DigiTech GNX3

The first couple days I had it, I felt like throwing it out of the window. But if you play with it a lot (and maybe read the manual)it becomes fairly simple, as far as the effects and editing goes. But I still can't figure out the recording part. Maybe I'm just an idiot. But all in all, it doesn't take a geneus to get the best out of the GNX3.

I am a novice guitarist, and I really only use my Epiphone Les Paul and my Kustom lead amp, so it's not like I was getting any great sound before anyway. ANYWAY, the GNX3 puts out some pretty good sounds. The Noise Gate works pretty well too. My amp by itself makes all kinds of hissing noises and crap when (and when you're not) playing, so the GNX3 helps that a lot. When I wanna get the sound of my favs, I get close, but then I irritate myself because it's not perfect. But if you've got the ear for music, you should be good.
Now with the effects, I have to say, they are pretty good, but for some reason, they sound kinda fake to me. Like the pitch shifter... I think I understand what it's for, but it just sounds fake, and like it should be different. And I can never really get the distortion and equalization the way I want it.

I don't really know anything about playing at gigs and stuff like that, so I couldn't honestly tell you what I think about its reliability.

nope....

I love all kinds of music, but I as a guitarist am more into metal, and stuff like Rob Zombie. I have been playing electric guitar for about 7 months. I don't know much about everything yet, but I'm getting there. Basically, all I've got is my GNX3, my Epiphone, and my amp. I really like the idea that you have all that stuff on one little thing. But I do wish there were another expression pedal so you can have, for instance whammy and wah at the same time. (yeah that'd be pretty hard to do, but you never know)

i got it when they came out.
Its fairly easy to understand, theres alot of features, but its not complicated. I haven't or don't use alot of the features, (harmonizer, lfo controlls, talkbox learn -a-lick etc)

its version 1.0, I feel no reason to update it.

I don't like most of the amp models,especially the high gain ones. They dont have the oomph or power that an amp's distortion has, so i just dont use the modelling features.

The effects are neat, I hardly use them at all, mostly chorus and the stomp box thing.

I use the my amps distortion, i select the direct amp modes and go guitar gnx amp, it makes the delay and reverb really cool and scary. i use the gnx to just add the basic effects, slight eqing and the ability to run stereo.

sort of, the buttons are sometimes unresponsive, especially the recorder. I haven't used it in a gig yet though, i'll need to tweak it a bit more.

no idea

i play in a metal band, so i know mostly metal songs, but i like to pretend i know other genres so when at home practicing on headphones it really comes in handy.

It would be really inconvenient if it got stolen, i would have to lug my gear downstairs and stuff, to practice at home. i would then have reason to buy a bunch of stompers though.

its a cool thing to have, but its not a neccesary part of my tone.

With all of the sounds hidden inside this unit, it is remarkably easy (at least to me it has been) to extract them. Editing patches is as easy as I think it could get for the number of options, and live use is pretty simple too, as the pedals can be set up for your style (to a point). Having said that, the manual is pretty poor, many tables that are referenced aren't on the page numbers that are referred to, and I would have appreciated a quick blurb a la "line 6" about what each amp and pedal modelled sounded like, or what genres they were popular in. My firmware rev is 1.5

The sound quality I would give a 9. My opinion is that this device gives you "primary colors", and it is up to your imagination to extrapolate the colors you want to use to paint with. Having said that, I was unimpressed with 95% of the factory presets, but I think the presets are over-exaggerated to focus on whatever effect is being featured, and not meant so much to be usable right out of the blocks.
Noise has not been a problem, even though I am nearly exclusively a single-coil type guy. I generally use fairly low gain on amp and distortion models, preferring instead to use larger strings (11's) and a heavy attack to get more drive from my tone. That way I clean up when I back off on my attack.
I use the effects very dialed back most of the time, as I prefer a straight ahead sound, with just a little color to mix when I hit the effects. I think the spring reverb with a slap-back delay sounds great for blues or chicken pickin licks. The envelope filter sound is great for the Jerry Garcia type stuff. The wah's are very usable, albeit they may need adjustment for your style or the song's vibe.
I generally run the GNX into the power amp of an acoustic amp I have when at home, or sometimes run the digital out to the dvd input of my home stereo (ping pong delay sounds awesome in surround sound). When performing I run this directly to the mixer, and in all settings I have been satisified with the sound, provided I set up the target properly.

