DigiTech 2120 VGS Artist

This is an update to my previous review. After spending about 4 more hours of solid tinkering with EQ and voicings, I finally got an acceptable tone! My 5150II still sounds better on big chords, but it is muddier with intricate riffs, which my band tends to play more than chords. The 2120 is definitely more articulate now--still has a bit of that funky nasal voicing that Digitech products exhibit, but I can live with it! I paired it with a Mosvalve 1160 and it sounds pretty good now.

One preset recently "forgot" that the volume pedal is on in the Control One, so it no longer responds. I saved it to another patch number and all is well--a minor annoyance, but it shouldn't happen. Had the same problem with a Digitech Valve FX.

Overall, it's a decent unit. Most big tube amps are too muddy for my taste, but I sometimes like their overall more organic tone. It's a trade off between fatness and articulation--articulation wins for me! I hear that the original 2101 actually has more brutal distortion, but I already have this and the 2101 is no longer in production. If I had it to do over, I'd hunt down a 2101.

Not easy if you are a novice! The 82 page (!) owner's manual could be more clearly written. It takes a LOT of patience....

I have a BC Rich USA 7 string Beast, Peavey 5150 II, and Randall Warhead cabs. The clean sounds are great, but the distortion is poor. Try as I might, I could not get a truly brutal sound that doesn't have this nasty pinched/nasal quality. It seems to be all EQ and no true tone. So, I now use it in the effects loop of my 5150 II with the distortion turned off...adds some needed EQ and body, not to mention the awesome effects--definitely the best part of the 2120. The absolutely seamless switching is nice.

So far so good.

They responded quickly in the past to inquiries and a fast repair of an old Valve FX.

AS an effects unit, it's great. As a pre-amp, not so great for my style of music (technical death metal). Most of the factory presets are a joke--do they think anyone would actually use the "Death Scoop" tone? I don't like scooped mids, and nothing I could do to that or any other setting gave a satisfactory tone. I doubt that I would purchase it again.

After 8 months, I'm pretty used to setting the 2120 up but I've met many stupid people in my life that are really excellent musicians. I wonder if their type could ever understand all of this. Some of the concepts are very advanced probably for the average dude.

Great if you remove the tubes and get the jj ECC83 S. I got mine at www.thetubestorecom . They made such a difference. Before, my sound was more brittle and my highs were lost in all chords. Now my sound kicks ass. I'm in a New York Rush tribute band called 2112, www.geocities.com/rushtributeband2112 so I've gotta cover Alex Lifeson's tones on all 16 albums from the dirty to the ultra clean. I've been able to do it with my Ernie Ball Axis going into the 2120 going into a Mesa 50/50 into 2 4x12" Marshalls using Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

So I'm giving it a 9 but I'd give the sound rating a 7 if I hadn't changed the tubes. It's very much like changing old strings on a really decent guitar. I'm taking only 1 point off for the cleans. They're really great but I've heard better.

THIS IS WHY I CHOSE TO WRITE A REVIEW. 2 nights before a semi-important gig I dropped it and my Mesa 50/50 amp off of my Marshall 1960 cabinet. Guess what, neither unit was affected in any way! Enough said. I love both companies in addition to SKB who makes the rack!

Never dealt with them

I'll also add that I replaced the control 1 with the johnson j-12 controller. Once I did that, I was very satisfied with my setup. The control 1 is a piece of shit. The plastic buttons are inaccurate. The j-12 saved me from selling the 2120 because I had been making so many patch change errors during live performances.

I like some of the factory presets, but for the most part a true
professional sound is still evading me. Editing patches to suit my ear
are also hard to do. The manual is not user friendly, but it could be
I don't haven't extensively dove deep into it yet.I would hope though
that if digitech wanted to keep customers they would make it a little
easier, and already have true beautiful sustaining distortions set at a flick of a switch or button.

I use a 9200 marshall power amp, 100 watts per side and play stereo through two 1960A marshall cabs.I play a 1970 black custom Les Paul
with original humbucker in neck position and a dimarzzio evolution
in bridge position. The 2120 is very quiet but as most have said the noise gate is set way to high.Efects in my book are second to none. The delays ,reverb chorus are pro quality. The only problem I'm having is at high volume levels the 2120 doesn't produce the great
smooth distortion and sustain you'd expect from an expensive unit such as this. The pick attack drops off considerably and you literally
have to work twice as hard as usual, just the opposite is what I would expect with great equipment. Iv'e been playing for over 25 years
and thought I had the best set up I could ever want. But what I got
was low volume ear candy and got it home and cranked it up and got
high volume crap.I'm not saying there aren't some fabulous sounds in this unit and maybe in acouple of years I'll find the sounds everybody says are "deep' within the unit, but frankly I don't have the time.I'm through with the fake sounds and emulations I want the real thing!

So far so good

Haven't dealt with them yet

I play many styles of music, Gary Moore, SRV Satriani,etc;
I guess if it was stolen I'd miss the effects, but would definately not miss the high volume chaos it can create, I'd hate to get rid of my 9200 without first trying other preamps, but it looks like I might have to get a 6100 marshall head rated at probably the best sounding head of all time and forget rack gear altogether. Come on Digitech
I want a professional high volume sound without having to be a rocket
scientist. Ever listen to the G3 concerts, now that's quality sound.
I have an open mind however and if anybody out there in cyber space
can convince me to keep this, with helpful information I would greatly appreciate it!

It takes some time to get used to this unit, like any unit. It is very, very deep. You can control practially every possible paramter of everything that affects the signal. The nice thing is: if you don't want to select a wave form, and depth, rate, resonance, feedback etc. for your flanger - there are a dozen or so presets for every effect to help get you close. You can save your own presets for each effect as well, which is handy. The manual is written in a dry style but is worth careful perusal. The presets, as usual, are pretty lame.

I use many different guitars and basses with this unit. I should note I use for direct recording exclusively. I do not use it in conjunction with any other gear (other than a mixer and a recording device).

As a standalone Guitar Preamp (ignoring effects)I would give it a B. It sounds pretty good, you can get some useful tones from it without using any FX. The FX portion I would rate an A-. I would give it an A or A+ if you could build your own FX algorithms but you have to use the 30-some-odd prebuilt 'skeletons'. Put the two together and you have a pretty powerful tool if you are willing to take the time and tweak it. This is not an instant gratification device, IMO.

One thing I should stress: the stock tubes suck. They are Ruby or Sovtek 12AX7WA and are horrible. Replace them *immediately* with something like a pair of Sovtek 12AX7LPS or some JJ ECC83s. This makes an *enormous* difference in how the tube preamp patches sound.

I haven't had any problems with mine and I have had it apart, changing tubes mostly, many times.

I understand Digitech is discontinuing these. Oh well. The market has gone digital modeling crazy. So be it.

I think the 2120/2112 VGS are a fantastic unit. I love having everything in one box, being able to build a complete & distinct signal chain and saving it whole (rather than remembering that I used this setting on my preamp, and this setting on my EQ, and these settings for my FX etc.) But I'm lazy that way. I like having one box that I can use convincingly for Guitar and Bass. It does great clean, crunch, and lead sounds. Very good Bass sounds. The only 'weak' spot in it's palette might be super-heavy modern "Nu Metal" type sounds. But then again, I haven't really tried to get that kind of sound so take that for what it's worth.

I've tried lots and lots of newer gear: Pod, Pod Pro, the GNX stuff, and I keep coming back to the 2120. Maybe when the next generation all-in-one Rack unit comes along I'll switch. Who knows. This works for me. I know it isn't the best sounding guitar preamp every built, I know certain FX made by other manufacturers sound better (TC Electronics chorus, Lexicon Reverb etc.) - but having practically every guitar effect ever created (very high quality too) in one box, plus the ability to those FX in any order, multiple times! Combined with a workable, if not spectacular guitar preamp - is a very nice thing. If you are a not a tweaker - don't bother with this unit.

This unit was upgraded from my Digitech 2112 and over the years I have become familiar with it's operation. The system is not the easiest to program and requires some patience.

I use the 2120 to push the front end of a Fender "Evil Twin" running in the low power mode thru channel one. I have been playing for over 35 years and go back to the day when an amp was as good as it's ability to distort. Lot's of Fender Twins, Showman's, Super Reverbs, Vibrolux, Marshall's and Ampegs. All of these amps smoked when cranked and the 2120 let's you push a pre amp to it's limit without pushing 50 or 100 watts. Patience is the key to the 2120. Start with a clean sound that has some delay and put in compression. Spend lot's of time on the EQ, then go for some tube distortion. Stand back and let your socks roll up and down. The tones there if you have a good tube amp and lot's of patience.

I have used Digitech products for years and have had little or no problems. I blew this one up at an outside gig when it got wet and have had to replace the foot pedel switches but have had no problem with support or with the 2120 otherwise. I have used it without a backup since they came out with the 2112, although my amp has a second channel for distortion if I need it.

Call them. They act fast and care about your problem.

I play mostly blues and require 4 - 5 different clean and distorted tones. I push this unit into a Fender Twin using a Gibson ES-355, 335, SG and sometimes a Les Paul (Hey, Gary Moore plays Blues). I'ld replace this unit in a heart beat. I love the tone, I like the Control One and the distortion, if you take the time, is right on the money. Maybe it's the Gibson into a Fender thing but this unit will sustain forever at any volume.

This unit was different in using at first--but once I caught on to what the layout of the parameters was, I was OK

The preamp section of this unit SUCKS badly--but the effects are so nice, they cover that FACT up.
The best reverb I have heard on a guitar unit.
I am looking in to what i can do to modify the input so this unit sounds better...I bought this unit 'cause I really like the RP12--I bought this unit thinking the higher line model should be better--I was wrong.

I play for a living and have traveled to 4 countries and 38 US states--I have never used a back up amp.

I started in a new band this year and started with this unit--i feel safe that it won't let me down.

