DigiTech RP-100

Editing patches is a breeze, but part of the criteria required for this review is "how easy is it to get a good sound out of it?"... Unfortunately, it's next-to-impossible to get a good sound out of it. Everything sounds grainy, lifeless, and sterile. The manual was decent, but if you candy-coat a piece of shit, it doesn't make it taste better.

Terrible. Weak. Unconvincing. The sounds you get from this pile are horrible. They sound like pre-packaged, vacuum-sealed snapshots (piss-poor ones at that) of a decent effect. Terrible.

Well, here's the product's one and only saving grace... the chassis is all completely metal, and the only plastic parts on the unit being the knobs/buttons/patch pedals... however, the only thing this amounts to is that this pedal will sound bad throughout the entire show/recording session with a great deal of consistancy, as it is too structurally sound for you to have the distinct pleasure of it dying.

Decent.

How long have I been playing? 9 years. Experienced? Definitely. Look kids, if you've never had a pedal before, of course this pile's going to come up roses, but if you've had ANY experience with analog/good digital effects, stay away from this one. It's a huge pile of shit.

this pedal is very easy to program and it sounds alot better than other digitech processors period.

This pedal has extremely good sound quality(24 bit 44.1 khz)studio quality,it sounds the best through Roland amps,especially a jazz chorus,ive gotten a pretty good rhoads tone out of the thing,but you have to spend some time tweaking it to get the best possible tones.It is worth it in the long run,the best sounding amp models are the marshall 900 and the johnson high gain,the rectified takes alot of tweaking to get a good mesa sound,but mesas sound like shit to me so i dont use use that particular amp model anyways.My setup=84 Gibson Flying V>rp-100>roland jazz chorus 90.....im done with my rack,this pedal does it ALL!

i gig with it all the time,its a keeper....

Im Rob,i mainly play metal and progressive(Yes,Ozzy Ozbourne,Vh,Motley Crue)ive ben playing for 16 years,im a marshall stun soloist and have won many guitar competitions(classical and rock)and this is the most advanced compact processor i have played through,its not a junker like alot of zoom shit is,the models actually sound like the genuine amps but heres the catch..YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE RIGHT AMP TO MAKE THEM SOUND GOOD(a very clean setting with alot of warmth and prescense,preferably an older fender tube amp or any roland amplifier above 40 watts,this pedal will not shine with any of the new marshall mgs or crate amps,due to the sharp clean tones that lack warmth and definition.The distortions are superior to the metalzone,tubescreamer,just about most of the novice pedals on the market...but you have to program the right cab settings to get that ultimate tone your looking for.Effects are all top notch,it is truly a rack in the box...very quiet,very dependable,it sounds beter than my old $1000 rack setup,which i recently sold after purchasing this pedal....

After daisychaining a few stomp-boxes together for a few years, it was nice to stumble across this product. Out of the box and experimenting, then recording & gigging with this bargain in no time whatsoever.

1996 Peavey Reactor (US Telecaster style guitar) & a Peavey "Tupelo" Accoustic/electric; through a Fender "Auto GT" amp. I have noticed just a "tad bit" of "white noise" through the house PA when I have plugged in direct, no problem with amp (where I had more controll on stage). I love the controll you have to tweak the settings of the effects, the phaser blows an MXR Phase-90 out of the water, excellent for getting sounds of Waylon Jennings (although not being able to mix in chorus or flange at simutaneously is a mild setback). Also dig the presets, although never named as-such, that emulate EVH, SRV, Thorogood, and Angus Young. Settings for accoustic guitars are awesome, great depth & warmth with chourses, reverbs & delays. The tuner is fine, but the LED's tend to jump around a little bit more than a dedicated digital tuner-that aside, it's nice just to mute & tune really quick in between songs without unplugging. Note for players playing into PC-based hard-disc recorders: Unless you have no problem boosting the sound in post, a pre-amp between RP-100 and recording source is advised for recording more subtle setting-based tones.

Good for gigging--I personally set up my own presets in groups that keep things a click away from each other, electric patches in one group, accoustic in another. Never had a back-up, I guess I'd finish the night "dry"!

Never had to deal with them, will grade on a simple, yet effective manual.

