DigiTech GSP1101

So long as you're up to speed on these kind of units, the GSP1101 is one of the easiest to use. The multi-line screen helps you along the way with editing tips, and the operating system seems well laid-out and understandable.

The only hitch that I've found is the exclusion of tap-tempo delay time using a footswitch or MIDI. That's just crazy...a big mistake, in my opinion. DigiTech is incorporating that feature on their new, fairly expensive Control 2 footcontroller for the GSP, but they didn't take the extra few hours to write it into the operating system so owners of MIDI footcontrollers or manual footswitches could use that feature. Personally, I own an old Roland FC200 that works well and hoped I could use it to change programs and tap in delay times (something I do a lot). Programs? Yes. Delay time? Nope. If DigiTech spends any time at all updating this product, tap-tempo via MIDI or manual footswitch should be high on the priority list. This is a fairly common feature among modern effects units designed for guitar or PA.

This is very subjective, but I'll venture into this category a little. First off, I'm not a fan of modeled amps and cabinets...that's not what I bought the GSP for. Every modeled amp I've ever heard has at best a 2-dimensional, artificial tone. I use my GSP integrated with a Mesa Rect-O-Verb preamp & amp, and this combination sounds fantastic! I'm only using the amp models for one thing: Very high-gain tones. In this case, the model of a Mesa Dual Rectifier sounds better to my ears than my R-O-V turned up to the same degree of gain. The Mesa "squashes" and blurs at very high gain, while the GSP model sounds a little tighter.

Since I don't really use the modeled amps much, I won't let their artificial sound spoil my rating on sound quality. If you ignore the amps, the GSP is a stellar effects unit...the first I've ever heard that truly integrates with a guitar amp without adding or subtracting from the basic tone. This is exactly what DigiTech promises in the ads for this unit, and they've done a great job achieving that goal. I'm extremely pleased with most of the stompbox emulations, and the chorus/delay/reverb section truly shines.

Not sure about reliability, though the unit seems well-built and has a built-in power supply instead of a damn wall-wart. The GSP should last a long time.

Excellent customer support! I emailed them twice regarding the Control 2 and afore-mentioned tap-tempo issue. Both times, I received a reply in less than a day.

Great unit with just a few detractions. Stompboxes, EQ, effects and overall tone...two thumbs up! Amp models and lack of tap-tempo (without the Control 2 footcontroller)...just average.

Perfect! You really don't need the manual!

FX: Perfect, especially the chorus !
Preamp: Very artificial. Not too good imho.

It looks and feels pretty stable and reliable.

I bought it two weeks ago, so I never used the costumer-service ;)

Ok, but don't use the preamp-section!

Unlike my POD XT Live, The Digitech GSP 1101 does not require tweaking to get a good sound. The patches are highly usable as is and the unit right out of the box is honestly ready to go. With the POD XT I spent most of my guitar time tweaking knobs, with the Digitech I just plug and play. However, the GSP 1101 is also very deep and can be altered heavily both from the front panel as well as from the editing software that came with the unit.

The editing software is very similar to the type of software that came with my POD XT. However, I have only used the software once because I never feel the need to edit, as the tone sounds good in the first place. I rather spend my time playing my guitar then turning knobs.

There are several patches designed to sound like popular bands. For example, ???Angel of Death??? ??? SLAYER, ???Jump in the Fire??? ??? Metallica, ???Sweet Leaves??? ??? Black Sabbath. Usually when patches have such names they never sound anything like the tones they claim to be but these tones actually sound very convincing. The Slayer and Metallica patches both nail that old school early 80???s JCM 800 metal tone and the Black Sabbath tone has that godly dirty, fuzzy distorted tone from the 70???s. I can get numerous Metal tones from the early 70???s up to the most modern overdrive and distortion tones. I am highly impressed with several of the amps in this unit I am currently in love with patch 21 which is a digitech model, other highlights include the GSP 2101 saturated tube tone and the Carvin Legacy Lead tone. I can easily obtain any kind of Metal tone I want.