Overall--since this unit has it all in 1 rack space--I can hop a plane to do a gig and have a large part of my gear with me.

I have learned that playing live allows you a tolerance in using top notch gear--as opposed to studio work. I save my great gear for the studio --this new gear with the new band is sounding great. What I get in versatility and great effects, Really does makes up for the preamp section of this unit sounding so poor.

I came to the 2120 from an RP-10, so I knew that you had to work with these things to get the best from them. What surprised me was the poor quality of the factory presets. Digitech usually go OTT on the presets to demo the capabilities of the box, but I was initially disappointed to scroll thru the patches without anything special jumping out. 2120 adds greatly expanded fx library and better routing control over the RP-10, but this obviously comes at the price of simplicity. If you've only ever used stomp boxes, be prepared for an initial shock. If you've used any other programmable multi-fx, it shouldn't take too long to adjust. If you download RPEdit, then it's a breeze. It _is_possible to get superb sounds out of this unit, but careful EQ work is required to get the best results. Rating is for the unit as supplied, add a few points for using RPEdit.

I use an Ibanez RG520QS and Status Shark bass into the 2120 via a Korg tuner (Digitech still can't quite get the tuner right, after all these years, although the wah is a vast improvement) with a Crybaby in the external loop (allowing switchable bypass from the Control One). From the 2120 into a Marshall Valvesate 8008 power amp and 1922 stereo cab. The sound quality is superb. Using the cabinet emulator to DI into a PC for hard disk recording is also quite acceptable. Once you've tweaked the noise gate into submission (Digitech - why the ridiculous gate settings on the factory presents?) then noise isn't an issue. Modulation effects are of the usual Digitech high quality, delays and reverbs v.good. Pitch effects noticeably improved over my old RP-10. Both the valve and solid state preamps have a lot going for them but, again, careful EQ tweaking is necessary to bring out the characteristics you are looking for. Some reviews have criticised the valve preamp for being poor, but it's all down to patience in the setup. Any signature sound is in here somewhere, the best method is to play around with different EQ and fx settings to see what works for you.

Seems as well built as any other rack box, but any electronics can fail so probably best to back-up at a gig with couple of decent pedals. That said, I've had no problems but other reviewers have had lock-ups and worse. I wish they'd spent a bit more money on the 5 mini infinite encoders under the display, though. They feel too light and insubstantial for this type of unit.

No experience with them. My 2120 came with v2.10 firmware so no messing around. The manual seems to be for a previous version, though, with some errors (the method for assigning the Solo function to a footswitch as listed in the manual is incorrect, for example).

I bought this unit to get as close as possible to a one-box solution for preamps and fx. For the price, I think you'd struggle to find an alternative that offers so much. I would definitely replace it if required. Take the time to learn the system properly and it can do pretty much everything. I'd like to see more S-DISC routing options, a guitar input on the back of the box to make my rack look more tidy and the option of direct patch selection from the Control One (by tapping the patch number in, rather than stepping through banks to get there). Other than that, a fine (but not cheap) unit which should suit all styles.

Quick review- I will give a deeper one when I have time.

Get the midi interface- helps a lot- although with a little work programing from the box isn't to hard- just focus.

Golden- much more useful as a creative tool than the Line 6 Pod Pro-which is very overated IMHO- This is a great box if you want to create sounds and sculpt them- the Line 6 is ok as a modeler (the effects section is poor and not very tweakable) but this box allows for creataion of tone- and I find the ability to tweak effects a big part of tone- Also allows for a beautiful clean, clear sound without the digital harshness that the Line 6 creates. I use it through Mackie HR824's in the studio and Mackie 450's on the road-

i always carry a backup rig- the bus driver could back over the rack or a tech could ramp it off the stage- a decent distortion pedal and a delay cost a couple $100 and will save huge headaches.

They are sending me the upgrade eprom for free- we'll see how long it takes.

Great creative tool- I would definitely get the/a foot controller- very programable- allows for easy access to thr 6db boost.

Email me if you have any questions.

Having started from a Digitech RP-12D, I thought that the controlls of the 2120 might be easier to use .... I don't think so. Although it is sufficiently complicated using the front panal LCD, the RPEDIT program (which you can get for free) makes patch editing a breeze. I would give it a 3 without a PC interface and a 10 with the RPEDIT program.

I am going to submit 2 reviews on this. This is my introductory one. I realize that not everyone is willing to work on their equipment and tweak their sound the way I am. With this in mind, this review is for the 2120 out of the box sound.

I use a Fender Roadhouse Strat into the 2120 then into a Fender Hot Rod Delux that has been retro-fitted with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. The stock patches and sound are adequate, but anyone that wishes to plug in and play will be dissappointed as some of the other post here suggest.

The unit is VERY quiet as one would expect from a top of the line system like this. The clean sounds are absolutely heavenly. I tweaked my favorite clean patch and put it over the stock patch #2 just to see what the unit COULD sound like with a good patch. It is truely amazing. It is the kind of sparkel and magic that a musician could make the room go dead quiet through the intro of a song while people became captivated by the music!

The seamless patch changes are great. This was one of my key reasons for purchasing the unit (The RP-21D was really getting the job done quite well). I play as the only guitar player in a 3 person band, so it is more important for me to have smooth patch transitions as it is quite noticable when you move from clean to dirty with out this technology.

Another key feature is the "Solo" option that boosts ouput by 6db on any patch. This is great for moving smoothly from rythm to lead on the same patch and then back to rythm without having to worry about how accurately you positioned the expression pedal when you moved it.

Finally, as with my RP 21-D, the Wah SUCKS! Don't use it for anything except a static envelope filter or you will be dissapointed. This brings up my second reason for purchasing the unit. The FX loop. I have a Dunlop 535Q Wah that provides a great Wah sound for even the most picky guitarist out there; however, it does color the tone of the rig even when bypassed since it does not provide a "true" bypass. The FX loop in the 2120 lets me REALLY get the 535Q out of the chain when I am not using a patch that has it in it!

The distortions I have just started to play with, but they seem adequate. I won't mess with the settings TOO much until I replace the Sovtek tubes with EI's or JAN Phillips tubes. I understand Digitec's reasoning that the Sovtek tubes are very robust and resitive to microphonics (keeps their warrenty down), but using bottom of the line tubes in a top of the line processor seems pretty stupid to me. This is paramont to putting a lawn mower engine in a Porche. The tubes will go tonight for sure. I will re-review the sound quality when I have ported all my patches and have a decent set of tubes in the unit.

It seems rock stable so far. I already had it fall 3 feet (kid got his foot wrapped up in the cords and I don't have the rack unit to put it in yet). It seems pretty reliable, but I will withhold judgement until I have giged it for a while.

I have called them in the past and wrote them about several things on other products. They seem pretty responsive.

I play top 40 and some classic rock. This unit is great for its versatility and ability to EXACTLY match the tone and effects found in many songs today. I have been a supporter of high end multiFX units for some time due to the amount of flexibility they provide. Keep in mind that this flexibility comes at the expense of ease of use. If you are not an engineer or hardened effects enthusiast, you may have trouble using this unit. One might argue that only one of the above would shell out the cash for something like the 2120, but many people seem to have more money than brains these days.

I have been playing for around 25 years. If it were lost or stolen I would report it to my insurance and get another one.

The sound the unit can make is inspiring. I played through many of the songs we do several times just to hear myself play. It is truely amazing what CAN be done with some patch tweaking. Unfortunatly, the stock patches are medicore at best.

If you want stage ready sound out of the box, this isn't the best bang for the buck. You will have to work for the truely great tone this unit can provide. If spending time tweaking your sound isn't your thing, I would definately suggest saving your money and getting something else.

If however, you are one of those sick individuals (like myself) that enjoys making just the right sound and is willing (or even likes) to play around with and understand effects, I have yet to see the equal of this unit.

For those who never used multieffect units its painfull to use and handle. Even those hardened guitar-guys will find this one a blocker in creativity. Making music started being a science for me and not so much fun at all. The manual is a joke, my firware is 2.10 (Stable one) and I've upgraded it from 2.02 (yeak, instable as hell).

My setup is a selfmade Stratocaster with a singlecoil in the neck (bassy full sound, selwounded) and a EMG81 in the bridge-position. A EL34-Powered Marshall Series 9000 Amp with 2x50 Watt blowing trough a Engl 412 S Cabinet.
The device doesn't sound very noisy, the noisegate can easily cut down everything you don't want while not playing.
The digital effects aren't that bad. Presets are made to show of in a shop but not made for playing. They need all lots of tweaiking.
The digital part would be perfect to refine the sound of a really good sounding preamp section. But the preamp is so weaksounding that you only need the digital section for limitation of damage.
Both, tube and the transistor - distortion sound very harsh and lack dynamics you would expect from a good amp. Its impossible to create a sparkeling clean sound which has a slight overdriven sound. In every setting you choose there is no definition, its just distorted like a cheap MFX-Pedalboard like the Korg-Ax300G produces. Its impossible to recreate sounds 'real amps' (Triaxis, Rectivier, Marshalls, Fender) do. Even putting another preamp in the FX-Loops, or a simple Stompbox doesn't sound as fresh as without the digitech. You loose lowend and punch. For this price you should expect more....

The older firmeware was lousy. Several lookups. The 2.10 is stable. Inside looks like made in germany *gg*. I would take a few stompboxes with me just in case...

Here its Roland or Korg, they deliever updates really fast, never talked to them.... so no opinion

I play mostly rock and clean stuff. This one should be the only box I ever needed ( I dreamed at least ), but it turned out to be a waste of money.
I would not buy it again. I'm not shure what to use for replacement.
I hate the preamp sound and the tonesucking input and fx-loop. I expected more from this pricy box.
I choosed as I thought it would be the best device with all features I ever need.
It would work better if the Compressor, Wah and of Corse the Preamp section would be much better. Not those fake-dist-tubes with mosfet but a real tube preamp (Messa Quad for example)
It really kills my fun playing...
Digitech, I hate your 2120 !