This is my first multi-effects unit, so without having anything to compare it to besides reviews from trade mag's & other players, I find this to be an essential part of my gear, on the stage & for recording. Versatility, modest price, all in a nice little package.

The RP-100 is extremely easy to use and get great sounds out of it. Editing patches is simple and straight-forward. The only drawback is that you have to start with one of the 40 factory-programmed patches, which isn't a big deal.
The manual is good, and even attempts to describe how a flanger, chorus, etc. works. Mine is revision 2, or at least is says r2 when it starts up.

The only ease-of-use problem I can think of is that it can take several stomps to get from one effect to another. If your song has more than 2 effects in it, then you might have a problem during live performances.

Using it with a 2002 Epiphone Les Paul Standards and an old Squier Strat.
The unit is not noisy at all, except on certain amp models, where I assume it is *supposed* to be noisy. It adds in the amp's characteristic hum, which is a nice touch, IMO.
Most of the factor effects are good, but it is so easy to customize them, that you can easily adjust them to your liking.
I'm using it with a simple Peavy RAGE amp, 15-20 Watts, I'm not sure. I have never heard such good sound come out of it!
I stumbled on a good Van Halen setting while customizing, and there seem to be plenty of parameters to get you the sound of the band you are looking for. DigiTech has a page with user-submitted patch settings, too.
The Auto-Ya effect is pretty silly, but might come in handy for one song in a lifetime! All the other effects are great.

The housing is built tough, with a metal casing on top. It is dependable when using an A/C power supply. I haven't tried it with batteries, yet. I'd probably at least gig with a distortion box as backup, 'cause electronics can screw up at any time, regardless of the exterior construction.

They have a good web page with user-submitted patches, but that's all I can say. For this, I'll give it a 8.

I play rock, a little metal, and acoustic strumming/picking. This pedal has effects for all my styles. I've been playing for 10 years, but not seriously until lateley. I've got the Epi Les Paul and Squier Strat, and a Peavey Rage amp.
If this was lost or stolen, I'd definitely get another one. I don't have the coordination to use an expression pedal just yet, so I'd probably stick with the RP-100.
I love the massive flexibility each effect has. It would be nice, however, to be able to add more than one "effect" to a patch.
I read a comparo on Musician's Friend, but I didn't actually try any out before buying one used on Ebay.
It helps me make music, for sure. It inspires me, because I can have a new sound when I get bored, and it spruces up the sounds coming out of my wimpy amp.

It's very easy, and it's manual is very friendly, pedals react at real time.

The knobs are cool, gives you the feeling that you're interacting with single pedals. It's a perfect ten because is the first processor that is friendly with impatient users.

One thing I hate of any effects processor is distortions. But this unit has a lot of them and they are really cool, however I believe that distortion must come from an external source, I actually use two dist. pedals to get a customized sound instead of the RP-100. That makes me have two more pedals of this unit for other purposes.

I was looking for a reverb-delay pedal, since Boss pedals are very expensive I considered the chance of buying a Zoom 505 or the RP-100. Zoom 505 is a toy, it's a beginners thing with limited settings, it doesn't have the features of a experienced axeman, I really think it sucks after I tried one.

So I tried the RP-100, and it had the features I wanted, more control over delay-reverb settings, and more control over modulations. Delays and reverbs have the sound quality of rack processors, 3 kinds of delays which are totally cool, with 2 secs of delays, that opens a lot of possibilities, just like Boss pedals and maybe better than them, 99% of feedback emulates the "hold" settings of Boss pedals. Reverb sounds are great too, maybe ten kind of reverbs, I only use Arena (low level but with a lot of decay, not noisy, but very deep), Spring and Room sometimes.

Modulations are great too, even when I don't use Flangers or Phasers, those are very good too, you can play all Smashing Pumpkins Phaser songs.

I would compare the chorus effect with the Boss Chorus Essemble. Very nice but not as psycho as church or Hammond organs, it is a great effect one of my favorites. The rest I can say that I don't dig them, they distort the sound of your guitar a lot, maybe you can rescue old cheap guitars adding some compressors, EQ., Pick-up type, amps and mic placement settings and a noise reduction thing. I actually try to make my sound the most natural possible, so I avoid the last effects mentioned.