There are also a lot of grand non-metal tones that cover everything from Blues to Jazz or Surf to Classic Rock; there is also a very nice Acoustic Simulator.

The effects are very easy to set up since they do it for you. You just click the effect library and pick a pre-adjusted effect. My favorite effects in the unit are the reverbs, delays and pitch shifters.

I only spend my time recording so I can't say if it is gig worthy and I have no idea if it sounds good as a pre-amp but for an amp modeler in a studio it is the best thing I have found so far.

I have had the GSP 1101 for one Month.
I have owned every POD released.
Upon purchase of this Item I was still playing through a POD XT Live.
I spend most of my guitar time recording.
I have been playing for 20 years I mainly play Metal. (Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal and Progressive Metal.)
The 2 guitars I have played through the GSP 1101 are a Carvin 7 string loaded with Dimarzio D-Activators and a Carvin 6 string loaded with a Dimarzio X2N and a Super 2. www.aethyria.com

My complaints:

I really wish it had a tap tempo button and I wish the delays had bpm selection as well as note selection. This unit is obviously trying to compete with the Pod XT live and it does that without even trying but my POD has a tap tempo, bpm selection and note selection of delay and they really should have added those options to the unit.

However, next month when the GSP 1101 midi pedal board "Control 2" comes out it will come with a tap tempo button so I will finally be able to set the tempo of the delay easily, as all delays should be. To be honest this was my only complaint and since the pedal board releases in January, I really don't have any issues except I might not like the price of the pedal board.

The only other complaint I can think of is I don't need the rack design and would have preferred it if they offered a desktop version.

I have not turned my POD back on since the day this thing arrived. I actually entertained the idea of using my pod as a pedal board for my digitech.

man what a breeze to use.one of the easiest processor to navigate.

i have it in the series loop of my diezel herbert.i tried out the amp models just for the heck of it,i dont like amp modeling.so i wont go there. i bought it just for its effects,i like what they offer,simple easy to use,realistic effects.i have several of the real pedals to match em up with.they are great effects in the gsp.
it does not seam to affect the diezel,for i dumped the tc G System because of that.dont mess with the amp tone!
the noise gate,i dont like i have my isp pedal in the loop,that works the gsp does not cut it like the gsp,either it works or it doesnt no in between for me.

aint broke yet,knobs could be better quality

well see how it goes,i have had..gforce,g major,g system,mpxg2,rocktron prophesy,xpression,alesis quadraverb,and a bunch of other processors,i just wanted something to add to my rig that was easy to use and eliminate a few of my pedals not all!and works for me so far,till the next big deal right.great bang for the buck,too much equipment is overrated.overpriced.not this

I bought this unit a week ago and already have it together, its so simple to use.
Everything is clear and well explained in the manual.
Editing the patches is a breeze , storing patches or renaming also very simple.
I'm using Mac and hoping that the 1.3 firmware will be available soon, for PC its already there, also the X-edit software doesn't work with OSX Leopard yet.

My style is Jazz, World ,Fusion, Latin and Funk, before buying the GSP1101 i had the impression it was a Metal/ Rock based machine, but now i can say its one of the most flexable preamps on the market , ready for any style of music.
I like very much the amp simulation as example the Twin and the Digi Clean amp.
I'm using it in combi with a Rocktron Velocity300 .No noise heard and thats a seldom heard thing.
The idea of a tone library and effects library is a great idea and a good point to start creating your own sounds and patches.

Till sofar no issues.
Unit was an open box (returned).

Had question about the firmware and Leopard support and they answered in 2 hours or so.

I have been using a Pod-Pro "19", Tech21 Sansamp , Boss GX700 and a Rocktron Piranha over the last years but the GSP1101 makes these other units useless.
Actually i sold my Pod-Pro and Tech21 Sansamp and have even cash left for maybe another GSP1101 for my home recording studio.
Price is a steal.....

