DigiTech RP-100

I've played the guitar over 25 years now, & I have been around equipment & such all that time. As with all effects, I strongly recommend getting the owner's manual & take the time to learn how this thing operates. It is not rocket science, & the manual is written very well, easy to follow.

My current set up is: 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom, RP100, Boss CS2 Compressor, Boss AD2 Acoustic simulatore, Boss GE-7 EQ, & a Marshall 5212 Amp. Needless to say, I get a very thick sound. I'm playing in a classic rock band that does some country (as opposed to the traditional country band that plays some rock). As one can imagine, versatility is the prime aspect I'm looking for. I like the sound & dynamics of the RP100, but I was only 100% satisfied after reading the manual & tweaking my setting to meet my personal preference. This thing sounds great, but only after tweaking for personal preference.

Delicately tough would be a best way to describe this. I mostly use Boss effects, which as we know is legendary in the reliability department. I don't believe the RP100 would take the same abuse that a Boss pedal would, it's simply not built that tough. I treat it with care, & am very careful about how I handle it.

Never dealt with Digitech.

I think this pedal is a very useful tool to have. I have read reviewes where people have stated it is not good for playing gigs, more of a "bedroom" effect. Well, I disagree. Read ther manual, get your settings where you want them, & it will deliver the goods. Also, it does so in a cost efficient way that won't bankrupt you!

This is my first experience with a multi effects processor and I found RP-100 to be extremely easy to use all features.
It was very easy for a beginner like me to tweak the tone the way I like it with my set up. For example, to change delay effect, push select button until you the LED goes to Delay and turn three knobs to select the type of delay, amount, and time. Press store button to save to user bank.
One annoying thing is that you would have to program user bank carefully if you want to use this on stage. There's only two buttons to scroll up and down all 120 presets. Also, two digit LED display is not the best user interface although a unit as simple as this, you'll get used to it quickly. -2 points for buttons and LED display.
There's not much to the manual. I read it once just to figure out how to save my edited program and see the list of presets. I don't think I'll need the manual around. I already know how to use it(took me 5 minutes to get use to it once I read the manual).
I don't know whether it's been upgraded.
This unit is a great value though.

I used it with Fender Frontman 25R, LTD EC-1000, Fender Standard Fat Strat. I also tried using DS-1 for few minutes. One comment as a beginner with only few hours of playing with RP-100 is that this processor seems to hide the unique character of each of my two very different guitars. It would be quite difficult for someone to guess what guitar is playing if it's processed through RP-100(or is this true with most amp modelers?).
I found it quite noisy if noise gate is not used or using an extremely high gain setting.
The effects were ok(again, I don't have too much experience with other effects) in my opinion. I still like DS-1 pedal better as far as distortion sound. I was quite pleased when 3-4 models/effects were combined - as long as I keep each effect level low. I don't think anywhere near what I hear on professional recordings though. A lot of effects don't sound very smooth(is this what you call digital sound?) I get much more explosive drive tone using DS-1 or my little amps drive channel. RP-100 does change my guitars tones drastically, making it a fun toy or useful when trying to copy somebody else. If I crank up too many things(as in many factory presets) then it gets noisy, too muddy and worst - too digital. Having only few hours to play with it, I like Andy Laroque patches the best with some effects tone down a little(RP-100 includes 40 factory, 40 user, 40 "artist" presets).
I think I can get so many sounds out of this if I spent couple of weeks on this thing. But having only spent $100(new) I wonder if there's a big difference in tone quality of RP-100 and say.. GT-8. Is the tone quality better on more expensive units? Or is it just more bells and whistles? This leaves me wondering if I should try more expensive units. It might be better off spending extra $$$ up front and not wanting more features or better sound quality.
I've used Aleses Quadraverb II a little bit and I thought its sound quality(delay and reverb) was better than RP-100. I should go try other units and exchange my RP-100(see Reliability on why I'm returning it) if I can tell the difference. It keeps me wondering if RP-100 sound is cheesy compared with more expensive processors.
The drum machine is very simple but you can change pattern, speed and volume. Nice feature as I don't have a drummer to jam with.
Tuner is piece of crap. I got a Korg tuner that works 3x better. Extra feature but I think RP-100's tuner doesn't work well at all.
For $100 though, I doubt if I can find anything as feature loaded as this one. Rating 8 for interesting sounds for the price.

This is where I had the bad experience with RP-100. After using this unit for first 30 minutes it crapped out on me. While playing a preset it locks up. No sound. I unplug and plug it back in both power and input to reset it. Sometimes it freezes in 1 minute, 10 times in a row. I look in the back and the sticker says designed in US and manufactured in China. Not sure if it's bad micro or bad software, or both. I'm going to return this and probably buy more expensive model. So there goes my first impression with Digitech brand..
The exterior is made of some kind of cheap metal case(feels like it'll break if I drop it in the parking lot) and plastic buttons and knobs(plastic material actually seems sturdy). Probably not something you stomp real hard. But again, that's why it only costs $100. Actually, I should thank Digitech for making it cheap for an amature like me who will never gig on stage.