For all the menus, effects, and parameters, the 2120 could be extremely painful to use. However, the knobs below the screen make modifying parameters much less painful than most other multi effects guitar processors.

Regarding the tone, there are various preamp settings that aren't bad. The EQ must be used to get a decent tone. Unfortunately, the preamp was not versatile enough to get a tone that was pleasing to my ear.

I used various guitars through the 2120: ESP Custom, Ibanez RG550, Fender Stratocaster, and Heartfield EX. Sometimes used the 2120 through a Lee Jackson power amp into Celestions. Also, tried to record direct using the "speaker simulator." I further tried to use the 2120 without the preamp just for the effects with my Boogie Quad.

For my tastes, the preamp is poor and the effects colored my Boogie's tone. You can get a decent sound, but not one for my taste. Also, you can pan each of two preamps hard left and hard right to get a killer full sound. That being said, the tone did not fit my tastes when compared to my Boogie, my Sans Amp GT2, and even my Peavey Bravo.

I like a good raw tone, and the 2120 did not have it. The effects were pretty clean and decent quality, but seemed to color my Boogie too much. If I want the processed Queensrychish sound, I'll use my ART SGX2000, which is much cheaper than the 2120.

No problems over 2+ years, but it rarely left my studio.

Never dealt with the company aside from misplacing the manual. They had them online in .pdf format. Excellent plus!

I play various styles, but mainly focus on heavy rock. The 2120 didn't give me a good basic tone, which is essential in a preamp.

I traded it straight for an ESP M-III yesterday.

If you want one, you can get them on e-bay for around $500.

If you have ever worked with digital effects it should be no problem programming this unit. The programs are a little thicker (more to edit) than other multi-effect units, but that's the fun of it. The manual points you in the general direction and leaves you to figure out a lot. It just takes exploring. I hear RPEdit makes it easier to edit patches. I'm going to try that soon. I had to upgrade my unit from 2.02 to 2.10. As I'm in Canada, the Digitech rep put me in touch with the Canadian supplier of the upgrade (see below for details).

I play bass ; Ernie ball Fretted, Fretless 5 strings and a Chris Squire Rickenbacker into Trace Elliot and the new Ernie Ball 500 watt head. I've tried a lot of effects. I've never been happy with effect units (especially multi-effects), but the 2120 has the most amazing sound quality. All the effect settings are way too loud using bass (I had to turn them all down from 100% to 15%) in order to match the bypass volume. If you have the money, I would highly recommend this unit.

I had a problem with the volume control. It wouldn't save any setting changes. I opened up the foot controller and found that the photo-electric sensor that sees the light from the LED, was bent over. Every time the foot controller recalibrated, it reset my changed settings. I bent it back up straight and it works fine. I would gig with a backup distortion pedal (EH- Big Muff Pi).

I thought the previously mentioned volume control problem was due to the software being out of date (I had 2.02 and the latest was 2.10). I contacted Digitech who answered emails in real time. They gave me clear, personalized customer service. The problem came when I had to deal with the Canadian supplier for the upgrade chip. I phoned a total of 3 times and each time they promised to get right back to me. 14 days later, I was told that my eprom hadn't shipped yet and they didn't know why. I sent a very nasty email to Digitech and they got back to me instantly. The Digitech Customer Service person (Darrin, you're too cool) had the eprom to me in less than 24 hours! These guys are great.

I've been playing for 25 years. I play a lot of 70's progressive rock, effects are important to my sound. After searching forever, I finally have effects in a simple setup, that are easy to use, sound great. If it were stolen, I'd hire a mercenary to hunt down the fool and torture him slowly and painfully. My favorite feature would have to be the versatility. Previous reviewers are right, if you can't get a sound out of this unit, you aren't trying, cuz it's in there. Do your homework, but check this baby out.

It's very easy to get basic sounds with this unit. The manual is pretty useless though and that's why I'm subtracting 4 points. I've been an aerospace engineer for 15 years and I've seen easier to understand manuals for rocket engines. No love was put into that manual. None whatsoever. And no examples either! What's up with that Digitech? Hope you're listening.

If you don't posses a large cerebrum you'll probably have problems learning how to do routine asks such as assigning patches to the controller or even changing the name of a patch. What really helped me is downloading and using RPEdit http://www.voyager.co.nz/~bjames/RPEdit.html . I hooked up my computer to the 2120 and using RPEdit I was able to upload and download patches lickety split. You can even download patches off the internet. You can store an infinite number of patches on your computer's hard drive. Even if you don't have MIDI capability you should just download the program so you can visualize the the way patches are created. DO IT NOW. See what I'm talking about? It treats the different effects and preamps like different pedals. It completely de-mistified the 2120 for me the first time I played with RPEdit.

But I really recommend physically hooking up the 2120 to your computer. All you need is the game port of your sound card and a game port to midi adapter you can get from the Guitar Center.

For example, to change a patch name from "Alex Lifeson" to "By-Tor and the Snowdog" would be a complete hassle using the 2120 interface because you have to go to each letter, cycle through all available characters until you find the letter you're looking for and then move over to the right. This kind of stuff is frustrating especially if you've just smoked. With the software, all you do is change the "Alex Lifeson" field to "By-Tor and the Snowdog" by using the computer keyboard! It can't be any simpler. You can do 50 bong hits and still handle that. Well maybe not 50 but at least 10. Another example... You know how difficult it is to just set your bedtime alarm clock? Well imagine every parameter within the 2120 being that difficult to set. Now imagine being able to just type 12:30pm instead? You get what I'm talking about?

So if you're hooking it up to RPEdit then change my "ease of use" rating to a 10 otherwise, it's a 6.

Sound quality is 100% pristine. Extraordinary tone. I play a Ernie Ball Music Man Axis straight into the 2120 and out, in stereo, into...get this... a non tube amp... the Roland DC-120. I know, I know but screw you, it sounds awesome because of the stereo. As far as the Ernie Ball guitar: I also have other guitars but you've never heard amazing tone until you play the Axis. Stays in tune after an entire night of playing even though it's got a whammy!

Back to the 2120: The only thing I can complain about is ....... you guessed it.. the wah. It really blows. I didn't think so at first but then I compared it to my VOX 847 and was amazed at the difference. Other than that small complaint, the preamp and effects are all high quality. The patches are seamless and you can morph between tube distortion and solid state distortion.

I'm presently involved with a Rush Tribute band and the 2120 and a Roland JC-120 is all I need to sound better than Alex Lifeson. The other night, we pulled off Red Barchetta perfectly and I was so amazed at my beautiful yet crunchy sound. I love BOTH the preamp and the effects. It's great because once you have a great sound and want some modifications, all you do is use RPEdit and change little things here and there and then assign the patches to the foot controller.

In my first week of owning the 2120 I had a really descent clean sound as well as a great dirty sound and also found a great flanged sound. The beauty of my setup is in its simplicity. You can be stoned and set it up in a few minutes because the only thing you do is to go out from the left and right sends of the 2120 to the left and right returns on the DC-120. Then you get to hear all the stereo from the DC-120 as if you're listening to headphones. I know that most of you are tube fans, as you should be, but this setup just emulates tubes so nicely AT ANY VOLUME level. In fact it's the only non-tube amp I even like much less love. I also have a Marshall JC-900 and 1960a cabinet and this works out nicely as well but nothing like the 2120 and DC-120 combination. Tube fans, don't knock it until you try it.

I've only owned it for 2 months and so far, so good. I can tell you that I've owned a Digitech RP-7 for over 3 years now with no complaints.

Never dealt with 'em

I know this unit is not cheap but if you want the ultimate in versatility and simplicity without sacrificing what's important, namely TONE, then you really should consider throwing away all of your pedals (except maybe for your wah and the Boss acoustic simulator) and buying this baby.

The only thing that I'd like to stress is that I love it because I use it in conjunction with RPEdit for patch editing. Without the software, tweaking patches and visualizing the big picture is much more difficult. Whoever created RPEdit (I think his name is Bruce) thank you.

I'd also like to say that I love the Control-1 foot controller that came with the unit. I was using the expression pedal as a volume pedal for Xanadu and La Villa the other night and it was awesome, Some have complained about the expression pedal being too small and at first I was taken aback by its length but once you start using it, you'll realize that it's very nice and precise. If you want, you can also plug in one more expression pedal into the controller itself and another one into the 2120 unit.

And finally, for Rush fans, the new version 2.10 2120 ships with 2 Alex Lifeson patches. Need I entice you more?

Very easy programming , if you're not a complete idiot. Although, the whammy was a bit tricky. And the manual did not help at all! But, the salesman who sold it to me didn't even know how to assign the whammy.

The sound rocks....simply because you can emulate anything you want to! Wide selection of all makes of cabs and preamps. I use a Gibson Marauder ('76) powered by a Peavey Classic 50/50. 4x12 cab with Celestion speakers. Awesome!!!! You just have to mess with it if you want to create your own custom sound..

I have a backup for my 2120...another 2120! I have two....in case one gets stolen. I wouldn't be in a band without my 2120.

No upgrade has been needed! Haven't talked to the company.

I have been playing guitar for 14 yrs. I finally found my gear! I play in a band called 'THYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY'. We play all kinds of original music, and it fits everything I do. The only thing that could improve is the whammy; it kinda sounds synthetic (FAKE). But that's why I use an external digitech whammy....

At first it's a bit intimidating, but after several hours, I new exactly where to go to tweak the unit. Kudos to the engineers on the layout of the editing functions.

Superb! (Although the factory presets were about 90% crap and unusable. But the depth of prgrammability more than makes up for it)

Haven't played out with it yety (got it 2 days ago)

Haven't had any problems.

