DigiTech RP-20 Tube Preamp/Processor

I use a customized Ibanez JEM 555 and a custom made Carvin DC-200 with active electronics. The Ibanez sounds really good with distortion since I put a DiMarzio Fred in neck position and a Dimarzio Steve's Special in the bridge. The RP-20 handles distortion very well. But its performance with the Carvin is just average, specially in clean tone. RP-20 is now a discontinued model

The first thing that you will notice that unlike other leading manufacturers' products, the RP-20 does not have a power on/off switch. I think this is a typical DigiTech design flaw. Other than that, it is pretty much like any other floor processor.

The pedalboard footswitches are not the greatest ones. After a year that i had it, two of them didnt work. I had to ship it to digitech and they fived it (i had to pay since the waranty was over). Then now 4 of the footswitches and 3 of the buttons don't work. And you can get a new one for the price for repairing it.

the people at digitech are friendly. they seem to be trying to help you out as much as they can. they have many authorized repair centers in major cities. I bought it for $800 within a month it came out and got only a ONE year warranty!

overall, i think it is a very good tube-equipped floor processor to start out with. if your music grows and you have big bucks, switch to rack systems :-)

The thing is pretty big, and you need to read the manual more than once to understand how it works.
Then, it's easy to operate and the data wheel avoids destroying fingertips and brain when changing something from 0% to 100% :)

Great.
I really don't know what do you expect from a multi effect processor if you're not satisfied with the RP20.
The distortion are really good, although it cannot sound like a real tube amp, so forget a true AC/DC sound if you're not playing really hard an SG with an old Marshall crancked all the way up...
However the distortion are great both tube and SS ones, and the digital effect are really good.. choruses, delays, flangers, EQs...
I'm playing an SG with a JCM900 and a handmade marshall-like 15w all tube amp, and it sounds great, you only have to spend some time to set it up right.

It works OK, but if you move it suddenly the power cord sometimes get lose... pay attention.

I play heavy metal and hard rock, and I really like the distortions and effects, I would surely buy it again.
It's MUCH BETTER than any Boss pedal or processor, I tried the GT3 and it sounded more like a Zoom 505 than an RP20. (the 505 however is GREAT for its price).
I really does anything you could ask to a preamp/processor of it's class, and sounds awesome.

I got a good deal on it my friend sold it to me for $175. He bought a POD and now I can see why, he's the type of person who wants to plug in and play. The manual could be alot better organized and take you step by step especially for those who have never tackled the editing side of guitar processors. I've gotten some pretty good sounds on it it just seems like it takes to much time, time you could be creating music. I've also had a hard time not sounding digital. I plug in direct and it sounds a little to digital but if plug it into the input on my Peavey Bandit it is way too overprocessed. I am a bass/guitar player who writes songs for my band, I don't really plan on buying anything else like a POD or something unless it has to do with the bass.

The rp-20 is pretty good about not being to noisy during breaks in the song or before of after songs as long as you use the expression pedal. I haven't been able to achieve editing the sounds of my favorite guitarist but it probably could be done with much patience and time. The effects are good its just the preamp sounds seem to be a little to digital.

I've had some bad luck. As I mentioned earlier I bought it used but the thing has reset on me a couple of times. I had spent like 15-20 hours trying to dial in all my sounds and I plugged it in one day and it said "factory reset" and I was like "oh no". I pushed no but it didn't matter the thing just reset itself. I had it in the air ready to break it in half but decided not too. It was a hard decision as I had read the manual a couple of times trying to figure it out. Theres another story(PART 2) I accidentaly left it on overnight I saw it the next morning and the display screen was empty and stayed empty. I tried resetting it, I opened it up and replaced the battery, the tube looked good. I ended up taking it to a electronic repair shop in Seattle. It was a $2 part that went on me and I paid $68 to get it back. I think it was a 5v capacitor or something.

I contacted digitech customer service via internet because I wanted to find out about backing my programs to the computer in case of another unexpected factory reset. They sent me a program that did reset my RP-20. I couldn't get it to work. Does anyone have any advice on how to save your programs? Now I have been writing down all my edit changes. They did get back to me promptly and I not being a computer whiz probably didn't use or load it write or something.

My band plays mostly heavier rock. I like alot of the clean sounds but am still trying to dial in a distortion program that I am happy with although it doesn't sound bad. I mainly play bass but am a above average guitar player who just wants to get my songs on to my digital recorder. I would be giving the RP-20 a better review if it had a simple on/off switch so it wouldn't reset on me, and didn't run so hot. I touch it sometimes and I wonder how you could play it outdoors in the direct sun.

Not the easiest, takes a lot of time. The manual is crap, but don't be afraid of this thing, just dig in and see what happens. I give it an 8 because when you know your way around it it is straight forward.
you will learn tricks everyday that make it sound better.

