DigiTech GNX4

Not too bad, many said otherwise but if you know how to work the editor it's easy. The unit itself works real simple and I like the mode options best.

Tell ya one thing, this thing rocks!! I went to the Digitech Forum first before I bought it, They told ne to get it and try it. They also said they haven't heard anything until they heard one of the Comm guys that makes custom models with the editor. So I tried them out got the gnx4 and downloaded the Guitar3456 ( sound comm member) patches and OMG what a difference..the pedal is way better than before. He has patches of models and artists that are not on the GNX4 but man they should be. So I go to Guitar Center here and they tell me yeah, they know all about him. They alsao said Digitech and him are making a disc of 350 amp models. Whoooa I said. He said, yes, it's true. They played me the recent Hendrix patches and SRV patches and a Krank Revolution patch and I could not believe my ears. So now that I have these I'm going nuts wondering when they are releasing this CD of patches and custom models.I can't wait. My friend and guitarist from my band bought a POD Xt live and as soon as he heard my GNX4 he took his POD back and bought a GNX4. The GNX sounds awesome through our Blue Voodoos and a PA. Awsome! Ohhh the patches by this G3456 guy are online at the GNX4 Sound Community and there are Mp3's of these Supermodels so check them out.

Built like a mack truck. No problems. I would and have been using it live.

Support, well if they do this CD of supermodels I'll be in amp heaven so I give it a nine

This is awesome for any type of sound situation. The main sounds are great it's not noisy and it really sounds 10x better with the Supermodels by the so called "gnx guru" Guitar3456. All I can say to any who are skeptics, buy one, load this guys patches on there ( not the factory ones are bad) but with these other patches it simply cannot be beat in sound quality. Go to the Digitech website and the Sound Community and search "models to come" But overall even with the regular stuff in here it's an awesome sounding and really cool feature packed guitarists dream with the Recorder, Mp3 player, Looper, you name it. I love this thing ( moreso with the new patches)

I think most of the negative reviews are from the old school guitarists- this thing is truly outstanding. I am using a stereo setup, which is not that difficult to do- i even tried out a 200w bass amp with one output, and a guitar amp on the other output. You must tweak the settings to get good sound!!- From one amp to another i found i had to change paremeters to get good sounds. The stereo hookup really made a difference. Editing patches was a breeze- i sit at my computer with a long cord going over to my amp, i edit the presets on my computer- which is hooked up to the gnx4- and get instant gratification, i can make adjustments real time as i am playing. I can warp a fender tweed with a marshall stack and use the expression peddle to warp from one to the other amp- or leave it somewhere between the two, and the mix is very accurate. Certainly it will not replace a marshall or a fender, but i dont have to spent 10grand to buy all that gear. I can say that the drum machine , combined with recording help greatly when practicing, helps get the creative juices flowing. Ill pick a drum track- add a wandering bass line, throw a few rythm chords in, and practice my leads, you just cant beat it as a practice tool. There is no other product on the market that comes close, preety good drum machine, very good amp models, excellent effects- fairly realistic to the originals.

I am using a stereo setup, NON TUBE- my tube amp colors the sound, im using a 2x12 crate solid state amp. Great sound. There is almost no noise with my solid state amp. Im lazy- i usually download the presets from the digitech website- then modify them slightly to get the sound i want. Can you imagine having 10 or more pedals hooked up in front of you and try to get a good sound out of it! It takes time to get the settings correct, but once you do - save it and its there for you for next time.

its steel and heavy, i treat it nice though, i have a gnx3 also for a backup

On there website they have a forum- ask and you shall recieve. There is a whole community of people using the gnx products. The forums have employees helping out on a daily basis. Very foreward thinking.

