DigiTech BP-200

I was impressed by the usablity of the expression pedal and
variable knobs. The knobs are limited in their live
usablity - they are more for programming ahead of time.
I discovered that the EQ is especially well thought out. There
are three knobs, and each is assigned a tonal range, IE - one
affects low, one mid, one high. You dial each and the screen
reflects what you are modifying. The same dials work for all
the effects and modeling parameters. Therefore, for each
effect the knobs have a variable control and a level control,
and an effect within the bank control. Meaning, choose the "effects"
bank, then use Knob 1 to scroll between "phaser" to "flange" to
"envelope" etc. Then knob 2 controls the amount or rate. Knob
3 controls the effect level. This is very intuitive and can
even be accessed during a jam, though only if you can get
a hand free!

I am using an Ampeg 1x15 100 watt combo amp, in a carpeted basement
jam room. When I am not playing a note, the amp is silent with
the effects on. The effects seem quite noise free (IE - very
little "buzzing" or "humming" type noises )The effects come fairly
well programmed. There are some volume issues , which with some
basic programming can be easily reset. Some of the distortion and
fuzz patches can be quite loud, and may seem to be much
louder than the adjacent effects banks which do not contain Fuzz
or Overdrive. I enjoy a modulation effects immensely. The flange,
phaser and envelope filter are especially nice. I haven't quite
got the hang of the fretless emulator yet. I noticed that
some of the sweeping sounds can produce odd trebled tones. These
seem to be a product of the effects, and does not seem erroneous.
The amount of effect is crucial in these types of effects. If they
are set to full sensitivity or full effect, they can sometimes
"swallow" the bass tones. This only occurs when they are set
at extreme range (99 to 100) rolling back to 90 produces
significantly better results. Overall, none of the effect seem
to degrade the bass tone, except in cases when too much effect is
happening, in a way that causes strange EQ conditions. Imagine putting
a WAH on the all treble position, then playing bass through it.
It's a band pass filter, so the low end goes away! The wah and
EQ filtering effects have been carefully set to match the frequencies
a bass produces.

I researched 4 different multi-effects pedals in this price range.
They were the Korg AX1B, the DOD Bass 30,the ZOOM BFX708, and the
Digitech BP200. The Digitech is the ONLY pedal that is constructed
of metal. The housing is metal, the foot pedal (expression) is
metal, as is the housing that connect the pedal to the unit. The
other three are all plastic-pedal, casing, buttons. The Digitech
is also the only pedal (I believe..) that is Made in America.
I believe it to be a very sturdy construction, especially compared
to the competition of equal price.

I have not dealt with them before for repairs.

I play jam oriented music. My main inspiration is String Cheese
Incident, Phish, moe., Disco Biscuits, Grateful Dead, Allman
Brothers, Eagles, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles...I have been playing
guitar for about 10 years, and recently switched to bass
about 1 year ago. I haven't gotten into this effect enough to hate anything about it, but the drum machine is somewhat lame. It doesn't allow editing of the beats in anyway,and is somewhat difficult to access to change beats or tempo. Not a major concern, though. I didn't know it had a drum machine in it when I bought it! I have a Roland Human Rhythym composer which is quite outdated, but still works much better than this.
For practice by yourself it's fine. May be a bit tricky to use
as a click track for a drummer, or other band members.

As for the effect box, it does helps me make music. Since I bought the bass rig I've stayed away from all effects and concentrated on my chops and getting the reach up to speed on the bass neck. Now that I am comfortable with the longer neck of the bass, and have settled in a groove this allows me to stretch a little more and add some funk. It
really helps to have those envelope type effects for pop and slap
as it accents the percussive sounds. I am happy with this
purchase. For the price I could get one Boss stompbox that does
one effect. This has 60 banks, and a very effective interface
for customizing each of the effects that comprise each of the banks.
It sits on top of my amp for now, so I can adjust the effects by hand.
The display is legible in the dark, under my desk when I put it
on the floor for foot use. That is something very lacking in the Korg
AX1B-the screen display is horrible on the Korg. Go play the effects before you buy them. Pay attention to the way it's put together. The sounds are crucial, but only if the device will stand the test of time. My final thought is that anything with the word "stomp" describing the type of box it is, has no place being made of plastic. That was 98% of the deciding factor for me, and why I bought the Digitech - it's solid, sturdy metal, and sounds great for a very limited budget!

