DigiTech GNX4

Once you spend some time with it, it's relatively easy to edit patches and amp combos. It does require reading the manual to get the hang of it. The manual is very good and pretty detailed. Mine came with the Power User's Guide, which goes into further depth. It's not as easy as say, a Boss ME-30 or 50, but it's a much more complex unit. Once you understand the different modes and features, editing and using the features is relatively easy.

Here's where the controversy seems to exist in these reviews. First off, to those that can't get a good sound out of it, stop expecting this unit to make your 15w Gorilla practice amp sound like a Marshall TSL stack. It won't happen. I've used it with my Marshall Valvestate 40 (13 years old and still going strong) and my 100w Carvin tube half-stack and gotten pleasing results. Does it sound a little digital? Yes, sometimes. But then, it IS digital. Overall, it's not hard to get very good sounds out of it. I'm ordering the mfx supermodels ultimate pack, as I hear that really brings this thing to life, but I'm happy with it now. And yes, I've used some of the 'real' amps and stompboxes that are modeled and am still happy with the sound of the GNX4. Remember - read the manual. And you MUST be mindful of the speaker compensation switches on the back. If they are in the 'wrong' position, it will sound like crap.
Aside from the very usable sounds, the beauty of this unit is the almost overwhelming options available to control your effects. Within one preset, you can use an amp on Channel 1, Channel 2, then warp them (in effect having 3 amps in one preset). You can use the expression pedal to control up to three parameters simultaneously, as well as the three control footswitches to also control 3 parameters each. Theoretically, you can control 12 parameters with four switches, plus three amp models - all in one preset.

For example. My band plays "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" by Def Leppard. In one preset, I have a clean amp with chorus and reverb (Channel 1). Channel 2 is the 'dirty' channel. Then, for the leads, I step on the expression pedal and viola! With one step it kicks in the 'screamer stompbox for a little more distortion and mids, cuts the chorus, and adds some delay. What's easier than that? The 'Bounceback' feature is also nice, which lets you switch back and forth between two presets using only one footswitch.
There are simply too many features to discuss. The built-in 8-track is very easy to use, the drum machine is versatile and easy to use. And I don't think I've even scratched the surface yet.

To those of you that have shied away from Digitech problems (as I have) because of their 'old' units, with bad sound and poor quality, I suggest giving them a new look. Their X-series pedals are very good, and the Scott Ian Black-13 is one of the best heavy distortion pedals I've ever heard (read my review of that). So far, I've had no problems with it. It's metal-cased and the knobs seem pretty sturdy.

N/A

I play classic rock, 80's hair-metal, thrash, nu-metal, and blues for 15 years now. I've gone through a number of processors and pedals, and so far, this is the only one I've used that I haven't had one complaint about. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if something happened to this one. I got a great deal on this one used, but even at the $499 retail price it's a great bargain, even if you only use it for recording and practicing. Live, it keeps the tapdancing to a bare minimum and gives you flexibility you'd never have with just one amp and even a truckload of effects pedals. This thing has helped me improve my playing and maximize my practice time.

Follow up Status from My previous post on page # 3


This is about how quiet the unit records with a mic into it with NO FXs records a song , on a single acoustic steel string guitar .

It is a one minute and twenty five second .wav file @7.2 mb .

The .wav file format was chosen because it is to my opinion and ( fact ) a clearer sounding format to use and it is a critical element to use to asses the quietness of the GNX4's recorder to see how good or bad it is as a recording device in a stand alone manner using the CF memory card in it .

So far there is a lot of positive post's on the electric guitar side of the GNX4 so I believe this post is a good and valid assessment of how well a GNX4 performs on miking an acoustic guitar or for that matter any acoustic instrument .

I used one EV mic with a SM57 type flavor in it's recording sound characteristic behavior , don't recall the model , only that it is a good microphone in the low $100.00 variety of microphones .

I used my small stereo 70 watt monitor with 2 8" JBL's and 2 piezos in the room hear my guitar fully and clearly with out it being so loud as to the point of getting into the mix itself through the microphone as I recorded .

Microphone on a microphone stand 3 to 4 inches away and below and towards the neck was the placement of the microphone .