I play classic rock, a bit of alternative--I have 2 stacks(marshall- soldano), that i love- cant beat that tube sound. Been playing for 20 yrs. I f stolen id buy another, cant do without it now. Grwar for learning new songs, just put the mp3 onto your memory card, it plays through the same amp your guitar sound comes out of- record it as you practice- play it back to see how you are doing. Have a difficult fast lead to learn- this thing will slow down tha fast parts and play ot back on a loop.

The manual is easy to read and understand BUT most people feel they can operate this without reading the manual and get frustrated. You need to learn a few things first and the rest is easy.

Excellent sound quality. The sound models of the different musicians were dead on for all but one of them (my opinion). The sound models of the different amps were on and this was compared side by side with the same guitars and the modelled amp. The Whammy was on the money and this is a $200 effect alone. The EVH, Satriani, Eric Johnson, Brian May, Pat Martino, Angus Yound and Stevie Ray Vaughan (early Stevie) were dead on. Not much noise at all. Even the modelling for the different Bass types was amazingly accurate. The gain is smooth when transitioning and the effects were pretty good - I normally use BOSS pedals. Overall great sound quality and versatility BUT remember, YOU MUST READ THE MANUAL!!!

Excellent with the memory card for backup rythyms and drums. Takes time and the manual to record with the 8 track recorder. It is an excellent storage device of sounds for the stage. Both my friends use it in medium size venues throughout the Southeast - Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Venues from large clubs to College auditoriums.

I only called once and the guy was a representative who performed demos and was very helpful. Haven't needed anything else.

This is a versatile and powerful processor and tool. With a little work you can record background tracks for any small to medium venue and become a One-man band. I would recommend at least 1 Gig of memory for the memory card. Not very difficult to use once you read the manual - MANY PEOPLE DON'T GO THROUGH THE MANUAL AND THEN GET FRUSTRATED they can't work it the way they want to. Amazing piece of machinery that can easily be a backup or substitute for up to 6 pedals - anymore is probably useless or not practical. The price of $500 new was well worth it since the individual components will run you about $1,600 separately. At least try it at the store or let someone demo it for you - you won't be disappointed.

It took me a total of around 2 hours of tweaking before I could get a decent tone out of it, but I KNOW MY WAY AROUND DIGITAL EFFECTS. I can lay down block diagrams for almost any effect, explain how they work and what the parameters do, so bear in mind that I have it easier than most folks. Having said that, if you're familiar with tube amps, compressors, delays, modulation effects, etc. you'll probably be allright. Just to give you an idea, I was running the GN4 through headphones, and something was missing. I though "it the emulation was perfect, all I'm missing is the AIR (and ambience) between the sound source and my ears". So there I added ambient reverb and damn! Got an excellent tone!!

I used a Fender Deluxe V-Neck Strat, through the GNX4 and Sennheiser HD 265 headphones (it's crucial to use good quality headphones). After tweaking on it for a while I realized the potential of this unit is enormous and for the price the sound quality is astonishing. Really. Don't get fooled by the factory patches, they suck big time. Also when you give it a try, run it either good quality headphones or a decent FULL RANGE PA SETUP, and don't forget to turn speaker compensation ON. If possible, download the manual from the Digitech website and read it so you can tweak the GNX4 knowing what you're doing when you try it on a store.

On to the effects:
The pickup simulator may be useful, doesn't sound bad at all - the only reason I don't use it is that I like to keep my signal chain as short as possible.

The compressor is surprisingly good for a unit in this price range and actually very usable. More parameters than most units in this class too, and sounds like it's supposed to.

The whammy and IPS... well, I don't see a use for those except playing RATM and Iron Maiden covers, pitch shift is more useful and detune is essential, and a good one at that. Quality on higher interval shifts is what I'd expect from a unit in this price range - no better, no worse.

The stompbox emulation is nice; at least the TS9 one - I don't really know the others all that well, however the DS1 emulation doesn't sound too faithful.

Modulation effects are actually better than my Lexicon and Rocktron units - at least for my taste. Better suited for guitar and really rich sounding, specially with the compressor engaged. I was able to dial in a VERY NICE clean chorus patch in a few minutes, worth the price paid for the GNX alone.