Auto-yas (not interested), Envelope filters (cool wah sounds, not interested), Pitch Shifter (very nice, some cardingans are cool with it), Bend (cool when you want to sound like baritone guitars, it reacts at real time). The rest I can't remember them... Any other issue you can send me an email.

Tuner is great.

I can depend on it, I use it in gigs without backups. However I can easily play without it because my style doesn't require lots of effects.

Great customer support, I live in Venezuela and once I had troubles with a RP-6, I worte them and they helped me great. Their response took one day.

Great stuff, killer sound, easy handling, very good any style.

Fairly easy to use, and I like the sound of the effects very much, but it is a pain to experiment with in a gig.

To switch between program modes you have to keep pressing the program button. Example: you want to add chorus. You have to press the program button six times to get to the effects program mode. An if you press too many times, you have to go "around the horn" again.

If you are not experimenting during a gig, or you have enough time, the it's no problem.

If all you want to do is change the amp model or the volume or the gain, piece of cake, just turn the knobs.

If you have time, programming is super easy. Set it how you want, press the set button and pick a number slot to store it in.

I really like all of the amp models, and the effects. They sound great and they are really quiet when they are suppose to be. I tried out a Behringer V-Amp 2 that costs quite a bit more. I sent it back and kept the RP100. The V-Amp was really noisy, and when you activated the gate, it clipped the signal so that it sounded like mud.

I use it mostly for recording, and the sounds direct into a DAW are increadable . You can do so much with this unit. I can't belive it is such a low cost unit.

The problem with the unit is that it flavors the output to sound like an amp. When you put it into an amp, the amp is flavoring it again. This unit is phenomenal when used direct into a DAW or a PA. You can get it to sound great into an amp, but you need more than your basic amp. It has to have a real clean clean channel, and it has to have an effects loop. If you plug the guitar into the unit and then into the amp, it will sound good only at really low volumes.

The other problem, if you want to call it a problem is that it is a low cost unit, but they put features in it that are designed for the recording market also. Example: cabinet simulations. They are designed not to make your single speaker amp sound like a 4x12 cabinet, but to simulate the sound of a 4x12 cabinet with the mic placed in different positions. For us recording junkies, this is great because if you do any recording you know the more microphones you use, the more ambient noise is introduced into the recording. This way you get a mic'ed sound without using a mic and all the problems that mics introduce.

This though, confuses your non-recording user.

The one thing I hate is the pitch shift effect. It takes the original signal and either raises or lowers the note and then re-mixes it with the original signal. It should allow you to remove the original signal, but you can't do that. (example: simulated Bass)

Also, I think they could have left out the acoustic amp model. It does not work really well. I have gotten it to sound similar to an acoustic guitar, but I had to do a lot to it. Had to used HB pickup simulation, and add chorus, with EQ bass at about 6 and the mid and treble all the way up. Strange enough it sounded better without reverb.

Solid, no problems yet.

NA

I play mostly rock, pop, jazz, and rock boarding on the edge of country and have been at it for about 30 years. It does a good job for me.

I don't know if I would replace it with the same unit if it were stolen because of the pitch shift thing, but if that were not a problem I would, or with an RP200.

I like it the way it is, the only things I don't like are the acoustic simulator and the pitch shift. Fix those and it's 99% perfect.

To make it 100% perfect, rather then having to press the program button multiple times, make direct access buttons. Example: press the EQ button and the three knobs now adjust the EQ. Press the Reverb button and the knobs now adjust that.

I would be in heaven then.

Pretty easy, especially compared to a POD. Editing the presets was fun, and real easy.

