DigiTech GNX3000

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Well, that depends....Gone is the fizzy high end of the POD XT Live. However, it seems to be lacking some dynamics to it. I played with this thing for about an hour after getting it and thought it was sounding pretty good....then I turned on my ADA MP-1/Peavey Classic 50/50 setup and was blown away by how good that sounded. With the real amp, the sound envelopes you. With the GNX, it seemed like the sound just hung around at the speaker. I'm still on the fence about whether I like it or not even after spending considerable time editing and recording with it.

How about Editing patches?
Fairly easy in fact. Once you go through the manual and understand some of the features, it's pretty simple to edit....however, a few parameters do require that you edit them through the X-edit software.....you should never have to use an external application to access the features of any product.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
Pretty good. Digitech manuals have always been fairly well written.

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
Version 1.0. There are no revisions yet, but I sure hope some come out as there are things that need to be addressed, like the huge pop when you power it off.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
Running this into my PC for recording as well as into a Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp and 2 custom built 2x12 cabinets with Celestion G12T-75's. Various guitars used.

Is it noisy?
No. Part of that is because the Noise Gate is turned on for every single factory patch, which is pretty stupid. The Digitech 2112 and 2120 suffered from the same problem. You can actually turn it off for nearly every patch as the thing is actually pretty quiet without the noise gate on. Much quieter than a real tube amp. Some patches can get noisey, but that depends on how high you have the gain turned up on the amp/stompbox.

On what settings?
Again, not sure why the Noise Gate is on for every patch. Also, the gate kind of sucks in that it doesn't feature a release parameter so the gate cuts off way too soon. Even the cheapest stompboxes feature a release parameter.....come on Digitech.....that's unforgivable.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
Kind of torn on that one. I've always like Digitech effects. They walk a fine line between sounding like an analog device and a digital device. Not too warm but not too sterile sounding. However, most of the effects (heck, the whole unit in general) sounds like it is missing sparkle and clarity on the top end. I think a BBE Sonic Maximizer might really help that but I haven't had a chance to hook mine up to it yet.

What amp are you using it with?
Peavey Classic 50/50 Tube Power Amp.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists?
Probably. Don't really care. It's more important to me to get a good tone than it is to sound exactly like someone else.

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
Well, for the most part, pretty good. The noise gate sucks as mentioned. Also, Digitech left some of their best effects out of this unit. Specifically, the 8 voice chorus and 8 voice flanger. It does include their Talker and Whammy effects, which is pretty nice. Also has a decent selection of stompboxes. However, you cant pick the order of the effects. Also, no equalizer in the stompbox selection.

Can you depend on it?
Pretty well built. I'd be a bit worried about kicking the knobs off accidentally. At least the XT Live includes a bar near the knobs to help prevent that. Looks like you could probably spill something on it and it would be fine.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Yes.

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?
I have dealt with them in the past. Fairly easy to deal with.

Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired?
Not directly from the company.

What style of music do you play?
Mostly Pop Rock (Collective Soul, Def Leppard) to Hard Rock (AC/DC, Motley Crue). Some Nu Metal (Korn, POD, Static-X).

Is this a good match?
Yeah and no. It does fall a bit short on some higher gain amp models. No Bogners, Diezels, etc.

How long have you been playing?
15-20 years.

What other gear do you own?
Well, I own or have owned pretty much every amp modeler put out. They all have their strong/weak points. The GNX3000 is by no means the final solution to amp modeling.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I don't think I'd buy another one but I'm not sure what I'd get. As I said, they all have their strong/weak points and I've already owned all of the others. I'd probably stick with the XT Live if it didn't have the horrible upper-end fizzy sound to it. It's like running your nails across a chalk-board.

What do you love about it?
Easy to work with. Good selection of effects. Built in drum machine. The most flexible output system I've seen yet.

What do you hate?
Just seems kind of flat and lifeless too me tonewise.

