DigiTech RP-100

Ease of use... wow, let's put it this way: I grew up with a generation that didn't use fancy processors, but instead had mile long daisy chains of effects pedals. I'd never owned one, much less used one. This unit is so easy, that I had it figured out before I left the store... with no manual. Two buttons and 3 knobs are all you have to mess with to adjust the sounds and effects. If you need to scroll through a vast amount of settings, you can simply step down on and hold the "up" or "down" buttons and it will speed-scroll. You'd have to be a drooling, brain-dead, idiot to be unable to use this.

I've heard some people complain that digital processors give you a "tinny" sound. I didn't find that to be the case with this piece of equipment. I use an old Crate G120CXL, with an equalizer pedal in the effects loop, so this processor only added to the great sound.

I'm not much for trying to obtain the sounds of others, but I did find something quite remarkable when flipping through the presets... #26 (may or may not be the same on other units) sounds identical to David Gilmour's lead sound on The Wall... especially the Comfortably Numb solos. That's one preset I won't be changing, because I'm so impressed by it.

I bought it used, so I can't comment on the reliability of it as of yet. I've only owned it for a few days, so haven't had a chance to "road test" it yet.

It does, however, seem solid enough.

Bought it used. Tried the website, to see if there were any hidden functions that I haven't found yet (considering I got it with no manual) and the website has been down.

I'm absolutely fascinated by this piece of electronic wizardry. Rather than another rack-mount processor, it's packaged in an impressive looking housing, with two, easy to use footswitches. I like the fact that I can program each setting in sequence to a song list for performing. This unit is now, and will remain a permanent part of my arsenal.

very easy to use , editing simple .
havent read the manual - didnt need to .
its that easy!

i use two ibanez rg 550's - one with a duncan custom in the bridge , the other with a dimarzio PAF pro in the bridge .
no noise to speak of .
the effects have a very good basic mix facility .
i use it through a technics hifi amp with tannoy speakers (in the office).

so far it has proved to be dependalbe (only had it 3 days though)

ive been playing/gigging for 22 years and my previous setup (sold in april) was a marshall jmp1 with an aleseis quadraverb and marshall 80/80 power amp - all controlled by an ART 128 patch midi foot controller , and going through a stereo slant front 4*12 marshall cab . i,m basically an old (well , not THAT old ) rocker , and i play metallica / salas / vai / wylde stuff .
everywhere i played i ALWAYS had somebody (usually other guitarists) complement me on my tone .
the trouble with that rig was that it had to be fairly well cranked to sound good (as most valve amps do ) .
in all honesty this RP100 sounds better for home use than the rig i just sold - i can get tones that are almost identical - even the distortion .
the last time i tested a digitech box i HATED IT !! ( this was 10 years ago ) - the distortion was terrible back then , and i would say that this has been the single largest improvement over the years (and probably the most important ) .if it were stolen i would definitely buy another .
i compared it with the zoom 7070 - no contest there , and with the equipment that i owned for 10 years (mentioned above) .
i'm just stunned by the quality of this for the measley sum of a hundred quid !

It has to be one of the easiest processors to use, but processors are complicated. I like processors a lot because I like computers and electronics. Some other people hate them. Depends on what kind of person you are.

Very good for a $100 processor. I use some of the amp settings with distortion all the way up for a change of pace from my marshall distortion.

It's reliable as long as you have batteries charged up. Adapter's even better.

Never dealt with the company. They've got a good website, so I know they have some customer support, and I did look at some of the specs for the gnx's.

I play mostly rock. Some of the amp settings aren't bad at all. It's the best in the price range. I didn't want to go out and buy 10 pedals so I bought this processor. It has a flanger, auto-yah, chorus, delay, reverb, amp sims, and lots of other stuff. Once you figure out hot to use this thing you can get some of the effects to sound as good as regular pedals. The one most useful effect has to be the drop tuner. It can drop you tuning a whole step. Very useful. I'd pay $100 just for that!

It's a bit confusing at first, but in a good hour or so of working with it, you'll know all you need to know to start busting out some awesome tones. Once you know what your doing it's really simple to use.

I play a Samick SG with a Crate GX65 amp. Thank god for this pedal. The overdrive on the my amp w/o the pedal was horrid, but this pedal saved it. I love the distortions, especially the one modeled after the Marshall half-stack. It gives you a lot of freedom, my distortion is very bassy and heavey, which goes to the music I play, but using the other distortions and the equalizer, you can dial in any distortion you need, from blues to classic rock. The clean is awesome also, great for anything. The effect are pretty good, I don't use them much, but that's just because I don't need them, as far as chorus's, flangers, and other effect go, it sounds pretty good. If I did need them, I'm very sure I would be even more in love with this pedal.