Quiet room with no ambient room echo/reverberation

Worked like a charm , NO FXs at all . Dry setting on the GNX4's mic setting for recording in the song set up .

Customer suport is great ,


I chose a steel stringed acoustic as my next choice for two reasons .

so ...

I will talk about my personal needs in a digital recorder here .

Learning to play guitar had a series of choices . What kind of guitar do I start with , naturally most of us get a little nylon for our first taste of the guitar learning experience and progress from there to either a steel stringed acoustic and or electric guitar or a full blown electric guitar .


Once most people who choose an electric guitar stop there .

And those who go with an acoustic steel string have the ability to jump into a electric easily compared to an electric guitar only type person who finds out how hard and more strenuous a acoustic steel string is to play and forgets about it because of that fact .


I wanted to record my primary instrument the harmonica and some how in time I have been blessed and now play guitar and other instruments as well . The GNX4 is a dream come true for me .

Picture this fact :

What everyone hears when they listen to a song on the net , in a car radio , television , where ever , it is heard through some kind of stereo system , some big some small and most average in size and cost .

Everyone of them pleases the owner's ears too over all when they listen to music and they either buy CDs or download ( legal and illegal , I don't really care )it to play later on over and over .

When they hear a song they hear , voices , guitars mixed in with keyboard , horn and reed sections violins and bassoprofundos , bass guitars and some how we all hear pretty much the same over all sound and like it .

We don't hear a full blown Marshall double stack , or a Bass player's SVT with it's 8x10 Speaker cabinets , we don't here a Fender amp , or the difference of a Stratavarious that cots a million $ ,

but ,

we here what our speakers are capable of reasonably reproducing and that is where the GNX4 stands out for you in your recording of modeled amps and cabinets and in the case of this recording as a representation of the GNX4's ability to make a acoustic guitar sound really good , that is what this post is all about :)

This one take recording sound file is an acoustic steel stringed guitar recording of [ The Beatles } , " In MY Life " :

www. sendspace.com/ file/ u37v00

I put one space in between url to get this this review on the forum fast .

It's a Free File sharing website be patient and get past any pop ups because they do randomly pop up from web surfer to web surfer from visit to visit .

You be the judge on the sound of this recording as far as the transparency of the GNX4 , and it not adding any kind of noticeable distortion or coloration to the guitar's sound .

I want to get a super duper phantom 48 volt mic because I think this unit could do it nicely with one of those type mics for a super sound when it comes to mic'd recordings for vocals and acoustic instruments .

Easy :)

Hurricane Ramon

As can be expected from a unit that promises the potential that the GNX4 offers there is A LOT here to wrap your head around. But the way I look at it, if you're going to make an investment of $500 then you'd BETTER be willing to invest some time becoming familiar with at least the very basics of it's operation (ahem...for all you "musicians" who gave this a 1 or 2 for sound quality LEARN HOW TO USE THE EFF'N SPEAKER COMPENSATION SWITCH BEFORE COMING ON HERE AND IMPRESSING US WITH YOUR ILLITERATE DIATRIBES!!! Whew, I feel much better now that I got that out of the way...). There is a learning curve involved here and how steep it is depends on how deep you want to go into mastering the full potential of this thing. Fortunately, the manual is quite thorough and well written and there are plenty of examples on the Digitech website and elsewhere on the net.

This unit is not for those of you who would blow $500 a pop for instant gratification!

Right out of the box the presets are just okay, at least for my personal tastes. I used to work at GC and I'll tell you straight up that manufacturers presets are created to be a tool for the salesguy to demo the product, i.e. a little bit of everything for everybody's style and tastes.

There is tremendous potential here for creating sound. The unit gives you the tools, sort of like a painters pallette of colors. It's up to you to provide the inspiration to take those tools and make something of them (again, my caveat of spending some time with this thing to learn what's involved here). Create your own amp, or get the excellent set of amp models from MTProsound, dial in your effects, subtly or over-the-top, and you'll be grinning. Again, patience is involved here. However, the X-Edit software certainly helps with this task.

