DigiTech GSP1101

Easier than you think to use. The manual is simple and well laid out if you ask me. Edit a patch and push the Store button 3 times and your done. Very easy to use but the sound is where it really shines.
Effects loop, 1/4 ins and outs, XLR outs. Very configurable and can really shine either live or recorded.

What is really great about this unit is that it has an external loop between what should go in front of your amp and what should go after your amp. Some of the effects like chorus can be placed either before or after the loop. My setup is unique. I plug my guitar into the GSP 1101 and out its loop send to my JTM45 so I'm getting only the "before" the amp effects into my amp like compressor, distortion etc. So there is no delay or chorus coming out of my guitar amp. What I do is mic (Sure sm57) my speaker into a mixer. I tap the mike channel insert into the return of the GSP1101 so the chorus, delay etc are fed out out of the GSP1101 through it's XLR outputs back into the mixer and out the mixer channels in stereo panned full left/full right. My mixer is fed thru a power amp and into two (2) speakers that sit left and right of my guitar amp speaker. No Speaker simulator required because I mic my guitar speaker. I compared this units DS-1 and tube screamers to the real things and in some cases the GSP sounded much better. And you know this thing has Lexicon reverbs so I get an ablolutely plush sound all together. I also have the Digitech Control 2 foot controller. Set up the patches for 80's hair band hard rock or clean chorus, or harmony pitch shift, or univibe or what ever! OK the wah kinda sucks compared to the real thing but you can still practice with it. I can get just about anybodys sound that uses a Marshall tone since I have the JTM45. I've had other modeling products and I think this one sounds the best. I really don't use the amp or cab models but the JCM900 model thru my mixer just kicked ***. After hearing that patch alone I new I could be very happy with this unit. I have sold everything else and only use this unit. I will get a crybaby or some other wah pedal but that's it. Easy a 10 for what it does.

Never a problem in a couple years.

Never used them so I must give a positive score.

Over all this is a really quality sounding and useful unit. The parameters on the effects are just enough but don't give you much control of pan left/right. If it's a stereo effect, you get what it's got. However you can slow down/speed up and set volumes etc.
I have not found another piece of gear that could replace it so I would have to buy another if lost.

For a digital rack preamp, very easy to use, particularly via x-edit, just acces the programs and tweek to your hearts content.

It;s not a six knob Marshall so can't get a ten, I'll give it an eight

At the mo I'm only judging it on direct line into mixer using amo and cab sim. I'm hoping it will sound beastly through my Marshall 9200 but we will see.

The key is to go to www.mustbebeta.com and get beta c48. This makes the original preamps sounds phenomonemally better than the original models and adds a couple of classics (the 5150 most importantly and a triple rec)

Would get a 6 without the beta version. Gets an 8 as it has some great sounds. None of the models exactly nail the originals but having 10-15 amp choices at my fingertips for 200 notes can;lt be beaten. I tube screamer all the heavy channels and partiularly like the jump panel plexl, dual rec and JCM2000. Also use a heavily chorused Blackface Twin for clean. Just sounds great for the money

Aint broke yet

Good info on site and forums. Not had to repair it

Really hopingit will come to life played through the Marshall 9200 into my Engl Vintage Greenback 4x12.

Direct to mixer it gets an eight

As far as multi-processors go this one is easy to navigate through. There's lots of good sounds in it but most of all I like the eq it has per patch. You can set which freqency the low, mid & highs bend and make it a narrow, medium or wide band. It also has a -12/+12db cut or boost to it per range.

If you know how to use one of these is easy to edit. If your new to multi-effects the manual is a pretty decent tool and I think you'll figure this one out AFTER banging your head againt the wall a couple of times. That goes for all processors but this one is probably far easier than most.

Schecter 006 Blackjack guitar-Isp Decimator, Gsp-1101 in the series loop, BBE Maximizer 482i in the parallel loop 50/50 wet/dry, Carvin V3 amp, Digitech Controller 2 pedal board, SIMPLE yet overkill on versatility!

It's not a noisy unit in my rig but the gate in it helps a little with that. It's not that great of a gate but it's sufficiant at high gain levels. I let the Decimator do most of that trick for me.

Parameter control of the pedal is great for solos. It's got 8 different settings for it and ALOT of parameters to control from it. I can now trigger the delays on, boost reverb level, volume, AND boost/cut whatever freqencies I want with a simple toe down of the pedal for solo's and heel down to go right back to my rhythm sound.

Now I can (thats me) mimic pretty much anything I want to a very suitable level not to mention create an awesome sound for myself. If your looking to mimic the radio players EXACTLY plan on spending alot more than $500. (try $1000 or MORE) At this price range I would say it's handsdown the best unit out there. I AM NOT A Digitech fan at all and in the past have stayed far away from thier products. I do really like this unit and some of thier Hardwire series pedals though. It's about time they started making some decent stuff, thanx Digitech for finally doing that.

The 10 rating here is for a processor at this price!

So far so good. Not really any bad problems from software yet.

None yet anyway.

This thing is great for the money period. I don't think you will do any better in the $300-$750 range.

If your amp is MIDI controllable like my Carvin V3 you'll find no problems with the latency of the channel changes in your amp from the GSP 1101 unit. I was worried about that to before I got it.

Overall if you know how to use one I think you'll like it for this kind of money. If your looking to upgrade the one you got than you might not think so but it's still a fine unit to have for the money.

If your new to this stuff it's probably your BEST bet on starting out with one. It's about as simple to navigate as one of these things get. As far as MIDI controls from a pedal you should probably get the Controll 2 pedal board for it so you won't have anything else NEW to learn

Rack processors are all pretty difficult to get used to. This one is a little better than most. If you are using the amp simulator stuff, this one is awesome since it has the knobs right there and you don't have to page through several screens. You have to know a little bit about how to chain effects and how to wire this into your setup, but if you are buying this unit, you probably already know that stuff.

I use this with a Marshall JMP-1, into a Marshall El84 power amp. I run the JMP-1 from the effects loop of the GSP1101. This setup lets me run either the internal amp modeling or use the JMP-1, which is very nice! Why didn't somebody else ever think of this? I use a Rocktron All-Access to control everything.

This unit sounds great. I like that it doesn't have a Wall Wart adapter.

