DigiTech BP-80

pretty easy to figure out

i use it with my Hartke 250 watt, good sounds, the quality isnt great on some sounds

i only got it about a week ago, but so far its been very dependable, i've used in a gig already

Its pretty simple to cycle through the settings using the up and down footswitches. The LED lights let you know what kind (group) of effects are in use. The problems start when you want to edit the presets, or make your own patches. It takes a little getting used to how to cycle through the banks, but once you have mastered that your problems are only just starting. Because the display is only a two digit display (unlike the now dicontinued Zoom 808's 6 digit display), you only get names like r1, c5, or d4 ect. Basically you need the user manual to know what the hell your doing. I recomend everyone who buys this to go and download the manual from the Digitech website so you always have a backup.

It has some ok sound in this box, but they are intermediate at best. The worst part is that although there are (probably) ober 100 indeividual sound patches in its band, one of them are editable. So when you want that special flange sound for the chorus of your new song, you are stuck with the 9 sounds that come in the box. This is fine for making demos and 'feeling' for your sound, but no use when you want something exact.

Ok, before I go further I want to qualify myself. I have a 1st class hons degree in product design (designing these things basically) and I work designing the London Heathrow airport baggage systems. This product is made of pretty standard plastic, and not metal as some sites are claiming. After my first gig with this it was very scratched and even chipped. Within a few weeks of having this the expression pedal stopped working. That doesnt bother me too much as the expression functions are pretty useless, but its still not good. Basically this is a box to take to your bedroom for roughing out tracks, and not for using live.

Never contacted them, but maybe I shall soon and try to get that expression fixed!

I use mine as a 'custom' effect on my effects bored. 90% of the time it is a noise gate with some EQ modification going on, and a tuner for when I get on stage. Occasionally i use the chorus function with a fuzz patch, but thats just one song. I am looking forward to the (hopefully very) near future when I will replace the this box with individual stomp boxes to cover the [limited] tasks the BP-80 covers for me.

My advice would be go and get a Zoom 808 on ebay, or another processor that allows you to dial in the settings of all the indivual patches, and has a large 6 digit plus screen.

It is pretty straight foreward and easy to learn how to use this box.

I needed an octaver and a fuzz box and the salesman at GC talked me into this. While it has a nice variety of overdrive sounds, most others fall a bit short. The octaver seems to be the worst cuplrit because the pitch seems to shift significantly while your input signal fades. not noticible until you play a whole note or two but it's a deal breaker for any soloing. The chorus is pretty nice and the EQ will help you shape your sound but it wont make a crappy bass sound good.

Havent had it long enough to break it. It seems pretty solid, though.

This is a great unit for someone on a low budget that needs an occasional effect but I doubt that you will see this on stage at Madison Square Garden any time soon. If you are serious about your sound, I reccomend that you buy individual stomp boxes with only the effects that you need. Trust your ears and do lots of comparisons.

I have tried alot of pedals out there, (and i mean alot) and there aren't many like this one the ease of use. Making effects it as easy as possible just a click of the edit button and thats its you can change the entire sound of your bass, that is - if you want it to sound like a bass!
Also having presets is a great idea, saves you have to change between
songs - or during! The by-pass function is another amazing idea, change to your standard sound with one foot.

Starting with me setup:
- Peavey 5-string Cirrus
- Behringer 1200 (great amp at a such a low price)
- Digitech BP80 (just put it on because i don't have a big setup)

All i can say is perfect! No joke!
No feed back! And greatest of all no hiss at all!
The noise gate is an excellent function.

Been 6 months and i'm still standing!
So as relieable as they come.

Haven't need any help due to it's perfect build quility.

This pedal is a must have! Whatever style oh music you play. Even if you've said you don't need one, get this it blows your musical mind! All the things you could put there in this song, what would sound great in this intro.
If this pedal was stolen i would never buy a different one. There would be an order for another one the very next day!
Compared to the Zoom 607II(???) This pedal is legend and the zoom is just not worth it, even without comparing it to anything else that pedal (Zoom) is bad! - after all i own it too!
BUY THIS PEDAL! BUY IT!!! - Trust me

BP80's really easy to use. The factory settings suck, but if you have an idea of your sound, and setup to it, BP80 rocks. Editing is really easy, maybe too easy... all you do is, you choose the slot, edit or create ur setting, and then click edit twice..
Manual explains clearly and thoroughly, but I never really used it, because it is soooooo easy to use.
O, and for a tip, if u r a soloish, distortion sound using bassist to get a clear dist sound, choose a fuzz stompbox at max gain, and turn on the BO wah even if u are not going to use the wah, because that will give u a sharp sound for some reason (just my personal discovery...)
My unit hasn't been upgraded...

