DigiTech Genesis 3

I bought mine in 2004 and like a dumba** I never read the manual. I tried it out at a music store alongside the pod and others. I thought sounds were as good or better than the others and the price was better. I have since discovered that you can really sculpt a sound with it. If there is or was a way to upgrade it I never heard of it. I do think at least some understanding of frequencies and frequency bands helps here, especially when dealing with the cabinet tune feature.

I have recorded and gigged with it. I have found that using it with an amp is like miking an amp and then running that through an amp, maybe a bit better than that. I've had sound guys say they like it running direct and that it sounds fat that way. Through amps, then miked, it sound kind of high end-y in a way that's hard to adjust. As far as the effects, for the price the effects are very cool. As far as artist sounds, I have a tube amp that I have owned for many years and have closely emulated it with the Genesis3. I do have variations, such as a patch with less gain for some songs, etc. It is noisy with higher gain levels, but that is not surprising. The noise gating is great and is big help live.

As I am writing this I can say that I used it at the NAMM show band showcase Jan 17, 2008,Anaheim Hilton without backup and had no problems. I am using it again this Saturday Jan 19,2008 at midnight-once again without a net! It's quick and easy and has everything I need. I gig 6-10 shows a month doing covers, which is 4-5 sets each time. As long as I step on the right switch it kicks butt.

An upgrade would probably be cool, but not especially necessary. No repairs necessary nor contact with company.

I sing and play guitar in different situations. Some stages are small and having this modeler helps in that regard. I play funk and rock, some metal and classic hard rock. Like I mentioned I use a sound close to my own modified tube amp and get satisfactory results using effects, pickup splitting and phasing, and volume control rolloff when needed. I don't have lots of cash to buy things so when I do I have to be smart. This was a very smart purchase for me as I can use it at home, practice studio, or live and get a good result. I am a long time tube amp guy and have a friend who was the first to modify amps in this area ( maybe anywhere!). He clued me in early about tube sound so I'm pretty picky. For years the modelers sounded like crap and as soon as I heard this one when I did I grabbed it. I figured technology would catch up at some point and it seems to be awful close. I had it without the pedalboard for awhile as I wasn't gigging then, but got it so I could use it for that and it works well. I've had problems with some sound guys who look at me funny when I show up with that blue piece of plastic and say I wanna go direct! I do end up showing them that it's cooler than they thought. A friend of mine who goes to LA alot says he's seen a few good bands use only modeling devices and sound great. Push the middle (green/red/warp) knob down for a couple of seconds and tweak the CAB TUN freqs and there's your secret!

It is fairly easy to use but having the manual handy is a must as you just wouldn't find all the features without the manual. Also, figuring out how to edit patches without the manual would be tough. The software is really helpful and makes all the features much more readily accessible. The manual is quite well laid out and easy to follow.

I use this for direct recording using a Les Paul Standard. The sound quality is excellent. I own or have tried several other amp modelling devices (POD, Boss GT-6, Zoom GM200) and they all have strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to replicating the Mesa Boogie Rectifier sound, the Genesis blows them all away. Similarly, some of the Marshall type sounds are awesome compared to some of the other models. If you want to hear what I mean, check the following link. The first song listed uses the Rectifier model. The second song uses a Marshall model. ttp://music.download.com/invasionn/3600-8666_32-101079137.html?tag=MDL_listing_song_artist

One other excellent thing about this unit is the modulation type effects. The Ya Ya and Auto Ya, as well as a couple others are very unique and very useful. The Ya Ya is a combination of flanging and wah-way which gives a very human quality similar to a Talk-Box effect. Quite excellent.

I have had it for about 3 years and no problems. I have never gigged with it though.

Never needed support

I play heavier rock and this fits the bill nice. I would definitely replace it as it has some of the best sounds in my arsenal (again the rectifier sound is awesome IMHO). Blows POD etc out of the water. Boss GT-6 has better cleans though.

Quite easy to use, but has a lot of deep editing features that are really made more accessible through the software.

Sound quality is excellent. I have or have had a number of other amp modellers including POD, Boss GT6, Zoom GM200. All of these devices have there strengths and weaknesses, but for balls to the wall distortion the Genesis3 has it. For example, if you like the Mesa-Boogie Rectifier sound the folks at Digitech have nailed it on the Genesis3. No other modeler does this amp right if you ask me. Genesis is spot on. As well the Marshall amps are awesome. If you would like to hear it in action go to the following link: http://music.download.com/invasionn/3600-8666_32-101079137.html?tag=MDL_listing_song_artist. The first song on the page uses the Rectifier. The second song uses "Brit Stack" which is modeled after one of the Marshall JCM series of amps.

I have had the unit for about 4 years. No problems at all.

Never needed it.

Overall, I love the Genesis3 especially for heavier amp models. However, I can't go higher than an 8 because I feel the Genesis3 lacks when it comes to some of the cleaner stuff .... Fender, Vox etc. The models just don't have the detail and shimmer. For these types of amp models the Boss GT6 is excellent IMHO.

This is a fairly deep unit, so although its quite simple to use off the bat, you can easily go layers and layers deep. Pretty straight forward, no problems really. Use the manual when you get stuck, but it all becomes intuitive quickly.

Very very nice, and until the GNX3000 came along, clearly the most pristine and great sounding, and clean noiseless Digitech product that they ever made. A 102 S/N ration, so quieter than any of the GNX pedals, save the new GNX3000 which is a tad more pristine. The effects are all very nice, especially the delays and modulation effects. The amp and cabinet simulators are very very nice. You can put pedals in front of the thing as well with no problem. I picked up the optional midi foot pedal for next to nothing on ebay, and this adds quite a bit of versatility to it, as well as BYPASS mode 9which the box does NOT have w/o the external foot pedal. It is certainly better than any other desktop box including the POD. When going into an amp, use the DIRECT OUT utility option, otherwise you color the sound in ways you probably don't want to.

As with all Digitech products, crank the gain volume and patch volume ALL THE WAY UP, to minimize any device hiss relative to guitar volume. It will run perfectly quiet this way.

The sampling is 44.1K and its 24bit-- so it sounds GREAT. Very happy with the sound quality-- and at the price you can pick these up on ebay from people who don't know any better-- it is a STEAL.

no problems at all.

never needed.