Delay and reverb are not top notch but I really don't need studio quality time-based effects for guitar work. Honorable mentions for the ducking feature and Studio reverb though, I tend to take these things for granted but some units stink at them, not being the case with the GNX.

The drum machine sounds like real drums and, in one word is INSPIRING - what more can one expect? No cheesy drum patterns, the guys at Digitech took the trouble of coming up with USABLE drum patterns, unlike the cheap organ ones.

On the cabinet emulation feature; it's not a surprise to see how Digitech has evolved in that department, having been one of the pioneers at speaker emulation technology. The cabinets sound more realistic than I expected, and interestingly the types I like best are the ones I currently own (1x12 and 2x12).

Haven't had it for long, around a week, so no opinion there. Looks sturdy though, run-over-with-your-car class.

Haven't dealt with them.

I play rock, pop and some hair metal, been playing for 25 years. My current live setup is a Mesa/Boogie Triaxis (with V2 replaced with a GE 5751 for LESS gain) in parallel with a Marshall JMP-1; the signal is split and fed to both inputs; each preamp has its own effects processor (Rocktron Intellifex for the Triaxis and Lexicon MPX-1 for the JMP-1), and then both are mixed together and fed to a Laney VC-100 combo. So you see, I'm kinda demanding when it comes to guitar tone, and believe me, the GNX4 is much more than I had expected. To be very honest, I bought it just as a practice tool, but it sounds so good and my current setup is so heavy I'm having serious thoughts about using it live. At least for rehearsals it's my official setup as of yesterday!

If it were stolen I would either buy another one right away or wait to see if they come up with a GNX5, if I could wait for it which I sauppose I wouldn't.

What I love in the GNX4 is that I can get very, very close to my actual lead tone wearing headphones, and that's a lot!!! BTW, it's the Triaxis on the Lead 2 gren mode (Mark IIC I think), with just a little delay and that's it.

I didn't compare it to Pod, V-Amp or anything and I don't have to; neither of those has all the features I need (drum machine, recording and MP3 player), so since the tone is there, I don't need to look any further, case closed.

I found it hard to get a good sound out of it. This is in contrast to my DG-Stomp which pretty much sounds like a good tube amp right out of the box. All the presets sounded too bassy for my taste and I found it hard to get just the right amount of treble bite without it sounding thin or harsh. There are a lot of parameters on this thing to edit though, so I would not say that I could never get the sound I wanted out of it, I just gave up before I did. This is after almost a year of working with it. The editing iteself is quite easy though. I really like the endless rotary knobs they put on this thing. Just for the record I like clean and clear tones like fender and vox and then I like to use stompboxes to get different distortion sounds. BTW the stomp box modeler on this thing is quite cool, one of the best features I'd say. A lot of them really did remind me of the real thing. This is in contrast to the amps.

Not noisy. The effects are okay if somewhat uninspiring. Like I said above the stopbox modeling is quite cool and very useful as I could set this up as I do my live rig. Speaking of which, I tried using this thing as advertized, for live use, for recording and for practicing. I first gave up on the live aspect as there was too much - for lack of a better term - high-end funkyness. I've noticed this also with my DG-Stomp when used live. I suspect it has something to do with digital modeling. I really wanted it to work, it just didn't for my needs. I kept recording with it until recently when I decided to sell it because it would not interface corretly with the recording software I wanted to use it with over usb. Oh yeah, the looper is very hard to get good loops with, however the internal recording is really cool for capturing those inspired moments without missing a beat. That and the stomp box modeling are what I would say are the coolest things about this gadget.

I didn't have any problems and I was planning on gigging with it without a backup.