What is your favorite feature?
The output routing.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones?
Behringer V-Amps (all), Line 6 Pods (all), Vox Tonelab (both), Boss GS-10, Korg Ampworks, Original SansAmp.

Why did you choose this one?
Mostly because I've read other reviews and they were saying this was the end all product. I agree to disagree. I think that given Digitechs history that there are things that could have been made much better.

Anything you wish it had?
The tube feel/dynamics of the 2112/2120 preamps. The flexible routing of the 2112/2120.

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
Well, it's simple enough that it doesn't get in the way at all. Like I mentioned, the output routing is pretty good. You can run stereo outs to an amplifier and xlr stereo outs to a board at the same time. The USB output also has multiple outs (not just stereo). Plus, the unit has stereo ins as well as a mic in with phantom power.

Anything else you'd like to share?

In the last 6 months I have gone through a Mesa Boogie Studio Pre through a Tech21 Power Engine 60, a Tech21 Trademark 120, a Line6 Pod XT Live through the Power Engine 60, the Line6 Pod XT Live through a Mackie SRM450, and finally this thing through a Mackie SRM 450. I don't know if it is "easier" than the POD, but it is quicker out of the gate and seems a little more intuitive. Out of 10 it is 1 point better than the POD. The mesa and the trademark 120 were easy because they were analog; however, I could never get versatility and tone in one unit with either of them. The digitech is as easy as an all-in-one unit can be I think. The menus are quick to navigate and get very quick as you get familiar with the unit. That could be said about anything though I suppose. The USB editing software though is great. I like it much more than line6's.

Initially I wrote this thing off because, in my opinion, digitech has not released anything worth a penny of my money. I read some reviews though and talked to some people that said it had all the tone the POD claims to with none of the retarded buzziness. Everyone was right. YOU HAVE TO TURN ON THE SPEAKER COMPENSATION!! It sounds buzzy when you don't. Other than that this thing kicks ass. I run it through a Mackie SRM450 and it sounds fantastic. The lower gain distortions are flawless and more importantly, very easy to get. Don't run it through a regular guitar amp. That doesn't make sense. You need a full range cab like a tech21 power engine or a mackie srm350 or srm450. Running it through a guitar cab severely limits the frequency range that it can deliver and if your amp sucks your tone will suck. If you turn off the speaker compensation it might send more high end and low end into your amp to compensate for the limited frequency range, but ultimately why would you want to deal with the compromise? Anyway, onto the tone. The POD seems to be a hi-gain preference machine. It takes a lot of work to get lower gain tones out of it and even then it is buzzy. The Digitech is almost never buzzy. When it is, it is tied to certain cabinet models that I have never owned the real versions of. I think the real cabs might be buzzy because the other cabinet models are very accurate. The presets suck on this thing; however, if you get the USB editor and start from the amp and work up, it is easy to get whatever sound you can imagine. None of the effects are fantastic. The reverbs are decent. The delays are adequate, the univibe is decent. The amp modeling is really good though. I heard someone bag on the distortion pedal emulations... I imagine they are all adequate too, I guess I don't understand why you would buy an amp modeler and then use the distortion pedals. If you have a very good emulation of a dual rectifier mesa, why do you need a distortion pedal? To each their own I guess but when it comes down to it, you can get any distorted tone you want out of this, from lower gain slightly broken up single coil badassery to full on humbucking hi-gain distortion... oh yea, and the cleans are fabulous too.

I stomp on it. It doesn't break. I haven't had any problems with it.

Never dealt with them.

