DigiTech BP-8 Bass Processor

Easy to get great quality sounds. The pre-sets are mostly wild sounding and not very useful. However, with a wide range of adjustable sounds, I have found that less is more when developing your own sound. There are many superb sounds available if you take the time to search them out.

I play a Warwick Streamer Pro M through two SWR SM 400-S's with 2 SWR pro 15's and two Golitah Jr. III's running bridge mono from each amp. a BBE 362NR is in the effects loop of both amps with Contour and Process at 12:00, Noise Reduction threshold on max. and fast release. I replaced the BP-8's stock Sovtek 12AX7WA with a NOS Sylvania JAN 5751, it made a huge difference in improving the quality of the tone. In stereo mode the choruses are super lush and layered. The phase, flange, pan, bend, pitch, delays, reverb, and trem. become radically superior when plugged into two matching amp's and cab's. The Stereo feature of this pedal must be heard to be believed. When blend wet effected signal with with a dry signal via a Boss LS-2 and the possibilities multiply. For stereo use the BP-8 is beyond compare.

No problems. Bought mine used in clean condition and haven't had any problems. Steel case and pedal are built to take abuse. Plastic switches are reliable.

Haven't had to deal with the company. Owner's manual is lacking critical information to get the most out of a great product. Digitech's patch library web page seem's totally weak. Need to develop a cleaner way to collect and distribute patches.

Compared to other Bass multi-effects (Korg, Zoom) the BP-8 is in a class by itself. It may take some time to develop truly excellent tones, but there are plenty to be found. It the play-along jack and stereo headphone jack makes it a great practice tool. And you can look silly and wear light-weight headphones while playing through your amp and really hear your sound, with the band more in the back ground. This helps for rehearsal programming of new patches. The weakest effect are the fretless simulator.
By being smart and organized you can develop a indespensible tool.

Well, me and a friend messed around with it in the store figuring out how to use it, it seemed hard, but the guy at the counter said he had one and the manual helped, and sure enough, the manual did tell fairly effectively how to get sounds and stuff out of it and how to edit sounds, which I found to be pretty easy...the only problem is is that there are SO MANY parameters to think about, it's sort of difficult unless you know EVERYTHING about EVERY effect. As this was my first digital effect pedal, some of this was beyond me, so I played it by ear, but if you know a lot of stuff about digital effect modeling (or whatever the fuck you'd call it), you should have no problem. But it's tough to bypass, you have to hit two pedals at the same time! What the hell? Also, switching between effects while playing has a problem, read below.

I have an American standard Fender Jazz bass, and an American standart P-bass, running through an Ampeg rocketbass 100 BR-something (the ones that look like the old school Ampeg amps), and I get a pretty damn good sound clean. These effects are a mixed bag however. A lot of the presets are pretty lame, but there are some good ones, I like the most of the envelope filters, the "SVT Grit" distortion, and the whammy pedal is cool, but sounds lame when you're actually playing; I like to use it just to make the bass sound wierd by rocking the pedal back and forth. The harmonizer type thing is cool too. The chours is either really weak or waaaaay too muddy. The flangers and phasers both sounded the same to me, and didn't sound much like any flanger or phaser i'd ever heard. The octo-bass effects really only worked pretty much only if you played past the 10th fret on the G-string. The wah's are ok...I don't like the fact that the pedal is kind of shallow. I mean, I wasn't expecting a Vox type of pedal, but still, it's a pain. (by shallow I mean the distance between up and down is kind of small). And the preamps...well, they're not worth $379.99...I have a Boss bass overdrive pedal that gives me better distortion, but, as with everything, listen to it yourself. The BIG problem is that goddamn break in the signal everytime you switch to a different effect!!!! You're playing, and you want, say distortion, and you push the button and it sounds something like this "boom boom boom booo.........................boom boom boo boom." It SUCKS. You have to like hit the switch when you're NOT playing so the signal doesn't just stop, and THAT, to me, is unacceptable on a pedal costing damn near 400 bucks

I haven't gigged with it yet, but it seems solid enough. The only snag I can think of is that it gets awfully hot, even after using it for 30 minutes, but it IS a tube.

don't know

I play hard rock/metal/punk/jazz/funk, whatever, been playing for about 5 years, and this would work better if it didn't have that annyong break in the signal every time you switch effects. If it was stolen or lost I'd be pissed that I'm out some cash, but I'd probably buy another pedal. In fact, I'm gonna return mine. Overall, use your own ears.........I mean, I liked the sounds, but the ease of use left something to be desired.