Through headphones (with Speaker Compensation ON), the sound is dead on. Through amps you need to run it through the effects return (with Speaker Compensation OFF) to preserve the sound that you hear through headphones. If you don't have an effects loop on your amp, try going through the front with both treble and bass to 0 and the mids to half way. The reason for this is quite simple really. The GNX4 is already a preamp. Running it through the front of your amp (another preamp} only squeezes the sound more, usually to the detriment of the original sound. If your amp's preamp doesn't have a three band EQ or an effects loop, then why are you spending 500 beans on this? Take that money and get yourself a better amp fergodsake! Then we'll talk...

No problems here. Steel chassis, sturdy switches. I am a little concerned though that there is no cleat for wrapping the oh-so-delicate power supply cable around to protect it from sudden tugs on the cable (careless handling, drunken bandmates, etc)

Great website!

Everything about this device was developed with one thought in mind-to help you become a more creative, better playing, better sounding musician and to have a load of fun doing so. With all that this has to offer there is at least something here to interest everyone. Experimenting. Practicing. Recording. Gigging. It's all right there at your feet. Just be willing to spend some time with it and you won't be disappointed

now that i've had the gnx4 for a coouple of months and the honeymoon stage is over, i thought i'd just give an update to my previous review.............................................................

the gnx4 is not the easiest mfx unit to use but it is deep in options so it has to be somewhat complex in programing to really use the available options. however, x-edit makes the gnx4 fairly easy to tweak.

i upgraded to the ultimate superpack from mfxsupermodels.com and wow, i am blown away. too many good rigs to chose from. if you can't find your extra tubey sound here...you might be deaf. i don't know why the at last reviewer didn't listen to the many, many people that suggested mfxsupermodels but he missed out on the greatest rig ever. he may be a tonal retard anyway. just to make up for that guy's terrible review, i'll help some of you guys out. let me know what amp model you are interested in and i'll send you an mp3 of that sound/preset and some info about the amp. this offer ends october 31st 2007 (this month only). it may take some time to reply to everyone but be patient and i'll try to get to you. I DO NOT WORK FOR MFXSUPERMODELS.COM NOR AM I COMPENSATED BY THEM. i'm just one really happy customer.

built like a metal tank. no problems.

tech support was quick to email me some drivers when i lost my disk. cool.

nothing beats this unit. not even the newest digitech products. this is still the best unit with no sign of a replacement.

very difficult it??s an all in one so the menus are compressed and you need to be an audio engineer to know about the hertz or a good equalitation, so if you have a lot, really a lot (months) time and extra money to purchase the tutorial books thet explain who to use all the functions you will know all the utilities that this machine have

i plug in in fender, marshalls (transistor and valve amps) and in a P.A system with a fender stratocaster and ibanez ax100, this is the worse part of the gnx4, when you plug in any guitar amp and put any of the simulation amps and cabinets, distortions, overdrives and fuzzes that this thing has, you will have a lot of saturation a dirty and unpleasant sound and believe me you??ll need a lot of time ( months) to have a good sound that satisfice you, this thing sounds good in a P.A. system very digital but sounds good, THIS THING IS BAD FOR PLUG IN A GUITAR AMP, other defect it??s that you need a direct box cause this thing up the pitch of the guitar even with the comp speaker button on you wont have a good sound

metallic carcase, but after 6 months some buttons don??t work , the power supply do??n??t work, the knobs too loosen and here in mexico it??s practically imposible to get them

the customer support are great they answer next day but it??s a short answer not very explicit special if you need a lot of information to solve a problem with the gnx4, good

i play progressive, industrias, blues, hard core, for 5 years and had a lot of this divices, about the gnx4 delays, whammy and some effects are good very digital but good, distortions and amps simulators are awfull when you connect in to your guitar amp, this a marketing device more than a musical, cause later you buy the gnx4 you need a cd with a digital equalitation, a book of tutorials a flash card, a direct box and at least you wont soun awesome, i hate digitech they only thing in the money they win with this pedalboards. DON??T BUY IT

Easy to work with. The manual is good if you read it once or twice. Firmware 1.3 and no upgrades since mine is current. Getting sounds is easy and if you've worked with a modeler it should be no different. If you are new to modeler, take your time. Use the speaker componsation button in the correct output modes. There are quite a few and they are self explanatory if you read the manual and use the illustrations.