Nothing can touch it at the price, nothing. A wonderful addition to any guitar collection.

Neil Slade
The AMAZING Brain Music Adventure
www.BrainRadar.com

Do not be fooled, although it looks like a few knobs and buttons there are indeed many different things to learn with this unit. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the patience of the user and sheer determination. I bought mine used for next to nothing with the Control-X board and was just plain excited to mess with all the features. Editing patches it easy enough to do- but the more you tweek it the better it sounds, so I do recommend downloading the manual from digitech's website if you didn't get one with the purchase.

This is where things get tricky. If you have no patience, and you only had planned on using the presets...well, don't expect much. The more hands on tweeking you do, the better your sound will be. One thing I don't care for about this unit is the major sound difference between recording with it and hooking it into an amp. In some cases what sounds good on your computer might sound terrible through an amp. The noise reduction is a blessing for rehearsal and live events but using too much of it on your patches will make your sustain short lived and fake sounding. I mostly use the rectifier patches and I am very pleased with the quality I can achieve.

I would gig with it, no doubt about it. But, any musician will tell you to never rely on one piece of hardware always have a backup just in case. The problem is with a unit like this if if it dies you will need a whole lot of pedals to fix the mess.

I have never dealt with them. This product is way out of warranty so all I can say is their website directed me to everything I could have needed so for that I give 9.

I play hard rock and metal and this suits me fine. I was actually more impressed with the clean sounds to be honest with everyone. I have been playing for around 11 years and I have had many pedals but this is a lot better for someone like me. If this were stolen I would probably get one of the newer digitech boards because they do a really good job at emulation. I like the flexibility that this product offers but it can be frustrating to find the right sound at times. I wish that they would have built the Control-X into the unit (haha). Overall I reccomend this to anyone with a home studio, patience, and a good vision of what they are trying to accomplish. Lazier audiophiles need look elsewhere.

Some of the utilities aren't as easy to figure out how to tweak but with a little time everything opens up.

This is actually the second time I am reviewing this product. I reviewed it about 3 years ago when I first got it. I was using it as a modeling preamp. I put it away about 8 months ago when I finally got a good tube amp and no longer needed the modeler. I then just started using analog pedals in my effects loop. Missing the versatility I had with my Control X and my Genesis 3 along with the excellent effects that it has, I decided to try it out in my effects loop. After I finally figured out how to turn the modeling off and only use the effects I was very, very impressed with the sounds I was getting, even more impressive than my analog pedals. BTW, to bypass the modeling, you just set the model to Direct and the Cabinet model to Direct. I had also tried out the Lexicon MX200 before I tried my Genesis 3 and it had excellent reverbs but the modulation effects just didn't cut it for guitar. The modulation and delay effects are where the Genesis 3 shines.

Mine has been very dependable. Although I did have a problem with it at a show where we were playing outside in the hot sun and the sound just stopped. I had to turn it off and then back on again and it worked fine the rest of the show. Not quite sure what happened but I assume it had something to do with the heat.

Never needed to contact them.

Overall this is a very good box. I have been very happy with mine. I think I like it more for the effects than for the models but I need to also say that I've used the s/pdif out to record directly to my computer and the sound quality was excellent. Very realistic tube sound. But not quite the same as my mic-ed tube amp. If you can pick one of these up for under 100 bucks, do it. You won't be sorry. One other thing I should mention. If you are planning on using this for live performances, there is a drop out of the sound when you change patches with a midi controller. However, you can control each effect individually per patch so if you just need to turn chorus on or off, there is no drop out. Or if you just want to change from the Green amp to the Red Amp model(both of which can be set to the same model with different gain and volume levels, I use this for lead boosts.), there is no drop out here either. Oh yeah, and if you use it in your effects loop just as an effects processor, you will normally use your amp to switch from distortion to clean so this doesn't effect that either. I just put my patches together so that I don't have to change them in the middle of a song but I can still tweak my sound at key intervals.

Pretty self - explanatory, I'm very experienced with studio and live gear (Degree in Music Tech) , and have been using modelers since the original POD.. easy to tweak, knobs and a few buttons. Nice.

I use the unit only for recording at home, guitars are a Les Paul, jackson DK1, American Floyd Rose Strat, into a FMR Really Nice Compressor, thru a Mackie Onyx Mixer feeding a Presonus FirePod. This all goes to a G5 running Logic with a Waves Platinum suite.. I like the sound quality on this unit a lot more than any of the PODs I've owned (Pod 1.0, 2.0, XT Pro) , and better than the Johnson J-Station I have laying around.. for distorted sounds this works a lot better to me than any of the software amp sims I've tried , but I can get better clean sounds from the computer.

I don't have a manual for the Genesis, I've never actually looked up what the models are supposed to represent, but most of them are very useable with some tweaking. The "Brit Stack" and "Boutique" are probably my two most-used settings. the warp thing is pretty great, you can dial in a lot of unique sounds very easily with it.

There is definately some digital-ness going on with this box, but with some careful processing, mixing, and layering, it can sound 95% like a well-miked tube amp when taken in with the rest of the instruments. It sits well in the mix.

I don't gig with it, I have a Boss GT-8 in my live rig, with a Marshall. It seems sturdy enough, but it's a piece of digital gear. I do bring it with me occasionally for a backup-backup (the GT-8 can go live into the board in a pinch, and it sounds pretty good)

I will say, I've had it for 4 years or so now, and it's made it through several cross country tours, getting thrown around and smushed!!

No idea.

I compose, play, all sorts of music, a lot of metal, punk, electronic mix. I bought this thing at Guitar center in Boston, $75 out the door, so I can't really complain. it's saved my butt on recording sessions a lot of times, and I've scored an entire animated show (22 minutes), using the Genesis for all the guitars, and some drum processing. One of the best value things I've ever had. It's not the best sounding thing out there anymore, but it still holds up pretty well!

Couldn't get simpler than dials in your face!!