I need a large aural pallette for my band -- I first discovered the 2112 and was blown away. But it is a pricey unit (high end). After several years I finally got the 2120 and totally dig it. I am a gear head with an extensive rack -- the 2120 virtually replaces all of my effects units and preamps. Way cool.

I found the 2120 v2.01 very easy to navigate due to my experience with other units although this one's a helluva lot sweeter. The presets are basically a showcase for what this machine can do. I found that the gates were set incredibly tight and cut off the tail end of most of the patches (typical for a co. to do to pull people in at the stores and at NAMM). The one thing that drove me nuts is that the manual I got with it was for the "2101 Limited Edition". I can't be the only one that knows that these unit's are two totally different monsters.....hell they don't even have the same layout let alone editing capability's. I still managed to get through it unscathed, but am still "lost" in a few area's. I am currently waiting on my upgrade v2.10 and new manual.......more on that below.

I am running two Hamer USA Custom built guitars w/Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon's/JB/59/Hotrails, through the 2120 into a Mosvalve 80/80 power amp into two Marshall 1960 Lead "B" 4x12's. I found this unit to be very quiet even after I re-adjusted the noise gates. The distortion tones are amazing I can get anything from "boutique" amps to run of the mill Marshall chunk, anyone who says that the tones are weak isn't trying or just doesn't understand the fundamentals of tone. The clean sounds are second to none although one must tweak and find something they like. The Modulation FX (flange, chorus, phase, detune, whammy, pitch) are full with a lot of sweet little nuances that you have to suss out and experience........I recommend sitting between your cabs (at a lower volume of course), closing your eyes and getting lost in the sonic textures you can create. This also is cool with the presets but again they are just a showcase and need tweaking. The Delays are easy to get lost in (in a good way) and are very rich sounding even as they decay. The only really downside and its not that bad is that the reverbs sound a little tinny, but with some eq'ing they sound decent enough. The wah on the other hand is not so good to brittle and not enough range to really use it.......although this means nothing to me as I am not a big wah fan. As far as emulating tones you can get any tone you like be it John Petrucci to Pete Anderson to Kerry King to Steve Cropper as long as you have patience and the desire to create that tone. I have gotten everything from George Lynch, Steve Stevens, Vernon Reid to Duane Eddy, Joe Pass, and some Bella Fleck banjo type sounds. The only one I haven't been able to get so far is my Dad's but I'll get his secret tone yet. Just trust your ears and take the time and this "magic box" won't let you down.

I feel I could depend on this unit and have on many occasion although I recommend a sturdy rack mount case, I use a custom made shock mounted Clydesdale for my rack gear. I have had my "fridge" fall of 4' stage and none of my gear was damaged.........did I mention I was plying at the time and I never lost my signal, it stayed loud and proud and if ya didn't see it you were none the wiser. I always have my ADA-MP1, Alesis Quadraverb, and dbx 383 dual noise gate for backup. Not that I think the 2120 will fail, it's just better to be safe that sorry........you wouldn't play a show without an extra set of strings or a backup guitar would ya?

The customer support is great. I e-mailed them about an upgrade and manual and they got me in touch with the Canadian distributor the next day. Very, very helpful.

I have been playing for 16yrs and the band I'm in now is an Industrial-Death-Glam unit called Charlie Drown. There is only two of us in the band and we use triggered sounds and Adat's live and there is a lot of sound changes and this unit gives me all I need and MORE. I have played in many bands with many varied styles as well as paid studio work and I wish I had the 2120 for the last 16 yrs. I know it will be used for all of my new studio gigs as well as my side gigs for years to come as long as they keep the upgrades coming. The best thing about the 2120 other than the flexibility is the seamless program changes, how many years did we gear heads have to go with that annoying millisecond gaps between program changes........Bravo DigiTech you finally got it right. I would definatly replace the 2120 if it was stolen, although I doubt that will ever happen as I have my 92 lb German Sheppard that goes wherever I and my gear go........gotta have a road dog! The 2120 helps me create due to the limitless possibilities in sound creation, I'm not one to rely on the standard 1, 2, or 3 Channel amp as they are very linear. Don't get me wrong that's fine for some and they sound great playing through them ( well most do anyway), I just like to go in anyway that my muse takes me and with the DigiTech 2120 VGS Artist I can.

www.charliedrown.com

This unit is not too difficult to operate as long as you're using the conventional features found in any other units like setting the gain , equalizers, delay time, etc. When it comes to using very specific features like morphing and using the pedals for turning on/off specific effects from a patch, then the unit becomes too complicated for my likes. The instruction booklet which is only 70+ pages cannot cover in so few pages the entire versatility of this unit. One thing is for sure, this unit has it all from great sounding effects to total versatility.

The 2120 is the only unit I use between my guitar (although a crappy Yamaha, still delivers the goods) to a Marshall amplifier. The unit is totaly silent. The clean sounds are realy good and the distortions (if tweaked correctly), can sound any way you want it to. I've still not found uses for all of the effects so i'm mainly using the more popular ones only. The auto wah is the crappiest effect i've ever heard (maybe i'm not doing something right because i can't imagine the digitech people putting in something that is totaly useless).
I listen alot to pink floyd, extreme, satriani, vai, Nuno Bettencourt's (ex extreme) band "mourning widows", and others...I mostly don't try to imitate their sounds but rather make up my own. Once I tried imitating Nuno's sound and got very close. I bet I could get his sound exactly if i try harder.
Overall, the sound quality is magnificent.

I've had this unit for two and a half months and nothing wrong yet. Hope it stays this way for many more years...
I'm going to use it in live gigs.

Didn't need them yet....

I've been playing for 10 years, mostly rock.
I'm giving the unit an overall rating of 8. I'd give it a 9 if it were easier to use. I use it alot and everything sounds and operates realy good. As I've said previously, I don't use all the features because I haven't figured out how to use them yet...Eventually i'll get the hang of things...
Since this unit is the first multi effect unit i've ever tried i'm not sure if i did the right thing buying that or maybe i should have gone with seperate pedals, not because of sound quality but because of ease of use. If it were stolen, I'd have to spend some time deciding whether to buy another one or going for seperate pedals...again for the same reason as before.

It's not the easiest to use. It takes a while playing around with it to familiarize yourself. I suggest taking time out to learn the unit to appreciate it.

The Cleanest sounding unit I have ever heard! Great for clean tones. Overdriven tones tend to be a bit to clean.

I had this unit for 3 years and it broke down twice on me. These units tend to be very fragile so be very careful and put them in good strong cases. In my opinion they suit the studio best!

Although my unit broke down on me twice, Digitech were swift to fix the problem and there website is also useful as they sell most of the replacements parts. I find this to be a big plus for them.

In the 12 years that I have been playing I find the 2120 to be a very versatile unit for all types of music and gigs. I have also had the Rocktron Chameleon and the Roland Gp-16. I must say the Roland GP series to be very similar in sound quality to the 2120. I urge any versatile player to buy this unit.

if you have a tweak fetish than this unit will keep you indoors for years on end. If you simply want to plug in and rock, avoid this unit like your Aunt Mary's meatloaf suprise. This sucker is a Fx juggernaut. I could not get a single sound out of this unit that I liked. The presets are just plain awful and even after 2 weeks of tweaking I could not get a usable distorted sound. The clean sounds are great ( esp the Steve Morse presets) but if you want to play metal this unit does not cut it. The manual was very descriptive but it still did not help me attain a usable sound out of the 2120. I hated this unit so much , I took it back and bought an old 2101 that just blows the 2120 out of the water.

I ran the 2120 through a 9100 marshall power amp to two 2x12 mesa boogie open back cabinets. The effects are monstrous on the unit. If you had the time and patience you could get some beautiful clean tones. The effects were all good except the distortions and the wah. I wanted to get a Metallica like sound and could not even come close. The distortion sounds were so bad that I had to return the unit ! You want to play covers and get usable sounds ? If yes, do not buy this unit! Go buy a used 2112 or 2101 for half the price and you'll be all the better for it.

Make sure you play through the unit extensively before you take it home. I played through one unit that died after 20 minutes of use ! Make sure the unit is functional and does not lock up on you. I had enough trouble with this unit when it was working ! Whether or not it is reliable or dependable , I am not qualified to say since I returned mine. But I suggest you spend a few hours with the unit before you shell out $949 for it.

I did have to vall customer support because I needed an upgrade. The unit was outdated when I bought it brand new and I did not even know. I did eventually receive the update......over 2 weeks after 1 returned the unit. The CSR was very short with me and seemed rushed. Maybe he was just having a rough day.........

I love to shred. Be it Malmsteen, Van Halen, Satriani, whatever. I grew up to hair bands and I still love the shredder style. However, I have studied jazz and also enjoy jazz standards in the chord/melody style. I started taking lessons when I was 11 and have been playing for 17 years now. I have played in many different musical scenarios ranging from death metal to a gig with piano great Roger Williams. My sound must diverse to cover these different styles. The 2120 seemed to have all the Fx you could want. However, in my opinion the unit was too complicated and could not produce a good metal/ lead shred sound. I have a Digitech 2101 now that is great. I also have a Digitech Valve Fx unit as a back up and I use a Pod pro for recording. Of all these units, the 2120 was the only one that I could not get a handle on. I don't want to spend hours on end trying to get a good sound. I would rather spend hours on end making music.

If you gained already some experience with multifx gears you'll have no big problems with the 2120 VGS. The preset sounds can be used as a guideline but they are mostly overloaded by effects. (It's every time the same).The tube distortion sounds are great, dirty tube sounds like Marshall and saturated tube is something between Boogie and Engl, I like both.The clean tube sounds are not crispy, even with high gain settings and a Strat and EQ you can use them for Jazz only. The edit mode is a little bit strange, you need to read the manual i.e. for assining effects to the foot controller. In any case the manual is very helpful. What I really don't like is the management of the effect chains, i.e. it's impossible to use a harmony together with delay and reverb because of the s-disc settings. Maybe I can solve this sometime.

