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DigiTech GNX3

Summary
Price New DigiTech GNX3 @ Musician's Friend
Manufacturer URL http://www.digitech.com/
Ease of Use 7.7 (105 responses)
Sound Quality 8.1 (104 responses)
Reliability 8.5 (83 responses)
Customer Support 8.5 (53 responses)
Overall Rating 8.3 (104 responses)
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Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: USD 150 USED
Submitted 06/19/2009 at 06:48pm by Jim Hamby

Ease of Use : 9
It took me a about a week of using the GNX3 to get up to speed on it's operation. Once you know how it is designed to be used it is very easy to dial in the sound you need.

Sound Quality : 7
I have a Strat, Les Paul, and a few acoustic guitars. They all sound great with this unit. I can't get the distortion I want out of the GNX3 so I use an ART DST4 Tube Pre-amp. I use twin keyboard amps so that I can make full use of the amp and cabinet modeling features.

Many patches are out on the web and with a little work you can build a great set of your own patches.

Reliability : 10
I got my used and beat up but it never fails me.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion
This thing is a powerhouse and is the center of my rig. I play blues, rock and acoustic and it does them all well. If it were stolen or lost I would get the GNX4.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 01/15/2009 at 12:12am by riffmatic

Ease of Use : 7
the presets are a good place to start tweaking. It takes a lot of patience and reading the manual. I wish they at least would have made the presets the same volume. But after i figured most of it out I am real happy with the performance.

Sound Quality : 10
through my crate v-50 tube amp the GNX3 makes any guitar sound phenominal. The tubes take out any digital static and there is zero noise when plugged into the effects return.

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
I got the XD to smart media card adapter for 8 bucks at newegg.com. I still only get about 24 track minutes at CD quality per 256mb xd type m card but they are one third the price of the hard to find sm cards. I am suprised none of these other reviews has mentioned this upgrade. The adapter fits like a glove in the gnx3 sm card slot.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: USD 200 USED
Submitted 12/10/2008 at 01:24am by Joseph Lloyd Zacker

Ease of Use : 7
The unit was fairly simple to get going. Some of the effects needed some tweaking to get them to my liking, which wasn't all to difficult. It wasn't as easy to use as similar Boss units (GT-3).

Sound Quality : 7
The sounds were a bit more "digital" sounding than comparable Boss units. The autowah sounds plastic. The delays were pretty good.

Reliability : 2
It would shut off sometimes with no apparent reason. Sometimes my tracks would delete themselves.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I didn't ever get a hold of them. Never needed to.

Overall Rating : 7
The main problem with this thing was the fact that the drum machine would get thrown off when using the looper, which made it useless for live performace. Save yourself time and money and pick up a real looper and a multiple effects unit that doesn't try to squeeze gimmicky features in at the expense of quality.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: USD 175.00 USED
Submitted 11/20/2007 at 05:42am by mark

Ease of Use : 9
A second grader could figure this thing out!Maybe I'm an exception but I put the manual down and just started playing with the seemingly obvious buttons,I could operate this thing for my nedds in a day or two.I have the 1.4 version.I'm guessing that's what it came with.

Sound Quality : 9
I go for my own sound.It depends on what you play this unit through as to how good the tone or sound effects are,when I run it through my Marantz 600 watt amp into my powered Eosone towers it blows most amp 412 stacks out of the water,run through an amp head or combo then you compromise your amps integrity.My band plays metal,me and the other guitarist have chose to use to use his GNX4 and my GNX3 into a PA for the sound we found as far as recording goes,when we go on stage it's stacks.The playback quality is CD,as well as playing through a PA.

Reliability : 8
I can't see having a problem with this unless your just throwing it around.It's built very solid.

Customer Support : 8
Haven't dealt with them.

Overall Rating : 9
We are a hard rock/metal band,this is perfect for us.I've been playing 4 years now and have owned Mesa,Randall,Marshall,and have played just about all brands of guitar.If this were lost or stolen I'd get the GNX4.There is nothing I don't like about this all in one device in this price range and I'm a picky person.This is a guitarists machine and it will keep the ideas flowing for as long as you want.I had my doubts about any effects machines at first,my mind has been changed.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: Euro 600
Submitted 09/10/2007 at 10:42am by Dreamchild

Ease of Use : 9
getting a good sound out of the GNX3 is easy through the knobs. the matrix set-up switches makes choosing settings intuitive. foot pedals and written explanations are also intuitive. manual is just a reference. pc editor is a great tool for even quicker sound shaping and sound back-up(banks/ patches).

Sound Quality : 9
set-up: 'the luke music man' guitar, imitation of Eddie Van halen's guitar. it has active pick-ups. playing through headphones and monitor speakers.

I dont use a guitar amp with it, I use the build in amp sims instead. build in fx are also great (distortion/ reverb, chorus, pitch shifter). Specifically the gen-factor puts ectra value to the unit, mixing different amp sims makes fat combos.

i've been tweaking sounds for years, instead of playing guitar and making music. I owned lots of gear (Line6, zoom, sansAmp, Roland, Boss etc). Until now!. Everything I need is in this unit (sound, fx, recording, looper, drum machine). Now I just select a great amp tone, drum and start playing & recording again. No wiring problems, all is connected inside (obvious!).

I don't want to sound exactly like some famous guitar player, but globally I like the Van Halens fresh sound and Dimmu Borgir fat sound. As mentioned I don't want to spent time tweaking. Therefore I bought MFXSupermodel patches. 40 euro's only for other man's professional time (he owns a studio). The amp sounds now are superb!. Fresh and natural sounding. Artist settings I cannot use right from the MFX cd, but those are just a start for further tweak'n.

My "The Luke" guitar, active picks are excellent combination to get VanHalen-like sounds. Before I owned a BC Rich Ironbird which sounded great for brutal metal and GnR Slash like sound (you could also use a Jackson, Scheckter or Fender Telecaster guitar).

Reliability : 10
just turn on, it works!. play & have fun
Would use it without back-up. No worries

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
Tweaking FX for 8 years now, actually playing guitar for about 4 years. This unit is the perfect match for me. Now I switch on, choose sound and drum, record, play..!. I'm playing fresh metal, sometimes brutal (althouhg you should need a Jackson/ Schechter guitar for this)

would prefer possibity to connect lcd monitor to unit, so I can edit patches right from the unit so I don't need pc at all (future?)

Because it is a all solutions unit (fx, amp sim, record, drum) hard to compare to other gear. when you rely on pc, you should also check out Amplitube 2 or guitar rig 2. When stolen, I would buy GNX4 (midi drum and pc patch editor more fancy)


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 06/22/2007 at 07:30pm by Tim

Ease of Use : 10
Not a new board but a good one. I soaked mine up from ebay for cheap. Sounds fine and I like the amp models for recording. What I like best was the stupid price of it now. Its a workstation with a drum unit and recorder for cheap. New sounds can be added and changed easy. The edit program is older and looks like Zoom 9.2tt one but smaller. It works, its manual is clear.

Sound Quality : 9
Sounds good. Mine had a power supply that rattled ( prob dropped so ebay seller said call the company) I can live with it. My Mesa 20-20 cranks and sounds cool with other gear so I tried the GNX3. I set the output mode for my gear and it was pleasing. Effects are good and I run stereo. Now the next step was telling my wife I needed model packs. With her permission I added the GNX3 Supermodels!! Woo Hooo Now I have so many ways to run and hide from her and an amp model sound for every one of her moods

Reliability : No Opinion
I jammed with some friends that have PODS and the model packs and they prefer my sound! Stick it! If I found another OBO on ebay I'd grab one. Mine was beat to death and all nicked up from the previous owner but it works fine.

Customer Support : 10
No dealings with Digitech yet. They have a forum and the Supermodel guys answer most of my questions better than I expected!!

Overall Rating : 10
Rock Rock and Rock! I had a POD XT and a Korg Box 1500. The GNX3 smokes these toys! I can make music and stay away from bad uninspiring conversations! I play guitar and play it often. Home from work and right to guitar! What a life eh??


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 07/27/2006 at 02:48pm by Joseph

Ease of Use : 9
It's pretty easy to get a good sound. Editing patches is easy too but if you dont have midi in/out on your pc you need a USB midi interface like a midisport Uno or equivalenet. The manual is good and the firmaware is the lastest

Sound Quality : 8
Quiet pedal. This is what i like the best. the amp models are good enough for the most part. Some of the patches are oddball, but tweaking the GNX3 is easier than the other competitors. I use a hot rod deville and it sounds good with a les paul and Stratocaster. On the advice of a frind with a GNX4 I bought the SuperModel disc for this GNX. WOOT!! If you want the GNX3 to wake up, you have to get the disc! My GNX3 sounds are incredible! I love the DrZ and Princeton Presets. Dead ON. Nice warm background distortion with a poppy clean bass. I never could have made a patch as good! Best thing is the amp models in these packs do NOT even use the distortion stompboxes. The gains for High gain amps like Hughes Kettner, Mesa's and Marshall will blow your mind! Not only can you get artist sounds, I can easily find an amp model I want from the disc library and booom! Done!

the efex can really add some flavour. You can't place them in a chain but who cares. it sounds fine the way it is. i tried the ones that you can place efx around, most of the time the efx sounded like crap when you changed it. or it was just me.

Sound Q with Digitech and tweaks an 8. Sound Q with Super model disc is an 11!! Over the top!

Reliability : No Opinion
Gigging with the GNX3 is plenty. My setup is simple and my sounds are fine. I use stompbox mode and take full adv of control assignments since I know how to use them. Thanks MTPRO guys!! I love my GNX3!

It's a metal case, switches seem stabel.

Customer Support : 10
Excellent. I emailed them about spdif settings and had a response next day.

Overall Rating : 10
I play country, metal, classic, alt covers. been at it for 22yrs. Used all kinds of gear. The GNX3 is plenty for me. With the SuperModel amp model library I have enough to play with for good while. I record and use it live. The on board recorder is good for a tune or two, but 128Mb is limited. I mainly use cubase and an EMU 1820M interface. I compared to a Boss and Line 6 and frankly didn't like the ones with as much acclaim. I'll take the GNX3 and Super Model library any day! For the price of a cheap guitar tuner you can add the super discs and have a creation platform that will be hard to beat at this price. I got mine at KTJ music and the super pack disc at mtprosound.com LOVE IT! Both for less than $320. Ktj was blowing these out for 259.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $299
Submitted 05/10/2006 at 12:54pm by MOLTOX

Ease of Use : 10
Read the manual...after that it is a piece of cake to work with. Everything can be tweaked quite easily and fast, even on the spot.

Sound Quality : 8
I am running it through a Fender Stage 160 and the sound can be decent. In fact I have had a lot of musicians come to me to ask about my "great" tone. In my opinion the clean sound is average at best! The cleanest sound I can get still distorts a bit, even at low volumes. The effects processor generally delivers an overall muddy even on bypass! If I plug my piezo through the the pedal on bypass it kills all the acoustic sound you would normally get if you connect the guitar directly to the amp. What this means is that it does not appear to have a true bypass switch. Other than that the cabinet modeling is pretty decent and can get you sounds close to a Mesa rectifier if you tweak it enough. I am considering buying a 4x12 cabinet to get a better low end response.

Reliability : 7
I have been using mine actively (2-3 gigs per week) for about 9 months and I already have problems with the expression pedal Wah-Wah switch. It has a sensitivity function to adjust the switch but what I have noticed is that, since the day I bought the pedal, the button now requires more pressure to turn on and off. I suspect that it will soon not respond to any pressure at all. One of the buttons required for adjusting effects is going bad as well. This unit has always been treated with as much care as possible. Overall it seems sturdy but I am not sure it is sturdy enough for all kinds of players.

Customer Support : No Opinion
n/a haven't bother to report any of my problems yet.

Overall Rating : 8
It is an overall good effects solution for the amount you pay. There is just not enough flexibility such as being able to create your own effects algorythms like in several higher end processors such as the G Force from TC Electronics or Rocktron's Prophesy II guitar pre-amps.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $300
Submitted 03/13/2006 at 12:30pm by Charles

Ease of Use : 5
When you first open up the box....it seems really intimidating..but once you get going, it only takes a week or 2 to start figuring it all out. Whoever said the manual is hard to read...isnt reading it thoroughly enough.

Sound Quality : 10
I have been using my GNX3 for over a year now...and I couldnt be more pleased with it. You have to really work with the manual and your ear, to obtain the sound you are looking for.
I have a Fender stage 112, and the noise gate is absolutey brilliant when it comes to reducing hiss. This amp is now completely silent. I have been using it with my roland cube 30 alot lately. These are both solid state amps, and already have some nice fx on board. But the GNX3 just takes it to the next level. As far as muddy sounds / lack of tone. If you are having this problem, you are not setting your Frequencies right. Play around with it a little. There are eq's for treble, mid, and bass. if you cant get one patch that is good on both green, and red channels, just make another of the same patch in the next slot, and add a different stompbox model / or more drive to the same one. One thing I would like to see (if it doesnt already exist, I havent looked on the site for a long time) is an external pedal you can plug in to control your volume / fx / and most importantly WAH....i'll admit ..the wah isnt as a good as the crybaby 535Q I have. But it's close now that i know how to set it up.

Reliability : 10
Omg, for gigging...amazing. It beats hauling around like 20 separate pedals. Again, you just have to get a feel for setting it up, and you will never go back. I am buying the new GNX3000 as soon as I can afford it. =)

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 10
I couldnt be more pleased with the GNX3. I had a number of pedals before...the only ones I kept were my Crybaby, and my original 70's Fuzz Face.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $299 new
Submitted 02/01/2006 at 12:34pm by Super Saiyan

Ease of Use : 8
first of all, if don't know how to use a multi-fx unit, then it would be hard for u 2 understand it right away. then patch editing is fairly easy and straight forward, record is pretty hard to take in, since i never actually used one myself so it's new to me. it's just hard 2 remember everything and can't make things work out the first time and another thing is that it's very detailed it's not gonna work or sound right if it's not setup right. Pretty much it's all straight forward and fairly easy once you get it down!!!

Sound Quality : 10
This unit is great....all around! The amp modeling is very convincing. Doesn't have all the deminsions of tube, but some is there and it makes a big difference and gives you a sound that is very....VERY close to the real thing! the fx's are also great the chorus actually brings out the amp models in my opinion. I can get more sounds out of this thing than i can use. People have to remember that it takes time to set it up just right, so just b/c u don't get you sound right off the back, don't trash it. Also, if you're using amp modeling set your amp to a flat eq (usally treb, mid,bass are all set a 12'oclock) set your amp model as you would your amp so ur pretty much using your amp's power amp in general. Remember different amps have different characteristics so don't trask different models just b/c it doesn't fit your needs. In my opinion this unit gives me the EXACT sound i need. The only thing i don't like is how the fx chain is set up i would like the rotary effect after the wah in the signal but it's in with the modulation so it's not as strong as i want it to be, but I can live with it. Other wise, no real problems!

Reliability : 9
I've only had it for a couple of months so it's too early to tell, but I think that it's very reliable it's made of freakin' metal, and it's pretty heavy. I would definitely gig w/o a backup, all though i brought this as a back up for my usual setup but this thing rocks! my rating is for how it's been so far and how I feel it will last!

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with company, so can't rate it

Overall Rating : 10
I've been playin for little over 15 years and played all styles of music. I have a very good ear when it comes to tone as well as music. I have various amps, all solid state; and a few les pauls. I have a pedal board filled with differnt stompboxes and fxs. There are some things that can be improved which they did with the gnx 4 like the memory (cf) and usb port, mp3, phantom power for the mic; which is worth the extra $200. Sound wise it's one of the best. There are some snobs out there that will tell that nothing is better than tube. I love tube also, to me it's the greatest sound, but that's not the only sound. i've heard and gotten great sounds out of solid state and digital amps, so don't let anyone tell you what you should like, let your ears be the judge. I'd buy tube if i could afford it but i can't so amp modeling is perfect for me: tube sound for less money and less matainence. i'm very satisfied with this unit(using it with a epi les paul custom through 2 marshall mgdfx full stacks), it gives me the sound I've been looking for: fender twin for cln, jcm 900/tube screamer for dirty. cheaper than line 6 and more versatile and features. if it was stolen i'd first go after a gnx 4 coz of the updates they made, but if wasnt available i'd get the gnx3 again... It's a great product, especially if you want a professional, flexible sound, with very expensive and vintage amps great fxs total flexability for few c notes. I don't have any sound probles either, no hiss, no hum, i can turn it up loud, NO NOISE! it may feedback if really distorted but no noise! chorus clean and clear great delay pitch/whammy are great stompbox and amps are great......IT"S ALL GREAT!!! Overall it's a great investment even for a backup! The most important thing is that you have to spend the time to set it up RIGHT! It may take a few months, but it'll be worth it when have the tone of your dreams!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 01/22/2006 at 05:05pm by I'm buying BOSS

Ease of Use : 7
It was relatively easy to get the sound that I was looking for. The presets are ok, but I would never use them. They worked good as a starting point to get what I wanted. The manual wasn't bad, it helped in the recording aspect.

Sound Quality : No Opinion
The sound quality is actually pretty good. I used this unit with a Gibson SG and a Marshall AVT150. It actually got rid of some of the noise between the guitar and amp.

Reliability : No Opinion
For gigging this unit is UNACCEPTABLE! There is a lag time between effect switches which, for me, poses a huge problem. Even going from clean to distortion skips a beat unless I use the bypass to get my clean.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 1
Overall Rating: Unacceptable


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US too much
Submitted 01/20/2006 at 01:55pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 1
ebay purchase it is not easy to use at all it is complicated touchy feed back clipping steady i didnt even get into editing patches because i quickly realized that this thing is not for me the manual is a manual the guys that write it are probabbly office clerks or something so its not their fault

Sound Quality : 1
i don't think digitech thought about sound quality when they designed this piece of *** it seems to me the goal was to put as many bells and whistles as possible in it and it does have plenty of those too bad the one whistle needed most was overlooked....that being tone. and what is the big deal with this amp modelling crap i dont get it if you dont like the sound of your amp god damnit buy a new one why would i want a peddle to destroy the tone of my hughes and kettner tube50 seems kinda stupid to me amp modelling who needs it

Reliability : 5
seems pretty sturdy dont spill beer on it and it would last forever i bet but it is still scrap

Customer Support : No Opinion
what's that

Overall Rating : 1
over all it is scrap the effects are good if you have 6 years to edit them to where they sound good the digital recorder is marginal the drum beats are a joke i play anything from abba to zz top and this unit does not do a thing for me the tone is extremely terrible it destroys your tone completely i highly recommend staying away from this pile of digital crap buy yourself a good amp and a couple of good stomp boxes or better yet plug straight in and play from the heart!!!!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 01/10/2006 at 06:12pm by BPD

Ease of Use : 4
It is not very easy to use the buttons are complikated and they feel a little out of place and not very ergonomic. The editing patches aren't very good for what I expected its perforamance. The manual has tons of speeling errros and doesn't help me with my problems.

Sound Quality : 3
I am using a '57 Gibson Les Paul (replica), I used a Cube 50 with it. I think it is a little noisy and not very helpfull. I think on all settings it is a little noisay and archaeic. The effects aren't as good as I thought they would be but are ok for beginners in my opinion. I get the sounds of artists like Pete Townshed, and Jimi Hendrix, along with a little Jimmy Page. I think both distortion and Chorus are very bad.

Reliability : 3
I have gone through a few and I don't really trust it as much as I would like to. I would never use it on a gig without backup, thats not very reliabul.

Customer Support : 2
I called once and got a person who you could tell was obviously not very good at english but friendly, but also didn't really help me with the problem because of his spotty english.

Overall Rating : 2
I think for the price it should bw better. I think it would be okay if someone never heard a guitar before, it would amaze them but it stands far away from amaxing me. I personally think it was a waste of money but they tried and failed in building it. I think it can be fun sometimes.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $235 (brand new)
Submitted 01/08/2006 at 03:41am by Fine Animal

Ease of Use : 9
I bought my GNX3 new in January 2006, with firmware version 1.5

After hearing so many horror stories about difficulty editing the GNX3 I was concerned. But it was actually quite intuitive and easy to edit. I found the Korg AX3000G to be much more difficult to edit. But everything on the GNX3 is laid out clearly and logically. Just use the arrow buttons to choose your amp/cabinet/effect, then use the knobs to adjust parameters according to the chart beneath them. Of course there's a learning curve--what's wrong with learning? That's the price you pay for having so many features in one device! The manual seems pretty comprehensive, and I've found it helpful.

I highly recommend using the included GenEdit software to adjust all parameters and hear the results in real-time. The recording/looping/drum machine functions might require the manual to figure out, but they're still not difficult to learn. The only real difficulties I had without the manual was figuring out how to switch among presets again after you're in editing mode, and how to store modified presets. But once you figure it out, you know it forever.

I haven't delved into recording, looping or the drum machine too much yet. But my computer immediately recognized the GNX3 via MIDI, so I could use the GenEdit software easily. It was easy to figure out how to turn on the drum machine and switch styles, and this certainly helps the creative process. However, I don't think you can upload your own MIDI drum files to play along with your own grooves (I may be wrong). I would like to have this feature, but the JamAlong input (1/8") allows you to add external music to play along with.

The recorder looks fairly simple to use, except that there is only 16MB of onboard memory (3 track minutes of recording time). The GNX3's worst flaw is that it uses SmartMedia, which is the digital equivalent of 8-track tape. What was Digitech thinking? The SmartCard must be removed and used with a card reader to access contents on your computer. The other major flaws are no USB, and no mic preamp phantom power. The GNX4 corrects these flaws, but I don't see how that comes close to justifying the $200 price difference, since they ultimately sound the same. As a portable multiFX unit and "scratch pad" recorder that can be output (analog or S/PDIF digital) to a computer interface, the GNX3 serves me just fine.

I haven't used the JamMan feature yet, but I do plan to get a lot of use out of it if it works well. JamMan is one reason I chose this pedal over the GNX3000.

Other nice features are an On/Off power switch (the Korg AX3000G didn't have one), an XLR ejection button, large level knobs on the back panel, and a very rugged medal case. I did like the expression pedal action on the Korg AX3000G better, but there is nothing wrong with the GNX3's expression pedal. The power supply is an extremely large and heavy affair, but it's rugged enough to travel with the pedal. Replacement power supplies currently retail for around $40, which is about twice the price they should cost. Shame on Digitech for nickle & diming their own customers.

One thing I wish it came with is a gig bag, or even a metal snap-on cover. Without an optional case ($25 and up), this is an awkward device to store and transport.

Sound Quality : 10
I'm using an Ibanez guitar/Yamaha Bass >> GNX3 >> headphones/Roland Microcube amp/Presonus Firebox computer interface.

"Great tone" is highly subjective, but I'm very impressed with the range and versatility of tones available here. I especially love the Big Muff Pi fuzzbox model, which is good enough to save me $80 on a Big Muff pedal. The Arbiter Fuzz model ain't bad either. The Wah may not be as good as a separate pedal, but it's good enough considering its integration along with so many other effects in one box. Clean tones with subtle modulation (e.g., Pink Floyd) sound *fantastic*!

I dialed in some Led Zeppelin and Rush tones fairly easily, and grabbed several awesome Pink Floyd tones from the Digitech website community. The website also provided me with acceptable tones for Badfinger, the Beatles, Boston, Cake, Deep Purple and more artists. This pedal is truly versatile, and great-sounding to me. I've never seen so much tone-shaping capability in one box. People who complain about the GNX3's tone probably think they could rewrite Shakespeare better also. There's always room for improvement in anything, but for the price I can't imagine doing better than the sound you get from the GNX3. I say this noting that my traditional opinion of Digitech is that their products sound "way too digital" for my tastes. That's not the case with the GNX3.

The ability to warp amp/cabinet models into hypermodels (and to warp the hypermodels as well), opens to the door to limitless possibilities. The warp feature alone should impress anyone.

