DigiTech DSP 256XL

4 knobs-level, low, high, gain. Easy as it gets. Manual has some settings in it.

Pretty damn good. Im using an Ibanez RG with duncan JB pickups and a MIM Strat through a Crate GFX-65. On clean you can get a pretty good bluesy/classic rock tone. Really like it with the strat. This stompbox gives a really warm tube like OD. Sounds good. Using the Bad Monkey with your amp on the distorted channel is where it really shines. It's like an overall improvement to everything. Your highs cut through amazingly and are less harsh, the sustain lasts an eternity-especially with delay, and the overall tone is better. This thing is great. If you like Zakk Wylde's tone, this can get you close. Dialed right and mixed with distortion you can get a really heavy tone. I like it!

Seems pretty solid. It's kinda heavy. I'd say it's dependable.

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For the price, I don't think you can beat this thing. I believe it's a reissue of an older DOD pedal. I'm not sure which one though. This is better than most ODs that I've tried. I liked it better than the BOSS one. I have yet to try the MXR Zakk Wylde though. I recommend this if you want that extra oomph to your sound or if you can't afford a tube amp and want that sound. This does it pretty good.

Super easy to use and edit. 256 patches, I did not have the manual but if you need the manual your probably retarted.

Guitar-Jackson DK2S with J90C (bridge pickup out of USA Charvel)
Amp-Ampeg VH140C with GenzBenz 4x12
other FX-BBE Sonic Maximizer and Rocktron Hush and Compression
Now with that covered you got to understand that you must have decent gear for this unit to sound good. This rule applies to most rackmounts. The digitech does a fine job of covering the fx department and my favorite patch is the Metal Guitar EQ which is excellent. Since I play metal it fits in my sound just great. Yes it can be noisey but that is what noisegates or for. Go buy one before you use this unit.

How could you break this thing? I havnt had this for to long but as all things take care of your stuff and itll be fine. Plus this unit is built like a tank.

Digitech is pretty cool for having the past stuff on their site but I never really had to deal with them.

Of course,I play metal. I've been playing for 10 years and yes I play leads covering mostly Metallica and Megadeth songs. Now this is no Eventide so dont compare a $60 Digitech to a $2000+ Eventide. Plus as for this units age I feel it was made in the prime where the best music was written. So for it to sound like say 80s-90s thrash metal Thank God because new metal mostly sucks.

Very easy to set up and write patches... very simple interface, just your typical cheap effect processor. I had this thing up and running over my tone preamp in not long at all, took some fine tuning though.

Ok, I have this in the effects loop of my SansAmp PSA-1. The effects sound good I think, alittle flat and dull, but no major tonality issues. The chorus is pretty weak but the reverse reverb is very nice. Here's the main issue though, which I have had with every single piece of junk Digitech I have ever owned: there's a time delay when switching patches. I can't believe no one else reviewing this product didn't make a big deal out of this, it's absolutely brutal. I control via Voodoo Lab ground control (very good controller), and when I change patches on this piece of junk there's atleast a 1/2 second delay. I'm giving it a 2 'cus the RP300 was worse...

Well, for my purposes, I can't rely on this at all. If you're just gonna run one patch off of it though it'll work quite nicely. It has lasted a long time, my dad gave it too me and he bought it new in like the 80's so it's lasted well. He really liked it but that's because he never needed to instant access seperate patches... which, if you have a processor in a rack setup, isn't the whole idea to have that flexability of instant access through a MIDI controller?

Never dealt with them, and sure as hell don't plan on it if they keep producing crap like this.

With the time delay, you might as well not even own a controller and just take a time out while you play to change the patches on the front plate... it's that bad. But, the effects themselves don't sound to bad. I was very pleased with it until I linked into my MIDI chain and realized it was half retarded.

Dead easy to use and program, although a data wheel would've been nice.

I've been using it in my live set-up and it's good for that. Haven't had much studio use, but the quality's okay.

Very reliable. I've used it on gigs and I've never been let down by it.

Never dealt with 'em.

I've been using it for electronic music and it's good for it, especially if you're the type to process and effect effect units, route them back to themselves again etc. You can get really nice sounds out of it, but basically it's your average multi effects unit, good for the price I paid.

I bought this on a whim in the fall of '01, just wanted some more effects to go w/ my Digitech rp100. I haven't been disappointed. Love this thing.
I haven't done too much editing parameters, but it's not too hard, it's pretty intuitive once you start to play w/ it.. I had to order the manual separately from Digitech (see below). I had an ART SGX T-2 of the same era, and it was not as intuitive as the Digitech. I should say that my yr & 1/2 old son likes to push the buttons, so he can get different sounds going, it's not too hard.