I would be nice to change the order of the effects and it would be handy to copy a certain effect setting (chorus, delay ,reverb etc etc) to a favourite preset. The Boss GX700 has this .
Hopefully an update will make this happen soon.

Hi, The first day I had it at home, it was a little hard to get MY sounds, but just the 1st day!, because the following days it was really cool to catch MY sounds. It is really nice to get what you want or edit patches with its cool LCD screen. The manual is complete enough to get the informations you're lookin'for. Firmware revision number was 1.2 when I bought it. 2 days later it was 1.3: I updated it via USB.

Everything you're lookin for you can find with GSP1101, but what quality!!! It is the once unit I have ever heard it sounds excellent. It is completely digital but is the once I love because it is tube-similar. I love the tubes. Iron Maiden, skid row, deep purple, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue. I found all these sounds, clean and distortion. The sounds are really definite. The effects section is excellent: choruses are good, reverbs are superb, delays really good, pitch shifter never heard with 500$ of unit... Noise: there's somethin noise when I put another preamp into the loop of my GSP but no problem. GSP can simulate every preamp (if you're a good sound maniac). If you put in the effects chain too much effects you hear a little noise but you can correct it with a little bit of the GSP's noise gate. I play rock and heavy metal with my band: live, at home when I practice myself, open air, but always with just this setup: GSP1101+Marshall EL84 20/20 power amp+Marshall 1936 loaded with Celestions G12T-75cab+Jackson guitar with Seymour duncans or Ibanez RG2620 Prestige with DiMarzios, Rocktron MIDI X Change foot controller.
This is my main setup.

If it were stolen or broken, i'd buy another, sure. I use just a Rocktron Voodu Valve for backup: a good preamp but not so real as the GSP1101. I used the Voodu Valve live and at home for a lot.
I had also a Mesa Boogie 20/20 Power Amp but I prefere he Marshall.
I think the GSP plays very good also with a Marshall 9100 (very good preamp)

I come from Italy and written to the USA customer support. It is really professional and speedy: I was lookin for the software, because the CD included with the GSP1101 was wrong. I asked to the customer support, and the following day they sent me the right software. I???m Italian and think it is really functional and professional.

I play rock/metal and this unit is what I was looking for.
I play for 10 years. (I'm 19).
The best preamp (and now all the setup) I have ever had.
I had a lot of preamps or preamp-multifx: Marshall JMP-1, mesa boogie v-twin, rocktron pro-gap ultra, rocktron chameleon, Boss GT-8, Peavey Tubefex. and heard a lot of preamps like mesa Triaxis, Engl E530, E570 LTD edition, Kitty Hawk, ADA MP-1...
I think the GSP1101 is the best. And it costs just 500$.
I reccomend to you the GSP.

The GSP1101 is an incredibly easy unit to use. Just about anyone should have this up and running within a few minutes of opening the box. I'm also glad that DigiTech put knobs on the unit for controlling gain, amp level, basic eq, and the master level. This beats having things being totally menu driven. As far as editing, using the Xedit software is much easier than trying set up patches from the front screen. While the editing software is very utilitarian in appearance, it works well and was easy to figure out.

Currently, I am using the GSP1101 via the four cable method with a Mesa Boogie F50, and I am using the GSP1101 as a direct recording unit. The 1101 is pretty transparent with the F50, and works well as a basic effects unit for the amp. I also enjoy having the ability to set up patches that use the internal preamp in the GSP1101. This is great for when one of the two channels on the Mesa doesn't offer what I am looking for.

I was pleased with all of the effects offerings, especially the DS-1 model and the tape echo effects. The diatonic harmonizer works better than I expected it to, and with a little work (and just for kicks)I was able to set it up for some Judas Priest and Iron Maiden twin guitar parts. When using the diatonic harmonizer, the effect seems to work better using the GSP1101's internal preamp and one of it's amp models. There was a tendency for the effect to become "glitchy" when using the lead channel on the F50 for gain.