Complaints: My first problem with this was that the reverb and delay tails would get cut off if you use it in "stompbox mode", where you switch off effects within a preset. This was a big screwup on Digitech's part. Strangely, it will allow you to carry-over the effect tails when switching between presets. However, if you use a Rocktron MIDI controller like I do, MIDI CC's are always sent per program change, which if you link MIDI CC's to enable/disable individual effects, this "spillover" feature is rendered this useless. Thankfully, Stan at mustbebeta dot com released some firmware to fix this. Thank you so much Stan, this box about ending up getting sent back.

Second complaint is that all pitch and modulation effects are in one effects block. (Unfortunately, Stan couldn't fix this unfortunate issue.) Basically, this means that you can't run, for example, an Octave effect with a flanger or chorus at the same time. In fact, anything that is listed in the "Chorus/FX" block can only be on one at a time. I can understand why it would be fine to have chorus, phaser, and flanger type effects mutually exclusive, but the pitch/harmonizer based effects should have their own block.

I went from using a Rocktron XPression to the GSP1101. I loved the Xpression, but I liked that the GSP1101 had the preamp stuff and no wall wart. The Marshall JMP-1 has weak clean settings, so I use the GSP1101 amp modeling for clean settings, and the JMP-1 for distortion. The Xpression would allow you to run several effects simultanously, I think the only limitation was no Chorus and Flanger at the same time. If the GSP1101 could do that, it would be a real winner in my opinion.

Don't know yet.

Don't know yet about Digitech, but for sure check out mustbebeta dot com for a needed firmware upgrade.

I love that this unit has a loop where you can put your preamp there. This gives awesome flexibility! If Digitech would come out with a version that allowed you to run pitch/harmony based effects on a seperate effects block, it would be an awesome box.

Like many other players I'm sometimes intimidated with 'current' products and their sometimes maze-like operating procedures.

Not so with the GSP1101 .. I plugged in a guitar and with a set of headphones I went exploring this units vast sound library.

Even without looking at the manual , the units controls are very well laid out so that even an 'old fashion straight into amp' kinda guy like myself could figure it out.

I like the amp like front panel .. I know other manufacturers have similar layouts and suffice to say it's nice to say " they've finally caught on !!! "

The manual is very user friendly and the unit itself is so easy to use DigiTech didn't boggle the consumer with a lot of 'techno' talk.

Editing sounds is quite easy and this coming from a guy with limited use of processors like the GSP1101 .

I've been playing for close to 35 yrs now and like to think I have a good set of ears when it comes to tone. Of course everyone has their own perception of tone and what sounds good to one person might sound like noise to another.

I found the sound quality to be above and beyond what I was anticipating.
If you cant find any good tones from this unit , I suggest a hearing exam.

I'm running the left and right outputs into 2 Carvin Legacy combos .
I haven't tried running it through my amps FX loop because I'm not using the lead channels on either.
I have both Legacy's clean channels tone controls set at 5 o'clock across the board.
And additional eq'ing required is done through the GSP1101.


It sounds amazing !!!

I dont have a lot to say about reliability yet because I haven't done any gigs with it yet .
My unit is rack mounted so it's well protected.

When I first unpacked it, I found the overall construction of the unit to be quite sturdy.
The same goes for the optional Control 2 Pedal .. tank tuff .. just be careful picking it up ... the finish on the metal is extremely slippery.
Speaking of the optional Control 2 .. GET IT !!! or another compatible unit .. having this pedalboard is half the fun.

I've only sent emails mostly dealing with editing features and so far DigiTech has been excellent with replies.
Some questions were answered within the hour of me emailing them.

I hope that if I were ever to have any problems with the unit they're as prompt in getting it fixed.
Speaking of that ... 'tactful assertiveness' from the consumer can go a long way in getting anything repaired.

This processor has been a godsend for me, particularily due to the project I'm currently involved with. ( a Rush tribute )

Most of us aware with their music knows Alex Lifeson is quite creative with his use of effects and with this unit and no other additional processors, I'm able to emulate a lot of his sounds so needless to say this has made life a lot easier for this guy.
And the fact that I didn't have to spend a fortune to get these sounds is just icing on the cake .

And another bonus is having virtually clutter at your feet .
I dont even need my wah pedal ... lol

The only thing I really dont like about this unit is it's onboard tuner .. it's adequate but I think they could of done better .. rather a small annoyance considering everything else it does so well.

I'm using the foot controller in what Digitech refers to as " 5 Patch Mode "
Setup like that I have 5 presets(1-5) per bank but you can switch off your effects as you would with any stompbox. Switches 6-9 are for ..
6.Distortion
7.Chorus ( and other modulation FX0
8.Delay
9.Reverb



Considering the relatively low cost of the GSP1101 and it's huge library of amp models, effects, etc .. I have to give it a 10 .. the unit sounds that good. I would recommend this to anyone and like any other processor the more time you spend with it , the more you'll appreciate what it can do for you .

Note: this reviewer compares similar products (I am not comparing it with a stompbox pedal) and also assumes that the user has some understanding on how does rack mounted processors work.
If you understand the ABC of rack effects and how they interact with the rest of your equipment it is possible to get really good sounds out of it. As with any complex rig, it takes some time to fine tune it (setting the best interface between it and your amp, calibrating the global equalizer, etc..). I have been playing in different venues, and have had to share amp, and with the output configuration options this thing comes with, it is pretty easy to adjust the sound to fit the tonal and dynamic characteristics of the target amp, affecting very little your tone and playing synamics. Considering the complexity of this processor, it is really simple to edit patches. The manual is just enough to get you started, but I can understand that it might be incomplete for some people. I have upgraded it with the Beta c48, if the unit was already amazing the update put it into a different level.

I use a Burns Brian May replica, a Lone Star Strat and a Les Paul Classic, each conserve their own tonal and dynamic characteristics, awesome!! I have not had problems with noise comming out of the unit, but then again I pay attention to the gain levels and noise gate settings. I have read some complaints about the intelligent pitch shifter, I think it does what it is suppossed to do (help if you do not have a second guitar player to play harmonies) but cannot replace one (not for that ammount of money though). Apart from that I am amazed on the different tonal variations you can get by changing the efects position in the chain (some may sound weak or even bad if positioned in the wrong path, but that will happen with every stompbox-just plug a wah after a distortion pedal). I am using it with a Vox AD60VT, which happened to be a great discovery. Running the GSP through the loop return I can take advantage of the different class power amps it models changing the feel and sound of the rig. I have so far got great sounds, I usually create my own sounds, but I have tweaked a little bit the artist patches and they sound great (Woman Tone, AC/DC, etc..), I even got a pretty decent Brian May sound. As many of the reviewers have pointed out, the main factor is your own ears (I will add heart and head) is the more important thing, if you like it and makes you wanna rock harder the unit is working great, it does that for me with everything I have tried so far.

