DigiTech BP-8 Bass Processor

The Bp-8 is very easy for me to use. It's the first serious processor I've ever had and I learned how to use it by downloading the manual from Digitech's website long before I bought the actual unit. The patches are easy to edit. They may take a few minutes, but a good sound isn't something that you can just slap together in a couple of seconds. The only problem I ever have adjusting the presets is a slight case of dislxia because I get the value up/down buttons mixed up the parameter up/down.

I have an Alvarez AEB205 with a Peavy TNT 115 and my pedal board has the Boss ODB-3, Boss DS-1, the Big Muff (Russian), Boss FZ-3, Dunlop Bass Crybaby, and Ibanez VL-10 volume pedal. Just before I got the BP-8, all I had was the guitar, amp, ODB-3, Crybaby and the volume. I felt that my tone was lacking something. When I plugged in the BP-8, the tone lacked nothing. I've read reviews by people that say the Bp-8 killed there sound, they couldn't get any low end, the distortions didn't sound good and all kinds of garbage. If you don't kow anything about how to use a preamp and a compressor and an eq, or if you're just plain retarded, then I can see a problem. I love the distortions and the only reason I have the additional stomp boxes is because I like a wide variety of sounds. None of the distortion voicings will sound like any of the stomp boxes no matter how I tweak' em. I use different clean settings to boost or otherwise alter my stomp box sounds. The other effects work great too. The three wah's are all funky and sound way different from the crybaby. My only beef with the modulation/pitch effects is that you can only use one at a time. This unit is such a huge element in my set up that I can't even go to a music store and play on a different set up. I tried twice and I just wasn't impressed with anything.

I've read reveiws from people saying that it was broken right out of the box or broke within a couple of days. I've had mine for a year and have nothing to complain about. I live in Oregon and I bought the thing in California and it survived the airline flight home and another road trip to and from California.

I haven't had to find out what the customer service is like.

I play worship music at church, industrial, rapcore, and othe rhard rock stuff. The BP-8 can cover all fields. If it were solen I would get another ASAP. I love the various preamp settings and all the tonal possibilities. I compaerd it with the Boss ME-8B and the Crate BFX-100 and it blows them both away. I've been playing for 7 years and I wish I had this thing from the beginning. I couldn't get my current sound without it.

You really don't need to be a rocket scientist to work your way through the BP-8. The poatch parameters are laid out right in front of you and you can switch modes quite easily. The manual is a good guide for which patches are which, but after a week or so you won't need it.

I've used the BP-8 solely through a 700watt Peavey Firebass amp with six kevlar 10" speakers. You really need a powerful amp with heavy duty speakers to get all of the rich nuances that are in the effects. The chorus is a great example. You get crisp cutting highs with room shaking lows that a budget amp just wouldn't carry. Some patches are louder than others but that can be fixed easily. The synth sounds are very cool and the chorus is fantastic. The different reverbs, tremolo, and distortions are especially good at making a six-string bass sound just like a guitar if played in the upper register. The noise gate is a bit too sensitive. It can be shut off, though without compromising too much. The expression pedal helps if you cut the noise gate, nut only on certain patches.

After three and a half years and hundreds of road trips it still works like a champ. I had to get the power supply replaced about a year ago and they're pricey-$50.

Never needed it.

It's the brain of my operation. I've played rock, jazz, funk, metal, bluegrass, fusion, and techno, and I always bring the BP-8 to every gig. There's something on it for everyone.

Easy and strait forward use. I haven't found much need for the manual.

The sound quality is so to my liking that I run through a power amp rather than using a bass head in my rig. The bend modulation and the distortion effects need to be revised though. I would like to have a send/return loop on the prosessor so I can use other peddles without adding to the noise. The chorus effect is really cool for mellow lines.

When I play live it would be nice to be able to program the names of all the patches like most of the guitar prosessors do. I have written down all my settings to be on the safe side. It takes ages to tweek sounds okey!

I love the choice and sound quality. The lack of good distortion doesn't bother me as I own distortion peddles. I would like to know if any other bass peddles are comming out with send/return loops on them.

The BP-8 is "Digitech" easy to navigate. If you've used the Matrix-style of settings, this will be nearly identical to work with.