I play a lot of different styles and I have been playing for 16 years. If you like bright clean amp tones you may find it hard to get the sound you are after with this thing. Like I said above, you can tweak the hell out of it though, so I would never say you will never find the sound you are after. I guess I just like gear that sounds great right away, like my DG-Stomp. The stompbox modeling was cool, so was the whammy and the internal recording feature. Its a great idea whos time I am sure will come. I guess depending on how picky you are this may or may not work for some or all of your needs as a guitarist. I found that unfortunately for me it worked for none.

Different but not too bad once you understand the controls. Can be frustrating but I rarely need the manual anymore.

Mostly ASAT's, some P-90 hollow bodies and a LP Classic. No more noise for gain setting than any other box.

Pretty decent compared to POD XT Pro. Not as much "FIZZ" and ghost notes with OD tones. Love that! With the right live monitor setup it's 98% of what a great amp can do.

Seems good for the past 2 months.

The rep guy took good care of me when DT offered a pedal promotion. Glad I got that pedal too.

Nothing as awful as Line6 support that's for sure!

Everything along with acoustic guitar which the GNX4 handles very well too. Of course, turn off all amp/speaker sim for that duty. High gain, lo-gain OD, chicken pickin', surf stuff, I need it all and this does it with little BS compared to POD XT Pro.

'Been in the biz for almost 30 years. I make my living with guitar so if it sucks it won't stay with me for long. This doesn't suck and it combines the right amount of features that are actually useful for my work. Practice, Record, Perform is what is sez on the box and that's exactly what it does!

Had two XT Pro's but down to one after getting the GNX4. Probably gonna sell the other XT Pro now that GNX4 has stepped-up to the plate and I'd like to have another. Sure, the POD XT DSP engine is probably "better" and so is the tuner but it's the WHOLE GNX4 package that's superior for me when compared to POD XT.

Goodbye FIZZ, ghost notes and Line6 forum gods! See you at the Grammy's playing my GNX4!

O.K., I've not had my GNX for for too long, but I must say that from the moment I turned it on and plugged in my Gibson Studio and Marshall MG100dfx I was utterly blown away. I don't understand the reviews that have said it is difficult to use straight out of the box, I did this with no problems, however I do realise that I'm not even beginning to scratch the surface. The manual is quite Techy and it doesn't really flow like it should. However, I love playing around with things just to see what they do and that's something that you can do to your hearts content with the GNX4.

Editing patches couldn't be easier with the X-Edit software for the PC. The plethora of sounds available is simply staggering.

My unit came pre-loaded with 1.3 firmware and so far seems bug free.

Still getting used to the unit at the moment and sometimes when I've done a particular task, I can't remember how and it's difficult to replicate it.

I Have a Gibson Les Paul Studio (platinum) and a Marshall MG100DFX. So far I haven't experienced many problems with undue noise. The Accoustic preset was a little hissy, however, a bit of tweaking here and there and I seem to have eliminated that particular snake.

So far I am still having too much fun mucking around with it to give a definitive answer on sound quality, what I will say is that it seems to give me almost exactly the sound I'm looking for. If it doesn't, then tweaking will get me there.

Not had it long, it is built like a proverbial brick S**t-house though. Strong and sturdy, easy to read display and easy to access functions.

Not had any reason ever to contact Digitech.

I play all styles of music, and have been doing so for only 2-3 years yet (hey I'm a late developer, I didn't pick up a guitar until I was 31). So my views may not be as detailed as the more seasoned players on here.

I also have the Tascam CD-GT1 and the Line 6 Guitar Port, both I have had tremendous use out of. However, the on-board recording function and the excellent drum machine will make this a far better jamming instrument. The mp3 playback facility also means that this is an excellent tutoring piece of kit as well.

So far I have knocked out three tunes on it I must say, that it was very easy to do. The Pro-Tracks software provided made it easy to mix the tracks and I'm very happy with the end result - the only problem is my playing, but I'll continue to work on that.

I think that the GNX4 will work out to be worth it's weight in platinum, in time. At the moment I am just spitting in the sea, I can't wait until the time when I'm in the guts of the thing, really finding out what it can do for me.