I don't want to try getting this fixed. Fortunately, this lock up problem showed up on my first try at home so I can return it tomorrow.

I don't play well. A cheap unit like this is a good match for someone like me who hasn't developed a unique tone or not worthy of $500+ effects. It's very easy to use therefore fun to play around with it. You don't have to open up the manual to program it. Having had a little experience with Alesis QV II rack effect, it's a pain to program a processor unless you enjoy turning knobs and pressing buttons 50 times looking at tiny LCD display before saving to your user bank. I'm too lazy. I'd rather play guitar than tweaking my effects for hours. In the end you only end up using handful of features that the processor provides.
After having a bad unit(I saw few more RP models behind the counter at Guitar Center.. looks like ppl returned them) I would like to try other brand. Something more expensive since I'm encouraged by how decent RP-100 sounded to me.

This unit is very easy to use. Take a few minutes to read the manual, after that so many sounds and effects are opened up to you.

I've been performing with this box for the past 3 years. It has handled every sound I needed. The rp-100 can be a little noisy at times, but it has a noise gate, use that and away goes the noise. For the few bucks this unit cost the amount of effects and delays are great, there is enough here to get many different sounds. I plug into a boss stage tuner-crybaby-rp-100-boss eq (volume boost) directly into the mixing board.

Been using this live for the past 3 years without a back-up, it has not let me down.

Never had to deal with customer support

I play current and classic rock and pop tunes and I have been playing for 30 years (started real young). This rp-100 is great for what I do. For the $75 bucks I paid 3 years ago I feel this unit has tons to offer. Very easy to tweak to the sounds you want.

I have found this thing very easy to use. No problems setting up my own patches, in fact I probably tweak one or two on almost a daily basis. Keep the mahnual because you will need it at first to remind yourself what each setting is doing. Eventually you will just have it all memorized.
It's pretty easy to get the sound you want because you can check the sound as you are actually going through the set up process. In other words you don't have to wait until you are completely done setting up a patch to see if you like what you have created.

The sound you get is totally up to you. I really don't like many of the preset patches, but you have 40 patches to create to your won liking so that's no problem.
I have been able to duplicate just about every sound I want. Everything from an old Eric Clapton/Cream sound to Beatles 12string electric, to AC/DC crunch/distortion.
Like the instructions suggest, I send the out signal from the pedal into the return jack on my amplifier. That way I am bypassing all the volume, tone, gain settings on my own amp.
I play both my electric and acoustic guitars through this. My electric is a Yamaha with two humbucker pickups so the pickup modeler comes in handy to get more of a single coil sound.
One thing that I ended up doing was purchasing a volume pedal so I could control the wah and pitch bender. I actually find the wah useful now but have not found any sound that I like with the pitch bender.

I have never had any problems with this unit. Mine did not come with an adapter whcih you really HAVE to have and never use batteries in it. I think that is the way to go because I hear the batteries will wear out quickly anyway. Check out the RP-50 unit because I believe it comes with an adapter.
Sometimes the tuner acts a littel whacked out. I will hit the e-string and get a g reading out then two seconds later it read e??? With some patience the tuner works pretty good.
The case is made of a pretty solid metal and has been solid for me although I treat it gently and never beat on it.

Never tried to contact them but I have found various sites on-line where you can get more information about the unit and patch settings.

Overall I have been very happy with the performance of this unit. I use it at least a few times a week and have never had any problems with it. The drum machine comes in handy although the drum beats are pretty much useless other than the first style. I have no idea what the other 29 could be used for. You can adjust the speed of the tempo and it's great for practicing.
I love this little box and playing guitar became a lot more fun after I got it. I would have to get a new one if lost or stolen. Not sure if I would get the same unit but definitely something similar, perhaps the RP-50, 70 or 200.

fairly easy to dial in good sounds with this, either tweaking the user default presets(1-40) to suit my needs or totally remaking them if i choose. some of the factory presets(41-80) are useful while some sound kinda cheesy. if you get a used one without the ac adaptor, buy an adaptor because this thing eats up batteries!