Remember this is 10+ yrs old & it does color the sound a bit in bypass, but I love it. I wanted to get more effects than just the normal stuff my rp100 has (for the over-effected sound ala Belew/Torn/et al). It hasn't disappointed me at all. I used it at first just w/ my amp-I loved the clean sounds of the effects-reminded me of 80's pop stuff. I now use it i the following chain: digitech rp100--dsp256xl--dod d12--lexicon mpx100. The bypass works pretty well if I want less effects, but I mainly love the different presets. I think the chorus & flanging are better than on my rp100. The delays and tap delays are great also. Mostly short delays, but the tap ones give some nice variety. Also love the reverse (reverb)simulation and the soap opera preset. I just use it w/ my guitar (and some digital voice recorder stuff), but it also works great w/ the drum machine on my rp100. Helps stretch the 30 patterns into some more variations. Also the settings for drum/voice give some nice variation for my guitar (steinberger spirit & parker nitefly). Some of the drum presets work well for percussive or clean guitar sounds. Well, I could go on, but you get the picture. I can imagine if you're a stomp box fan, you'd probably hate this. And it doesn't work good w/ every combo. It's a bit noisy w/ my Zoom 9150 valve preamp--there is too much noise (gain) w/ that, so I keep it w/ my digital stuff.

seems reliable. it's from '91 and still going....going...going...

ok, here's were I'm mad. I bought this thing from a sound engineer (he had Lexicon/Eventide gear--why did he need this? well, he said he didn't use it much, my gain), but didn't have the manual. At the time I bought it, Digitech's website had little in discontinued product manuals, so I sent my 5$, it took the full 6 weeks to arrive, I get it, fine. After I got the manual, I checked the web-site and they have the 256xl manual on their webpage now. big ug.

Like I said, I love this thing. It's got basic effects (chorus / flange / reverb / delay / tap delay / eq / mixer thing), which I think still sound good by themself. But I bought it to get some over-effected sounds (use in conjuction w/ my rp100 & my Lexicon MPX100), & I think it shines doing that. If you don't like over-effected sounds, probably stay away, also I suspect it probably doesn't work the best w/ high gain tube preamps (like my zoom 9150). But if you're looking for some effects and see it cheap enough, go for it. I've seen them on Ebay at times from 50-75$, which I'd say is a good price. Over that, you'll probably be disappointed.

Pretty easy to use, although a data wheel would be nice. Don't know about the manual cuz I don't have one, but you shouldn't need it.

And for the love of God, why can't manufacturers use a nice friendly little knob for the LCD contrast instead of making you dig through utility menus (which you can't see in the first place, if you need to adjust the contrast)?

I use the DSP-256XL in my home synth studio, mainly for ambient and similar styles.

The only reason I bought this is because I got it at a pawn shop for $70. I bought it to use as an auxiliary delay/reverb unit. I didn't expect much in the way of sound quality, and, well, I didn't get much.

All of the effects have that cheap, digital 80s pop-metal sound. (Hey, it IS Digitech after all...) Sometimes the effects sound very watered-down, even with the mix all the way up.

I've never had any problems with mine.

Never dealt with 'em.

I don't use it much. I'll probably hang on to it, cuz you can never have too many processors, but it's far from a vital part of my kit.

If you're looking to emulate that 80's teenage Van Halen cover band sound, you might dig it.

Fairly easy to use but several buttons need to be pressed in order to access different menus;no dial makes editing fairly tedious; editing patches is simple enough, just make sure to save 'em to a user bank. manual is ok, shows FX routings and all variables etc. Not sure what version this is.

Sound quality really varies depending on algorithms used and how strong a signal you feed it etc. Having owned this for about 10 years I can tell you that some of the reverbs are damn noisy- EQ and changing the input or output values greatly reduces noise. unit is also sensitive to radio/ electromagnetic interference from other electronic devices esp computer monitors, amps and speakers etc.reverb, chorus, flanger, gates, reverse reverb all pretty decent but fixed into algorithms- yet can be used alone. Especially good are the four tap delays- very cool FX for the dub style, adjustments affect the sound in typical digital fashion (there is a lag in effecting the sound when you change a parameter it doesn't register until you release the button.

very reliable-never had any probs with it... the internal battery is easily replaced without soldering- did this once in 10 years.Knobs do get scratchy if it gets dusty.