I use it with a Tech 21 power engine. Sounds great. I use it with guitars from Fender N-Ville Tele and LP Classic. No noise. Pretty quiet. I don't like gates up high. Even set low it is quiet. All the effects are cool. Sound qual of the recorder is really good. I run thru my stereo sys on the XLR jacks and to a small mixer. Nice full sound.

I can depend on it. Metal frame and top and bottom. Jacks seem secure not like those plastic gizmo modelers. You get what you pay for.

Not used yet

I play rock, alt and blues. Fits them all. Favorite feature is its routing outputs and choices of configuration. Pedal assign. Nothing to hate :) I wish it came with models from the mfx guys :P I had a pod pro and GT-8 and sold them. I can make music anytime day or night. I can mic my amp and go right to the recorder if I want. Mixing with pro Tracks isn't bad but I plan on getting Sonar soon. Anything else?? Like the other guys here. Grab the Ultimite model sounds for amp models! Just like I went more for the modeling extras in Line 6, I say the same for the GNX4. Some things are better and mfx discs are that.

Had mine two months and sent it back. I bought another one after other pedals didn't satisfy me either. Sounds were buzzy but i was using it wrong the whole time I had it. Speaker compensation was not pushed in. That entire time I never caught on to speaker switches on the back panel. I felt like a real idiot. Don't do what I did! Firmware is 1.3 and curent. The sounds are great when you dial them. I like the pickup simulator a lot. Manual is good (if you read it).

Seem to find most any sound I want. I like the effects. Noise gates are there so no issues for me. I don't gate high so the sound is not choppy like it was on other pedal's gates. My amp is a Samson servo power amp with a pair of Velocity speakers. Sounds great.

I dropped mine out the gig bag once. Turned it on and it worked fine.

Digitech support is good. User Forum was a little hard to find.

I do covers and some Home recording of orig songs. GNX4 matches well. The recording packg is nice and works on my Win XP machine. I liked the sounds and the fact that it has very very short mute on patch changes. I like that I can record to the card without requiring a computer. I wish it came with Supermodel Amps and the Video Examples! All the rave and well worth it! I have the Hard Rock set and love the additional modeling tones. Not just one amp to tweak. Those are made by amp channel and making presets is easier than before and sound 50x better imo. I am upgrading to the Ultimate Series soon. I want more!

If you buy this thing prepare to get the MFX supermodels as well. Without those it is just a run of the mill modeler. With the supermodels ....... Lookout!. The combination of these two things is going to change the way people look at amp sound and how it is generated. Get ready to sculpt and perfect your tone because it has all that you need to do so.

very easy to get a good tone if you like to spend hours tweaking.... I DO. This is the art of creating tone, not plug and play. I fully agree with the reviewer below. To get to the real "meat" you have to tweak AND have the MFX Supermodels. Like the guy below I have and have had alot of gear. Preamps, heads, racks, etc, processors, Pedals, anything to get "that" tone. This thing with those models can replicate a high end tube amp and cab WITH high quality effects on top of it! In stereo! I just tweaked an MFX 6505 patch that literally destroys my 5150 head. The patch has that tube amp sag. Took me about 2 hours to tweak but man is it worth it. Best high gain tone I have EVER heard from ANY amp. Unbeleivable because I am a tube amp freak and this thing sounds better! I do run it through the effects return of 5150 tube heads but that is just for output and since it is through the effects return the power amp is essentially wide open. That helps to get some tube output grind, but the actual front end preamp tone generation is superior to the real head and most other heads I know of. I have fooled many a friend with this thing and they just can't believe it is digital. One of the tricks I have discovered is backing off of the high end settings and tweaking the frequency of the presence and treble. This really brings on a real tube amp sound like the actual amp but better. I have found the perfect combination of settings for perfect saturation and pick attack and note articulation. all I can say is WOW.