I use an Ibanez RG570 and a strat copy with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup at the bridge position, Cry Baby Wah, 2120 VGS in parallel with a Roland GP 100 for clean sounds and an ENGL 930/60 poweramp. Noise is no problem if you set the right noise gate configuration, but the GP 100 is more silent. The tube distortions are very powerful as I mentioned before and by tweaking the Gain and EQ settings you can nearly get every sound you're looking for. Solid state distortion is acceptable.
- Wah: is weak I bought a cry baby instead
- Compressor: could be better
- chorus, flanger, phaser are fairly good
- pitch shifter, harmonizer are good
- delay is really great
- reverb is great if you can you use a full s-disc processor otherwise it sounds like a hit on sheet metal in a church
- the AutoWah you cannot use (I don't know what Digitech was doing there)
- rotary and lesley sounds seems to be OK I normally don't use them.
My favourite artists are Gary Moore, Eddy van Halen, Kirk Hammet, Steve Lukather and so on and I'm able to get sounds not too far from them with the 2120 VGS.

no problems yet

never dealed with them

At the moment I play cover trough a lot of styles and the 2120 VGS is a good match. I'm impressed by the tube distortions they cover all I need and they are sounding really great. For clean sounds I use my GP-100 and it's effects. I'm playing since 20 years very different styles of music and I'm happy with my setup.What I really don't like are the effect chains, I think about buying an additional FX Processor for Delay and Reverb. If the 2120 would be stolen I think I would buy another one because of the preamp tube sound.

It is very easy to get a good sound out of the 2120, and to edit patches, although not as easy as its predecessor the 2101. The 2120 only scrolls at one speed, so if you want to go from a 2 second delay to a 1 millisecond delay, it will take some time. There are ways to get around this, like the tap button, or selecting the preset parameters until something comes up that is close to what you want, or to use the RPEdit computer application. The 2120's built in interface was a lot better than the 2120 in my opinion, but you always have planned obsolescence, and change just for the sake of flash. Another thing that was neat about the 2101 was that you could pull up a new algorithm with random settings and get some cool sounds. The manual is okay, but some things are left out, like how to adjust individual patch levels. Mine is version 2.1.

I am using my 2120 basically as an effects-only device in conjunction with a Hughes and Kettner Triamp head. I use a Digital Music Ground Control pedal for live program changes. I also use a Real McCoy 3 wah pedal because the one built into the 2120 just plain reeks. This is something I don't understand, it's supposed to be a analog wah but it sure as hell doesn't sound like one. My guitar is a Carvin DC135T. I like the sound of a single coil neck pickup and a humbucker in the bridge position, which this guitar has. This gives me the ability to achieve a vast array of tones. The 2120 seems to be very quiet when you use the noise gate OR you use it as an effects-only device without the distortion. The noise gate is stupid in my opinion because it cuts off notes if you try to let them ring, that's why I don't use it. All of the effects sound great to me, the wah being the only exception. The 2120 is not as transparent as I would like it to be for an effects only box, but it doesn't change my tone enough to make it sound bad, so I can live with it. Incidently, I sold an Eventide GTR-4000 for the 2120, I'm a lot happier and also claimed a tidy profit. The 2120 is a lot better than the GTR in many ways, which I will explain. First of all, the 2120 has an analog section which is great when you are using it with a analog guitar head. The digital EQ's in the GTR just didn't cut it. I think the 2120's pitch shifter is a lot better. Why? Because when you play chords, they actually come out decent. Even dissonant chords come out ok. If you try that with an Eventide it sounds like hell. I can put together/edit a patch a lot faster and easier from right within the 2120, unlike the GTR which requires you to connect to a PC for satisfactory editing. Something that sealed the deal was the 2120's seamless patch changing. The GTR didn't even have this, except when using pedalboard mode, which I had no use for. I can get the sounds of my favorite artists with the 2120. I have some patches that emulate Frank Zappa's sounds, and Joe Satriani. The only 2120 distortion that I have found usable is the solid state fuzz. I created an octave box patch using this which sounds pretty damn good, better than the GTR's octave box patch. I wouldn't buy the 2120 for the distortion, I have had bad luck with rack distortion, that is why I went for a tube head. I've always liked Digitech reverb, I think it is better than Eventide reverb, but it might just be because I am so used to it since I had a 2101 for a long time.

I've only had it for about 7 months so I don't know how reliable it is. But thankfully I haven't had any problems so far. The 2120 I had for several years never let me down either.

I called Digitech support and was dissapointed. The tech didn't seem to know much about the 2120. He was telling me about menus that weren't even in it. He had to consult with the manual or another person about 5 times before he got it right.

I think that this is the best multi-effects processor on the market today for my application. I just wish that the wah was at least a little better. When the 2120 first came out and I saw that it had a analog wah, I thought that they they finally got it right, but obviously not. If you are wondering how I got it so cheap, I bought it from a place in PA called J&S Music. They have great deals on equipment. Their address is www.jsmusic.com. I have put together a 2120 site with some of my custom patches on it. It is at mumfutcha.tripod.com.

Takes a little while to get used to if you aren't into the programming thing, but once you get the hang of it it's a piece of cake.

It sounds awesome, the distortions are smooth, but I find that the solid state distortions sound more like tubes than the tube distortions do. The controller pedal really adds to the unit by being able to morph different sounds. The effects are great, I just wish mine still worked....

The thing crashed on me once and showed all kinds of stuff on the display, then it would work again if I turned it on and off about a hundred times. I recently crashed again, seems like for good this time. For almost a $1000 these things should be a little more reliable. When your main source of income comes from performing, you'd like to think the gear would at least work. No more Digitech gear for me.

I've sent digitech some emails and they got back with me with a "here's where you can send it" message. They didn't seem to terribly interested, or surprised for that matter that the unit doesn't work. For $1000 I shouldn't have to send it in, they should come to my house and fix it for free.

I started my guitar playing with metallica, garth brooks, van halen, steve vai, eric johnson, stevie ray vaughn, etc. I've been playing about 8 years and was recently hired as rhythm and acoustic guitarist for a country/top 40 band. If you live in a place where you can get something like this easily repaired, go for it, it'll need to be repaired sooner or later. As for me, the closest repair center is about 120mi. away in Houston. I think I'll look more into Rocktron gear, since that is what our lead guitarist uses (he's been playing decades longer than I have) and they seem to be more reliable, less expensive, and better sounding.

Well, considering that I read the manual about three times over while I was waiting for my unit to ship, it wasn't that bad programming it. :) But really, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't intuitive at first, but once you play around with it a bit, and refer back to the manual a few times, you start getting the hang of it. For starters, finding presets that you like and just tweaking them makes for good practice.

The more I play with the unit, the more I'm led to believe that the unit will sound as good as you can program it. The key is realizing that this is not designed to be an all-in-one-super-preamp-effects-
whatyoumacallit-rack-thing. The clean channels aren't as full as I would like it to be (but then again, it could just be needing more tweaking), the distortions aren't what I was looking for (you can only get so far without power-tube distortion), and the wah is kinda weak (time to stick that crybaby into the effects loop), but the unit does extremely well at providing a amazing array of effects, with enough parameters to tweak with to your heart's content, while offering some nice pre-amp features such as the compression, noisegate, EQs and stuff. Finding the right place in your rig for the 2120, and finding the right settings for it is very important to get the sound you want. Don't go and return the unit after only playing with it for an hour, give it some time. I bought it two weeks ago, and I'm still staying up late playing with it! (And down goes the productivity at work. :P)

Nothing wrong with it yet. Looks quite solid to me. Just don't toss it around without a rack, and you should do fine.

So far, the customer support has been very responsive and friendly.

I play regularly at Church during services, and on my own time I play classic rock/blues type stuff. The 2120 works out very nicely for me, in that not only do I have a huge array of sounds to choose from, but I now have the ability to switch from different sounds by simply stepping on a bottom. No more crouching down and fiddling with pedals midsong, just moments before I need to switch from rhythm to lead. I'm still looking for ways to improve the tone of my rig, such get a fuller clean tone, or getting some solid power-tube distortions, but the 2120 is a very worthwhile imvestment, and it's something that I won't outplay for a real long while - if ever.

The 2120 Is A very Cool Processor, But Very Hard To Get The Sound Your Looking For Unless You Know All About It. Its Easy To Get to the Patches But Hard to Pragram The Sound You Want. I'm Looking to Get The Same Sound That John Petrucci From Dream Theater Has. I Play A Ibanez RG 470 Guitar And Run The 2120 Through My Carvin Head And Jcm 900 Marshall Cab. If Anyone Has Any Ideals On What I need to set The Processor At Please Email Me The Configurations. I Would Be Thankful For Your Help.

I owned an RP-12 for about 3 years (1997?) and I loved the thing. That machine can kick some ass. The worst thing though by far was the delay between patches and the difficulty of editing the patches (digitally; i.e. pulling the damn thing into your lap and pressing scroll buttons to get through the different menus... pain in the ass.)
The 2120 relieved all this. 2 processors makes for nice patch changes (although not PERFECT... but whatever), and the buttons I had on my RP-12 became a nice digital scroll knob and multiple "page" and editing knobs. The FX are sorted into their own menus with multiple pages for each, so editing the thing becomes a breeze (comparativly... if you're used to stompboxes, you're in for some hell).... This is all without the fact that I no longer have to lie on the ground or something to edit my floor processor... ahhh a rack mountable.
I gave it an 8, however, because Digitech still has not made a perfect machine. The menus take time to get used to, and the options (and abbreviations) can be tricky to get a hold of. Definatly up there though.