Well, as with anything electronic, you have to be careful, but if you keep it mounted in a rack case and do not abuse it, I believe it will last a long time.

No need so far (I have been a digitech user for more than 15 years)

I am currently playing 80's hard and heavy metal along with some Texas Rock, great unit for all of that. I have been playing for over 20 years and have owned a GSP 21 Legend (I still do), an RP 14D, RP 2000, GNX2 and GNX3K. Some better than others (read GSP 21 and RP 14D) but this GSP1101 is the summ of all the former and elevated to the 10th power. The only thing that I know that can kick its buttocks is the Axe FX, but one will expect that for an extra 1600 bucks. Do not buy this thing if you are not willing to use your brain and spend some time to get killer tone. For that matter just get a simple amp (and even there you have to tweak and balance your guitar, effects and amp to sound decent).

Pretty darn easy I would say... considering I have yet to actually read the manual and I haven't ran into any kinks.... hooked it up to my computer and that's all it took.

For $500, it's probably the best sounding multi-fx/modeler out there. The downfall is the fact that it doesn't do 2 amps at once like the pod x3. However, the pod x3 has a lot more filler tones and the gsp1101's tones are much more usable. The tones themselves sound better than any other modeler out there, besides the axe-fx. The effects are good, great even.. especially the reverbs.... But not spectacular or anything. However... to get truly better sounding effects would cost about a grand more. Unless you want to go out and buy a bunch of analog stomp boxes in which you would have less effects and more headaches anyway... and still cost an arm and a leg. This thing sounds great.. not perfect, but what unit is?

Not sure.. haven't had any problems though!

haven't had to deal with them.

This is a great unit. I use it with a rivera TBR-5 power amp and a marshall jmp-1 preamp. My jmp-1 blew a fuse and I had to use the GSP1101 as the main preamp and effects for a couple days. It worked beautifully. I used the Soldano SLO model for gain and the fender twin model for cleans. Sounded great, and more responsive than my POD x3 or my vetta II. I have a theory that some people aren't setting them up correctly. The unit requires specific settings for specific gear. For example, it treats a solid state power amp different than a tube power amp, or a tube/SS guitar amp or a PA and so on. It changes timbre and response for different settings, made to match the type of gear and routing options you are using with it. I messed around with these settings to hear the differences, and there was indeed a difference. You could overlook this easily if your not careful... and this would likely put a bad taste in your mouth. Check out their artists list, many pro's using this unit nowadays. You get what you pay for, and I highly doubt there is a better sounding unit for the price on the market.

Very easy to program, setup and use. The included X-edit software makes it even easier and fun.

I've been playing guitar for almost 40 years now, (yea, old guy here...) and I've always played through tube amps. I'm an electronic engineer by day and I've spent some time in the past designing and building tube amps and pre-amps. Nothing can take the place of tube distortion... nothing. I'm talking about both pre-amp AND power amp distortion. When amp and distortion modeling was introduced some years ago i was curious to check out various manufacturers claims of being able to emulate tube distortion. I purchased several of the POD products, and other modeling devices including the GNX4. The POD, Behringer and others I tested just plain sucked. Horrible intermodulation products and nasty artifacts, aliasing,.. just awful. I was trying to get a great guitar tone recorded in the studio by going direct into the board without having to mike-up a guitar amp. Forget it... These devices show their ugly side not necessarily when you're playing single note lines and straight open major chords, but when for example, you're holding one note on one string, and play a second note on another string and bend it, you'll hear those nasty artifacts appear. (intermodulation distortion) That being said, of all the units I tested (actually purchased and later sold) the GNX4 came closest to sounding decent. The tone was a step above the others but still not what I expected. Now I have to make the statement that I am not employed by Digitech nor do I receive any endorsements from them....(I wish!) I recently purchased a GSP1101 with the hopes again of being able to get a great recorded guitar tone direct. I must say I am impressed!.. When I first got the GSP (about 2 weeks ago now) I just plugged my guitar in, connect the line out's to my mixer and listened on a pair of high quality studio monitors. WOW!... incredible!... this is what I have been expecting out of modeling for many years now. Then came the icing on the cake... I connected my trusty Mesa Triaxis to the GSP preamp loop... oh yea! now I have the best of both worlds... the ability to switch between smooth rich tube distortion and great amp and distortion modeling tones. To complete my all purpose guitar rig, I feed the GSP line outs into a Eventide Eclipse processor. That gives me some of the high end wild effects the GSP doesn't have. Before I bought the GSP, I was using a Boss GT-pro but only for the effects, I never used the amp or distortion modeling because I felt they too sounded like crap. I just sold the GT-Pro.

So far so good..

Still working so no experience with support

I play mostly old school progressive rock.. (not metal) so I need everything from heavy thick tones to smooth clean sounds.. The GSP1101 in combination with a Mesa Triaxis is a match made in heaven!

This is an update to a previous review. My initial review was the 2nd review posted (9/07).

I 100% agree with the recent reviewer that says to try a tube preamp in the effects loop when going direct to mixer. I don't use a mic pre, but rather I use a Mesa Studio Pre and set it for clean. The Studio Pre is basically functioning as an effect.

The GSP 1101 sounds stunning in this configuration direct to PA or in a FRFR setup.

After my initial review, the fuzz/noise issue on startup bugged me to the point where I sent it to Digitech for repair. They fixed it and sent it back within a day or two. I haven't had a problem since then.

I had to send it in, but Digitech was very responsive and easy to work with.

it's very easy to use.Just read the manual and everything will gonna be okay ;D

My setup : Ibanez JS 1000 -> Digitech GSp1101 -> Tc Electronics G Major -> Rocktron Velocity 100 Power amp -> Marshall 4x12 cab

At the first time I heard the sound on the stores was so Digital! I almost not like this FX. But the salesman tried to convinced me and then he made up some effects changes. He modified the presets and then I was amazed with the sound that came out from it! Then I decided to buy it and make it as my main gear.