If it were lost or stolen I wouldn't care much- its not that great- still it is very useful and you can do just about anything you want with it, as long as you can get around the noise problems

Not a difficult rack to get around. Bought it in '91, they've discontinued this model. It's a decent rack for the beginning guitarist to get his feet wet as far as effects racks are concerned.

Back when I bought it, I was into the "Big Hair Bands"of the '80's. This was before the days of Nirvana. Everyone, regardless of the gear they used, sounded exactly the same.I used it with a Fender solid state amp and a variety of guitars by Ibanez, Washburn, and Fender.The sound is very transistorized, not natural at all. After getting used to the presets, they begin to just about sound the same, tone-wise.If you're looking for a natural, organic sound in your rig that accentuates all the subtle little nuances of your playing, don't waste your time with this rack.

Has held up very well. Never had the first problem with it.

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Again, it would be good for beginners, but that's all. If you are thinking about playing in front of people, please look elsewhere.

I found it very easy to use after I spent some time just flippin through the presets.

Even though there is no distortion presets on it, I just run it through my effects loop with my amps distortion and it gets that nice Van Halen sound. And the stereo effects are some of the best I've played through.

I've only used it for about a month now but I think its very reliable.

I can't find the number to get a manual.

It is probably the best processor I've owned yet. If it only had noise gate.

Read the manual. read other stuff on how time delays and modulation effects work. Then experiment.
This processor is a single space rack mount with a series of buttons for patch and parameter changes, and three knobs for input, output and mix levels. The display is two lines of black on green LCD. Each parameter of each effect in a patch must be stepped through to edit an effect. Once you have edited a patch or two, it becomes easier to use. Working with this thing has made me suspect that one reason that multiple effects units get bad reviews is that buyers expect them to be "plug and play" - 256 instantly usable effects that sound like instant magic.
There are 256 patches: 128 unmodifiable factory preset, 128 user modifiable duplicates. Effects include: flanging, chorus, four tap delays, straight delays (up to 1.2 seconds) and three different complexities of reverb (minimal, which appears in the combination patches, Room Simulator, and Generalverb, a monster with 19 separate parameters). There are also parametric and graphic EQ patches. There are also patches that combine effects in fixed sequences (Parametric EQ-Chorus-Delay-Mixer, for example).

There is no way to pick a custom, arbitrary sequence of effects. However, the mixers built in to each patch allow you to control which effects are most prominent overall, and allow some series/ parallel processing. For example, it is possible to boost the lower frequencies of a signal, send the EQ'd output to the chorus, then send none of the chorus signal to the delay, and mix the final sound so that there are equal parts of echo and chorus, with none of the EQ'd signal.
The reverbs are nice. Most of the reverb patches have a low pass filter built in that lets you cut out frequencies that would result in harsh sounds.
Short delays and modulation effects benefit from the digital harshness. Four short, stacked delays with regeneration has a wonderful, insect-like sound. The multiple effect patches are okay, due to the mixing capabilities. You can hide some of the more objectionable sounds. The modulations efects are more mellow that extreme. No jet plane-like flanging, but some useful, phaser-like swooshing, and some nice crunchy chorus.
Longer delays just clang. The more regeneration, the worse this gets. The mid-length delays really suffer: stop playing and there is a tail of harsh, metallic sounding overtones.

Good. I bought this unit used, from Elderly Instruments. It has remembered my edits so far. I did buy it without a footswitch; so far, changing patches by punching buttons has been okay, but a siple on-off and patch up/down switch would be a welcome addition.

I haven't talked directly to Digitech's service department about this piece. However:
Some of the most useful information on using this effector came from Harmony Central's Effects Explained series.
Another place to find information on this type of device is the GSP 2101 User's Group. If you are quiet and don't annoy them as they debate the future of digital signal processing as we know it, some of the discusions you overhear are directly applicable to using this elderly DSP. There is also a listing of Generalverb reverb patches in the GSP archive. Two of Digitech's engineers participate in the group, too. Although I barged in and asked about dead tech, they were very helpful inproviding information.

This overall rating may seem a little high. This box has all of the major effect food groups, though, and went for a price between 2/3 and 1/2 the cost of buying a bunch of used floor boxes that could do the same things. If I could afford to be particular, I would have bought a Rocktron Replifex (at three times the price).
As it is, even though the pure delays are kind of annoying, this is a good all round multiple effector.

I think this thing is great! The delay is what I use most, but the overall versatility of it is outstanding. I've had mine for about 2 or 3 years, and I still haven't gotten all of the sounds out of it that are there. Great work Digitech! ! !

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