As with the RP-12 (and many digital FX processors), this unit rocks. The sound can produce anything from a shimmer to a grumble. The EQ is amazing (one of the most useful tools on the thing), and the combination of tube AND solid state distortions is fantastic (can even use dual distortions - 1 tube +1 solid state)... My RP-12 had only solid state, so this 2120 brings me into a whole new realm of sounds.
The reverbs and delays and choruses and phasers and everything else are all up to Digitech par. They are great.
By the way, I am running the 2120 with a Les Paul DC Standard 98, and patching my RP-12 (even more sounds, yay) through the FX loop. Oh yeah, thats another great thing. It has an effects loop which can be put in at any FX stage after the preamp.
Which brings me to my last sound point. You change change the order of the FX (unlike RP-12), so the sounds become even more unlimited.
Basically, if you want the best tone and the most combinations, choose the 2120. Too many variations for me to even handle.
Really, I find that digital is the only way to go, unless you're playing vintage.

I've never had a problem with it, but my 12 has done a lot of weird stuff before, so I give it a 9. I don't trust it 100% (its digital, ya know). Backup, yes I would.

I upgraded the unit to v2.10 immediatly after I got it (v2.03) and I just emailed Digitech with my address and it was at my door within 3 days. Amazing. Thanks Digitech.
It was actually easy to install too...
Repairs I wouldnt know. Someday it will probably fall off my table or something and then Digitech wont be there (so I've heard). But when that happens maybe I will write another review.

Lately I think I've decreased in playing ability. I dont want to get into the FX/noFX debate or anything, but I truly think I would be a better player if I had little or no FX.
This has little to do with the system though, which is nontheless great. There are a few things I wish it had, like truly SEAMLESS patch shifting, and the ability to use more effects at once. 8.

This unit requires time and dedication to operate well but the reward is WELL WORTH IT. That is the downside to the ultimate flexibility, you can't just plug in, turn a few dials (although the controls are easy and amp-like) and have a Marshall/Mesa sound, but it's in there.
Editing patches is very easy, compared to similar units due to the amp-like controls. I give it a 9 for ease of use in comparison to similar preamps

EXCELLENT. The presets are mostly garbage, made to show off the effects capabilites in a low volume setting (like a store). However if you play with it you can get any sound. One important thing to know is that most of the presets are set with the digital leve (the percentage of the signal which is routed through the digital effects section) at 100%. Roll that off to 10-20 percent for your distorted rhythms, put in some reverb (you ever whished you could have a high-reverb sound without it taking over your signal...this is it) and you'll swear you're playing a Tube head...except when you switch to a clean setting...in which case it will blow away ANY tube head's clean channel (which usually suck). I am using this with a Tubeworks Mosvalve 962 80/80 power amp into a peavey sheffield 4xq12, and 2x12 celsetion cab. I wouldn't recomment using a total solid state power amp, unless maybe it is high enough wattage to ensure that all the sound is coming from the preamp. The preamp comes with several presets created by artists like Joe Satriani (his lead preset is great, I use it myself), Frank Gambale, Steve Morse, Korn, Reeves Gabrels, etc. There are alot of cool reverbs for going direct to tape like room echos, studio room echos, cathedarls etc. which sound excellent and very realistic (i play with the headphones on and I keep thinking they're not because the reverb sounds so real.) The direct sound of the cleans is AMAZING especially utilizing ttwo tracks panned righ/left. The distorted sounds are ok direct, but much better in stereo. the phaser could be alittle warmer, but then again my power amp is not the warmest (I got it for heavy sounds)

have used without backup several times, never had any mechanical problems with it so far.

haven't had problems but I have dealt with digetch before (I am in UT and they are located a couple miles from me) they have always been excellent

It opens up many avenues creatively instead of being just locked into that tube-half stack sound. I love rack and I love this preamp. It has one really cool sound that I created which sounds just like a keyboard and has a volume swell. we have used this alot because we are a prog-metal band (profane oath) to obtain ambient and eerie whale-ghost type sounds. Visit our site at www.profaneoath.com

Ok to use, basically the same as the 2112. You will get used to it after a little while. I recommend talking with someone else who has one. that can be a big help. Just keep experimenting with all the tools in there and you will be amazed at the quality of sound!

The sound quality is absolutly awesome! I have NEVER heard its equal. It will do everything. Just name it and it will sound like it. I Use it with 7 Jackson USA various models. I then go into a Marshall 50/50 EL34 tube power amp. then to a Marshall 4x12 and a Laney 4x12. The outcome is unbelievable. Just terrific tone. I can get any sound I want with this. Works great for 80's metal.

I am rating a 7 because of my 2112. Maybe that isnt fair but that Is why I have the 2120 now. My 2112 went down. I just sent it in to be repaired. So far the 2120 is OK. I would not gig without a backup. I plan to use my 2112 as aback up when I get it back.

So far very good. I will give them a 8.

Very good. I highly recommend it. Even though I have had problems with my 2112 I bought a 2120 Instantly. There is nothing else out there that sounds like this. I would buy another one. I bought it from AMS. I recommend them over Musician's Friend anyday of the week. I have had problems with Musicians Friend.

Well, I'm a system programmer and network administrator, so it's easy for me to program the unit to obtain the effects I need. The manual is clear, but I had to read some chapters few times to understand the topics explained.
It's useful to consult http://www.egroups.com/list/2112-users/ forum.

The 2120 sounds great. I mean, you can simulate every amp you like, from plexi to mesa, or fender. But remember, it is a simulation, if you want the real sound you have to buy the real amp. All the effects are good, except the wha, in fact I use a Dunlop Cry Baby. I use a Gibson Les Paul Classic Premium Plus, a Gibson SG Standard and a Fender Telecaster Am. Std.; a Rocktron Velocity 500 (250 W stereo) through 2 Marshall 1960AV 4x12" Cabs. For acoustic stuff I use a Ibanez through the 2120 directly connected to the P.A. system. All configurations sound good, but you have to carefully set your patches accordingly to the guitar you'll use for every patch (i.e. gate noise, gain, eq and so on).

As backup I use a Fender Blues De luxe, with an Expandora distortion pedal and a Lexicon reverb unit. I have been using the 2120 for a year now and nothing has gone wrong. I updated my unit to version 2.10 by myself without problems.

I live in Italy, and I emailed Digitech to obtain informations about the upgrade. They took one day to reply to my e-mail with all informations I need.

I've been playing guitar for 20 years and now i play in a cover band, sometimes we play our own stuff, so we need a lot spectrum of sounds . I owned several Marshall tube heads, Fender combo, and a lot of pedals, but if you gig a lot, less things you have to setup and transport the better. I compared 2120 against Eventide, Rocktron, but I prefer the 2120. All effects are great (in stereo), except the wah, and if it were stolen I'll buy it again. Don't forget you can always upgrade your unit as soon as Digitech releases a new version! Your unit will rocks in the years!

Personally, I didn't find it all that hard to use. However, I spent a lot of time reading over the manual before I even bought it, so I was familiar with its workings the minute I first got my hands on it. There were a few things that the manual should have gone into greater detail, but overall the instructions were pretty decent. Dialing in different sounds was no problem. My unit was version 2.10. If you download RPEdit (which is a free program, and is small so it doesn't take forever to get off the internet) patch editing is REALLY easy. RPEdit is absolutely amazing. All you have to do is hook up the 2120 to your computer's midi ports, and start editing.

The 2120 sounds veeeeeery nice. I use a Les Paul Custom and a Fender Strat and a Carvin MTS 3212 amp with the 2120. If you really want to get the best sounds out of the 2120, make sure you have an amp with a great clean sound. Carvin amps have clean channels that sparkle. The 2120 is pretty quiet, depending on how you have the noise gate set up. No noise gate = lots of noise. Noise gate = no noise. The effects are only as good as your programming. If you spend time working on your patches, the effects will sound amazing.

Not reliable, none whatsoever. It was broken when I bought it new. I owned the stupid thing for one day. I had to send it to Digitech, because the store I ordered it from, KTJ Music, refused to take it back. So, word of advice: if you're gonna buy this thing, buy it from a local store where you can play it first and make sure it works. I ordered it from halfway across the country because KTJ had a good price. You'll be better off paying more and knowing that your 2120 will be in working condition. The expression pedal on my unit didn't work, and Digitech told me it was either the C1 foot controller, or the 2120. So, I had to send both out, and now I'm out of a lot of cash with no 2120 to show for it.

Well, Digitech was very friendly when I contacted them about getting the thing fixed. I'm just rather ticked off that I have to wait so long to get it back. 5 business days to ship it there, god knows how many days for Digitech to fix it, and 5 business days to get it back to me. Hmmmm... no, I'm not bitter. But they were very nice and helpful, and all of this is could have been expedited if KTJ Music would have exchanged a new working 2120 for my new broken 2120.

This processor rocks, when it works. I think that once you get one that does work, you won't have too many problems with it. That's the challenge... finding a reliable unit. The sounds that can come out of this unit are incredible. Just keep in mind that in order to get the sounds you are looking for, you have to spend the time and effort to create patches properly, instead of just turning a couple of knobs and hoping the tone you've been searching for would magically appear. Good tone is like money: it doesn't grow on trees. You have to get off your rear and work for it. I give this unit an overall low score, but it would be a 9 or 10 if I had a functioning 2120.

Overall, a fairly easy to use unit, once you get the idea of the signal flow and the way the DSP power is divided up (thanks to the pies in the manual, this is fairly easy). The parameters are all fairly well labelled, and a few things are a bit tricky to find at first (such as the volume pedal assignment), but after a short while it's really easy to use. I am a bit of a tech-head, though, and my band's singer wouldn't look twice at it, but if you're into rack units, it's as good as I've seen, and certainly a lot easier to program than any Lexicon unit I've used.