As is true with any multi-effects processor, it can only be as good as the guitar and amp(s) used. The Nemesis 200watt combo I use provides enough low end in its 15" speaker and enough high-end in the tweeter, that I use the BP-8 to accent these already very good tones.

The manual is a good REFERENCE, but that aside, play with the settings on your own. Start clean, and start layering things in until you find the sound you are looking for. If something sounds "too digital" or "too out of tune", back that setting off a bit! Use common sense -- don't crank your distortion and expect silent operation. :)

Since nothing is perfect, and I use my amp to make the sound, and the effects to do just that, I gave this an 8, with the only comment that the display could have had the RP2000's style for patch naming.

Taking the BP-8 out to headphones is not a good judge of its capabilities, even though it does showcase the stereo effects.

Buy a good amp or go into a mixer with the BP-8, and you will find much more successful tone qualities than going through a $100 amp from a pawn shop.

Anything made of metal versus plastic will last longer. I've owned 3 Digitech multi-effects processors (RP6, RP2000 and now the BP-8), and several have been dropped and still run fine. Others have survived fires and still work as new.

I have tried the Zoom BFX708, which with my existing guitar and amp, was far too noisy due to a weak noise gate and general lower quality. The Line6 Bass POD was better, but not only was the sound quality dull, it would randomly start making popping noises during the middle of performances. I then exchanged the Bass POD for the BP-8 and found an immediate improvement in sound quality, reliability and consistancy.

Some people commented about the buttons needing a spring adjustment. This may have been fixed in the newer BP-8's, as mine does not exhibit any problems after over 2 weeks of 4-8 hours use.

I would, and already do, play with the BP-8 without a backup. And why not?

Never needed them.

I play everything from Christin worship music to heavy metal and everything inbetween. Keeping in mind that this is NOT a guitar, but a bass, the Digitech BP-8 is everything I paid for and more. Buy thism, and spend the money for a GOOD bass amp (with at least 2 12" or 1 15" speaker, and 150watts) and you will not be sorry.

I've been playing bass for about 5 years, and after 2 of which playing direct into combo amps, I bought the Nemesis I use now. 2 months ago, I started looking at bass effects processors, and as said, was quickly dissapointed with Zoom's quality, and Line6's Bass Pod's reliability. The Digitech BP-8 has not disappointed me in either area, and has actually excited me into playing even more often, and showcasing some of its features on stage during bass solos.

If it were stolen, I would be pissed, and reluctantly call upon insurance money to replace it, then track the thief down and make them regret my losing all the patches I worked so hard to create.

Suggestions to improve the BP-8:
1. 8-16 letter display for patch names and more verbose effects tweaking.
2. Like the RP2000, make the expression pedal able to be enabled or bypassed by pressing down on the toe.
3. Make the noise gate slightly less pronounced (let it fade out, not cut as the bass input signal fades.
4. MIDI interface, which could be used to transfer patches from either a Digitech repository or other DigiTech products to the BP-8 (ok, that's a stretch, but hey, it's a wish list!)

Of the 3 effects processors I have tried, the BP-8 blows the other two out of the water. Don't let the "Line6" name fool you like it did me, they are not perfect or the best. They're good, but not reliable. Likewise, don't let the name "Digitech" fool you into thinking your sound will be "digital" or fake. Use your amp for what it is, and use your effects processor for what it does best -- effects!

Go Digitech!

This Effects unit has the most effects I've ever used. Because of the quantity of effects and memory storage areas, it is a little overwhelming.(I had to eat my pride and read the manual).After using the manual it became easy to use.

The sounds are great for live, I dont know about studio. Like everything it adds a little bit of noise to the signal,...nothing to get upset about. I like to use the compressor, preamps(distortion), EQ, and sometimes a wah, but I stay away from delays, flange and chorus (All MUD in my opinion )although all the above are good effects. One thing I dont like is the time it takes to switch effects (around a tenth of a second) You have to press the pedal around one 16th note before to get the switch timing right. The EQ is a 4 band parametric. I'd rather a 9 pand graphic.

10 practices and 3 gigs so far and no trouble ( where is something made of wood to knock on ).If it failed in a gig I doubt the audience or the rest of the band would miss it ( no backup required it's just an effect unit ).

No experiences yet.Like most electronics i would anticipate a bad experience.