I found out some amp modeler is amazing. feels no digital at all, just like the real thing. You just need to be more patience to tweak it out.

my favorites setup are:

internal preamp -> distortion "on" screamer, drive 60, tone 60-> Head amp : mark III, gain 70-> cabinet marshall 4x12

and

internal preamp -> distortion "on" 808 -> Head amp : twin reverb -> cabinet marshall 4x12

the reason why I like those set up because the sounds really kickin' and punchin' just like real tube amp. I found out that the Twin reverbs modeler amp is the most kicking and punching Amp on the GSP1101. You can add a stomp distortion modeler before the amp modeler. So you can have a Killer distortion or a sweat crunch with a punch responding just like a tube amp. By the way I do have a Behringer Mic 100 and made some test to use it on the looper. In my opinion there is no need to add behringer MIC 100 or 200 on it, the GSP1101 "tube like" response is good enough.

I don't like the mesa rectifier modeler on this FX. It sounds bad, thin, no souls and it doesn't sounds like rectifier. Sorry probably it just my personal taste.

most of the effects are good.the diatonic harmony is useful, the sound of Octave is owe some too. But the Whammy is a little beat weak. It sounds thin and so digital on higher pitch. The Whammy FX is better on G major.

The Delays on GSP1101 just great, but I prefer the the delays on G major, it's more alive to my ears.

That's why I'm still using my G major.

I play some kind of Pop Rock music and Progressive Rock music. Yes this FX is a good match for me. Iv'e been playing for 20 years. I'm using Phonic PFC900E power Conditioner, GSP1101, G major, Rocktron Velocity100 Poweramp, Marshall 4x12 cab.

One thing that I love about this FX is the "Tube like" Response -if we tweak it right! the sounds really awesome!

What I hate about this FX: I don't like the sound when it through direct to the mixer. the sound just a little bit glassy n just like have much treble on it. But after I add using Behringer ultra G direct Box, with the cab simulator on, the problem solved.

My honest opinion, this GSP1101 is better for live - comparing to my PODXT peanut bean. It has a sound response (punchin' and kickin')just like a tube preamp. But too bad it doesn't sound as good as PODXT for direct. probably it because The PODXT has a mic cabinet simulator and the GSP1101 hasn't. that's why I suggest to add a direct box with mic cab simulator facility on it.

I wish it had a mic cab simulator facility, such as mic placement, kind of mic we used, the distance between mic and the speaker, etc. The GSP1101 only has choices for head amp and cabinet only.

Digitech's gear have always been idiot proof as far as I am concern.....

Here's something I feel that I should share with you.

For those of you who are not 100 per cent with the way your GSP 1101 sounds through your solid state power amp and speakers try this. Get your self a Behringer M200 Mic Pre Amp or the Art Studio V3 Mic Pre and patch into the send and returns, both these units are tube driven with presets, both are small enough to sit on to of your rack. I am still smiling at what it did to my sound...Have fun

No issues after seven month of solid use....

I have found this to be one of the easyiest units that I have owned to use.
I have struggled with Boss GT-5, Roctron Voodu Valve, TC Electronics G major, Alesis, not saying there hard just not simple to follow.
From the moment I turned the unit on, I was able to navigate around with out using a manual. And with the software editor you can preplan
your patches. (Easier to type in patch names than to use a daisy wheel)

I use a varity of guitars. Fender Stats fitted with Kinman pickups,
and others with humbuckers. Tele's, Lespauls etc.
About 20 years ago I brought a digitech digital delay pedal, which was the biggest piece of **** out. Because of that experience I never looked at another digitech unit, until I stumbled on to this unit. I have tried so many other multi effect processors, and found I could nver settle on a sound.
The GSP1101 has sat me on my ass. I have taken a instant likeing
to the unit. I have found the digital sound to be more like a analog sounding unit. The distortions and overdrive sounds are great. The clean sounds are lush and warm. I love my analog pedals, but for the first time I feel this unit could offer a serious challenge to the good old gear. I have not used this unit live, but I have used it in the studio. When I am writing songs, I have used with my Apple MAC Pro
notebook using Garage Band and recording via the USB with great results. Also great for practise. In my case I was able to use Itunes
to play the audio via USB to the GSP and monitor the song using headphones while playing the guitar. I have not got a bad word to say about the sounds of this unit. It is quiet, The presets are 95% usable compared to other units that have only 5% of usable factory patches. Another thing I liked was the factory patches were very balanced in regards to level and tonal qualitys.
Im going to give this unit a 10, because for the first time I have found a unit with more I like than I hate.

I can not rate this unit yet, but Everything worked straight out of the box.
I have had many new gear fail or be faulty straight out of the box,
so its nice when all goes well.

I am not a agent for Digitech, (Digitech tee-shirts, freebies, etc excepted) But I have to say this is the most enjoyable piece of gear I have owned in a long time.
I repair audio gear for a job, and its nice to see some well thought
out gear for a change. Again another 10

easy as can be to use from the front panel. x-edit is much easier on this unit vs the gnx3000 or gnx4. very easy to dial up good tone.

to be blunt: this thing pisses all over the gnx4 or gnx3000! i have all 3 units and i also have the mfxsupermodels for the gnx units and still...no comparison. the gnx units have many "tones" via eq, the gsp1101 has many tones and "feels". the tube emulation is truly next level. i am using this unit direct to pc or console to take advantage of the speaker emulation with great results. i have also tried using a rocktron voodo valve in the fx loop with mixed results. the cabinet sims are really good but i find the overall setup a bit noisy compared to the voodo valve alone. the effects on the gsp1101 are superior to the gnx units or the rocktron. the only thing that gives away that this thing has no tubes is pinch harmonics. while sounding really great, it doesn't have the same amount of lower/odd harmonics as an all tube preamp. it is however on par with the rocktron prophesy or voodo valve which has a tube in the signal path.

check out my presets if you have a gsp1101 to try it on:

http://singtall.tripod.com/

i have had really good experiences with digitech for over 25 years. never had any broken gear or issues.

i called digitech once a long time ago and they put an engineer on the phone to answer my technical questions. great.

unbelievable unit. on the wish list: bass amps, warp feature and pickup simulator. that's the only thing i miss from the gnx units, but really not needed since the gsp1101 has 3 sweep eq's. i compared this to line6, rocktron, and digitech gnx units and choose this unit over any of them. truly great unit for under $499. the fractal audio axe fx is the only other choice i would make if i had $1400 or more to burn. i have over 25 years of shredding experience and i own a studio and play on many cd projects. you can take my word for it or believe the salesman at guitarcenter who tells you that line6 rules.

