DigiTech GNX1

I am used to using a Boss ME5 (and before that BOSS pedals) in front of a Marshall valve amp's clean channel to get my tone. I thought I had some good tones worked out after having a play with the GNX1 at home but the patches REFUSED to cut through the band at rehearsals.

I play in a rather loud 70s rock tribute band. I tried tweaking the patches, using different amp/cab/input settings over the next few weeks but the tone always sounded dampened and tame. In the end I had to put the Presence knob on my amp way up to 10 but the band still weren't happy so I sold it on e-bay!!

I'm used to fiddling about with parameters and menus with the ME5, so this wasn't a culture shock to edit patches. However the editing on the AX1500G and ME50 look easier to me.
One annlyance was that I had to set values for the green and red amps even if I didn't want to warp between them - it would be easier to switch the 2nd amp on only if you need it???

I was used to 4 patch pedals on the FX board, so only having 3 to choose from for any given song when playing live was a pain. Also selecting banks by scrolling up and down isn't as nice as hitting button 'Bank' and going straight there.

Last point - there is a 1/2 second delay when swapping patches that I wasn't used to with my ME5. I'm the only guitarist in the band so this was a pain in the butt!!!!

I use a Marshall JCM800 valve lead 2x12 combo with a Charvel guitar. I tried the GNX1 with the amp input, then tried the FX return of the Marshall.
The actual FX of the GNX1 are excellent and very versatile. The IPS sounds a bit artificial (like an effect rather than another guitar) but acceptable for the price of this unit. I liked the Wah, Yah, Whammy, Phaser, Octaver etc....but just couldn't find the basic amp tone to use with them!

The unit is sturdy enough, but I'm used to Boss so big deal!
I did find a couple of quirky things happening now and again, like the wrong values being saved whilst editing the patches.
I preferred the sturdy power lead of my ME5 to the AC adaptor, but this seems common to all modern FX units at this price.

N/A, but the Digitech website has a 'Sound Community' that is excellent for user chat and swapping patches. Nice guys.

I play classic 70s rock, eg Purple, Free, T-Rex, Sweet, even Osmonds!
I've been playing for 20 years, in bands for around 17 of those, so I've been around a bit!
I was happy with the tone of the ME5 but wanted to modernise it as it was getting very worn. I also wanted to utilise FX such as Wah, Yah, IPS, Phaser, Whammy etc into my sound. The intro to 'Crazy Horses' ROCKS when you use the Whammy pedal and gliss up at the same time!

I didn't need the amp modelling, as I had a lovely Marshall valve amp! Trouble is, you can't NOT use the amp modelling on the GNX1!! All I needed was FX written within patches, inc overdrives and distortions, but this wasn't possible.

The overall tone of the unit was like putting my amp into a cardboard box...and a very thick one at that!! This is after changing the input value on the utility, the physical input to the amp, the amp and cab models, the EQ...basically everything I could think of!

In a nutshell: try before you buy - using your own amp/guitar and preferably with the rest of your band around you!!
I'm about to bid for a Korg AX1500G and keep my fingers crossed!!!!!

C-Ya at www.thespacehoppers.com

Man, talk about love it of hate it. This unit is not a stomp box, and is definitely for those intent on instant gratification. I have to admit that I spent a bunch of money on a box of what I thought would be all the effects I could ever want. Took it home, and oh my! This sounds like hell. Then I spent about two hours taking presets and using them as points to jump off of to develop a pallet of some of the most outrageous sounds one could desire. As one of the other commentors mentioned, no you will not get the "I think my amp is breaking and the speaker has ripped distortion of Korn", but frankly, I don't really want my sound to be like that so I am not upset over not getting that sound. The Manual has a section presenting an example of how to edit a preset which was clear and consise and revealed the little secrets of the machine. Also, every guitar you play through it, and every amplifier you put it through will carry their own harmonic characteristics so a 2 minute change in guitar and amp results in a cascading of hours of tweaking all the personal presets. But after you learn more and more about the sounds you make and the ones you want to make, and learn where the buttons that produce it are on the machine, things get pretty simple. I have to admit at times there are times when I can't seem to get an odd distortion out of a clean preset, or a swelling. But this is because I haven't sat down, a played with the machine until it goes away. I usually redo the preset from scratch as it is quicker. There is definitely a learning curve.

I have used this machine over the last three years with two guitars, three amps, and direct into a digital studio. The first year and a half I used a Fender Stratacaster through a Fender Super 60 Amp. Both are from the early to mid 70's. It was a blues / classic rock band, and after a few weeks, this box really openned up a huge range of tonal possibilities. Believe it or not, I mainly got it for the noise gate. I looked at the price of a stand alone unit and then the Gnx-1. I would get so much more for little more money. Bought it. I use it in FX mode. The Super 60 could gets more and more trebly as the volume is turned up, so that could be hard to deal with at times, live.