Also, the GNX3 is very quiet. No perceptible hum or noise at the settings I've been using. I'm impressed by that as well.


Reliability : 10
I bought the GNX3 along with a Korg AX3000G to test them head-to-head. The Korg model was plagued with quality problems from the instant I turned it on. The Digitech has worked smoothly for me since I bought it two days ago. No glitches at all, except for the usual switching sounds when changing presets. The case is built like a tank. I'm concerned about how long the stomp buttons and expression pedal will last, but that's psychological. They've worked just fine so far.

At this point, I will use it without backup for gigging until it gives me a reason to bring a backup. But then again, I'm a drummer, so my guitar gigging is limited to open-mic nights!

Customer Support : 5
Haven't had a need to contact them yet, but the customer service "vibe" I get from Digitech is not very positive.

Among other things, you must register the product within 10 days of purchase to validate the warranty, and that's an abominable practice in my opinion. Any company should fix a defective product when the defect is shipped with the unit, even if the defect doesn't reveal itself for years. Registering with companies only gives them the ability to sell your personal information at a profit (or to have it stolen from their databases), "privacy" policies notwithstanding. The "warranty registration card" requests such irrelevant information as your employer, job title, email address and fax number. What on earth does that have to do with them replacing a chip that they installed incorrectly? It's shameful.

The Digitech website is both good and bad. It's confusing, inconsistent, difficult to navigate, and there is vastly more information about some products than others. But once you finally locate the GNX3 community, you'll find hundreds of presets and other good stuff to make the GNX3 even more fun and useful for you. The good news is that you don't have to register to download the user presets.

Finally, I think Digitech's pricing should fall under "customer service", and it's inexcusable that they charge $200 more for the GNX4, considering the modest improvements it contains over the GNX3.

Overall Rating : 10
I play classic Rock & Roll (from the Yardbirds to full-on distortion and fuzz), progressive rock, some heavy metal, and some acoustic music. I'm also working on an independent film soundtrack. I'm using the GNX3 mainly for recording on the computer, but also for playing live at open-mic nights. I'm a drummer mainly, but have also played guitar for 20 years. I also own a Line 6 Guitar Port, which is comparable to the GNX3 in terms of tone-shaping capability. But the Guitar Port is not portable, and I don't like Line 6's corporate attitude, so I didn't even consider the POD XT Live.

Neither of the two Korg AX3000G's I tested worked properly, so Korg has some quality issues to work out. But from what I could tell the AX3000G would complement, rather than replace the GNX3, because the Korg unit is more geared toward special effects/guitar synth sounds, and it has absolutely no onboard recording/drum machine functions.

The GNX3's 65 factory presets are basically a showcase for the amps, cabinets, and effects. They are not usable in the real world. That's why some reviewers say the presets are great, and others say they suck--they sound good enough, but they're unusable in practice. And you can't overwrite them.... The unit comes with the factory presets duplicated in 65 user presets, which you can modify and store.

I'm not at all satisfied with only 65 user presets, and the inability to overwrite factory presets. The presets are only 2.5KB in size, after all (smaller than the file size of this review text!). So that means only 162KB is devoted to presets (Yes, you read that right--roughly the size of a Commodore 64's memory back in 1981). Unfortunately, all the multiFX boards I researched have only a limited number of user presets. The engineers who design these things must still wear digital watches and listen to Frankie Goes To Hollywood on their car cassette players. GET WITH THE 21st CENTURY, DIGITECH!!! There is no good reason we should have to upload and download presets to a computer just because you limited us to a measely 65 user presets.

What I love about the GNX3 is that it's just so easy to plug in and get a great variety of nice-sounding tones, and to get creative by playing along with the drum machine. I also love the PC editing capability. The only thing I truly *hate* about it is that it uses SmartMedia rather than Compact Flash (I already own several GB's worth of Compact Flash, but what kind of dinosaur owns high-capacity SmartMedia?).

Otherwise, it's one of those rare occasions where I'm genuinely happy with a product, at the price I paid for it ($235).

If it were lost, I'd cry. If it were stolen, I'd get mean mad. If I had the cash available, I'd definitely replace it--unless digitech lowers the price of the GNX4. But I'd never pay $200 extra for the GNX4.

Finally, here's an interesting revelation: If Digitech had included the ability to load and unload presets from a computer, I might very well have gone with something from the RP series instead. I really didn't need such a huge and heavy pedal, but I did need the ability to backup and retrieve presets. Many of you are gigging guitarists, however, so the GNX3 is probably the better choice for you.

I spent a *LOT* of time researching and testing guitar multiFX boards, so I hope this review makes it easier for you to decide!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A used
Submitted 12/06/2005 at 07:28pm by MLO

Ease of Use : 8
This processor has a lot of sounds, but require A LOT of tweaking to get just the right one. Editing the patches is so hard to do and requires so much expensive software, the I try to avoid it. The mannual for this product has no index, is not catigorized, and has some gross spelling and grammer errors. Basicly, therer is no mannual.

Sound Quality : 9
I use a washburn X-50 and a fender '72 thinline through a roland cube 60(most of the time). The distortion sounds are a little fuzzy, but overall pretty good. The other effects are GREAT! Absolutley. I actually got my guiars to talk! It takes some time, but I can get the identical sounds of Alvin Lee, David Gilmore, Jerry Garcia, Pete Townshed, and Robbie Robertson. All effects - very good.

Reliability : 10
I got it used over a year ago and it hasn't failed me yet.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Have not dealt with

Overall Rating : 8
Only bad thing - WHY IS THERE ONLY 24 MINUTES FOR RECORDING? IF I AM WRITING, I CAN GO FOR ANHOUR! PLEASE MAKE BIGGER MEGABITE SMART CARDS!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $220 used
Submitted 11/24/2005 at 02:00am by Robert L.
Email: honeybunchesofdeath at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 8
It really depends on how good "good" sound is to you. If you are a "purist", you will probably hate this pedal. Go drop $4000 on a Marshall or Mesa Boogie, plug in and go. I have had mine for over a year now and I absolutely love it. Every soundman my band plays for ALWAYS comments on how great my sound is. I must add that I have spent a great deal of time tweaking EVERY possible parameter of EVERY sound. I enjoy that processors offer great amounts of creativity and flexibility over just a standard amp. Sound is 10 for those willing to dig in, 6 for the lazies. Editing patches can be overwhelming, I like to set up two or three identical patches and try different things with each. Editing is 8, I still have trouble remembering how to get through the amp settings. Lazies will be buried by the depth and give this a 5. The manual has answered every question I have sought. The firmware version is 1.5.

Sound Quality : 10
Sound is 10. I give it that rating because I have put in the time to get a great sound out of it. The editing seems endless and I can't believe there is NO way to eventually satisfy your ears with this thing. I run it straight through a direct box to the mixer!!!!!! ALWAYS! No feedback issues for this guitarist! I love going to a gig with just my gnx3 and my guitar case, and blowing the freakin' doors off the place. Maybe Digitech would like to sponsor us? Hint, hint. Stop laughing. No noise issues on HEAVY distortion or acoustic settings (put in the time people!) I don't worry about sounding like anyone else, do you really think there is any true original sound anymore? No, you will always sound "like" someone, the best thing to do is find the sound that makes you want to keep playing.

Reliability : 10
I have depended on it for a year and a half now. Gigs, practices, jams, and I got it used so who knows what the hell? I will never use anything but Digitech processing as long as I am playing.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Have not dealt with Digitech in any way, shape, or form. They have a great sound community on their website and I am always surprised at how often the Digi"techs" reply in the threads. I'll give it a "no opinion" only based on the fact that I have not contacted anyone directly.

Overall Rating : 10
I am the founder of "honeybunches Of DEATH", we are a HEAVY/Rockin'/Comedy/Metal band in Colorado. Our website is www.honeybunchesofdeath.com. We have only been together for one year and only practice on Fridays for 2-3 hours. This unit is a PERFECT match for my music because I refuse to set creative limits (other than my own lack of technique/knowledge/talent!). When inspiration strikes, all bets are off! If it was stolen, I would find the person responsible and feed him/her/it feet-first into a wood chipper in front of their family on Christmas Day! Then write a song about it, a tell-all book, movie of the week, which would all include 80% hysterical laughter. I own a faded brown Gibson SG and a Takamine Explorer GX100B. I wish I had a GNX4 because...

MY ONLY BEEF WITH DIGITECH IS...

HOW THE HELL CAN I GET RID OF THIS F%$#^#$ SMART MEDIA? 24 MINUTES? THAT'S IT! WHEN I'M WRITING, I CAN GO FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR! PLEASE, OH PRETTY F&*%*&^ PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS LIMITATION! I WOULD GLADLY PAY 50-75 BUCKS TO UPGRADE THIS THING TO COMPACT FLASH OR WHATEVER. ANYTHING BUT 128 STINKING MEGAF$#%#$ BYTES! I LOVE TO TAKE THE SOUND OFF OF OUR BOARD AT PRACTICE AND PUT IT IN THE "JAM ALONG" CONNECTION! ANY GUESS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT OUR SET IS LONGER THAN 24 MINUTES? ANY GUESS AT ALL? COME ON, I'LL BE NICE? GUESS RIGHT NOW BEFORE SOMEONE DIES????

yes, it is.

Please send help!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 07/13/2005 at 05:33pm by Joe Knapka
Email: jknapka at earthlink<dot>net

Ease of Use : 8
First off, I'm not a professional musician, and have basically no experience with the various amps and effects the GNX3 emulates, so my opinion may be worth what you paid for it.

My GNX3 is running firmware 1.5.

It's pretty simple to get good sounds from this unit. Editing patches is pretty straightforward, but I do have one issue: The parameter knobs used to change the effects settings can be a pain to use when selecting among 100 different options (such as "mod level" 0-99), because they are just pots and have no "jog" or "go to the next value and stop" option. That problem is mitigated by the fact that in most cases, as soon as you touch a parameter knob, the "Data Wheel" becomes active and lets you edit the same parameter, and the Data Wheel DOES permit jog editing. However, for some bizarre reason there are a number of parameters that CAN'T be edited with the Data Wheel.

The digital 8-track is extremely easy to use, both for loops and songs. However, it is not possible to bounce loops (combine multiple loop tracks onto a single empty track), which is kind of annoying. Also, the looper can only be used on the "CD quality" sample setting, which means you have a pretty limited amount of loop space available unless you invest in a SmartMedia card.

The manual is pretty good, not great. I'd definitely recommend reading it, but once you've done that, exploring the machine is the best way to get comfortable with it.

Sound Quality : 7
My setup is: Schecter C1-E/A->GNX3->pair of Marshall MG10 amps. I also have a Strat clone (Aria Diamond) that I play through the same chain.

In general, the GNX3 sounds really good. Since I'm a home musician, I don't get much chance to crank everything all the way up and blow the windows out, but at the timid volumes I usually play at, most of the effects and amp models sound great.

I do have one serious problem with the GNX3: the Pitch Shift functions are junk. It actually has two pitch shifters, one in the "Chorus/Mod" module and one in the "Whammy" module. The two shifters have different problems:

* The Whammy shifter sounds horrible when chords are played though it. I find that strange, since I also have an RP-80 that allegedly uses the same DSP hardware, and the RP-80's whammy/pitch shifter sounds fantastic with chords.

* The chorus/mod shifter sounds great with chords -- in fact it sounds just like the RP-80's. However, the problem here is that if you assign the pitch value to the expression pedal, the unit produces noticable noise (pops) when shifting the pitch using the expression pedal. (You can also here the same pops when adjusting the pitch via the parameter knobs.) The result is that when you hit the pedal during a performance, you get a huge ugly CRACKLE in the middle of your song.

I actually sent my GNX3 back to Digitech a week after I got it, and explained these problems. The official response: "The unit is working as designed." I think this really sucks, since I REALLY like using the pitch shift on the RP-80, but the rest of the GNX3's sounds are good enough that I'm going to keep it.

Reliability : No Opinion
It looks like I could run over it with my truck and not hurt it, but I'm not going to try it.

Customer Support : 5
They were responsive and easy to talk to, but didn't address my problem, so I'll damn them with faint praise.

Overall Rating : 8
I've been playing on and off for 15 years, but only recently began to really take it seriously. I play pop, rock and blues mostly. If it were stolen I'd be pretty angry, and would probably check out a GNX4 to see if that more-expensive unit has the same whammy issues the GNX3 does.

I was looking at the Boss LoopStation XL, since mainly what I wanted was a looper/digital recorder. For approximately the same price, I got most of the LoopStation's features, as well as amp modelling and a comprehensive set of effects.

I wish I could run multiple chorus/mod effects at the same time.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 06/22/2005 at 08:19am by Andrew

Ease of Use : 7
The factory preset efect are very good. If your like me you like to edit your own effect and I found that it is very easy to get the sound you want by creating you own effects (up to 65 effect and i think 9 custom amp settings). The manual is very helpful especially when your figuring out the recording part.

Sound Quality : 9
I've used several different guitars with this board and the all sound good. However my acoustic guitar does not work very good with the GN3. I've used this with my Fender acoustasonic 30 amp and my Fender 15watt practice amp it sound great on my 15watter. It sound great on my acoustic amp but only at lower volume, but thats due to the amp. All of the effects sound good. Some of the effects do cut out here and there but I think that do to the noise gate option on the effect. You can get some great distortion for any style of music. Its got some great metal and hard rock distortions.

Reliability : 9
I bought this used so i dont know how old it is and i have never had any problem except for adaptor keeps shorting. Other than that it has been perfect. Would think about using a backup it would just be a waste of money.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealt with.

Overall Rating : 10
I play just about every style ranging from folk to hard rock. I have been playing for 4 years. I also own a Boss flanger pedal and a Boss distortion pedal. I get much better distortion from the GNX3 than i could ever get from the Boss distortion. If it were stolen I probably could not afford a new one but I definently would want to buy one. I defenintly help me play an hard rock. And its got some unique effect that help with new age music.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $260.00
Submitted 06/13/2005 at 07:40am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
Definately needed to scan the user's manual but once you figure out a few of the basics, it's easy enough to use. I haven't figured out the 8 track recorder yet though and I do consider myself as smart as the next guy. I've used computed based recording software, ADAT, etc. I think it is better layed out for deep level editing than my VAMP or J-Station, but still better done from the PC than from the unit itself.

Sound Quality : 8
I've also got a Johnson J-Station & Berhinger VAMP-2. It sounds better than both, particulary when played direct. The Berhinger is a distant 3rd. Nice pedal selection, including the Voodoo Labs Sparkle drive, Big Muff Pi, & Ibenez TS-7, among others.

Reliability : 7
haven't had it long enough to have much of an opinion yet. But looks rugged enough, steel construction, definately more solid than my VAMP which is 99% plastic (of course, it was only $100 too!)

Customer Support : 7
Really good web page, haven't gotten with folks on the phone or anything.

Overall Rating : 9
I play mostly rock & blues, guitar, drums, & blues harp. Both my olders sons & I play an assortment of fender & gibson guitars through mostly fender tube amps. I like it better than my J-Station or VAMP although in all fairness, it did cost almost 3 times as much. It is very flexible & much more "tweekable" than either of my other units.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $350
Submitted 06/09/2005 at 11:19am by Jimmy
Email: jmay555<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 9
This is a complex unit but Digitech did a good job as far as ease of programming. If you're used to stompboxes, it might seem complex but if you've programmed processors, it will be no problem.

Sound Quality : 9
I'm not usually a big fan of digital processors, but this is the best I have tried. It sounds more realistic than any of the Boss processors. I recently tried a Boss GS-10 and thought it sounded terrible, nearly impossible to get a good sound out of. The GNX3 has much better, more usable sounds. The Boss is lifeless compared to this unit. It also works great for direct recording. I sold my Pod 2.0 when I purchased this. It works great in the studio and live.

Reliability : 2
My power supply died after about 14 months. I figured no big deal, I'll just order another from Digitech. They wanted $50.00 for a replacement power supply!!! It sounds like planned obsolecence to me. I'm so pissed off, I'll probably sell this on Ebay and try the Vox Valvetronix. I've had great luck with Vox/Korg in the past, and their Valvestate stuff sounds great.

Customer Support : 1
I have to dock Digitech major points here because $50.00 is just a rip-off for a power supply. A while back, my Godlyke Power-All started getting noisy. I called Godlyke, and they sent me a replacement; no questions asked!! I will always buy Godlyke stuff in the future, but I'm done with Digitech. I paid $350 for my GNX3 at Guitar Center, I can't imagine why the power supply should be $50.00!! Total hose-job!!!

Overall Rating : 4
This is a good-sounding unit. I see that they've dropped to $300 at Zzounds, which is a good deal. Just be ready to drop another $50.00 on a power supply as soon as the warranty runs out. Luckily mine died at rehearsal, not a gig. Do not gig with this unless you have a backup power supply!!!!

I was thinking about picking up a GNX4, but Digitech has lost me as a customer for life!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400.00
Submitted 06/08/2005 at 10:23am by Ilia Asafiev
Email: ilia at 44lbs<dot>net

Ease of Use : 8
I am using GNX3 v1.5 firmware. The later version of firmware came out-of-the-box, but there are options to update it if you buy an earlier version. It comes with 60 or so factory presets, many of which demonstrate the unit's numerous capabilities. Two demo tracks for the recorder are available out-of-the-box, or can be downloaded from DigiTech web site if you get an earlier model.

GNX3 provides a fairly easy interface, which is covered in sufficient detail in the manual. The interface is set up to edit one category of effect at a time, and each category operates like a regular stompbox - editing is likewise easy.

Amp warping is limited on the unit itself. When the warp feature is enabled, both the amp model and the cabinet image are warped together.

There are two utility menus - equivalents of "General Options" and "Recorder Options". This becomes confusing sometimes, because some "recorder options" need to be edited even when not using a recorder (for example, to route the mic input to main outputs).

The recorder is very easy to use, but limited insofar as rewinding and punching in. It's not possible to mark a specific time or measure except via playback. For me, the best usage for the recorder is to create loops. I use the optional foot controller to do this in stompbox or bank mode, but in recorder mode you can use the main pedals for this functionality.

The best way to edit presets on the GNX3 is using the MIDI interface with a PC, and the included GenEdit software. This allows to edit each patch while seeing all the settings simultaneously. Warping new amp/cabinet models is also improved vs. the floor unit (you can set the % warp of the amps separately from % warp of the cabs). Some effect parameters are available only via the GenEdit software (although you can technically assign the expression pedal to edit those as well).

Sound Quality : 9
I play primarily a Musicman SUB1 guitar (2 humbuckers, passive). I run the guitar to GNX3, then use the stereo outputs either to a stereo power amp or to two guitar and/or bass amps on either side. The best way to hear GNX3 is through a PA or a clean power amp; however, the unit includes compensation for various speaker types (1x12, 2x12, etc) if you're using actual amp(s) instead of running direct. For recording, I use the digital I/O (coaxial 24-bit PCM stereo) whenever possible/practical.

The noise produced by the unit is generally same as with any amp - by itself it's very quiet. When an amp model is overdriven, or a distortion pedal model is enabled, normal noise is generated (I was especially impressed with how accurately the stompboxes are modeled). The amp models follow volume control on guitar pretty accurately, in terms of response vs. the real thing. Direct box modeling produces zero audible noise, which I'd imagine is great for effect loops (I don't use them so I can't be sure).

All the effects provided on the GNX3 are very tweakable, unlike many of those on most comparable units. While certain sophisticated controls are not available (such as multi-voice chorus, multi-band compression, etc) those that are provided allow each effect to be suited to any particular song or musical situation. I can safely say that with GNX3 I can recreate just about any guitar sound, as well as many keyboard/synth sounds and even a few bass sounds - past or present.

In general, the effects are what I would call "studio quality". There is no noise or unwanted artifacts except with a few controller changes (changing volume via expression pedal too slowly causes some clicking noise, etc). The 3-band parametric EQ is tied into amp EQ controls - that's another thing I wish were separate and more adjustable. Also, the bandwidth control for middle EQ parameter is not adjustable.

Reliability : 10
So far the unit has been fail-free for me. The construction is very rugged, except for a few knobs that look like they might break off (instrument and mic input volume switches on the back panel). The unit is powered by a DigiTech adapter (comes with the unit), which eliminates possible dead battery problems at the root.

Because of the flexibility of the unit, I can be sure that having my guitar, the GNX, at least one amp, and at least two instrument cables (possibly a direct box or two in case of a PA situation) will get me through just about any gig.

Customer Support : 9
I've sent messages to DigiTech via their web site. They've responded, somewhat briefly, to most of my questions (all questions pertaining to operation of the unit were answered). The FAQ section of the web site is handy also. There's a sound community available through the DigiTech web site that allows users to share their custom presets, and provides user-to-user support capability. I wish DigiTech provided more "technical" technical support, but usually their suggestions are sufficient to figure out what to do.

Overall Rating : 9
I've been playing guitar for 5 years, but I've played piano/keyboards since I was 4 years old. I grew up in the 90s, but with the spirit of 70s/80s. I play many styles of music, in bands and by myself, and consider my style eclectic: sometimes I'll play rock/metal, folk, funk, jazz/fusion, or even "neoclassical". For my needs, GNX is perfectly suitable for any of those situations - in the practice room, the studio, or on stage of any size.

To me, the GNX workstation concept is the wave of the future. The integration of 8-track recording bundled with multi-effects processing makes this a great practice and composing stand-alone unit. Additionally, GNX3 provides a 9-second long (short) looper memory, that allows to slow down up to 9 seconds of music down to 1/4 of original tempo.

GNX3 effects are very adjustable. Some of my favorite examples of tweakability include:

* preset mode! - even though this is now common-place on the market, I love this feature. I have an individual preset for each song that I play, all I have to do is arrange them in order of the set list for a particular gig. Within that preset, I have on the floor:
- a wah "model" with three available types (accessible via the V-Switch, see comment below)
- a stompbox (can be used as a mute also)
- two amp models (green/red or clean/distort channel) and an optional real-time warped model of the two, so up to 3 switchable channels
- a modulation effect (chorus, flanger, envelope, synth, auto-wah, etc) most of which are "stereo" effects
- a delay model up to 2000ms (2 seconds) - mono, stereo, or dual mono; analog or digital.
- a reverb of several types, again in stereo.
Additional effects/modules include:
- an optional pickup model, single->humbucker or humbucker->single
- noise reduction of two types, allowing potentially for Ebow-like violin sounds. It is also tweakable enough to get a sweet organ-like sound without the noise of plucked strings coming through.
- single-band compression, with the common controls (3 "knees", ratio of 1:1 through INF:1, attack and release)
- pitch shifter or whammy effect
Each effect/module is unique to the preset, but can be copied into another preset to be edited. I find the 60 user-editable presets enough for my purposes.

Some of my other favorite GNX3 features include:
* two LFOs, which run independently of other LFOs (such as for chorus, auto-wah, etc) - this allows for everything from crazy pitch-shifting effects and arpeggiation, to simple things like slowly panning reverb or modulation (my favorite). Any effect parameter or other controller can be assigned to the LFOs, with definable range. The speed varies from 1/20th Hz to 10 Hz. Shape can be adjusted for toggle changes (square), smooth gradual change (sine), or in-between (triangle).