I have not, and will probably never, tried some of the more esoteric effects on the unit. Being a chorus, reverb, delay type of user, the quality of those effects are what I tend to concentrate on when purchasing a unit. In these categories, the GSP1101 does a very good job. The Lexicon reverbs are particularly nice.

Personally, I feel that the amp models sound more natural, and are more responsive, than on the Podxt I was previously using.

I have owned DigiTech products in the past and have never had a problem with them. There are folks out there still using DigiTech processors from ten and fifteen years ago, so I am confident this unit will last as well.

I have never had to use them, so I cannot offer an opinion here.
However, a dedicated foot controller (perhaps that connects via the ethernet port on the unit) would be nice.

This is a great unit for under $1000.00. For those people, like me, who wanted something between the RP, Boss GT, Line6 offerings and a high end unit like Fractal Audio's AxeFx, this is the perfect piece of gear. The flexibility of using the four cable method and the ability to switch back and forth between my amps internal preamp or the preamp in the GSP1101 provides me with access to a huge array of sounds.

There is a small (very small) board for the GSP1101 at http://www.setbb.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=gsp1101

What in incredible product. The best amp modeler I have used...and I go back to the early DigiTech 2101 series, and on to the first "digital modelers", being the Line 6 AX2 212, and on through the Vox Valvetronix AD120VTH "blue" Head as well as the newest ToneLab LE.

The DigiTech GSP1101 is a step beyond them all...especially the Line 6 POD products. The User Interface is wonderfully intuitive...and in combination with the DigiTech X-edit2 Software, the programming of tones is both easy, and deep.

I have to totally disagree with the previous reviewer...who gave the GSP1101 a "5" for Sound Quality. I am a Tube Amp guy, and there is no substitute for a great tube amp and external stombox pedals. HOWEVER, the GSP1101 sounds fantastic, and completely tube-like and 3-dimensional. I have programmed a patch which sounds almost EXACTLY like my current rig (AnalogMan CompROSSor==>AnalogMan DS-1/Pro ==> Peavey ValveKing. Certainly, if I were to do a blind A/B test for a large sample of guitarist, I am certain that most would not be able to determine which was the real amp, versus the "modeled" amp of the GSP1101.

I can't tell you what a revelation it is, to be able to be playing through my own amp and effects at any given time, and then instantly switch over to using the GSP1101's built-in, internal amp modeling whenever I choose. Now, admittedly this wouldn't be so great if the GSP1101's internal modeling wasn't good. But that is NOT the case. The GSP1101's digital amp modeling is, IMHO, extraordinary.

I can't guarantee that every single amp model is completely faithful to the original...because I haven't tried all of the amps that the GSP1101 models. I WILL SAY, however, that all of the models sound and feel great...with all the warmth, dynamics and interaction that one associates with a 100% tube amp.

The Amp Models in the GSP1101 are the best I have heard on any digital modeler, which includes the Line 6 PODS, the Boss GT-6 and GT-8, the Vox Valvetronix series. The GSP1101 has none of the high-end digital "fizz" that plagues the POD series. All the tones are organic, and have a lovely warmth and roundness. Furthermore, the GSP1101 is able to provide a low-gain Crunch tone, which is so difficult to obtain with all the other Modelers.

From Clean, to Crunch, to Medium Gain, all the way to over-the-top High Gain, the GSP1101 excels at them all.

The combination of Parametric EQ's, as well as Global 7-Band EQ allows excellent fine tuning of your tone.

It's a rack unit. I have had it for 2-months, with zero problems. Any technical questions I have had have been answered promptly by Doug from DigiTech

See Above

This unit is built to fit into just about any live or studio setup you can think of, and as a bassist/guitarist using this to simplify two different sprawling pedal boards as well as for recording demos this was a big plus. Out of the box, I immediately downloaded the upgrade to firmware v1.3.