I own a studio and also have all the toys..PodXt Live, Tonelabs SE, Zoom gr5, Digitech GNX-4...yes, I'm spoiled, but this thing blew me away. Originally, I bought it off ebay to resell. It's been sitting in my "future" selling items, but guess what..this baby's staying here. It took me about 2 minutes of playing it to realize the potential of the Genesis 3. The tones are phenominal unless you don't understand the unit and the warp feature is ultra cool. I disagree totally with the negative reviews..you guys are missing the point of this unit. It is a tremendous studio or live piece of gear. Keyed to professional ears. I used my Gibson LP to test and then the Wolfgang...sweeeeet! Did I mention the warp?..yes I did, but it tweaks the current sound 1 click at a time until you get what you want on that particular sound..it rocks. The effects are clean and modern. I think somewhere somebody forgot to mention that this is one of the studio flagships that Digitech made..designed for studio use mainly but also great for live..how nice to have just a midi pedal and 1 effects unit. Ok, I've been exhaustive in this review but I will give this a 10 because Digitech did such a nice job on the layout and the sound quality. Don't let the size of the unit fool you...this puppy Rocks!

N/A..but Digitech stuff is pretty tough.

I rate this very high but I said most of it in the sound quality section..so I won't bore you with it again.

Like any other effect-box, it takes a while to get used to it.

Take my word for it! I am a professional producer and guitarplayer, and I tell you that I have never stumbled on anything in this category of line-boxes that can ever come close to the sound of this one. It's useless to even compare the POD or the V-AMP with this little purple beauty. I have been looking for a crunchy and evil metal sound for ages, tweeking my fingers bloody with the POD and the likes, but they just can't beat this monster. Sure, many might say that the sound of the clean amp models isn't that convincing or "true", but who cares if you really only are interested in a dirty metal tube sound like the sound of Yngwie Malmsteen's Seventh Sign, or Evanescence's Fallen. This box kicks butt! Seriously. I use it only straight into a mixer and into my studio, and that's it. Lot's of superlatives - I know, but it's the truth.

100% So far. (I've been using it for 2 years now).

I use this unit with my band, BLAMF! I've mostly played it with my Les Paul Smartwood and Les Paul copies, although recently I've started playing more on my Yamaha RGX with an acoustic piezo built in and two humbuckers (I've switched the original Duncans for two gold covered Gibson pups I picked up at a yard sale). Good results with a Strat, too.

Easy to use with the built in presets, just dial through them, hit the button to choose the clean or distorted setting of the preset, hit it again to "warp" the two amps used with the preset. Turn the same button to decide how much of each amp. Turn another dial to switch amps or speakers. Three tone controls. Changing effects, programming presets, and programming new amps by warping amps requires a little more thought and a glance at the manual, but still not bad. The optional Controller X works well for channel switching and turning effects on and off, but the buttons are a little close together for toe tapping if you've got big feet and/or bulky shoes. Most of the time, the Controller X doesn't seem to activate the warp function, so you have to go back and tap on the unit. Once in a while it does activate the warp on certain presets, I have no idea why. What you can do is save your user presets with the warp as the initial setting, so when you go it you are already warped. The next two taps will switch to distortion and clean or vice versa, but the next tap probably won't go back to warp. So just switch to another preset and then switch back, and you're warped again. Or tap on the main unit. A little kludgy, as the computer guys say, but could be worse.

I've programmed my own amps and presets for most of what I do. My thought process is along the lines of "I like the Boogie preset, but it could use some more warmth, so mix in the Vox and save it as my new improved Boogie...", then flip through all the cabinets to get the best sound out of the blend and save the amp, tweak the tone controls and save the whole mess as a preset. I don't remember if it really was the Vox I mixed with the Boogie, but my "Santan" program is a lot more Santana then the factory "Carlos" preset.

For the amount of power that is there, it is really easy to use. That said, you aren't going to get all the power out of it without cracking the manual for at least a few minutes here and there. It's particularly important that you initially set up the unit for the type of amplification you will be playing through (e.g. direct, 1X12, 4X12), which is selected under the hood and is not directly related to the speaker simulations listed on the surface controls.

Let me straight with you. I don't use ANY of the factory presets. They all seem a little muffled or muddy with the exception of some of the sparkly clean Fender sounds. So far I don't do any "straight into the board" stuff either. Nevertheless, I'm giving it a 9 for the sounds you can program yourself. Think carefully what it is you don't like about the presets, combine ("warp") some of the amp simulations, tweak your tone controls, add a little reverb -- most of the sounds you want ARE in this box. My other secret is I am playing it through a real tube amp, a Fender Super 60. The combination of a real tube amp and tube amp emulations, along with your imagination of what it is you want to hear -- this set up gives me some of the best sounds I've ever worked with. And I've spent a lot of time fiddling with my equipment and the finest vintage gear in the music store as well. But you've got to be willing to keep playin' and tweakin'. The cleans can be very warm or very sparkly, and you can get an awesome sustained sound. It truly is like having a truckload of amps in a little box, but that doesn't mean you don't have to know how to use them. There is one thing that I feel is lacking, though, and that is a really good crunch. I've tweaked, I've programmed, I've rolled back my volume knobs, but the crunches all come out a little too "fizzy" in my opinion. My Zoom GM-200 does a great job of turning my 1X12 combo into a 4X12 Marshall stack, but it's not really a sound I need that much in public anyway, so c'est la vie. Genesis still gets a 9 for all it does do.

Come to think of it, the acoustic simulator also sucks, but you can get a very nice sound playing a real acoustic pickup through some of the clean amp simulations.

Something else I've overlooked is the effects. I recently picked up a great sounding, very sparkly DOD chorus pedal at a garage sale. But I'm trying to keep things simple and not add additional pedals, so I attempted to recreate it on the Genesis. Got very close, and I still have this sound attached to one of my presets. One thing that would be nice would if you could save effects tweaks and combinations the same you save warped amps and overall presets, so you could quickly apply your favorite effects settings in a variety of contexts. There are also pickup simulations, delays (with tap tempo), flange, tremolo. Using the Controller X, the wah is also very nice, much like a Crybaby. It's like having hundreds of dollars worth of pedals alongside your tens of thousands of dollars worth of amps!