REALLY easy to use. I have the control 2 and the GSP1101, the tap tempo works great, also the tuner display on the floorboard is better IMO. the control 2's 10 and 5 patch mode are really good, but the best is the toe control for the wah, really useful so you can use it like a traditional pedalboard. only thing is, for 5 patch mode, the "stompboxes" should be on the bottom 5 buttons.

the control 2 i would give an 8 due to the position on the stompboxes. and the GSP1101 an 8 as they could have made better use of the amp control buttons for other paramaters...

they should have put a ******* REAR INPUT ON!!!!!! really irritating if you have a wireless and are rackmounted.......

i use it with a Peavey Rotor with 2 x EMG 81s and a BC Rich Speedloader Bich with Bill Lawrence XL500 in the bridge.

I'm running into the effects return of my JCM900 SLX. i would use the four cable method, but the amount of noise reduced by using the digitech preamp only is too good to pass up. and the JCM900 model is pretty similar, only beef is they should have done a JCM900 SLX model, as it has more gain than the dual reverb and a diff dynamic, but its all good.

The unit is EXTREMELY quiet. Noise gate is top notch. Some of the effects are quite digital sounding, but thats what i wanted from the unit.

Amp models, some are mediocre, but the ones that are good are really good. Very versatile. Like the delays, and the dist pedals are great.

More than enough choice. I cant honestly think of an effect that i would add to it.

8 again as there are better modellers out there, but this is a cheap 1u solution. value for money is awesome.

hasnt done anything wrong yet except i thought it was dead, no signal, ******** bricks.

I was plugged into the headphone socket......

10 so far...

havent dealt with Harman. hope i dont have to.

i play metal a lot, but like to have a versatile rig so i can do anything at home .

for metal its really good, the tone is really sharp and cuts through live really well, bear in mind that is with a tube power amp. i've yet to try it direct, fingers crossed but i'm not expecting miracles.

as my JCM900 is single channel this adds WORLDS of options. i can have any amp sound, acoustic sim etc etc etc.

IMO the sims sound WAY better than Line 6, and price is comparable.

However the AXE FX pisses on it. But only in the respect that a dumble pisses on a marshall - for me it doesnt matter, cause i'm not that good! I hope to graduate to an AXE FX one day, but i will only do it if i get good enough to justify it!

gotta say if you need more versatility and a bag of effects this is prime, and such good value, but you really have to gewt the control 2 as well. bit annoying that it is propriatry, would hve been better to include midi and PSU alongside the cat 5 connection as it really is a fantastic pedalboard, they sould sell a lot of them for people to use with third party stuff. with any luck, someone will reverse engineer the cat 5 connection with a dongle!!!!! hint hint !!!

rating is nine as value has to come into account.

This unit is extremely easy to use. I was literally up and running with 3 excellent sounding amp model patches along with lead patches within 10 minutes, and that's without using the XEdit software. Using this software makes it stupid fast to do anything you want to do with a patch. I used an ADA midi foot controller with it and it worked right away without having to configure anything. The setup wizard makes dialing it in for your equipment very fast and easy. I've tried a couple of different configurations includeing the 4 cable method, line out to amp return, and just plugging in to a marshall valve state power amp. Each time I was able to configure the unit within 10 seconds to use the new setup.

UPDATE 8/11/08:
This is just a followup review and I still stand by my original ratings which were very good but for the purpose of this review system, I won't rate this unit again. I just wanted to followup with what I've found after owning it for more than a month. When I first got the unit, I was using it with the 4 cable method in conjunction with my Rivera Knucklehead. I got some very usable tones and I was fairly impressed with it. I then tried it with a Marshall valvestate 8008 power amp and it still sounded awesome but when I would crank it, something was just missing I guess so I would start picking everything apart and re-EQ and such. Then I finally went back to my Rivera head and just plugged the output into the effects return of the amp and used it just as a poweramp. When I cranked this up.....whoa.....it was more than awesome. It was so close to the sound in my head that I just could hardly believe it. In the end what I found is that the presence and focus controls on my amp which effect the power system and not the preamp were an integral part in getting the sound that I'm after. Not to mention the mojo that comes from cranking tubes. So if you're going to use this unit, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to find a good tube amp with some power section controls to pair with this thing. It's the best preamp that I've ever used. Maybe there's better out there, but I've never seen them. BTW, the singer/guitarist in my band has a POD Pro running into a Carvin X100B and he gets some pretty amazing sounds out of that setup too so I think that in the end, for great live guitar sound pairing a modeling preamp with a tube power section is the ultimate in tone and flexibility that we can achieve right now. Maybe in the future we won't need the tubes but who knows.

In the past, I haven't really liked the modeling offerings from Digitech. They've been a bit too digital sounding. I own a Genesis 3 and it does OK as long as it's running into a good tube amp but can't really stand on it's own. It's not bad but the bass is a bit too woofy and it just doesn't sound quite like the "real" thing without a little help from the "real" thing. This unit however sounds incredible no matter how you use it. Run it direct into your computer? awesome. Run it into a tube power amp? tone heaven. Run it directly into a SS power amp? awesome(after configuring it for this). This unit is what I've been waiting for from amp modeling. Until now, nothing has really stood up to the crank test and the feel test. I've liked a couple of the models that Line 6 has offered but they take some delicate EQ to really make them sound good. Not this unit. It sounds like the real thing from step one. The EQ only brings out more of the tonal variations. I really don't like any of the mesa models in this unit but that's just personal taste I thinkl. The Marshall models are almost spot on. The Fender models sound absolutely amazing too. The unit is dead quiet when using the noise gate. I've had the problem with the ground loop when using the preamp in my Rivera Knucklehead. But there are work-arounds for this. I'm seriously not worried about it thought because the amp models make it completely unnecessary for me to use my Rivera's preamp. Another big bonus for this unit is the global EQ. This allows you to adjust the overall EQ of the unit to fit the room you're playing in. This is very important to a gigging musician because every place you play is different and you want to sound your best where ever you go.

Not sure about this yet. Seems to be built well. I've had extremely good luck in this department with all of the other Digitech gear that I've owned.

Not sure. They usually have good support when I've talked to them in the past.

This piece of gear makes me excited to play my guitar. I've only had it for a week but it will become an integral part of my sound for years to come. Amp modeling has finally arrived. I'll never give up my tube amps because of the mojo but this thing has mojo of it's own and will definitely be a unit to be reckoned with similar to the 2101(which I used to own). Actually, this unit actually surpasses the 2101 in virtually every way except for maybe effect chain configuration.