Very reliable, I have gigged and practiced with it a good amount. I've only had it for about 6 months, but I've given it a good year or so worth of use, and it shows no signs of letting me down. I wouldn't dream of using a backup for it during a gig, it more than gets the job done, and it's very well built. The only reason it didn't get a 10 in this category was because I haven't had it all that long, so I can't know what will happen to it a good 10 years from now, but from the looks of it, this baby will still be crankin just like the day I bought it.

When I ordered it, the retailer (Musician's Friend) made the mistake of sending me a power adaptor that was made for use in England and Africa (it didn't plug into a normal U.S. outlet.). I contacted them, and within a week I had the normal power supply. The mixup was in no way Digitech's fault, and even if it was, I still applaud them for the quick and friendly service I received.

Flat out, this pedal rocks, I love it, and if someone were to steal it, I'd buy another one, and do some crazy shizznit to the person that stole it. Can't blame anyone for stealing it really, it's that good of a pedal. If it weren't for this pedal, I'd be lost in a sea of mediocre tone and horrible distortion. It saved my life, and I strongly recommend it for anyone out there, with any guitar, any amp, and any style of play. This thing rocks!

Initially a little difficult to use because it has so many capabilities. Well worth it. The manual tells you the basics, and then you can tweek it to your liking from there. Presets are fine if you just want to go with them.

I have a lotus les paul copy, a fender duo sonic and a harmony bass that I run through here as well as vocals. It can be noisy in some settings but with the gain and level controls I have no trouble getting the sound I want. I record directly from the unit without an amp. The effects are great especially the chorus, flanger and phase shifter.

I haven't had a problem one with it. I hear that if you try to use it without a power supply the batteries run down quick so I bought the power supply and haven't even tried batteries in it.

I play rock and it works great for it. I have had it six months, and I'm sure I haven't heard everything it can do yet. I would replace it if something happened to it. I read a good review for it in Guitar Player before I bought it. Probably the best $100 I've ever spent as far as value goes.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use this device. I'm from the old days of plug in the amp and go. I've been known to use a stomp box or two at the most. I bought this mostly for direct recording and for playing directly into a PA. The manual is useful, and very clear about it's general usage, but didn't make it clear that the preset patches have no speaker simulation on them, as noted below. Could cause some major confusion when trying it out. I personally feel that those who have given unfavorable reviews about this product have not tried to add speaker simulation to the presets, have humbucking emulation on while using a humbucker equipped guitar (resulting in mud), likewise for single coils, not had speaker simulation on when going recording direct, etc. Forgetting these little details results in amazingly bad tone.

I'm using a Telecaster, and a Stratocaster. I haven't noticed any unmanagable noise. I'm not sure about the noise gate. I don't like the way it cuts off notes as they die out. I like the delays and reverbs, although I'm not nuts about them. They're OK. I don't use much for effects. Live, I NEVER use a chorus, flange, or anything like that. While recording a big ballad the other day, and thinking that I could use some kind of organ chord sound, I recorded two tracks of rhythm guitar. One with the rotating speaker sound, and one with a light, slow chorus. I did volume swells manually with the guitars volume control, and panned each track hard left and right during mixdown. Didn't sound like a B-3, but it did have the effect that I was looking for. As for amp simulations, I liked all of the Fender and Vox settings, although they were all too clean, even with the gain cranked up. As for the Marshall and Mesa settings, I'm not really into high gain tones. That's the biggest fault with this unit - there's not really any in between. I'll experiment by putting my Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal in front of it and use the Twin, or Tweed patch and see if that does it. I didn't really care for the Matchless emulation either, but I didn't spend much time tweaking it. All in all, I think it's very usful and definately the biggest bang for the buck out there.

Hard to tell since I've only had it for a couple of weeks now.

Couldn't tell you.

I play mostly blues or blues influenced rock. Professionally, I get called to play many different styles and I think this device may be a big help, especially when it come to playing straight into a PA. I don't switch sounds much. I like to dial in one decent amp tone, with maybe a little slapback delay, and vary my tones by manipulating the guitars volume and tone controls. I don't switch from patch to patch. I've been using it on an open jam night that I host, and have had great luck with it tonally, and regarding reliability. It devours batteries though. Also useful, without being the most realistic sound, is the built in drum machine. I've actually used this on a couple of the jam night where no drummer showed up. Helped out immensely.

