DigiTech RP-300

For the 1st day it was a pain in the a$$ to figure out what ur doing so its a must to use the manual, but 1nce u know the feeling and how it works it is real easy. Fairly easy to get a good sound...easy as 1,2,ahhh4get the 3.extremley easy to edit patches, Though some are quite good while others r junk.

i use a ibanez rg570 and a GAX75 with a george lynch hum through a peavey bandit (80watts).i dont know about other amps but i couldnt put the bass on the 300 past 8-9 or i'd get an awful buhhhhhhh...
i wouldnt say its extremely noisey but there is SOME feedback on the rectifier, even with the noise gate but not really to loud. some effects are so useless. You pay for this processor with about 5-6 useless effects out of 23(i think or its 28).chorus could b a tad thicker but its my opinion, flange is great, loved the detune, and everything else was pretty good. if you work on the effects long enough you will achieve the bands sound pretty close.
ONLY CON for this section- sometimes if picking a string at low volumes it will not play!

the metal casing is better than the plastic covers, but it feels weak and thin. if i dropped it i would BELIVE the screen would break. And
DO NOT take off the pedal.
I took it off after the first week cus i felt the factory over tightened it. so right when i pulled out the axle that held it a washer fell inside, and is still floating around in their.
so i had to put a new washer on and greased the axle.

you know, for the money you get way more than what you should get. Im saying for a beginner or intermediate player, this thing is EXTREMELY COMPATABLE. But 1nce you r advanced nothing compares to analog equip.
if it were lost or stolen i'd buy the gnx3 digitech. that is the prime processor,after that you just need a mini studio and a REAL whammy pedal.

The unit is very reliable and reasonably well made, except for the expression pedal. They do creak when rocked back and forth, if yours doesn't yet, it will. The construction consists of a metal screw/bolt holding the pedal in place, the noise comes from the white plastic bushes/washers that are fitted to provide a balanced amount of slip/friction between pedal and unit casing. To stop the thing from creaking, remove the metal plate from the underneath of the unit (few screws), take a good look how the pedal is connected, note the positions of the white plastic bushes/washers in relation to the mechanism (need to be replaced in the correct manner). Loosen and remove the metal bolt. Obtain some graphite powder (pencil lead shavings will do) and coat all surfaces of bushes and also where they touch the pedal or casing. Reassemble the unit and GENTLY tighten the bolt. Initially the expression pedal will flop around, but when the bolt is tightened CAREFULLY, you will be able tell when the correct balance between slip & friction is obtained by rocking the pedal back and forth with your foot. Tighten to suit your requirements - do not overtighten. (This recommendation came from Digitech). If the pedal still creaks use a SMALL amount of grease (silicon grease or general use clear grease). I had to use grease and the pedal, has worked correctly without noise ever since.

The RP-300 is easy to use if you read the instructions. If you don't read instructions, this thing is going to be a nightmare.

I use a Fender Jimmie Vaughan Signature Strat >> Ibanez TS-9DX >> Digitech RP-300 >> Fender Princeton 65 amp. The Princeton has a great clean uncluttered tone, so the RP-300 works great. Since I am using a guitar with rather hot single coils there can be some noise. But the noise gate seems to work well enough to solve the noise problem. Most of the amp models are outstanding. I bought the RP-300 because the Princeton 65 has a weak gain sound. I am using the Princeton more as a power amp with the RP-300 as a preamp. I really like the BOUTIQ (based on the Matchless DC30), RECTIF (based on the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, HOTROD (based on the Mesa/Boogie MkIIc), and STACK (based on the Marshall JCM900). I don't use a lot of effects. I like the compressor, flanger, chorus, the phase shifter, and the reverb. The EQ is very good. It is nice to be able to balance the midrange EQ. I have been able to get a really good blues tone using the HOTROD setting with a touch of chorus. I also was able to get a good Billy Gibbons (close to his mid Seventies sound) tone using the STACK setting with compression. Some of the effects are pretty cheesy, but I am really old school about this kind of stuff. I would have no reason to use the AUTOYA, SYNTHTALK, DETUNE, PITCH, (a pitch shifter that never quite gets it in tune). Some of the presets are good - they make a good starting point for creating your own sound. Some of the presets are terrible.

Have had no problems yet.

