand and use. I recommend changing the tube.

Sounds awesome. I had difficulty finding my sound but now.....WOW.
The distortion is what i'm looking for. The effects are great. (hey it's Digitech). I play ibanez and washburn guitars. I play through my 2120, through a marshall 20/20 tube amp (that is the difference in my sound) and through a peavey CAB 4x12 350W RMS. Not noisy when you know how to work with the noise gate. Only down side is the WAh who sounds bad. I will add a BBE to my sound to thicken it and then...
Playing through a tube amp changes everything. The clean is more warm and the distortion is more present.

No problem yet with it. Has bugged a few times (one time when i was on stage) but was due to my midi plug where the control one floorboard was connected. (due to connect and de-connect, re-connect)
Just reset the software and youre good to go. That's why you need a backup writen of your preset or saved on your computer with RPedit if something bad appens.

Dealt with them once and had a fast response.

It's a great unit. Also if you don't have the money to equip your guitar gear with mesa, or you want to put your money in your sound reinforcement gear like i did, i recommend it. To0 bad everybody is going in sound emulation and all that sort of stuff. The cabinet emulator works great. But you need a lot of patience to achieve your sound. I play in a duo, and played a lot of bars with my 2120 plug right in the console. Everybody was amaze with my sound. So it's all up to you. Your sound : if it's good to you, it can be bad to me. I'ts only a matter of taste.

Check previous submission below for my thought son this product. This is an update. The day after reading this forum and submitting my review, I ordered 2 Electro-Harmonix 12ax7 tubes from the Tube Store. I can't even begin to tell you the difference they have made. I read in here that someone believed the stock tubes in the unit were Sovtek 12ax7. They are, and they SUCK! After replacing those stinky tubes, the unit was transformed into the best sounding piece of equipment I have ever heard. Nearly all noise associated with the unit is gone because of the exceptional performance of the EH tubes in regard to microphonics. Next, my tone went from bassy muddy (What I call poop tone) unless I had a BBE and other effects to help out to full spectrum tonal quality. I have highs, I have Lows, I have mids. I can play chords and hear every note or I can play screaming leads without the annoying overtones and bassed out reflex. I tell you, the $30.00 I spent on the EH tubes was the absolute best investment I have made in years outside of the 2120 itself.

Same

Same

High 9

Pretty easy as far as rack multi-effects processors go. But there is still room for improvement...

Setup: Ibanez RG7620 (seven string) >>> Morley Bad Horsie >>> Digitech 2120 >>> Mesa/Boogie 50/50 Stereo Power Amp >>> Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Recto cab.

It's the quitest unit ever! I don't have any problems with feedback, etc.

Many reviewers here have criticised the tube distortion. I actually think it's excellent straight out of the box. I can get the chunkiest distortion tones to most sparkling clean tones. Bu you'll have to invest some time in getting the sound just right.

Here are a couple of pointers to getting a good distortion sound: (1) Don't crank the distortion to the max - dial it up to about 60 max. (2) Don't plug the 2120 into the input jack of your amp. If you do, you'll be running a pre-amp (the 2120) into another pre-amp, and it'll sound like shit. Instead, plug your 2120 into the Send / Return inputs. Better yet, use a stereo power amp, like the Mesa/Boogie 50/50 (or the Mesa/Boogie Simul Class 2:90 if you've got cash to burn).

The effects are first class... well, except for the Wah, which is pathetic. I would have given Sound Quality a rating of 10 if not for the Wah.

I've never had any problems with it.

I haven't had to deal with them.

It's a fantastic unit. Buy it!

It is the easiest effects unit / Preamp I have ever seen. It still takes time, patience, and lots of tinkering to get a great sound, but even the factroy patches are a lot better sounding than a lot of what I hear out there. Wasn't too impressed with the manual, it could have been a little more user friendly. My unit was originally 2.01 and I upgraded with the free firmware to 2.10.

I currently use an Ibanez RG Series Custom with Dimarzio Tone Zone dropped in the bridge or a Schecter Omen 6 with stock pickups. Rack from top to bottom is Stereo out of 2120 into Alesis 3630 compressor into Alesis Midiverb 4 sidechained into Alesis Midiverb III into BBE Sonic Maximizer powered by Mesa Boogie Stereo 50/50. I had some problems with noise until I moved audio cables away from power and plugged one of the units into a three prong to two prong adapter. Most of the noise is gone. Effects nearly always sound great and if they don't, it's probably my fault for being lazy and not spending more time programming. I have no problem capturing sounds I want from Deep blues to George Lynch sounding Leads. The unit has never let me down on sound. Distortions are the best I've seen outside of a TriAxis. Hey it's not a Boogie, but it still rocks. Im not too thrilled with the wah (not enough changeables). The unit however can achieve anything you spend the time to make it achieve. Very programmable.