I'm using it mainly with a couple of Strats, and a Peavey 50/50 rack into stereo Marshall Cabs. The sound is wonderful - really high quality, rather than the lo-fi nonsense I had to put up with beforehand (Zoom 9150). Every sound is inspiring (apart from the Wah which is just workmanlike and a tad flat), although all the presets have stupid gate settings, they have some good programming in there to show you how to achieve things and inspire you to improve on them. My band sound is totally reliant on the 2120 - several songs are based around effects from the unit, and it seems capable of so much, especially given the two dynamic controllers and LFOs. That's all very well until it goes wrong . . .(see next section). The new software I have just received adds more effects (sampling and new 'reverse' mode - very trippy), and another 41 presets, which have reasonable gate settings, so Digitech must read some of our comments...

I have had a couple of odd goings on with the unit - firstly it sometimes resets itself (without loss of memory) when assigning a parameter to a footswitch. This seems to happen with no rhyme nor reason, and I couldn't duplicate it in the shop for them (looked v. silly). However, it never does it on a gig, as you're not programming then. I don't gig too often, but I have done every gig since getting the unit OK with no backup. However... The unit packed up totally once. I was just trying to select a program I had just done, and the C1 said '77777' and then I looked to see the display on the 2120 making no sense. I tried powering up and down, and resetting, all to no avail. So the unit had to be sent to Arbiter (UK distributor) to be repaired. It turned out it was the software (version 2.02, which is no longer current) had crashed terminally, and had to be replaced with the new version (2.10) To say that I was not best pleased about this would be an understatement of biblical proportions. This unit cost me the best part of a grand, and failed after using it for around 300 hours! That is terrible reliability - if it had happened at a gig I would have been really displeased. The new software adds a few new FX, but there is no information on what else it does - it would be good for us to know what other bugs have been fixed.

Rather mixed here - Digitech took over a week to reply to one e-mail I sent them about the occasional reset, and I didn't get a reply to my report of the unit's demise at all - in over a WEEK! I rely on this unit when I play with my band, and they seem not to care. However, Arbiter (UK distributor) despite their very poor reputation (I have had problems with them over other matters) did return the unit in a week, with the new EPROM installed (admittedly only a five-minute job, but it was done FOC). However, during the time I was without the unit I was told nothing, and when the unit was returned, there was no indication of what had been done, apart from 'New software fitted'. I have also found another bug in the new software (which crashes the unit when assigning controllers to FX parameters), but Digitech have not replied to that either! The Digitech site also has an outdated PDF manual for the unit, and this was a necessary download as the original manual (printed that came with the unit) had the same 'screenshot' for every programming example, so you couldn't really tell what was going on from the book - which proofreader (??) missed that one? In fact, overall I'd say their site's lack of precise info reflects how you get treated by the company.

Overall, if the unit stays reliable and crash-free, then it is fantastic. If the service was better, I would unreservedly recommend one - I may just be unlucky, but even if the unit does die, the support should be better than it is. That aside, it is a truly great unit - its sound only became apparent when I tried a make-do replacement of the front end of another famous make, and it sounded flat and terrible, compared just to the DigiTech preamp. If the unit was to fail totally and be unrepairable, I would probably buy another one, because the sounds on it are so fantastic, and it's a joy to program.

It is relatively easy to use. The more you play with it the more you can end up doing. Programming can be done easily. Doing more more advanced things such as linking LFO's to parameters can be a little more confusing.

I use a Marshall 8008 Power Amp in stereo with two marshall 4x12 cabinets. The sounds are incredible. The effects are great as well, and can be modified quite a bit. The solid state distortions and tube distortions sound great and the ability for them to used at the same time is a great feature to increase the different sounds you can use.

I have only had few problems with it locking up, but only while editing programs that usually use a lot of processing, (such as linking LFO's to parameters while using both Distortion and Tube). I've never had any problems with it on the stage, and wouldn't worry about it while doing a gig. I would recommend backing up you own programs. I have played many shows with out a back up and have had no problems.

They were very helpful when I had a problem with a lock up. They told me how to fix it and also sent me an upgrade chip free of charge.

I use this processor for modern rock sounds. There are so many varieties that it is unbelieveable. If it were lost or stolen I would get another in an instant and not even think about getting another. It is defintely worth the money and a processor for life.

The sound of this thing is mind blowing..everything from crystal clear cleans to (my) Death rattle distortion. Editing patches is easy but as all processors go, it takes time to get what you want especially in the case of strange noises and more complicated sounds. The manuel is the first thing you shuld look at when you get this piece of gear, other wise it'll just look like a bunch of buttons and knobs. I never had any upgrades or mods to it, I am completely satisfied with it.

I am running like so= Custom Tele droped down to B with a single Muy Grande pickup in the bridge> Morley bad horsey Wah> Krog DTR-2 tuner> Artist 2120> Marshall JCM 2000/Mesa Boogie Formula and a mesa 2:90> (marshall) 1960 4x12 wiht green backs/ (mesa) Custom 4x12 with Eminence Ev style speakers set up to be in stereo to accomidate the mesa.....The Artist is not noisy at all. The effects are unimaginable, no weak sounds, but I did have to mess with the noise gate on my distoriton to keep it from clipping. I USE MY OWN SOUNDS AND DO NOT TRY TO COPY OTHERS SO I AM NOT IN ANY WAY AT THE POSITION TO SAY IF YOU CAN GET A VIA SOUND OR A BROWN SOUND OR WHAT EVER! Every effect on this thing is the complete thing.

IT is very dependable, no doubt it has never broke down and it has been through some abuse thanks to idiots who like to throw things. The only back up I have are my amps distortion so if this thing fails (which I doubt it ever will) all I have is some killer amp distortion. I ahve been using this piece for a year now and nothing has gone wrong,

I emailed the company and have always got responses to my emails. It has never had to be reapaired.

I play hard core, but i use all types of strange noises and this thing does the job, I owned a voo doo valve made by rocktron and it had good sounds but I couldn't get a pedal board for it thanks to the shitty rep. If it was stolen I would defaintly buy another one right away, its my main sound. I own other effects but I ojnly use them in a side project this thing is used with the main band I'm in but I am most likely gonna incorpirate it into the other project. It has everything and that is no bull.EMAIL ME IF YA NEED ANY HELP OR ADVICE ON THIS THING.

It is not always easy to get a good sound out of it directly, but after spending some time on it, the results are great. Editing is easy and (almost) everything is put out properly in the manual.

I am using it with a Gibson and a Ibanez together with an marshall valvestate amplifier. The noisyness of the sounds depends on the guitar, but you can change the settings if you want to, so that's no problem. One of the difficult things of teh 2120 is to get the volumes of the different effects are not always easy to get even with eachother. It's no problem to get a sound from a specific artist, at least if you know how to handle the processor. The chorusses and distortion but also the delay and whammy effects are very good.

Till now i haven't had any problem with it but a friend of mine had a spontanous reset at one time, so that really sucked. You can store the effects on your PC, but you'll need a softwarepackage to do that. the FC shows some problems to now and then, like a LED that doesn't work anymore or even a whole button. I don't have a backup for it so i use it at gigs without backup.

the company was helpfull with questions and with reparing the little things

I play a lot of musical styles and till now it has been a good match

Considering I had never used a digital multi-fx unit before, I thought
it was very user friendly. My only other experience with multi-fx was a Korg-A5. I know one thing for sure. As soon as I hooked it up I couldn't beleive some of the great sounds that were jumping out of my amp. Though I did download and read (many times) a copy of the manual, while the 2120 was on backorder, it really didn't help much. Editing patches didn't take long for me to get the hang. You just have to keep storing as you go along, or else one wrong push of a button and wham you are back to square one. The main thing to remember with a unit like the 2120 is to have patience! Patience! Patience!

I'm running a PRS Custom-22 into a Shure LX-14 wireless, through the 2120 in stereo into a Peavey Classic 50/50 stereo amp into a Peavey 4x12 stereo cab. I found most of the patches to be very, very quiet. Although someone needs to shoot whoever is setting up the noise gates in the patches. Awsome digital effects (those of you who would like an almost acoustic sound out an electric guitar, check out the pre-delay effect. You'll have to do some tweaking but it can really sound great. Kick ass EQ's available. I've been using the 31 band GEQ and although it takes a whole disc it's worth it.

Have had mine for 9 months hauling it back and forth to gigs and practice with no problems.

N/A

In 27 years of playing everything from Patsy Kline to AC/DC I think you can find any sound you want out of the 2120. It's in there you just have to dig it out (remember the 31 band GEQ). I would not hesitate to buy another.

Not reccomended for begeiners.Very flexible,but it takes some time to achive the sound you desire.The munuel only make you finish faster your cigarets.After you get the basic programing,you pretty much notice that it is not that bad.

My set up is fender strat delux plus with seymour duncan pickups in bridge and neck,to the 2120 to crate 160 wat with electro voice ellemet.The distortion sound is very hot,very dynamik,and because i can open like 4 e.q. system,my sound can have all the midds(the frequency from god by the way)and bass i need.reverb and delay are goos,also the compressor and noise gate.I made a sound like gerg howe "introspection" with not much diffucult.

nothing yet.

No need so far.

I work in a guitars shop and i get alots of equipment.This is the most awasome machine i tryed.

Very easy to use. Just installed version 2.10. The interface allows you to get deep within any parameter quickly and is set up similar to an amplifiers controls. I understand some people find it difficult to use but this may be because there are so many options, with multiple pages of parameters for each sound module at your disposal it could seem overwhelming, but i like the idea of all those choices when tweaking sounds. You can get good sounds right out of the box and editing patches is a breeze (Did i mention the really cool display with the little guitar symbol that has a chain of fx modules plainly laid out in front of you, Great Display and gives alot of info) As far as the manual it's not much, it points you in the right direction giving you just enough information to get you playing, which to me is cool because i was able to learn all the basics of usage quickly by going through the manual with the unit in front of me. Besides if you really wanna learn all about it then thats only gonna come from using it anyway, period. I give it a 10 because it is IMHO the most user friendly processor of its caliber that i have ever used.