Easy to use out of the box for the most commonly used features - totally intuitive to me with KNOBS. I'm not guitar tech whiz, but I figured out how to use everything except the 8-track within 10 minutes, INCLUDING the tweaking of effects on the board.

Gets more confusing when trying to setup the computer interface. It's actually not difficult at all, but I suspect here's where people seem to get "totally overwhelmed." Protracks is a great program, but if you're new to sequencing and pro audio, it'll blow you away at first - yet to its credit, it's one of the simpler programs out there in my opinion.

Editing patches is GREAT with X-edit at the computer. Doing some things, like effect editing is remarkably even easier on the unit itself due to the many knobs, but for true tone beauty, you MUST used the X-edit WARP features to combine amps. Even more importantly, you should be ready to download patches from the free digitech site; a fellow named Guitar3456 has created patches that are incredibly useful.

It's been said over and over, but I completely agree with the verdict:

Presets are terribly disappointing. I don't use ANY of them except for the "simulated bass", and I usually go right ahead and use factory presets on most pedalboards without much tweaking. I've owned other pedal boards in the past, and usually at least a few of the patches are really done well; in this case, I would have to say that all of my "favorite" download patches are SO much better than the factory presets that the conclusion is that they've done a subpar job on the presets.

But on the GNX4 - it's a WORLD of difference. In looking for an Eric Johnson sound, I was sadly disappointed in the "SOLO" or "SMOOTH" presets and couldn't seem to improve them with effects. However, after downloading somebody else's models which incorporated the EQ, amp WARPING, and better effects, it's like a completely new unit! This thing sounds as 95% as good as EJ's Dumble amps, and that's thru headphones! (Download the patch on Digitech.com)

This thing sounds great recorded direct via USB. The website has great sample songs - some of them are recorded improperly and sound crappy since the levels were too low, but most of the newer ones are done correctly and you get a sense of how a lot of people are getting this to sound.

I Love the drive on this thing - has a very unique sustain type overdrive that's remarkably clean yet very slightly crunchy for a tubelike solo drive. Of course, it's got all of Digitech's monster metal/grunge distortions as well.

Make no doubt about it - this thing can do ALL amps and sounds, in stereo, with awesome effects. If you want to create your own monster tones, I've found that you need to understand this unit at least at the level of "warping" amps together and distinguishing how a plate vs a hall reverb can make a critical difference between a bluesy versus metal sound. Fortunately, you don't need an engineering degree or a complicated book of music theory to achieve this - but you do need the time and the desire to mess with the incredible depth that's the GNX4.

Sound quality by me with my expertise and downloadable patches - easily 9-9.5 (I don't do 10 - that's for PERFECTION!)

Sound quality by the average tester who walks into a store and plugs right into the presets = 5.0. It's totally unimpressive and digital right out of the box. I'm not making this up - it's remakably disappointing for such a great unit.

Can't comment yet - just got it.

The hardware seems to work great and is housed in rugged steel.

My only complaint is with the USB computer drivers - while 100% reliable once they're up and running, they seem to occasionally disappear. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if it's a conflict with my other software. (This sort of stuff is really common for USB PC stuff, not unique to Digitech.)

The company actually monitors the user discussion forum and even released a short-term retroactive promotion to give us new buyers the chance to buy the extra foot controller at a steep discount. Seems to show initiative!

I play EVERYTHING, and favorite artists are Eric Johnson, SRV, Vai, DiMeola. I am a fairly accomplished guitar player, so I am also quite discriminating in my sounds and hardware performance.

I've managed to make Spot-on patches that sound 95% like the original artists, and are utterly convincing when recorded in their own right. What's even more amazing is that I don't even change guitars to get these sounds - the GNX4 can switch between them and even make my $150 Ibanez guitar sing or scream like it's a million dollars.