There's a lot of power here for your money, especially now that this model is out of production and not the latest Digitech thing, so the price is sliding. I predict it will someday be considered a classic unto itself, and the price will go sky high. Although I take off a point because one expects an amp emulator to do every last thing, if it were just a single pedal costing the same amount that enabled me to choose between the clean and supersaturated sounds I can get here -- say it was called the "Sparkle Saturator", and never mind the additional effects -- I'd probably have to give it a 10.

Pretty dependable so far, although obviously it's plastic and you want to pack it nicely and not drop it on a gig. My backup for it is a Tube Screamer and the reverb built into my amp. I'd rather have the Digitech, but I can get by for a gig with just the Tubescreamer. Haven't had to do it yet, though. It's not like some plastic gear, where you have to ask yourself "did I just knock something loose by plugging in too hard"? Also, the Genesis IS my backup for my amp. If the amp goes, I can just plug the G 3 into the board. So as long as everything doesn't go at once, I'm OK. On the other hand, with the software included and the price falling, it shouldn't be too hard to have two identically programmed Genesises (Genesi??) at your beck and call to be totally backed up. But so far I've encountered no problems, and just take off one point cause it ain't made out of metal.

Haven't ever tried to contact them.

Having this unit has really helped me put the brakes on my amp lust. I feel like I've already got whatever I need right here, except that I'll occasionally plug in my other emulator, the GM-200, for my fix of Big Crunch. Also, having an electric guitar with a piezo pickup built-in makes up for the travesty of an acoustic simulation. Since 10 is described in the Harmony-Central overall ratings as "Fantastic Value", I have to give it a 10 overall, although I didn't give perfect 10's in the specific areas and there is room for improvement if you're expecting a do-it-all machine. It would simply take a roomful of amps and pedals to do what this thing does for a couple of hundred bucks. How can I not call this a "Fantastic Value"?

It's ok...needs some work to get it just the way you want, making it work with another midicontroller (read expressionpedal!!) is a pain in the ass. But overal you can get what you want, you just have to take your time.

My setup: Esp viper or epiphone V, both with EMG's, into a morley bad horsy into a/b/y box into either a 5150 2x12 with a rocktron replifex & boss ge-7 in the fxloop or the genisis3 into a poweramp. both lines run into the same 4x12 (behringer...the shit!!!, I split the cab in 2...using 2x12 for the genisis and 2x12 xtra to give me a 4x12 5150. All of this is controlled by a behringer (this company rocks) fcb-1010...
It's not noisy at all plus it has a built-in noise gate, so that wouldn't be a problem. There is no true bypass though, so if you would be wanting to use this pure for the effects, then pass. This unit has got some great distortion in it, and the effects are to die for, way better than all other stuff on the market (pods, vamps etc), the only thing you want to stay away from is the acoustic simulator.

The amp simulations are awsome, not true to the real ones, but who the &*^% cares and the ability to make it sound like you are using 2 amps at the same time is really frickin cool

I bought this thing second hand, and it still works like a charm, I've gigged with it with only an amp after it, and it survived. so yeah..good reliability, and guessing that most of us can't afford to buy everything twice (yeah..not everyone is a pro...just jet) it's gig-able without a backup.
But I've read that some people had some problem with it..so read that.

never had to deal with them

I play metal with influences from metallica to static-x to machinehead to korn. And it fits. You might be wondering, you've got all that other sh*t, and still you have this in your rig, it's flexibel, and it gives me room to get more out of my guitar sound, there is nothing I can't do.

So, if havn't got the awsome budget to buy expensive amps, go for this or the pods (easier to use), if you want to experiment deffinatly take this, if you are recording...BUY IT. If you really really want to sound like everyone else buy the real amps...happy spending

At first it might be a tad puzzling and frustrating so i'd recommend going trough the whole manual, cause once you get the idea of how the beast works it gets kinda easy.

Thats where i say it really excells, im a pro studio recording guitarist and you wont need anything else for recording end of story.

Goodbye all those other gimmicks, finally a "does it all" multi effect box that sounds incredibly great.

I did a couple of gigs with it and it never failed.
It's plastic, so dont drop your amp on it tought.

I wish it would have been made into a solid metal unit and with a direct power cord and internal supply.

My only fear is about this little power supply, it could have been a tad stronger, this little transformer box gets quite hot after a while.

Never had to contact them.

Im 37 and i started playing since i was about 14, all those years i bought analog pedals and other gimmicks, never really satisfied with my sound and now i got this, now i feel i got a music store filled with Amps and effects at the touch of a button...

I also record my own stuff with it and my computer at home, i play from Metal to classic, Blues, Funky, Jazz fusion, medieval anything and i can tune this baby to suit any style and sound.

Simply put i think its the best Guitar effect unit I've ever tried.

I have tried other fancy ones, rackmounts and all but their overkill and you end up spending much more time trying to figure and tweak your sound than actually play, wich is a nonsense from a creative point of view.

IT's a pain in the ass to tweak and use everything.

Great for metal, nu, shred, death, etc.. The guy was right on the money when he said any guitar you plug in will sound the same. Not the distortion, but your guitar reguardless of what pickups you have. With that said I love this thing for metal and constructed my own true bypass box so I can turn it off with the tap of the foot. I don't use this device for anything but distortion. Also, don't try running other pedals straight into the input of this. It craps out! It rapes the tone and sound horrible. Hence another reason for true bypass. This pedal kills the MXR dimebag and Doubleshot for distortion. If the guy wanted analog sound he was apparently too stupid to realize all digital does not equal analog. Duh

plastic, but lasting

excellent customer support.

This is a follow up to my earlier review. After spending some time with this unit. My opinions have changed alot from positive to more negative. The unit is moderately difficult because the smaller buttons and knobs control alot of facets of the FX on this unit. It's not intuitive and u have to remember what sequence of odd buttons u have to press to get to certain features of this unit. Even getting to the tuner is more difficult then the POD XT or V-Amp 2. They only have a single button u have to press to get to it. The Genesis, u have to press like 4 buttons before u can even get to the tuner. But that's just an example of the difficulty with some of the features.