Next, I started to use an SG Special to the GNX-1 through an Older Peavey KB-60 keyboard amp, and after turning the tone on most of the presets, it again constantly comes through for just about making any kind of sound I wanted. I needed to get the KB-60 repaired and put the GNX-1 into the power amp in of a Peavey Renown. This was very dark by comparison, and again the GNX-1 presets needed tweaked. This second band is everything to everybody. We play country, funk, metal, indie, alternative, oldies, British Invasion, new wave, Beatles, blues, hard rock, southern rock. Everything except for rap, choral music, and opera. The GNX allows me to reproduce a very wide range of tones and even play a mean slide.

I especially like that it has a tuner, and I can use the Wah Wah pedal as a volume pedal, which I do, all the time. It is really hard to have all the presets be the same volume.

A negative mentioned in the manual is that at times, large compression values coupled with effect patches that swell such as chorus, phase shifting, flanging, etc. can introduce this bizarre sounding distortion that at times seems to limit the amount of compression and effect one can dial in. This is where patience comes in. Like I said, they warned about it.

I don't like that the way I use the GNX, I have only a choice of 2, 3 if I warped a new amp from the other two, for any reasonable use in one song. And for each of the dual amp presets, I can only effectively use on particular effect. I admit that I don't often feel the need to have more than two or three different tones in a song, it would be nice to be able to get around a bit more easily. I will take one pair of amps, and then have a slew of different effects in about 5 different preset pairs. It works.

I give it a 9 because of the effect/compressor distortion.

I have used the GNX-1 pretty much every day for three years. I take care of my stuff. I don't dance on it, or jump on it. I simply step on the peddles. Once the wah pedal came loose and would not retain the location my foot would give it. I tightened it up with a rachet. I don't do much more than sweat on it. I transport it in a padded rubber maid tote so it is pretty well protected. Nothing has ever happened to it though the power supply converter is looking a bit ragged and I should invest in a backup. I practice once a week and gig once most weeks.

Never dealt with Digitech.

I might look into something different if this were lost or stolen, but I am not unhappy with it. Might get another one.

I wouldn't mind a bit more flexiblity with having the ability to call up just a change in the effect with a preset, but then I suppose this is actually a computer, and that might be difficult.


I had owned some Digitech pedals before, was happy with them so choosing this was not any huge leap. I do get curious about the Digitech RP 300 has to offer. Why they are different. They all make nice stuff. You can only take things so far.

Es muy facil de obtener un buen sonido, partes de un preset ya hecho y lo modificas a tu antojo. El manual es bueno, salvo que solo viene en Ingles, pero puedes bajarlo traducido de su pagina web. Muy facil de obtener buenos sonidos distorcionados.

Uso una Jackson DX10 y un mesa/boogie dual rectifier, Suena de Pelos!!! No es para nada ruidosa, los efectos son buenisimos, el wah es el mejor de todos los multiefectos (zoom Boss, etc) y el resto considero que tambien, aunque no los uso mucho. Es muy facil conseguir buenos sonidos, especialmente de HEAVY METAL como lo son mis bandas favoritas, METALLICA, y GODSMACK.

Es de metal lo que le da una dureza y peso que otros pedales no tienen como la Zoom GFx4 o 5 que son de plastico y muy livianas.

Excelente la Pagina, te responden los mails y te quitan las dudas. de 10

Toco mas que nada HEavy metal , es increible para este estilo, toco con mi banda de covers de metallica y suena increible. Me compreria otra para dejar en mi casa y no tener que llevarla a los ensayos, pero espero poder comprarme la gnx4 para dejar en casa para grabar. Amo las distorciones, el wah y el delay. Muy BUENA, recomendabla para pros, amateurs o alguien que recien empieza, facil de manejar = sonido rapido.

I won't rate this to high, since I've only been getting the best sounds lately after finding out, that the trick is running it in the effects loop with the FX 1x12" setting...that way the sound is more balanced and not as muddy as when running it in the input, because you're not running two preamp stages. The matrix system rules though, becomes second nature very quickly.

The overall sound quality is good, some of the amp models are better than others, but I'm quite satisfied. The Mesa emulation simply rules, and there also an Eric Johnson-preset that's stunning with a single coil-equipped guitar. Then theres the "Crunch" amp setting, which sounds very much like a saturated el84 or 6l6 amp, and the Marshalls have got the ACDC crunch going on. The effects are good when paying mind to the price of this unit, but of course real stompboxes and a switching system would be preferable soundwise. There's nearly endless possibilities for tweaking both effects and amp sounds though, so I'm sure you can get just what you want out of this if you're ready to spend some time and effort with it. My rating is in comparison to other amp emulators -not a full size tube rig.

