DigiTech RP-100

Only a few days old so I'm still tweaking. Very disapointed with the presets, volumes from one to the next are ALL over the map and too many use effects that are more annoying than musical. Unfortunately, none of presets provide the warmth of my finely tuned (over several years) Zoom 505. Playing in the store with it I realized I was going to be in for a LOT of tweaking - I read the manual beforehand and was pretty sure there were some good sounds in there somewhere. Some of the adjustments won't go back to the off position once you start tweaking - which is very annoying with the delay control. I suppose I'll need to either try reset or copy a patch that doesn't have the effect. Amp gain/volume, EQ, Compression & cabinet/mic all affect volume and tone so adjusting one can require you to go back and fine tune the others. Having a very difficult time finding a nice warm amp tone for blues - they're either too harsh (shred metal) or too clean. Again, I'm trying to reproduce some very pleasant tones from my 505. There is a lot of opportunity for tweaking, which is the reason I bought it to replace my awesome 505.

Factory presets are dissapointing, why bother creating them? Just let the user overwrite them - I'll end up just avoiding them. The delay when switching between the effects is a real bummer - even the zoom 505 switches better/faster - which makes a big difference when switching from rythm to lead and back. Like just about EVERY SONG I WANT TO PLAY! I can't appreciate most of the cabinet settings because they sound way too flat and bassy. I play a Fender Strat and like to be able to HEAR the changes in tone when I switch each of the five positions. The amp sims make this very difficult. The wahs are dissapointing (FYI, the expression pedal is wired just the opposite of the zoom 505). Just about all of the effects mods (Chorus, Flange, Phaser, Trem, Vib, etc..) are EXCELLENT - with loads of adjustability. If I can just get a good tone to start with ;) I really wish the Envelope filter (i.e., dynamic wah) was with the rest of the wahs because I'd hoped to create a nice sitar sound with the pitch shift - no luck hear. And you can't combine a hint of chorus (or any effect) with any of the other effects :( I'm just talking about the chorus, flange, phaser, (etc.) effects. Of course, you can combine up to 12 "effects" at once which is cool. I'm still convinced the sounds I want are there but I'm gonna have to work to get at them.

Nice aluminum case, which makes me like it more than the zoom. I'm dissapointed that I'm having difficulty getting the full range of selections out of the parameter adjust knobs once I start tweaking - this is a problem that no one else has mentioned, did I get a bad one? I was very surprised that the power supply for this thing draws 1.3A at 9V - a LOT more than most units. Long term this would cause me to worry - it's not like there's a tube in this thing that needs it.

Haven't tried yet but will be very soon (to get some of my questions answered).

I'll have to report back in a few months - I'm glad people have started submitting reviews because I was getting concerned that there were none out there. I knew in the store I'd be spending a lot of time tweaking and almost didn't buy it - who's got that kind of time? I love the number of available USER presets. Like the variety and quality & adjustability of the effects. Even the drum/rythm trainer is nice. I don't have a tube amp, which is why these units are useful. My fine tuned zoom 505 can make any solid state amp sing or cry. The RP100 excels at making these amps scream - but I intend to correct this. If there ever is a patch database hopefully someone will indicate the link here. Meanwhile I'll be working away at something really useful.

Very easy to use right out of the box. Just don't touch the knobs unless you plan to do some editing. The factory preset levels are great and there is a very broad spectrum of settings. But if you get curious and do a little knob dialing, the machine seems to think you want to over-ride all of the presets and won't let you get any sound until you store what you have done. There seriously needs to be an escape button on this thing. As it is, you have to power down to keep from saving something you don't want.

I'm playing an American Strat into a 1974 Musicmaster Bass amp (with the original tubes!). Obviously, the patches set up for the Fender amps sound the best through this setup. But the balance of the amp models sound pretty damn good too (even if not absolutely true to the real deals). A lot of patches set up for you young whipper snappers, but there are plenty presets for us old farts, too. No trouble at all emulating ZZTop, .38 Special, Eric Clapton, John Fogerty...And the clean country patches are well worth the price of admission. I don't need the auto-yah and I'll reserve the Morley or a Cry Baby for wah-wah. The pitch shift will never replace having a second lead player harmonizing with you, but what the hell...I bought this jewel for the amp modeling and I ain't disappointed one bit.

Digitech has a history of being dependable and having reliable, rugged products. This is no exception. I will definately gig with it.

A really good web site, but a bit slow on making downloads available for their latest products (the Adobe version of the manual was not posted for more than a month after the unit was introduced, making it hard to get a feel for what this thing is capable of without buying it...and it didn't ship for a couple of months after being introduced).