* ability to assign up to 3 controllers to footswitch #5 (in stompbox mode) - for example, turn off modulation + switch amp + turn down compression, all on one button. Same can be done with the expression pedal, except on a continuous basis. Here's an example:
1. Assign Expr1 control to flanger panning, in the range of -99 to 0.
2. Assign Expr2 to modulation on/off (in this case it'll be flanger) - when the pedal gets past the halfway point, the flanger will turn on (when the panning is at about -50).
3. Assign Expr3 to another control, such as volume (maybe in the range of 75-100) or delay on/off.
Now I can use the expression pedal for an effective lead-in to a solo - as I depress the expression pedal, the flanger will pan in from the left as the volume is increasing or as delay is turned on. Rocking the pedal back will turn off the flanger, and bring the volume back or turn the delay back off. I sometimes wish the controller ranges were more programmable, but that can be achieved fairly easily with a separate MIDI controller.
Another drawback of the expression pedal is that when th


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 04/01/2005 at 09:00pm by Ben
Email: spam65013<at>yahoo dot com

Ease of Use : 7
First off, I have a problem with getting to the point and tend to stray off the topic of things, so bare with me :p

I figured out how to get different sounds out of it within about 5 minutes at the store, but i still have yet figure out some of the recorder panel and the and the many things (or so it seems) that you can do by linking the expression pedal to effects. Manual is pretty good, I mean, it's not terribly in depth and its not very thick at all or anything but it does explain to you how to use the unit and what all of it's functions are, how to use them, what the stompboxes are modeled after, etc. I was getting great sounds out of this unit within an hour of plugging it in.

Sound Quality : 9
I'm using a Fender Jap Strat w/ a kahler locking tremolo and a 30W Peavey Rage 158 amp. (I play for self entertainment.)

This thing really shed new light on my amp. I've been playing for five years with no effects at all, except the distortion of my amp. The GNX3 really met and exceeded my expectations (with a few acceptions, of course) as far as sound quality and sound verstaility go. Every sound I've tried to get so far, I've gotten. These are the first effects i've ever heard and I'm sure there are better ones that are individual pedals, but the prices on them are usually $80+. You figure a distortion, reverb, delay, noise gate, and a compressor/sustainer and you're looking at around $300-500, and you get loads more than that with this unit for $400. To make things a bit simpler, I'll list the major effects and state my opinion on them.

Distortion- I've read that some people do not like these distortions or think they sound "weak" and "digital" or whatever. I can't say I agree with them. Over my amp and with my guitar, I think the distortions sound great. There are all the amp models (some with distortion) and cabinets which are fully tweakable and there are the stompboxes which are an effect on the unit, that are also fully tweakable with the same options that the real ones have. For example, you can blend two amp models and two cabinets together and get one sound, then add ANY of the distortions to it. That equals an endless list of sounds. It's not like if you cant get the distortion you want in 10 minutes, the equpiment sucks. It takes time to get the sound you want usually, and overall the distortions are great.

Mod': Chorus, Flange, Phaser, Tremolo, etc.- I think they all sound excellent and are very versatile. Bad thing about it is, you can't use two things in this category at once. Meaning no panner and tremolo together and stuff like that. The biggest flaw of this unit it is, but here's a hint: If you want to get a chorus sound with one of the other Mod sounds, just use the Detune feature for a chorus, as they sound nearly the same to me. After all, chorus is just detuning the signal and playing it back through the speaker(s) anyway. Nifty if you want to use "chorus" and flange at the same time ala The Wall.

Reverb- Sometimes I think that they lack a bit of warmth, but overall they're awesome. Many choices and settings.

Delay- One thing I wish I could do with this: Choose how much the delayed signal is distorted, or muffled (Vocals on natural science, by Rush). Other than that, no complaints at all.

Whammy, Pitch Shifter, Talker- Here's lies another slight downfall of the unit. I haven't really tried anything here besides the pitch shifter (Can't try the talkers because i don't have a mic). This was a bit of a letdown on this unit, say, to imitate a bass you make the pitch -12 and set it to where the modified signal is all that's heard. There are pips and jumps in the sound when this is done, and also when the pitch shifted sound is the one that's heard the most. Playing 'Fire' and some other hendrix songs doesn't sound bad at all, but it does when the pitch shifter is louder than the original signal. Not sure if it still does it when it's not dominate or not...

Wah- Overall: Pretty good. It could be a lot better, but it sounds ok for most songs. I could not, however, get voodoo child out of it. Oh well, i can't play it anyway ;)

Also there are AMAZING AMOUNTS of quality amp models and speaker cabs, which can be customized to no end. Recorder is excellent so far. Takes smartmedia, but i have a digicam that uses smartmedia so I guess I'm lucky :)

I love the sound quality of it.

Reliability : 8
I've never had any problems with it, besides i loosened the expression pedal bolt a bit with a ratchet. If I gigged (and I would if i could. Small town, no bands.) I wouldn't have backup, mainly because i can't afford it. If i could, I still wouldn't This thing seems pretty durable. Metal construction and all...

Oh yeah, I don't stomp the shit out of the pedals like an irresponsible tard. Helps, you know.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to deal with them

Overall Rating : 8
I play progressive, alternative and rock music. Some (actually, many) of my favorite bands and artists are Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani, The Beatles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I've been playing for 5 years and I am 14. I also own a Fender DG-9NS 6 String and a Takamine EG523SC-12 12-String.

I compared this product, *Effects WITH recorder* to a Boss BR864 ($400) *Recorder WITH effects* and chose this one because i decided i wanted more effects and easier access to them than i wanted a better recorder. I also looked at the Boss ME-10 and Vox Tonelab SE (the one with two pedals) and decided i wanted this because i wanted some kind of recorder without spending loads more money.
If it were stolen, I wouldn't buy it again because I don't have any money :p, but if i were given the option to have it replaced compared to having one of it's competitors, I would take it.

I wish it had (in order):
1. A better pitch shifter
2. A better wah
3. The ability to use different mod effects at once

I like very much:
-. The plethora of sounds. This unit has virtually no limits if you're willing to spend time with it.
-. The quality of the sounds, which are exquisite through my amp.
-. The ability to record.

Notes: Manual can be found at http://digitech.com/literature.htm

I really enjoy using it, and i can mess with it for hours getting all kinds of sounds. Of course, you don't get the sound you want right off. You may become discouraged at first, but keep trying and you'll most likely get very close to or exactly what you're looking for.
Is it worth $400? Yes, very much so.
Is the sound and build quality gig worthy? I would use it for gigs, yes.
I'm glad of my decision to buy this piece of equipment that's really made me enjoy playing guitar more.

If you've read all this, you're more patient than I am and I hope it's benefited you, being a view from an amateur home musician's eyes. You can email me if you'd like if you have any questions about it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $230 used
Submitted 03/17/2005 at 11:26am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
I first became familiar with the GNX3 borrowing it from a friend. He never used it much (had a full Line-6 setup, so didn't a second set of fx) and didn't know it very well.

I downloaded the manual and skimmed through it while testing everything on the board at the same time. After a couple hours of tinkering I had it down--and it really is pretty easy to remember.

Sound Quality : 7
I'm just getting into guitar, and have maybe 6 months of playing time under my belt. I'm still playing on a $150 Dean that was the cheapest in the store, but the GNX cleans it up, gives it great tone, and makes it sound like a screamer.

My only beef is that I can't seem to get a very bright tone... either it's a low distorted sound or a high-pitch scream--when I'm looking for a warm tone that lets the high notes sing and the low notes roll. In any event I haven't really gotten into amp modeling, which is most certainly part of the problem--and I'm sure my el-cheapo guitar isn't helping either.

Reliability : 9
When my friend first brought the GNX3 up it had a problem where it would basically lock up whenever you tried to record on the 8-track. He thought he had deleted part of the program, but I got it working by erasing all the recorded songs. Since then I've never had a problem with it.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to talk with Digitech, but rumor is they're awesome for customer-service

Overall Rating : 8
I'd give this processor a 9 out of 10. The only real annoyances I can think of are the V-switch for the wah-pedal (The sensitivity can be adjusted, but it seems no matter what I set it on it's either far too sensitive and switches when I don't want it to, or it's near impossible to make work and I have to put all my weight on it to make it go).

Beyond that I'm sad that there's no ability to have multiple stompboxes running in parallel, and the built-in drum synth is quite poor--it just loops some pretty plain beats with no switchups, and the beats don't sound like their titles (Blues just plain sucks).


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 02/18/2005 at 08:05am by Danno
Email: dshrider2000 at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : No Opinion
SAME!

Sound Quality : No Opinion
SAME!

Reliability : 9
UPDATE!
This is an update from my previous review just a few days ago. I have discovered the problem with the power outages. There is a short in the AC adapter. As I said bellow, I have used this thing allot. With that said it's amazing that the AC adapter lasted as long as it did. So chalk one up for Digitech. The only other problem that I haven't even noticed for a long time now was low sensitive pedal. Great product very dependable! :-)

Customer Support : 10
UPDATE!
I was simply amazed at the super quick response I got after leaving my last review here on HC. Digitech is obviously very concerned with the reviews we leave here. If you read my last review, I mention my dissatisfaction with the trend effects processor companies have with utilizing smart media cards as apposed to SD (or even XD for that matter) technologies. Anyway, a guy from Digitech contacted me via email, like the day after I left the review, with a link that explained a way of using SD or XD cards or something like that. I honestly haven't even had time to read the article yet and I don't have a link to it right now. But I'll read it soon and post one more review with the link, so that you guys can all check it out. But the point is, Digitech has better customer support than I had originally rated them for. So I feel obligated to retract my original opinion. :-)

Overall Rating : 9
UPDATE!
You should buy one of these, especially since they're down to $399 now. :-)


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 02/15/2005 at 08:00am by Danno
Email: dshrider2000 at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 7
Well, I've had this thing for a few years now. And I still don't know half of all it's capible of. I guess I just get a sound I like and then I stay with that for a while. I find it easy to get lots of great and useful tones out of this thing. Although I must say that I am really not using the amp modeling much at all these days, not that they're bad, I just have found better ways of getting cool amp tone. One of the ways of course is to just use a real amp. This is great when you have lots of head room (i.e. big room of people or outside), otherwise I use a Gi100 4 speaker cab simulater with a BD-2 and OD-3 for my drive. Anyway, the effects built into this GNX3 are really nice. And there are sooo many! ;-) I would give it a five because frankly this machine is very powerful and complecated. Which is really a good thing! But, I would have to give it a nine for real time use. Because once you have it set up the way you want it, it's really easy to use on stage! :-) So I give it a seven.

Sound Quality : 9
Great! Not excelent! But great! If you have the money to buy lots of expensive pedals to experiment around with and you don't mind carrying them all with you when you gig and seting them all up and making sure that they all have sufficient power, then maybe you need to do just that. Otherwise, the GNX is a great choice, allowing you to experiment with very close representations of those real pedals. The subtleties are what make guitar tone cool. And the gnx is great at that. But it is also wonderful at taking you to extremes. One thing I wish these multi-effects pedals would offer is mixing mutiple modulation effects (like a flange into a phaser) or a tremelo into a chorus, etc... And that's probably the biggest draw back when compairing to multiple pedals. But, for most usages, this pedal is quite useful. And the quality of sound is just GREAT! :-)

Reliability : 8
Every once in a while, I the unit seems to act like it has no power. This is very rare and it has never caused me not to be able to perform with it. I'm not sure what the problem is. But I seem to always get it running again when this does happen. Just as a note of how infrequent this happens, as I said before, I have owned this for several years now. And I've used it probably ninety-five percent of the time I play anywhere. And I've only had it cut out on me like two to three times, and never at a crucial time. But it is something to be aware of. I also have not kept up with the upgrades which is my fault. But since the thing works so well, I just don't see the need I guess. Also, one of the pedals when I first got the thing seemed a little insensitive and I would have to press it a little hard or a couple of times to get it to function. But, It seems to have gotton better of the years. :-)

Customer Support : 7
The box and CDs that this thing originally came with were in a fire. So I called Digitech and they sent me the replacement CDs. I wouldn't say they are up to Dell standards, but not bad.

Overall Rating : 8
I've been playing regularly since March of 1992. I feel I am an adequate player with reasonable experience with effects. I like to do my own music and style. But I'm open to most anything. Right now I'm using an Ibanez "something". It has HB bridge, SC middle, HB neck, and a coil tap that controls both humbuckers. It's pretty nice. My effects are set up like this... BD-2 into GNX3 left out into mini mixer, right out into old Korg AX1-G into mini mixer, then out of mini mixer into OD-1 into Fender 59' Bassman RI. One thing I didn't mention is the built in eight-track recorder. I really haven't used it that much. But one thing I would deffinately prefer. And that is the implementation of SD-cards instead of smart media. What where they thinking? And the funny thing is I still keep seeing smart media being used in other devices. and so the following message is for all digital effects manufactuers... Please stop using the inferior technology! SD-cards are MUCH better! And don't teel me they're not fast enough. I have a digital camara that records audio and video in REAL time onto an SD-card. Anyway, if my GNX was stolen, I would be pissed. But I might try a Boss ME-50, or that new Vox pedal, only because I like to experiment so much. But I know I would really miss the GNX. It is very useful.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $330
Submitted 02/05/2005 at 02:34pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
Not too bad to learn how to use. It offers so many things that you'll need to read about some of them. Overall, it's not that hard to learn.

Sound Quality : 8
I'm using a Charvel Model 2 and an 80's USA BC Rich Gunslinger, both with Seymour Duncan pickups and Floyd Rose bridges. I have ran it through different amps, but the one I play it through mostly for my practice purposes is a Crate GLX 15. For just learning and creating songs in the bedroom, you don't need a monster loud amp. It actually sounds good through this. When you're ready to play out somewhere, then break out the monster stuff! The factory presets are pretty much a good starting block. Not many sound that great, but go to the Digitech website and click on sound community. Go to the GNX3 section and bring up patches and settings. GNX3 owners have made up and tweaked hundreds of patches that you can download or print off and put them in manually. Then you can get great sounds out of this thing!! For what it is made for, a practice/ learning tool, it is hard to beat. It is very convenient to have a drum machine, bass, looper, 8 track recorder, learn a lick, jam along plug in for cassette / cd player and many other options all in one unit. No more bundled up cords and having to bring all of the above named things from room to room and spend alot of time hooking it all up. With the GNX3, just plug in and start playing!! Spend a little time tweaking and putting in patches from the website and it turns out to be a very enjoyable unit!

Reliability : 10
Two years and it hasn't laid down on me yet. Very rugged metal chassis. Well built!!

Customer Support : 10
Digitech has always been very prompt in helping me answer any questions about problems that I have, (most of which are operator error!!)

Overall Rating : 9
I've played for 18 years and have gone through tons of stuff. Mostly 80's metal and some blues. I've had tube amps and solid state so I've got to hear alot of good tones. The GNX3 for what it is, is a great unit. Alot of people on here have talked about how it doesn't sound warm like a tube amp, or the effect don't sound like all of the high end effects. Look at the unit and it SHOULD be obvious as to why that is.....IT'S NOT A TUBE AMP!!!! NOR IS IT EQUIPPED WITH COUPLE THOUSAND DOLLAR HIGH END PEDALS!!! C'mon people, if something doesn't sound like your favorite amp or effect, it's probably because that it's not that amp or pedal. Overall this thing is alot of fun. It's quick and easy to record and learn with and you can take it with you just about anywhere.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 675 (canadian)
Submitted 02/04/2005 at 01:05pm by Tyler
Email: crowbarhomicide<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 6
ok first off this is NOT an easy pedal to get the sound that you want out of it. it takes ALOT of playing around with to get what you want. now thats not to say you cant get what you want. the sound configurations that you can get out of it are endless. you can get almost ANY sound you want you just have to know how to get it. the distortion seems to be the hardest to get perfect.

Sound Quality : 10
im running a peavey XXX head and 4x12 slant cab(you cant get better for the price) and my guitar of choice is my washburn X-50. the pedal itself is extremely quiet, youll get alitle hiss with the distortion but the noise gate will take care of that. the effects are quite clean and are most likely the best ive heard from stomp boxes and pedal bords. the distortion you can get out of it is endless.

this is a good sounding pedal but it must be used with a pre amp. if you run directly into a power amp it looses all of its power.

Reliability : 10
METAL. not plastic. the casing is quite solid. nothing feels loose in it and the pedals are all heavey duty. i havent had a problem with it yet.

i have played meny gigs with it and no backup.
and i will continue to do so

Customer Support : No Opinion
the unit is rock solid just like any digitech unit.
i havent had to deal with Customer Support yet.

Overall Rating : 10
i play metal. the distortion is more than enough and the cleans you can get out of it are as good as it gets. its the only pedal for me.
ive been playing for about 5 years now and i own a peavey XXX head and 4x12 slant cab, a yorkville 4x12 slant cab, peavey bandit 112(with celestion loudspeaker), yorkville bassmaster xm200, washburn X-50(my personal fav)and a B.C. Rich warlock bodyart collection 2003 june edition(also very nice). the only thing i dont like about the pedal is it takes a long time to get the sound you want, once you have it its happy hour. the recording portion helps me wright backing riffs and harmonies that would usually require another guitarest to play.
this is the best pedal ive ever used.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $395
Submitted 01/24/2005 at 10:16am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 6
- How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

For me, nearly impossible but I am very picky about what a good sound is to me.

- How about editing patched?

About the same as any other digital modeling preamp out there. The GNX series is easier in some ways, harder in others.

- How is the manual for it?

So-so, but at least it is in English. Honestly, I think technical writing in the hi-tech world is now and has always been abysmal though. As a computer programmer I understand why though.


- Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

Mine is version 1.5, which is the latest they are admitting to.

Sound Quality : 5
- What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

I us a stereo pair of Tech 21 Power Engine 60's which for those unfamiliar are simply power amplifiers that lack a preamp of their own and have a full range 12" speaker. For guitars, I use Strats and Teles, all American made and with Fender Custom Shop PUPs in them. The main guitar I use is an American Deluxe 50th Anniversay Strat with Samarium Cobalt Noiseless PUPs in it.

-Is it noisy? On what settings?

The GNX3 is a quiet unit from a noise level perspective. On higher gain based patches it can get noisy, but there is a pretty good gate included which solves the problem I think.

-Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

The effects (Chorus, Flange, etc. are the strongest point on this unit. Taken by themselves, I would rate this unit much higher. The stompbox distortions are just "OK" though and the amp modeling reminds me of a wasp in a jar sound. I have tried for nearly three months to get a good tube-like sound out of this box and I must now admit defeat. For the record, I am not big on really high gain sounds, favoring classic Fender clean tone above all else. I also use a Marshall style tone to good effect on a few things and less frequently I like a Mesa style rectified sound. My rating is based on these needs.

- What amp are you using it with?

As I said, a pair of Tech 21 Power Engines

- Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?

Well my favorite artists are blues artists (too numerous to name here) as well as classic rock/blues artists, primarily Clapton, Beck and so on. There is no way I can seem to get this unit to sound like any of that! Most of what I play is my own compositions and it is not meeting my needs there either. I guess it depends on what a person likes to getr a bead on this rating. SOme people actually like the sound of a wasp in a jar.

Reliability : No Opinion
- Can you depend on it?

This is a strong point for Digitech. This unit is built very solidly and will take a high level of gigging induced abuse I think. I'll never know because it'll never see a stage in my life.

- Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

This is a moot point, but IF I did gig with it, it would be trustworthy in the reliability department AFAIK.

Customer Support : 6
- If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?

I did call Digitech to ask a few questions and they tried to be helpful. But when your product design is out of your hands you are stuck "giving the company line" a lot of times and so their answers were predictable. AT least they didn't run down the Power Engines which is fortunate. I have used these with Korg products with excellect results; as digital goes anyway. At least they tried which is more than many companies do these days.

- Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired?

No upgrades yet, none anticipated.

Overall Rating : 4
- What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
Covered above mostly, but to recap I play classic rock and blues styles when I do cover work and original compositions more often than not. This unit is not a good match for me and I only regret having it take 3+ months to find that out.

- How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

Been strumming guitars since 1970 I reckon. Great hobby and there are a lot more choices now than back in the day. I own almost exclusively all Fender gear including 4 Strats and a Tele plus two Fender tube amps. These just get it done for me. I bought this unit to practice with and save wear and tear on the tube amps for daily mundane parctice sessions. It is good enough for that I suppose, but my inspiration isn't the greatest using it despite it's many creature comforts such as a great looper and (ahem) drum machine.

- If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

Honestly getting this stolen wouldn't be the end of my world and I would not replace it.

- What do you love about it?

The looper is cool and being able to lay down a rythym track to practice against is a super feature and in fact attracted me strongly to begin with.

- What do you hate?

The tone, or lack thereof.

- What is your favorite feature?

The looper/recorder features.

- Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

I compared it with everything out there at the time (POD, ToneLab, Behringer, Korg, Boss) and I did so with headphones only. I knew that this unit was bass heavy, but I though I could just turn down the bass on the power engines to compensate. Wrongo. The PE60s are very good units and other modelers really sound pretty good through them but not the GNX series. Can't lose the mudiness no matter what I do.

- Anything you wish it had?

Tone.

- Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

When I overlook its' shortcomings, it is a useful practice tool. The problem is that the tone is so bad I lose inspiration or worse, I spend valuable time tweaking instead of practicing/playing. Many have said in these reviews as well as the other GNX units that good sounds are attainable with moderate to heavy tweaking and that the factory presets suck. I don't want to spend the rest of my life tweaking this thing personally -- others might though. So for me itis about a 50/50 split between being helpful and hindering.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $314
Submitted 01/12/2005 at 12:04am by saulenriquez
Email: saulenriquez<at>gmail dot com

Ease of Use : 9
It's easy to use if you read the manual or Don't. Not big deal.

Sound Quality : 8
Digitech has always had this Sci-fi/Synthetic Sound, you can also find good quality effects, better than on the cheap units for sure (Not Superb, Remember this is not a T.C. Electronics), the Recording feature is not the best if you already record on your computer, it's more like a portable recorder to lay down ideas. The Whammy is Great, better than i though, the wha is awefull, sorry, but all other effects worth the money you pay, i haven't tried the Talker :(
I would only add some "vintage" Sounds to it. that's all.

Reliability : 8
Metal... i think is pretty resistant. Not the AC adapter, it's cheap and the cable is to thin so if u pull it hard u could damage it.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealed with a problem.

Overall Rating : 9
I think it's a pretty nice multiEffects Unit to have. Not the best for computer recording, but for versatile live Playing it should be.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $170.00 used
Submitted 01/03/2005 at 09:34am by John Ruppe
Email: jcrconsulting<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 7
Wasn't hard to program after I read the manual. You will have to spend some time with it to get the full benefit from it. It can be plug and play if you like the presets that come with it but I didn't.
Get the midi cable hook up and download sounds directly from the internet.
Manual is decent, but should be more exhaustive, most help available from forum at Digitech.
Upgraded to version 1.5. must have midi cables to do so, I use UNO 1x1
USB MIDI Interface.

Sound Quality : 9
I use 1988 Les Paul Custom and Ibanez AS73 (335 copy)
Very quiet, effects are quite good, I use a power amp and 2x12 cabinet and it also sounds good through a keyboard amplifier.
I play oldies and classic rock.
In my opinion the Factory settings suck, but I use them as a starting point, warp amps together and develop my own patches. I usually blend a dirty amp with a clean amp through the warp feature. If you like it you can save it as a custom amp and even warp it again.
About as versatile as you can get.
I really like the Whammy, I have it set up on dive bomb but I have it limited to a couple steps, this lets me have a bigsby style tremelo for those Ventures songs without actually having one. Neither of my guitars have tremelos, I gave that up in the 80's.

Reliability : 10
No problems.
I gig without backup.

Customer Support : 10
I bought it used one year ago and Digitech gave me a password to the software that came with it. Very nice.

Overall Rating : 9
I've been playing 20 years, I love the old tube amps but the ones that are built like they should be are out of my range.
This things does good simulations of what I like.
The little 8 track recorder is nice when you get inspired, so you won't forget the lick you came up with.
Learn a lick helps alot as well.
Most likely I will be going ampless in the future, with PA the way it is and the way this thing sounds I don't see the point in spending better than a grand on decent built tube amp.



Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $360
Submitted 11/28/2004 at 11:36am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
There are some things you will have to look up,they will be well explained in the manual.If your just starting to get into decent gear,not a bad choice.