This is where the unit is not so good. At first when i heard this thing, i thought it sounded great but it quickly started to annoy me. The sound is super clean and steril and digital. It's smooth and creamy but has no character or depth. It colors the tone and no matter what guitar u use, it all sounds the same. If you have a crappy guitar, this unit would be good but if u have a great guitar with nice pickups, this thing will make ur guitar sound the same as a $100 guitar. I can't seem to get the natural tone of the guitar nor remove that smooth silky sound to get the raw sound of the guitar through. There is also no true bypass. You can disable the amp and cab and FX but that's the best u can do and u can hear it muddy up the guitar tone. I tried using the unit just for reverb but it would color the tone of the guitar so u can't even make use of the FX alone. It's like looking through a class that always has a haze on it. If you like that synthetic digital sound and u want the same tone whether the volume is 10 or 1, then u'll love this thing. If you like natural guitar tone to come through and u like analog and varying tone based on attack volume and other factors, then u will hate this unit.

it still works and the knobs feel sturdy

no problem

Well, if u r a digital head, then u'll love this thing. If u r analog type, u'll hate this thing. No true bypass is annoying. FX r very cool. Unit does not allow guitar's natural tone to come through. It's like taking a delicious Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream and pouring all kinds of junk into like caramel, chocolate, and stirring it all up so it becomes a nasty soup. That's the tone of this thing.

UI is excellent, especially if you use the Windows-based GenEdit software, it makes setting up the patches and restoring them very easy and straightforward.

Using the unit itself was a bit more complex (not surprising, considering the amount of controls), but acceptable. I reverted to using GenEdit most of the time though.

I use an Ibanex SA series directly into the Genesis 3 directly into M-Audio for direct recording. That's how it's supposed to be used, as a direct recording digital amp.

I play mostly metal, death/doom in particular. I am sorry to say the distorion on the amp models really doesn't cut it for that genre, it was simply weak and unfocused. What was worse was the huge amount of digital artifacts/clipping I often notices when playing lower registers, especially palm muting (sometimes my speakers just farted with some of the amp settings).

Also, the effects sound VERY digital, not warm at all. Worse, they also exhibit a lot of digital artifacts that you'd never get on analog equipment.

In short, the Genesis 3 comes with a LOT of features, amps, effects, etc. The problem is that none of them are particularly good (for metal at least). You end up wishing you spend a bit more $$$ and had gotten something better.

In particular the inability to hook external pedals into it was very lacking. I tried using a Digitech Metal Master as my distortion (since I wasn't happy with the ones Genesis 3) had, but it was SO noisy when fed into the Genesis 3 unit it was unusable (even the built-in noise gate couldn't handle it).

End of story: after 6 months of wrestling with this unit I sold it on Ebay and lost nearly 50% of the money I paid for it. No more Digitech for me, ever.

Had no problems with it.

Never dealt with them.

Bottom line: lots of features, none of them good. Stay away from this unit, save up some extra cash and buy something better.

If you're into metal, stay away from this thing with a 10 foot pole. I tried my friend's Sans Amp GT2 after I sold my Genesis 3 and although it was not perfect for my style, at least it didn't have all the clipping/noise/crappy sound problems I had with the Genesis3.

Cheap product and you get what you paid for. Great if you bought your first guitar and don't want to blow $1000 on an amp...but you'll be looking for something better as soon as you figure out what power chords and palm muting is (2 months? 3 days? depends on your speed).

I purchased this unit brand new in box and it was obvious it was not operating properly from the moment it was powered up.
Unable to edit the effects sections

I was only able to get amp and cabinet sounds, they were very impressive.Unable to try outside of bedroom

Totally unreliable

since I purchased in the USA and I live in the UK my warranty is null and void.Customer support(USA)were speedy in responding but could not give me any help as to the problem.
The UK agent has never seen a genesis 3 but has charged me for a repair(approx $50)I am still awaiting return of the unit

Over the years I have had many stomp boxes and multi effect units and this is certainly the worst I have ever experienced I will never consider another product from Digitech.

There's afew things hidden in menus so it isn't totally intuitive from the front panel. However, it is very good and with the free editing software it is a breeze to edit sounds. Digitech doesn't claim that the tone controls work exactly like the original amp, but they are voiced well for each and are useful. I would like a presence control added, but you can't have everything. A nice touch is that the eq is more like a good mixer in that the mids and treble are semi parametric. The manual is adequite, but could be better. I downloaded the latest firmware and it works well.

In summary this is one of the best modellers available. The amp models are pretty convincing and the cabinet models are really good. I also own products from Line 6, Korg and Behringer. Far better sounding than any of the Line 6 products I've tried. It is more amp like and less artificial feeling. The feel is where this thing excells. I also like the low end of this more than the V-Amp. They are pretty close, but there's something a little better about this. The only modeller that I think sounds better is my Korg PX4, but that can't be controlled for live use easily. I think the Vox amps sound a little more convincing but this does sound good.

I use mainly PRS and a Fender Clapton strat. I'm going direct with it. The effects on this are very good. The reverbs are among the best I've ever heard in a digitech unit. I'm not trying to sound like other people, but you could probably nail most sounds with this.

But is it as good as a nice tube amp? No. I normally use Rivera amps and the feel isn't there yet. Not even close. No amp modeller I've played yet matches a tube amp for quality of sound and feel. But for what it is, this is very nice, especially if you need to cover a lot ground and have good effects. The Phaser and Flanger are right on.

I've owned it a couple months with no issues.

Haven't used it.

I pplay mostly in church and this is a good fit. I wish the tuning option couold be reached from a MIDI pedal other than Digitech's Control X. I think the Vox Tonelab will be superior to this, but at the price this is definitely the best for under $400. I own products from Line 6, Behringer and Korg and this is in the top ratings. Only the Korg PX4 is as good, but doesn't work well live. The Genesis 3 is far better than the PODs. If it were stolen I would probably bite the bullet and get the Vox Tonelab, but otherwise this is the best overall mix of features- especially at the price.

It is pretty easy once you go over the manual

It is quite good.as matter of fact,for practicing,and low volume situation,it does sound fantactic.Under these situations,it sounds better than using analog pedals.So the sound rating is playing at low to moderate volume level.

This is where rating takes a mega nose dive.If I could give it a negative 10,I would!The parameters keeps changing by itself!The delay,modulation rate,seeems to change on it's own.Untill I read the reviews on this site,I thought the problem I am having was an isolated problem.Well, looks like there are enough people with similar problem to start a political party.