Deluxe American Strat with an EMG DG-20 (3 SA single coils with active EQ) installed. Right now I'm headphoning it because I havent decided on an amp to use. All the effects sound wonderful even through the headphones!! I can't wait to hear what this sounds like driving a stereo power amp. This unit is very quiet too! My favorite guitar player is a fellow by the name of Jaime West-Oram and I can get something real close to his sounds from the 2120, which is saying alot if youve ever heard him playing, Remember The Fixx? - a great band which always painted awesome studio sounds, particularly with Rupert Hine as producer back in the 80's. The distortion is a cannon primed and ready and the digital sounds are like fine china and crystal, now that sounds like a right good song to me!! All in all creating awesome sounds with the 2120 is no problem, no problem at all. It gets a 9 only because there are better sounding, though more expensive!, racks out there.

Had it a couple of months. No problems and hasn't crashed or acted funny yet. Fingers Crossed. Don't know about a gig without backup, that doesnt seem like a good idea, if you can afford it, whatever you are using. I give it an 8 because it hasn't bugged me yet and i havn't really had it long enough to rate it better.

Good. i e-mailed twice, the first time to ask something and they had an answer to me in three days, the second was for the V2.10 upgrade and they got right back and i had the chip in about 10 days. So far so good and an 8 easily.

What else can i say, you can't find right now more bang for your buck. My only complaints would have to be... no option to place fx loop after the preamp, the wahs a bit weak, no rear input, and no power tube (Why is it that no company that i know of has got a real tube sound from a real power tube, a cabinet emulator that sounds like an overdriven speaker, and multi-effects like the 2120 into a rack yet? - The World May Never Know) This is the closest to it that this player knows of and i give it a 9.

Plug it in, hit the power switch, and Bam, Tone Monster baby! I tweaked the gate down to acceptable levels, twisted the gain, turned down the input to avoid a clip, (Very kool digital clip meter)run it into a pair of M/Mans w EL/34's cranked up clean, and get out of the way! This machine is the cats meow for anyone who knows the sound they want, have enough experience with three thousand foot pedals and know exactly what the pedals do,(and won't do,) Not for the faint at heart. Plan to spend some time with it or else buy a stomp box. At first you will be completely lost, but with some time you will learn that it works alot easier than it initially appears. Like a nice new car, but it doesn't take as much time to wax......

Les Paul-Deluxe-PAF's (3),...Paul Reed Smiths (2) (Custom built for me)with Lindy Fralins (Staggered Noiseless Pickups),Kustom K-200-w/Bill Lawrences, Standard Strats, and Tele's (9), Acoustics w/variety of pickups, Pickup sensitivity is/can be an issue, considering the nature of some pickups.....(Kool digital input clipping meter again) Just as filthy or clean as you want or ever need....Clapton, Hendrix, Vai, Satriani, Johnson, Billy Gibbons, Allen Holdsworth, John Petrucci, Zappa, Lou Reed, Jerry Garcia,(Ahem) Robert Fripp, Andy Summers, Brian May,(No Kidding) Lynch, Korn, On, and On, and On,. I have yet to be stumped. This rig is every bit Triaxis,(S/S) Echh!,(I really do love Mesa) and the new Marshall (Stomp Box) I hear is modeled after some of the sounds in this rig. (Even the big boys can be inspired)
Even the TC Electronics G-Force wasn't worth the extra Bux with this in the running. A few add ons, and your set.


Clean as the driven snow. Amazing--I can record direct to DAT, and my sound guy worships the ground I walk on. Can't be easier to sound good. (this is no small feat for a guitarist)
Effects are coupled with Yamaha FX/SPX processing, and Midi-Link the two so a preset on one, changes the other as well so I've doubled my presets in each bank. Presently adding a SGX -200 for the direct outs, for even more versatility. I couldn't be happier. Alesis/DBX would work good too. I like to take some of the processing tasks and route them to other rigs, It keeps each rig clean, and FAST! I like fast presets.(Frippertronics man!)

Broke down out of the box new. Sent it in, and four, yep (4) days later got it back after sending it in to be repaired.

Perfect.

Unbelievable.

Word to the wise,...Never, ever be without backup, if your serious about your craft. Power is a funny thing, and everywhere you play,(generally clubs have inherently bad power supply's) (Think of all those dorks there playing with the wiring before you) The owners don't have that high on the priorities list either.....Be safe.

Get power conditioning and forget about it becoming your problem.

And get a SKB Case PLEASE>>>>>>>>>! Don't be a turd, and set it on your amp........(Ahem) Are you there Mikey?

I've had it back a year now, and it works flawlessy.

Waiting for the latest (FREE) update of software...Can't get better than that...Free?????? Are they nuts or somethin'....

Did I mention that it broke down?

I've been playing Pro for 20 years, and started in '65, and I've never had so much fun.

Anybody want to sell theirs, I will gladly make them an offer.
I have a studio, and want one for the rack,...jus' cuz.

And It Looks Kool Too. Jimi would be proud.

As with any really high end gear.... Don't spend the dime, if you don't spend the time.

Plus the Digitech users group is there to help you get started. or, dial in a tone your looking for if you can't find it....

E-mail me, and I'll gladly help you out if you have any questions, or need help.

I'm tellin' ya, It's in there.............

I turned it on, and was amazed. I had already had an RP-12, so I was familiar with the type of programing needed to operate the unit. Editing took some getting used to because ther eare SOOO many pages. It totally confirms the rocket science factor in Digitech products.
I have firmware version 2.01. I will be getting 2.04 as soon as they release it.

I'm playing Godin LGX-SA which goes into a GR-30, and the guitar output runs into the 2120 and goes to a Twin Reverb reissue. It's only noisy when the gain is up high, and the Noise gate is before the tube/distortion preamp. the only weak effect I have found it the reverse gated reverb. But knowing Digitech, it'll just taje soem tweaking to get it right.

Never had a problem with it.

N/A. It hasn't broken yet, and my local music guy is excellent about taking care of this stuff.

This unit rocks! I would highly recommend it to any guitar player who likes to mess with his/her sound until it is truly "theirs". The thing I love most is the ability to set your own effects routing. You could have eight flangers going if you wanted! Or a flanger, phaser, two chruses, a reverb, two delays, and a pitch shifter. These all in addtion to the tube and/or solid state preamp and the EQ sections, and a effects loop! Infinite programming capability.

The interface is complicated but logical. It is broken down into sections, i.e. Preamp, EQ, Effects loop, ect. I could see it being difficult for someone to use at first, and especially difficult for someone who has'nt used a multi-effects unit before. But after reading the manual (A MUST) and playing around with the unit for a while, anyone with half a brain should be able to work the unit.
The depth of sound and parameter editing on this thing is almost boundless. I personally have gotten many, many high quality sounds and am still finding more all of the time.
The manual is OK, as it only explains the basics with any clarity, but it gets you introduced to the interface. After that, you're on your own.

Software Version 2.02

I use humbucker equipped guitars exclusively. I use a Paul Reed Smith EG, Hamer Archtop, Epiphone Les Paul, Epiphone G1275 doubleneck. My signal chain is guitar->Shure wireless unit->VSG2120->Mesa/Boogie 50/50 stero tube power amp->Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Recto cab.

I play all original heavy pop/rock in the vien of Foo Fighters/Smashing Pumpkins and this thing delivers the tone. There is some noise on the heavily distorted settings, but the noise gate is very versatile, and you can quiet up the unit nicely. On all other settings, this thing is as quiet as a mouse. No problems here.

The effects in this thing range from the not-too-bad category to totally awesome. For example, the wah on this this is fair at best. When I first got the unit I never used a wah, so it did'nt bother me too much. But I've gotten very wah friendly lateley and ended up getting a Morley Bad Horsie and running it through the effects loop. If you're a casual wah user, it should be fine. The digital effects are excellent! Chorii, reverbs, delays, pitch shifters, harmonizers, all very good to great sounding. If you can't get the sound you're looking for in here, you're not looking hard enough.

I personally have changed my sound a few times, (you know how us guitarists are, NEVER satisfied) and EVERY time I went digging in this box, I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. I like a lot of different artisis, from RUSH to Pink Floyd to Metallica, and I'm sure this thing would get the sounds. Currently my tone could be described as a cross between Hetfield and Lifeson. Heavy but textural.

The distortions are fine if you're not one of those Eric Johnson tone freaks. They are well defined, articulate and very versatile. I play many live shows in the Chicago area and many, many players have complimented me on how good my tone is.

One last point, there is a feature in this unit that no-one has talked about, and I feel that it is one of the most important. This unit has a little feature called "seamless effects morphing". In other words, when you change patches, the effects don't just cut off when the new program loads (like ALL of the other processors that I have tried) the patches "morph" or blend into each other, giving a very professional sounding program change. Your reverbs tail off, your delays finish decaying. Very cool.

I have had it for over a year now and not had a single problem with it. I keep my old Digitec RP-6 around for a backup, just in case. When you gig, the show must go on.

Never talked to them.

I play heavy pop/rock and this thing is a perfect match for my style. Great sounds, and always another trick up it's sleeve. I have been playing for 18 years. If this little guy were lost or stolen, I'd go check the market again (they come up with new shit every day) and do A/B comparisons to this thing. If I could find something better for the same price, I'd get it. But I don't think that new box exists yet.
I compared this thing to the Rolands, the Lexicons, the ARTs, and the ADA's. You can't beat it, in my opinion.

I just wish it had a better wah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can't say.

cAN't say.

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

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

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

Only had it a week and a half

Haven't needed them yet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like I said, I just got it today

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

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

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

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

Never dealt with them.

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

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

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

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

4) No digital out.

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

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

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

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

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

Digitech is usually pretty prompt with any questions via email.

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

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

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

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

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

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