Anything is possible. I own it now for nearly 2 years, and for the first year I was v. dissapointed, however as you get to know it it will do anything you can imagine. I read some people complaining about not enough gain. The compressor is absolutely essential in this unit and with proper adjustment can send you to gain heaven. Clean sounds however dominate this unit. Some people use this processor into their guitar input on their amps, this is never going to let the RP20 show its true potential. I have tried it in nearly every possible connection, HI inputs, Lo inputs, effects loop, The best rig is the RP20 into a stereo power amp into 2 2x12s spread out to get the stereo field. Turn the noisegate off. it cuts the notes off so you have no fade out.humbuckers are best I use Ibanez Rg550 LTD and Deluxe super strat and the rig mentioned above, mesa Boogie 20/20. V. LOUD. Versatility is incredible in this unit. I have one patch per bank and that leaves me with 9 switches for one patch. anyone who owns one and is reading this take note. You can switch anything on nearly every parameter. just go to the one you are adjusting and press assign and see if it asks you to press a pedal. you can switch gain, boost, compressor attack, etc. etc. if you want real feel control assign anything to the expression pedal and adjust it in real time, eg gain or chorus depth etc.
Dynamic modifiers are the best thing. Takes forever to work out (Properly) but then, .... .. Don't give up. everything takes a long time to get to know properly but then all the doors are open. You can really blow people away with this thing. I gig regularly with it and people come up to me afterwards and comment onm where my rack and synth etc. is. All in that box there.

Power cord fell out 3 times on stage, I pulled it out and inserted a proper power socket (Locking) and on/off switch. One pedal fell off as I was loading it into my car. Failed to load up twice, just said RP20 v 2.01 or something like that and did nothing. switched on and off and it was ok. Don't really like the idea of the brain beig so close to the switches on the floor. If you tripped over a lead or something could cause some damage. Built quite sturdy though (metal Chassis) Horrible squeak from the Expression pedal.

Excellent machine for what it is. It is not a mesa boogie or marshall or anything else. It is a digitech and sounds like one, it is very capable of imitating certain sounds, but if you aproach this unit with an open mind and let it sound the way it does it's brilliant. anything is possible with the digital end. you can do anything you want. It took me 2 years to work it out and I still don't know half of what it is capable of. If you want a preamp with fx this is a good bet, but if you want a processor to put in you fx loop (My initial reason for buying it) look elsewhere. Use it in stereo. if you don't have a stereo amp still leave it in stereo and get an adapter to put both left and right outputs into one input on your amp. Believe me the sound is much different to switching the unit to mono.

This is my first Multi-fx unit, but it took me just about 2 days to get the basic operations down. Editing patches is very simple. The manual is not very helpful though. Whatever I know, I figured out on my own. The FX are not explained too well and I guess it's too much to ask a guitarist to consult a text book on acoustics to figure out what a noise gate does!!!! About the upgrade, I've downloaded it from the Digitech site, but haven't yet upgraded it. It is very easy to get a lot of different sounds from it. I play primarily blues and rock music, but I know that the FX are good and with some work, can sound great

I use a Samick KR660 thru the RP20. The compressor is pretty noisy, especially when you use the VFast option. Comp cannot be used with the Wah on. You have to bypass the Wah.
About FX- Chorus is too sterile. Nice Tube and Solid state Distortions. You can get sounds from Cream to Dream Theater. It of course depends on you.I say that all the people who say they can't get good sounds out of it, are either too lazy to experiment, or too lamebrained.

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I have seen a lot of MFX units like Zoom, Korg, Boss. I was very disappointed with the sounds they put out. I used to use a BOSS MT2 and BOSS DD3 and swore never to use any processor, unless they were Rack systems. But the RP20 made me put my pedals away!!!!!

It will take some time to read the manual, and you will be a bit dissapointed of the way the FX are actually organized.
A lot of funtions. The parameters are more than you can imagine.
Big shiny screen. Fancy look.
Editing can be easy, but can be Hell ! Depend what you want.

Clean sounds ~...ok. Somewhere here I've read a lot of superlatives about it, that's why I bought it. And I was EXTREMLY, EXTREMLY DISSAPOINTED !!!! Distortions are nasty. Absolutely. All of them.
Also the Tube one. If you want to use this thing as a D.I. - just forget. Digitech says "..for Studio Recording". Bullshit.
Direct to the board- NO WAY !!!! And, if you have good amp it is absolutely stupid to put RP-20 on the way of the signal.
Yes a lot of FX. Some of them nice, but when you play there is an audible delay. Maybe it's from the AD/DA convertion.
Bad dynamic, sterile, lifeless. That's my opinion. I wonder now about the guys who were rising it in the skyes. You guys must have really bad taste.