Sound Quality : 7
I use a marshall 2000 60watt head,1960A cab,aria proII,shector diamond series c1e/a semi hollowbody.Very little noise from the unit.I only use 2 presets and 2 that I created myself,by creating user patches from presets with some changes in the color.I created a detune patch that is not bad sounding.Can't get any sound that I would consider is from another band.I'm now looking at tc g-force,I will keep this for practice at home, because one of the really nice things about this unit is that you can hook it up to a cd player,plug head phones into it and your guitar,oh and a mic if you prefer to sing,and go undisturbed by any noises.Oh I almost forgot the 8track recorder,excellent addition, I wish every unit had one of these. Drum machine plain sucks.

Reliability : 7
Had to send it back to the factory for a new preset scroll button,thats when they updated it to ver1.5, this was just before the warranty went out. Now i'm having another problem with the scroll button intermitently.I've owned it a year 8 mo. I have played out with it without any problems.

Customer Support : 10
They made all repairs and had it back in 2 weeks.The staff is always there to help,even when I wasn't sure about how to get the volume pdl patched back into my edited preset.

Overall Rating : 7
Classic rock, lot of original music which makes it easy to use some presets,as for the copy music,it's a little difficult finding a preset to match,my drummer wants me to kick the thing out the window and run direct,but I have to have some chorus,delay etc.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $111.00 used
Submitted 11/25/2004 at 01:15pm by Scott Knudson
Email: none

Ease of Use : 7
I've owned several effects units, new and old. This one was actually intuitively designed and I could figure out most of the features without the manual. I was getting decent sounds out of it within an hour of delivery. That says alot. Editing is easier than my Zoom GFX-8 and the manual is fairly straight forward but no glossary or index.

Sound Quality : 9
Sounds great, for the most part. The presets are varied and marginaly useful. The "old EVH" preset sounds nothing like Old EVH though. The effects are top notch, but I am coming to expect this from every manufacturers products.It is certainly quiet, and the distortions seem good. I plug it into a new Marshall MG100HDFX with the matched 412 cabs. I play a 2000 Texas Special american Stratocaster with a red lace at the bridge (yum).

Reliability : 10
Seems great so far. This includes the auxilliary floor switch for controlling the built in 8 track recorder. Solid unit with strong pedals and mostly metal construction. I don't abuse my stuff though.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Crappy web-site but digitech has a reputation for taking care of it's customers, I hope to never need more than firmware revisions.

Overall Rating : 10
I bought this thing on Ebay with the additional foot controller like new. I won it at a steal so it's worth every penney. I love the 8 track recorder, the drum machine/metronome and it sounds as good as other comparably featured units.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400 used
Submitted 11/01/2004 at 10:21am by Omar Robledo

Ease of Use : 8
Este multiefectos tiene muchisimas opciones, por lo que tienes que leer detalladamente el manual para comprender algunas de las opciones, editar parches es sencillo, pero tienes que tener un poco de conocimiento para saber que tipo de sonido quieres

Sound Quality : 8
Los efectos como el delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, son muy buenos, el ruido es casi nulo, yo utilizaba pedales de efecto individuales y el sonido no era bueno, pero la GNX3 tiene un sistema que hace que el orden de los efectos sea el optimo y asi sacarle el mejor sonido, solo el Whammy se escucha un poco falso y otra cosa mala es que no se pueden poner dos efectos a la vez, tambien no me gusta que al cambiar de preset se escucha un silencio entre el cambio. El simulador de amps y cabs es bueno, se puede comprarar con un line6 pero no le llega a uns sonido valvular. Algunos presets tienen un sonido muy alto y tienes que arreglarlos para que todos tengan un sonido estandar. El sonido de la grabadora es regular, pero se puede mejorar la calidad con una tarjeta smartmedia.

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : 10
Solo los he necesitado una vez, la atencion por mail fue inmediata, mi problema fue que no funcionaban algunos botones, me solucionaron el problema diciendome que aplicara liquido limpiador de polvo para aparatos electricos y asi fue como volvieron a funcionar.

Overall Rating : 8
Mi estilo de musica es versatil, desde rock hasta metal o hardcore, tengo 6 a?os tocando. Tiene muchas opciones buenas, como el poder crear tu propio amplificador con Hyper modelos, yo he creado un Mesa boogie con un marshall jcm800 y suena muy original.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400.00
Submitted 10/29/2004 at 01:38pm by Jason Dee Fultz

Ease of Use : 10
10 THIS UNIT KICKS BUTT!Right off the bat i had happening tones with it. I do suggest using the targeting system set up to what your playing into.

Sound Quality : 10
I go from a Iron Maiden Strat ,to a Gibson S.G. to an E.M.G. loaded Ibanez R.G.series,to an Yamaha R.G.1212 active in the course of a night.I play it into a Fender Twin and the P.A. at the same time.This sounds great through a tube amp, it seems to fatten it up,and using the P.A. helps with the F.O.H. volume.This unit has tone if you just check out the manual. I do Preist,Skynard,Ozzy,Thin Lizzy,AC/DC, and every thing in between,and time and time again it comes through with great sound.

Reliability : 10
I always have a back up who wouldn't? But it's also digitech an RP-21D but i've never had to bust it out ecept for fun

Customer Support : 10
The best

Overall Rating : 10
Yeah I'd gey another one.Perhaps the new one. I cover many different styles,I gig constantly.It's always just the way I left it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted 08/28/2004 at 05:56pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
I found that some of the things take a little time to get used of as of any effects system that you get, but on the other hand this is actually a very simple system to use, but ive also been into audio engineering for 37 years,

Sound Quality : 10
I have never heard a effects system that sounds this clear in all my 45 years of audio engineering, i use several types of guiatrs in this thing and they all sound great, some of my guitars i plug into it are, a shecter diamond series J, all american fender strat with a custom tonelocking sytem with a free floating bridge, a jackson RR3 Rhods, And a gibson s-j40 which is one of my acoustic guitars i use that sounds great through it to, i simply just love the sound with a passion, a few of the amps i use are, a randall cyclone, fender twin reverb, a couple of marshall amps, and a mesa boogie rectifier, and they all sound incredable

Reliability : 10
I cant really tell you much about the reliability factor as i havent had it long enough to judge, but it seems very sturdy so far!

Customer Support : 10
I had emailed them to ask them if they had any kind of patches they could send me through email and they got back with me very very quick within around 20 mins and then another time to ask about what kind of flash card they recomend to use with the gnx 3 and they got back to me with around 20 mins as before so i give them a 10!!!

Overall Rating : 10
I play a all kinds of music like metal,old country and new, blues and lots more and the gnx3 does it all with no shame to bare! i have been playing guiatar for 42 years and never heard a system that could pump the sound like this thing can, if i had ever lost this thing or someone stole it i would buy it again in a heartbeat! i love everything about this unit, and the thing that i love the most is how you can tweak any sound you want in the unit. i had compared this unit to alot of other units including the vox tone works, and several roland units and the gnx3 blows them far far away, another thing i love about it is the 8-track digital recorder which is awsome, i never lose song ideas like did before now thanks to the gnx3, another thing id like to talk about is how alot of people have been dising this wonderfull product, the only reason those of you dont like the sounds this thing pushes out is because you dont know how to use it yet and i sugest you should learn how to use it before you diss it and make other people think its sh** quit wasting others time with your nonsense and learn how to use an affect system or go get another hobbie I and other people who know its good are sick of people like you dissing it so please leave the submitting alone, and for those of you who are thinking about getting it get it, i promise you that you will love it trust me just put the bad comments away and focus on the good you will love it for 400 bucks its a steal for what you get!!!!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: C$650
Submitted 08/21/2004 at 08:22pm by Hakeem
Email: hakeem_hammett<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 7
Just got mine a few days ago. It is complicates at first, every lil thing has to be set up for example ur instrument, microphones, and the target system, where do u wanna send it to. but then it helps by looking through the manual book. Its been a few days since i got it and i just figured out how to use the talker today! but hey its always complicated when it comes to a big toy like this one..

Sound Quality : 10
I use it with my 15 watt marshall amp and it sounds superb!! tried it with a huge marshall stack last night at my pal's and it sounds excelent! my favourite is the "mesa dual rectrifier", i tried the talker today and its really really cool!! i get to make my guitar speak!! so anyways the WAH sounds awesome so does the whammy.. It has a LOT of cool sounds!! and theyre all a 10!! except for the pitch shift its doesnt sound right but it still give u a cool effect!! it has a fairly good drum machine..its good for practice and making music but u would still need a real drummer for real recordings. My comments on the sounds?? BUY IT!! NOW!!

Reliability : 8
Havent used it for gigs, but from all the jam sessions, i think i need a lil bit more time trying to figure out how to work the presets without pressing 5 pedals just to get to another amp.. and the recorder works as a back up too so its really cool

Customer Support : 9

The guys at the sound community at digitech.com are very helpfull ure questions will be answered right away!

Overall Rating : 10

Its the best and the funnest toy ever made (from my oppinion) it lets me explore into other sounds and how to use it in my songs.. did a lot of recordings and this thing has everything in it.. and it boosts up my creativity level like a rocket!! and for the price that u pay for it? lets say i would really really try to get it if it were triple the price that i paid.. so get it guys! it'll change ur life


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $379
Submitted 07/22/2004 at 12:00am by Tim Nolte
Email: nolteguitar at comcast<dot>net

Ease of Use : 8
I've had mine for about a year now. This is my first and only effects gizmo that I've owned, so the learning curve may be a bit longer. You have to use the manual, at least I did, but that is to be expected. When you run into a problem, going back through the manual will usually give you the answer. I think an index would be a good idea to help find info. Definately get the MIDI cables! Downloading patches from the web site is a snap, just click on it and it is there, then save it, that easy. Also, you'll need a smartcard reader to get the music from the card to the computer. I'm not experienced with computer music software, but I really had no problems at all using cakewalk, that came with the unit. Now, updating the firmware could be easier, in my opinion, but that may just be me.

Sound Quality : 8
I use an ES335, an American Deluxe Strat and an American Tele, played through a Peavey Ranger 212 tube amp. I get great sounds with all. For people that say the sounds suck, they just need to learn how to use the thing, especially setting the TARGET SYSTEM. Hey, it took me a while too, but once you get there, it is worth it. Also, plugging into the effects loop to bypass your amplifiers preamp helps on many amps, otherwise you are doubling up there and it will sounds pretty crappy. I still like playing direct to the amp for the best sound, but this gives you quite a range of things you can do, plus the recorder records super digital quality. I run acoustic guitars with undersaddle pickups through this thing and (with some tweaking) get outstanding recordings with it. I'm also using a condenser mic and you can set it up in multiple ways as well, Dry, Reverb, Effects, etc. Bottom line is it is still an electronic gizmo, direct to the tubes sounds the best but this is right up there.

Reliability : 10
Not one problem in over a year.

Customer Support : 10
Everything I've asked has been answered superbly. The "sound Community" on the DigiTech web site is great to ask and find answers to questions about practically everything.

Overall Rating : 10
I play mostly blues and classic rock. I've been playing for a little over 30 years (probably adds to my learning curve too). The best thing, for me, is the recorder. Normally, I don't use that many effects, but I sure have a blast trying them out. My biggest problem is sometimes I end up playing around with the settings more than actually playing guitar, but that is the fun part too. Things I"d like to see: compact flash cards (up to 2Gb) rather than "old" Smart Media (128 Mb max). This is just really amazing that they went with the smart media card. I wish too that it had a "send' and "return" so you could just plug it into the effects loop, plug guitar into the normal input, and just use it as a pure stomp box for live playing.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: A trade
Submitted 07/21/2004 at 08:32pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
This is easy to use if you have worked with other processers. If not,you will get the hang of it quickly.

Sound Quality : 5
I have 2 Gibson Les Pauls running through a T.C.Electronics G-Major to Morley Vol & Wah to a Mesa Boogie triple rectifyer(sounds great).
I do not use the gnx3 with this set up,I use the gnx for practice only. I usualy run the gnx through headphones,computer speakers or my Peavey bandit. No mater what I run it through it will never sound like the tube amps it is supposed to sound like. I have been playing for about 17 years and my ears have become well at hearing the difference between quality and crap. This(the distortion) dose not sound natural at all. If you want great sound you MUST pay the price,it is soooooo true with music equiptment,YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Don't get me wrong,this is a way cool toy for practice(the recorder,drum looper ect.)

Reliability : 7
I have had the wah do some weird things like not turning on at times. The power chord is not durrable,I would not expect it to last long in giging situations. The rest of it is heavy duty.
If I used this for gigs,I would get a back up.

Customer Support : 10
I e-mailed a question to them and got an answer right away.

Overall Rating : 8
I play metal,a little blues and praise and worship at church.
I have been playing for 17 years.
If it were stolen,I would get another one.
This thing is great to record ideas,work on new songs,practice with a back up band built in. This is why I have it.
What realy impressed me is this baby is made in the USA,now that rocks.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $225
Submitted 07/14/2004 at 11:46pm by quasit

Ease of Use : 7
Anyone that has ever played a bit with a pedal board should not have too much trouble with this unit.
Editing is kind of tricky at first, so it will take a couple hours of practice.

Sound Quality : 1
I was completely shocked at how terrible this unit sounded.
I ran it through a roland jazz chorus 120, a 5150 peavey combo, and straight into a portable P.A. Every one of them sounded like crap.
I aslo recorded it into Pro Tools using the 1/4 inch jack and the available SP/DIF. Not much difference there either.
In particular I found the distortions lacking color. They just didn't seem to give out much of a tone. I was using a telecaster with seymour duncan 1952 single coils, and a original Ibanez artist with a seymour jeff beck humbucker at the neck and a seymour invader at the bridge.
Still no good distortion though. LAME!!!
I think the one effect I did enjoy was the vibrato, because it could do a decent surf rock impression.
other than that it was all very dismal.

Reliability : No Opinion
I never had a problem with it when I used it. sturdy frame, but it gets a little hot.

Customer Support : 1
with this unti comes a little computer software allowing you to store your presets and do a MIDI dump of all the junk in this clunker.
This however only works for windows users and Mac. OS 9 users.
AFTER TWO YEARS THEY STILL DO NOT HAVE AN OS X COMPATIBLE PROGRAM FOR THIS THING. that should tell you how great their customer service is.
where do these people think they are Utah???

Overall Rating : 1
I play pretty much everything, and i also happen to be a sound engineer.
I've been playing everything from rock, industrial, noisecore, country and jazz for over 15 years, AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I WOULD EVER BUY THIS AGAIN!!!
If you seriously want a pedalboard, with effects that truly shine through, then go take a line 6 Pod XT for a spin. Much better for about the same price.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 06/24/2004 at 01:33pm by Carl
Email: cfranklin<at>infowest dot com

Ease of Use : 9
I get a big kick out of reading the other reviews of this guitar tool. My favorites are the guys who don't know how to spell, use really poor grammar, and then want to complain about how complicated this device is. Duh!

The simple fact is that this is an advanced electronic tool. DigiTech has gone to great lengths to simplify operation as much as possible, and they have done an amazing job. But don?t fool yourself into believing that you can operate this device at its fullest potential without taking time to read the manual. You will be able to perform basic operations pretty easily, but to get the full range of potential sounds and service you will need to do some homework.

Ease of use is measured by three factors. First, what is your particular knowledge and experience with equipment of this nature? If it is high then you will likely find this piece of equipment easy to use right away. But if this is your first stomp box or processor then don?t expect to get much from it right away. That?s not DigiTech?s fault, it?s just a fact of life that you don?t know what you?re doing to begin with.

Second, and this is the one that is probably most important for folks, how well designed is the product for the task intended? There?s two ways to attack this question, and the first is the ?what it lacks? approach. In viewing the question in this light we can go through and find all the things we wish this device had on it. For instance, I?d like to see a second expression pedal (to control tone or volume while using wah, etc.), but the reality is that these type of ?wish list? really equate to a higher price.

That brings me to the second approach; what it can really do with what it has. The reality is that what it has, what it was designed for, and what it is supposed to do come together very nicely. It was designed to give users a combination of amp models, tone control, effects, and recording in one easy to use package. And it does all of that very nicely, especially for the price. As I said, I could certainly add more stuff to it, but then it wouldn?t be the GNX3 it would be the GNX4 or something else.

Now on to the third factor in assessing ease of use: price to performance comparison. I hinted at this above, but for our purposes the ultimate ease of use equation is whether it does what I want for the price I was willing to pay. Pay a higher price and you get more stuff, maybe easier use, and you?re no longer comparing apples to apples. But for the price (under $400) it is a great deal that does exactly what it claims to do. So, ease of use if very acceptable within the natural parameters of this device.

Finally, I must point out that ease of use will improve as your experience with the device grows. Think of it like learning to play the guitar again. When you first picked up a guitar, no matter how expensive or nice it was, getting good sounds was really hard. The more you played, the more you learned, the more sounds you got and the better you sounded. This device is the same. Ease of use is relative to your own experience and ability.

Sound Quality : 9
The first problem with sound quality is making sure that the GNX3 and your amp are set up properly. A friend of mine used the GNX3 with my headphones at first. I had it already set up and he really had a good time. Then he switched over to a Marshall short stack I had nearby. I had been playing on the amp using it?s own settings to control sound/tone. When he plugged in the GNX3 he didn?t compensate either the amp or GNX3 for the change in tonal quality he would expect. Thus, the GNX3 went from sounding ?awesome? on the headphones to ?really crappy? on the Marshall. After I set the Marshall up for his the GNX3 really ?improved,? but in reality it was always playing the same. He just wasn?t hearing it the same.

The second thing worth mentioning is the realization of ?faux sound? versus ?real sound.? In demonstrating the GNX3 to the same friend I showed him how there were some differences between the original equipment and the modeled sound of the GNX3. Using the same Marshall I showed him some of the ?tube sound? that came naturally with the analog system and then how it was a bit different when recreated digitally by the GNX3.

The long and short of it is that the GNX3 provides you an opportunity to get very similar sounds without the expense of actually buying all that great equipment. If you want the actual ?heavy brit? sound of the Marshall then you?ll need to spend the heavy bread for it, but with the GNX3 you can close enough that most listeners won?t really know the difference.

Based on that I?d rate sound quality on two scales with the first being the sound quality as compared to the real thing. The GNX3 has about an 8 when compared to the actual amps it is modeling. That?s not bad, and one should not avoid this device because it is not a 10. I?m not sure any digital device (and I have the GNX3, Pod, and a couple others) can ever be 100% the same as the original device. Sometimes the sounds of the original device are an anomaly rather than an intended outcome, so that makes things harder.

The second scale is the comparison of the GNX3 to other devices of a similar type. In this category I?m rating the GNX3 against my POD 2.0, Behringer, and some stomp boxes. In this category I give the GNX3 a 9.5. This means that it ranks right up there with the best of the others. It is a very nice device with good quality, and it well worth the money. The only reason I don?t rank it a 10 is that is not necessarily superior (which is what a 10 would be), but it?s by no means anything less than an equal.

Reliability : 10
Outstanding. As a fellow Utah resident I'm proud of what the boys in Salt Lake have done. It's a good piece of equipment that works well in the bedroom and on stage. I've used it at many gigs, and use it regularly without a backup.

Customer Support : 10
I only called Salt Lake once about customer support. I got what I needed right away (it was already online, I just missed it). My problem wasn't complicated, but it was nice to know that the folks at the factor are knowledgable and helpful. That's a trait not often found in today's market.

Overall Rating : 9
I have somewhat eclectic taste when it comes to music. I play everything from KISS to Hank Williams (Sr and Jr). While I spend most of my stage time in classic rock, country, and blues I also enjoy playing jazz, pop, and some original stuff as well. The GNX3 allows me to be all things in all music styles, and with it I?m a lot better player than I am without it.

The beauty of the GNX3 is that I can use it in my bedroom to practice then stuff it in a carrying case to use on stage that night. I?ve got it programmed for 3 major gig types (classic rock/blues, crooner/pop, and country), so I just hit the right foot switches to kick back and forth to the sounds I need. And better still I can record small segments right on stage, so if I hit a lick that is especially attractive that night I can record it right then for later playback and diagnosis.

My final comment is to suggest that you consider the alternatives as well as your needs when evaluating this unit. It is a great little box, but if you don?t need all the stuff it has consider getting the GNX2 or something else. On the other hand, if you?re looking for a way to improve your private practice time, do some real basic recording (you will not be able to record the entire band with this box), and increase your tonal quality on stage then give the GNX3 a strong look. It?s the right price for the combination of toys you get in one box.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/20/2004 at 03:55pm by Chandler
Email: XZombie6x6x6<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 6
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.

Sound Quality : 7
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
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.

Customer Support : No Opinion
nope....

Overall Rating : No Opinion
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)


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 300 (Canadian) used
Submitted 06/06/2004 at 06:40pm by Matt

Ease of Use : 7
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.

Sound Quality : 6
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.

Reliability : 5
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.

Customer Support : No Opinion
no idea

Overall Rating : 7
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.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $315
Submitted 03/22/2004 at 06:37am by Joshua

Ease of Use : 9
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

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : 9
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).

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
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...


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: NA
Submitted 03/17/2004 at 07:22pm by GW
Email: none

Ease of Use : 9
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.

Sound Quality : 9
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!

Reliability : 10
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

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

Overall Rating : 10
Overall, I think the GNX3 does represent fanatic value for money.
Get one, you won't be disappointed.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 02/20/2004 at 02:16pm by Jeff

Ease of Use : 5
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!

Sound Quality : 4
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!!!

Reliability : 10
The think sounds like shit, but I have do admit this thing is a tank! All Digitech Processors are.

Customer Support : 10
The thing sucks, but I have to admit they stand by there shity products!

Overall Rating : 4
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


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: euro (480)
Submitted 01/28/2004 at 10:58am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
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.

Sound Quality : 8
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

Reliability : 7
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.

Customer Support : 10
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?

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 01/25/2004 at 09:38pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : No Opinion
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 :)

Sound Quality : No Opinion

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400.00
Submitted 01/22/2004 at 07:56pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
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.

Sound Quality : 8
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.

Reliability : 10
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.

Customer Support : No Opinion
i hear they are very good

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $349
Submitted 01/19/2004 at 04:19pm by Bob
Email: kimball<at>msn dot com

Ease of Use : 4
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.

Sound Quality : 9
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".

Reliability : 10
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!).

Customer Support : 7
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.

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 01/17/2004 at 09:58am by Adam Jeanguenat
Email: avj-hc at dtown<dot>net

Ease of Use : 9
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.

Sound Quality : 10
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.

Reliability : 10
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.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I've yet to have a need to deal with Digitech's customer support. I suppose that's a testament to their product quality.

Overall Rating : 10
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.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted 01/14/2004 at 01:41pm by allwithinmyhandz@aol.com
Email: David

Ease of Use : 8
Pretty easy to use..not to much of a learning curve...give it a few days and you pretty much can use most of its features easily.

Sound Quality : 3
The effects are really good..but the distortion pedals, amp models and eq kill this thing. I play 2 Different Schecter c1 classics and a charvel model a. The schecters have emg60+81, and seymour duncan jazz/jb pickups and charvel has sd metal lives. Amp wise peavey xxx 212 (which by the way rules). The gnx3 ruins all my tone and really was a waste...i dont think im going to try the amp model route again..i got a peavey xxx after owning this thing for a week and ended up putting it to rest for good then.

Reliability : 5
no

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with em

Overall Rating : 3
Like i said..i like the effects...thats about it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 01/12/2004 at 02:35pm by Javier
Email: livinganarchypr<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 9
Well this unit has la lot of functions and buttons, if you dont have the manual it can be very very dificult to manage. After spending some time with the manual its prety simple and logic. There are endless possibilities when it comes to get a good sound. The clean sounds are realy good, but not amazing.

Sound Quality : 9
Currently i am using a Les Paul Standard through the GNX3 and then through a Marshall avt150 stack. Its not noisy at all, unless you want it to be. The effects are really amazing but the Shifter effect sounds weak for me, i dont like it much.

it gets really close to any sound you like. As i said the clean sounds are very good but not amazing. The Distorion Is Realy Good, the best distortion i have heard after the JCm models & Rectifiers.