I play mostly classic rock, country and blues (Baby Boomers unite!). This pedal is great for the entire range of styles. Lots there that I don't need, but those are just patches waiting for me to overwrite. This is a better sounding unit than my RP-3, but the RP-3 does have the expression (glorified volume) pedal that is missing from this one. No real loss...the built in wah can't compare to the main stream wahs out there anyway, so if it had a pedal, it would also be used only for volume.
Should this one come up missing or destroyed, I would definately buy another one (assuming there is nothing new to compare with it). This pedal absolutely wears out the Zoom 505 (even the mkII).
Buy it for what it is...an amp modeler. The extra effects are just icing on the cake. I honestly cannot see what the RP-2000 has on this little box that makes it worth $400. Because outside of the expression pedal and 40 extra patches...This RP-100 will house all of the patches that I need.
Digitech could have printed the manual using a little bit larger type. The manual, when folded, is no larger than a post card.

There are some useful settings right out of the box, but I think every guitarist is going to want to set their own. Soundwise, it sounds like a littl ebox making digital distortions. Don't buy this deluding yourself into thinking it's anything else. Having said that, I like it. It's fun.

The clean tones are great. I especially love the rotary speaker effect. Very cool. The chorus is a little over the top. (but then again aren't ALL choruses annoying?) Too many of the pre-sets are over the top gain w/ delay. Yuck! It is possible to dial in a gritty bare-bones sound that is perfect for blues and cool rythm playing. Auto -ya = terrible. Wah= terrible. Tremolo= great!!!!
Rectified amp model= excellent!! ( for rythm)

Fun unit. Buy it and use it for what it is. There are no surprises in that little box. If you just want something that would be fun to goof around with, this is pretty good.

very easy to use, can tweak effects very easy, It does have lag between patches

effects are great, very good reverb,effects seem geared to shredding more but are quite cool. Modeling is not line6, but is acceptable I got three sounds which were good after a little tweaking(blackface, matchless, mesa rect. I wouldn't use this to try to copy a sound, /find ones u like and use those. They play fine substain well,like pickin dynamics alot.It does seem to geared towards higher gain amps. I like the rythmn trainer very easy to use and has some cool beats geared to guitar playing. This is a cool practice tool here
which is my main intent for purchasing unit. and using a couple of fx effects when playing live

seems to be built quite well except battery door is kinda cheesie, u think they could use a metal door for this instead of plastic.

Cool swiss army box has alot features with it quite well and for 99.99 nobody touches it.The tuner lights are way to small to see on floor for using it live as a tuner. The effects are very good sounding better than line six. But if i had a choice for a direct recording tool i would use a tech21 sansamp. I would use the fx on this unit for recording, they are quite good, one thing i do wish for would be a tap for delay again i am being picky.I have been playin for a long time and i hate speddin out big money for effects so this is the bargian and sounds very usable.

tough to use im not good with it yet.

holy shit! why buy a boogie for 1000+ when there really only 99 bucks!
noise gate thing is cool but to sensitve

oh yes

boogie and marshall for a 100 bucks! score!

I generally need only 2 settings per song (rythm & lead) so I quickly built associated patches sequentially. 1/2 hour and I was set. There are almost too many possibilites when you factor in pickup selection, mike placement, etc. but how can one complain about that? Chromatic tuner is nice.

Guitar is 1970's vintage Carvin DC something, with dual humbuckers, 3-way coil splitting on each & phase. Amp is old Yamaha G100-212II solid state. I play through clean channel. This is mostly used as a stage monitor, since I patch to the PA. I play songs with a variety of sounds and dynamics (ala Zeppelin), blues, classic rock, some metal, some acoustic style. The sound from the RP-100 is pristine. The vintage amp models are great (and much more flexible & useable than those on my Sansamp GT2). The crunch/metal are awesome. I bought it because I was jealous of my son's Korg AX1000G and all he could do with it, for example the acoustic modeling (Metallica style, 12-string simulator). The RP-100 does that and more. I haven't used the expression pedal input for wah control (I tried a Boss volume pedal in it and it only controlled volume). Chorus, Flanger, Phaser are awesome. The auto yah is cool, but it's not an effect in my songlist. I've tried all effects (those listed as well as trem, pan, vibrato, rotary, envelope, detune, pitch, whammy) and all are high quality. However my main sound combinations consist of amp model, EQ, chorus/flange, and delay. The acoustic amp model with combinations of effects, delay, etc. are absolutely to die for. I believe you can nail any artist's sound you want out of this.