I've been playing for about 35 years, and have played through many old tweed Fender amps, old vintage Telecasters, etc. back in the days when that stuff was considered old junk. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the emulations, but I can say that there are countless good, usable tones in this cheap little box. I haven't tried it into a regular guitar amp yet, and this is where it may leave the POD in the dust. I've owned a POD for about a week and took it back. Seems that even while turning off the A.I.R. switch on the POD, it doesn't completely disable the speaker emulation without getting involved with the deep editing stuff. So I was disappointed with the POD in that respect. Overall I think it's a great value considering it's price and it's usefulness for direct recording and for playing into a PA.

Impossible to get any good distortions out of this thing.

The distortions all sound lifeless. Not to mention muddy, way too bassy, and they all sound the same. The cleans distort if you attack the strings too hard (absolutely ridiculous.) i have an Epiphone Standard Les Paul running into a Morley Bad Horsie wah into a Marshall AVT 50. all the RP-100 does is make it sound like shit.

Do not waste your money on this thing!! It doesn't deserve ANY of the hype it got!!

Easy to use, as long as you're not expecting to get a great sound out of it. The manual was nice, it explains everything you need to know.

I have an ESP M-55 > Morley Bad Horsie > RP-100 (Not anymore though) > Marshall MG80RCD. The RP-100 is very noisy, but it does come with a noise gate. However, a noise gate is just the cheap way out. It only gets rid of the noise while you're not playing. As soon as you hit a note there's loads of static and background hiss. The effects are ok, nothing great, but for a $100 processor they're ok. If you use too much of an effect though it totally screws your tone up by making it sound like your amp is buried underneath no less than 76,849,645,900 pillows. So keep the volume of the effect under at least 60. The distortions are terrible!! Despite what most people say, they are not that great. To begin with, every amp setting makes the guitar sound extremely muddy and bass-heavy. It really muddles up the whole sound and is very poor for any direct recording. Second, as I mentioned before, they're extremely noisy. Third, if you turn up loud enough to play over a drummer, all the amp models sound hollow and like you're playing through a trash can.

It's reliable, made of metal. I'll never gig with it, but if worse came to worse, and I had to, I'd gig without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I'm mainly into rock, and a little blues on the side. I've been playing for two years, and consider myself quite accomplished in that short period of time. My other gear consists of ESP guitars and a Marshall amp. I really don't care for this little processor. I've had it for about five months now, and I've given it every chance I can think of. I mean, money is tight, I paid a hundred bucks for the thing. I have tried my hardest to like the RP-100, but it's just not happening. Folks, it is impossible to spend that little amount of money and sound good. Guitar is one hobby where there are no cheap ways out. This is no different. The RP-100 blows!!

Easy to Use Guitar Processor. I'm finding I can now edit on stage if need be...The manual is not nearly as useful as the grid laid out on the front panel. Everything you could tweak is right there in front of you.

I use this with a Standard Strat (stock pups) and a Marshall Valvestate 8240 (2x12 Celestion)

I have had this unit for about eight months now, and I have used it for all manner of gigs. (I work 10-15 dates a month) I have used it not only for guitar, but also for saxophone, with all the models turned off and straight effects. I play in an alternative band and I did some guitar work in the studio for a local 50's band and it covered both well...(the tweed model was very useful)

I haven't tried to emulate any artists (except the Gilmour solo in "Time") but rather I've spent the most time trying to get the units best sounds out of it.

Distortions are good, cabinets are decent, echo and compressor are great, and the noise gate SAVED ME from having to shop for noiseless pups. Tuner bites though...I can't give it enough signal.

Have used it eight months gigging with no issues.

No dealings with Digitech...

Yeah I'd buy it again, in fact I almost bought a second one used for my sax rig. I like setting up one pedal and getting almost any effect I need.

This thing is incredibly easy to use, in my humble opinion. Patches are easy to make as long as you know what the amp models are. The manual is sufficient, and far better than the Pandora manual.

I use a Dean Avalanche through a '70 Fender Blonde Blues Tube Combo. I get a big hum if I have a wah before the RP-100, but that could be the wah or a cable. The effects and amp models sound great. I have been trying to get that super crisp Edge-sounding delay-laden clean sound for a long time, but the Fender just sounded too muddy. With the VOX AC30 amp sim, though, it's incredibly crisp. (About as crisp as you can get without actually buying an AC30 for $1539) If you're playing hard rock or classic rock, of course you think the auto-yah or envelope are stupid. But if you like synth-pop and electronic music you can get some fantastically offbeat sounds with the envelope filter and auto-yah. The delays and reverbs are great as well.