i've mostly used this with a 2001/2002 squier stagemaster HSH(last model of production before they changed the name and raised the price, very underrated guitar imho) into a behringer gx212(discontinued, it has a lot of these same effects already built-in, but it's not as flexible with different combinations) and haven't had any noise problems yet, knock on wood. also have played it through a couple different little practice amps(it made a usually weak sounding yamaha amp sound terrific). some of the effects on this unit sound good(chorus, phaser, flanger, whammy, vibrato & lots of cool sounding reverbs while a few effects don't sound very authentic(namely the envelope filter which to me sounds nothing like a real envelope filter). also, some of the amp models sound a little over the top with high-end fuzz, but considering the price paid i'm not complaining. for a low-end processor, this is excellent in terms of value and sound quality. i think you could dial in virtually anyone's sound you like - all you gotta do is put in some time with it, the sounds are in there! the drum rhythms can be helpful as a practice tool.

was purchased used a while back, so far so good - seems solid enough. i wouldn't recommend stomping on the plastic switches too hard. at least the casing is metal. if i were a gigging musician i'd definitely use it at a show for a tune or three. the appeal of this to me was have all the effects in one unit, to avoid having to get separate stomp boxes for chorus, reverb, phaser, flange etc...

been playing for a few years - rock, hard rock, classic rock, metal and this unit seems to be a good fit for them all. if stolen or lost i would probably get the rp200 with the built in expression pedal. i wish it had a larger alpha-numeric display than 2, but you get used to it. overall i think the rp100 is an excellent value as a low-end all-in-one effect unit. if you're on a budget and want something versatile that sounds pretty decent you can't go wrong!

C'mon, 2 pedals and 3 knobs? When compared to the higher end Digitech's with thier 5 pedal setups and everything, this one's a pretty good gateway into the realm of Digitech, when I got it I spent about 20 minutes learning about the thing and had it figured out for the most part...

Lacks alittle in this category...some of the effects just sound cheap to me, though the distortion I can get out of this cheap little box is perfect for the stuff I do (I play Progressive/Industrial Rock), and I get some nice clean tones and delays out of it, I play a Peavey Firenza AX and get a perfect tone, and even my Kramer focus gets some lovin' from this thing. But the iffy noise gate problems, and the cheapness of flange and phase effects is a bit of a turn off...

I've been using the pedal for 4 years, and I have gigged without a backup and had no problems whatsoever, the only problems I had were due to the pedals previous owner, who had actually souldered a random power supply to the main board of the thing, after fixing this travesty and buying an actual power supply I've had no problems, just had to adjust some settings when playing through new amplifiers. This things been through alot...

Never had to call 'em since I didn't buy one from the store.

Considering I traded a Boss Metal zone and 50 bucks for this thing (The metal zone was in shambles) back when I think the damn thing was still 150 or something, I don't feel ripped off at all, back when I played through a Polytone Mini Brute the thing helped my tone out a lot, now I play through a Crate GT200H Half Stack and I'm still trying to fiddle with the settings to make it work, if it doesn't , I'll probably sell it off to someone who wants a multi f/x pedal and pick myself up some individual stomp boxes or something, I most likely wouldn't replace it if it broke because the model is kind of obsolete by now, but in short, a very good pedal for the price.

What can I say, 2 pedals and 3 knobs, not hard to operate. Currently using gnx3 and gnx4, while on tour. Take a spin thru the manual, you might learn something.

I play with a young popular band here in the US so I will keep this short and sweet due to endorsement reasons. I used this pedal with various guitars such as Gibson LP's, Fender strats, etc. and also thru my stage amps which are Peavey Classic 100 Full stack, and a Marshall 69 plexi 100 half stack, and smaller solid state amps as well. Some of the overdrives and distortions are weak and sound very artificial. The acoustic simulator is not to bad. Some of the reverbs, chorus, and delays seem to be ok for an intermediate effect unit. To all you younger guys out there, good luck or try to get mom&pop to spend a little more cash.

OK, check this out. I got this pedal off a friend for $20 with the correct power supply. He never used it much, just dicked around with it at practice, and gigged a few times with it. I play around with it for a few minutes at night, for only a couple of days, and just this morning, it doesn't power up at all. What a shame, It was going to give it to my little brother. The power supply works with my gnx3 and gnx4, so its not that. I put fresh batteries in and still no power. I disasemmbled the unit several times and troubleshooted as much as I could, and still nothing. WTF!!! Just wondering if anything works anymore. Oh yea I almost forgot, Its only made to work for a while, then break after the warranty runs out, so you have to send it back and pay for the repair. Thats a smart way to make money, make crap, then sell it. I would not gig with this unit, or you might be stuck on stage with a broken ass pedal, wondering what to do. I am now a little scared to use my other Digitech products on stage. But theres always back up units. If you do, have a back-up. Yes I know, I can't bitch to bad since I only paid $20 for it. Guess I'll give my little bro' the gnx3 or send him something new.

I have dealt with Digitech in the past, and I found them to be very helpful. All questions were asked, and they put me on the right track.