I have a Kustom amp with 2 Ibanez basses (soundgear 4 string, BTB 5 string) but since my amp is 15 watts, I use the amps in my gig place which were fender, galien krueger, Peavey, Marshall, and ampeg.
BP80 isn't that noisy, but noisyness mostly depends on ur setup, so..
I find WAH's fairly weaker than other separately sold wah pedals, but rest are Okay. You can can Cliff Burton's sound with fuzz and wah in this, and you can also get Victor Wooten's slapping sound with certain settings. there are lots of variety in sound, so it is good for everyone from beginners to pros.
I use WAH, Distortion/Fuzz, Chorus, Envelope Filter, Whammy, Phaser, Flanger, and Fretless. They are all godd, but as I said before, wah is weak and is only fairly effective with new new new new strings

It is pretty reliable, but the expression pedal (which is Wah pedal, volume pedal and everything) may break easily. Other buttons, foot pedals, and the main box itself are built like a tank, but I know 3 people that had their expression pedal break from their BP80, and mine is also broken now... I have to get it repaired.
If u use wah frequently, I would have a backup wah or backup bp80, but other things are build hard, so dont worry

The customer support is cool, I've sent them a question email, and they replied the day after!
The warrenty is 1yr but if u register ur pedal online the warrenty extends to 6 yrs, which is awesome. They have sevice center in every state in America, and almost every province in Canada, so its cool.

BP80's awesome for all playing style.
I've had it for a year, and i wouldn't buy another pedal unless BP breaks on me.
If it was stolen, I'd buy BP200 or GNX for better everything
I love the easy control, and the design, but I hate the stiffness of the expression pedal.
I wish it had a bigger expression pedal since its too small with shoes on, u'll end up pressing foot pedals, which will totally change ur settings.
Overall, its pretty good.......

Very easy to use. Editing is common sense, but you need to refer to the manual to know what the codes mean. Manual is simple and to the point. It has 80 presets. Essentially, 40 User and 40 Factory presets. The User and Factory presets are identical. The User presets can be edited and saved, the Factory presets cannot. Editing and saving takes about 2 seconds; it is very easy to manipulate the settings to get the sound you want to get out of it. The tuner is very good and mutes out when you use it, so you don't have to keep turning down the amp volumes when you tune.

I couldn't afford a new amp so I purchased the BP80 to get more variety out of my Peavey TKO 80. I run two basses through it, a Yamaha RBX200 and a StingRay 5. The BP80 is not noisy. The noise gate works great. (As a comparison, I used to run a Boss Bass Chorus, the baby blue one, and that thing hissed and swished like the ocean when I wasn't playing!) The effects are strong and sound great, except the Sell Space setting, which sucks. I have no clue why anyone would use that! I like the Detuned setting because it gives me that cello sound that I like to use when playing slow, moody songs. (You know the sound....listen to the Muzak on the Weather Channel!) I also love the Thickness and Thick Bottom settings because my TKO 80 does not have the bass guts to get that deep on its own, even when I crank the low E.Q. and shut down all the treble. The BP80 gives me that deepness.

I first owned a BP50 and it crapped out right in the middle of Mass, (I play for a Catholic Church Praise Group)! You should have seen the cringe on our Priest's face when that happened!!! I sent it back to Musician's Friend and they refunded my money immediately and even paid for the shipping. It turned out that the input was bad. When I decided on the BP80, I was skeptical, but I ordered it anyway. It has not given me any problems at all. It is well built, strong, and very dependable.

I have not had a need to contact the company.

I play contemporary Catholic/Christian music. I cannot use a lot of the wild and way out settings on the BP80 when I am playing during Mass, for obvious reasons, but the settings I do use, (thickness, detuned, rock church), give me the sounds I can't get out of my TKO 80 on its own. When our group, Grace On Fire, does play Praise Concerts, I do use some of the more outlandish settings because I have the freedom to ROCK FOR THE LORD, and be as creative as I want to be. I've been playing bass since 1976 and I've used Boss effects and Mutron pedals which were great "back in the day", but now I like the simplicity of the BP80 and the huge array of sounds it is capable of producing. I don't need to plug in a bunch of different effects, they are all contained in one simple to use unit. If I lost it or it was stolen, I'd get another one. I love that it makes my TKO 80 come alive.....like I said, I can't afford a new amp so I have to do what I can to get the sound that I want. One thing, it would be nice if Digitech included an extra manual that listed all the settings for each of the presets. That way I could refer to it when editing my User presets instead of running through all the settings individually. I did sit down and try to write all of them down one time, but that was as boring as laying off and letting a sax player go crazy on a ten minute solo!!!!