Very easy to use. what a pity ther is not a complete lcd. The manual is not very good and it misses MIDI input/output

The tube means warm sound : very nice. It's the best multi-effect i bought. Really the preamp is fantastic
However, ther is toomuch noise on the outputs (fuck tube)

no problem, serious engineering

I would like a manual more complete, more concise

Very happy
I use it to play guitar. If i have not a guitar's true effect, it's very good

I BARELY READ THE MANUAL, FOR ME ITS EASIER FIGURE IT OUT BY MYSELF.
PRETTY SIMPLE

THE BEST EFFECTS I'VE EVER HEARD BUT I THINK THEY CAN DO MORE ABOUT THE DISTORTION

THIS THINGS IS SOLIDLY BUILT ITS BEEN 8 MONTHS OLD AND IT NEVER GAVE UP ON ME YET

NEVER CONTACT THEM YET

FOR MY OPINION I WILL GIVE IT A 9 OUT OF TEN

I love the bp-8 and basically everything about it but when i first bought it for $370, nothing worked. i called digitech that day and at 5:00pm on wednesday, no one picked up. needless to say i was pissed and took it into my own hands to fix the problem. i took it apart.
The guys at the tech. shop are a bunch of crack smoking junkies! even i could tell that the thing was messed up! the #4 pedal's spring was on the other side of the casing and was shorting out the tuner so if i hit the edit button, it showed the 440 freq. of the tuner. guess what. Even i fixed the frickin' thing! my brand new board came without a warranty. thats right, no warranty in the box. the manual doesn't instruct, it just specifically shows the user the features.

the only things that suck on the bp-8 are the distortion and expression pedal. The pedal is a bit better but its so stiff and the angle is deeper and more uncomfortable than the crybaby 105Q i have. the tube just flat out blows monkey sh*t. it has no tinker factor and the tube is so frickin' hissy, the sounds of my beautiful rickenbacker 4001 can't get through! the chorus is okay but a little weak. if you turn up the effect, it gets too mushy.

my last processor was an ibanez ps-5 processor and if i had a nickel for everytime that thing bombed out on me....when i got the bp-8 i thought it was going to mess up or something so i was very careful but when i saw my guitar instructor THROW it on the ground and it worked like a charm, i've been kickin' the crap outta' that thing since and it sounds like new!

their hours plain and utterly suck!!!!!!! they are a bunch of lazy motherf*ckers

I play everything starting with funk, prog-rock, expressionism(Background music for the amazing mr. Bickford: Frank zappa's claymation artist), etc. this pedal does all i need but if you don't have electronic experience(i.e.-putting a spring on a plastic button) don't buy this. if you do, you probably have more experience than the engineers at digitech. this pedal does everything i need it to do but i bought a boss syb-3 bass synth. just to keep all my options open. if you have the cash and if you can handle the belief you've been ripped off(im not saying you will but just in case), and the theory "nothing ventured, nothing gained" this pedal should be checked out.

This unit is nice and easy to use. After quick read through of the instruction manual, anybody with half a brain can customize their own effects. The manual, contrary to popular belief, is actually very helpful.

I use this with a Carvin stack, and I'd have to s ay that my setup brings out every nuance of the processor, and I'm very happy with it. I play mostly Jazz. In other reviews people have complained about how the effects lack somewhat but seriously, as a bass player, do you want your flange to sound like a jet flying overhead or do you want it subtle for the effect? This is a processor with actual useful effects, not a toy to screw around with to get fun sounds. I think digitech has done a very good job programming in USEFUL effects for bass palyers. All the effects retain the low end needed to carry the band. Others have complained about the noise from the unit. Althoguh it is not totally silent, the noise from my unit is minimal and cannot be noticed when playing at any significant volume level. I like all of the effects on this unit. In particular, the preamps and compressor are very pragmatic for the average bass player, and there is a great selection of other effects, all of which I like except the fretless simulator. If you want to play a fretless bass, buy one, don't use the simulator on this processor.

Rugged, reliable, I've use it on several gigs and have never had any problems.

I have never contacted the company.

I play jazz, or pretty much anything. All the effects are great and for the price this is the best thing out there. Unless you're going to invest several hundred dollars more to buy a rack setup, t his is the way to go. It is great for direct recording as well. Overall this thing rocks, and if it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy it again.

Programming and editing on the BP-8 is just about as easy as any other floor processor that i've used or tinkered with. Some of the organization of the effect were kind of confusing at first, but easy to get used to quickly. The manual is a vague piece of shit as with most musical equipment like amps, so you just have to play around and find something you like

I use an Ibanez Soundgear 405 and 506 with a Peavey T-MAX head and Peavey 4X10 cab and a Carvin 1X18 cab. The BP-8 isn't the best thing in the world but with the equipment i use i can get pretty much the sound i want out of it(on the clean channel) I didn't notice too much noise until i used it for recording but even then with the noisegate and eq set right, it should be minimal and not too bad. As far as the rest of the effects go, the chorus and delay seem ok, the flange is weak (had a Boss ME-6B that had a badass flanger)the wah is mediocre and the distortion is ok. The whammy makes the bass sound like it's fake. I can get what I want out of most of the effects, you just have to know how to set them right. My biggest complaint is the delay when switching patches, its cuts the signal. They were supposed to fix that but i guess they didn't. I figure i got what I paid for so none of the effects really suck or are really spectacular.

I use it at every gig without a backup and have been able to depend on it every time. But i play every show without backups for anything. Good metal casing looks like it can be dropped without too much damage except for the tube. Hasn't f*cked up on me yet.