Reliability : 6
Yes im currently using it but sometimes i get scared of presing the rong button, they are kinda close to each other, thats my only complaint.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never Dealed with them.

Overall Rating : 8
i play rock 70's,80's, & early 90'. Also i play grunge and pop. it is a realy good match for every style. Iv benn playing for 5 years now. I also own a line 6 pod, but for live situations a prefer the gnx. If it were stolen and had the money again i would buy it.

What realy motivated me was the sound cualitiy and the features, its a must have for solo artists.

It would be nice if it had mor internal space for recording, or at least ship with a smarmedia card.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 01/02/2004 at 08:23pm by Prashant Fuloria

Ease of Use : 7
When I bought the GNX 3, it had been qute a while since I used a new processor, so I had quite forgotten the learning curve associated with one. I have two benchmarks for usability:

(1) An old BOSS SE-70 Stereo Processor that I owned for about 9 years (I've also reviewed this on Harmony Central). Compared to the BOSS SE-70, this is more complex to set up.

(2) A Yamaha DG 100 2*12 digital modeling amp that I have also reviewed on Harmony Central. This amp is super easy to use in terms of sound crafting (motorized knobs that reflect their saved settings, etc.). Unlike my Yamaha DG 100, I do not feel confident changing settings on the Digitech GNX 3 on the fly on stage.

One can obviously restrict oneself to the preset patches out of the box, but editing the patches requires a good look at the manual and quite some work (at least a few hours). I found the manual quite comprehensive, though.

Sound Quality : 9
I use this with the following setup:
- Guitars: Parker Fly Classic (also reviewed here on Harmony Central), Ibanez 2450 NT Prestige
- Amp: Headphones, House Stereo, Yamaha DG 100 212

I am very pleased with the sound that I can get out of this unit. For example, the Eric Johnson preset is quite a faithful reproduction. Also, you can get great sounds by using very simple arrangements (no EQ, single amps, cabinets that correspond to those amps in real life).

Reliability : No Opinion
So far, I have only used this unit once on stage. I used it without a backup. The housing looks fairly reliable, but I am concerned about the knobs on the top. They look a little flimsy and that they could be easily damaged.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I have not tried contacting Digitech, so I cannot review this.

Overall Rating : 9
I play rock, ethnic music and some jazz. The Digitech GNX 3 is versatile enough for all these applications. I sometimes play through an amp and sometimes directly into the mixer. The Digitech handles both these situations very well.

Compared to my old, trusty BOSS SE-70, I must say that the Digitech GNX 3 does a better job in terms of tone, although not as easy to program.

I like the drum machine and 8-track functionality - makes this great for both practising and recording. One small niggle - I wish the drum machine was slightly more programmable.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $395
Submitted 12/16/2003 at 08:05pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 5
This was an impulse purchase for me. I am kind of disappointed, but a little research would have managed my expectations better. The salesman in the store had me believing this was the end all to a pedal board and stomp boxes. My thought was that for what I would spend on a couple of pedals, I could have all of the effects and do some other things too. The truth is that it does some amazing things and is a very cool gadget to play around with at the house, (especially with the headphones and not the amp) but is't not going to take the place of pedals any time soon.
It took a couple of weeks of frustration and a couple of times through the manual to get the hang of it, but that's just because it has so many features. This is one of those products that you could probably have for years and stumble on something you never knew it did. Once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy. Digital recorder is fun to play with and probably worth the $50 over the GNX 2.

Sound Quality : 1
Sound quality? There is none. The factory patches are set extremely loud with way too much distortion to play through an amp. If I set a good volume on bypass then go to a patch I wake my neighbors with overdistorted noise. I am playing with a Fender HotRod Deville 212 and usually my Strat. I ended up taking out all of the amp modeling and turning down all of the gains and re-saving the presets and it helped a bunch, but it's still not good. It has a constant noisy hiss. I have hooked it up in every way possible and still can't get a decent sound. I would never play it live, not even just for the basic effects; flanger, delay, chorous, etc.

Reliability : No Opinion
No real problems, the 8 track recorder failed when I first got it but the manual tells how to format the file and that fixed it. The finish scratches easy.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 4
The summary is that the main thing this is good for is putting on some headphones and playing when you don't want to drag out all of your equipment, and by the way, it's great for that, I give it a 10 there. I just don't have $400 to spend on a cool practice gadget but you might. There are a lot of things I like about the unit but I should have used a little common sense and realized that if this thing could really do everything it does and sound good too that it would probably have an extra zero at the end of the price. If you are not in search of the "perfect sound quality" and just want to make some neat sounds you will love it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 649 (CAD)
Submitted 12/14/2003 at 06:13pm by Robert

Ease of Use : 7
It's pretty easy to use out of the box but there's alot of stuff and the manual helps to navigate through the options fairly well. I still have the 1.4 version and it seems to work fine. It takes a while to get the hang of all the features so that your time or else you might not be getting the most out of it.

Sound Quality : 8
The sound is very good except for the digital decay, it leaves a little to be desired in that area. The noise gate does a good job of supressing the noise when not playing, but when you start playing, there is some background noise that's noticeable through the head phones that gets a little bit annoying after awhile. The presets aren't bad, I found the Carlos patch, with a little wah added gets the Santana sound very well. There's a ton of effects and they are pretty useable...actually, the one's I have tried have been very good for a modeller. The Acoustic patch didn't fo it for me though, it sounded too much like a clean electric without any character. I use a fender Highway Tele and Strat. The quality of the recording was alittle disappointing, when re-played through the amp, the sound is muffled a bit. I haven't tried transferring the sound file to my computer yet.

Reliability : No Opinion
too early to say, but I'm not sure about the plastic switches.

Customer Support : No Opinion
still too early to say.

Overall Rating : 8
I'd say the value is there. The amount of versatility and the tools you have at your finger tips to learn or work on new songs are great. The digital decay and the re-play of recording is disappointing but hey, what do you expect from an "all purpose" workstation. It'll meet most styles, it's got great heavey distortion to nice sweet tones. I don't think I would use it live...I just don't enjoy that digital decay sound.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $750
Submitted 11/26/2003 at 03:29am by Orkun Aydemir
Email: orkun at hayalmeyal<dot>org

Ease of Use : 9
I own the gnx3 for 2 years and for now it is very easy to get the sound I want. Editing patches are easy.
I mostly use the stompbox mode.
The Exp pedal only switches the wah on and off. After RP2000 it surprised me to see that
Manual is ok.
Firmware was 1.3 when I get it. But I upgraded it to 1.4. I had the same problems about the exp pedal but I think it loosens in time. So tighting it fill fix the problem.

Sound Quality : 9
I use a 96 Fender Deluxe / Plus to Gnx3 to Fender RocPro 1000 into the send input using the fx level button to set the volume.
No noise at all. It is silent for me to gig. The target system setting is boring me some times. I think a General EQ would do better.
Thinking of using the unit with a active monitor...
I play blues, soul, r&b, rock'n'roll, rock, pop and it fits them all.
The effects sound great and the amp models are satisfying.

Reliability : 10
I trust this unit. Digitech always make the best and reliable products for a gig. Not only the gnx3, the others are stoned to be under your feet.
I only bring my amps footswitch in case something happens but for now nothing happened except some audience spilled their drink to the stage :-)

Customer Support : 9
No need too deal with the company because I live in Turkey and I have no chance to do this but I sent some mails about the things in my mind before purchasing it and they helped me a lot.

Overall Rating : 10
GNX3 is a good match for all kinds of music I think. Before buying it do not rely on the factory presets. Spend some time with it if you can. Do not forget the target system setting and don't forget that the amp you're using makes a whole lot of difference.

I play for 9 years and before GNX3 I had RP2000. Nothing else...

If it is stolen or lost I think I can't get another unit for now. But I sell my amp and maybe I buy a Fender Cyber Twin. It sounds awesome these days to me :-) But it is 2700 ? and must have the midi controller for 500 ?. Turkey is an expensive country and making music here is also hard with this situation.
I made no compare. But it is much more easy to use than GT6.

If Digitech fix the wah on/off thing, for example whan I switch the pedal on I want it to change the gain of the amp, when it is off, changes the volume, it will be the number one floor unit.

It helps me to make any type of music I need to do.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: $700 (Canadian)
Submitted 11/18/2003 at 01:38pm by Red Dirt Girl

Ease of Use : 10
The GNX-3 (v.1.4) is usable right out of the box. Although initially, the large array of switches and knobs can be intimidating, a combination of playing around with it and reading the manual for special features should get you up and running pretty quickly.

Sound Quality : 10
I play a Paul Reed Smith Tremonti SE and I run the Digitech unit into my Randall RG-75 solid state amp. The noise gate (although sometimes a little unnatural, but can be turned down) eliminates background noise well. The amp warping function is phenomenal and can allow you to create any conceivable sound.

Reliability : 8
My expression pedal suddenly got a bit squeaky. It turned out to be the plastic locking nut that was making the noise, so i just tightened it up, and everything was fine. I'm not sure how it'll be in the long run, but it seems to be built solidly and should hold up under wear.

Customer Support : 10
My contact at the local music store happens to be a product specialist/clinician for DigiTech, and he ran through the gamut of effects and demonstrated each one before I purchased my unit.

Overall Rating : 10
I play a range of styles, from bluesy rock to jazz to classic rock and modern rock. Because of the versatility of the GNX-3, I'm confident that all my bases will be covered with this little box.

I've been playing for a few years, so I'm relatively new to the world of effects. However, many people who have been playing for decades have been impressed with the GNX-3, which leads me to believe that it'll never be scrap metal, even as I improve and progress. The expression pedal is a great feature, since with other modellers like the POD, the pedal must be purchased separately, and essentially with the GNX-3 pedal alone, you're up to around a 300 dollar value. Add on the other smattering of features, and it's immediately obvious that the unit is great value for good quality.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399.00
Submitted 11/13/2003 at 01:57pm by bill

Ease of Use : 7
Factory presets are for kids but by editing you can get good tone out. The manual is clear and concise. Give yourself at least a couple of days before a gig to program though.

Sound Quality : 8
The reason I went to this was to lighten' my load but I still needed a good sound. I play a Les Paul through it into a new Ibanez TB100R solid state 2x12 combo with a closed back. Modern rock covers

Reliability : No Opinion
No problems yet(only 3 gigs on it)

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to deal with them

Overall Rating : 8
I play modern rock covers, 26 years with a guitar on my back so I tend to think that mine is the only correct opinion. I must admit that I was surprised(based on previous Digitech tone) with this animal. This is as close to the "tube" tone as you get with all the versatility of a processer. I would recommend this product.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted 11/05/2003 at 06:59pm by Joe Hx
Email: joe_hx at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
It's tougher than people say to get a good sound out of it if you don't know what you're doing. The preset sounds bite. Only a few good ones out of what? 65? You have to start making hypermodels to get into the really good sounds.

Editing patches is cake. Once you go through the tutorial and make a few of your own patches, you'll have this thing down and it'll be very easy to use. You can do a lot in the stompbox mode. Then you can switch amp channels, effects, and anything you can think of to do.

The manual is very halpful but vague in some areas. The tutorial absolutely rocks. Most things you can figure out by tinkering.

My firmware version is 1.4 and the current version is 1.5 but I don't have a midi cable so I can't upgrade. All the upgrade does is fix some bugs which aren't even a problem if you do things correctly (concerning the SmartMedia card).

Sound Quality : 9
I'm using this with a Fender 100w mainly, a Mesa V-Twin sometimes, and my guitars are an Ibanez RG7620 7 string and a Jay Turser Serpent LP.

It's not noisy at all. In fact, once I used it just as a noise gate for the PA at my church when we had some noisy equipment running and lights causing noise. My friend owns an American Strat and as you could guess, it's noisy as they come. He took it out of his Crate (what is he thinking?? A Crate??) and put it in this and it was dead silent...so awsome. Noise gate wasn't even set very high.

There are some weak effects settings, but for the ones I use (chorus, delay, reverb, phaser, flanger, and pitch effects) I can get the sound I desire. Sometimes it's overwhelming having so much control over your effects though...

I mainly use it through my reeeeeally old (80s) 100w Fender solid state amp that has a new Line6 speaker. I bypass the preamp and it sounds fantastic (I LOVE Fenders!!!). I've played it through PAs (my church, etc) and the speakers kill any guitar tone, so I try to avoid PAs. I've played it through some other things too but I get the best sound out of real guitar amps with good speakers. I'm thinking of in the future getting a Roland JC120 or a nice all-tube Fender (hot rod series) and keeping my Mesa V-Twin in there all the time for a setup that is mostly tube and will give this thing even more character.

I don't spend my time trying to sound like someone else...and this thing was made with what it has so you can sound unique...but if you wanna be a poser you can find any sound in here that you want. You can go from scratchy and digital to smooth and organic.

When I use lots of effects or a stompbox or distortion (the DOD 250 is my favorite distortion box model on here) I use the Blackface amp model, and any distorted tones usually end up with the Mesa Recto model in there somewhere. I have 4 tones I use mostly: 1)clean and transparent with chorus for strumming, 2)mild overdrive for strumming and blues (use the sparkledrive model - I can get AMAZING tone with it), 3)a killer solo tone that is a smooth, fat, screaming distortion with delay, sometimes chorus, and 4)a HEAVY sound for my 7 string with tons of crunchy bass. I use a patch to make my guitar into a bass sometimes and use the pitch shifter sometimes too.

Oh yeah, almost forgot! The recorder when recorded in the "CD" quality sounds just about exactly like it does played through the amp like normal when played back.
Overall, you can get some serious tone out of this thing.

Reliability : No Opinion
It's pretty solid. I have no choice but to use it without a backup. I've heard good things and it seems tough. I won't rate it though b/c I've only had it about a month.

Customer Support : 10
Well, they have great support online for this unit. There is a forum on Digitech's site, you can download patches and software, so that's enough right there to get good marks.

Overall Rating : 10
I play rock, I guess b/c my tastes range from "pretty" to some kinds of metal. I've got a thing for jazz, too. This thing can do any style pretty well. Maybe not too good at country though... Pretty good for those of us that dabble in many different styles.

I can recognize good tone, and good tonal characteristics, and this can get lots of good tones, but is tougher to get the truely heart-stopping tones. I've owned lots of mediocre gear, so I can't really compare this to any top of the line stuff. Someone I know has one of the Boss GT-3 things and that sounds a little clearer than this, but I like the tones from this better. The Boss thing sounds cold.

If it was stolen, I think I would have to get this again, b/c it's the only thing that has the features I need.

I love the recorder, it's features, and just about everything about it. The hypermodels might be my favorite feature.

I compared it to the Boss GT-6 but got this b/c it has the recorder, which is a main reason I bought it.

The only thing I wish it had was a USB digital output. Then it would be perfect.

It helps me make music, does not get in the way. If I'm looking for a sound, I can get pretty close to what I imagined in a minute or so.

If you want to have everything you could possible need (effects, amp models with warping, recorder, drum machine, etc) all in one box and have it sound great, too...I highly recommend the Digitech GNX3. If you have questions go to the forum on Digitech.com, email me (just take out the NOSPAM part in front of my email), and you can email me if you want sound clips, too. Hope I can/did help in your decision about this unit.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $369
Submitted 11/05/2003 at 05:24pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 5
You will have to study the manual and refer back to it several times. You simply can not get a perfect sound right out of the box. The pre-set factory patches are garbage and sound really lame. The whole layout and functionality of it is over the top. It could have been designed more user friendly. I had it for over a month and never quite got the sound I was looking for, so I shipped it back. The manual is really detailed and specific, but you have to read 80 pages of it. The one I got had Firmware revision 1.4 The patches can be edited but it takes alot of time and is very labor intensive. Be prepared to put in some serious overtime to learn this piece of gear.

Sound Quality : 4
I use Jackson, Fender, & Ibanez guitars through Marshal amps. It is a noisy pedal board and stole the beautiful bright tone from my guitars and amps. It has a very "over-processed" sound and left my guitar sounding like it was strung with rubber bands! I spent weeks trying to tweak it, but never got the crisp tone I wanted. Even in the "by-pass" mode it sounded like crap (hint - it's not a "true by-pass"). There were a few modulation effects that I liked (auto swell & pluck gate) but the rest were very weak and sort of silly. Very "amateur" sound from Digitech. This was my first Digitech purchase and probably my last. I will stick with my old friends Boss, MXR, & Marshall.

Reliability : 3
This pedal board came with the most annoying flimsy little piece of clear plastic over the LED's, I was perplexed at the horrible quality of materials they used. If you push on it with even the slightest pressure it will give way. It cant even come close to the heavy duty construction of Boss or MXR. Do not drop anything on that part or it will probably bust. Absolutely rediculous!

Customer Support : 5
Never had to call the company. I decided to send it back to the dealer, and write these comments to educate other players, rather than call Digitech and tell them thier product sucks. Do not... I repeat, Do not waste your dough on this below average, over-processed, tone stealing, toy box. I have nothing against the makers and Im not out to defame anyone. Its just that this pedal board is a complete joke. I've been playing hard rock/metal for 18 years... trust me.

Overall Rating : 1
If you want a nice recorder go get the new Zoom MRS-802CD that just came out, it has all the great Zoom effects and all the trimmings. If you want quality stomp boxes or pedal boards go with Boss, or MXR. If your just starting out, and your tone deaf, then buy the GNX3.
Happy playing.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $389
Submitted 10/28/2003 at 04:52pm by Dan

Ease of Use : 8
As soon as you plug it in its sooooooooooo easy to get awesome sounds out of it... It just takes time to soak in all of this awesome stuff!!! Yes, unfortunatly we have to use our brains... but ok.. its hella worth it.
Editing patches couldnt be easier (especially if you get that separate pedal thats strictly for recording.)

The manual sucks.. plain and simple.. It shows u what each effect does, but thats it... oh well.. you can do it!!!

I'm runnin 1.0 and there is an update... go get it.. word is its good.

Sound Quality : 10
Kickass. Fender Fatstrat. So many perfectly clean tones. Grunge to pure tones to whatever. kickass. works good with stacker amps or (two amps) because it can run to two units. STEREO! COOL! YAA>

Reliability : 10
Dude this thing is a rock. Buff metal box and shit. Totally sealed. no leakage. stays cool. The pedals are plastic but i mean.. U'd have to be a LEAD LEAD LEAD foot to even scratch em.

Customer Support : 8
There site sucks. slow.. i havent needed any yet..doubt i will... ya..

Overall Rating : 10
I play rock, country, blues, acoustic stuff, emo, all that stuff. Its got you covered. trust me. Heck even rappers could use this. (the bass guitar emulator does some cool stuff for your "beatboxing game" haha)
if it was stolen id find that kid fast. but ya id save up again..
love everything except amount of memory capability. neeed morrrrrrre.

theres about 3000 dollars worth of guitar effects and pedals and recording equip in here.. for 389... thats a deal. Get it. you wont regret it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399.00
Submitted 10/21/2003 at 12:53pm by Aural Chaos

Ease of Use : 9
My first piece of Digitech gear,and my first multifx processor,but I think it's really easy to use.Editing matrices aren't my favorite type of interface in the world,but this one is pretty slick.When you select a row to edit,say "delay",the display rotates to show the parameter for each knob in turn.At first I thought this was annoying,but soon came to see the beauty in it.Even tho' the matrix shows that parameter 2 is "delay time" or whatever,it's way easier in a dim room with my over-40 eyesight to see it in big LEDs.


There are a few spots overall with several parameters to scroll through,but in general you can get anywhere you want to go in just a few clicks.


Most of the presets were pretty useless for me,but I found a bunch more online.All you really need are a couple good starting points,then its pretty easy to create all the patches you'll ever need.

I thought the manual was pretty decent.I've definitely seen MUCH worse,and very few better.Describes just about everything,and has a short tutorial walk-through.If you actually read the thing,you should very few problems getting set up.


GenEdit editing software included for free,which works just fine,and lets you get at a few parameters which aren't available from the front panel.

Sound Quality : 10
Using this with a PRS CE-22 and a Roland KC-500 keyboard amp.Sound quality is excellent.Overall,I'm completely happy with the quality of both the fx and the amp/cab modelling.I'm not one to say if the stomp boxes are accurate reproductions or how realistic the sims are,I just know I get endless variety of rockin' sounds.

I'd like to be able to tweak the wah a bit more (adjust the resonance of the filter),but the other fx have plenty of options.

The drum machine is pretty sucky,I must say.

Reliability : 9
Seems really well built,but the area around the LEDs looks like it could be prone to damage.

Customer Support : 9
Never spoken with them,but the have online forums,downloadable patches,and they give you editing software.

The only downside is that their server is sucky and the site is often unreachable.

Overall Rating : 9
Totally stoked on it.I of course compared it to the Boss GT-6.I think the GNX3 comes out way ahead on features.You can switch between 2 amps (or even 3!) with a footswitch,and warp amps and cabs together.

About the only major things the Boss can do that this can't is switch the fx order around,and sync to MIDI clock.

I should comment on the recorder part though.....
It's not a Repeater,and it's not really like a real digital multitracker either.Pretty basic-you cant copy tracks or specify a specific point to punch-in.About the only editing you can do is delete a track or merge a track to another.But for what it does,it does it well.Quick and easy to record some cool licks,or make a loop to play on top of.Using a SmartMedia card you can transfer tracks,as .wav files, to your computer,or vice-versa.I was easily able to take a loop from Acid,load it into the GNX3,and play against it,which is lightyears better than the boring drum machine.

I'd definitely get another one if lost or stolen.
I've been playing music for decades,mostly keyboards and other electronic type stuff.I've played acoustic guitar on and off for about 20 years,but electric for less than a year.Before I got the GNX3,I was using an Adrenalinn and software to play through.I love the sounds I get through this,and feel like it is helping me become a better electric guitarist.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 498 (CHF)
Submitted 10/20/2003 at 08:03am by Ciro Ricci

Ease of Use : 7
Appena tolto dall'imballo sembra complicato ma, in effetti, non lo e.
Non ho mai aperto il manuale utente; nonostante cio dopo circa un'ora di "smanettamenti" ero gia padrone della macchina. Peccato che, quando si usano i potenziometri per variare i diversi parametri, la mano nasconda il display.

Sound Quality : 5
I suoni puliti sono decisamente belli, perfettamente usabili per ritmiche o linee solistiche. I distorti.......fanno schifo! Dopo molto tempo dedicato alla ricerca di un suono distorto che mi soddisfacesse, ho lasciato perdere. Peggio ancora per un suono "blues" a la TS9. Il peggiore: la simulazione del Bassmann.
Gli altri effetti (corus, comp, delay, reverb, wammy) sono nella norma e non deludono.


Reliability : 9
Durante i 3 mesi che ha lavorato con me (e ha lavorato sodo) non ci sono mai stati problemi.

Customer Support : No Opinion
N/A

Overall Rating : 6
Vale la pena acquistarlo solo per i bei suoni puliti che e in grado di regalare.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 10/19/2003 at 07:27am by Rick

Ease of Use : 7
I just bought this tool less than fourty eight hours ago and acctually had the confidence to play a four hour gig with it last night. I was very dissappointed the first day I had it because the manual just didnt tell me what to do first. The second day however just all came together and I was able to program it to do precissly what I wanted it to do In just a few hours. In fact, after programing it the first time, I didnt store it, and it only took a few miuets to duplicate my efforts. Once you figure this thing out it is a breeze, even fun to program, use for rehersal, and even gig with. I really think that with all the money that Digitech spends on their effrots to make stuff like this less intimidateing, they should have a tutorial on dvd or theit web sit just to get people thru the first few steps.