The only problem I have had with the unit has been a periodic snafu where my volume all of the sudden drops significantly. I have called Diitech who say they have never heard of such a thing. I would buy that except that I had two units and they both done the same thing on occasion. I have used it in a gig without a backup. I am confident in it's performance, but prefer having a backup just in case.

Very friendly. They sent me the free firmware upgrade for my older unit within 1 week of ordering it. I have not had any maintenance or repair done on the units as of yet.

I play all styles of music and this unit fits just about every one of them. I have been playing for 25 years and have played nearly every style of music there is. I have owned combo amps, Head and cabinet setups, stomp boxes, and just about every other setup you can think of. I only play preamp/poweramp setup now. I enjoy the flexibility of a good preamp without all of the different components it would take to get the same sound with other setups. I thoroughly enjoy my 2120 and would replace them if ever stolen, etc. I have downloaded all of my presets with the RPEdit software, so I could simply load them all back into a new unit if I had to. Love it all and haven't found too much to complain about yet. I compared it to other products when I bought it and continue to compare it to new products and the only thing that even comes close are the Johnson products which use the same SDISK technology. I have had better sound with thousands of dollars worth of equipment, but this one unit nearly replaces all of them.

The factory sounds in the 2120 are OK. Out of the 100 and something presets I've found only about 30-45% that dont need some tweeks. Editing patches is very easy in comparison to many synths. The manual for the 2120 is fairly compatent but could be better.

Most of the time I use the 2120 directly into a PC DAW setup, with a Les Paul or Strat and a RT 66 pedal (for compression). At first I found the unit to be quite free of microphonics but I wasn't pleased with the sound. After reading some of the previous post I decided to try changing the tubes to the Tesla jj ECC83's. For my setup that was a mistake. While the jj ECC83 does have the higher quality sound I was looking for, the weakness of the tubes were in the microphonic area. The tubes seem to amplify overall noise characteristics caused by the PC monitor. MAJOR drawback ..... but not the 2120's fault.
For tube upgrades I would not recommend these tubes. Please if you are serious about changing the tubes follow this link.

http://www.thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html

Very reliable for a studio.

never tried it.

Overall I'm sitting the fence. I am planning the change the tubes again to the Electro Harmonix 12ax7 due to the very low noise floor and excellent performance in terms of microphonics. Plus they sound good.

This is my 3rd review and I have had the unit for quite some time. I have recently upgraded the tubes to JAN PHILLIPS 12AX7WA. This is the reason for the re-submit.

The features are well covered below in many other reviews. It isn't a beginners toy. If you don't know what you are doing in effects, this unit will likely be much more than you can handle or will want to bother with. If you are a tweaker, tone freak, ect. It may be just the thing. The RP edit program makes it much easier to use, but it still requires expertiece.

I have 2 American Strats. One with standard pickups, the other with Kinman's.

Everyone universally agrees that the effects and seamless patch switching is first rate, it is the pre-amp that is brought into the spot light.

After replacing the tubes (again, this is my second try. I have been using EIC's for the last 8 months) with JAN PHILLIPS, the tube distortion has been transformed. The tubes literally sing with harmonics. Playing leads with the saturated tube pushing the upper limits is really musical now where before it was pretty sterile.

I am still working on death metal and crunch. I have a decent crunch, but the death metal is still eluding me.

I play side by side with a Legacy 4x12 stack. I push through a Fender HRD on the clean channel, so I don't have the air moving capability of the stack, but the tone is pretty good.

For those of you out there that are disappointed with the pre-amp on this unit, the investment in the 2 new tubes is well worth it. I don't know if these tubes are a match for NOS EEC88's, but they are certianly cheeper to purchase (around $30.00 for 2). It has brought new life to my guitar. I spend hours playing old licks now just to see how the rig responds and listening to the harmonic distortion overtones...... Simply delicious.

I would rate the old tone a 7 on the pre amp before the tube upgrade. It is easily an 9 now. If it was fatter, I would give it a 10, but I haven't been able to get that fat death metal tone just yet .... but I am not giving up :)

I play WAY too many different types of music to NOT have a multiFX pedal. I have worked hard on maintaining volume levels from patch to patch and having the ability to turn specific features of a patch (like reverb) on or off with the Control 1.

I may well ditch my ole faithful HRD amp some day in favor of a nice stack, but I am not dissin this rig yet. It holds a candle to MUCH more expensive rigs and I can still carry it easily.