This product is very easy to use and the User's Guide is well written and informative. I actually started using this pedal with out reading the User's Guide. It has (3) knobs for adjusting the major parameters. It has a select button for selecting amp/cabinet modeling as well as the various effects. The store button is for storing up to 40 user definable patches. You can also name your patches with up to (6) alphanumeric characters. The tuner is also very easy to use as well as being very accurate to the lower bass notes which is uncommon with some guitar tuners! The Rhythm Trainer is easy to use and sounds like a basic drum machine with looped drum patterns. I find this very useful for practicing solos and grooves! The drum sounds are not all that realistic but it beats the heck out of a metronome any day! The tempo and pattern (loop) are selectable. It has 31 loops of various styles to choose from. This is actually one of the reasons why I purchased this product! My only complaint or suggestion to DigiTech is that the Rhythm Trainer should have been able to start and stop with one of the pedals. You can bypass it by pressing the two pedals at once but that also bypasses your selected effects and tones. In other words, it bypasses everything and leaves your bass tone dry. The BP200 comes with a proprietary 9 Volt AC adaptor. It can?t be ran on batteries and should not be used with power blocks that power multiple pedals. Most all multi-pedal power blocks on the market produce DC power. Again, the BP200 uses AC power when most other pedals (Boss, Ibanez, Danelectro, Arion, MXR, etc.) use DC power.

I use mostly US made Spector active basses, Warwick German made active basses and Gibson made passive Thunderbird basses. I use a Trace Elliot 12 Band head with Ampeg 4X10H and 115 cabs. This is my most common setup but I do have other processing equipment that I use from time to time. Actually this leads me to my next concern! I have a flight case full of Boss pedals, a Sansamp Bass Driver DI, electronic tuner, Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal, etc.! I have NO use for any of these items anymore! I may keep a delay pedal but other than that, the DigiTech BP200 takes the place of all other items! Infact it works very well as a DI box with its high quality modeling technology! I am very surprised at how great this product sounds at any price! In fact it costs just a few bucks more than the average, single purpose stomp box and does 100% more!
I have also used the BP200 with my recording studio running DI with out any amp or other preamp and it sounds GREAT!

I have not had any problems with the BP200 but I have not had it very long.
This product is made of cast aluminum with a cast aluminum modulation/volume pedal and a stamped steel bottom. It seems to be put together very well and was made in the USA! Many other products like this are plastic and made in overseas factories by slave laborers. The BP200 is painted in a cool metallic blue finish and has a bright green (6) digit LCD. This unit is only about 8? X 10? in size but does the duty of 30 other products combined! It is very portable as well. It has 4 stick-on rubber feet. I will have to remove them to apply Velcro before installing in my flight case pedal board.

I have not had to deal with DigiTech customer support. In fact this is my first DigiTech product. I have owned DOD and Johnson products by the same company. The Johnson stuff was very high quality but the DOD stuff was Dead On Delivery! I feel that the DigiTech and Johnson products are a higher caliber than the DOD entry-level pedals. I do think it is cool that you can download just about any DigiTech User Guide at their web site. The will even mail you some that date back over a decade! WOW!

I have been in the professional music business for over a decade now. It is not often that you find a high quality product like the BP200 with so many uses especially at such a reasonable price! This product seems to be very versatile for all styles of music. I feel that it is allot of bang for the buck and has the sound quality, build and features of multiple items that cost a lot more and take up much more room!!! If it were stolen, I would defiantly replace it with another BP200. This is a very practical, helpful and user-friendly product even for professional use!

This is a great effects box.It is built very sturdy with a metal casing.The manual is very easy to uderstand.

I'm running it through the effects loop of a Peavey TNT 115 w/horn and Crate BX410E extension cabinet.My two basses I use are a Fender Active Jazz 4-string and an Alvarez AEB5PB 5-string.I can sound like I'm playing through much more expensive equipment with the amp and cabinet simulator.I can go from a Jaco fretless to a Larry Graham fuzz.A Bootsy Collins-like envelope filter to a Marcus Miller-type chorus.

I plan on using it for club gigs and in my home studio.

The online registration was simple.

