DigiTech GSP-2101

Extremely easy to use and program. The key pads and jog wheel make it very easy to go right to the parameter you want to work on. However, the manual could be a little better at explaining the breakdown of the parameters.

I have no problem with the sound except for that some of the overdrive patches produce kind of a low-end clipping sound that is pretty ugly. I'm still trying to figure out if that is the unit or my amp (Marshall 40watt valvestate). If any one has any insight on this please email me: TVieira@ix.netcom.com

So far, so good. (a couple of months of full-time club work)

In general, I'm pretty happy with it. Once I find out what the low-end clipping sound is I'll be very happy. Also I'm curious to try using groove tubes to see how big of difference that makes.

Editing this unit is easy to learn, they actualy maneged to make what could be a very complex programming task easy! User assignable function keys on the front pannel, auto linking (signal routing) of user definable effect chains is a killer feature.... in many ways this unit is similar to the Eventide 4000 guitar processor, (Without the sound quality and the price)

I have owned this unit for about a year, At first I loved the sounds after a while I grew to hate them.... there is somthing very stiff about the chorus, and the very digital sounding reverbs.... tin rooms. But having siad that, the sounds are usable. The analog section is cool. The device sounds great direct into a board, however I have been bypassing the pre section in favor of my Boogie mark IIb preamp.

(The real reason why I'm submiting this review) Last night, on a gig the inputs on it started messing up. I suffered total signal loss several times. It killed me. It has been "limping" of late, I noticed a few DB level drop depending on the input I used, that got to be more and more over time. It all came to a head last night when the input on the rear stoped working all together. ... You only have to have a unit go out on a gig once, to realy lose faith and my fait in this unit is gone.

I would not buy this unit again. I do not recomend it to anyone, I know that it would work quite well for some folks, and it will (once I get it fixed) live in my studio rack, but for me it has proven unrelaiable for live use... In addition, it can take up to a full second to switch patches (even with the cross fade seemless option, there is a noticable and long delay... and no delay in the analog section which can cause a jerky sounding patch change)... if you must get one, get it cheap and used, then it *might* be worth it.

Note: This is a review of the GSP-2101 Limited Edition The studio tube's factory algorithms are easily changed to met the user's needs. The only complication occurs when designing new ones. The manual is extremly vague in this area. As far as the sound goes, its great. The seemless patch changes are way over rated

just as the unit sounds at the guitar stores, it is fabulous. The six types of distortion cover all the bases and allow each player to develop in new directions of sound. All ddl's sound great and are smooth. The wah belongs in the garbage!!! Get the cry baby rack unit. when using the non-programable whammy sound weak at times when your trying to sound "normal" (dry side). Turn down the gates!!!

The unitself has seemed to funtion properly every time it has been turned on. at times it hanges on effects are decides to make weird bumps upon changes with the FC1. FC one realtime controller needs to be longer to allow a smother and more precise range of motion.

If you like the unit and can stand to be out on your own, Then DOD/ Digitech is your company!!!! My unit came missing a switch (yes, the "hand tested and inspected" limeted edition) and when I tried to get it fixed I was told that it did not exist!!! When I finally got return authorization to install the switch, they did not repalce the noisy volume pot witch I noted on the phone and in a letter encolsed on top of the unit. To top that off, they deleted two of my algorithims and over twenty presets!!!! I'm so pissed over the whole thing I will never buy another DOD product again. it would be worth buing ten other units at three times the cost. lets face it, if you can afford $1500 on a hobby (which it is for me); you should not get --cked around like that.

The unit is great and I will not let it go; but I pray every time I turn it on that it well be O.K.!!!!! I maily play prog/metal (Vai, Dream Theater ...) and have found that I can get real close to most of the sound I need with just the 2101. But as noted above, it is bad business to do your higher-end customers wrong.

Very easy to get a great sound. I've downsized from a 20 space Bradshaw system to a 2101, Eventide h3000se, BBE 422a and Marshall 9200. I couldn't believe it could sound this good!! Editing is a breeze creating algorythms is a little difficult a first but once you get the hang of it it's not so bad. The seamless patch change (PPC210) and foot controller options are a must. The manual is adequate.

Very quiet, the effects are great for live guitar use. The harmonizer (smart shift) tracks extremely well, although it is a little noisey in the background. I've been able to keep my fridge (20 space rack) in my room without thinking twice.

My Control One's ext expression pedal function no longer works (1 month old). Everything else seems fine. I do use it without a backup. In all fairness my singer kicked my external expression pedal out of the jack while I was using it.

Very nice people. My unit came with an older software ver. They upgraded me for no charge even paid the shipping to Canada.

