DigiTech GNX2

It's easy to get a (basic)good sound and even easier using computer via midi, but if you want to sound more professional it'll take more time.

Editing patches is easy if you read the manual first.

Manual is ok.

Firmware: 1,6a(latest).

I'm using Cort X11 and Vantage strat guitars and Yamaha G 100 head& H|H -412bl(200watt)cabinet with it.

It's not noisy at all if you understand how it works(good noise reduction<2 types>.

Some effect's are better than others but not quite studio quality as Digitech claim's(basic effect's like delay's,reverb's, choruses... are just great).

Yes. You can get your favorite artist sounds using gnx easily (Vai, Yngwie, Jeff Beck and i think all the other's too).

Some of the distortion sound's are very convincing(nice rectifier), some are just ok. Stompbox modelling's ok quality but not exact.

The unit cover is made of metal, so i think it will last a lifetime. I think i could use it on a gig without a backup.

They say that Digitech does their job. Easy updates can be found on the internet.

I play hard rock, melodic heavy and rock/pop and gnx2 performs well in this area.

I have played for 15 years.

If it were stolen, i'd buy a new one.

I have compared Gnx2 with Vamp2 and both are good but i like gnx's amp. modelling better and Vamp's cab. modelling is better than gnx's.

Warping 2 different amp's/ cab's is my favorite feature.

Gnx2 is making it easy,, getting a great sound for recording.

Go buy it.

not terribly difficult to use considering everything in this unit. but, some things were confusing like where to edit amps vs. effects. the manual is only average so the learning curve can be a little steep. the GenEdit software makes it a whole lot easier, good stuff that.

i've owned this for a year. originally i meant to use the gnx2 direct to soundboard in a live situation. it replaced a zoom unit i was using. if you're not very demanding tone-wise it works okay for this. i would never record with this unit.

generally it's not noisy direct to board. however, on patches that have high gain the noise gate works poorly at the tail end of a sustained note. it cuts in, in a very annoying manner. don't expect to get any warmth from the modulation effects. the delay gets in the way big time if the feedback is set too high and i don't mean high in it's stated range.

played through an amp it sucks. it makes a lot of noise and it's just horrible in an effects loop. the "target system setup" sounds like nothing more than EQ variations and it's really bassy on a couple of the settings. i think it's just a gimmick.

if you use the GenEdit software the amp morphing is cool. the amp sims are probably the best thing going for this unit. don't get me wrong, it doesn't compare to real tubes (not even close), but for the price you get a cool toy.

the stomp box simulations are okay. there are distinct differences from one to the other that reflect the differences in the real ones. i think digitech comes the closest to reality in this area. i say this relative to other aspects of the gnx2, not that it really compares to real stomp boxes.

it has not broken down on me.

never used them.

this was a step up from my zoom unit, but that's all. if you're just starting out on guitar or you have little money to spend on gear the gnx2 is a cool toy. but, sooner or later you'll want more tone-wise. this is especially true if you've never played a good tube amp or tried other more dedicated effects units. this is my experience...play with these all-in-one boxes then realize you need to spend more money on the real thing.

Even with the manual this baby is extreamly hard to use. Trying to figure this thing out is like trying to learn rockect science over night. The manual sucks. They upgraded to a GNX3 right after I bought mine for full price then the guitar store closed down (where it was purchased) right after I bought it so there was no returning it.

I gonna keep this short by saying 9 out of 10 of the many effects on this pedal suck ass, even when you tweak am to your liking (which isn't easy). I basically only used a couple pre sets and a few settings that I modeled up. Sure theres alot of effects, (pretty cheesy most of em) but trust one of Gnx2 is very out dated and just down right sucks. If your gonna conjure up some signature sounds this pedal might be for you, at the end of the day though the effects are going to be obsolete and cheesy like chedder.

You can not depend on this pedal! After 4 months of using it the wah pedal broke. Next up was the whole pedal that broke (for unknown reasons) about a year after I bought it. Relying on this thing is like relying on a hooker to be faithful.

Digitech your a bunch of jerks. They never returned my emails, never, my warranty didn't meen anything at the end of the day. Digitech needs to learn to be more responsible for their peice of crap pedals.

It does nothing I want it to, it just breaks. If it was stolen I'd laugh about it. I hate it, lying dead on the floor it just gets in the way now. Once again I must say this thing sucks, everything about it sucks. DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL!

I give the ease of use about a four in comparison to most of the other multi effects out there. The knobs don't have any play in them, one small twitch and you're way past where you want to be. I able to edit the patches once I figured it out, but I really didn't like the complex, second EQ that is madatory with every patch. There must have been a crack smoking team of money hungry business-men coming up with all the ideas for this thing.