I can't say how reliable it is yet. The two footswitches are a little close together, but as long as you've got you're playing together, switching on the fly is easy. I wouldn't try to bypass live, though. Get an A/B box.

I play music with a lot of post-punk and Britpop stylings, like the U2, Joy Division, New Order, Smiths, Morrissey. I also like techno, trance and drum and bass stuff, like Moby, Underworld, Roni Size, Goldie, etc. I just bought this pedal for the footswitchability and the AC30 sim. It exceeded my expectations as far as cool, weird sounds.
I have been playing for little more than two years. I also have an Ibanez DE7 delay (with a broken switch), a Dunlop 535Q wah, and a Pandora PX2 effects processor.
I might buy this again, but if I had more money, I'd buy the RP-200.

Not too bad to figure out, but you definitely have to read through the manual before you try using this unit. They should have also made it clearer in the documentation that the presets do not have the amp simulation on them (fine if your just using it as a stomp box but can give you a false first impression if you plug it into a line in of your recorder).

At first I wasn't that impressed. I plugged the unit into a line on my recorder (I bought it because it was advertised as a amp sim) and ran it through the presets. It had a cool range of effects but the sound didn't knock my socks off. Then (after a review of the manual) I realized that none of the presets have the speaker cabinet simulation on them. WOW!! What a difference!! After spending some time tweaking the cabinet selection to each preset I found this unit to be quite good. I found and extremely usable palate of tones. I've since used this unit for recording demos (using Gibson guitars and Fender basses), and while I won't ever say that this unit will ever replace a real stack for the price it is quite kicking!! Heck, for the price it's a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10!!!

I've had no problems as of yet. The construction seems quite solid and it fires right up every time I plug it in. I might change my mind after it's had six months to float around in a gig bag, but for now it's right up there.

Haven't had to call their customer support so I can't be a judge of it.

As I said in the sound quality review: for the price it's a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10

I had no problem with using this even without the manual!, I created some cool sounds and Digitech has some cool patches on their web site

I like most of the effects , Distortion is my fav and Delay isnt bad either, the Chrous could be better, I'm using a VS265R Marshall AMP see my review for that Amp!
I get some great Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Iced Earth sounds.
Also some nice classic rock sounds too Led Zepp, Sabbath

Yes indeed I dropped it twice and no problems!

Never needed them

Overall I love this Pedal, just wish it had a better chrous sound, but i get that from my Amp itself! Yes I've used it to record and even the Rhythm trainer came in handy!

Easy to get a good sound. Once I has read the manual a couple of times, and played with some of the sounds, I found it easier to dump the presets and start to construct sounds from scratch instead of editing presets. The manual is okay, but just tells you the "nuts and bolts".

I use my RP-100 with a Yamaha Pacifica 112, an Ibanez RG505, into the line in (effects return) of a Crate G60XL 1x12 combo. All the EQ etc is done on the RP-100, using the Crate like a powered cabinet. The RP-100 sounds great through headphones. When you get to grips with the noise gate (notice I said when, not if) noise is not a problem. The amp sounds seem okay to me. Obviously a REAL Dual Rectifier or a REAL Vox AC30TB will blow it away, but I haven't got room for all those amps in my box room!! The effects seem useful, but I'm getting used to the Wah. I bought an expression pedal (today in fact)and I'm still getting to grips with the settings. I TRY to play mainly rock/progressive/metal stuff, and have come up with reasonable approximations of Dream Theater, AC/DC, and I am in the middle of getting Steve Rothery's sound for Kayleigh. I don't tend to use the Cabinet/mic simulator with the Crate, I'm toying with the idea of doing some recording onto my PC so it may come in handy. All effects are good except maybe AutoYa!!

I've had it for about six months (I think) and have had no problems with reliability (quick, find me some wood or a rabbits foot!!)
I have not gigged with it, but it would be foolish to gig with NO backup.

Never had to deal with Digitech, though I have visited their website and it looks like they are well prepared.

I have played on and off now for a few years, no gigs, just play to annoy my wife!! I think its probably the most rewarding piece if gear that I have bought, apart from my 2 guitars. If it was lost or stolen, I would probably replace it AND my Crate with a Digital modelling combo, Line6 or Tech21, something like that. It is a floor unit really, which is always a bit awkward when you want to tweek something, and I actually have it sitting on top of my amp. But if you buy something like a POD or J-station, you have to stump up for a foot controller.

It's incredibly easy to use. The tuner is a bit wonky, but I have a handheld tuner anyways. I only used the manual because I wasn't 100% sure how to edit patches.