Sound Quality : 9
I play a 62 Strat with texas special pickups in the neck and center and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail hand wound by Seymour himself in the bridge. I also use a 82 Ibanez Roadstar II with fender electronics, a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck in the bridge, and a 59 in the neck. I play through a 2001 Hot Rod Deluxe with a Jensen speaker. The GNX3 was very quiet even with the single coils. The noise gate is great. In fact all the effects on this unit are suprisingly good. The amp modeling is stellar. It comes as close to a black face or Marshall half stack as you can get without pluging into the real thing (99.9% of the fans will not know the differace, and probley do not care. I dont play for the critics, Im not that good), and then you can switch between the two insantly with no hestitation. WOW!!!

Reliability : 9
We'll see. So far so good.

Customer Support : 9
I hope we will never know.

Overall Rating : 10
I play in a band that plays mostly covers. That supports my need for gear, but we do write and should put out a cd soon. We gig covers and love to play for the enthusiastic. We play everything from the Beastie Boys to Elvis. We have maybe 100-110 songs that we cover. Some definetly better that others. Overall this tool is the best thing since pockets on shirts. I had a blast gigging this thing and can not wait to do it again. I could see our other guitar player's mouth watering as I played My Sharona with a Black Face Model and then Solo with a marshall half stack. How cool is that?


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $405
Submitted 10/14/2003 at 01:33pm by Chris Barrett
Email: nucis122<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 8
You have to read the manual to really fully understand this thing, at least I did. It's really easy to record and mess with the patches at first, but to actually understand the everything this thing can do and tweak everything you need the manual. It's easy to edit patches, it just takes awhile, it's tedious but if you take the time to do it, it's worth it. The manual is really good. I have the 1.3 version. I'm not sure of the updates and such.

Sound Quality : 9
I have a les paul with EMG HZ's and an ESP EX351 with an EMG 81, and 60, into the GNX3 into my Randall RG200 and my Fender M80 (I hook them both hooked up at the same time, right and left output is nice!!!). Noise gate is pretty good with the rectified settings, but as somone else said if you like to light pick it's not good, but I never light pick when I'm playing metal, so whatever. All the effects seem to sound good and strong. The bass guitar replicator sounds reall processed and fake, that's the only bad thing, unless you can tweak it out, but I haven't really tried. You could get anybody's sound if you really tried, but I can get all the sounds I want, so it's cool. The wammy isn't too good, but I haven't had much experience with those anyway. The way seems to be a bit weak as well.

Reliability : 8
It's metal and as everybody else in the world says "like a tank". The footswitches could have been made of metal too that would have been nice. I would gig with it, don't think I'd be able to afford a backup at the moment so I'd take the chance.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I've never dealt with Digitech. However I did order the Digitech Promo DVD for the GNX 3 and it got here in a week, and it really was free, lol.

Overall Rating : 8
I play a lot of metal, hard rock, blues, classico, folk, acoustic. It matches me pretty well I think, pretty good distortion. I've been playing for 7 years. I haven't really owned too much, a digitech metal master, Vamp2, DOD distortion pedal, and a Johnson distortion pedal. Things thing beats the hell out of all of those other ones obviously. I love recording with it, it's awesome. I got a 128 mb card and it's pretty sweet. I run the left line out to my computer sound card and use Sound Forge to edit it and I burn it, and it sounds great. I compared this to a Boss GT6, which was nice, but this just sounded more alive I guess, I wanted to record also, so for the same price I figured I couldn't go wrong with this. The coolest thing about this is how easy it is to record stuff, you just press a button and play, it's so easy to put a lead a rhythm and bass part into a song, it's really awesome. This thing is definately worth the money.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted 09/10/2003 at 09:36pm by Jim

Ease of Use : 8
Since I had an RP6 for a long time, this unit was easy for me to figure out. I recommend reading the manual, though since you won't know what all the buttons can do in which situation. Once you read the manual, you shouldn't have any trouble editing patches etc. Firmware revision on my unit is 1.4. I'll say this...I couldn't think of a way to make it easier to use considering all the functions in the thing.

Sound Quality : 8
OK, I have a Fender Texas Special Strat (SD Pearly Gates HB brige + 2 Texas Special Single coils) that I play typically through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 40W tube amp. I have replaced the stock tubes with Groove Tubes and until I bought this unit would use only a Boss Compression pedal and the Amp's distortion to get a good clean and a good dirty sound. For heavier stuff, I would use a Boss Metal Zone in place of the amps distortion and switch to a Jackson DKMG guitar. So....I bought a BOSS ME-50 cuz I thought that's what I needed (all their pedals in one), but I didn't like it. Not enough control over equalization and/or the distortions they modeled. Exchanged it for the Digitech GNX3...I had an RP6 and I liked everything but the distortions so I gave it a shot. The GNX3 works for me. I still am not crazy about the distortions, but you can make it work (you really can, don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise). You have so much flex here. For example, you need more crunch you can change the AMP. If that only gets you 1/2 step closer to your sound you can change the CAB. Then the EQ, then mess with the levels on your stomp box, then your compressor. Then back to switching amps and so on. I really feel that with this unit and my guitars/amp that a "GOOD" guitarist would have all the tools necessary to make good music and cover any style. All the effects were fine with me, but here are my problems - Noise Gate isn't too good; soft picking is hard with it on. I was disappointed that Digitech didn't include a Dual Delay - I really liked that feature on the RP6. Distortions (as mentioned above) ohhh, if only Digitech could improve here they would be soooo much better. The ME-50's Big Muff blows away the Genx3's. The Metal Zone is OK. I have the pedal and I think they did alright there. The "extremely good features" - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Blackface Amp Model and the FUZZ Amp. Also, Digitechs approach to EQ is the bomb. It makes up for so much. You get to pick the frequency to boost and can adjust it +/-12. This is so huge in my opinion. It really lets you sculpt the tone.

Reliability : 7
Ahh, yeah I guess. I believe I could break it if given the chance. All you would have to do is crack the display, right? Also, it is like a small computer so expect lags sometimes...and crashes too.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating : 10
For 400 bucks I don't think you can't go wrong. To put it into perspective, you get a BOSS Delay, Compressor and MT-2 for about 350 bucks...add a whammy pedal and a wah and you're out another 300. This thing sounds convincing....you can record on it and practice using the metronome. Any bedroom shredder should be stoked on this thing. Any cover band member should be as well. The serious musician with the home studio and 3 albums already recorded....I think there is still a place for the Genx3 for easy direct recording using the ampsims. Oh yeah, I've been playing for 10 years and would buy this unit again if it were stolen.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 407.67 (#)
Submitted 08/09/2003 at 09:51am by Mike

Ease of Use : 8
Fiarly easy to use, everything is written out plainly in the manual (although there are some mistakes). If you cant figure something out then its a simple matter of going to the Digitech website and asking a question in the forums. Editing pathces etc - its all in the manual, as long as you dont expect to be able to figure it all out without reading the manual its fine. The firmware is V 1.0, i dont have a Midi cable yet so i cant update to 1.4 till i get a USB adapter and the cables.

Sound Quality : 10
Using it with a Gibson Les Paul Special with P100 stacked humbuckers, a Peavy Bandit 65 Watt amp. There is a noisegate in this thing thats used to great effect, I could plug my cheap strat copy into this and still get less sound when not playing than you would if you had the pots on 0. All the effects seem great so far, the Wah is much better than the Dan O Wah i've been using. I cant quite get a good sound out the Whammy but thats my playing rather than the unit i think. The flanger on this is great, the Mesa amp models are my fav so far with this.

Reliability : 10
This thing could knock out a donkey, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt treat it badly. Look after it and it wont break. Would i use it on a gig without a backup? Urr well if it was a choice between using it and not using it then yeah. But seriously, how many people can afford two of these?

Customer Support : 9
Firmware looks easy to upgrade, as i said still need the Midi. The Customer Support at the website is absolutely amazing. Just go to the forums and ask a question and you'll get a pretty prompt answer.

Overall Rating : 10
Overall Rating
What style of music do you play?
Depends really, in a band i play rock like Radiohead etc, but if i'm just jamming or playing on my own i'll play stuff like Hendrix mainly.
Is this a good match?
Perfect, you can get pretty much any sound you would (or wouldnt) want out of this, except a harmonica...
How long have you been playing?
5, 6 years? I dont really know, 2 years seriously though.
What other gear do you own?
Dan O Wah pedal, Laney switches
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I'd hunt down the person who stole it from me and drain the blood from their body then sell their organs and their flesh to cannibals till i could afford a new one. Thats only if the house insurance didnt cover it though....
What do you love about it?
What dont i?
What do you hate?
The riffmatic setting, i seriously dont see the point.
What is your favorite feature?
The 8 track recorder
Did you compare it to other products?
Yes
Which ones?
Digitech RP21d and Dan O Wah
Why did you choose this one?
8 track, easier to use than the RP21
Anything you wish it had?
More user banks, USB connection
Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
That really depends on your viewpoint. I would say it helped though.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Not particuarly.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399.99
Submitted 07/24/2003 at 05:53pm by steve
Email: stevemeneses at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
Before i buy the gnx 3 i read that some people find it dificult to use, well...Read the manual!!! i bought it and learned to use it in almost two days, its true that is a bit complicated, but after all is for your own good, and once you learn WOW it rocks!!!!

Sound Quality : 10
one word: PERFECT, before de gnx3 i have a rp12 was quite well, but with this baby the effects are so clean, the amp simulators are a very very close to the originals, i tried the mesa image and the only think i would say is, watch out fletcher dragge( i know u punk rockers know him), im using a ibanez s series into a 160 w@12" scorpion, peavey...i know you must say p e a v e y but its sounds perfect imagine it with a 4x12 marshall ufff!!! no words

Reliability : 9
no complains

Customer Support : 9
the ugrades, the sound comunity@digitech is very cool, not to much punk rockers buts ok!!!

Overall Rating : 9
i play punk rock, kinda pennywise, minor fuckin threat, vandals, bad religion, stuff like that, and believe it or not im a jazz lover too so in both ways the gnx3 is well enough, matches for every thing, my favorite the amps and cabs simulators, v switch,
maybe my only complain is that may include the extras
mmmmm, what else... God bless Digitech


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $395.00
Submitted 07/08/2003 at 12:15am by Paul McDonald
Email: paulmcdonald<at>musician dot net

Ease of Use : 8
I've owned the DigiTech GNX3 for over a year now, and as a tool for song writing it's a must, but as for live gigs I have some reservations.

To begin with if you are doing a gig outside during the day - your in BIG trouble with the GNX3. The display is all but impossible to read. Also the master volume control is all guess work because there is no digital display of the "exact" setting. A must Fix in my opinion with any future versions of the GNX3.

The manual is informative but there are mistakes and typos in my version. Check with the official DigiTech website for any corrections

Sound Quality : 9
The overall sound is excellent. I play a Les Paul (standard), and I love the Humbucker to Single Coil simulation. With a few adjustments here and there I've got a Fender Strat or Tele. Also with a little work you can dial in an acoustic simulation that sounds boss.

My biggest grip would have to be with the built in drum machine effects. For the most part they all pretty much suck. But the metronome mode is what I mainly use anyway.

Reliability : 8
I've put the GNX3 through a lot, and except for what I've already stated. I've found it reliable.

Customer Support : 10
The folks at DigiTech have always been helpful.

Overall Rating : 9
Overall this is a quality product. If you are a songwriter It could become your best friend.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499.95
Submitted 06/22/2003 at 11:44pm by Jim Watkins
Email: sgtwatk72<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 10
Talk about easy. I use to have a rack mount processor that had to have a foot pedal just to operate it. This is a foot pedal. I baught the 3 button pedal for this and that makes this machine 10X better. Too Easy!!!! And editing patches? Just go online and choose your patch and download it. I got the Midi cable that plugs into the joystick port (15 pin-D to a 5 pin midi) for $35 and a computer store. I've downloaded close to 500 new patches for this beast!

Sound Quality : 10
Funny thing, the guy at the music store wanted to steer me away from this machine. He said that it was too noisy. I've been playing this on a home stereo, karaoke machine, and my crate G212 amp. I can't hear any noise from this except for the professional effects that Digitech mastered! GNX3 doesn't make guitar's, GNX3 makes guitar's sound better! lol....

Reliability : 10
I've had this pedal now for almost a year and never had one problem with it. Even after my kids knocking it off the shelf.

Customer Support : 10
Major kudo's for the CS staff. I call them when I couldn't figure out how to connect the midi cable to the computer. The guy said to try this and it worked! Then he asked what version I had and said that it was just out of the box. I found out that it was ver 1.0. He said to play around with it a while before I upgraded it to 1.4v. I like it better now was 1.4. They know their stuff!

Overall Rating : 10
After playing on a Zoom 505 and 606II pedal for years, I decided it was time for the upgrade to a bigger pedal. When I heard about the 8 track recorder I dropped the Idea of getting a Boss GT-6 and got the GNX3. I never regretted it yet! I have the 64MB smartcard and reader for the computer. I can burn my own songs and edit them on the computer to pass out to my friends and get the work out! This machine dose it all!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/20/2003 at 10:55am by Stephen Robertson
Email: everfiht at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 6
I have owned and used many digital processors (boss me-33, art ecc, alesis guitar gtfx) and the gnx3 is the most complex of them all. It did take me a while to get used to the format but once you get the hang of it its no problem. I'm the kind of person who hates reading manuals so I try to figure everything out before hand, but with the gnx3 you really need it.

Sound Quality : 9
I have a jackson professional with a dimebucker, a fender strat with the vintage noisless pickups, and an epiphone dot. I use a fender hot rod deville 2x12 all tube combo.Sound quality is great.After some practice you can get any tone that suits your taste.Any of these other reviews that complain about the tone were written by old cranky farts who are afraid of anything that has more than one blinking light. I know about tone!!! This pedal is it 9 out of 10.

Reliability : 10
This thing is sturdy, you could smack someone in the head and knock them out. Metal case. I would suggest spending the cash on a backup powersupply not because they are bad, it's just a good idea.

Customer Support : 10
Digitech guys are cool. If you don't believe me give em a call.

Overall Rating : 10
I play all styles of music. I also play bass and drums but my main passion is the guitar. I prefer to play jazz/funk with a dash of metal. This pedal will supply anyone with any tone that they desire. I have been playing for 9 years and I also work at Musicians Friend so I have tried everything under the sun. The digital recorder is the ultimate tool for those drunken nights when you play that killer riff that is always forgotten the following hazy morning. I strongly disagree with the die hard players that insist that 25 different stomp boxes sound any better than a good processor. Save up your pennies and buy one NOW!!!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $419
Submitted 06/17/2003 at 10:35pm by JiEkFeF

Ease of Use : 9
Hey, the manual is great. Go literacy! if you dropped out of junior high to join your garage band that no longer exists because the lead singer is in the clink, then you'll need to figure out how to use the pedal functions by luck. Yea, if you can read this review, then you should be OK on figuring out how to use the GNX3.

Sound Quality : 10
Sounds great and is comparable to the Boss GT-6 and Line 6 PODS. Do not even try to compare any other product with this caliber of effects boxes: this includes and DOD, ZOOM, and/or danelectro $16 mini-pedal named after your favorite sandwich.

First off, let's get something clear. You can't expect good sound with this pedal if you have crappy gear in the first place. Do not even try to plug your used, Mexican-made Squier stratocaster into this unit, and then into the speakers on your computer or your stereo, and then try to complain about the tone of the GNX3! why are you buying a pedal that's more expensive than the rest of your gear? what the heck? 'I know you've been playing for 2 years already, but you have alot to learn buddy!
How do we solve this problem? Well, let's start by getting rid of crappy gear. Face it, you can't cheat good tone....that's the matter of it all. Some newbies try to hide their crappy tone with amps or effects pedals, but all they get at the end is crappy eq'd phaser sounds. That's like having BO and trying to hide it with expensive cologne. The cologne smells good but the BO makes it junk. This includes those with Squiers, Crate, and Zoom products - or if your gear just says "GUITAR" on it. They're cheap for a reason dude - assembly-line production, budget pick ups and parts, and pawn shop quality. there is scientific explanation to this, but here is not the place to discuss them. I mean, trying to use this gear with the DIGITECH GNX 3 Powerhouse is like trying to make a pizza with old cheese... everything else tastes great, but the cheese makes the whole thing nasty and will end with a bottle of pepto bismol.


This Digitich POWERHOUSE is the latest in modeling technology, therefore, make sure your gear is from the same era. Great effects, rockin presets, and a distortion that won't quit! Get some gatorade, because you'll wear down before it will!
Don't get dizzy from the delay or phaser effects - swirling tone like no other!

Reliability : 10
This is primarily metal casing, so don't hold it above your head during a lightning storm, or store it outisde in your back porch (it'll rust yo)
This thing is a tank. I have gotten pissed at my girlfriend and thrown this baby out of a second story window three times, and it has only a few scratches. It still works fine-it really takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. it'll last longer than the headphones, stereo or computer speakers you're plugging this DIGITECH POWERHOUSE into, that's for sure

Customer Support : No Opinion
na

Overall Rating : 10
Overall, this is a completely outstanding unit. I play any kind of music, from hardcore thrash metal to Mexican polka music, to bluegrass and Bryan Adams, and this unit is great for all of it. Just don't try to play your Wal-Mart brand plastic guitar with its own speakers on the face into this unit, and then complain about the sound!

newbies often don't realize the importance of tone, and can't tell the difference between good tone and bad tone. good tone comes primarily from the guitar. then it needs to be matched by the tone from the amp. look, dude, you can't expect monster sound from a 15 watt 8"speaker amp, no matter how much you thrash. withouth these two, you can connect a $1,300 rackmounted unit to your Squier and crate combo and never get anything good. that's like trying to bake a gourmet cake with wheat and pool water mixed in $50 elmers glue. it wont happen.

the Digitech GNX3 Powerhouse must be mactched with gear that has good tone. this will create the greatest mid-range effects pedal yet!
So, replace your lower end gear with equipment comparable in quality to the GNX3, and you will be just fine and dandy.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/11/2003 at 12:21pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : No Opinion

Sound Quality : No Opinion

Reliability : 10
I already wrote a review a long time ago. But sometime after that my basement flooded, and my GNX3 was soaked. I picked it up and literally poured the water out of it. I opened it up and let it dry out, and a week later when i checked it, it didn't work (surprise.) I left it alone for a while, but when my insurance told me it wasn't covered i decide to try it again, just for the heck of it, and it worked. Turned on fine, and worked just like before. Rock on Digitech.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 06/11/2003 at 11:28am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
The software makes this unit incredibly easy to use. I mean incredibly!!! I only gave it a 9 because I never tried to use the controls on the board itself.

Sound Quality : 10
Sound is incredible. You can get any sound out of this unit. The (downloaded) Deep Purple patch is EXACT to the "Made in Japan" album. The patches from GuitarOne and Guitar World add another dimension to learning new songs. If you sound wrong, it's because of your playing, not the unit.

Reliability : 10
So far, so good. but it's only a month old. It's built like a tank.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Haven't needed to use them. Everything is very straightforward.

Overall Rating : 10
As far as a value goes, this was incredible. To top it all off, Sam Ash was giving away an acoustic/electric guitar with any purchase over $300. Incredible value.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $380
Submitted 06/03/2003 at 06:54pm by Andrew Dransfield
Email: Drans<at>mail dot com

Ease of Use : 6
This thing is pretty confusing, i can use it after about 5 days of usage, but im pretty sure i cannot do even close to ALL the capabilities of it based on some of the demo songs i heard.

Sound Quality : 7
Im running it through my Mexi Strat and an Ibanez and a nice fender blackface. Some of the clean sounds sound OK, but the metal is Sweeeeet. Its kinda noisy if you turn up the output volume too loud. some of the effects are lame, but some are amazing and even sound analog. You can definetly get "a version" of any of your fav. guitarists sound. But only enough to be able to pretend like you are them, and not actually sound like them. Distortion has some good ones, some of them arent meaty enough for my tastes. Chorus kinda sucks, reverb is sweet.

Reliability : 8
not very, i had to take mine back and return it for a new one because it just "died" one day. But i think it was my fault.

Customer Support : No Opinion
yeah, these people are nice. and even smart.

Overall Rating : 8
I like every style, this thing is definetly worth around 300 bucks, but i think the sweetest thing about it is the recording of yourself
it feels so cool to jam on your own without a band, and the "hands-free" recording or looping is the best!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 05/20/2003 at 09:11am by Shawn
Email: Druidfaith<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 8
I am quite new to this this device, I have had it for about 4 days, and already I can tell it will become an important part of my sound. Right out of the box it was producing good to great sounds (depends on the FX used). With a little tweaking it was producing excellent sounds with little hassle, as compared to the Boss GT-3 I had been using proir to trading it in on the GNX3.
Editing is easier than the GT-3 was, but i have not found anything that was much harder to edit than the gt-3.
The manual is about 70+ pages, and it has no ads in it! :-)I find the manual much more useful than my subscription to guitar player magazine.
My firmware started at 1.0 out of the box, after a quick download and some troubleshooting (I had a bad Midi Cable), I was able to update the firmware quickly and easily. My unit has been updated to 1.4 (most current firmware version), whith the update LOTS of little issues were fixed. Jumping when using patch buttons, etc. They changed the drum beats when they wrote the new firmware, and they are much more interesting. I HIGHLY recommend upgrading the firmware, before you even use the thing. The reason I rated it an 8 is the fact the that IMHO the knobs are a little intimidating if you are not a seasoned player or user of effects.

Sound Quality : 9
I am using this with a Fender Strat (mexican), A gibson L6-S (1976), a Takamine eg-541C (acoustic) that is it for the gtrs, now on to the amps. For the acoustic I use a SWR California Blonde to the FX loop, so I can use the onboard reverb too and mix the signals to my desires wet or dry- I am still playing with finding my own sound, so I vary it alot to get sounds I find interesting, A fender Deluxe 90 (sounds good in both channels- drive and clean), a gorilla 10 watt amp (for giggles) and my wife's Ampeg ba-115 for low tones and depth. I am so far impressed with all the config options you have with this device, if you do not like the sound direct from the instrument in, try playing with the fx loop channels. I have found that it is a little boomy with the strat set to the top notch of the 5-way switch, but that can be fixed with the bass settings on the knobs of the GNX3.
I think the fx sound great, less processed than the GT-3 did, point of note, I picked this up after picking up a (used) GT-6 and realizing that they were the same price (50 bucks more for new gnx3 over new gt-6), I took the GT-6 back after less than 15 hours and 30 minutes of research online. I felt I wanted the 8-track for practicing... and boy was I glad I did that, so was my wife.
I can get most of the same sounds as some of my favorite artists: Offspring, Pink Floyd, Lindsay Buckingham, the who, nirvana, and more right out of the box. With the patches available online to update your user patches, I found Randy Rhoades, ZZ-top, Ozzy, and more to be within reach (sound if not skill wise). I was blown away.

I think that the vast majority of fx are great, but there are a few, I would swap in favor of others, ex. Triplet, YaYa, and a couple of others I cannot think of at this time. But overall I was very impressed with the tone and beauty of the sound of this machine. The nine is because the Clean line is not quite clean, but a good fascimilie of something not quite entirely clean.

Reliability : 9
So far I can depend on it, although, I am in the complaint department about the cheesy plastic covers for the LED's, and the POTS on the digital knobs feels a little flimsy. Otherwise I think it is a Tank. Granted it is not as stiff feeling as the GT-6 (mushy buttons on GNX3), but it is verstable feeling. I fell like if I had to do a gig without a back-up, I would much rather have this than the GT-3! But that is another story altogether. The GNX3 ranks a 9 because of the flimsy plastics used, sorry Digitech, but that is the way it is.

Customer Support : 9
So far the cust. sup people have been very quickly responsive to my questions (via email, where the expected wait time is 4 days + they got back to me in hours), although there is an issue with their faq page and the cakewalk software... They say to register it to get the code to unlock it, but all you get is a thank you for registering your software with us page... Email sent and waiting on a response at press time. These people are certainly much better than dealin with computer hardware sup or even Microsoft...