With all of the aforementioned comments, I don't think the amp models or distortion models hit real close to the ones I have actually been able to sample, but again I look at this as giving you "primary colors" to mix and match until you have your own unique color.
The recorder/looper is great for practice, I have had a lot of fun getting people I jam with to record their stuff so I can work up solos to go along (I gig with a few different groups fairly regularly, so it helps me when I can't rehearse with all of them as much as needed).
By the way, the drum machine is extremely cheesy, but I don't really use it, so I'm not knocking the rest of the sound quality for that feature.

I haven't had any problems, and haven't gigged with a backup when using this, although I sometimes carry the line 6 POD 2.0 just in case. I think this device will be/is more reliable than tube amps and solid state amps I have used in the past, so I'm not too worried.
The pedals and housing are pretty well built (not bulletproof, but tough enough for me).

I play classic rock/blues based stuff (Hendrix, Petty, Grateful Dead, etc), along with a fair amount of original material made up by myself and other local musicians, and this device is a great tool for dialing up unique sounds.
I have been playing for about 7 years, and have owned around 12 electric and acoustic guitars (mostly fenders and martins), and a plethora of fender, marshall, and other amps. I have owned/used Ibanez tubescreamers, Dunlop wah's, Danelectro echo's, MXR compressors, and others pretty good stompboxes as well. I would definitely replace this if I had to, although I may consider the GNX4 that is coming out soon.
I think it requires a lot of tweaking to get the right sounds, mostly because again the colors from the factory are very much just starting points.
I do wish it had a better drum engine, but I don't use that feature very often, so no big deal.
This device is very inspiring to use, and helps get the tones I want, although it does sometimes encourage me to tweak away instead of actually playing.
That's about it...

This is not a 2 knob stompbox and as such it does take some time to become familiar with the layout and operation of the unit, so read the manual first and experiment. Having said that once you have become use to the way it works it becomes second nature. The layout and overall operation of the GNX 3 is very logical and flexible.

Firstly, I don?t think any digital device can be given a 10 for sound quality because it is after all trying to emulate "real" analogue tones and sounds and will always be a compromise. However, the vast array of achievable tones that can be had with the GNX3 is outstanding and ultimately very satisfying. Excellent tones can be achieved at loud volumes and at very low (bedroom) levels or thru headphones and as such this alone makes the GNX3 (for me anyway) an excellent option.
Having read most of the other reviews where sound quality was criticised I am left wondering if the unit was tested with the incorrect global settings (direct, input/loop of various cabinet options) when plugged into the amp used to do the testing. These setting do make considerable difference to the tone of the GNX3 and need to be understood in the context of the overall EQing of the unit with the equipment used.

I have run the GNX3 thru my Laney TT20 tube amp (both in the loop and in front), thru my Tech 21 Power Engine and thru good quality headphones (AKG K240S) and in each case I have achieved excellent results. I currently run a stereo set up with the left GNX 3 output connected to the Laney loop return and the right output connected to my PE. Effects such as panning, chorus and delay spread sound awesome running in stereo. At the Digitech website there is a sound community dedicated to the GNX products with a patch library of some 600 plus user made patches for the GNX3. Many of the patches have sound samples so you can check for yourself how it sounds.

I would say that the factory patches that ship with the unit do suck!

I have owned my GNX3 for more than 2 years and during this time have had no problems with it or with the installation of firmware updates (their has been 4 so far). I am a home player so can?t comment on the reliability of its use in a gigging situation

Have not had to contact Digitech, however based o the resources available at their website I give this a 10

Overall, I think the GNX3 does represent fanatic value for money.
Get one, you won't be disappointed.