I called Digitec,as another reviewer did, and told that it will cost me $80!!! to rectify what seems to be a defective product.What kind of company is this!It is one thing to charge repair cost for a product that was damaged due to wear or abuse,but it is totally wrong to charge repair cost when it is overwheimingly ovious that the problem is caused by some bad soft ware.

It is really to bad,because I do like this unit.I use it(without the effects that are problematic) with the x control remote foot controller.It is light and small,and for gigging,you can have the main unit stored way.I also like the effects in general.I urge other owners of genesis 3 with similar problems to voice thier discont.I have the feeling that there are a lot more than what we are seeing here.

The use of this unit is about as simple/difficult as any multi FX unit with all these features. You do have to read the manual to take full advantage of this unit. Overall tho, u can start using it pretty quickly.

I was surprisingly impressed by this unit's tonal quality and cleaniness. It was very clean and noise free. The clean tone is great and the distortion can generate any type u want from blues light rock to heavy metal and Eric Johnson and it doesn't sound cheap. I find that the tone on this is as good and better in some ways to the V-Amp but definitely better then the POD. I played it through my Crate G60 amp in the line in and it sounded pretty damn good. Recorded to the computer sounded excellent too. I was thoroughly impressed and pleasantly surprised overall.

I haven't had it long so i can't say.

No problems so far.

Overall, for the money i paid, i'd give it a 9 or 10. Only other one that i know gives as good a tone for this money is Behringer V-Amp 2. If your looking for a tubish clean sound, V-Amp will give u a better tone. For Distortion, this unit seems to have thicker higher gain sound. Overall, both units r good but of course, V-amp cost only like 120 and it comes with a case and a sturdy foot switch. It's tauce up tho. Digitech does have a slightly more synth quality tone but it's not a bad sound at all, it's just different. For more generic tone and live ampish sounding, V-Amp is the better choice.

Ease of use: well, that's kind of a tricky question. I would give this unit about a 7 or 8, because although it sounds great, it can be a little hard to edit it and tweak the effects. Well, that is before i got the USB to MIDI interface. Now, I use the GenEdit software, and editing is simple to get it how i want it to sound.
I have firmware version 1.2. I had it upgraded because i had the problems with it changing parameters on me (more about that later). Manual is good, but it could be more discriptive on the presets (as has been mentioned).
If you have and use GenEdit, very easy to use.

My setup is my current guitar of choice (PRS singlecut, dean EVO 7string, Fender Strat, Ibanez Acoustic/Electric are my favorites), that runs usually into a presonus bluetube (to help it get a little more gain and some of that "real" tube sound, i recomend it), then into the Genesis unit.
from there, i usually run it directly into my recorder using the spdif digital output, and use the analog outputs to go into a pair of studio monitors.
I also have the genesis hooked up to the Control X foot controler, either that or it's hooked up to my computer so i can change or edit patches with genEdit.
The sounds are great. They are so much better for recording then going through the hassle of mic placement and all that. Also, you get the sound of thousands of dollars of amplifiers for a tiny fraction of the price!
Okay, it doesn't sound *exactly* like your classic marshall jcm 800 or you fender twin or whatever amp, but it does pretty good. I would say that unless you art a totall tone guru, you wouldn't notice

It's dependable, but i never take it out of the studio. If i did, i imagine that it is sturdy enough to go gigging with.

I had the problem with the old firmware, but the thing is, i live about 3 miles away from the digitech factory. I just went on inside and asked the secretary for help. They got me fixed up pretty quick. It turns out all I had to do was update the firmware. I never had to call in, but I liked the service I got

In short: it's a great. better then the podXL and beter then te vamp. I would definatly buy this again if some punk stole it. it's probably my favorite piece of gear in the studio.

i only got the 1.0 version of the firmware so far but i will upgrade it via internet if i ever get problems, but being a computer tech i go by the general rule "If it's ok just dont mess with it!".
I think it is generally easy to use considering all it does, it's got loads of possibilities so it is a good idea to look up the user manual at first.
But nobody should need the manual just to try out the presets, plain easy.

Im using it for home studio recording with my computer.
And i practice stuff with headphones, sounds are incredible! really feels like those classic and expensive amps to me! and the effects are great too.
It costs so much less and it makes you feel you have a whole music store in your living room!
I can get this Eric Johnson lead or some Megadeth/Metalica nasty rythm sound without even having to tweak anything!
I have given it a quick try on my Peavy Musician Mark IV amp wich is a rather bad and dull sounding amp by itself, it made magic! altough i prefer the headphone sounds because even with everything at the 12 o clock position an amp will always influence the tone.
This thing is ideal for what i wanted to do, Computer studio recording.

It could be used at gigs but i dunno what i would do if i would have to switch from a clean to a nasty tone? turn the knobs with my toes?
I think this unit was mostly designed with studio/home recording in mind cause of that and the fact that it's plastic case would make me nervous to have someone walk on it by mistake.
add a way to change presets with floor switches and put the thing in a steel casing and this would be the ultimate sin!

i've had the thing for only a month, didnt need any support yet so i wouldnt know.

I play various styles and mostly original compositions, it is a very usefull and inspiring tool for me, i can close my eyes and turn the preset knobs, and try to see what this surprise sound will inspire me, or if i want to really sound like an artist i like, it wont take too much time before i tune it in.
I have been playing guitar since i was a 14 year old kid (36 now), and i have had a lot of stomp pedals and amps... this thing is like heaven sent to me!

If you read the maunal,it is not that hard to work with it.

It sounds pretty good to me at low to mid volume.Anything louder than that,I have found that the distortion sounds gets little unfocused.Maybe you need to amplify it with a very powerful amplifier with little to no distortion to preserve the definition.

Something similar has happend to my unit as some of the reviewers are experiencing,parameters changing on its own.

I did contact Digitec about this problem, but they are charging $80 to rectify what seems to me is a defective product to start with.

If I was not going through this problem,I would probably give this product a very high rating,I did get the external foot control unit(which is not midi),and with it,it can be a highly versatile effect processor.But with this kind of very serious problems,it is all most useless.However,I probably will get this thing sent to Digiech.I will try to post an update later on.