Well, there's sort of an issue with the wah, it starts out cold and will only switch on after a little while. This means that you have to have the board ready a while before starting your gig/recording session/whatever. I would gig it without a backup though, as the switches and whatnot seem pretty sturdy.

Haven't dealt with 'em.

Overall, this board fits me very good. I've been playing for 8 years, electric guitar for 4 years. My intent was to use it with various bands and school band projects, and also learn a bit about effects and amps in the process. What I love about this thing is, that in a 250 euros, 1-2 kg package, I have some 15 amps and most effects with me. Sure, it doesn't sound *exactly* the same as the real deals, but most non-guitarists can't tell the difference anyway. And besides, on stage I would rather be able to go from wah-Mesa sound to a clean and chorused AC30 sound with a single tap of my foot than having to jump around like a madman, switching wah off, distortion off and chorus on all in sync. One last thing: the delay when going from one general setting to another (not between two amps within one setting) is supposedly 0.15 seconds or something like that, which is surely noticable, though not bad. If this is too much for you, you could go with the GNX2, which adds stompbox modelling, so you have two amps plus a tube screamer or boost or distortion box or something. This adds a bit of versatility. I give this product a 10, 'cause though it's not perfect in any way, the value is unbeatable, and the possibility of combining two amps is priceless.

Modelowanie brzmie? mo?e ni enale?y do najprostszych,ale z pewno?ci? w rekach kogo? kto ma to opanowane jest pote?nym narzedziem.Napewno pomaga oprogramowanie ktore mo?na sobie ?ci?gn?? za darmo z internetu wspolpracuj?ce ze standardem MIDI.Wtedy jest to o wiele prostsze.Niestety ,bed?c na probie nale?y sie nie?le napracowa?,?eby co? zmini?.Najlepiej jest wiec robi? to w domu.

Jako?? d?wieku jest rewelacyjna moim zdaniem jak za sprzet nawet nie wnikaj?c w stosunkowo nisk? cene.Napewno nieprawd? jest ,?e ucieche znajd? tu g?ownie fanatycy cie?kiego brzmienia poniewa? efekt sprawdza sie na ka?dej p?aszczy?nie. Gnx1 ma w zasadzie wszystko co potrzeba,na dodatek jeszcze prosty automat perkusyjny.S? na rynku dro?sze multiefekty ktore nie maj? niektorych rozszerzonych funkcji,na przyk?ad delay ,ktory ogranicza sie tylko do jednego typu.Tutaj jest ich klika ,razy ilo?? ustawie? parametrow co daje praktycznie niesko?czone mo?liwo?ci.D?wiek ods?uchyje na s?uchawkach studyjnych Sennhaiser'a wiec moge smia?o powiedzie? ,?e jest bardzo dobry.

Efekt ma du?e mo?liwo?ci nie tylko w studiu.Mimo ,?e mam go od 4 miesiecy to zagra?em pare koncertow i sprawi? sie znakomicie.Troche podatny jest na jakiekolwiek skoki napiecia ale to chyba nie ma znaczenia w tym przypadku,po prostu trafi?em na beznadziejn? ekipe nag?o?nieniow? ktora nam pod??czy?a wszystko do 230 zamiast do si?y.

Kupi?em sprzet od cz?owieka z drugiej rekim,wiec nie bede sie na ten temat wypowieda?.Natomiast jest strona producenta ktora zawiera g?owne informacje.Szczego?ow sie nie dopatrzy?em ale od tego jest instrukcja.

Ogolnie powiem,?e polecam ten efekt.Bynajmniej nie zamierzam go sprzeda? komukolwiek,jestem brdzo zadowolony z zakupu.W razie pyta? piszcie na maila,pozdrowka

You can get going pretty quickly without reading the manual, but there is some functionality (e.g. cab tuning) that you will NEVER figure out unless you read the manual. Once you are familiar with the product, though, nothing is very difficult at all.

This thing sounds as good as any solid-state amp. Tube amp? The tube amp presets sound pretty good, and I warped them into a nice, crunchy tube amp sound. Not quite as good as the real thing, but it's close. Those who give a rating of 1 or 2 probably haven't given this thing a chance. I've definitely heard MUCH worse than this.

