DigiTech JamMan

Once you start and get comfortable with this product it can be invalueable

I have had problems with two units, both same problem. In the middle of practicing I will lose my guitar input. I can play with the amp for months and never have a problem and then when I start using my Jam Man more frequent the input from my guitar will be lost while the background loop will continue playing.It doesn't happen all the time just enough to piss you off.

The company doesn't really see your product they send it to a contractor to fix it

I wish I could do something about it, I payed $300 and I just want it to work like its supposed to.

Easy to use, The boss is better though.

Does not change sound at all.

I have had this thing for 2 years and it has broken twice to the point of having to send it back for repair.

It's ok but it will cost you to get the unit fixed.

I bought the Boss and the digitech at the same time because I wanted one for bass and one for guitar and coulden't make up my mind. I was intruiged by the lexicon techmology in the digitech but Boss is a way better pedal in general. Now I really wish I would have got 2 boss pedals. Do not buy this hunk of crap.

After a few minutes I was up and running with the jamman and had no issues. Pretty simple.

Manual is very clear.

The one thing I have seen others say is "It changes your tone"......
I dont see were they are getting this from....?
Everything that goes in comes out the same for me.

I am using this with a Yamaha 335 style set neck electric and a '68 fender champ as well as a USA big muff.

I havent really had an issue at all.
I had experianced the same issue someone said about the unit sounding like a record skipping....
That can come from the audio quantising function on the Jamman.
WHich can be bypassed.

I would go without a backup.

Never delt with them. so 5.

I give this unit high marks for the extra options and such.
I bought the $40 pedal an am happy I did it provides a few needed foot control options.

I only wish it had a MIDI sync jack of some kind for syncing to a drum machine.

I had a Boss RC-20XL and disliked it very much.

This thing is well worth the money and the time it takes to learn it.
Like all looper's it can be temperamental if your not patient with it.

Get one dang it!

this pedal is a little tricky. you definitely have to read the manual on this one.

I found that this pedal sucked my tone right out. I play a g&l LB-100 bass through a 70's Ampeg SVT and an Ampeg 810e cabinet. Through the jamman my tone is thinned-out and less distinct. I also notice a slight air hum coming throught the jamman. Maybe this pedal can reproduce guitar signals better than bass, but I haven't tryed. All the digitech material I've read said that this pedal is suitable for bass but I definitely would not use it for a performance. Like an earlier review said, this would be an excellent songwriting tool. Since tone doesn't really matter. It's really one of the most versatile pedals I've ever used, it just doesn't reproduce my tone very well.

I only had this pedal for about six months and never had any problems, but who knows shen it will break down.

never had to deal with DigiTech.

Like I said earlier, this pedal is an excellent songwriting tool. It's pretty user-friendly. But it's tone reproduction is less than ideal. It would be great for jamming in your bedroom, but not onstage.

It is pretty easy to use - I'd say it's got a learning curve of about an hour or two, if you have read the manual and are paying attention. My only real gripe so far is that, if you set the tempo and then record your first track, but mess it up, you have to erase it all and re-set the tempo again. Not a big deal, but it would be nice to be able to undo the first take too.

If you're planning on using this for live performances or recording, you really, REALLY need to go try this unit out. It will DEFINITELY change your tone (as in, I can roll the tone knob from one extreme to the other on my strat and hear no difference when I'm running through the JamMan). Some may be okay with this - most people will not notice, and it will really only affect the subtleties of your playing. If you're planning (as I was/am) on using this pedal simply for songwriting, then this really isn't a big deal - it helps you sketch out how you want your song to sound, and it's more portable than aa computer with an audio interface, and much more convenient. For this purpose, the pedal does quite well. But try it out, and listen for tone-suck.

Seems pretty sturdy. I've only have mine a few months now, but it's been perfect so far, and I see no cause for concern.

No idea.

I've been playing about 7 years on electric, and 10 years on acoustic. I play everything from shred to soft rock.
I run a strat through the GT8 with this pedal in the GT8's effects loop (works beautifully that way, I can pull the Looper in and out of my signal chain with the touch of one button, and when it's out of the chain, it won't affect my tone at all) into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

This can be a great unit, depending on what you want it for. I feel that three things could be added to make this pedal almost perfect.
1) A tempo input in bpm. It would make it so much more useful as a songwriting aid if I didn't have to use a metronome/my computer to determine what tempo my riffs are played at.
2) Stereo-freaking-inputs and outputs! I also use a boss GT8, which can create some really awesome stereo effects, and I lose it all when I run through the looper.
3) No more tone suck. But i've also tried the Boss LoopStation RC20XL (basically the exact same looper, but in red, with less storage space), and it sucks the tone just as bad, if not worse. If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably go A/B this JamMan with a LoopStation to see which one is clearest, and then buy that one.

Although it does have its weaknesses, the LoopStation can be an excellent songwriting aid, if that's what you're looking for. You will have SERIOUS trouble using it with a drummer, unless the drummer somehow has a metronome playing right next to his/her ear, due to the auto-quantize feature.

Basic operations are quite easy. But more sophisticated stuff, like changing the tempo of your loop without changing the pitch requires a bit of twinking through the manual, which is very clear by the way.

Sound is pristine, crystal clear. A human ear cannot tell the difference between the Jamman's playback, and the original sound that you record.
The only issue with the Jamman is the fact that it is a mono machine all the way through. It has an input for stereo devices (like your CD player, for example), but it converts everything to mono. This is a serious disadvantage, because you cannot use it as a sampler machine, in a band context. If it had stereo signal, you could send the sampler you want to add to your band to one channel of the mixer and to one side of your drummer's headphones, and the metronome to the other side. But because it is mono, if your drummer wants a metronome, the entire signal goes with it (and the crowd would have to hear an anoying tic tac along with the sound). No need here to talk about trying to add samplers to your band without a metronome for the drummer. It's a huge risk of screwing up. I know that boss top loop station, the RC50, has stereo output, but you would have to go to the 500 bucks territory.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS MACHINE.
i got it 3 hours ago. and you need to buy one if you're thinking about it.

sound is great, manual helps very much. i'm just excited about this and i felt like sharing that with the world

sound quality is very clear - there is not much noise at all. by that, i mean when i loop and loop and loop things on top of other things, it still stays clear.

i've only had it for 3 hours.