I use only Ibanez guitars. I have an AX and an RG, both black.
At first, it was really noisy and I was getting this ear-splitting feedback. Then I added the Noise Gate and the Pickup sim. It sounds AMAZING. The Effects are very good, except the Auto-Yah. It's just not to my taste. I like using the Whammy to "detune". I run it thru a Fender Bronco, which is fed into a Crate 4x12 cab. You have to figure out the amp EQ a bit, but after that, it's all good.
I can get a sound VERY close to Finger Eleven with this.
The Fuzz distortion is great for some things, but it really is terrible for muting, so I use the Rectified setting. I only use effects that fit what I play, so the Flanger, Auto-Yah, and Vibrato are out of the picture. The effects are great quality and sound good to me.

I've used this for a few gigs, and it is very good. I don't even have a backup.

I have yet to have any problems.

Considering the next cheapest unit (BOSS ME-30 @ $400+) was nearly twice the price and didn't have nearly as many goodies, I'd say I got a great deal.
I play in a hardcore/metal band None, and our sound is based AROUND this unit. If it was lost, I'd buy the 100 again, unless I could get a good deal on the 200. There's 3 things I love: The metal casing, the Noise Gate, and the Pickup Simulator.

A drugged monkey could do it. Simply press the select button a number of times until you're on the part of the program you want to edit, and tweak the 3 knobs to find your setting.
To get a good sound out of it, it shouldn't be too hard if you know a little about effects and such.

I'm using this with an Ibanez GRX20 with factory Powersound Humbuckers (OH GOODY!) and a Fender Frontman 15 amp at home, but I usually find something different when I jam with my bands. I haven't actually used this with my bands yet though. It really doesn't sound too bad, my amp's volume is low and the EQs are all at zero, and this makes my amp sound a LOT better than bare, either way you look at it.
I can get cool sounds resembling AC/DC and various other classic rock stuff easily, I especially like the different wailing lead sounds I can get, being a fan of 80s guitar solos and shred. The Heavy Metal rythm distortion on this unit, there are different things to play with (Rectified, Johnson Hi-Gain, Fuzz, Stack) but some of them essentially don't sound a whole lot different unless you listen closely.
Most of the effects are good, I like the amp modeling a lot. Its possible to get some pretty good sounding cleans out of this.
Not a super fancy top-of-the-line unit, but you get what you pay for, and this is the max for $100

I'd probably gig without a backup since it would be dumb to gig on just amp distortion with no other options.. and I can't really afford a backup. Not likely that this thing would fail on me.
built out of lightweight metal (not common in such inexpensive units) so you could kick this thing around if you like, but it's better to take care of it, then it will last even longer.

Never had to deal with them yet and I don't plan on it.

Great for the money.
I play Metal, Rock and Blues, and I suppose other stuff if my friends want to play it. I love lead soloing.
I've been playing for a short amount of time but I feel I've made some pretty good progress. I also have a Danelectro Pastrami Overdrive pedal which is really pretty nice but this beats the hell out of it. I gotta say the Auto-Yah is really stupid, and the envelope fiter is cool but I'll probably never use it. Haven't gotten to play with the whammy yet unfortunately.
I hate two things. Scrolling one by one through 80 presets to find something (not that bad though just put the ones you like near each other and get used to it) And I hate that I had to pay $25 for the power supply. I mean COME ON! Who the hell makes an AC-output 1300 milliAmp supply! Radio Shack was my thought on a cheaper place to buy one and they said they didn't carry anything like that. What a ripoff just include the power supply.
Anyway, it helps me make music more than it gets in the way. Decent deal, if it were stolen I'd get pissed off, then I'd buy the RP-200.
by the way feel free to see some videos of me goofing off and some pictures of my cool guitar, and some MP3s of me playing, at http://www.angelfire.com/rock2/rocknrollsteve the mp3s maybe count as samples of what you can do with this thing.

Easy to program, but the LEDs are hard to figure out and hard to read while standing up. A 6 or 7 digit LED would have solved that problem.
AC adapter should be included. It is easy to get a decent sound most of the time, but the manual's print is tiny and hard to read. Having to press both pedals at once to bypass is stupid.