This is the first all in one pedal I have ever liked. I hate that I can't go from preset to preset without a 1/2 second cutout. That was a gross oversight. You can switch instantly between distortion channels within a single preset that can be two completely different modeled amps. That coupled with the orange tone which is the two mixed amps together give you 3 potentialy completely different amp/cab combos per preset and there is no lag going between those. As long as you don't need more than 3 different gain settings per song you'll be fine. You can also program the expression pedal to fade from one amp/cab setup to a completely different one. For example, if you want to go from full on clean twin 2x12 with delay and a little chorus and roll the pedal forward to gradually change to a dual rectifier distortion 4x12 with no delay and no chorus, you can set it up and it does it really really well. Who knows, they may fix the dropout issue between presets with a software patch in the future. It doesn't really affect me; but, I can see how it could be annoying to some. Overall though, I still really like this thing. Again, I use it with the mackie SRM450 and I play pretty standard rock. We sound kinda like the foo fighters if they had a female singer. It works great for that. If someone stole it I would beat the bag out of them and then hump their girlfriends until they bought me a new one. If you are choosing between this and the POD, give this thing a serious look, I think you'll find it is much better.

...

This is a heads-up for everyone who is complaining that the preamp modeling sounds thin/fizzy/buzzy/otherwise-awful - like the last reviewer...

Be sure to TURN ON SPEAKER COMPENSATION if you're gonna use the preamp/cabinet modeling in the GNX3K!! Digitech has the speaker compensation turned OFF for the 1/4" outputs by default... which causes the thin/fizzy/buzzy/yuck-o tone... For whatever reason, they chose to do this. Turning it ON will yield VERY good, very TUBEY preamp/cabinet modeling.

If you turn the speaker compensation on - the unit will sound 1000% better! Things will sound right. IMHO you should never turn Speaker Compensation off... Even through my tube amp combo it sounds best with speaker compensation ON.

The sound quality is superb if you take care of this stupid default.

I've had more MFX than I can remember (all of the mainstream ones and more than once) and the GNX3K is the best, most authentic sounding preamp modeler to date. I would bet many who are complaining of thin/fizzy/buzzy tone don't realize the speaker compensation for the 1/4" outputs is turned off by default. I made the same mistake initially... It took me a few minutes to fix it (via the User Manual).

Anyway - I thought I'd clear this up so people would know about it. Just FYI. Use what works! ;) I've written lots of other MFX info: http://www.thestompbox.net. Drop by if you like.

So far I have yet to find the sound I was looking for out of this unit.
Manual is very, very long.....seems thorough none the less.
Editing patchs....can be trickey at first...I am still having some problems with the editing but it is not the fault of the unit.

Using Fender 64 Vibroverb reissue with Fender Strat.

Effect patchs are very usefull. I found several very usable effects very fast with this unit.
Chorus..sounds good, UniVibe..sounds OK...Delays...very good

Big issue....for me anyway....when going between presets a very audible pop is heard. NOT GOOD.

My main problem is so far I have not found a usable distortion in this box.
The tube screamer model is OK...not as good as my Fulltone Fulldrive2 but usable.
I have tried all the various distortion options in this unit..Rat, DOD 250, Grunge, DS-1, Metalzone...I can't find one I really like, they all have a very buzzy tone. Can't seem to dial it out either.

Seems well built but I don't know if this unit will ever see the stage for me.
Could be up for sale very soon

Never had to deal with DIGITECH.

I play rock & blues rock. Found some nice blues tones but no real outstanding rock tones....distortion seems a little Buzzy to my ears.

Been playing over 20 years, was looking to streamline my pedal chain with a good multi effects unit.
I wish DIGITECH or BOSS would make a GOOD stand alone Multi Effects unit. I love my tube amp, I have no real use for all the 'amp sim ' crap in these units, which is why I never tried the Line 6 PODXT Live.
I tried the BOSS ME50.... which is a muti-effect unit no amp sims, hated it. Returned it promptly.
So far I would say this unit is better then the BOSS, but not by a whole lot for me.

I like the this model. This warp thing they keep talking about like they have on x series models of digitech has to be great. The great thing about is you can warp sounds like amp and amp, amp to stompbox or stomp box to stomp box. And they are pretty much straight forward.