As I began setting it up with my bass rig, it took me a short time to work out the preamp routing settings (I'm using my amp's preamp). But once I did, I found the unit very intuitive to set up presets and get good sounds out of. The manual was very useful and probably would have overcome my initial fumbling had I read it first! It was a breeze setting up MIDI patch changes and expression pedals with my FCB1010.

I've been playing with the GSP1101 for about a week now and the sounds I've achieved can be described by only one word - brilliant. The effects sound rich and full for a digital unit, and with a bit of nouse can be tweaked to get just about any tone you want. I particularly like the phaser, flanger, whammy and 'YaYa' effects, while the chorus patches are slightly thin (but still not terrible). The wah models were also a little hard to set up for bass, but sounded very nice on guitar - I suppose this was to be expected. Reverbs and delays were top notch, the delays in particular sounded brilliant through my bass rig. I found the Big Muff distortion pedal sounded quite good for bass, with the SparkleDrive the pick of the pedals for guitar.

The amp/cab models were, like most modelled amps listened to through headphones, a little two-dimensional. I found adding just a little of the Lexicon ambient reverb made them sound much more like a miked cabinet in a room, which would lend itself better to adding room reverbs in the computer to give a realistic tone. I A/B'ed my JCM2000 DSL50 against the JCM2000 model and found it wasn't too bad a match, although I needed to run a distortion pedal model to get the same gain as my DSL50's dirty channel. Other good models were the JCM800, Mesa Dual Recti'frier', the Soldano, Legacy and Matchless, while the acoustic amp models weren't great.

Some of the cabinet simulators left me a little perplexed. By far the pick for distorted guitar was the Greenback 4x12 - many of the others sounded very 'nasaly' and overly bright. This would work well for clean bluesy stuff, but they didn't really do justice to the cabs they were based on.

As for bass - I set up a reasonable sound using my existing Hartke Bass Attack pedal, into a Brown Bassman amp model and a Bassman 4x10 cab model. This sounded pretty good but was a little dirtier than I would have hoped. Given the number of guitarists who also play or record bass it would be nice to see at least one dedicated bass amp model on some of these units.

It's in a rack and supported by a power conditioner so I don't see any reason to doubt its dependability. I would gig without a backup - but then I have neither the money nor the carspace to buy and take along two of everything I gig with!

It does have plastic knobs but I'm sure it will still work even if one of these gets bumped off.

I've dealt with their Australian distributor once for a VX300 vocal effects unit problem, they were pretty good as far as distributors go but nothing to write home about.

Mind you, I bought the GSP1101 from a shop in Germany so my warranty resides there!

I primarily play bass in rock/punk/heavy bands, though as mentioned I also play guitar and record both. This unit is everything I was after.

I've been playing bass for six years and guitar for four, but have been a performer for 16 years. I have also had a keen interest in sound engineering for five years and have produced two releases.

My other equipment includes/has included:

Bass:
SWR Workingmans 4004 amp
Fender Bassman 4x10T cab
Hartke 4.5XL 4x10T cab
Ashdown Mag 2x10T cab
Mesa Boogie Powerhouse 6x10T cab
Hartke Bass Attack pedal
Behringer Hell Babe wah
Shure SLX wireless
Behringer rack tuner
Behringer virtualiser DSP2496 effects
Behringer composer dynamics
Phonic Power Conditioner
Behringer FCB1010
Cutting Edge custom made 5 string (Q-tuner pups)
Music Man SUB 5 string (Bartolini Pup)
Fender Mex standard 4 string P-bass (SD quarter pound pup)
Ibanez SG405 5 string
Ibanez acoustic 4 string

Guitar:
Marshall JCM2000 DSL50
Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 4x12 cab
Danelectro distortion
Visual Sounds Jeckyl & Hyde
Behringer Chorus
Gretsch Pro-Jet

Other:
Behringer V-amp 2 modeller
Digitech VX300 vocal effects

If this were lost or stolen, I'd buy another one as soon as I got out of jail from ripping the thief's face off

This unit sounds great and is more flexible for live and studio use than just about any other effects unit on the market - thats why I bought it over the offerings from Boss, Rocktron, TC, Line 6 and many others. If you know what you're doing and are in the market for a solid, flexible effects rack look no further.