I play a strat mostly with this, and also a Taylor with LR Baggs duel source pickup/mike for reverb, chorus, and delay side chained through an SWR Strawberry blonde 80 watt acoustic amp. It is noisy on some effects like the auto-yah. The pickup simulator was useless. Amp modeling was ok, but I have not heard some of these amps in such a long time I couldn't tell the difference. The cabinet modeling works well the the Taylor. Chorus and flanger are weak. The reverb is excellent - 10 to choose from. The delays sounded weak. Tremelo and vabrato sounded cool. Pitch shifter sounded good with the strat. Most of the distortions sounded too much the same, but some sounded really great. The rythm trainer is weak, very limited, not much use. I use the chorus and reverbs the most, distortion the least. Overall sound quality is weak and tinny. Amp modeling and cabinet modeling sounds thin compared to J-station. Even the Zoom amp modeler sounded better.

I would not gig with this unit. It looks and sounds weak. I would use dedicated pedals and the spring reverb in my amp.

Never dealt with em.

EASY TO USE

DID NOT LIKE THE OUTPUT, SOUNDED WEAK AND THIN. ALL SOUNDS SOUNDED THE SAME. I HAVE OWNED 5 EFFECT PROCESSORS, THIS IS THE WORST.

BROKE DOWN AFTER 6 USES. SEEMS TO HAVE A WEEK COMPONENT SOMWHERE.
WILL NOT TRUST ANOTHER DIGITECH PRODUCT. FOR A WHILE ANYWAY.
40 FACTORY PRESETS STILL WORK.

SENT IT BACK YO AMERICAN MUSICAL SUPPLY. DONT WANT TO MESS WITH BROKEN PRODUCTS. DONT HAVE TO, ZOOM BOSS KORG NEVER BROKE DOWN ON ME. WHY TAKE A CHANCE? FOOLISH.

DRUM BEATS WORKED OK. EXCEPT YOU CANT CHANGE PATCHES AND KEEP THE BEAT. IT LOST TIMING THEN. I THINK THE ZOOM ORIGINAL 505 IS MUCH BETTER. I THINK THE RP-2000 MAY HAVE BETTER OUTPUT, AND MIGHT SOUND MUCH BETTER. IT BETTER. I LIKE MY BOSS-GT-3 A THOUSAND TIMES MORE.
TRY THE ZOOM AMP MODELER ($150) I HEAR IT SOUNDS GOOD BEFORE YOU BUY THIS ONE. "" MAYBE "" A SPECIAL AMP WOULD SOUND BETTER, BUT IM COMPARING IT THROUGH SEVERAL DIFF AMPS, AND I HAVNT LIKED IT AT ALL.
MY GT-3 SOUNDS GTEAT IN " ANY " AMP I USE. SHOULDNT THE RP-100 TOO?

Easy to use. The presets are quite good and with a litle tweeking they can sound very good. Editing patches is a bit of a pain. Logic of edit patches is a little arcane but works ok. Manual is not so hot. Sufficient but not as detailed as I'd like.

I route a Standard Strat into the RP-100 and monitor through studio amp/monitors. The thing emulates some amps well and others not as good but overall does an excellent job for $100! Very clean sound but can emulate noisy analog amps quite well. The distortion is good...not great but good. Chorus is good. The reverb isn't too impressive but then I use Lexicon PCM 91 for that. Most of the FX though a quite good except wah. It's not so hot.

Seems to be reliable. Get a power adapter. The RP-100 eats batteries.

Never used it.

I play pop/rock. Some funky world beat stuff. been playing 4 years. I have a project studio with Lexicon, PreSonus, Mackie, and even some Alesis, ART and Behringer gear. 4 Guitars, a couple keyboards, two computers (one running Cubase vSt the other running Gigasampler). If it were stolen I'd probably get something a little beter. But overall this unit kicks boo-tay. I'd recommend it to anyone. For cryin' out loud the thing only cost $100.

It's pretty easy to use.

Well the Mesa Rec distortion sounds harsh. The Marshall distortion sounds smoother, but lacks tone. Its a dry sterile sounding machine. Your better off buying a distortion pedal, and different effect pedals. Of a J station for $150.

Don't know.

Don't know.

I guess this thing is good, if it sounds better then your amp. I figured by the great reviews that this thing would be killer. But its only killer on your ears. I ran it through both my tube and SS amp with the same results.

I've seen a lot of reviews where I don't think people have enough experience with the unit so I want to set the record strait with the RP100.

It's very easy to use relative to other programmable effect processors. If your a beginner, you've got a bit of a learning curve just figuring out how to get the sounds you want anyway - regardless of the equipment.