This unit is possibly the easiest system of this type to use I have encountered!

Select a patch, press twice to edit, select parameter, press to edit, adjust it then save - easy!

It may not be as easy as a conventional amplifier, but for a multi effects processor and preamplifier module it is extremely simple.

The front panel mounted controls allow direct adjustment of the pre amp parameters (gain, bass, middle, treble, and level) at any time, and as these controls are encoders they work so much better than the line 6 ones.

In fact for ease of use this unit is in a different league to the line 6 stuff, and also from its predecessor the Digitech 2120.

The manual is clear, well written and easy to understand. I was up and running and get great sounds in minutes. I had no connection or configuration problems. It has a wizard that asks you a series of questions such as what are you connecting to etc.. and configures the GSP1101 accordingly.

Firmware version 2, which incorporates menus for the Digitech control 2 controller which I have and again is excellent and very simple to use.

Finally the free to download Digitech xedit software makes editing the patches even easier as you can see every single parameter at once on your PC screen.

If the front panel mounted knobs had a display over them like a tri axis I would give it a 10 for ease of use.

I am using a Fender Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan pickups, Rickenbacker 330 and a 1970s Ibanez with Seymour Duncan Humbuckers.

I play in a function band playing pretty much every kind of music you can imagine from Beatles to Bonjovi, Eagles to Ray Charles, The Police to Queen etc... I need to have a lot of sounds that I can call up very quickly with minimum of fuss (if there is nothing to say to the audience then there are no gaps between songs!!!)

I am using the Digitech GSP1101 connected to a Marshall power amp and from there to a Marshall 4x12 Cab or Marshall 2 x 12 Cab depending on requirements.

The GSP1101 replaces my POD XT Pro, Which Replaced a Digitech 2120, Which Replaced an ADA MP1 and Yamaha SPX90.

I also have a Marshall DSL100 head and a Mesa Boogie Mk2B.

The GSP is not at all noisy, at high gain settings with single coils you can get hum but this is no fault of the GSP. The onboard noise gate is simple and effective and I have not had any problems with it cutting off note tails.

I cannot believe the sounds I can get from this unit, it is almost impossible to pull up a bad one! I haven't had the luxury of using all of the classic amps that are modelled by this unit so I cannot vouch for their authenticity, but they all sound great! I am loving the Strat through the Fender Bassman model and the Rickenbacker through the Fender Twin at the mo! If anything there are too many great sounds here - making it hard to settle on one.

Even the acoustic simulator isn't bad, with a bit of tweaking it is quite acceptable.

Effects wise, the chorus, flange, phase an reverbs are just great!

This is the preamp / multi effects system I have been looking for. The ease of a amp, with the versatility of a programmable system and with great sounds as well.

Running it at home through headphones or my home studio, sounds almost identical to when I hook up to my stack - great for setting up tones at home at neighbour friendly volumes.

Global EQ allows you to tweak the overall sound to suit a venue. The control 2 allows global volume control as well.

Even under extreme overdrive and distortions the bass frequencies stay clean and defined and not muddy.

Overdrive sounds respond as you would expect to your playing style and also the guitar volume control.

The sound quality and tonal response of this unit is light years ahead of the Line 6 stuff!

There is no substitute for a good valve amp, but if like me you need total flexibly at the press of a button and you also want a great tone then this is possibly the best unit. Even if your vale amp purest mate claims he can tell the difference - no one in the audience will notice or care that you are using a modelling preamp that costs less than half a classic all valve amp!

I genuinely cannot think of anything to fault it on!

Never had a probelm with this unit. I regularly gig with it with no back up.

I contacted customer support a few times before buying this and got prompt and accurate replies.

Since buying I haven't needed to contact them.

Easy to use website with free downloads for editing and updating software.

I have had Digitech gear in the past and it has always been reliable. The one time I had a problem I emailed Digitech direct and got a replacement part sent to me free of charge, and full instructions on how to fit it.

Great for the function band I play in I get get every sound I need from clean to full on lead. Nice Betales AC30 with my Rickenbacker. Nice soul sounds and indie rock sounds.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years got through a stack of other gear in that tim ebut i think i will be sticking with this for a while now.

Yes I would replace it with another were it lost or stolen.

The main reason for buying this was its ease of use in live situations and the kind of tones it produces. It becomes invisible to me when I am playing and I just concentrate on the music - how it should be.

This is the new single unit rack mounted guitar processor from Digitech. It's easy to set up out of the box and the instruction manual is relatively clear although - as with most things midi-related - I could have used a bit more of an assumption of idiocy in the midi set-up section. Editing patches is a breeze; it's easy to see what you're doing and is quite intuitive. The 1101 has some very good amp models and high quality cab sims. However I bought this to go in my rack for live use and as I already have a very good valve pre-amp (VHT GP-3 Valvulator)I didn't want to use these options on the 1101. The good news is you don't need to. The 1101 allows you to use your own pre-amp and ignore the internal preamp settings. Having said that, I quickly realised that more flexibility was available as you can set up some patches to use the internal amp sims and some to use your own pre-amp. I found to my surprise that some of the amp sim sounds were so good I wanted to do that. A further unexpected benefit is that you can program one of the many distortion/fuzz box options to operate effectively in front of your external pre-amp if you so wish. The flexibility is amazing.

I was using this with a VHT GP-3 Valvulator Pre Amp, Yamaha power amp , a Beringher midi foot pedal; and a Marshal stereo 2 x 12. I play an Am Std Strat with a matched set of Seymour Duncans and a Hamer Sunburst USA Archtop with Floyd Rose and EMGs. I've playing for 30 years.

The sounds are surprisingly good and you could spend a long time deciding on your ideal groups of patches for gigs. I also use a Lexicon MX-300 for chorus, reverb and delay and although some of the 1101 patches are named after the Lexicon, they are definitely not as lush but you wouldn't notice at a gig. The reason I wanted to move from the Lexicon to the 1101 is that there is some latency in the patch changes on the Lexicon. Not the end of the world but a little annoying. The GSP-1101 again impresses; not only no latency but a user definable overlap of echo settings. Very classy. Seamless changes from one patch to another.