The effects are pretty good with reverb and everything. But the only problem I have and with all the digitech models that has to be the pitchshifter. When you turn it 24+ above sounds like over the top effect which sounds not ok. Just I have eventide eclipse to take over the pitch shift work from the digitech. It works out well in the end.

yes you can depend on it and you can use in gigs without any back whatsoever

I play heavy metal. I have been playing it for 2 weeks. I own eventide eclipse and a lengend guitar from marshall. If it was stolen. I won't buy another one. I'll try to get it back by any means possible.It helps me with my music. But I want the line 6 uber metal guitar pedal for that industrial sound.

sounds are amazing ....really good distortions sounds.

changing presets too slow.....close to 1.5 seconds

this product has a delay between presets that is very noticable when changing during a song....the delay is very bad for live performances.
if digitech cannot help with this issue i will be sending the processor back .

There are 2 ways to manipulate patches.

1) Using all the buttoms and knobs on the actual unit, or....
2) Using the included software, X-edit, to edit your patches. The X-Edit is absolutely great to work with and very easy to use. I had no problems installing, the software, and using it requires really no reading what so ever. Very good job by Digitech. This rating could be a 10 if editing was as easy without the software.

Probably one of the best out there right now. Digitech is using a newer modeling technology called "Component Modeling" (even newer than the GNX4). I recently traded in a new POD XTL for the Digitech because, IMO, the GNX3K is so much better in everyway when it comes down to just plain good ole tone.

The Digitech has a tone of presets from well known Artists such as Vai, Satch, Zakk Wylde, David Gilmour, Santana, Slash \m/, and more and they sound great (of course some tweaking is needed but is due to tonal difference of each guitar and pick ups being used and the individual performer.

Acoustic Simulators are very good along with the bass ones as well.

Drum machine has 80 different rhythms and sound

So far so good

9.5

This is my first Multi-effect box. I purchased it a few seconds after reading the first review that was posted here.

I have played in a College Rock Band in the late 1980s. I am a computer wiz and like things that most others would call complicated.

I've had the GNX3000 for a week now.

This thing is fairly easy to use. There are knobs for most parameters which are much better than just having up/down buttons. The effect matrix is logically laid out.

Manual is effective.

Overall, I guess editing patches on this box is as easy as it can ever get on similar multieffect boxes.

Have not tried Learn a lick or Recording so cannot rate that.

Have not tried X-Edit as yet. Will make another post later on.

Most of the sounds are good. Wish they had 65 factory presets and 130 user presets rather than the other way around. Or like the behringer box where all presets are tweakable.

Similarly, why only 9 user defined Hypermodels ? For this kind of money, it appears foolish to limit the user defined hypermodels and user patches to such low levels.

Some of the higher gain effects have some noise that I can hear on the Headphones, however maybe they will not be noticeable when you have a cheering and swooning audience of 1000s in front of you.

Flanger/Compressor/tremelo sound good

All the distortions seem quite similar to each other. I found myself using the Amp models to get the sound I want rather than the distortions.

Looks like Detune and Pitch Shift can be dialed in from the whammy/ips/talk set of effects and also from the Chorus/Mod set of effects. Hence this can be chosen to be before or after the stompbox. I wish other effects could also be routed before/after each other at user's will. Some like Wah before Fuzz but many like Fuzz before Wah.

There is an "envelope filter" but it is just a basic auto wah and not the ADSR type of shaping tool that I was expecting.


Drum kit sounds ok for practice. However it appears from first looks that one cannot upload a midi drum file to the GNX3000

I tried to make a preset for a "classic rock" sound like the lead on Born on the Bayou/CCR. I found that I could reach the sound I wanted very easily.

My guitar has active electronics on the pickup and I need to keep the output level of the Guitar rather low otherwise the type of distortion changes and maybe I am overdriving the initial stages of the GNX3000.

There is no way to connect your old favourite effect box into the GNX3000 loop ie no effects out and return.

Looks reliable enough.

No experience with their Customer Support

I play rock ( 70's-80s stuff) and Santana/CCR/Eagles/Led Zepp

This box will get me most of the sounds I want after I tweak it enough.