Confusion --> Frustration --> Panic --> Revelation --> Inspiration --> Happiness & Satisfaction --> Anticipation of further and future tonal wonders

I went thru each of these successive stages during my first 4-hours with my new GSP1101. The first hour and half was taken up mostly with the physical hook-up and connections with my existing rig, initial power on, initial programming set-up, and initial MAJOR PANIC and Bewilderment...due to the crappy sound I was getting. YIKES!!!!

How could this state-of-the art, next-gen, pro-class rack mount preamp/modeler/MultiFX system, designed with 2 of the newest, high powered audio/DSP processors (Harman's Audio DNA2 chips), and including a feature-rich set of digitally modeled stomp box pedals, point-to-point topology amp models, and high-end Chorus/FX, Delays and Lexicon Reverbs...sound so terrible, muddy, and down-right ugly ???

Quite easily, actually...If It HASN'T BEEN SET-UP PROPERLY by the User.

Indeed, despite an extensive pre-study of the GSP1101's User Manual, and carefully following the step-by-step instructions in the automated User Setup/configuration menu...somehow I still managed to screw this up somehow. :freak: Of course, I didn't realize this until after I had completed the initial setup procedures, and began sampling the first pre-set. As soon as I turned up my guitar, and played a couple of notes, I realized something was terribly wrong. And my only hope was that it wasn't a poor choice in new products on my part. And, as it turns out, this fortunately is not the case.

On the contrary. After figuring out what was going wrong, and making the appropriate corrections...I am convinced that DigiTech has developed and delivered a fantastic product, in the GSP1101.

Now, in my defense...and despite of the well thought out, automated set-up menu (which walks the User through the different configuration modes, and fine tunes the processor algorithms so as to sound the best with your unique gear and method of sound reproduction), there still remains sources of confusion. And, it is rather easy to over-look a key parameter or two, which can make all the difference in the world.

In my particular case, I had made the correct physical connections, as well as correctly "telling" the GSP1101 how I wanted it to be configured, during the automated set-up procedure. What I had overlooked, is a parameter in the main "Edit Effects/Preset menu. Even though I had correctly answered the set-up questions, and had clearly programmed the GSP1101 to configure itself for "Amp Input/Preamp Loop"...for some NON-intuitive reason, I still had to manually re-configure two settings;

1) In the Global Functions menu, I had to get into the "I/O" Setup, and set the "Type of Loop" to ==> "Into/Ext Preamp". This configures the GSP1101 so as to allow the use of EITHER your existing stomp box pedals and main amp, OR to bypass your external amp & stomp box pedals, and instead utilize the GSP1101's internal preamp/amp modeling. << Note that this pre-supposes that you; a) have an amp which has built-in FX loop, and b) that you have physically hooked up your amp and GSP1101 in the 4-cable method, as depicted on page 12 of the USER MANUAL (and designated as Set-up configuration #7 -- "Amp Input/Preamp Loop" >>.

2) Next, I had to return to the pre-programmed factory preset, enter the Edit mode, and select the menu "FX loop" and manually set and program it for either "external" or "internal" preamp.

BEFORE I HAD DISCOVERED THIS..I SOMEHOW HAD THE INTERNAL AMP MODELS ACTIVATED, AS WELL AS MY EXTERNAL PREAMP OF MY VALVEKING 100. SO, WHAT WAS HAPPENING WAS THAT, EFFECTIVELY, I WAS GOING THROUGH TWO PREAMPS IN SERIES. In other words, my signal included both the internal GSP1101 preamp as well as my ValveKing's preamp. No wonder it sounded like complete and utter crap.

Once I found the error, I re-set the programming so that it was either one or the other...not both.