Easy my ass. It shure isn't rocket science but I'm shure Digitech went out of there way to make it as complicatd as possible. It took me two weeks to figure out how to work half the shit!

YUK, The stompboxes and amp moels sound horrible. The multieffets chorus, flange, reverb were good, but that's not why I bought the thing! I wanted to create a tone like no other. It sounds "raunchy". I played it through a marshall AVT 50. It sounded like shit straight through. I ran an FX LOOP and it still sounded like shit! I do like my Marshall tone, but I have to crank the SOB to get it to sound good. This was suppose to be my soulution. I am now running a Digitech RP12. It sounds killer!!! I can't belive they discontinued it!!!

The think sounds like shit, but I have do admit this thing is a tank! All Digitech Processors are.

The thing sucks, but I have to admit they stand by there shity products!

Sound like Sci Fi, don't belive it!!! This thing is a big piece of shit. You can now record 8 horribly sounding tracks at the touch of a pedal.....etc
mocking musicians friend if you didn't know DON'T BUY IT PLEASE I'M TELLING YOU

Beh?devo dire che, nonostante le tante funzioni, questa pedaliera e davvero semplice da usare. Ce l?ho da una settimana, ma dopo un?ora gia smanettavo alla grande sia con la sezione effetti che con il registratore (gran trovata della digitech!). C?e da premettere che ho gia una certa esperienza con unita multieffetto, difatti ho posseduto uno Yamaha Fx500 a rack, una Boss GT-3 (forse un po? piu complessa da settare della GNX) ed una Korg AX1500G, la piu semplice di tutte da usare, anche perche rispetto a Boss e Digitech offre un bel po? di funzioni in meno. Attenzione, pero! Non sempre piu funzioni significa miglior suono, anzi a volte e vero il contrario. Ognuno deve scegliere cio che fa al caso proprio. Chi vuole un multieffetto economico, pratico, con le funzioni fondamentali e non vuole un suono di plastica come quello delle Zoom puo tranquillamente prendere un Korg. Chi invece vuole una maggiore tavolozza di suoni a disposizione (GNX e serie GT della Boss hanno numerosi modelli di amplificatori e pedalini) e magari qualche effetto speciale (Whammy ed altre diavolerie per la Digitech, effetti di Sinth guitar per la Boss), spendendo il doppio del prezzo della Korg puo acquistare GNX3 (tra qualche mese arriva la 4 ma costa uno sproposito) o GT-6, che ti fanno scervellare un po? di piu col manuale ma ti offrono di piu. C?e da dire che i manuali Boss sono piu completi ed in italiano, ma la Digitech offre un forum utenti e un servizio di assistenza sul sito www.digitech.com che la Boss se li sogna! Qualunque dubbio o problema viene risolto nel giro di pochi minuti.