It's a complex peice of gear with lots of effects and parameters to work with and to get the best sounds out of it (which are excellent indeed) there's a wide gammit of tweaking to do. Studying the manual is a must. Not the best choice if your a live performer unless you purchase the midi foot controller, which I didn't because I'm a home studio guy. Could use more user patch storage, you only get 48 and it doesn't seem like enough with all it capabilites. You can transfer and store your patches using the software it comes with on your computer if you run out of room. The manual is good, it has several tutorials you can go through if the machine is just totally alien to you.

The sound quality is excellent. If you can afford only one effect system this a good place to start. You'll get every standard effect that you'll need for any type of music. This is something Digitech beats it's competition at, of course the trade off is there's a loss in simplicity of use. I bought it because the price was too good to pass up and I've been pleased with other Digitech products I've used. The presets aren't inspiring but that been true with all the other digital modeling processors on the market(I wish they would all get a clue!). You'll have to tweak it some to match well with your Guitar and Amp-Mixer etc. I found that the best sound were really achieved by using the Warp function, This allows you to create 2 virtual Amplifiers and blend them and this is what makes it so much better that the Pod,V-amp,Korg1500,DG-Stomp. This gives you a near endless amount of creativity because you can blend amplifiers and Cabinets over and over again, your sound can built from 6 different amps if you so desire. The effects are top notch and quiet and can be controlled by the footcontroller(unable to comment on the quality of this function).
CHORUS(excellent)
FLANGER(very good but limited without the computer software)
COMPRESSION(excellent)
PHASER(good)
TREMELO(very good)
VIBRATO(Good)
ENVELOPE FILTER(OK)
HARMONIST(very good)
WHAMMY(hard to tell without the foot controller)
PITCHSHIFTER(excellent, extremely smooth tracking and you can place it anywhere in the stereo field you like.
DELAY(very good, lots of options)
REVERB(hall,plate,church,garage,arena,spring)
NOISE GATE(good, tends to sputter sometimes)
AUTO WAH(ok)
PICKUP SELECTOR(cool idea and it works impressively)
ACOUSTIC SIMULATOR(poor)

I use it with all tube amplifiers Fender, Vox, Carvin and direct to a mixer/portastudio and multitude of guitars, it's compatable with them all. It doesn't work well with stompbox types of effects (which is disappointing, it's been the case with other modeling processors as well, it creates excess noise: unless you like noise).I like creating my own sounds and don't try to mimmick other people's sound because nobody does it better than the original. Having said that this thing will do country, metal, punk, psychedelia, funk, classic rock, be-bop/rockabilly post/punk, new wave, nu metal, jazz/fusion, pop, reggae, the only genre I would exclude is folk music.

I haven't had it long enough to tell. Some people have had problems it seems from some of the other reviews. It looks like some of the earlier models had some bugs. Hopefully these bugs have solved in the later versions.

Never Dealt with them.

This Thing's FUN, FUN, FUN and no one will take my Genesis 3 away.
I play a sort of Psychedelic/Early Punk/Orchestrated Noise kind of stuff. I've been playing and writing songs for 18 years and own quite a bit gear. I embrace vintage sounds of years past and enjoy the new modern digital technology too. I still record in the analog domain but the digital stuff gets better and better all the time and the Genesis 3 is another great advancement in the right direction. I've bought the POD( only used it a few times) Yamaha DG-Stomp(which I would also recommend if you can find one, great sounds but limited effects). I've tried KORG1500(very good as well) and the Behringer V-AMP(Ho-Hum) and the Genesis 3 is the best of these type of Digital Modeling effect processors. The most for your money, hands down. In 1986 when I started playing Guitar and I had one of these things it would of been the best thing to happen to me and my music. Young musicians of today are really lucky to have such creative tools at their disposal.

This is pretty straightforward if you understand effects and EQ. The manual is helpful but I also have a pod 2.0. and their manual is much more informative. Editing the effects and amps is pretty easy. I haven't delved too much into the cabinet tuning but like I said , if you understand eq and what you're looking for, I imagine it's not too hard. By the way, my genesis 3 is version 1.2. I think that they're up to 2.0 now.

With this unit I'm running several different guitars ( including an esp with emg 81's, a stock american series strat, a couple of modded strats with dimarzio super distortions and evolutions) directly into the gen3 into a tascam 4 track . I also purchased korg d1600 recently but haven't tried the genesis into it yet becuase it was gone for awhile ( the genesis, that is - see "reliability"). Anyway, I just use it for recording and have no plans to use it with an amp or PA. To me sound quality can be broken down into two catagories: amps and effects.
First- amps; I think all of the clean and medium gain models sound great, espcially the clean - really nice, smooth, warm and clear and that's even withouth tweaking them alot. The high gain choices I wasn't as happy with. They're ok. I had to tweak them alot and then I was only satisfied with the sound for rythym sounds, for leads I thought it was to harsh and brittle, that goes for all of the high gain moddels on there. I used to play out through a marshall jcm900 half stack with the gain cranked and for leads , I would just kick on a cheap mxr distortion pedal. I was happy with that tone and couldn't really find that in here. Although, I admit , I haven't spent endless hours with the genesis trying to achieve this. I don't have that kind of time. Consequently, I purchased a pod 2.0 and am much happier with that for high gain tones. But for the price and other feature , this thing is still a great buy.
The second area of sound quality for me would be the effects. This is why I LOVE the genesis 3. The effects are awesome sounding and there is alot of them. multiple reverbs , delays, flanges, phasers, chourus, and pitch effects amoung others including a thing called ya-ya which reminds me of Peter frampton playing through a talk box in the 70's. You can buy and expression pedal to control this effect and the famed digi whammy and also wah. I know that there are some severe snobs out there who say that the effects not professional quality but for 2 hundred bucks , they're great. I don't mean to toot my own horn here but I've been playing seriously for about 22 years and think I'm a pretty good judge of sound quality even though I'm not a tech/gear head. Even though I have the pod, the gen 3 will be an important part of my recording process because of its effects. The effects on the pod are not so great and the noise gate is almost non-existant. The noise gate and compressor on the genesis are really not good an easy to use. Again - for the price. I think that's what some of these negative review authors are forgeting about. I even use the compressor for my acoustic guitar and it works very well. I'm going to rate this high becuase of the effects and clean tones.