I use a PRS standard, fender japanese strat, and fender mustang, into either a Marshall JCM 800 1959, or a VHT 50 watt power amp with a Marshall JMP-1 preamp. The JCM goes into a Mesa 4x10, the VHT into a Mesa 2x10. I have a small collection of vintage effects, and have always been skeptical of these digital modeling things. I've tinkered with them in shops, but never had the opportunity to let one rip and tweak it to the max. My girlfriend bought this for me for my birthday, so... Some of the effects are nice. Especially the flanger. The delays are a little weak, but there's like eleven of them, so you may find something you like. Now, to the bad. The acoustic simulation is horrible, I wonder how they thought they could pull that off. The Whammy effect is also bad. The amp models are brittle, cheap imitations of the real deals, except for the Mesa model, because you can't get a worse sound than a Mesa already has;). But my biggest complaint it the cab modeling. Does anyone really think that plugging this box into your amp with one 12" will make it sound like a miked 4x12? If you do, you're fooling yourself. But the flange, phaser, and raotary speaker effects are nice.

I haven't gigged with it. It eats batteries, so buy the power supply.

Haven't dealt with them.

I usually play analog effects, an electric mistress, small stone, big muff, and fender blender. I think these things go for about $100, so a beginner or someone on a budget could get kicks out of it. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Who knows. I will say it's much better than the POD, and costs about 150 bucks less. I'm not a big fan of modeling processors, but I was suprised by some of the effects. If anything, get it for the great flange, phase, Leslie, and compresser. Not for modeling

I am going to make 2 reviews of this product: one today and one in about 6 weeks when I am more familiar with it's workings. Suffice to say, by reading the thin but useful manual and the digitech website you are well on your way.

I play Squier Tele w/Vintage Noisless Pickups and a Fender Princeton. NOT A BIT of noise....anywhere. I think all of the presets could stand some tweaking, but this unit is so simple, as soon as you are comfortable you will WANT to start tweaking.

A few things appear useless. Pickup modelling, the Acoustic simulator, and the Auto Ya features. I think the time and energy spent on creating thjose wouldve been better spent elsewhere. I need to spend more time with the cabinet/mic modelling before I really know how it can benefit me.

Highlights? 27 different types of delay (inc. 2 sec infinite repeat), rotary, tremolo, and envelope filter. All of those are amazing and comfortably tweakable.

Needers of quality clean sounds with love this. GREAT sims of tweed amp and blackface.

I hope it's reliable. I have had it a week. I will admit to heeding the cautionary tales in earlier reviews about weak pedals and LED madness. The store where I bought it did mention they had one come back with sloppy pedal work. I am planning to use this for gigging.

First rate. I've emailed them asking questions about patch libraries (on their site) and such and they have often emailed back within the hour with helpful info.

I play on cruise ships. I bought this to have a lot of bang in one pedal. I think this is easier to use and in many ways better than the POD or V-Amp, which is amazing considering the price. The tuner works great with my Tele but not so with my other guitars. Weird.

If you are shopping more multi-effects in ANY price/ability range, the RP100 MUST AT LEAST be a consideration. Simply amazing.

I've reviewed this product below, and thought that I'd add an update. Having used this for many months now for many different applications, I've come to be even more impressed with it.

I just finished a recording project where I used two Shure SM58 mics as drum overheads into two different RP100's with the amp/speaker emulation off, no effects, and I used a little compression and reverb. The bass drum mic went into a Bellari tube mic preamp. The drum sound was AMAZING! Best drum sound I ever got. I used the RP100 for all guitar and bass tracks. I also used the RP100 for the vocal mic, again just using the compressor and reverb. Sounded fantastic. So, if you're just using yours for guitar your missing half the fun. This really is a do-all box.

I still use tube amps on the gig, although I have used this straight into the PA for smaller gigs. I use it religiously for all my acoustic gigs though, again using compression and reverb. After many months of use, both stage and studio, I've never had any trouble with this device.

Couldn't tell you.

This may be the most underrated device ever, when you consider all of it's non-electric guitar uses. It's great for bass, drums, and vocals too.

this is the most terrible piece of equipment i have ever used. literally. and for a point of reference, 8 years ago when i started playing guitar, i had a no-name guitar running through a peavey 15 watt amp. it only had 5 strings. i want to give it a negative 10, but cannot. feel free to recalculate the averages with a -10 in place of the 1 i had to give it.

terrible. impossible to program mods. screen jumps around schizophrenically. piece of absolute shit X 100.

sucks chrome off of hitches.

fuck digitech and the horse they rode in on. at least they have DOD. on yeah, they suck too. id be disappointed if my shit came out looking like this.