Suono una Esp LTD M-252 (simile alla Kirk Hammett ma con pickup Duncan passivi anziche EMG attivi?troppo cattivi per me!) collegata alla GNX e ad un amplificatore Marshall MG50DFX. L?ampli e onesto, non suona male ma?e un transistor. Se avete qualche soldino in piu da spendere (neanche tanti poi) prendetevi un bel valvolare. Chi fa la scelta di utilizzare effetti digitali purtroppo molto spesso deve rinunciare a qualcosa in termini di qualita del suono. Per rendere un po? piu caldo e meno digitale il suono un bel valvolare e l?ideale. Quando avevo la GT-3 la collegavo al canale pulito di un meraviglioso Peavey Classic30 valvolvare (come vorrei averlo ancora!), e le distorsioni zanzarose della pedaliera sembravano brillare di nuova luce. (N.B. le distorsioni della GT-6, nonostante non siano analogiche come quelle della GT3, sono state migliorate, anche se qualche altra cosa e stata peggiorata, come il compressore che non e piu un effetto indipendente bensi e incorporato agli effetti di modulazione).
Cmq torniamo alla GNX3: quando l?ho provata al negozio i suoni non sembravano granche, ma sembrava cio che piu si avvicinava ai miei bisogni, in piu aveva il registratore e costava meno della GT-6 percio l?ho presa cmq. Quando l?ho provata a casa ho avuto la sorpresa, positiva: i suoni si erano trasformati da ?bruchi? immaturi a farfalle! Magari non quelle farfalle tropicali dai colori sgargianti pero?davvero belli. La maggior parte dei preset, come spesso accade, fa un po? schifo, ma basta smanettare un po? per trovare un suono decente. Una caratteristica in cui la GT-6 sovrasta la GNX3 e il numero di preset a disposizione: piu di 300 contro solo 65. Alcuni potranno obiettare che in fondo chi usa 65 suoni diversi? E? vero, ma il vantaggio della GT-6 e un altro: chi non sa o non vuole smanettare troppo con gli effetti ha gia a disposizione centinaia di suoni da usare come punto di partenza, mentre con la GNX bisogna smanettare un po? di piu per ottenere il suono adatto ai propri bisogni. La GT-6 ha anche un numero maggiore di effetti, ma la maggior parte sono ricreabili anche sulla GNX smanettando adeguatamente, mentre alcuni effetti o caratteristiche della GNX la GT-6 se li sogna! Mi riferisco al talker (simpatico ma quasi inutile effetto che, collegando una microfono alla pedaliera, fa ?parlare? la chitarra), ai pattern di batteria incorporati ma, soprattutto, al registratore e al Jam Man Delay Looper. Il registratore digitale e davvero utile: grazie alla batteria elettronica e alla simulazione di basso si puo registrare in un attimo (al primo utilizzo del registratore dopo un quarto d?ora avevo gia buttato giu due pezzi!) tutto cio che ti passa per la testa. C?e anche la presa per il microfono, che si puo far passare attraverso la sezione effetti. Insomma, non avra tutte le funzioni dei registratori professionali ma e praticissimo da usare (si puo azionare anche con i pedali), la registrazione e senza fruscii e,soprattutto, e compreso nel prezzo(bisogna solo aggiungere una quarantina di euro per una smart media card da 128mb, che con la memoria interna di 16mb ci registri 3minuti)! Si puo anche usare come looper: avete presente Alex Britti? Puoi sovrainciderti tutte le volte che vuoi! Se nel gruppo c?e una sola chitarra e c?e bisogno di un sottofondo?voila! Il problema e risolto! Grazie alla funzione quantize, poi, i loop vanno sempre a tempo anche se sei impreciso e termini la registrazione un attimo prima o un attimo dopo.
Vabbe, cmq veniamo ai suoni. Anche qui la Digitech ha fatto qualcosa di nuovo grazie alla funzione Warp: per ogni patch si possono fissare due tipi di ampli, green amp e red amp (un po? come un amplificatore a due canali) e?magia?puoi fondere tra loro i due suoni nella misura in cui lo desideri! Ad esempio si puo usare come green amp un Fender Twin e come red amp un bel Mesa Boogie , si ruota la manopolina e la distanza tra i due viene colmata in maniera abbastanza pregressiva. In pratica grazie a questa f

La mia vecchia GT3 era migliore da questo punto di vista e avrebbe meritato un bel 10: tutta in metallo e senza manopole sporgenti, ma anche la GNX sembra abbastanza robusta. La struttura e in metallo robusto (pesa un accidenti) pero le manopoline in plastica non mi convincono del tutto, ed anche i pedali non sono come quelli della Boss? Ad ogni modo l?unico giudizio lo puo dare il tempo. Qualche perplessita me l?ha data il software, che pare abbia alcuni difetti. La digitech consente di aggiornarlo periodicamente via midi scaricando un file dal sito. Beh, quando ho provato ad aggiornarlo la pedaliera e letteralmente morta! Sul forum digitech molti parlano di problemi simili e di altri difetti del software, che pero la casa ha in buona parte risolto aggiornandolo.