I feel that to get the correct tone, the Amp/Cabinet/Equaliser is the key rather than the distortion box alone. I wish that the GNX3000 was stronger on the above. How about WYSIWYG graphic settings of Amp/Cabinet/Equaliser settings on software ?

I selected this box after studying the GNX4, The Line6 POD XT and others in its price range. Digitech seems to have a good name, the earlier GNX4 seemed very flexible and had good reports. I felt that a product that supported patches downloadable from the internet would be better than one without that feature. The Drum Machine/ record and Learn a lick features were not of interest to me. The GNX3000 looked great for the price and features I wanted.

I did play with a Line 6 POD XT at a shop and I recently got a Demo CD from them. I do feel that the GNX3000 is capable of all the sounds I heard on that Line6 Demo CD.

Right now I am happy with my 10 days of initial experimentation. I will make another post after a few months as I experiment with other functions and make more patches.

Manual tweaking is ok - no hidden menus, editing software is great. Manual is pretty good - explains everything well - is written with impatient people in mind but you can go back later and get more detail.
This is version 1 of the pedal.

It is more difficult then a Stompbox so it can't have a 10 - but its not hair pullingly difficult so it gets an 8.

i use a flat eq amp or powered speakers or headphones - i leave the speaker compensation on for both the XLR and 1/4" outputs at all times.I dont know about pa or amp applications - but for my purposes it sounds just fine.

Some of the amp models are very impressive - very real and organic, break up nicely have a good feeling of warmth and character - a joy to play! = these amps are the top 10 or so in ex-edit (the fenders/tweeds/bassmans/marshalls/rectifier etc) some of the 'digitech' amps and modelled amps lower in the list (the hi-gain/the vox's/hiwatt/soldano/matchless etc) i enjoyed less - they seems a bit more artificial to me. but it could be personal taste - perhaps they are very good replications but just not my thing...to be fair i havent experimented with them yet.

the stompbox features are very well done - except if you set the stompbox level too high it can sound pretty artificial, im very impressed with the whammy (divebombing with a hardtail guitar = cool!) and the IPS feature (i would never have though id like this effect but it is seriously good fun = being able to engage and disengage it for moments in a solo is great.) the modulation effects are ok - i find the delay hard to use, but the quality is high. I am dissapointed in the reverb = i dont think it sounds very nice, not smooth enough. I liked the reverb on the v-amp pro a lot more - its useable though, and for recording you get a number of reverb plug ins with the pro tracks software.

The acoustic models are quite interesting = their sound will depend HEAVILY on what axe you use and what pickup you use, i find turning the volume down on the guitar a little can improve the sound a lot (on the recorded tone - at full volume on humbuckers it can sound metallic and harsh)- but tweaking can give some very nice and quite realistic results.

the bass amps = hmmmm, not bad, not bad at all = but i think a dedicated bass pedal would give more tone and character - but if you dont want a killer bass tone - just a good one - this will do the job - perhaps im just not skilled enough at tweaking yet - but the factory bass presets are only 'ok' not 'wow'.

the compressor seems functional

the pick up modelling is very well done = as is the wah (boutique/cry and full range) although there is no adustable pressure switch - so trying to engage the wah on carpet can be tricky.)

the noise gate is pretty nice - i havent got the hang of the pluck function yet - id like to get some nice swell patches - very ethereal - but there are a couple of factory presets that do this quite well = CHIME is a nice one.

The factory presets are well built = no intense effects patches - all quite stripped down, focusing mainly on the amp or stompbox for the bulk of the tone. (previous digitech pedals would have tons of patches that were so dripping with effects they werent all that useful.)

The warp feature is very nice = but i find it difficult to warp in a way that actually 'improves' the tone - i tend to end up with a crappy mixture of two amps that sounded alright on their own..