HIGHLY recommended. The 8-track is amazingly easy to use and I use it a lot. Computer hookup is a huge plus, and the awesome user forum with patches makes it a practically limitless unit. (Check out patches by Guitar3456 - they ROCK!)

This box takes a lot of bad publicity because most people expect plug and play. Not so with the GNX4. It is intended for folks creating music using their own presets. 90% of the presets available is not suited for immediate use. Also, another problem with this unit is that to achive other modes, you must step on two buttons simultaneously. Unless you are a complete flatfoot, this is extremely difficult, especially during live performances.

I am using an american made strat using Dr.Z Carmen Ghia tube amp. I've been playing for over 30 years. The sound quality of my strat and tube combination is of course to my liking. Connecting the GNX4 to my tube amp gave me ok results. I bought the GNX4 because of it's drums, bass, and amp modeling, with the intention of creating songs and backing music. Not being to impressed with the GNX4 sound quality, I decided to try it on my wife's live karaoke system. She's using a Yamaha full stereo powered mixer (EMX 88s)with two 500 watts 15 inch speakers and horns (S115 IVS)including 2 400 watts montors.
I found that by using her full range speaker system, the sound achieved was pretty awesome (after trials and errors). The drums sounded very very good, but the guitar and bass took some time to find that sweet tone. Don't expect to get 100% real tube amplification. For live usage it's pretty close considering all that background noise. Also, when creating your presets, make sure it sounds good at different volume levels. This box is very quiet with the noise gate turned on. The effects sounds best in stereo.

Everyting is metal with the exeption of the foot switches. I'm not to crazy with plastic for foot switches, but time will show. Also, the knobs are not protected with a step bar, so you have to be careful when using this box on a dimmed stage.

My friends have used various digitech products for years.
I haven't, so we'll see. In the meantime I have to trust my friends.

My music styles includes blues, rock and country. I bought this product to help me create songs and music. This is the only product (all in one) that does it all. It is also suitable for live usage, but only after you have carefully created your own presets and bought the extra GNXFC 3 button footswitch.

This is a fairly easy unit to use - if you're just going to use presets or the drum machine. But it is a very deep unit. Tweeking the sounds out of it will take a lot of time. The more that you work with it, the mnore you get out of it.

Well...the presets suck.

I'll say that right up front.

X-edit is a very cool feature. Don't waste time trying to edit sounds on the unit itself. Using X-edit on a mac I'm able to tweak the sounds a lot and get things that are useable.

It does not sound AS good as a $3000 tube amp. It's digital. You can get very Useable sounds if you make your own patches. For me -I asked do I want to lug 20 pedals, a rack mount looper and an amp to a coffee house gig, Or 1 pedal board and a powered speaker?

Again. I hated the presets. I tried this unit in Guitar center and walked out hating it. Then I saw the loop and USB functions and thought that I'd give it a try.

The WARP function is critical to a useable tone. Being able to put 2 different types of amps together into somethign useable is very cool!

This unit is totally solid.

Haven't dealt with them - but every question I've ever had has been answered on the Forums.

Midi in and out.
XLR and 1/4 " out.
Xlr in (w. phantom power for mics)

Plays Mp3s.
Built in drum machine.
Built in Jam Man.
8 Track recorder.
USB out.
Useable sounds.
EVERY paramater can be edited from amps to pedals.
Seemless integration w. OS X

HUNDREDS of downloadable patches on the website.

(I am waiting for the new X-edit to be able to use the website patches more easily)
If that's worth $500 to you, buy the unit.

Guitar rig sounds better, I am not willing to buy a top of the line G4 laptop, the guitar rig software and controller and bring it to a smokey bar to get beer spilled on it.

If you do looping or onboard recording - plan on spending another $35 for the extra floorboard and plan on spengin another 40-80 bucks on a flash card. (1 gig gets 3+ hours of recording time I believe)

I'm recording new tracks and all of the guitars are going through this thing.