DigiTech GNX3

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

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

I didn't ever get a hold of them. Never needed to.

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.

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.

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.

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

Haven't dealt with them.

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.

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).

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).

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

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)

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.

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

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.

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

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??

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

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!

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.

Excellent. I emailed them about spdif settings and had a response next day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

n/a haven't bother to report any of my problems yet.

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.

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.

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.

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. =)

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.

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!!!

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!

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!

never dealt with company, so can't rate it

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!

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.

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.

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.

Overall Rating: Unacceptable

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

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

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

what's that

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!!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

Have not dealt with

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

It looks like I could run over it with my truck and not hurt it, but I'm not going to try it.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Never dealt with.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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!

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Never had to deal with them

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.

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.

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.

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.

Never had to talk with Digitech, but rumor is they're awesome for customer-service

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).

SAME!

SAME!

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! :-)

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. :-)

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

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.

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! :-)

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. :-)

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

the unit is rock solid just like any digitech unit.
i havent had to deal with Customer Support yet.

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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

It's easy to use if you read the manual or Don't. Not big deal.

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.

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.

Never dealed with a problem.

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.

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.

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.

No problems.
I gig without backup.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Crappy web-site but digitech has a reputation for taking care of it's customers, I hope to never need more than firmware revisions.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The best

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.

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,

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

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!

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!!!

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!!!!

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..

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!!

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

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

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

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.

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.

Not one problem in over a year.

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.

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.

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

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.)

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.

I e-mailed a question to them and got an answer right away.

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.

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.

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.

I never had a problem with it when I used it. sturdy frame, but it gets a little hot.

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???

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

nope....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

no idea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

i hear they are very good

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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