Hm, i will tell you. I am a traveling musician and have been looking for the best guitar pedal board, because I play litteraly 6 nights in the week all the year. I've read a lot of info in Internet and the magazines and I decided to buy it. After the first month it started to switch off by no reson, with terrible pops in the speakers and YES ON THE STAGE! Few times per night. I thought it was from the power, but no. I've check the plug (by the way - DIN connector for power suply- it sounds strange isnt'it) I've checked everything, I changed the Trafo - still the same. After unsucssesfull try to contact Digitech and to take my money back from the shop I called a technician. We have changed the Integral stabylisers, and a lot of stuff inside. Nothing changed. Later I understood that there are other people owning RP_20 with the same problem.

I had a really terrible experience with this stuf.

I am not mentioning the problem with the switches. They are falling down, and are so fragille !

I have tryed many times to conect with these people, I've send them many E-mails. NO ANSWER.

If you are looking for the proffesional stuff- DON'T BUY THIS ONE! You will hate yourself for that.
And if you still want to buy it, I can sell you mine for half the price I bought it. I will be really glad.

What I could recomend: At the moment I think the best price/quality ratio on the market belongs to the POD2. I didn't tryed it yet, but I am looking for, and I am following the news already one year.
I have heard a good things from the people, there are also some bad opinions, but especialy for "Direct to Desk" at that price I think it is the best.

The manual is really bad. I've come across options within the unit that are not explained fully in the manual properley. I've also heard that other users are having similar problems

Fender USA custom strat, Vox AC30, Dunlop crybaby - The sounds are very good. The valve helps smooth off those digital sounds somehow.
Distortions and delay and excellent. Chorus and phasers could be better.

Powerpack lead falls out of the unit quite easily. Good steady unit otherwise.

An excellent unit let down by very poor documentation.

Hours upon Hours I would spend trying to come up with one sound that I think is ok. that's too long for me. It is however, easier to program than the RP 12. The owners manual really helps.

Cheap, hollow, digital, nasty, and so much more are the words I would use to describe this prosessor. I play in a prog rock band and believe me, the only way I can hear myself is if I crank the mids. It sounds real hollow real transparant. And let me tell you about tone. There is non. It is very flat, and no matter how much you tweak it will sound flat. I have worked very hard at getting the sounds I want. Right now they'll do, but once my Line 6 AX2 212 comes I'm puttin' that no good thing on eBay

One day after playing a gig, I laid it down in the back seat of my car. As I turn to shut the door, I took a double take. One of the black foot switchs fell off. I just bought the dumb thing and this happens. I've had other digitech units fall apart on me in the past. On top of that I know quite a few other people who are fed up with the lack of quality that goes into make those prosessor.

I can say that when I called them to replace my foot switch they were very helpful. Perhaps they deal with it all the time.

I don't think I will ever buy a digitech again for as long as I live.
The new johnsons looked tempting until I tried one out. Every digitech I have ever owned has the same toneless, hollow sound.

I didn't have any problems with this unit, even when it was my first effekt-unit.

Most of the time, I'm using the RP-20 in a effekt-loop, it ain't the best sounding I know. But when I take my guitar straiht through the RP-20, and then eighter into a power amp, or a clean-amp it sound very well, but it is impossible to play hamonics. It sounds very, very good when I play it through my electric piano (!) it is the best clean-sounds I've ever heard. The presets are not very good, and they've used the noise gate on every one of them. The tone won't ring out, it kind of "dies" long before it should.

I've been using it for many gigs, it works very good. But sometimes the tuner won't take any signal, and that is not funny.

I play alot of styles, and it's very good at pink floyd kind a music. It works good in Jazz, Rock, and everything I've tried.

very easy to use and very complicated you can fine tune your sound better than anything ive imagined

well this is a update to my previous review - this piece of equipment is amazing (hooked up with the right stuff though) anyway my set up now goes like this: guitar (fender strat or ESP horizon) into the RP20 into Alesis meq230 EQ to BBE 462 to mesa boogie 50/50 power amp into a Laney 2x12 cabinet. WOW does this set up sound amazing i can dial up any sound with this direct or live this sounds amazing (though i wouldn't recommend using this through you regular guitar amps efx loop I've tried it and it didn't work or maybe its just my amp who knows) again like i said in my previous review i didn't like the reverb and harmonizer/down tuners but my opinion has now changed with the reverb you can fine tune to however you want it to be but i still think the harmonizer is horrible and again to everyone who says the distortions aren't good they are great in my opinion

of course

nope

(see my previous review) i would like to add that it kills my friends line 6 amp which i think is good but not even close to touching this amp