Check out what I wrote Digitech: If there was a zero rating option, I would choose that instead.-Buy Single Boss pedals instead.

I've had this GNX2 for about 2&1/2 years. First of all, I was pissed that this was the highest model out on the market during christmas, after you all sold the hell out of them, a month later, I find that that there was a GNX3. Just caring about your profits, and not what the consumer really wants, and for that I think you're jerks. Business, business business, I'll show you where my business goes.

O.K. to add to this, I find I can't use any effect on there without first going through the EQ. Let me make this clear, I don't want to use your crappy EQ, Digitech! That really TEEEED me off.

Amp simulation? HHHHAAAAAAAA!

I'm angry to even mention every time I use the bypass feature, I can hear the difference between that and plugging into the amp directly. That agitated me even more.

Too add to this mess that you call an effects pedal, the amp trigger works half the time, ARRRRGH!

Now the damn thing beep-beeps every time I go into bypass mode, and makes a horrible sound and volume drop when I simply tap the volume knob.

Your products are gold-plated crap in a sturdy metal box. Nothing more. It would make more use as a bonfire starter than a multi-effects box. TO HELL WITH THIS RYAN'S BUFFET OF AN EFFECTS BOX, PROVIDING A LOT OF CRAP AT AN AFFORDALE PRICE. FROM NOW ON, ANY WEBSITE WHERE I CAN MAKE A COMMENT ON THIS BOX WILL BE BOMBARDED BY MY CANDOROUS DISDAIN, RECOMMEDING BOSS, ROLAND, OR ANY OF YOUR COMPETITORS IN LESS THAN A HEARTBEAT. SOMEONE NEEDS TO BUY YOU OUT!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't do it! Please! I forgot to add that the first editions of the power cords had flex tips. This is a horrible mistake. It broke and I had to buy another one for fifty dollars. That's a lot of money to me

I don't speak to people who did me wrong!

I pray that no one on this entire face of the earth ever buys this pedal ever again. I HATE this thing. The sounds create an imbalance within my soul and I feel sick inside. I can hear the profits in this box. It really hurts me that the art of making music for love has turned into a big money making scandal. Anyone who is os inclined to make a career out of music must deal with rascals at every corner. Trust is obsolete. This pedal is an embodiment of all that is wrong in the music business. WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD GUYS GONE??? Please email me before 11-30-05 if you have any desire to buy this thing, I'll try to show you what I know about it.

The ease of use on this unit is like flying the space shuttle. Even with reading the manual cover to cover it is one of the hardest units to program that I've ever come in contact with. I own a Digitech 2120VGS and it is hands down the best sounding easiest to use professional grade processor I've ever owned. That said I had both a boss GT3 & GT6 but unpleased with some of the distorted tones I decided to buy the GNX2. What a mistake.

Ok heres where this unit really stinks. You can get excellent clean tones with this unit no problem but thats it. When trying to add just a little overdrive the amp either had too much bite or not enough to get through to the final speaker. The heavy overdrive is OK but all of the other units I've ever owned either sounded better or at least as good as this. Also this thing has two eq's and one cannot be turned off or bypassed which really sucks. Each amp setting has the basic bass, mid, treble settings great. But then within each patch there is another parametric eq that has the same settings plus the high and low end frequencies are adjustable. This seems like a good idea on the surface but you will tweak these for hours to get the tone just right. My preference is to run into a combo amp with the bass, mid, and treble setting all flat and let the processor control the tone but this one is almost impossible to use. The 2120VGS has an adjustable eq I think its a 5 or 7 band but you can set it flat at 0 or bypass it. This makes the tone come from the power source and the preamp bass, mid, treble settings. Anyway it is much easier to use and sounds a million times better. Now as for the stomp box models they are way off the mark compared to the original models. The point to all of this rambling is I have owned many Digitech products over the years from the (I think can't remember all of the model names)DSP 21 Legend, The model that also came out before the Legend, Valve FX, and finally the 2120VGS, also have used the RP7 and RP10 all of them blow this unit out of the water. Digitech really screwed up a good thing they had with the RP line when the discontinued for this piece of crap!

As for this category Digitech has always produced excellent quality built gear and mine being 1&1/2 years old has never failed. I bought a back up power supply because the one that came with my Boss GT6 gave out just before a live performance and I had no back up. Needless to say my back up power supply for the GNX2 is still in its box unused.