I would certainly depend on it. Sturdy metal case, uses a power adapter (9V 1200ma sold seperately) or 6 AA battaries.

I've been playing 25 years. I mainly jam, but also sub/one-night-stands, chuch stuff. I would repurchase if stolen. I love its versitility and great sound. Hated having to buy power adapter seperately. I compared to Korg AX1G (I was thinking of a cheaper version of my sons AX1000G) but the RP-100 blew it away. COuld have a built in foot pedal, but a obtaibning a sperate expression pedal should be fine, too. Songs I nailed sound on: Zeppelin (whole lotta love, rain song, stairway) collective soul (shine) nugent (free for all, stranglehold)Nirvana (teen spirit) Clapton (crossroads, let it rain) foofighters (learn to fly) metallica (sandman) ozzy (no more tears). I write?record my own stuff and this will be great.

This unit seems to fill that void for those of us who want amp modeling, but don't record extensively; i.e., a "poor man's POD". It comes with 40 factory presets, loaded twice. One can "tweak" the presets then store them. You CANNOT create your own from scratch. Editing is easy and fortunately you don't get bogged down with a zillion parameters to adjust. There is a select switch that scrolls through amp modeling, effects, pitch shift, reverb, pickup simulation, speaker simulation and wah/whammy. You then can adust three parameters within each category. The manual is very short and concise. This unit runs on AA batteries (I imagine they don't last long), but a power adapter is recommended. There is also a true by-pass and digital tuner (tuner isn't so great).

I've tried this unit mainly through practice amps; I've yet to go into a PA or play extensively with headphones (there is a headphone jack, but one cannot use headphones if the output jack is being used in a amp). The output is stereo or mono through a 1/4" jack. For $100 (the unit's GREATEST feature), there are some extremely good models. The best are the Blackface Twin, Marshall, Matchless DC-30 and the Vox AC30. The acoustic guitar simulation is poor and limited in it's adjustment. The effects are fairly standard and sound respectable (chorus, flanger, wah, pitch shift, detune, reverb, compression, 3 band EQ, etc.)If that weren't enough, it also has an expression pedal input to control volume, wah or whammy. One can use a plain ol' volume pedal for this purpose. I've used an ES-335, Tele, Strat and Les Paul with the unit thus far and it sounds impressive for it's small size and price.

This unit is housed in a fairly sturdy aluminum case and is very small and light weight. I did drop it which caused one of the knobs to grind somewhat; I pushed it up, and everything's cool again. The knobs seem to be made of firm rubber. I have not gigged with this yet. There are two footswitches to scroll up and down sequentially. They appear to be sturdy.

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Well, price is the bottom line for this unit. Your really can't go wrong for $100 considering all the features. Unfortunately, the presets are geared mainly for shread heads, so the volumes are all over the place when you scroll up and down. Greatfully, they can be repaired. Unlike other units, it actually sounds as good home as it does in the music store! I think this is a superb buy over the POD, but of course, you don't get all the computer editing features of the Line 6 product. For me, this unit suits me fine. Check one out!

Presets are pretty good with the usual "this tremolo is too fast" kinda stuff. It appears none of the presets are using the cabinet modeling so if you are not using a real cabinet, it will not sound as good as it can until you engage the cab emulator. Editing was bumpier than I would expect. And with only a two digit alpha numeric display utilizing "codes" for items like amp modeled, cab micing, etc. be prepared to come up with a system for quickly (at gigs) knowing what is what. The user manual is O.K. I like the fact that they show the RP's signal path and even tell you where the expression pedal lives in the chain.

I bought this unit primarily as an fx device for my acoustic guitar pre-amp's fx loop. Sound men just don't / can't give me compression and verb on my acoustic in the monitors so I have taken matters into my own hands. I chose this unit for several reasons. 1) The preamp is defeat-able. 2)it is battery powered with a lighted display. 3) It is powered by Digitech's S-DISC processor.

I used the unit as described above for my acoustic, and also through headphones, mix-down speakers, and into the fx return of a Marshall JTM-60 combo amp. In other words in all of it's intended applications. It sounded warm, musical, and believable. Some overdrives were iffie . . .I'll have to work with it. The AC-30 factory models were weak - almost as if the pre-amp were off.

I hope it is more reliable than my RP7, we'll see.

I called / emailed Digitech about an upgrade for my RP7. They were quite slow to respond. Digitechs are great - if they work.