I love this baby. I've had a big rack for 11 years. This is a wet dream. I can carry it by myself and it sounds like I need four guys to lift it!!! I'm a little disapointed in the seamless patch change option, there is still a little gap between presets, but only in the preamp section not the effects. I'm afraid here Bob Bradshaw still wins. Fix it guys!!! and it will be PERFECT. I've tried and used a squillion different preamps and effects and for an all in one unit, this blows away anything else!!!

Note: This is a review of the GSP-2101 Limited Edition I have owned Digitech products before so I am familiar with their stuff. Editing pathes is very easy. The strenght of this unit is creating algorithms from scratch, this is much more difficult. Adding mixers is very confusing, and I'm used to Digitech products! It takes alot of experementing but once you learn, its not too bad. The manual is very weak in explaining, creating patches from scratch, don't waste alot of time reading it over like I did, you have to get your hands dirty and dive right in to learn it, but once you do, you will see what makes this unit so great.

This unit is very quiet, but I noticed the noise gates on the preset patches are set a little high for my playing( rock, heavy metal), however this is very easy to fix. I feel Digitech effects are the best in the business out of all the prossesers I have used, except for the wah, Digitech should go back to the drawing on this one. Its a good thing cry baby wahs are relativly cheap! The distotion tones are unbelievable! There simply isn't any tone you can't get with this unit. The blues patches are unreal and the dynamics via the tubes are "hair tingling". The reverbs, well I've yet to hear any that even compare, especially Gigaverb. I never even new how to play jazz until I hit the jazz presets on this unit, they are that good!

Well I think I just have bad luck becase the one I bought started making funny noises right out of the box. It wasn't a big deal though because the dealer I bought it from let me use another one until it is fixed. I've heard that if anything is going to go wrong on Digitech stuff it usually happens right away. I would always have some kind of back up on a gig!

The customer support I have had so far from Digitech has been terable! They sent back my unit in record time(1week) and I got it home and it was doing the exact same thing.Whats up with that? I am still waiting for it now (2weeks).

Except for the wah this is the best preamp/processor I have ever used, period! I should have bought this unit right from the start, especially considering the bath I took on all the products that I bought and traded in along the way, on my long quest for "guitar tone supremecy", oh well you live and learn I guess. If you want the confidance of knowing that you can get any tone, or play any style of music that you want,this is the unit for you.

Pretty straightforward to use, however there are many undocumented features, as well as features not well explained in the manual. Editing presets is relatively easy, creating new algorithms takes a bit of work until you learn the system.

The unit is quiet as long as the output knob remains at 12 o'clock or less (which is Digitech's recommendation anyway). The "silencer"/noise gate works extremely well- get used to your system being silent. Only cuts off tail in extreme settings.Digital effects are "OK," there is a loss of definition/clarity with the reverbs. Presets are generally over done with effects (trying to grab you in the store) and you will generally need to "dry them out" for playing live. This unit's real strength is putting sound direct to tape. I feel it is lacking "balls" in live use- the sound is somewhat muffled and dark through 2x12 Mesa cabs.

The buttons (especially the arrow buttons) began to stick with use. With the footcontroller, it would send "pedal all the way down" messages at random, especially fun when you are controlling volume or distortion.....

The customer support people were knowledgable, accessible, and took care of my problems right away. They even sent me a free ROM upgrade to repair my FC problem.

I ended up getting tired of the "overly processed" sound, and bought a Mesa Triaxis for live use. But, the guy I sold it to was pretty happy.....

I am used to Digitech stuff, so this was a breeze. The manual is good. The best way to edit patches is to find the basic sounds in the preset patches, and then edit them to taste. I liked the reverb and tone settings on patches 8 and 22, and made 8 or 10 very usable patches from these just by adding distortion, chorus, etc. Don't consider this unit complete without the chip upgrade. The switching is too slow.

The sound quality is excellent. Sometimes I play my guitar straight into a fender amp just to get a basis for the tone quality. After 5 minutes I go back to the 2101 and am happy to do so.

I have done about 200 gigs with no trouble whatever.

I was probably a pin in the ass to the techs a time or two before I got wise and upraded with the extra s-disc chip. They never threw me off the telephone.

I tried several other high end units. This shines. The only complaint I have is the lack of an input level control. How the hell they could have missed such an obvious feature amaizes me. The problem comes when you switch to a guitar with a different output level and can't compensate. the result, for example, is that when I put down my Strat with low output, and put on my Paul, with high output is that the clean patches become louder, and the compressed and distorted patches get wimpy. A simple knob would do the trick. The only solution I could come up with was to design similar use patches on a different bank with the output compensated for in the preamp section. This was a pain in the ass. I hope Digitech is listening. Also, this unit could use another effects loop. I use a DHP 33 harmonizer, and I wish the engineers would have considered how these two units would be used together. After considerable screwing around I came up with some very sweet sounds, especially harmonized distorted sounds. I would like to hear from anyone who has used and Eventide with the gsp2101.