Have had it for two years now. Gigs, practice, dirt, heat, cold, beer. It's still alive and well

good

Like I said I am a die hard tube man...........But I do beleive that the MFX/Digitech modeling technology has reached a point that makes it at the very least a viable partner to tube amps. Combined with a tube poweramp, the tones you can produce are out of this world. What is exciting is the fact that sample rates and processor speeds will only keep going up. This can only lead to better sounding models and the software behind them . WHew!

easy enough to get to the basic presets and get some tone out of it, but you need to spend some time with it to get to the real tonal "meat".

out of the box, the presets are "ok" depending on what you play through. usable at least. the real tone is in the "mfx supermodels". i bought only the rock/metal amp set for $47. after loading up my very first choice amp model "engl drv" i started grinning ear-to-ear. preset after preset blew me away, which is not easy to do since i've been playing guitar for over 28 years and studio engineering for 17 years. i thought i'd try my hand at writing a new supermodel preset, easy enough to do, but not even in the same league as the mfx supermodels. the guy who made those presets is a genious! he had to have tons of gear to analyze the real amps to come up with presets this good. i'm going to pay up the extra $68 and upgrade to the ultimate package ($115 total). when you buy this rig, buy the mfx supermodels (http://www.mfxsupermodels.com/) and you will not be disappointed. i have thoroughly tried/used many other rigs before settling on this on. i tried the podxt live, v-amp pro, gnx3000, rocktron prophesy, and many real tube heads and preamps. this is the way to go. this thing has so many features and connections it's ridicules.

so far no problems. after years of using digitech gear i feel that i can trust it.

never had to deal with customer support because nothing ever broke. gotta give em props for that.

i can't say enough good stuff about this mfx unit. if lost or stolen i would be upset and i would buy another gnx4 asap. it's really that good.

I was demoing this at Guitar Center and the guitar salesperson had no idea how to use it and promptly pushed me on a Pod Xt and Xt live. Those were alright but I wanted the recorder feature. I bought the GNX4 and took it home. Having it for a few months and learning more made me realise the potential of the pedal. The manual was good but there are more sites and the workstation forum to help understand better. There are sites with more descriptions and tutorials at the workstation and supermodel site.

Sounds by the factory were good but heavy on effects like the PODS. I just turned them down. I learned about the speaker compensation buttons and that is important to know. Using with an amp, off. With headphones or recordings ON. Some say keep it on all the time but my amp works fine with it off. My guess is that buttons setting can make reviews be a "1" instead of a "10". Firmware is 1.3 currently.

The editor is simple to install and easy to use. It has options for the GNX save load, and direct to your comp. Also comes with Protracks Plus recording suite. I think its like Sonar or Cakewalk.

Sound is good as long as you use it correctly with the compensation switches. I just started running through a pair of GEMINI powered 15's and it sounds great. My amp is a Crate gfx and I go through the loop bypasses the preamp in my amp like many have said to do. Noise is not a problem. Using a N-ville Tele or Schecter C1 plus sounds great. I had a GNX1 and the effects were kind of in the background. The GNX4 has better hardware and chips and sound more alive to me. I looked at sites and the forums and added the Classic pack supermodels. Those knocked me to the floor. Marshall and Fender amps were juicy and warm in sound. I can't recommend those enough for the GNX4. The stock sounds were fine. Now by adding new models made the real difference for me. Notes extend and sustain in far better. Dropping guitar volume cleans up better than before.

Only one gig to report but sounds were awesome. After about 10 band practices and moving around it still works. I have to buy a case for it. I'd say its dependable.

Support was fair. I email about a version description and it was 2 days for a response. No big deal since I sent as a customer service and not a techical question.

Classic Rock covers and it matches up for us. I discovered more with the model addition and video examples of using the GNX4. Details about assign of switches and things I never thought of before or wanted to attempt. It's easy to use now and makes using it in the band much better. I thought it all had to be done in many presets but the examples show me how to do it all with one preset or a few. For recording it can't be beat. I use the recorder 8 tracks without a computer and love it. Favorite part is Reamp. On my recording I can set a track dry and change presets and those are reflected in my recording for testing out different sounds on tracks. Really cool!!! I had the Tonelab desk version that I liked but the GNX4 is ten times that in features. You need a compact flash card to use the recorder. I paid $32 from newegg for a 2gb size. I used to have the Tonelab and a Fostex 8 track recorder now the GNX4 is my new baby! So many great things about the GNX4 to list, some I overlooked when first trying it out. Once you have it and get experienced with it then you know how useful it really is.