Once again this is something Digitech has always excelled at so no complaints here. I've upgraded online to the latest software the only draw back is I had to buy a $50 midimate to connect which I believe Digitech has now made some of the GNX models USB compatible. Good Move.

Overall this unit stinks it doesn't do what I want it to most of the time. I'm going to replace it but I just don't know with what yet. I may try to find and old RP7 or better model on ebay also I've heard good things about the Line6 XT Live so I may try it. Overall I would say that Digitech did the guitar community a great injustice by discontinuing the original valve driven RP line and discontinuing the rackmount 2120VGS. Please Digitech bring it back I know this unit at $950 didn't sell big but realize the people buying this were looking for studio quality so its a small market but you guys kicked butt with this unit.

Read the manual thoroughly. You must understand this unit to use it. Then, and only then, you can get what you want. It is a bit hard to digest, but if you are smart enough, you can get this thing to work.

I like the sound I get. I play an ESP EC-1000 with SD JB/59 pickups direct into a PA system, and also into Peavey Transtube 112 EFX amp. I formerly played a Peavey Raptor Plus (now thats my backup guitar) Noise? What noise?
Effects are better than whats on the Peavey amp.
I had the chance to A/B this to a Fender Twin Reverb with a Nashville B-bender Telecaster. I played around for hours back and forth, (and also comparing the guitar to my Peavey Raptor Plus). The Fender twin reverb amp simulator is VERY close to the real fender twin. Only the most stuck up fart tarts would not like the comparison. And also, the Telecaster is superior to my Raptor Plus in every way.
I like the effects. But I had to tweak them to get what I want.
I used this to play out last year without much double check of patch levels. I jacked up a couple of songs because the levels were wrong. You can be fooled by how it sounds in your basement studio. Get a good sound check of each patch level!!

I hope. One year and ticking.

na

I play blues, classic rock, oldies, and country. This is a good match for what I do.

FOLLOW UP TO DIGITECH GNX PEDAL/GENESIS BOX and
ELIMINATING HISS

QUESTION:
Hi Neil

I read your review of the GNX2. Thank you for taking the time to figure that out, and for sharing what you learned along the way!

I have a question for you - I also noticed the hiss when using the "Direct" amp/cabinet model and will use your suggestion to turn on the compressor in an effort to eliminate that. I do have a question though. Did you turn down either the Gain or Level settings, which both default to 99 (maximum), on the "Direct" amp model? I think that having both of those maxed has caused me a bit of unwanted distortion to the bass notes on my clean sounds. I turned both of those settings down to about 75 (but didn't have the compressor on as you've suggested). I noticed my clean sound improved but unfortunately it made my gain channel of my amp sound horrible. It just killed the signal.

Any suggestions you might have would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!
David Mock

MY REPLY:
David,

Yes, this hiss is always present because of the potential output level not being reached when the compressor is not engaged-- it is latent output signal strength that is only engaged when the compressor level is boosted (which is really not a boost but a decrease in non-compressor engagement so that the compressor has some headroom to work with when its turned on)

The amp level needs to be up all the way to decrease noise, but the gain will act as an overdrive and distort the signal, exactly its function. ON the Genesis (and I believe GNX as well) boxes- you have three levels to contend with 1) gain 2) amp level 3) OUTPUT level.

1) Gain will boost, and hense distort actual tone, although it will also increase volume
2)"Amp level" (insiside the GNX or Genesis) wil boost volume, but should not distort tone, since it is POST effects-- with the exeption being if the level to the actual physical amplifier is overdriving the amp
3) Output level can and should be set low, since overdriving the physical amplifier will distort the tone.

Ideally for minimizing hiss from the GNX/Genesis,
1) raise the compressor level high- and adjust to the level of compression you want- either zero actual effect or whatever level you want. If you just turn it off, you're going to be the victim of unecessary hiss in these boxes using clean and semi-clean sounds.
2) adjust the amp level so that your patch matches the relative volume you want to all your other patches
3) minimize the output level from the box altogether to avoid overdriving your physical amp and altering the tone.


Any of these boxes, GNX or Genesis are pre-amps, so going into an amp channel, the output should ideally be exactly the same as from a guitar cord-- i.e VERY low signal level- UNLESS you want distortion-- exactly the function of a stomp box.

Neil Slade
The Amazing Brain MUSIC Adventure
www.neilslade.com

Courtesy of NEIL SLADE BRAIN MUSIC www.NeilSlade.com

Not bad, but not so easy since the controls are multi function- one button or knob has many functions, and it takes some getting used to-- but that's the price of digital stuff-- menu driven to keep costs down, to keep items compact-- you sacrifice ease and simplicity. In a live situation, this makes things difficult if you are not simply using your presets- and this is where plain separate analog effects are much better- albeit bulky. Instant grab and adjust-- no menu scrolling.