Come ho appena detto ho avuto qualche problema di software: ho mandato una mail al supporto Digitech a tarda notte (sera in U.S.A.) e la mattina ho trovato la risposta (dettagliatissima) ! Ho avuto bisogno di altri chiarimenti, ho mandato un?altra mail e?magia! Nonostante in U.S.A. fossero le 6 del mattino la risposta mi e arrivata dopo 5 minuti ed il problema e stato risolto senza spese e senza portare la pedaliera in assistenza?

Che dire piu? Se avete qualcosa in meno di 500euro in tasca e avete bisogno di una pedaliera-workstation completa di tutto e con suoni da paura andate subito a comprare la GNX3! Se avete un migliaio di euro, tanti cavi, tanti alimentatori e tanta pazienza andate a comprare 6-7 pedalini analogici?.a voi la scelta! Io l?ho gia fatta e sono soddisfatto.

I would just like to point out to those think the GNX3 sounds fine into headphones but not into an amp or that it sounds "especially good" into headphones needs to make sure they are using speaker cable from the processor to the amp. When i switched from a guitar cable to the speaker cable (both with quarter inch ends) i noticed a big immpovement. Just ask for it at any music store, its only slightly more expensive and you'll see a huge improvement :)

well, i personally think this GNX3 is very easy to use. I haven't even looked at the manual and was able to do everything with the effects and recorder. I haven't bothered trying a MIDI connection, and doubt that i will. I do save my song sample to a smart card. i then export the songs to the smart card and then remove and insert into a external smart card floppy drive, which i bought at wal mart for $30. this is the best way to access data from a smart card. i really don't understand why people think its difficult. maybe they're digging deeper into the unit than i. I hear the GNX4 is comen and has USB, which is nice. But, its going to be expensive @ $600.00.
anyway, i thought it was very easy to use, but i agree the pre sets are not that great, but they probably used a different guitar.

i like the sound of this unit. you can dial almost anything tone. I also like the Guitar to Bass sound, pretty fun. Man, i can't think of a funner toy than this unit. just sit down, lay a rythm lay a bass lay a drum lay a solo. I will admit, i don't care for the drum patterns. i would say for my taste only 2 or 3 patterns are useful.
i think the tube tone are very convincing also.

had it a year, still running. i've been playen every weekend with it throughout the USA. I even threw it at a heckler in the audience for saying i needed to take guitar lessons from his 3 yrs old girl, that SOB.

i hear they are very good

well, how can you complain about this gadget, huh ???
we should all call up digitech and that them for inventing such a great toy. lets think how boring it wood be without it.......
i wish they offered a hardcase for the unit.

You better plan on reading the manual ... a couple times ... and then you will START to get a handle on this. If you can get the MIDI connected to your PC you will find working with the patches is MUCH MUCH easier than dialing them in on the unit itself. The recorder is great and if you have smartmedia cards and a good firmware revision for the gnx3 (get the current one!) it's fairly simple to move files back/forth for recording and mixing. The ProTools Software that came with it is feature-rich which means complicated and also requiring some concentrated time to learn what/where/how. Overall there is a healthy learning curve but you will be rewarded amply if you commit to mastering this incredible tool. One lingering bitch is trying to get all your custom presets to balance for output level. It's not that easy because of the amp model and eq flexibility, and it requires a fair amount of time to do, even when you have the unit midi-connected (forget this without midi). Until you get all your presets leveled, it can be a little awkward in live performance.

I play a Strat w/Bardens, Jazzmaster w/Andersons, 335 w/Bill Lawrence and dillion santana clone w/Bill Lawrence thru tube amps (carvin xv212 and crate vc20) and also through a very clean (sansui amp, kenwood eq, kustom pa speakers) solid-state system. The sounds are different due to tube vs. solid-state and guitar speaker vs. wider-range PA. The biggest gain comes from setting up in stereo. If you listen you will find that the gnx3 really does image for stereo and you won't want to go back to mono afterward! The amp modelling is pretty convincing... best appreciated through high quality headphones or straight to console. You can get some interesting sound thru tube amps but I prefer to run the amp very clean and let the gnx3 do the coloration, or bypass the gnx3 and let the amp do its own thing. The range of sounds is really great and you will have a lot of fun with the amp/cab warping/morphing function especially when you link it to the foot pedal. The usual effects are pretty good, the stompbox models very good. There is some "breathing" and "stepping" when you use the LFOs to control some of the effects... so use judgment and preview your patches through headphones. I give it a 9 or even a 10 because it CAN do a 9 or 10, but as they say, "your mileage may vary".