Getting a good sound is pretty easy. Getting a "great" sound is very complicated. Editing the patches isn't too bad. Most of the PA effects are even worse. Editing the patches is difficult when using mixers or digital eq.s. The effects all have a lot of parameters to considder. The manual is not very explanatory. It could use more examples of linking, controller assignments, etc. Programming the inter-patch gain structures is a pain. Give yourself 2 months to learn how this thing works.

With the noise gate properly set up, the 2101 is very quiet. Even when playing my 1967 Ric-330 whose single-coil pickups receive noise from every cheap dimmer around. With the parameters set correctly, I get all the sustain possible from this low-gain guitar, and NO noise when idle. Nearly all of the digital effects are outstanding for guitar use.

Very dependable. I play about 4-6 one night gigs a month. So this thing gets put in the back of a cube van and transported to/from who knows where every gig. My 2101 is nearly a year old and ... So far, so good. The construction is pretty sturdy. It should last a long time if you keep it racked with front/rear covers. We carry a backup amp (Mostly for the other guitar player (GK))

Customer support was very good. The unit came in with the back lighting in the LCD display non-functional. The repair took less time than most. Shipping was the determining factor.

This is an excellent piece of equipment. The quality is exceptional and the amount of flexibility is nearly unimaginable. However, adjusting settings on the fly, is very much a pain. I would like to see four assignable knobs assignable as either data wheels or continuous controllers on the front panel. i.e. Gain1, Gain2, Master Volume, Wet/Dry, Reverb Depth, etc...

The GSP 2101 is the Mother of all guitar preamp/effects devices. With a digitally controlled analog front end that includes Compressor, EQ and valve or transistor distortion followed by a high quality stereo digital effects section with hundreds of effects it is the guitarists dream. I've tried many other valve preamps and none of them come anywhere near this one. There are over 100 presets that come with it that are a good starting point but I've found that the guitar you use,the type of pickups you have, and wheather you use it direct into a mixing board or into an amp and cabinet make a big difference to the sound so you need to tweek the patches to suit your ears and your setup. There are so many effects that it takes a while to fully understand how to adjust all the settings but if you are serious about getting killer guitar sounds its well worth the effort to learn how to program it. I didn't find it that difficult to learn the basics its just that there are so many things to tweek that it takes time until you are familiar with all the effects devices. The manual is good but not excellent, although a newer improved version is due out this month with a cool software upgrade which I intend to buy.
I bought the limited edition and the Control One foot pedal which is a must.

If you are prepared to tweek to match your own gear its unbeatable with superb distortion sounds from the twin valves and high quality effects devices. Its very quiet and has balanced outputs for direct inject into a mixing board. Its the best sounding unit I could lay my hands on.

Its built like a tank, I have used it in the studio and for gigs, no problem.

I subscribe to a non company usergroup (which you can find from the company web page) that has answered all my questions. An unofficial member of digitech adds useful in depth answers to a lot of the more difficult user questions in this group which is the perfect way to get support as far as I am concerned. I've not had it long enough to encounter tech problems so I have no idea about direct company support. They put out fairly regular software upgrades which is an excellent plus for a unit of this quality.

This is one of the best toys I have ever bought. Check it against the other preamps in your local guitar shop and you will not be dissapointed. It cost a fair amount but then again if you want the best you gotta pay for it. I've been playing guitar for many years now and this is the most revolutionary improvement in my playing enjoyment since I bought my first Marshall amp & stack. It has practically everything you could ever want out of a preamp/effects device. AS you can tell I love the thing.

You have to be at least a part time studio technician in order to fully explore this beast, but it worse it. To me, as a computer programmer, it was easy to operate. I do not envy on those pure musical guys. They would probebly prefer the old and faithful 'floor' effect chain. But, but, but, these guys (DigiTech) invest some thought about the functionality, and after you become familar with the device, you understand that it is great for live shows.

Clean as a whistle, even the distortions which are great. Almost all the effects are reasonable - leave out the FX Revereb, It was only implemented for chain use, and does not comparable to the more proffesional reverbs in the unit (Big, Giga). I was sorry to understand that FX reverb is almost the only reverb that can be used when creating simple algorithms, because he does not need much device resources. If you want the best of the best, you probebly go for the extesion module (DSP with extra 512 RAM blocks).

Good until far (4 weeks of usage)

I would buy it again because I've used GP8 and SPX90 before that. I'm a 'rack mounted musician' and for me, this devise supply ALL my live needs(!). I will not bring anything else to the show. I love the little things Digitech tought off, like the tuner and the LEDS setups of the pedals. I didn't like the fact that I have to buy extension to get the full blown quality. I crying, like lot of guys here for a computer interface & software. For me, it helps me to make music, but I need more time to be accurate regarding my patches, and I can do it with this device.