Rugged and sturdy, but this thing freaks out sometimes, and I haven't figured out why. (I'll probably end up calling tech support, but I don't think it can be fixed very easily.) What happens is, while I'm playing, it will switch amp models or channels on me. No rhyme or reason. I'm playing in the Green channel with my foot nowhere near the pedal, and it flips to the Yellow channel. I just started doing this a few months after I got it. Weird. And far too scary to perform with it.

With the reliability problems, I don't dare use this to perform, but it works fine for recording. I like the sounds, and for those who can't afford a full-fledged tube amp, this comes fairly close and costs much less.

Pretty easy to use. Hard to get a GREAT sound, but there are a hell of alot of combinations...... However, if you know your stuff, you can reproduce pretty much anything that you've heard on a record.

I use an Ibanez RG series with standard (crappy) pickups, direct into a desk for recording (stereo). The guitar's sound in naturally thin, but the GNX fills out the bottom end. Mids are still a bit low for my liking, but they're the best they've ever been. Distortions are average out of the box, but GREAT if you tweak them. I think you need a sound engineer's brain to get a really good tone, but the unit is more than capable. My favorite amp has always been the JCM800 (High Gain Custom) and the GNX reproduces that to the point where I can't tell the difference.... The Mesa Boogie emulation is good aswell, but needs more work to get it to sound like $500,000 worth of recording studio equipment.......
Bad points are the acoustic emulation, pitch shifting and EQ. I like to be able to adjust the range of frquencies I'm working with and the GNX seems to have a fixed "Q" value, so you can't tighten the frequencies. This can give you a really thick bottom end, which is hard to eliminate (but it's easily sorted in the mix). The acoustic stuff is unrealistic and noisy.
Having said all that, the distortion is great (almost as good as a tube amp), the wah is realistic and so are all the other FX. You won't do better without spending mega-bucks.

It's Digitech. You could run over it with a truck and it would would still work.

Never needed to deal with them (and I've been a Digitech customer for 10 years).

I play mainly instrumental metal, this unit matches my style perfectly. It's given me a reason to practise again!!!!

Getting a good tone from this bad boy is not an easy task, but it's not impossible. DO NOT count on the factory preset sounds to give you a clue as to the full potential of this processor. If you'll notice, nearly every preset has completely flat EQ setting- perhaps digitech is imploring YOU, the user, to get your hands dirty and mess around with this thing a little bit.

There is an extremely intuitive interface which this pedal uses. There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you figure it out, those 5 knobs and 2 or 3 buttons will run circles around any other processor. Any setting you can think of, you can get to it in a matter of seconds.

The manual is worth giving a brief glance, if only to orient yourself. As for firmware, I don't even know what that is.

I've used this with all kinds of guitars, into a lot of different amps. To be honest I don't remember what worked and what didn't, but I've been able to get a sickeningly heavy tone with a STRAT RIPOFF that's probably not worth its weight in crap. When i play live i use a Marshall Valvestate 2x12, but the amp and cab simulation is so great that when i record i just go direct. If i think the tone is a little muddy, a little EQ'ing in the studio takes care of that with no problem.

I've been using this for everything i possibly can- playing along with the smashing pumpkins, stevie ray vaughan, hum. The thing is, you have to know what you want from the GNX1. If you go in bound and determined to sound like something, your chances of getting a good emulation are pretty good. The amp "warping" effect which seems to be the pedals selling point is actually rarely used by me. Mixing clean and crunchy tones together is magic. Warping 2 distorted tones together generally results in mud.

Since I'm a single-coil guy, I get a lot of noise from EVERYTHING i use, not just this pedal. But the GNX1 has a noisegate, which does such a good job that i rarely turn it off. However, the high-gain distortion settings will obviously produce a little more noise than a clean tone... and if you want to hear just how much noise while demo-ing it in the store, just turn off the noisegate. It's actually quite bearable.

The wah is no crybaby, but it is a wah, and is very usable. Chorus and other modulations are sort of one-trick ponies on the GNX1. They have one particular color to them that you either like or you don't. If you want to thicken a modulation effect up a little bit, try going to the Pitch Shifter section and turning on a subtle detuner on top of what you're already using.

This really isn't an item for the "stompbox crowd." I've never in my LIFE heard a stompbox that could sound as good as real amp sounds. But the GNX1 isn't designed to model stompboxes; instead it takes the place of rooms full of amps and cabs, racks full of effects, impossibly long pedal boards... and it manipulates all of them simultaneously in a way that no human being ever could. It simply offers so MUCH that you have to be really deaf to not find something that works for you. Years after its purchase, i'm still unlocking sounds I never could have imagined it making. I don't wanna call it a stompbox or a board or processor or even a preamp. It's a whole system that can replace so much of the crap that materialistic guitar players end up with.