Having made the necessary corrections, I set the GSP1101 to have my external Valveking' preamp in the loop (with the GSP1101's internal preamp/amp bypassed)...now I had my standard wonderful tone from my external stompbox pedals and Peavey ValveKing amp...yet I still could include the GSP1101's post-Amp FXs, such as chorus, delays and reverbs.

Alternatively, I set the GSP1101 to turn off the "External Loop" (thereby bypassing my ValveKing's preamp) and enabled the GSP1101's internal preamp modeling. Again, great results! The GSP1101's internal preamp, in combination with my Peavey ValveKing's 6L6-based power section, is an excellent match.

In fact, I very quickly was able to program and save my first User pre-set, in which I have selected the GSP1101's "DigiTech Blues" preamp/amp model. I also programmed in the GSP1101's model of the MXR DynaComp compressor, and TS-808 Tube Screamer Overdrive. Finally, I added a bit of tasty and warm plate reverb. These took me all of 5-minutes to program and tweak some parameters, and then save. Keep in mind that this is just my first pass at making my own patch from scratch. Nevertheless, the results were FANTASTASTIC. I was getting a wonderful overdriven tone, that has a nice mid-range...and perfect for single-note Lead / Solo lines. This sounded like the real deal. It had none of the fake, digital sounding harshness of the Line 6 POD series. It was alive, it breathed, and sounded wonderfully 3-dimensional!

So, to make a long story long... I haven't even scratched the surface of the GSP1101's sonic landscape. Nor have I yet had a chance to listen to all the different amp models the GSP1101 has to offer...probably because I had so much fun playing with this first program/patch I made.

I did, however, spend a few minutes audtioning a few select amp models. These are based on the Solano SLO 100, and Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. I have never heard, first-hand, the sound from a SLO. Therefore, I can't compare how "accurate" the DigiTech GSP1101's model is. However, I CAN SAY that this model kicked all kinds of ass. The creamy, liquid sustain was simply sublime. And there was a huge amount of useable gain range, available. The model of the M-B Dual Rec was very, very impressive. And that is an amp I have owned, and know well. Again, DigiTech nailed the "in your F'n face" gain, as well as the Rectifier's somewhat buzzy distortion and feedback

I also sampled some of DigiTech's own models, including an eerily accurate model of the DigiTech GSP2101 Artist "Saturated Tube". I am also happy to report that the factory pre-programmed presets all all quite nice. They give you a wide selection of tones, and demonstrate the many different effects and effects combinations which are available. My initial perception is that all the factory presets show taste and moderation. There is none of the crazy, over-the-top, effects-laden garbage that typically is found on these kinds of devices. DigiTech has wisely decided to take a more serious, conservative approach with the factory presets...and the results are evident and (at least for me) appreciated.

I would give this a 9.5, if there were 1/2 point increments.

I have owned many DigiTech products in the past, including the original GSP21 (wow, '80s flashback!), the GSP2101, and various stompbox pedals, including the wonderful "Bad Monkey" overdrive pedal (incredible bang for the buck).

I have never had a single problem with any of the DigiTech products I have owned.

I had a few technical questions on the GSP1101, which I emailed to Doug at DigiTech. I replied promptly with all the answers I needed.

I can't think of a similar product, either rackmount or floor / pedal board type, which represents as much value and "bang for the buck". At $499, the DigiTech GSP1101 decidedly trumps the competition (e.g. Line 6 PODs, Behringer, Vox Tonelab, Boss GTs), IMHO. The best feature of the GSP1101 is the flexibility it provides the User. You can choose to keep your existing tone (stombox pedals and amp) and just use the GSP1101's post Amp effects...or automatically configure the GSP1101 to utilize it's excellent built-in stombox and amp model effects. Furthermore, if you choose to use your existing amp's preamp section, you can still program the GSP1101 so that you put one of it's built-in overdrive or distortion pedals models in front. There are literally thousands of different tone possibilities/combinations with the GSP1101. And you can use as much or as little of the GSP1101's capabilities as you want. This device does NOT mess with your core tone. It enhances it.

Simply a fantastic value, and great product.