Overall Rating : 10
Punk, blues, alternative, metal, thrash, folk, '70's rock, classic rock, etc. Yes, it is very flexible and useful for all styles, EXCEPT true acoustic. If you have an acoustic and want to make it sound like an acoustic, then run it directly to your amp... But if you want your strat to sound like a close approximation of an acoustic, then this will do the trick or if you want to add something to your acoustic signal, then this will do it.
I have been playing for 4 years. In combination with my wife, we own the 3 gtrs listed above, the 3 amps (4 if you count the gorilla) a digitech bp200 (for the wife's bass) and a Yamaha Bass (forgot model #). I just traded-in the GT3 and a Roland XP-10 as the bulk of the payment for the GNX3 (good deal for me, cleared up floorspace and got rid of one thing I have not used since I had G.A.S.), add to that a nicely equipped computer and a mixing board, and you have my setup.

I would buy it again, in a heart beat if the renters insurance did not cover it.

I love the ease of use, by comparision to the GT-3, the diversity of tones and the ability to warp.

I hate the el-cheapo plastic, and the tuner, as it is a little hard to use.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $399
Submitted 05/09/2003 at 12:14pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 10
People who complain about this unit being hard to program are the same people that wish the rotary dial would come back into style. Very intuitive.

Sound Quality : 9
This thing kicks butt. If you look at the people that are complaining about the sound on previous messages, they are playing $50 guitars through a $15 amp. I can say that I am amazed at the reverb on this unit. It's incredible

Reliability : 10
I gave it a 10, but I have only had it for 10 days. I guess that's a point per day.

Customer Support : 10
Again, I haven't had any problems, so the Customer support issue is N/A

Overall Rating : 10
This is the first unit that I have purchased where I sit at work wishing I was home recording with it. I love the fact that the SPDIF connects right into my sound card. This eliminates the degradation you get when using the 1/4" cables. When giving reviews, I always try to give the bad with the good. Whenever I think there is something that I dislike, I just glance at the manual and the answer is there. I'm not a manual reader (who really is), and I am glad that this unit is one that needs little documentation. A glance at the manual from time to time is all you need. Everything is extremely intuitive.

This unit is simply incredible.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499.00
Submitted 05/01/2003 at 04:50pm by Ricky Sandiford
Email: Killerjester<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 9
When i first pulled it outta the box i pluged right in and started having fun. I found nothing intimidating about the controls "very user friendly" lol of course i haven't gone through the whole package but so far it been a real treat. LOL like alot of people iv just kinda thumbed through the manual but from what iv read and saw it's also user friendly...very easy to understand!!!

Sound Quality : 10
OK this thing ROCKS!!!! I play off a little Squier practice amp and this unit sounds exellent through it i can imagine being plugged into a nice amp what it would sound like. The effects are the same as in all processors but with the ability to tweek the cabinets and map setting and from what iv messed with the sounds are clean and tight.Iv been able to get sounds very close to the likes of John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Satriani, Alex Lifeson so far all getting tat jut outta messingwith the cabinet and amp knobs.

Reliability : 10
OK iv been outta the effects world for a while now, Iv owned a Digitech RP-12 for the past 6 years and its more than paid for itself and i was actually looking to get the 2112 artist rack system but found out they dont make those anymore lol..so i was directed to the GNX3 and i expect that same reliability outta this one as well!!!

Customer Support : No Opinion
Haven't Had to use them yet but from what i hear they are great!!!!

Overall Rating : 10
I play pretty much everything from Dream theater, Rush, Metallica to Chris Isaak, esteban lol you name it i play it. I love the guitar and everyting about it. The GNX3 Is perfect if your like me in which i dont play in a band and i have no one to jam with most the time, With this unit which features an 8 track digital recorder and a drum machine it's prefect. Like one person said in their reveiw "this processor will go as far as your musical ability and mind will take it" I highly recomend pruchasing this product i was like most reading all the reviews and getting all pumped up and now that i have it i know why everyone says its the best!!!!!! If your looking for a serious processor without all the "flare and glamor" this is the "meat and potatoes" processor everything youve wanted for taking your playing sound to the next level look no further the GNX3 is for you!!!!................LOL i know im leaving alot of other cool stuff about this unit but thats whats cool about it every time you flip the switch on, your gonna get something new every time!!!!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $389
Submitted 05/01/2003 at 08:17am by RoboPimp

Ease of Use : 9
How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Easy, the presets are even decent.
* How about Editing patches? Much better than my RP12, the rotary knobs are great.
* How is the manual for it (if there is one)? Decent, if you're into manuals.
* Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded? Version 1.0, I believe that's the original version and it seems fine so far.

Sound Quality : 8
* What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? I use a squire strat, Electra 420 (335 ripoff), and a Agile LP2500 (lesspaul ripoff) works well with all these, So far I prefer the strat. I use a mesa boogie mark IIB amplifier.
* Is it noisy? On what settings? The main noise I hear is a subtle hiss, but it's not very loud even with the amp cranked
* Are the effects weak or do they always sound great? All the effects seem good, full frequency. I have no complaints at all
* What amp are you using it with? I use a mesa boogie mark IIB amplifier.
* Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they? I'm sure I could replicate many popular tones with this.
* Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad? I'm not crazy about the distortions, the LFOs seem really nice.

Reliability : No Opinion
I really can't say, I bought it from a local music store who has always given me decent service with any problems.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I just got this so I can't mention anything pertaining to this unit. I will mention when I got my original RP10, I had many problems with it, and the company eventually sent me a brand new RP12 to replace the RP10 - free of charge. The RP 12 worked very well through terrible conditions on the road. That was cool.

Overall Rating : 10
Overall I give this a very positive rating, I know many effect-pedal-snobs see the digitech name and think "that's crap"

Well, those people are idiots who blow $300 bucks for a clone of some 1972 pedal and they feel good about themselves because they have lots of money and a tin ear. I mean, have you seen some of the pathetic pedal boards on the HC effects forum? LOL Some people have over a grand in a 2'X4' piece of real estate and they can't play the guitar for nuttin'!!! hahaha Those people are collectors, not musicians. Don't expect them to want to believe that the GNX3 is a great sounding tool.

The truth is this thing has great effects, a great digital recorder and lots more - all housed in a steel chassis that looks like it will stand some abuse.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $500
Submitted 04/21/2003 at 12:20pm by Nate W.

Ease of Use : 10
Well, when I bought it, I found it very intimidating. I came to find out that without even opening the instruction manual, you can be making some bad-ass sounds. But, you should always read the manual.

Sound Quality : 9
Well, I use a Fender Strat with a Gold Lace Sensor in the neck, Vintage Rails in the mid, and Hot Rails in the bridge. I use a Randall RH200 half-stack. Everything about it, the amp/cab models, the HYPERMODELS (awesome), stomp box models, reverb, delay, the fully customizable expression pedal, and almost everything on it is nothing short of amazing. Everything is tweakable to your every want. EXCEPT FOR: the 31 patterns of drums... very simple; for some reason, when they say drum machine, I think a fully functional DRUM machine. And I wish they would've allowed for bigger Smartmedia cards... all my band's songs are not 3 minutes long. But, otherwise, it is awesome.

Reliability : 10
Well, I only gigged with it once so far, but it seems tough as a bastard. I mean, its metal!

Customer Support : 8
Hm, I had one problem, and they responded very quickly. That's all about that.

Overall Rating : 10
I play any kind of rock, and some classical, blues... it works perfectly for any kind of music. The tone is amazing for a digital pedal. I have been playing for 5 years, I own a busted-ass DOD multi-effect pedal, and a Korg pedal. They both are useless now. If it were stolen? I don't want to think about it.. I believe this has been the most valuable addition to my setup since... well, I bought my first guitar. I love it. I just wish it had more recording time. It is very constructive in my song writing now, I can do so many things that I couldn't do. If you own a guitar, and have $500, there is nothing better you could spend it on.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499.00
Submitted 03/28/2003 at 06:16pm by Bob
Email: Knouse<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 9
Not too bad read the manual while fiddling with it. I also picked up the FS300 optional foot switch and a 128 meg card. The FS300 or it's newer unit matching brother make recording a snap while not having to switch between modes to record and change effects. I've only has it a couple weeks and need a LOT more time with it. you can use it right out of the box but customizing it makes it ROCK.

Sound Quality : 10
Amp: Crate 212T. Next year it'll be a mode 4. Guitars:Fender limited edition Fat strat with EMG's h/s/s, Gibson SG special h/h, and a California BC Rich ST3 h/s/s. Gibson and BC Rich are stock pickups.
Although each of these guitars have a very different dry sound, I really can't tell one from the other thru the effects. That is what the buypass is for. If you can't afford killer equipment, with a decent amp no one will ever know.The sound quality of the GNX3 is awesome any sound you want, different amps, stomp boxes and other gimmicks and even pickups. Make your single sound like a humbucker and vise-versa. The only sound problem I've had so far is during some effects when the effect warps (using the expression pedal)to another effect during a sustained note the transition is not smooth but more like a switch turning the warped effect on. Although it's probably me the Talker isn't as good as a regular talk box. But like I said, maybe it's me and I have to spend more time with it.

Reliability : No Opinion
Haven't had a problem yet. Seems fairly sturdy as it's metal but probably not quite bullet proof.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Have had no contact but have heard good things.

Overall Rating : 10
Best 500 dollar toy I ever spent my money on. This thing is a dead serious tool for any guitarist of any style. The damm thing even has an extra switch you can program then activate by stepping on the expression pedal at the top of its stroke by pushing down a little harder. I've read some reviews from people who 'had it for 15 minutes', hated it and took it back. I don't believe it, if it's ture the word that comes to mind is moron. I haven't had this much fun since I discovered Pu___y at 15


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $500
Submitted 03/07/2003 at 11:20am by Rob M in New Mexico

Ease of Use : 7
The amount of knobs, buttons, and footswitches is a little overwhelming at first, but if you spend an afternoon fiddling around it all starts to make sense. It would have been nice if some of the more important frequently used buttons were easier to access, rather than getting down on your knees and squinting at the fine print. The effects are all easily tweakable, and the digital readout shows you which parameter you are dealing with at any given time. The only thing I have had trouble figuring out is the recorder, I have yet to get it to playback what I have recorded. I suppose I need to go back to the 70 page manual.

Sound Quality : 10
I have an 84 Fender Strat (the freaky one with only 1 tone knob), a Jay Turser DC134 Hollowbody (highly recommend), along with a Guild DV52 acoustic outfitted with an Ibeam pickup, and an Ibanez acoustic-electric nylon stringer. I run the GNX3 through a Roland Jazz Chorus (2 10 inch speakers) or a Tech 21 (1 12"). The unit sounds better through the Roland, probably because of the 2 speakers. The sounds of these effects are amazing. I have been trying to get some of these tones for 19 years, and now I have them. The 65 presets are for the most part great. There are a few losers (triplet?)and the acoustic simulator is weak, but what do you expect in a box with this many effects. The unit as a whole is pretty quiet, with very little to no hiss. In my opinion they could have cut back on some of the distorted presets and added a few more chorus or flange patches, but you can make these yourself and store them. The wah can be clicked on during any effect, very nice. The amp settings are also very useful in that you can run each effect through several different amps til you find the one you like. The only drag is having to bend over and fiddle with the knobs, not so cool if you are playing live. I suppose you could set it all in advance and store them, but I'm not so much into the programming (it's time consuming and I would rather be drinking).

Reliability : No Opinion
I don't know how dependable this thing will be. It's a heavy duty steel case, but I worry about the little plastic knobs and display windows. No problems so far.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I ordered the free DVD that the company offers on the website 2 weeks ago but I haven't received it yet.

Overall Rating : 9
I've been playing for about 19 years, since I was a teenager. My main guitar was a strat, but I find this unit works better with a guitar with humbuckers. The variety of sounds is unbelievable. I am tempted to sell all my stompboxes (H20 chorus/delay, Ibanez Digital Delay, Ibanez distortion, Boss Flanger, Morley Wah). This things beats them all, except for ease of use. On the upside you only have to plug one thing in. I grew up playing classic rock, so I have a real love for the tones of Page, Hendrix, Iommi, Gilmour. This thing can do 'em all.
Now I'm in an improvisational jam band and it really helps to have access to a lot of tones while playing live, just to keep things sonically interesting. I haven't gotten into the recorder/drum machine functions yet so I can't say if they are any good or not. This thing is pricy, but I received it as a gift so no complaints. I think the GNX2 might be a better bet if you are not interested in the recorder, its about $150 cheaper. But if you have the bucks and have a little patience this thing will get you where you want to go.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499.00
Submitted 02/18/2003 at 04:55pm by Rockman6x
Email: Rockman6x at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
I give it a nine mostly becaus its not hard to use (its not!), but to get everything just right, you do have to read the manual. I have had this pedal for a while (8 months) and it has been a good tool for me. I can dish out any sound from it.

Sound Quality : 10
I love the sounds I get from this thing. I can get tones ranging from classic rock, jazz, funk, metal, and everything else. I'm not a pro , but I have compared its sounds with the real things and its amazing how it nails the sounds. Not all of the amp models sound exactly like the real thing, but it still comes close. Considering I only payed 500 bucks to the thousands of dollars I would pay for the real thingfs, I think the GNX3 does its job really well. The effects are also good and they are really easy to tweak. If you can't get the sound you hear in your head, then something is wrong with you because you can warp amps endlessly to get the right sound.

I used a Fender Strat, an Ibanez GRX40 (not good, but GNX3 made it sound good), a Squier Strat, a Squier Les Paul ripoff (mot good either), and I am currently using a Schecter C1 Plus. The C1-Plus has stock Duncan designs. It sounds great with the GNX3.

Reliability : 9
This thing was made to take abuse. The only thing that sucks are the knobs. They can easily get damaged if you're not careful. I also had a problem with the software. The preset changed amps realy fast at practice. It only happened once. Digitech put an upgrade on their website and the problem has not occured since. I can definitely depend on it and I don't gig with a back up. It was built really well and it can handle any situation.

Customer Support : 9
Digitech has answered all my questions. The user website is really helpful and all the problems I have encounters were solved in a matter of minutes. There has not been the need to get my GNX3 fixed, so I don't really know if they're pricks in the actual situation where they deal with people.

Overall Rating : 10
This thing is great. I play hard rock, some pop, a little jazz (really challenging), a liitle funk (ditto), and some classic rock. I have only been playing for 2 years, but all I do is play guitar. I have learned pretty fast. I'm not saying I'm a pro, but I have a general idea on what guitar is. I know it takes years to be good. I consider myself an amateur player. I have some knowledege and skill. I have not had that many effect boxes. I really didn't find the use of them. I owned a Danelectro distortion pedal and a compressor. Right now I have a peavy blazer 158 which I am not really fond of. I love this pedal and would definitely buy it again. I love the fact that I could get any sound. The only thing I hate is the "drum machine". It is only a metronome with cool rhythms. Its good for practicing. My favorite feature is the warping. I can warp a Dual rectifier sound with a Marshall stack to get some serious gain. Warp a Twin reverb with a Vox TB and it is heaven with a little chorus and a hall reverb. The GNX3 has been a really good tool in refining the little skill, technique, and writing ability I have. I think Digitech is the leader in what they do. I know there are people who claim this machine sucks, but I think they're really impatient. All it takes is reading the manual a little. I am really pleased with my GNX3.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $479.00
Submitted 01/29/2003 at 08:21pm by mark

Ease of Use : 10
this is the new GNX3 by digitech,,it has the AUDIO DNA which sounds closer to amp model's it is trying to copy..it has a expression pedal that is fully progammable,,built in 8 track recorder and tons of amp model's.

Sound Quality : 8
i use this unit through a mesa 50/50 power amp,,playing a peavey wolfgang guitar,,and i have to say this unit is very,very versatile and user friendly,,dont think your gonna figure everything out in 10 seconds,, it will take a little while to figure out all the potential this thing has...i have had mine a week and it sounds better every day.the clean's are good and a very different variety of cleans too...but the distortion is what sold me..i have a dual rectifier and i have to say it does the mesa thing very well..in fact it has more low end than my dual..i had to dial out some low's becauseit made my carvin legacy cab vibrate.and the sounds are easily adjustable with the global knobs with out having to be a computer whiz...only draw back is the internal recorder does not have enough memory to record a full 4 or 5 track song.. you will have to buy a smart media card and a media card reader seperately.. but i think the software that comes with it made up for that,,,acid express,cakewalk,guitar track's version 2.0,,pyro 1.5,,plasma express1.5.....and the sounds that can be recorded on this thing are amazing...it all just takes time to get it all figured out..

Reliability : 9
not a problem but what can you expect in a week,,but since it's not tube i expect long trouble free service from this unit,,my tube amp's are alway's tearing up,,but not a problem out of my mesa 50/50 yet.

Customer Support : 9
it has a one year warranty...and i e-mailed the support department with question's about cord's and hook up's ect. and they e-mailed me back the same day,,so they might be o.k in the future.

Overall Rating : 10
i have been playing guitar for 15 years and own several marshall and mesa amps..this is a good piece i would buy again if it were stolen. for those ideas that come to mind that you always forget the next day? this is the answer to that..with the ability to put it on a CD.
i just wish it had more memory...maybe a GNX4 will be out one day? hehe


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $350.00 BRAND NEW
Submitted 01/13/2003 at 03:10pm by Elixar
Email: www<dot>mp3<dot>com/chads_shiz

Ease of Use : 10
Very easy if your advanced in what you do..

Sound Quality : 10
Not only can you get any type of sound that you want but you can freaking control the hz so not only do u get what sound you want but u get it at what pitch loudness ect...

Reliability : 10
Perfect pedal throw out your processors and get this footpedal no need for anyhting else....

Customer Support : 10
Good I guess never had a problem with it...

Overall Rating : 10
Overall 10 its a awesome pedal allows you to even have recording options which I use alot I bought a 128mb card and read off ebay for 22 bucks to even advance me even more in what I do, so many different options, so what are you doing here reading this go buy it you bastard!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499.00
Submitted 01/08/2003 at 04:26pm by Mike
Email: eop<at>rof dot net

Ease of Use : 8
I bought my GNX3 when they first came out so I've been able to play through it quite a while. The recording and looping features are an incredible bonus worthy of a seperate review. I tend to be impatient when it comes to tweaking these things; however, knowing I can is priceless. Read on...

Sound Quality : 10
I'm playing an RG550 into the GNX3 and then into a Princeton Reverb. Here's the scoop: If you cannot find your sound in this unit then you have other issues. I'm gratefull to have purchased this box as all excuses concerning tone are gone. With the GNX3, one is only left to face their own guitar playing abilities and either focus on technique, knob fiddling, or finding a new hobby. I now have the ultimate rig.

Reliability : 10
Have not had a problem yet. Be sure to set the output level at zero, then slowly bring it up.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Have never had to deal with Digitech.

Overall Rating : 10
I've been playing different styles over the last 20 years and have blown more time thinking about gear than I care to mention. With this I can nail anybody's tone, and have quit dreaming about getting a Bogner or a G-force. Besides being able to sound as heavily proccesed as old Steve Lukather, or blending clean amps with dirty ones by twisting one knob, I can get a country twang better with my RG and this than my old tele through the princeton. The GNX3 doesn't just replace amps and pedals; it replaces guitars. If you can't get what you need here, then your not a good player.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $420.00
Submitted 11/19/2002 at 01:31pm by Chris Baker
Email: onward_69 at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 8
I have another review of this below...But I have now had this thing a couple of more months and need to add a couple of comments. Im sticking with the 8 for ease of use. The manual is pretty good and the web site will cover anything that the manual is vague on. Some of the other reviews would suggest that I am some kind of super-genious with my ability to figure out what this thing can do! But guess what? Im just some guy. Its not that tough to figure out. Really. Like anything else, you need to screw around with it and after a while you will see that you can tweak out the sounds you need almost instantly. I am now to the point that I can make adjustments for the size of the bar between songs while playing gigs!

Sound Quality : 10
I have to go on a little more about the sound quality. I play everything from mellow beatles tunes to Korn. My main gig rig is an Ibanez DT-250 with an EMG bridge and stock neck pickups into the GNX-3 then into a Peavy renown 2x12 (Mic'd) or a Peavy 5150 stack (Depending on room size) But I also use a stock 'Deluxe 59'er Ibanez Lawsuit guitar, and a stock Ibanez 7420 (7 string) through the 5150. So far, with little effort, I can get any sound I want! I just set up seperate banks for the different bands I play with and through which ever gear im gonna be using and play. I think with enough time a chimpanzee would have this thing cranking out Randy Rhodes type tone into a straight P.A. set up before a chimp would ever type out Hamlet!All you have to do is set aside a saturday afternoon and load a bowl and start turning knobs and pushing buttons with the manual by your side. It will all fall into place eventually! IF YOU CANT GET THE SOUND YOU WANT YOU HAVE NOT ASSERTED YOURSELF!

Reliability : No Opinion
I have to stick with the 9 here. I do not take back up with me and ive spilled beer and jagermiester on it. The shop where we practice is dusty as hell so my GNX-3 always has a thick layer of crud all over it. I still tote it around in the original packaging but now I toss my Sure SM-57 in the box with it with no worrys at all. Most of you probably know how solid a SM-57 is...It just bounces around in the box with the processor and I dont have any problems at all. But this thing still does not get a 10 because of the whole outdoor gig thing. You just cant see the display unless you are indoors!

Customer Support : 10
The customer support is outstanding. Also, you get Cakewalk Guitar Tracks software with it. Mine came with a trial version and no unlock code. So when it expired I sent an email to Digitech asking for the code and they wrote me back within a couple of hours with a number for Cakewalk...The lady on the other end of Cakewalk was spitting out the code for me as soon as I mentioned GNX-3. Outstanding!

Overall Rating : 10
I play all genres of rock. If it was stolen I would be ordering a new one before the cops were done filling out thier report! I cant say enough about this thing! The recorder is amazing! I am writing new songs at 10 times the rate I used to with my old Fostex 4 track cassette peice of crap, and at a much better sound quality! My band is getting pretty deep into home recording and this thing has made my parts easier than everyone elses! The drum machine isnt very good but you get a generic beat going, set the BPM on it and you are writing a new tune in seconds! Although I do have an Ibanez 5 string bass that I use for writing I am a little lazy and now just do everything with my 7string guitar. Set the drums, lay down a rythm track, set the GNX-3 to the guitar>bass patch and I dont even have to get off my ass to grab my bass to do the bass track! Then I do my lead track, then I plug my microphone into the GNX-3 set the effects on that and poof! Vocals are done. Then I pull out my little smart media flash card and stick it into the USB reader on my PC(GNX-3 does not come with the flash card or the USB reader..I paid $75 for a 128meg card and about $25 for the USB reader)..Then I dump all the tracks into Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 2.0 (Included) and mix it, take out the lame drum track burn it to a disk as a .bun file (Big files!) then hand that disk to the other band members. They put that CD-R into thier computers and poof! There is guitar tracks 2.0 with every slider and knob set to just where I left it when I saved it! All my band members now have the same software and we are writing and recording very good quality sounding songs with out even being in the same room at the same time. This could not possibly be any easier! Here is another little cool thing I figured out. For accoustic stuff I use an Ibanez electic/accoustic. I set the GNX-3 to use both the guitar input and the microphone input at the same time (you can put any effects you like on either input simultaneously) Then I set up my built in Fishman E.Q. on the guitar and stick my SM-57 in front of the soundhole and I can now get unbelievable fat and full sounds out of a faily cheap accoustic guitar! I write a lot of new music. I practice a lot of different styles, and I play a lot of live gigs. I would recomend this to any guitar player/songwriter of any level at any time! For under $500 you simply cant go wrong! Sell your old 4 track recorders and lower end stomp boxes and all that extra cables and you will probably be half way to purchasing the best guitar tool out there right now!