This is where I need to take away some points.
It's been a month and a half since I've had my gen 3 and I'm currently on my 3rd one !!
The first one: after a couple of weeks it started doing this thing when after being on for awhile, the effects would start to alter themselves. For example reverbs would swell, speeds would increase on the chourus, delay repeats would increase, pitch intervals would change, etc. I bought this from musician's friend , it was ver 1.0. I sent it back and asked if they could send me a more recent model as I don't have a pc at home and can't download upgrades. They sent me a version 1.2. This second one had a problem on the pitch settings - there would be distortion and wobbleing ( sp?) on the tone that was being played back. So that one went back and they have sent me another 1.2 that I just got the other day. Hopefully that one will be ok, I haven't checked it out too much yet. Other than that , as far as reliability, the outer casing of this thing is made of plastic and I'm not sure how well it would hold up if someone was playing out regularly with it.

Ehh - never dealt with them directly but they don't strike me as being so great. I'll explain. The first genesis I had didn't come with the genetix software and made no mention of the cakewalk guitartracks. It did have a card to send in if you wanted the software rather than downloading it so I sent that in right away. Month and half later - no software. The following 2 replacements each came with the disk. Digitech has a website with a message board that is not maintained by them but has some pretty help people who post there regularly. Another thing that was kind of off about digitech was around the end of November, I had sent away for a free GNX 3 demo video and didn't get it until this week (mid March !!) and they sent me 3 of them. Who knows maybe thats not a support issue but a mailroom one. But my guess is that it's probably the same people.

I play a varitey of music but mainly insrumental acoustic, rock, and hard rock pieces.Although, I do like to shred it up once in awhile. Like I mentioned earlier I've been playing for about 22 years. I'm through with playing out in bands and am now just mainly interested in recording my own music by myself in my own little studio. I have a few strats, a yamaha acoustic, an Ibanez bass, an esp EC-1000 ( awesome guitar - incredible for it's price), a yamaha keyboard, a pod 2.0, a tascam 414 and my beautiful new korg d1600. For an amp I just have a little mesa combo as I've traded in my marshall half stack because I have no use for it anymore. I live in a small apartment and do most of my stuff thru headphones as not to disturb my neighbors and/or wife. The genesis 3 makes a really nice addition to my gear as it's my main source of effects besides the ones that are in the d1600. I plan on running the gen 3 into my pod to see if I can get the best of both worlds ( effects & high gain)without too much noise or signal loss. If something happened to it, I would definiely replace it, I missed having one when I had to send it back a couple of times for replacement. I highly recommend this for any one looking for a low price multi effects unit and something to play thru with headphones. If you're just interested in ultra high gain moddleing, get the pod ; but make sure you have an additional noise gate with that sucker.

quite simple.. especially with the genedit software stuff, you can even tune cabinets but that beats me.. I havent gone in deep the parameters deep but it is really quite easy to edit; i can dial up tones during live performances, depending on the PA..

A mexican fender strat (I think its a cheap richie sambora model)-with a dimarzio humbucker in the bridge and a seymour duncan vintage rails pickup>>>>cry baby>>>sans-amp gt-2>>>>genesis>>>PA.. No noise, even with my sans-amp on. The modulation effects are great, I love the phaser and flanger. The one reason I bought it that it has really good effects. The amp settings.. well I guess theyre quite ok, but you really got to dial up to get a really good distortion tone, I mean it takes some time to dial up a distortion tone that sounds like the gt-2, and i can get a good distortion sound from the gt-2 in seconds.. but since there is the warp function, you can find your way.. there are some uploaded patches on the net, for example I've found some nice dist settings such as the ts-9 and DS-1.. What I love most is the compressor.. it is just like the Boss Cs-3, it beefs up the sound and doesnt suck up the harmony of the chord/melody you're playing.. the cleans are much better han the v-amp and the pod 2.0, I personally use 3 settings of clean tones; a regular clean, one with some flanger and a dynamic clean solo tone, then a use the gt-2 when I need distortion... I dont use a midi controller since I have problems with the device which I will explain later on... I use it primarily at gigs (although its no designed to go on road) and sometimes at home for recording.. the recording features are quite good, ive done a couple of songs, they sound quite fine and its quite quiet even in front of the computer.. the gate sure works fine...

This is where it sucks.. In my country (Turkey) the voltage is 220 DC and this device simply goes nuts when there is a voltage decrease and it starts to change the parametres on its own; it turns on the chorus and it makes totally unusable sounds; imagine that happening during a gig.. I have to buy UPS and carry that around now how lame is that.. I contacted digitech support and they told me to buy a rack mounted power supply, I bought the device for 300$, whats the logic in buying a 450 dollar rack mounted power supply??? well I use the device in gigs but I make sure that the power is regulated and always carry a backup (which I never do). this elecricity stuff is really bad though...

I've sent them an e-mail and they responded fast, but not with a feasible answer, I sent one more, same attitude, one more the sam attitude, they sure are fast but show little interest for my problem, and this problem is a known problem for my country and I have a friend who cant take out his GSP 2101 out because of this electricty problems. I give a 5 for fast response

I play for a local rock singer who has released his first album recently and the songs are clean tone rock, seldom distortions except solos; and cover stuff like REM, cure, U2, etc. I've been playing for 10 years now and have always used multi effects because they are easy to use during gigs and really few people can tell the difference.. the bad thing is that you have to buy a foot controller; the control X is ridicously expensive, I think I will go for the behringer FCB1010 IF I can solve the eletrical problem.. I like the sounds, I like its easiness, I like that it has a small screen that shows the name of the patch (unlike the pod or Vamp) nice green and red lights which I can see in dark situations (I usuallly wear sunglasses on stage :)) I like the compressor, amps, especially effects, delays and reverbs are cool.. I wish it had a leslie on it though, the pod has lesli on it and its swell..
If it was stolen I'm not sure that I would buy another one because it caused a lot of pain because it has the probability of going nuts during a gig and thats not something I'd like to experience... I sure does sound good, and I did not like digitech (or DOD) stuff before but this one is quite cool.. I give it an 8 because it sounds good, looks good feels good but is not dependable for gigs but thats not it was designed for...