THIS IS THE BIG BIG ISSUE with digital effects, and the RP and GNX products. The sound quality is good-- but not as steller as straight through to amp and quality stomp boxes.

The difference is possibly not too relevant in a loud bar with simple settings. One needs to realize that the more complex your signal becomes, the less distinctive it will be around a lot of noise and competing noises-- add lots of effects, and your tone loses cutting power. A simple good tone, clean or distorted- this will cut through most. Start adding reverbs, and delays, and modulations-- it may sound great at home or in your car or with earphones-- on stage, it will just be mud.

AT home and in the studio-- PAY ATTENTION HERE-- a direct signal is also best. I spent considerable time comparing the sound of my guitar plugged straight into my Fender Bassman Blackface and Fender Champ, and compared this with both the processed and essentially bypassed or straight sound going through the GNX and Genesis boxes. The GNX does a very good job at reproducing the sound of the guitar-- keep in mind the GNX and Genesis devices SAMPLE YOUR GUITARS SOUND, THEN SPIT OUT NOT THE ORIGINAL ANALOG SIGNAL, BUT A DIGITAL CLONE/RECORDING OF THE SIGNAL. It is a CD quality sample, granted, at 44.1K, but nevertheless- its really not the sound of your guitar-- its a digital recording of your guitar, which the device can process in a number of ways to give you guitar plus reverb/eq/delay/modulation etc.

In this sense, the Digitech devices have come a long way in many years, and they get VERY close to giving you a pure sound. But its not perfect, not quite. For one thing-- if you turn up the gain and amp volume on the direct settings (no amp simulators) you will STILL NOT GET THE VOLUME that you would if you just plug your guitar into the amp. To get the same level, you have to crank up the GNX/Genesis OUTPUT pot-- and at the same volume level-- YOU GET NOTICABLE hiss/noise not present using a plain guitar cord into amp. Plug it into the GNX/GENESIS-- to get the same loudness, you will get some extra hiss.

Of course, if you are using one of the presets that has fuzz/overdrive/amp simulation these presets or settings encorporate methods of overdriving the sound and you don't notice the extra noixe, because its buried under the effect volume. However, if you are trying to accomplish a CLEAN sound-- it will not be as clean as a good direct to amp or through a quality stomp box clean-- all that Digitech electronics costs you a little extra hiss.

There IS HOWEVER A WAY AROUND THIS-- Turn on the COMPRESSOR effect--, that is where you are losing gain--- turn up the GAIN (all the way is fine). Then set the THRESHOLD as high as it will go, and use the least amount of compression, say 1.2:1. What this will accomplish is this will add volume without adding any compression (unless you REALLY play extremely hard), and raise the overall volume level. You can then lower the OUTPUT pot, and VOILA, you'll match the same level as a straight from guitar to amp signal and you won't be adding any of that hiss when you're using a clean sound on the GNX/GENESIS.

This should be something Digitech should put in their manuals from the very start- apparently, the devices SUBTRACT volume so that the COMPRESSOR EFFECT has something to work with. Unfortunately, this adds his to all the clean sounds, and it's not necessary. But its a fact. So, if you want to match the clean output volume of a direct guitar without any extra hiss, you'll have to make these compressor effect adjustments--- THIS IS TRUE OF EVERY DIGITECH EFFECT, GNX1, GNX2, GNX3, GNX4, and every past effect.

NOW-- given that you can eliminate this extra hiss this way-- how does the bypassed or clean sound of the Digitech pedals compare with a direct to amp sound? It's ALMOST the same.

I spent HOURS comparing the two (and three and four).

The digital reproduction is good, very good. But in the end, some of the SPARKLE is los

I've had some issues with the control knobs on a couple of Digitech devices-- they get squirrely.

I think they just use cheap mountings for their knobs- which seem to be the weak point. It could be worse, but it could be better.
What do you what for this kind of money, eh?

Not Mackie or Yamaha type quality-- one of the weak points. Probably will work-- but don't abuse these things.

Once had to get a new pedal cover, no big deal. Sufficient support.

I play everything, from symphonic music, to Captain Beefheart noise.

7.5 Good value for the money, maybe even excellent.

However, these are NOT perfect devices, but really nice tools, and are flexible and can do a lot.