The bottom line is this unit sounds great. If there's 1 problem, it's that with all the sound generators and amp emulators I think it's hard for someone who's not familiar with guitar sound to dial in their sound. I use everything under the sun from a Strat to a Les Paul, from Marshall, Mesa, and Fender (though only tube amps). I also have and endless array of processors from Boss Pedals to an extensive array of rack-mount units. I bought the RP100 just to mess around with it. Now, I started by cleaning out a patches and starting from scratch to build sounds. I can honestly say that I could recreate virtually every sound imaginable with this thing into a small Marshall combo tube amp. To do it right, you do need to know the difference between overdrive and distortion. And the effect of different amp types. I've read other people say that the delays sounded 'digital'. Hogwash. I'll admit, running this thing through a solid state amp some of the effects are night as nice. But, that's true with everything. Through my Marshall tube amps, the delays rang like bells and sounded great. Also, I've read that there are a lot of 'gimicky' sounds. Hogwash again. If you know what you are doing, the harmonizers and volume swell effects can be used to cover keyboard parts real nicely. I'll admit also that if you try and play a Metallica rhythm with a harmonizer it's going to sound stupid but that's not what it's intended for. 2 other suggestions: 1) if you want to add this pedal in line for live playing, use an A/B box to toggle it in and out of your line. The 2 pedal bypass pedals are very hard to use for this. The A/B box works good. 2) If you use this pedal for mostly delay, tremolo, and verb effects, always put the the distortion pedal before the RP100. (And always put a Wah pedal before a distortion pedal).

I don't know yet. The paint chips easy - I know that.

Digitech is pretty good as you can call them and get someone knowledgeable on the phone.

This is a great sounding and versital pedal. If you don't know how to use effects well or what attributes make up good sounds you may be at a loss to find sounds you like.

Somewhat involved learning curve but not more difficult than any other of the new effects units coming out nowadays. The manual is adequate. It's amazing how much stuff they put into this little box!

Surprisingly good sounds for such an inexpensive effects box.Killer rectified sound! Effects are really good.
Custom strat played thru H.O.T. fender amp.Lots of fun!

The first I bought freaked out. Plugged it in , worked great for ten minutes then everything lit up and froze! Sent it back, got a new one.Works great!

Feature packed effects unit.Great sounds! Don't get me wrong. It won't sound better than a POD 2 or DG Stomp but imho it is hands down the BEST $100.00 available today. Great for beginners to learn what different effects are/ do. Some for amps.Throw in a drum machine...get one!It Rocks!

This unit has nice factory pacthes. Thr rhythm settings are a little funky, but usable. It sounds good right out of the box. Editing is NOT it's strong suit. I seem to screw up a decent patch every time, the company should take a tip from Line 6 and Rocktron and build alternative settings on their website. The manual is small, but informative. I still can't edit without ruining it. I had the Boss GT-3 and had similar difficulties. I am not an electronics programmer and don't want to take a course in it. The effects have extreme impact on the sound and by by the time you get through changing parameters in all the areas, the patch gets screwed.
Oh yeah, buy the power adapter!!!

I play a Franken-Strat w/ Carvin pickups and X-Bridge through a Crate VC-508 (Jan Phillips 5751 tube and Sovtek EL-84M) This is a vvery good set up for most styles The RP is not noisy, the noise gate is usable. It does take some of the chunk out of the unit when set at an high level. I don't like the chorus, a little cheesy. The amp models are pretty good. I can't really compare it to a '65 Fender tweed. It is ridiculous to compare a $100 multi FX to one anyhow. I would benefit from some editing help to get the most out of it. I do like the sound quality for what is,and the presets are usable.
I don't sound like Ronnie Earl and Stevie Ray, but it is a $100 stompbox.

I purchased it from Musician's Friend and had to send the first unit back. It had a short in it that were causing pops to come through the amp. They took it back, paid shipping, and sent a new one very quickly. I have had the new one for about a month with no problem.
I would use it without a backup. It seems sturdy enough and I use an ART Acoustic pedal for my X Bridge which is the only pedal that I am truly satisfied with it's sound

I haven't dealt with them.

I think this is a good practice unit. I know Guitar Player gave it the Editor's Pick, but it is usable. If I wanted a pro sounding pedal, I would have purchased the DG stomp or POD.
I've been playing for 8 years and have been through the gear lust and disappointment too many times. A cheap stompbox is not the way to great tone. You get what you pay for and it is better to get the highest quality units a piece at a time instead of selling and trading for the next great cheap unit (under a grand).
For what it is, it is a no brainer investment. It is great for practicing scales and rhythm ideas to the drum beats and getting close to sounding like the guitarist of your choice. Great for beginners and useful for players.... but it's only a $100 multi effects unit.