3 hours.

it's wonderful.
go find $250 and buy it on ebay (i bought mine from samedaymusic.com BLEMISHED) or if you want new, drop the $300.

INVEST IN YOUR HAPPINESS.
INVEST IN YOUR MUSIC CAREER.

The JamMan is easy to use, although the minmum 3 seconds for a loop is a drag - I had a Boomerang and didn't have to deal with this. Getting started with this is fairly straightforward.

Sound quality is excellent, very quiet, no hiss.

I have had one major problem that I cannot solve that is driving me nuts. Creating and storing loops is easy and works great, backing up the the computer works great. However, when I begin stacking parts (overdubbing) on top of my loops sometimes the loop 'skips' like a record player with the needle caught in a groove. I can wipe the overdub but if I try to redo the overdub I run into the same problem. There is no rhyme or reason to this. I have tried two different CF cards (the one that came with it and a larger memory one that I bought) but the problem is repeating itself. Since it is so intermittent I cannot play it live, which is what I bought it for.

I have not dealt with support yet.

If I can solve the skipping problem then the JamMan is a dream, however, I usually don't like to spend a lot of time having to fix something when I can bu something else. My fiddle player friend has one and has never had a problem so I guess it depends on luck whether you get a good model or not. I'm not inclined to recommend it at this point.

Exceedingly easy to use. Records exactly what I put into it. It connects to the PC to download recordings in a WAV file. I convert it to Mp3 and send it out to my friends just to drive the crazy.
The wav files can be burned into a CD or recorded on my ipod by the PC of course. I'm an old nontechy guy and this is simple for me!

I've recorded nearly one hundred tunes so far with no issues. Some with up to nine overdubs! Where the hell was this thing in the 60's when I was learning to play? Well, I'm still learning to play...........

Good in, Good out. Bad in, Bad out. No noise, absolutely seamless overdubs.

I ahve had NO issues with hundreds of hours so far.

I called the company to ask about various sound inputs for the JamMan and talked to "Bill". He took several minutes to explain more about it's capabilities than I had asked about. Truly friendly and determined to make me understand things.

It is essential for the home guitarist (or other instrument) for practice, lay, recording, etc.
If it ever poops out, I'll send it in for repair and buy another one while I'm waiting.
Couple this thing to a Fender G-DEC amp and you can never exhaust your creative well.

I received this little beauty only 15 hours ago but have had no trouble grasping the basic functions after reading the manual which is concise and easy to follow. My only critism of the manual is that it it strictly "no frills". Compare this to the manuals for, say Tascam Portastudios, which are full of tips on alternate signal routing and other means of getting the most out of the machine.
First attempts resulted in less than seamless looping and I've learned the importance of setting up the tempo function and playing the first phrase right on the beat then stopping the recording just prior to the first beat of the next bar, to avoid a noticable gap before the loop repeats.

The loops are rendered in good quality audio without noticable loss of tone or added noise. Of course the tone will be coloured by effects further down the chain and your amp settings, which leads me to my number one item on the wishlist for this pedal - a seperate direct out (a foldback from the instrument in). Say you've recorded a clean rythm track and wish to play a blistering lead over the top of it (not overdubbing, just playing along).Well, it ain't gonna happen. The JamMans single mono out will combine your rhythm and lead and direct them to a single channel of you amp/mixer. Apart from selecting a diffent pickup for rhythm and lead or placing an effects pedal in front of the looper, you're stuck with the same tone for each part.
My setup is as follows:'89 PRS Custom/'75 Strat/'69 SG/current Flying V/'99 G&L legacy/'85 Charvel Model 4 --> Digitech Hendrix --> JamMan --> Boss GT-8 (as preamp)--> Marshall 9100 Monoblock power amp, Marshall cabs.
I can't place the Boss in front of the JamMan since it is acting as a stereo preamp for the Marshall.

I've owned the Digitech Hendrix pedal for over a year and never had the slightest problem with reliability. Like the Jimi, the JamMan is very solidly built and I don't anticipate any issues.
I rarely play outside of home so don't need a backup.

I've had no dealings with the company. Not eligible for warranty support here in Australia so I hope I never need them.

I play a fairly broad range of old school stuff - Hendrix, Santana, Steely Dan, Zeppelin, Kinks, Sabbath, Tull with the occasional tune from this millenium. So far I've only laid down a few backing tracks on the looper but will be trying it out with a synth for something as bit more avante garde.
I've been playing for 35+ years and own a 100W tranny Marshall from the 70s (good keyboard amp, less than ideal for guitar), A modded 50W Tube Marshall, some Systech pedals from the 70s (anyone remember them?),2 synths, 2 mixers, a hard-disk recorder and a 244 Portastudio which would work perfectly if I could find a rubber band that fits it.
Plus the gear mentioned above.
If lost or stolen I would replace it as I believe it's the best looper available at this price.
I love its ease of use although it needs the the optional footswitch for ideal operation. I got a bargain on the JamMan by importing it. To buy the footswitch (3 switches, a metal case and a cable) will cost me a third of what I paid for the looper, in this country.
I love it's compact, rugged build and the ease and speed of laying down backing tracks compared to using a recorder
There's nothing to hate about this unit, although there are extra features to wish for.