Built like a tank. Backup schmackup on this... a good tube amp is an adequate backup (of course you need a backup for the tube amp!).

When I got mine, the firmware revision was 4.1 if I remember correctly. It just didn't work with smartmedia cards back/forth to pc. I kinda got the runaround along with all the other users on the Digitech user forums. Then I wrote to the VP of Sales and it was amazing, they started emailing me and shortly thereafter firmware rev 5.1 came out and voila, it worked. I can't give a 10 due to the usual first-response-to-a-bug attitude (it must be your equipment) but the eventual action was good and effective.

I write my own stuff - hard to characterize. Think eclectic range, from jazz balads to what LedZep might have done if they were releasing their first cd today. Remember and play a lot of material from my garageband youth, which surprisingly just stays on the radio decade after decade. I bet my grandkids will know purple haze, layla, and stairway to heaven. Playing 30+ years. The GNX3 is a terrific tool for a composer/player... you can cover a virtually infinite space. I Would definitely get another Digitech, they just keep getting better at what they do.

Out of the box, many of the presets are quite usable. They definitely do a good job of showcasing what the unit can do, and make for a good starting point to creating your own.

Naturally, there's a learning curve to programming your own presets, but it's fairly intuitive. The recorder is even easy to use with your feet, assuming you actually read the manual and realize you have three different modes to use the pedals in.

The only gripe I have is the fact that you have to use a MIDI cable to upload/download patches and presets to the unit. It'd be nice to be able to use the SmartMedia card for that.

I own what some would call "cheap" guitars (Fender Squier Strat, Epiphone SG Junior) and buying the GNX3 breathed new life into these guitars. I usually play into headphones or direct into my Mac to record, but even out of my Crate GX-30 it sounds great.

The stompboxes are VERY good at emulating their real-life counterparts, and really allow you to get the distortion sounds of almost any one of your guitar heroes. I really enjoy playing a lot of early Seattle grunge stuff, and the Big Muff Pi is pretty frickin' close to the real thing.

I previously owned a Digitech RP-3, and this unit definitely kills it. The pitch shifting no longer has a slight delay, and all the harmonizing and pitch shifting is excellent, as you'd expect from Digitech. All of the other effects are definitely top-notch as well.

I always baby every piece of gear I own. I don't really see the benefit of beating the crap out of my gear, although as with my RP-3, it's a sturdy metal case and could probably take a beating a little better than your son and/or daughter.

People in previous reviews seem to be hung up on the LCD display unit having "saran wrap" on it, but if you've ever in your life purchased consumer electronics, you know that anything with an LCD display ships with a thin film on it to protect it from getting scratched. That's all. And yes, if you dropped a brick on the display it might actually crack. KEEP UNIT CLEAR OF ALL MASONRY PROJECTS.

I've yet to have a need to deal with Digitech's customer support. I suppose that's a testament to their product quality.

I was looking for something that I could use to interface with my computer so I could record digitally, and a friend had just bought one and recommended it. I figured it'd be worth it if I could just have the effects from my RP-3 with a digital recorder strapped on it (which is what I thought this would be), but the effects are a trillion times better. So for the price of a low-end digital 8-track I got what I was looking for, plus a bunch of top-quality effects.

Another bonus is the XLR mic input. It allows you to sing/record right along with your guitar playing, and you can select how it gets processed (dry, reverb only, reverb+effects only, or full boat).

Overall, this unit really rules. If you actually take the time to sit down and tinker with it, you could probably emulate just about everyone's sound. If you're lazy, there's really no hope for you in this world anyway.