Generally guitar pedals are marketed to teenage microconsuming machines who play in their bedrooms and want to sound like Kirk Hammett. The GNX system could easily leave the bedroom and kick ass at a rehearsal, in a club, or a hall, or a stadium. Digitech has outdone themselves. If a tone sounds flimsy or fake or weak, you can really sit down and mess with the knobs until it sounds right. The people reviewing this thing seem to be either tone purists who refuse to believe that anything BUT an expensive tube amp could sound musical, or bedroom warriors who know nothing about how a guitar mixes with a real band, or how it's supposed to be recorded, or how to sound musical.

It's been heavily used since i bought it about a year and a half ago. The little push-buttons are starting to be a little less sensitive, but other than that, I've had no problems. It turns on when i tell it to, changes sounds when i tell it to, etc. Although the footswitches and knobs are plastic, they're not going anywhere unless you're stupid and step on them, snap them off, or use your pedal as a blunt weapon. I'm sure many before me have sung the praises of the pedal's actual housing, which is more metal than your mama's kettle. I've gigged with it, recorded countless tunes with it, and I really can't imagine what could go wrong with it.

I haven't dealt with DigiTech customer support. Hopefully at this rate i won't have to.

I play everything from old-school bebop jazz to experimental ambient metal to indie rock. I have about 11 years experience as a guitar player, and in those years I've played guitar in many different settings from Big Bands to garage bands. The GNX has had a place in all of them. If it were stolen, I would hope that somewhere on my computer, my tones were backed up.

It's really a love/hate thing with nearly all DigiTech products. Either you sit down, realize the immense potential it has, and make it the focal point of your instrument setup... or you find that it really has nothing to offer you. For me, it was the former. I now have unique tones that are going to turn heads, and other guitar players are gonna ask me about when they hear it. But to re-iterate, the GNX is not a cute little addition to your already monstrous pedal board. It's the replacementreally only useful if it's the only thing drastically altering your sound... because after that point there's just too many factors to mess with. If you're considering buying it, or have bought it and want to know where to go, there's a lot going on at the digitech website... but what good is a "community" of bedroom rockers? My suggestion: Take a deep breath, sit down with either a nice amp or a good pair of studio headphones, and play till you bleed. That's the only way you'll get an idea of what you're working with. You can hear some of my recordings done with the GNX1 at www.purevolume.com/boygenius

Owned this unit for years and has been used to death. The sounds are great and everything you should need is included. The amount of editing options can seem a little overwhelming, especially to a beginner but are just great fun to spend hours messing around with. The first thing anyone should do is get a MIDI cable and download the editing software. it makes editing a lot simpler and easier to work out. I regularly upgrade to the latest firmware and is a breeze to do. I haven't seen the manual since I bought the thing and have never needed to go hunting for it. There's a great online community for this pedal which makes getting help and downloading new patches very easy,

Sound quality is great. I've never had a problem getting great tone from it. I take this thing to practice and go through the band PA instead of lugging an amp. The sound is excellent and it makes my life a lot easier. Every effect I've ever needed is covered and most parameters are assignable to the rocker pedal which makes changing sounds hands free even easier.

I did have a problem with the unit when I bought it. It would spontaneously change patches which made it unusual for gigging with. I upgraded the firmware and the problem was fixed. Still made me a little wary of using it onstage.

I managed to break my power supply for it. I found it impossible to get a power supply of that power rating in electrical shops so I got a local music store to contact the distributer and order me another one. Ordering was done there and then and I got it very quickly for only #20 delivered. Called the tech guys about the patch changing and they were very helpful and even called back to check on the problem. good guys.

This pedal has just become part of me. I use it for rehersing, DI'd into a mac for playing along to music and for Cubase recording and for jamming with. I just couldn't get by without it and when I was without a power supply I realised how much I depended on it. The price has dropped a lot these days and it's an ever better purchase that it was when I got it.

This "thing" is pretty easy to use, but I get a HORRIBLE sound a second after I play a note that sounds like some digital crackle. Don't buy it.

This thing is nothing more than a toy that makes alota noise. It seems cool at first but then you realize "hey, this things a piece of shit!" the only half decent setting was the solo setting, everything else was... bad... And no you can't sound like that shitty band Korn with this thing. Skip the bullshit of "oh it's compact" and get yourself a hand full of petals.

I would NEVER... EVER... use this out side of my home. It's shit... as described above.

They gave me my money back : )

Don't bother buying this. The sticker on the back that says "Made In USA" was the only real reason I gave this thing a whirl. I'm better suited with a tube screamer and some delay and a flanger.