THIS AFFECT PEDAL Is great, it comes with 40 factory sounds and 40 programbale slots.
it is very easy to adjust the effects
The manuel is very easy to understand
There has been an upgrade, it merely is the rp200 with a pedal on the side for wah and volume ect...

I use a Kramer Focus, 3 single coil, on a stage 160, it sounds great
It is clean when you want it and noisy when you want it be
some effects are wierd but they all sound great
I use a stage 160 fender
It replicates the sound of some other songs great( has exact effect Bruce Springsteen uses in Glory Days)
All the effects are great, except wah and auto yah(there ok)

Hasnt broke down yet i dont think it will
Who the hell has the money for a backup

dunno

I love it for all my songs i play eveything classical and shit hard too
ive been playin for 6 months
If it was lost i would get it agian its great
its all around great
the digitech rp200 was comapreed
free power source
it helps me make music greatly

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Compared to other units in the same price range, it is much easier, because of the matrix and 3 knobs.
How about Editing patches?
Simple, Just twist the knobs.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
Very good, very basic for a basic digital device.
Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
No idea.

My guitars are Fender Strat with single-coil pups.
My amp is a Fender Bassman 50 with an Ampeg VT-22 2*12 cab.
The amp simulations are very good for this price range. Much better than the Korg units under $200. More dynamic and sweeter sounding than anything in this price range.
The modulation effects are very ordinary for multi-effects in this low bracket pricerange.
The unit is only noisy with the high gain amp simulations/compressors.
The noise reduction circuitry is very good.
None of the effects stand out.
The delays are grainy, you can hear the digital quality of the repeats. The analog delay is simply the digital delay with a low-pass filter. Not warm in the least, not like a real analog delay pedal. But of course, that's much more money.
The reverbs are decent, actually very good for this price range.
One good thing about this unit is that the user has more than one parameter to adjust as compared to the other units in this price range. You can mix the modulation effects to the pre-effected signal to your liking. I will not give a rating since the effects, in my opinion, were ordinary digitally produced effects. Individual pedals are definately better but more expensive and more of a hassle in terms of patching and powering.

It is housed in an aluminum casing. Excellent for this price range. Nothing else in this price range has a metal casing. It isn't very thick or heavy duty like a BOSS pedal, but good enough if you treat it with a little respect. I did not own it long enough to accurately rate its reliability.

Harman International is average for their customer support.

I play a dub, reggae, classic rock, and surf instrumentals. This is not a good match. I had some kind of wishful thinking that this unit would sound good for warm echoes and splashy reverbs. The delays, even the analog simulated delay, sounded very unnatural sounding to me. I returned it after a day of use, both with headphones, and with the amp cranked.
I have been playing for about 12 or 13 years. I wanted a simple effects box that could do echoes and reverbs, I didn't care for or need any digitally created amp simulations. The mod and ambience effects are disappointing, which is the norm for this price range. It is better though, than anything else in this range. AX1G, 505II, etc. I expected the 24 bit A/D, D/A convertors to sound especially clear and transparent, certainly with processor intensive effects, but that just wasn't the case. Either the convertors are of low quality, or the processor is doing too much.
I'll stick to individual pedals. No more messing with digital effects, until the manufacturers figure out how to simulate power tube saturation for a warmer, non-digital tone.
My overall rating, hmmm, for this price range, a 10, as compared to the other $100 units. Amazingly consolidated, certainly, but lacking in the tone department. Compared to anything else out there, in any price range, its a 3.

Pretty damn simple to use. just select which effect you want to use, then use the three knobs to adjust the paramaters. the presets are good, and you can tweak each one. I'd have a tough time believing that someone couldn't work this device.

the sound quality is damned good. Currently, I've been using a crappy practice amp, and I thought that I'd never get a decent, non-buzzing sound from it. But, this processor really cleaned it up; the distortions are great. The big factor here is the built in equalizer and compressor. While the equalizer is just three bands (Bass, Mids, Treble), it's much better than the onboard EQ of amps. The only effect that is lacking is the envelope filter. It tends to make a 'whooshing' or whistling sound, which is just awful. If you like to wah, use a dedicated wah pedal. Other than that, the sound kicks.

I take good care of my gear, so I'd gig with it (and I probably will). but people who like to toss their gear around will break the unit, because it is not sturdily built.

never tried.

For the cost, it's an amazing device. if you're not a pro, then just go with this instead of spending thousands on the separate pedals. I've been songwriting for a few years, and I had just been using straight up guitar-to-amp setups. but this device just opens up so many sonic opportunities--as I'm sure hundreds of other devices do. still, I like it. If you've got specific Questions, just email me.