Keep in mind that a good saxophone costs THOUSANDS, and good guitar is expensive (though I've got a killer Ibanez Art core that sounds amazing at $350. I own a Gibson 1980 Les Paul Standard, 1996 ES335, Ibanex Art Core, Martin 000c16C, 1977 Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez Nylon jazz acoustic, 1967 Hofner Bass, Fender Bassman Blackface, Fender Champ, Peavey solid state keyboard, guitar and bass amps.

Very Easy to Use. The Front Controls are intuitive, and with GenEdit Software you can get whatever sound you want. You can easily download lots of patches from digitech community page. My unit came with the latest firmware. The manual is good.

Im using a 2004 fender std strat, gnx2 and a Peavey KB/A 100
Not noisy at all, however some extremely high distors combined with high volume will cause this horrible feedback.
Im not an expert in effects cause before this unit all I had used was the distor and reverb of my old Marshall mg30cd. But I believe effects are very well done. Not the same for the presets included, as many people said they suck. Youll have to tweak them to get the right tone you want, this will be a long tedious task. And depends a lot on the target system you are using. Some presets may sound great with a small amp, but with a big amps they may sound muddy.
With a lot of tweaking you can get exactly the sound of your favorite artist.
I give it an 8 because its factory effects are bad (6), but once you tweak them you get exactly what you want (10)

The unit case seems built as a tank, however a friend of mine that had the same model (gnx2) told me that after a while his power supply stopped working.

Never dealt with them. The web site is a great resource.

Spend some time with it and youll get a good tone. Spend a huge amount of time with it (use GenEdit to reduce time) and youll get exactly what you want. Also make sure you visit the community pages and test some patches to get some good ideas. It it were stolen I would probably wait some time until the new edition of GNX2, the GNX2000, gets out and have enough money to buy it.

Against my better judgement, I bought a GNX2. I had been a big fan of Digitech's smaller pedals for years but with the exception of the PDS20/20, their multi-effects left much to be desired.

The last one I tried, the RP300A was simply a toy and I returned it, swearing off Digitech forever. Then I heard good things about the GNX's, so I went down to GC and tried one. Admittedly, I was in a hurry and it was noisy as hell in there but the presets sounded decent enough so I pulled the trigger.

Editing is very akward at first. As stated below the matrix takes some getting used to but once you do, it's very simple.

The manual is adequate.

My unit had the latest firmware.

I found the unit to be very quiet with good noise reduction. But as stated many times before, the effects are muddy. I found myself constantly jacking up the treble freqs on almost every preset.

The distortions are just plain awful. This has been a Digitech signature for as long as I can remember. They just don't get it. No amount of tweaking/warping could get rid of the brittle, shrill digital fizz. I'm no tube junky but for the life of me I couldn't get a warm overdrive out of this thing.

The mods are ok. Reverbs and delays way below average.

BTW: Unlike alot of reviewers here; I spent considerable time and effort exploring every possible setting. I had 30 days to return it and used 25 of those days.

Built surprisingly solid but I wouldn't dream of gigging with it simply because of the poor sound quality. This is built for home jamming maybe some recording, not gigging.

Surprisingly helpful. To a point.

I was never able to get it working on my Mac. The tech's tried but through no fault of their own they ran out of options because quite simply, it really isn't designed to work on a Mac.

It is advertised as such but the Mac must be booted into OS9/Classic. It will not run in OSX running Classic. Even still I couldn't get it to run at all. Fortunately I also own a PC. No problems there and it is a nice feature but I just wanted the ability to share presets and backup my own. The rest of it just seems like overkill for serious tweakers.

I've been playing for over 20 years. Mostly Fenders. Surf/Country/Post Punk/Some Metal/Classic rock/Rockabilly and Psychobilly. I played this through a Fender Twin, a Vox AC30 but mostly through headphones.

I've been looking for a good m/e stomper for a couple years now. I've tried the Boss ME50 (Crappy distortion), the GT6 (A little too much pedal for my use but probably my second pick behind the Tonelab SE), the Digitech RP300A (As previously mentioned, nothing but a toy), the Korg AX1500G (which I now wish I hadn't sold) and the PODxt which isn't a pedal board but I decided to try it anyways. (Painfully small menu driven) I thought about the XTLive but it too looks like more than I need.

Through all this I keep coming back to my Korg PX4. It is not a pedal board but the sound qaulity and modeling accuracy far surpass any of the aforementioned units. As far as modeling and effects, I think Vox/Korg have got it down. I think I'll probably just save up for a Tonelabs SE - more pedal than I need but they sound amazing.

This was the final straw with Digitech.

I'm done.