If you are on a tight budget, I would recommend this pedal. However, if you are not, get something else.

They say we get locked-in to a specific sound when we use a multi-effects guitar processor. I have heard other guitarists use their RP's and I can testify that we each sound completely different! The RP100 took my archtop right over the top with unbelievable professional sounds. This is an absolute must since I perform for a living.
I edit patches only slightly and am impressed with the factory sounds for the most part.
The manual is easy to read and I still rely on it from time to time. I try to memorize the directions as much as possible since I have to have this stuff down pat on stage. The settings for each tune/song are written on the music or the song title in my music list. The patch is listed first, then Digi, then the drum beat (its number) and then the tempo, like this: 2/td-Digi-7@34. This is the setting for "The Water Is Wide." This code takes up little space and my eye recognizes it quickly on stage. It only takes 30 seconds to set up the RP100 for each tune.

I use an archtop with two magnetic pickups and a Yamaha 6 channel PA system. The RP100 goes into the "Line" input. It is never noisy. The effects are very strong.
I do not try to copy any other artists, but try to get a unique sound. The overall sound is the usual sweet jazz style so common to the archtop, but with a bright treble to keep the melody above the chord accompaniment so natural to this guitar style. All the various effects sound very good.

I can depend on this handy little unit. It is very reliable. The unit and cord fit in the pouch of my padded case. I take it everywhere so I can practice with it. When I'm away from electricity I use batteries and a headset.
I use a variety of drum machines which I have prerecorded for backups. However, I have practiced with and learned the RP100 so well that I can use it for requests when I need a quick backup drum beat. It is very good for this!

I have not needed customer support yet.

I play cover tunes/songs from many genres. Pop, folk, jazz, fingerstyle, classical, ballads and love songs. I'm getting up there in years and have played since I was 4 yrs. old. I also play plectrum banjo (4-strings), elec./ukulele, and an elec./classical guitar. A Yamaha AG Stomp is the processor used for the uke and classical. And the RP100 is the first processor in the line for the archtop, but also goes through the DigiTech GNX3 before it reaches the PA system. I also use a (passive)volume pedal for the RP100, as sometimes I start out too soft or too loud and can make that final adjustment while my hands are busy at my craft of entertaining audiences with pleasing sounds.
The RP100 is "Digi" and the GNX3 is "Dad of Digi." If anything happened to Digi I would replace him immediately! I use this friendly music companion more than any other unit I own!
I wish The RP100 had "intro and ending" drumbeats. But I live without them since I always include instrumental intros and endings. With the volume pedal I can turn the volume off the drum machine on the last beat. This helps the music sound very professional.

the manual is very clear but even without the manual you can operate it !
you have 40 patches you can chose and 40 al allready chosen.
If you want a realy great sound you'll be busy for a couple of minutes but it's worth your time.

I play a strat with a 100W marshall and if I pick clean channel and every time I chose a distortion patch I remember why I bought this pedal !
It's not that noisy certainly not if you select the noise gate.

It's built in a hard metal chassis so I think it's pretty strong, but I don't think if you jump a couple of times on it, it would still work cuz' the pedals are made of hard plastic.

haven't dealt with them

I play rock and this pedal works well for that, you can play metal with it, but then you beter buy the metal zone of boss.
My god, if it was stolen I'd by a new one, this pedal realy kicks ass !

It's relatively easy to get basic sounds out of this unit. For a cheap pedal, it sounds decent, but your options are limited when it comes to achieving a certain sound you want. Editing patches is alright... Nothing special and you get used to the set up rather quickly.

I use this pedal with no other effects/pedals, and it plugs into a Peavey TKO 80. One of my biggest complaints is the excessive noise of distorsion. I was very unhappy with the flange with distortion as well. However, if you like to play clean tones with flanges and other effects, it sounds a bit better. In my 2 years with this pedal before the right pedal broke, I could not find any similar sounds to artists like Frank Zappa, Chuck Garvey, Trey Anastasio, or Dickey Betts.

The thing shit the bed after a friend of mine played around with it for 10 minutes. The right pedal is broken, and I have to use the left pedal to cycle through all 80 tones. I suppose for $100 you get what you pay for, but this thing is made out of very shoddy plastic. I don't think I would ever use this at a gig, anywhere but by myself, or at a practice.

N/A. I don't think I would try to deal with them anyway, the pedal was not all the great to begin with.

If you want a compact multi-effect pedal with decent sound fr it's price, go for it. If you want something more reliable, better sounding, and more usable for live shows, I would spend another $100 and buy a Boss ME-50 on ebay. It's not that I'm unbiased towards this pedal, but 2 years of working condition is unacceptable for the thing to crap out. Hope this review helped.