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $470
Submitted 11/16/2002 at 12:09pm by GuitarDave

Ease of Use : 7
It is fairly intuitive but there are alot of options to wade thru. Editing patches is pretty easy, but you must READ THE MANUAL. It's pretty simple and and will help clarify the confusing areas. Based on a bunch of the reviews below there are alot of different ways to use this and each one requires some tweaking. That is good, but can be frustrating for the novice or person who isn't familiar with alot of different things.

Sound Quality : 9
I bought this thing and after the first hour of playing with it I put it back in it's box to return to Guitar Center. It simply had the WORST tone out of the box that I had encountered in a long while. I tried tweaking cabinets, amp models, target system, etc. etc. and all of it reminded me of a bad Line 6 Flextone tone. which sounds good, but sterile and artificial. I really wanted it to work b/c I love to use looping so I played around with it some more and discovered the secret (at least for me). The Digitech Modeling (speaker, amp, cabinet, and target system setup) are the enemy to getting a really spectacular tone out of your rig. I have tried every which way and determined that once you turn off all the "amp/speaker/cabinet modeling" elements and run this into the input of any good amp (with the target system set to DIRECT - none of this 1x12 combo or effects loop crap) then you have an infinitely powerful floor effects processor that consistently puts out phenomenal tone.

For those who are using it with all the modeling - more power to you. It's not a lack of familiarity with the unit that made me reach this conclusion. I have tried using this with every possible combination they recommend. In the effects loop, in the input jack, into a separate power amp and speakers, into a PA, into a mixer.

Being seriously afflicted with G.A.S. I own or have traded the following over the last 5 years: Roland VG-8, Line 6 AX2, J-Station, Johnson Millenium 150, Fender Tone Master, Dual Showman, Rivera TBR, Boogie combo, Boogie racks, Line 6 Floor Modelers, TC Electronics G-Force, Boss RC-20 loop station - etc. etc. etc.) so I am very familiar with both tube, digital modeling, rack mount gear, etc.
etc.

The Digitech is simply one of the best units I have ever used. I bought it because of the looping/recording functions after being dissapointed with the sound quality of the Boss RC-20 - I expected it to do a decent job with that - I didn't expect the other portions to be so damn good.


I like all the wild effects that you can do but for the most part I'm basically prefer a clean, Fendery/old Mesa sort of amp tone and to that I like to add stomp boxes. That is where the Digitech shines...the Distortion boxes are simply the best I have used. I even went out and bought some (a Tubescreamer and MXR Distortion +) and returned them two weeks later after confirming that the Digitech blew them out of the water. I have a Line 6 DM-4 Distortion Modeler which is really nice - they are close but the Digitech seems to have a little extra magic that the Line 6 can't seem to match.

I know everyone wants to be able to model all these different amps/speakers and the Digitech does that and quite well. I have dialed it in so the modeling sounds really good...but it is like a 7 or 8 on the scale of 10. When I turn all that off and use an appropriate distortion/compression/eq setting - my amp simply comes alive. Among my player/musician friends I have gotten a reputation for having good tone but the Digitech is blowing people away far more than anything I have used in the past and this is from metal heads to blues purists - a very hard trick to pull off.

You can use the amp settings and EQ to tweak your sound pretty radically...stepping on the amp button in footswitch mode allows to switch back and forth with different eq's, volume boosts, etc. etc. The different distortion boxes are excellent - I got about 5 different ones programmed that I use regularly and they make for a nice difference. Being able to have Tubescream for the rhythm parts and then step on a Rat or Big Muff for the saturated lead is awesome.

Sorry for the long review, hopefully this review will be informative for someone. It's actually the first I've posted - that tells you how impressed I am with it.


Reliability : 7
Seems good, I'm anticipating that there will be some problems somewhere down the road due to the # of buttons, etc. etc.

Customer Support : 8
Couple of things I've posted on the Digitech message board were promptly answered. So far, so good.

Overall Rating : 10
See above comments


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $500
Submitted 10/29/2002 at 05:10pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
Let me start off by saying that the learning curve on this unit is very steep, but don't let that scare you off. After dicking with it for a matter of weeks, days, or hours (depending on your aptitude for effects), you should have the basics down, and from there on it's just a matter of exploring the features.

The manual is a little vague in places, but hopping on Digitech.com should net you a few answers you're lacking. As for getting a good sound out of it, I'd base it on a few factors. Firstly, how long have you spent with it? If you spend five minutes with it, there's no way you've even scratched the surface (so all those claims of "it was so bad, I sent it back immediately!" are complete bullshit). Secondly, do you have an ear for tone? You can coax some excellent tones out of this thing if you know what to listen for. And lastly, are you a good guitar player? If you suck, no matter what you're playing, it's going to sound like junk. But if you're good, your gear will sound good. Ya get me?

Sound Quality : 8
I plug this thing direct into a set of speakers, and in the front end I have an Epiphone SG standard (my axe of choice, despite its cheapness). It emits a fair amount of hiss at high distortions, but slight noise-gating as well as your guitar's volume control will take care of that.

The amps, cabs, and stompboxes sound great, especially if you're going for a rock/metal tone anywhere from the 1970s all the way up to today. The reverbs, delays, compression, wah, whammy, and most of the modulation effects sound good. HOWEVER: I tried and tried, but I couldn't get a good flange out of it. Also, some of the pitch/harmonizer effects were tinny in the upper-register and muddy in the lower. So keep that in mind.

And you could very easily use this unit to create some bastard child uber-Van Halen/Rhoads/Dimebag tone, but after a while you'll say to hell with it, and probably come up with something different from anything else (and isn't that what being a musician is all about?).

Reliability : 9
This thing is like a tank. It's a solid chunk of metal that could probably break someone's head in if you used it as a weapon. But, and that's a big but, the little knobs as well as the plastic face plates, feel a little unreliable. It should be fine as long as you make sure the knobs are protected.

I would probably gig with this without a backup, but just make sure to watch where your foot's going. If things get a little hectic onstage, you may want your sound guy to do the switching for you.

Other than the problems I've mentioned, nothing short of using a hammer is going to put a dent in this thing.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Haven't dealt with them. Which is a good thing, I suppose.

Overall Rating : 9
I've been playing a wide variety of styles for a couple of years now, but I tend to stick to a few tones for everything. I go for something with the bottom end tight but not boomy, thickly boosted mids, and prominent highs that aren't too shrill. I like enough distortion to get some chunk going on but not muddy up the sound, and I like it to be vocal enough where I can get really expressive with my fingers and get some kick out of my leads. This thing can do all of that.

This thing cost me an arm and a leg, so I don't think I'd be able to get another if it was stolen, mainly because of $$$. However, I'd have the local pigs put out an APB for it, with orders to use lethal force.

Though it has its flaws, I love the sheer number of options it has. The sounds you can get are pretty much infinite, and to get those same options with actual, 100% real-life amps would bankrupt anybody in short order. It's like a toy store, except you can sit on your ass while you shop.

Oh yeah, and the little 8-track recorder hanging off the side is short on frills, but great for recording jams and demoing riffs or short songs. And since it also has a "drum machine" (actually a click-track with looping drum tracks) as well as simulations of a bass guitar and an acoustic, you can pretty much practice with accompaniment you've laid down yourself.

All in all, it's like a painter going from a palette of a few colors to one with dozens. The painter can do some good stuff at first, but with the extra colors, they have more facility to paint something great. I'm glad I bought this thing.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 10/01/2002 at 05:28am by Danny
Email: dshrider2000 at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 6
Not bad considering everything this proccessor can do. >> See my last submission just a little ways down. <<

Sound Quality : 9
Excelent! >> See my last submission just a little ways down. <<

Reliability : 8
Had a little trouble with one of the foot controllers. >> See my last submission just a little ways down. <<

Customer Support : 10
UPDATE! On my last rewiew I had mentioned that I lost the two CDs that came with this unit in a fire. I wasn't sure how easy it was gonna be to get Digitech to send me another set. Believe me, it was easy. I just went to there web site and filled out a tech form. And then they promptly and with a very friendly response told me that my new CDs were on the way. As a matter of fact they showed up just a couple of days ago. >> See my last submission just a little ways down. <<

Overall Rating : 10
If you're thinkin' about buyin' one of these puppies, STOP THINKIN' AND GO BUY IT! RIGHT NOW! >> See my last submission just a little ways down. <<


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $450.00
Submitted 09/26/2002 at 05:02pm by Jon Pousette-Dart
Email: jpd52 at verizon<dot>net

Ease of Use : 2
Panel is not pleasing to work in at all

Sound Quality : 3
Only for metal heads. There is nothing here approaching warm natural sounds. Extrememly digital sounding board.

Reliability : No Opinion
don't know. Sent it back after 5 minutes use.

Customer Support : 5
Tech folks were actually very good

Overall Rating : 3
If you're not a young metal shredder, utter waste. Not a Pro pedal in anyway in design or tone. If you want Digital , go VG88. i would use a POD over this in every situation if you're looking for direct recording


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 09/25/2002 at 07:13am by Danny
Email: dshrider2000<at>yahoo dot com

Ease of Use : 6
HA HA HA! LOL! :-)) That's a good one!!!
I think that there comes a point at witch versatility is over shadowed by complexity. And this product has gotten awfully close. One of the nice things about this product though, is that although it is extremely versatile and will take you months to learn how to take full advantage of it, you can enjoy its simple stomp box mode. In this mode, it basically behaves like any other processor only better. You select a patch, which can contain two different amps. Then all the effects are selectable as if they were all separate little boxes. But for the amount of money that you spend on this thing, you must continue your schooling to learn the rest of it. Not that anyone thing is complicated, but there are just so many things to learn. Actually, the manual, which is the size of a magazine, is small for being so thorough about what this processor can do. I'm not tryin' to scare you away. But you better be prepared to spend ALLOT of time learning your way around this machine. ?Cause, it can do everything! If your base player can't make it? you can sub in for him. If you forgot your acoustic? no problem. Your drummer says he's sick? you got it covered. You need to use it with a regular amp? you can easily go direct and just use its effects. Need to set up parts for people to learn? hey it has eight individual tracks. It even has a separate XLR input and output for a vocal mic, which can also be used to create a talk box effect. I could go on and on. Believe me. Once you have this thing, all you need is a guitar and some sort of PA. And I haven?t even mentioned the amp warping capability. Heck! I haven?t even used it yet.

Sound Quality : 9
GREAT! I went through the JStation and V-AMP2 phase. Our other guitarist has a POD 2.0. I like the sound of his POD, but not as much as my GNX. It has some really cool amp sounds. And I haven't even begun to warp yet. The thing that really make this baby sound good however, are the stomp box models. Man they ROCK! I like to pick a nice clean amp sound and then stick a good box in front of it. I could play for hours like that! :-) You know, it?s starting to get to the point where real tube amps aren?t turnin? me on anymore. Anyway, The drum sounds are great! The base replication is excellent! And the acoustic sound is unbelievable. However, I prefer a little brighter sound from the acoustic. So a changed the pick-up input to go from humbucker to single coil. This is another feature on this unit. It can take your humbucker and make it sound like a single coil, or take your single coil and make it sound like a humbucker. I personally have found little use for this except for making the acoustic guitar sound a little brighter. Bottom line? The sound on this unit ROCKS!

Reliability : 8
I?ve only had this thing for about 2 months. The "up bank" button doesn?t seem to respond very well some times. But as complicated as this thing is, that?s not enough to change my mind about this unit? reliability.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I lost the two software CDs that came with this unit in a fire. We shall see how eager they are to replace them. As far as the "up bank" button not working well, well I just couldn't stand to be away from my baby ...Hmm Hmm! I mean my machine! They'll just have to wait for something a little more major to break before I send it off.

Overall Rating : 10
If you need an amp in a box i.e. your situation is such that a real amp is just not gonna be a viable solution, this is the answer, either this or the GNX2. I don't recommend the GNX1 because it doesn't have the stomp boxes. And the stomp boxes really add allot. This unit is very convenient. It's all contained in the one box. I know that units like this are just gonna keep getting better and better because of the advancements in computer technology. But I just can't imagine anything else you could add. I mean this thing literally does everything you would ever want to do.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $420
Submitted 09/03/2002 at 10:43am by Chris Baker

Ease of Use : 8
My last processor was a Digitech RP-12. It was a nightmare to program or do anything with! The GNX3 has improved greatly with ease of use and how they lay out their manual. You just need to read through it a couple of times.

Sound Quality : 8
The sounds it has coming out of the box arent that great, but you can tweak just about anything and get the sound your looking for in just a couple of minutes. Mine gigs through a peavy 5150 stack and it sounds great on stage. At home I usually just use headphones.

Reliability : 9
I have had one bad problem with this. You cannot gig with this thing outdoors. Even with cloud cover you cannot read the display at all! I mean it is seriously bad! Fortunatly I had used it enough that I could remember where my patches were and used a seperate tuner. I dont like the tuner that much either. But it does do the job. Other than that, it seems to be built pretty tough and I gig alot so if it survives around me, its pretty damn tough.

Customer Support : 10
I too had this problem once where I could not record for some reason.I called there customer support number and was told the solution in less than a minute. Best cust. support I have ever dealt with from any company for any product! Outstanding!

Overall Rating : 9
I gig in one classic rock band with this...Took some tweaking to get it ready for that...It comes more suited to heavier music...I also gig with a slightly heavier band and had to tweak patches for that as well, just not as much. At home I play really heavy and once again I still have to tweak the patches. Factory patches arent that great but with minimal effort you should get what you want. That guy that packed his up in 15 minutes...Hes a moron. If you cant tweak out the sound you want, just hand it to someone who can read and wait 30 minutes


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $500
Submitted 09/02/2002 at 10:52am by PAT
Email: patraura at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 6
Cool man. Its easy wherever I am - Live or in Studio.

Its not a great deal editing patches. It may take time for one to get his kinda sound. But worth the while.

Instructions Manual do you mean? It definetaly needs to be more specific. Its confusing for a new user.


Sound Quality : 7
I use a American Deluxe strat and a RG 507 played through Marshall.

Noisy? Yes but then one has to set according to suit his taste.

Of all the presets Acoustic Sim seems to be weak.

Amp - Marshall JTM 60

Although taken time could attempt sound like my favourite artists, i prefer to use my kinda stuff. Favourite artists - Clapton, Mark knofler,

Reliability : 10

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
I play variety from Blues, Rock, Jazz

Earlier sticked to a Zoom 4040.

Maybe the time it got stolen, Digitech I gues would make GNX4?

Compared to RP 21D, I still love RP21D anyday.

Recorder needs an update. Drums need to be editable not just practice patterns.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $439.00
Submitted 08/25/2002 at 06:27pm by Guitalife

Ease of Use : 5
I guess if you're used to Digitech products it would seem easy but to a guy new to their stuff it's not. Look at a ToneWorks AX1500G, now that's the way the interface should be layed out! If only Korg used 24-bit A/D-D/A converters instead of 16.................

Sound Quality : 4
Very disappointing. I waited for over 6 months for this thing only to find out it's only a toy. I tried it through several types of amps and professional headphones and it was all the same. I've been into digital modeling since the mid-90's and have owned Roland, Yamaha, and Line-6 and I'm afraid Digitech is one of the worst I've tried. It has no touch-responsiveness or tube-like warmth at all. Even the tracking was slow on many of the syms. A good digital modeler can inspire you to keep playing, just like a good tube amp does. This thing made me grow tired of playing after 15 minutes every time I plugged into it. I should have tried-out a GNX-2 first so I'd have known to move-on to something else. This thing is for bedroom shredders and that's it.

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion
While I was waiting for mine I visited Digitech's website daily and the reps were very helpful. Of course they unveiled this thing at NAMM a full year before it was ready for production, so that cancels out my good opinion of their customer support.

Overall Rating : 6
I've been playing for almost 30 yrs. Like I said, I've been behind the digital modeling movement ever since it's inception. I love tube amps and analog pedals, nothing will ever truly replace them but some companies are coming darned close, Digitech is not one of them if this is the best they have to offer. Oh yeah, the recorder is cool, I may buy one if they release it without the GNX-2 attached! I gave it an overall 6 only because of the recorder. Sorry guys, nobody wanted this thing to work more than I did but I wanted something I could use live that had that nifty recorder. I'll stick with my POD Pro, sans recorder.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: 375 (UK Pounds)
Submitted 08/23/2002 at 09:06am by David From England

Ease of Use : 9
You can get great sounds from this unit even before you read the comprehensive manual. I'm happy yo learn as I play and the book has some good "what if" instructions.

Sound Quality : 10
No problems here. I play a Clapton Strat, ES335 and PRS Custom 24 through a Mesa Boogie Nomad 55 so I know my kit is fine and I would detect any leaking sounds immediately. Fantastic for me as our gigs are varied and include Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Stereophonics, Buddy Guy, Spencer Davis numbers which vary quite a bit in the type of sound I require.

Reliability : No Opinion
No problems, but it's still pretty new.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Not had to use support.

Overall Rating : 10
I really think this unit is great value for money. I haven't used any recording features yet but it's worth the money just for the great sounds and effects.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $500
Submitted 08/17/2002 at 06:38pm by Eks

Ease of Use : 7
Getting a good sound on it is easy, but to get the PERFECT sound takes awhile. There so much on this thing that you can spend hours sitting down and tweaking the sound, asking yourself "do like it sound like this or this?". Editing preset is simple, it just takes a while to figure out exactly what you can do (its packed with so much its a steal to pay only $500.the manual goes through everything in logical order, read it and you know what your doing. It can also be upgraded through MIDI connection, from patches on the website. The only reason why I grade a 7 though is because theres so much stuff that it can be confusing now and then, and looking back at the manual is somthing I did quite frequently during the first week.

Sound Quality : 9
My setup is as follows

ESP LTD F-100 -> Digitech GNX3 -> Alesis RA100 Power Aap -> Behringer Ultrastack 4x12.

It can be noisy if certain effects are put together(of course like everything) but thats easily solved by the noisegate.

I can mimic almost any artist i think of with this (I already have made presets for James Root from slipknot, Gurrg from Mudvayne and others like Dry Kill Logic, Cold, Static X.)

Most of the effects are great qulity, but the Pitch Shifter could be alot better, and the Whammy effect could also be better.

Reliability : 10
Ive had it for about 2 months now and its still very stable so far, despite all the things in my room that fall on it. Its made of metal and feels like you could chuck out of a car on a freeway and still feel fine. I would easily use this at a gig with out a backup.

Customer Support : No Opinion
havnt had to deal with them yet

Overall Rating : 9
I play in a band that sound like a mix between Slipknot, Mudvayne, Mushroomhead, Dry kill logic and Cradle of Filth. And I cant even possibly use all the effects it offers. It gives me the sound that i can call my own. Ive only been playing for 2 years, and once i bought this i sold all effect pedals and proccesors i own, there was no reason for them.
If this was stolen I would definently scrape up enough money to buy it again, it a part of my life now, i cant live without it.
I love the variety of effects, cabs, amps and the warp feature that lets you mix 2 amps or 2 cabs together for a brand new sound.
I hate that i cant use all the effects, it really bothers me. I wish i could but that would be over doing it.
i Campared it to line6 POD Pro, the J-station, and the Genesis 3, Toneworks AX1500, and this won my attention with ease, because of that little digital recorder attached to it, this is by far my most favorite feature. This little thing is what my band uses to record and surprisingly it works great. I wish it had a seperate instrument in for keyboards and such, and a sterio input, but those are some unimportant like things that most things dont have anyways.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $430
Submitted 07/15/2002 at 10:42pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
This is my first multi effects unit (unless you count the preamp on my line 6 flextone combo), and I must say I am very happy. upon reading the manual, this thing is fairly simple to operate. My one critique is that it appears that the manual itself does not cover all the possibilities.

Sound Quality : 9
I play a generic (yet competent) single cut, mahogony body guitar with dual humbuckers thru a line 6 flextone combo. I run the gnx 3 thru my effects return(which is the only way to go)with the target system set on stereo analog\fxloop1x12. The gnx 3's tone kicks my line six expletive out of town. The amp models have 10 times the "tube warmpth" The clean tube and the vox model have that nice bite that you only get from a tube, and as far as I'm concerned, the rectifier sounds dead on to the mettalica I've heard.I suspect folks who hated this unit tried to run it direct as if it were a stompbox.This is a mistake. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a good tone this way.
Effects - Acoustic simulator - sounds amazing. I can make it sound dead on to "hey you" From pink floyd's the wall.
wah - sounds good. Best on boutique setting.
Detune - sounds cool - similar to chorus.
Mod effects - flange sounds great. Phaser sounds great.yaya is creepy but cool sounding, envelope sounds exellent.Synth talk sounds good
Reverbs sound great and you can tweek them bigtime
Delays sound really good.
The week point is the pitch shifters, howerver I have nothing to compare them to, but they seem unstable and I have found little to no use for them.
The stomp boxes are decent, but the best distortion comes from the amp models.
I have only used the 8 track as a loop station but it works very well in that capacity

Reliability : 9
It feels like a tank, but I am inexperienced at intense multiple gigging so I will make no comment on that

Customer Support : No Opinion
Haven't used \don't know

Overall Rating : 9
I play alternative\modern (pink floyd,David Bowie, Tom waits).It suits my needs bigtime. It also addresses real live situations such as a tap tempo for the delay in case you band tends to speed up. If it got stolen I would probably get a new one.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 07/13/2002 at 06:50pm by Levon Thomsen

Ease of Use : 10
I must be a metal shreader want to be. This thing smokes! Any one with more than fifteen minutes can easily get the tone they want. And If you can read, it is very easy to use. The manual is very detailed and easy to follow.

Sound Quality : 10
I ran this directly into my stereo and I found that the 1st preset had awsome tone! After tweaking, I find that this is a gigable unit running directly to a PA. It can do it all in my book.

Reliability : 8
I have been able to depend on Digitech products before, so why not?

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to deal with them.

Overall Rating : 10
I find that this is a good unit by its self, but wait! It has a built in 8 track recorder. This is a great addition. Also for the guy who said he played it for fifteen minutes and repacked it, get real! you obvously are a moron! And I am not tone deaf. I have a MARSHALL JCM 800, so I KNOW tone and this device has it.


Product: DigiTech GNX3
Price Paid: US $499
Submitted 07/08/2002 at 10:38am by JimmyZ

Ease of Use : 9
I found it SIMPLE to use, although I owned its younger brother RP2000, so was somewhat familar on how to use it. Manual is alright and firmware upgrades will be available. Can get any tone you want just have to understand the settings and configure it to you rig which may be difficult for some folks. I bought GNX3 to record my music. The built in 8-track digital recorder is extremely easy to use and sounds professional.

Sound Quality : 10
Very warm and gets any tone you want. At home I run through two different Pevee amps to take advantage of the stereo left and right outputs. I run through the effects loop on one amp, and through the front of the other (doesn't have an effects loop). If you don't run this unit in stereo than your not taking advantage of its full potential. Configuring settings based on your rig is very important which impacts your tone!!! You can configure your settings in just about anyway: if your running a 1X12, combo, 4x12, two 1X12, two combo, two 4x12, thourgh the effects loop, through the amp, etc... The recorded tunes are CD quality level recordings!

Haven't gigged live with this because I bought it mainly for home recording projects. I have gigged with the RP2000 through a 100 watt carvin tube head and 4X12 bottom through the effects loop and I get some ass-whipping tone live.

Reliability : 9
Haven't any problems but I'm sure it will lock up just like any computer does so can't give it a 10.

Customer Support : 10
There always there to answer questions.

Overall Rating : 10
I play mainly rock, metal, blues and this matches me very well. I been playing seriously for 3 years and I would have my insurance company buy me another if stolen.

If you want to compose your own music and make a quality CD demo than buy this. There is nothing out in the market that allows you to create a CD quality sound faster and easier than the GNX3! Very easy to use and can record two tracks at a time. The tones are solid and you can tweak just about every setting. This is for serious players who want to record and create thier music.

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