Being able to take a separate pair of XLR outs to the desk was fantastic too, as you can elect to send the internally amp modeled cabinet simulated sound to the desk (or you can set up a global cab sim sound for all the effects that are going to the desk, which replicates your backline set up). Even though your backline is not receiving amp or cab sim. Very cool.

Can't depend on them. Too bad really as I was loving this unit. The first one had bent pins in the XLR outputs as if someone had tried to force a plug in there. It also suffered from a weird clicking noise through the headphones which, while it didn't effect anything live it seemed to be an indicator that something was amiss. I read elsewhere that this might be a capacitor problem. The store (Guitar-Guitar in Glasgow) took it back and ordered me up a new one. I've just returned the new one to them as it's flawed too; there's some problem with the combined rotary/push switch that you use for editing. I'm afraid I can't live with that as it will be a problem live. So two dodgy units out of two...sadly I've had to say I won't be getting another. The store couldn't be more helpful though and are helping me to get sorted out with something in the short term for my gigs at the weekend and I'm confident they'll help me find something a bit more reliable.

I didn't deal with digitech directly. Guitar-Guitar in Glasgow were great and Digitech did seem to send another unit promptly so I'll award 5 points here but I still don't trust their quality control enough to buy another.

I play in three bands so I have to cover many styles including Jazz Funk, Classic Rock, Fusion, Blues and chart stuff.

The basic sounds that the unit produced were excellent.

I'm not going to buy another one because their record with me on the GSP-1101 is 100% bad in terms of quality control so far. Having said that I have previously owned many Digitech multi effects and they've always been good and reliable. In fact I think I've even got one of those old yellow multi-effect pedals of theirs in a cupboard somewhere. I'm sure it still works.

There are so few comparable products on the market just now that I don't know what I'm going to replace it with. TC Electronics have a few options but I think they're due for a face lift. Similarly the Boss GT-Pro is looking a little old in the tooth and I've never been that impressed with the quality of the Pod stuff - perhaps I need to have another look.

I'm giving an overall rating of 5 because in principle this is a great piece of kit but even if it could make you sound like the love child of Jimi Hendrix and Alan Holdsworth it would be useless for a working musician because it's unreliable.

I won't go over the features of this unit, as you probably already know.
This is a very easy unit to use, even without the editing software. I always feel biased when I say this since I have a computer background, but it's true. A monkey could do it. The interface is very simplistic yet allows a good amount of tweaking. The global EQ is very handy. Overall it has all the features I need for my rack. The manual is good. I wish they would give some more description on what the effects parameters actually do. It would save me a lot of time. Oh and btw I use a Behringer FCB1010 with it. Works great.

I have the latest firmware. This unit is pie. Digitech has made a very easy to use unit. Go figure.

I run this unit through a BBE and into a Peavey 50/50 poweramp through a 4x12 with celestion G12t-100s. I've used some other gear with it like external preamps but thats my current setup.

The unit isn't particularly noisy. High gain stuff can be though. The noise gate remedies this but only to an extent. For this review I'm just going to break the categories apart and review them seperately. Read accordingly.

AMPS - The word on the street has been that the models in this unit are all incredibly realistic. (especially for the price). The only other thing I know of that's claiming the same thing as the GSP and actually being taken seriously is the Axe-FX. Which I'll talk about later. I'm of the opinion that most modelers such as the Line 6 Pods and Vetta II or the Vox and Boss units just don't cut the gravy. I've tried a bunch of these so called "emulators" and honestly they don't come close. I'm a serious player who requires a seriously good sound. I'm very particular about my tone and I want the very best. Usually that comes from high end equipment and tube amps. Go figure.
The amps models on here range from decent to good to great IMHO. Obviously none of them are perfect, (perhaps barring a couple exceptions) But many of them come surprisingly close. The Fender and Marshall models I must say, are impressive. They're close...very close. With all digital circuitry, there's bound to be the occasional artifact or reminder popping up to let you know you're still playing through a modeler. But 90% of the time these models are stellar. I will also say that the matchless and Dual Recto models are quite impressive. Very realistic!
Now let me just say, that even though I have never owned a Soldano SLO, a Carvin Legacy, or a Mesa IIC+, these models are crap for me. Other players seem to like them okay, but I think they sound thin and fake. The only high gain amp on here I REALLY like is the Dual Recto.
And luckily it's good enough to make up for the rest. I also like the jcm2000 model but I don't use it as much because it doesn't have the gain of the recto. The digitech models are the same. Some of them are great, while others are just okay. You be the judge.

Overall I would say this unit is a steal for the price in terms of amp models.

EFECTS - All the effects here are done very well. Honestly, they sound near exact to their counterparts. I can't complain. There are very few weak points in the chain here. Some people might not like the delays. They are a bit different than most. Not bad, but different.

EQ - It's great. Does what it's supposed to.

Gate - There are better gates out there like a Hush super C. But that will cost you another $100.

Cabs - I never use these so I don't know.

Now let me say, for the money you're spending, this unit is incredible. I would pay $1000 for it probably if it cost that much. It's that good. However, I've been reading up a lot on this Axe-FX and honestly it sounds like it's just miles (and dollars) ahead of the competition. I'm curious to see how much better it is than this unit.
$1700 is a lot of money, but I guess we'll see.

It hasn't messed up on me for the 5 months I've had it. It's solid.

I've talked to them. They're as good as most other support teams. Not bad, not stellar.

I play all types of music. This is a good unit. Compared to everything else in it's price range it slays. AND I MEANS SLAYS the rest. I've used a fair amount of gear and honestly this was the best value on something I ever had. I'm still going to try an Axe-FX and see how that is. But for someone who doesn't want to pony up $1700 for a modeler, this is the best money can buy. Period.

Patience is what i leaqrned on this product! By pushing your patience limits, you can get some worthy sound out of this unit. The editing part for a non-user defined patch is easier in comparison though.
The manual need extra help for itself. 7 options are not enough. I bought the unit with the software version of 1.3 smth so i had to upgrade it to 2.0 before going on stage to be able to use control 2. I' d prefer to get it updated since i paid $800 for the unit and controller.