I only experimented with it for an hour so I may submit a follow up review. I've been anxiously checking the FX database for reviews on this unit to no avail, so I wanted to give you all a hand and get "something" out here. The unit is much bigger than I anticipated - about the size of the base unit of a telephone. I had originally bought the Korg Pandora PX3 as my acoustic guitar fx unit. I then discovered the $100 RP unit with an S-DISC processor soon to be released.

( I called Digitech and said "I love the S-DISC II in my TSR-24, and my RP7. Is this the same processor?" they told me it is an "enhanced" S-DISC. ??? )

Anyway the RP100, when compared to the $200 PX3 sounded way warmer and just made me feel more like playing music. The PX3 now sounded thin, bright, tinny, and artificial. No contest (IMHO). Back went the PX3.

Summary: 1)Digitech "enhanced" S-DISC processor 2) versatile for just about any guitar configuration 3) $100. You can't go wrong. I'm glad I did it. It will function in my rig as acoustic FX, at times as my slap down - direct to board - live electric rig (alone), and probably go to every gig AS my back up EVERYTHING.

Presets are pretty good with the usual "this tremolo is too fast" kinda stuff. It appears none of the presets are using the cabinet modeling so if you are not using a real cabinet, it will not sound as good as it can until you engage the cab emulator. Editing was bumpier than I would expect. And with only a two digit alpha numeric display utilizing "codes" for items like amp modeled, cab micing, etc. be prepared to come up with a system for quickly (at gigs) knowing what is what. The user manual is O.K. I like the fact that they show the RP's signal path and even tell you where the expression pedal lives in the chain.

I bought this unit primarily as an fx device for my acoustic guitar pre-amp's fx loop. Sound men just don't / can't give me compression and verb on my acoustic in the monitors so I have taken matters into my own hands. I chose this unit for several reasons. 1) The preamp is defeat-able. 2)it is battery powered with a lighted display. 3) It is powered by Digitech's S-DISC processor.

I used the unit as described above for my acoustic, and also through headphones, mix-down speakers, and into the fx return of a Marshall JTM-60 combo amp. In other words in all of it's intended applications. It sounded warm, musical, and believable. Some overdrives were iffie . . .I'll have to work with it. The AC-30 factory models were weak - almost as if the pre-amp were off.

I hope it is more reliable than my RP7, we'll see.

I called / emailed Digitech about an upgrade for my RP7. They were quite slow to respond. Digitechs are great - if they work.

I only experimented with it for an hour so I may submit a follow up review. I've been anxiously checking the FX database for reviews on this unit to no avail, so I wanted to give you all a hand and get "something" out here. The unit is much bigger than I anticipated - about the size of the base unit of a telephone. I had originally bought the Korg Pandora PX3 as my acoustic guitar fx unit. I then discovered the $100 RP unit with an S-DISC processor soon to be released.

( I called Digitech and said "I love the S-DISC II in my TSR-24, and my RP7. Is this the same processor?" they told me it is an "enhanced" S-DISC. ??? )

Anyway the RP100, when compared to the $200 PX3 sounded way warmer and just made me feel more like playing music. The PX3 now sounded thin, bright, tinny, and artificial. No contest (IMHO). Back went the PX3.

Summary: 1)Digitech "enhanced" S-DISC processor 2) versatile for just about any guitar configuration 3) $100. You can't go wrong. I'm glad I did it. It will function in my rig as acoustic FX, at times as my slap down - direct to board - live electric rig (alone), and probably go to every gig AS my back up EVERYTHING.

Pretty easy. No scrolling to find categories - all knob of printed on face of unit. Fewer features make for easier access of what is available.

Sound is surprisingly good. It is meant to model amps - and as to the modeling accuracy, I'd say it's not that close. But the sounds are very usable if you try to forget what they are 'supposed' to sound like and just enjoy them for what they are. The heavy-ended distortions are the best.

The autoyah feature is a lot of fun - if limited. The flanges, phaze, and delays are all nice and clean - very usable. I didn't like the chorus at all, though. The 1/2 second delay between stomps is VERY annoying. But apparently this is common with modeling pedals.

For me this unit is great if you're running into a tube amp to warm the sounds up - it doesn't sound nearly as good running into solid state. I play Fender Strats and Kramers with the unit running into an old Ampeg tube amp - then to Ampeg 4x12. It seems very clean with batteries (less with powerpack) but I have not used it live - will this weekend!

Seems pretty sturdy for a $100 pedal, BUT - the plastic knobs are pretty much gauranteed to break within 6 months.

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I play trip-hop/rock/pop. I actually went to buy a new tuner and ended getting a multi-effects with a tuner! I hate big bulky multies but this is small, easy to adjust, and plays well. Whatever you use it for - it's definately worth $100!