I was looking for a general purpose effects unit and thats what this is. I whould buy it again if lost or stollen,...If it failed and I got unsatisfactory support from both distributer and manufacturer I would go to the competition if they had something similar.

I still cannot figure it out.

Sounds like shit. The chorus makes the damn thing sound out of tune.Don't you think harmonizers should be in the same key?

Absolute shit. I am afraid to play on it anymore. I am serious. So far, the pedals have all broken off. The black electrical tape looks sooooo GOOD.

Busy signal-busy signal-busy signal............................................

I wish I would have died an hour before I purchased this beast. The box was cool, though.

pretty easy to use. except for the fact that i don't know how the hell to tweek preamp, eq, or compressor. maybe because i'm a dope.

you get pretty good sound. NOT. okay the phasers, and the wah's are pretty good, along with ONE Of the envelopes. flange. pitchshift, bunch of the envelopes. reverb? blow. i am so upset, i can't keep writing.

hell no. my wah pedal broke off. it always turns of if you touch the cable the wrong way. i mean seriously, the pedal CAME OFF

my warranty ran out, so...you know

DON'T BUY THIS. you could get an EH micro bass synth for this much damn money. i mean that in the best possible way. sorry digitech. i'm pissed

I bought the BP-8 and was very exited to use it. I got it home, hooked it up and started reading through the manual. Seemed hard to understand at first but it got easier. Then i started to fool around with some of the patches and shortly discovered that the #4 pedal and the enhancer pedal were broken. On certain patches it would send a surge through my SWR amp that soumded like the speakers were going to blow out. My thoughts for $379.00 i didn't want to deal with the crap so i took it back immeadiately for a full refund

It was broken from right out of the box

Didn't care..... as stated earlier for $379.00 ( a lot to me) i'm not going do deal with the hassels of trying to return it for another. I got my money back and am looking for another processor

It's kinda hard to figure out how to edit effects and create your own but it's so worth it if you take the time. I've messed with other pedals but none have the usefulness of this pedal. You can do super-static distorsion like Orgy or you can do awsome envelope filters like in the Chili Peppers. The manual makes understanding it easy if you take the time to read through it.

I have my BP8 hooked up to an Ampeg stack and this thing is perfect for it. It has great sound quality on alost every effect. I love the distorsion especially making my own sound. I have made this great effect where it sounds evil and distorted but has an auto wah funky kinda effect that makes it sound so bad... I love this thing, get to know it, because even if you don't like the presets then you can make virtually any bass sound you're looking for.

Always reliable. The only real problem is the power jack falls out alot... there's a little hook on the side that you can clip your cord to and since I've done that I have no problems, but if you don't clip it in prepare to look stuipid on stage.

I've never delt with them, but I've never had reason to

I play all kinds of stuff... I love Orgy and the Chili Peppers (I know that's kinda diverse...) I'm in a band where we sound like a tecno-evil coffee shop band. For any style it's great, it's EQ can handle anything your stack or bass is lacking (like too little mids)plus it has a built in tuner so you don't have to mess with cords in your setup, just push the button and tune away. The "Jam Along Jack" is a great thing too, if you have a hard time figuring out your favorite band's riff then plug in your cd player to the BP8 and it will play through your amp, so you can play right along with it making it super-easy to tell if you're hitting wrong notes. Even if you know exactly what you're playing that feature's great because, well, who wouldn't like to play along with their favorite band? I would definatly try this baby out if you're looking for a great effects pedal. The only feature this is lacking is some "drum machine" presets... you know, so you can play you're own stuff along with a beat. Oh well, anyone with a little bit of cash (or in my case, a keyboard player) can set a keyboard to do that.

It is colplicated in that there is alot of tinckering that goes on between effects, but if you give it a try and look at you manual making the sound you want is very easy. If you don't understand somthing the manual explaines it clearly, and the presets give you an idea of what to do?

the effects are very good in sound quality, for the mellow jazzy playing I do for fun, or the rock I play in a band the effects go from happy to death with just a flip of the presets

It's solid like a rock, all steel, with plastic buttons, I'd trust it on stage or anywhere, I've tacken it on trips, it holds up...

They have a very good web page, with a patch library, online manual you can download and print if you lost yours, and an explination of what thier pedal does, http://www.digitech.com