The BP200 is ideal for bassist who like using effects.Even though I've only had it for a couple of hours.There's alot of fun in my future with it.I was freaked out by the arsenal of sounds this thing can produce.It's not noisy like other multi-effects processors,delivering a studio-grade sound.My only dislike is the EQ which has just three bands,Low,Midrange,and High.I'm going to throw my crappy DOD BassTech to the side and use my BP200 from now on.

I recently recieved my BP-200 in the mail after foaming from the mouth when it didn't come on the scheduled day. When I first plugged it in I went through all the preset patches. It's a good thing to do to see what this puppy can do. I found it very easy to use, and the manual does a thourough job explaining the jist of what this processor can do. I especially liked how they gave a brief description of the effects, because I had no idea what the definition of a whammy was. There is an expression pedal that was easy to calibrate. Mine is a little too hard to push up and down, but I think its because I still need to get the handle of it.

I use a Fender standard P-bass and an Ibanez GSR205 with a Crate BFX100(I like effects you see). The only thing I can complain about is the chorus. Like the previous review, I tend to get muddy sound on low notes. I really enjoy the fretless simulator. One thing that I tend to use when creating patches is one of the fuzz progs.

It's all metal. The expression pedal is too, but the footswitches are plastic, but I still trust them not to break on me. If something broke, or if it was stolen, I'd probably punch a hole in my wall, then order another one or get it repaired.

Never delt with Digitech. If they offer upgrades on this thing I'll definitely pay whatever thier asking(unless its ridiculous)

I play from Emocore, Punk, Metal, to Industrial. This baby really helps me with the effects I need. I tried Zoom pedals, but they didn't really enthrall me all too much. Someone told me that they heard that Digitech didn't have such a great line of products, but they were wrong. I would've bought a Bass POD perhaps used, but even used you can't find one under 200, and if you can there's probably something very wrong with it. In short, if you want a realiable effects processor/amp modeler, then invest the money in this thing. You wont be disappointed.

I found patch editing to be very easy, with a concise manual to boot. The pre-set patches give a good example of what can be done with this processor, and are very tweakable.

My setup is a Fender Jazz Bass with stock pickups through an SWR 4004, through a custom built 4x10. I only had a small amount of noise when I first turned it on, but I haven't experienced any since. I don't try to emulate other sounds usually, but I have played around with getting a Bootsie envelope sound, a Brian Eno synth swell, and a Flea tightness. The results were good, I thought. Considering that I am not (currently) an effects nut, nor an audiophile, I will give this unit a 9. I play music, not equipment. The amp and cab simulators are quite impressive though ;)

I haven't played many shows with it, and I still carry it in its box. It's all metal - I trust it. The only thing that concerns me is that while editing effects, the display elements randomly twinkle on sometimes.

Never dealt with Digitech.

I play emo/punk/metal, with lots of melody in my lines, and I almost never use distortion. It has been a good match so far. I've been playing for 9 years, mostly jazz, ska, and the aforementioned. I would buy this unit again - for $140 it is just what I need, without being dumbed-down. It's a great utility box. I compared this with Toneworks and the Digitech BP8, and this hit my price/usefulness point. My favorite features are the chromatic tuner, range of cabs/amps, and the fact that I can assign the expression pedal to control any parameter I want. Like I said, I'm not an effects nut - so if you are, you probably want something more tweaky - but I believe in a good solid sound and utility to create a sound close to what I want.

Very easy to use. Making your own effects is simple, but you need to read the manual first to get the hang of things. The tuner is nice to have to you can see if your in tune if you play really hard and pull the strings outa tune.

I have a hammer slammer, i know i need to upgrade. I also have a Ibanez amp, works well. Its kinda noisy on some of the presets but you can change the level pretty easy. The chours like the BP8 needs some work, its too weak when its low, then too mushy when you turn it up.

its an all metal case, the buttons seem like a good quality plastic and the pedal is really secure. I havent tried it yet, but i bet i could drop this off my house and it wouldnt hurt it. i kick it on stage and stuff.

never dealt with them

i play like hard rock, metal, like Living Sacrifice, Zao, P.O.D. i've only really been playing about a year now but im doing really good. I tried this out with a really nice Squire bass and its sound was still great if not better. If it were stolen id be pissed and id defently buy the same one. the only thing i dont like is you have to press both pedals at once for some stuff, i like the envelope filter and the wah best. I looked at some Zoom stuff but i didnt really like the sounds i got out of them.