I have 5 guitars. Fender yngwie signature, Jackson DKMG with EMG active configuration, Jackson RR3, LTD George Lynch, and an ibanez RG350. I am happy with all of my guitars in most cases. I have always used and relied on my Sansamp GT-2 for the distorted sounds and a Boss GE-7 Eq. for boosting on stage for the solo breaks. I liked the sound but i needed more pedalds like delay, chorus, wah, flanger, volume pedal etc. and i thought it would be a pile of pedals and cords and supplies for that matter. Then i decided switching my gear to rack units. when i was a kid i was very familiar with digitech ( i have used rp-1, rp-5, rp-10, rp-14, gsp 2120 ) and was able to get nice sounds through them. So i decided to buy this new 1101 as a first piece of my rack. It was not bad at first times with my MG100 HDFX half stack. My ears got numb and senseless to the guitar tone because after a while everything you hear becomes nice because u grow numb. But after plugging into my sansamp GT-2 again it was like a deeeeeep breath into my lungs. Maaaan it was pure sound and no plastic sound!
If i was a tech guy in Digitech, the first thing i' d do would be to fix the crappy noise gate which apparently was never developed since those crappy old RP-1 times! It either kicks in too early which would kill your sustain on bends or too low to eliminate the garbage of effects.So: CRAPPY NG!
As for the preamp modelings, i just bought a new Sansamp PSA1.1 and experienced how "serious" and "tight" a guitar tone could be after those harsh, muddy and garbage tones of GSP toy.
and you know what? this GSP 1101 won2 t even let me use the NG for the ext. Preamp cuz it's located before the loop. Digitech is advertising this unit as "WE DON' T WANNA GIVE UP ON YOUR TONE, JUST WANNA BE A PART OF IT" !!!!!
What the hell? Then put an extra noise gate to cooperate with some ext. preamp!!!
even my MG100's preamp would soung more real compared to this artificial toy.
I' ll either sell this unit of use it just for FX after my PSA1.1 ( real thing )
Delays and reverbs are ok but the core of the tone sux.
My conclusion imho : Digitech hasn' t even gone even 1 step ahead, after those long yrs. Still the same junk and plastic tone.

They must fix the issue about the ethernet cable plugged on control2 and the unit. You can' t unplug it unless you break the port. The pin on the both ends are nearly impossible to push so i have to use a pick to push the pin inside to unplug the cable. Left the one on GSP plugged anyway.
What a low quality thing for smth made in USA!
I' d never use this thing without an ext preamp on stage. Audience is always mercyless and wouldn2 t think twice to judge your crappy tone as "bad" so stage needs some serious equipment.

I usualy play rock, metal and shred stuff which is usually based on very smooth, violin type solo tones. Without any "harsh" and mud in the low end. It is very hard to achieve such sounds on this unit but with my PSA1.1 i got them even on the presets!
As for the cleans, a good chorus and a crystal clear sound is all i desire for arpegios or some clean solos. You can have them with Gsp1101, but who would buy a preamp just for clean tones? :)
again and again i say, i' d never use this as a preamp because the sounds are either for new-metal heads ( Mtv crap ) who don' t need a definition or art in their guitar sound but just loudness, or for kids who wanna boost their egos with ultra high-gain, hyper metal sounds. Not for serious ones.
It doesn2 t cooperate with the rest of your gig so i think digitech' s advertisements are just for ripping ppl.
You can listen to some of my sounds i made directly through the PC with my old rp-14. not so good but much better than GSP1101.
I hope you guys are familiar with Rapidshare.

1-YAZ DOSTUM:

http://rapidshare.com/files/58317985/YAZ_DOSTUM.wma.html


2-ASK
http://rapidshare.com/files/58319412/ASK.mp3.html

This unit by far is the most versatile "does it all" unit I have used. Easy plug in and go with pre-set sounds minor tweaking of tone for your application out of the box good sounds.
Editing is almost a no brainer if you've ever messed with programming gear before- it's easier than most.
Manual is helpful and mostly complete but is missing some info non MIDI assignments.
I recieved unit brand new with version 1.0 or 1.3 and easy download of ver. 2.0 to make Control 2 pedal function

I use Tele, Strat and 335 guitars. Unit lines out to a Marshall 8008 stereo rack amp with 2 Vintage 30 tuned ported custom cabs and also run into a 63 Vibroverb RI. I started with a Behringer FC1010 MIDI controller then quickly bought the proprietary foot "Control 2" pedal- I advise this-as not all the MIDI funtionality was available out of the box.
Super quiet-so much so that I am not always sure if it's functioning until I actually play a note. Effects are clean, tasty, and extensive. A few of the distortion models are kind of weak as stand alone settings but with amp model combos, pre-amp settings, EQ, output etc...tweaking you should be able to make the sound of just about any amp, pedal, cab system out there. Fender Twin is stunning along with AC30, 45 watt Marshall those are the best models. I am a bit disapointed that none of the Marshall amp patches can be cleaned up for that jangly punch-but I use the Twin for clean. A couple of the pre-set patches "Stevie" (Ray vaughn) Eric Johnson patch ,And the "Black Label" "Dimebag" are spot on. Acoustic simulator worth the price of admission as it's like having another guitar! The Harmony settings are excellent, but the "bass" simulator patch (octave)is pretty much unusable-it doesn't track well and sounds wierd unless you turn your treble knob off.

I haven't had it long enough to know if I can depend on it. It is Digitech and I have a couple digitech units I have had in service for 18 years without fail. It is basically a computer and fallible as such. It did lock up on me one time, I reset to factory specs - kind of a hassle but the sounds and settings are easy to program -especially the 2nd time around so I was back on the road in about 15 minutes. I don't go to any gig without a backup system and certainly wouldn't with this.

I contacted Digitch about another unit I had bought recently, and one customer service rep tried to bulls**t me, so I contacted tech support and the guy was straight up and acknowledged an issue with the other device. Right after purchasing this unit, I contacted company to ask about limited functionality of MIDI and control issues- they never got back to me. The Control 2 Pedal addressed any and all questions I had anyway.

I play: Country, Blues, Classic Rock, Fusion and so far it covers all that and more. I have been performing for over 30 years and have had most every rig bought and sold- currently have a Fender Vibroverb RI as main/backup and a stereo rack system as well as several guitars Blues Driver, Dyna-comp, Morley Wah for my floor/jam setup. I don't know yet if it would have to be replaced, I'm not in love with it yet but it is awesome. The sounds are good, the fleixbility endless, the XLR out with ground lift should be on every piece of gear made PERIOD. The only drawback on the XLR outputs is the only way I could use without the output being too hot (distorted) was use variable setting-that is output is controlled by volume knob on front. While that makes some sense, pre-set output levels to mixer are a blessing to sound engineer.

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.