No clue

For a bunch of effects in one box and for the price I think it's a good deal. I've been playing metal for about 8 years and it's the second effects processor I've owned(the Boss ME-6B being my first which was stolen)For under $400 I like it, but if iI had more money would have probably looked for something else. If it were stolen I'd try to phase out effects altogether, or at least processors, so no i wouldn't buy it again, I'm not made of money I'm a musician dammit.
Drawn Under
http://go.to/drawnunder
www.mp3.com/drawnunder

At first, the matrix display for creating and editing effects on the BP-8 may seem intimidating, but in fact it is very easy to use.
The manual isn't especially impressive, but I believe it does a satisfactory job of helping the user start out. Perhaps my review of the BP-8's manual isn't as harsh as most of the others because I don't have many manuals to compare it to.

I play an Ibanez SR485 (5 string) with a Crate 25 watt bass amp, and often use the direct headphone output also.
For me, noise problems have a lot to with the effects. The noise gate is effective, and for the most part the unit is quiet. However, the phaser and flanger effects have a substantial flaw: rather than melding the dry signal from your bass with these effects, the two sounds seem to be running parallel to each other. Almost all of the time I hear my un-modulated bass under a noisy flanged or phased wave; they seem to be almost completely independent of each other. You may not notice it at first, but trust me, after a while you'll notice how weak these effects sound compared to other units.
As for the other effects: I can't really hear a noticeable difference between when the notch filter is on or off; the distortion is VERY unimpressive; the wah is somewhat weak (same goes for the envelope filter); really nice compressor, chorus, tremolo, and whammy; decent pitch shifter; okay octabass and a fretless simulator that sucks my sweaty nutsack. I really liked the convenient Jam-along-Jack feature.

It seems to be fairly rugged, sporting a steel case and sturdy expression pedal. I'm not so sure about the plastic footpedals, though...

I have never contacted Digitech; I've always settled stuff like that with the guys at GuitarCenter (some of the nicest guys in the business).

I play a lot of different styles, from Incubus (the best band in the universe) to Rage to the Chili Peppers to Radiohead. I've been playing for about a year.
If I lost it, I'd definitely buy something else, probably that DOD Bass30 pedal - I've only played with it once but it sounds great - or if I had the bucks I'd get separate stompbox effects.
I really like it's ease to edit and basically operate, and its Jam-along-Jack feature; my biggest nags are for the distortion, phaser/flanger, envelope filter, and fretless simulator.

This is actually a decent pedal. I liked the idea of a all-in-one solution for bass effects. For all intended purposes, it's made me very happy since I got it. But puuullleeaase! The unit cost me over 400 bucks, and promised "studio quality" effects. Bullsh*t! Now that other multiple bass effects processors are starting to arise from different companies, I'm sure this unit will be obsolete six month from now. Don't buy it! Get somethin' cheaper that sounds better - it shouldn't be that difficult.

Standard pedal stuff if you know pedals you will easily figure it out

some usable stuff but not a total package. the compression is usable, the two of the ten preamps are ok and the wah is decent

I have a problem with the power supply staying in the unit while I am on stage. Also was broken in a flight and have not had it back to the original condition yet.

I think this department sucks. I lost the power cord at a gig and was charged $39.00 (should be a $12.00 item)for a replacement. Because it is not a standard power supply it is not possible to purchase any other. Also, they will not give out diagrams of the board's electronics so I had to pay some technician a rediculous fee to replace a chip and some LEDs. I will never buy digitech again because of the cost of their replacement parts and their lack of concern for their consumers

Digitech sucks.

This is a fairly intuitive unit. The display leaves much to be desired (especially when compared to similar units designed for guitar...RP-10, 12...etc.) All the presets are over blown, but that's to be expected. With some tinkering you can get a good sound out of it, but not all the effects are useable. The manual is a joke. (period)

I used this effect with a Ibanez SR-885 and an SR-505, running though a SWR Bass-350 and an Ampeg 8x10 cab. This is a very low noise rig, that is, until you add the BP-8. With the noise gate off, this unit produces a discernable hiss. The noise gate killed this, but still. The effects are hit or miss. The compressor is pretty decent, the distortion is crap, the chorus is nice, the flange is acceptable (analog is the way to go with flange)...

I don't like a floor unit with a tube in it. Too easily broken...
Okay...here's where the rant begins.
I purchased the unit and within 3 weeks of rehearsal it went down...the headset out and the main out both began to produce a horrible distorted sludge. No signal, just buzz.
I took it back and was assured that I would recieve the unit in 3 weeks.
3 weeks later I got it back and...

None of the footswitches had been replaced correctly. Sure the outs worked, but none of the footpedals did. <>
I promptly returned the unit for a full refund and bought some straight Electro Harmonix effects. (The don't break.)

I play everything from funk to metal to jazz and I think that this could be (presuming it worked) a good all-in-one unit. For those on a tight budget I think it represents a good solution, but if you can afford better, get better. If this unit had been stolen, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble.
I love the compressor on this unit, but I hate nearly everything else about it. I didn't compare it with other units as I had previously believe that Digitech made the best multi-effects in this price range.
I had to play clean for 3 gigs because of this unit (not the worst thing in the world, but inconvenient certainly). This unit is a cheap piece of crap and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
You've been warned.