I havent played EVERY modeller in the world - but i have owned the BP50,RP100, RPX400, V-amp Pro and a couple of solid state marshall amps (MG10CD and MG30DFX) and i think this unit has the most impressive sound of these units - (which is saying a lot = the MG10CD sounds pretty awesome for its size!and the RPX had less 'detail' but a very nice tone) its not perfect i dont think - but its is VERY GOOD! but always try before you buy - if everyone's ears were the same there'd only be one type of music and one guitar and one modeller etc..etc..

it seems sturdy - ive never had any of the previous 3 digitech units crap out on me (and they took some punishment!) only thing that worries me is my wife constantly stepping on all the cables comaing out the back and bending all the sockets....

I think digitech aims less at the metal heads - they have amps that can do hi gain sounds (JCM2000/dual rectifier/DIgitech Metal/jumplead plexi etc) but there are far more 'classic' amps (ALL of the others!) this unit is versatile and can do chicken pickin and blues and jazz and metal - but it doesnt have like 20 dedicated hi gain 'insane' or engl 'savage beast' settings, it does have the boss metalzone stompbox and the tube screamer and the rodent and pi big muff etc though. Bluesy/jazzy/country types should be really happy with it though..

It does everything i want it to do musically.

if it were lost or stolen....yeh = id get it again - 0ver anything else out there - it does what i want and ise incredibly versatile and simple to use - it has the bundled recording software to boot - which you can use hands free aswell BTW, the drum rythms are good and solid sounding (not cheesy casio stuff!) i like it a lot.

it needs SPDIF though - only other way to connect it to pc for recording is the line outs or mixer at the moment (i think..)

its not perfect (what is?)but i dont think i would get the tonelab/GT8 or the POD or even the GNX4 - they are all good products - but i like this one best..

im going straight to pc - i monitor with headphones, or a Y-cable from the headphone out to my HI-FI and speakers (just spent all my cash on the GNX, none left for XLR studio monitors/powered speakers!!). There is a knob on the back panel that affects the volume of the headphone out = i couldnt understand why the signal sounded so clippy through my headphones/HI-FI speakers, the amp level was really low, the volume was low and the DB metre was low....then i found that headphone knob and realised it was set too high = DOH!! :)
The effects are great, just like all the other digitech products = they are high quality and highly editable.
Using the Pro Tracks software with the ASIO drivers and all the 24 bit gubbins = you get really fantastic sound quality when you record.
my music still sux, but it sounds really great while it sux ;)
the amp modelling is VERY IMPRESSIVE - i cant vouch for the accuracy of the models as i havent heard the originals = but they sound pretty darn fine in their own right. One user commented that it reminded him of the Behringer V-amp tones = i would agree with that, only with a fatter more substantial feel and less grainy (not to knock the v-amp = its is a great piece of kit!)- the stomp box modelling is really cool! - its great using the Fender twin reverb and putting a tube screamer or a big muff in front of it.
The bass amps are great also = lots of character and meat, can get ringing modern metal or dull thumpy retro tones and the guitar effects and stompboxes wor well for the bass aswell.
The acoustic sims are passable - but ive never heard a great one anyway - except the variax of course!
I like the pedal control - its good to be able to switch delay/modulation/stompbox and amp channels indpendantly of each other - its also cool to be able to assign three functions to the expression pedal. EG you can have a clean patch with unovibe - and when you put the toe down on the pedal it will switch unovibe off, switch the tube screamer on and change the compressor gain = insant solo without changing patch!! heel down and you're back to clean and unovibe, dont want the unovibe on?? = turn it off with the dedicated footswitch etc etc...

well its a great zero latency recording interface/external soundcard with XLR and 1/4" ins and outs, MIDI in out and thru, and MIC preamp - that just happens to have a fantastic tone generator strapped to it that handls Guitar, Bass and vocal equally well - and comes with solid recording and editing/librarian software. It does everything i want it to - as far as recording guitars go!
built in tuner/jam along (although you'll need a Y cable to connect a stero to the GNX line ins) - its pretty darn funky! if it was 100 notes cheaper it would wipe the floor with the competition - but that extra little bit of cost proabab;y makes people go for POD XTLs and Korgs etc..