Haven't had to use Customer Support yet

I play blues, boogie and Christian praise and worship music. The RP-300 is good for me. I have been playing guitar off and on for 33 years. I am just getting back into music and am under a strict budget. With that budget in mind I had to be careful choosing a guitar, amp and effects. I managed to get a good setup for under $1200. I have a Fender Jimmie Vaughan Strat, Ibanez TS-9DX, the RP-300 and a Fender Princeton 65. If it were stolen I would be really steamed. I am not sure if I would buy another one (I want tubes!!!!). I really like the amp models and some of the basic effects. I dislike some of the weirder presets. I compared the RP-300 with the POD. I liked the RP-300 better, especially the inclusion of the rhthym trainer. I chose this one for the tone and the price. You really can't beat it for under $200. The RP-300 gives me a lot of options for tone. At this point in life my hearing isn't as acute as it used to be, so not having tubes is not a great issue. But I still want a tube amp. I guess what I basically have created for myself is a modeling amp on a budget. I give the RP-300 because nothing is perfect.

This is my second review on this unit. I have had it now for over seven months using it almost every day for practice and gigs. After reading the manual it is very easy to use and edit.

The main reason for this second review is that I have found it works very well for VOCALS! You have to disable the Amp modeling by selecting DIRECT. Go to a patch like JazzClean and activate the delay and up the reverb. With the RP300 you have the benefit of the channel swithcing and the pedal which many of the other FX's do not have i.e.Digitech's own S100/200, Lexicon MPX-110 and the Behringer Virtualizer. Many of the patches work very well on vocals with some minor editing. I run mine through a Mackie board so I don't have the rely on the EQ from the RP300. I am sure there are better vocal units out there but this sure adds to the diversity of this unit.

So far so good. Have had no problems whatsoever and I run this unit all of the time. Have droped it two or three times and it still keeps on ticking.

I called Dightech technical just to find out if the unit would work with vocals. They walked me through how to set it up and sure enough it worked! Very helpful.

I have been very happy with this unit. Hasn't let me down yet. Just wanted to let everyone know that it can be used with vocals.

Took it out of the box, plugged it in and started using it right away. Eventually I read the manual and I began to understand what this is capable of. Manual is easy to follow. Only issues: sometimes there is a lag when I am programming, and I wish there were seperate controls for some of the features (like the rythm).

This is primarily for home recording - Fender Tele Thinline (himbuckers) direct to board or through a Fender Vibro King; my live set up is acoustic: Gibson Chet SST and an Ibanez Artwood through an SWR California Blonde or the P.A.

The 300 is a little noisy on certain settings; the noise gate helps. Some effects sound excellent (delay), others are just okay (wah). I play originals, so I am not using this box to mimic other guitarists, and I get a pretty good sound with the equiptment I already have. This unit gives me lots of flexibility in recording direct.

Only had it a week - seems pretty sturdy, even if it isn't metal.

I'm playing AAA / Acoustic Rock - like 10K Maniacs, Lucinda, Bonnie Raitt, Cheryl Crowe, etc... This box is a good match for recording in a variety of styles. I've been playing for over 20 years, owned a fair amount of Fender and Gibson equiptment. If I had to replace it - I would try out a lot of other units. This one was priced right (I didn't need to spend $400 for effects when don't use them with my band), and gives a lot for the $$$.

The tuner is a nice feature.

It was a bit much for me at first, but it was my first multi pedal. Once I read the instructions (I never do it first) I got the hang of it pretty good.

I am using an Epiphone Les Paul --> RP300 --> Crate 10 watt amp. It is usually pretty quiet, that is one thing I love about it. The noise gate is very good on it.

I usually dont like to use effects, Im pretty much a overdrive/clean kinda guy, but I do like some of the effects on here. The wah, however, sucks.

I can get really good sounds out of the rectifiers and the Marshall simulators.

This is where mine kinda lacked. In the first couple reviews somebody said that their \/ button went really stiff. I sent it in and they fixed it no questions asked. But when I got it back there is a screw or something still loose in it. I dont know what it is for but it is loose.


Other then that it has been pretty good.

On once, but I didnt talk to them. Gave it to my store, they sent it in, they fixed it and sent it back.

I think this is good for a multi fx pedal. I whoops the shit out of the Zoom pedals. I can get really good sound out of it and I paid not even 1/100th of the price I would have to get all the amps it simulates.

Good Pedal.

This pedal is really easy to use, and even easier when you get the hang of it. I went to guitar center and played around with it not knowing anything, within minutes i was able to come up with some pretty good sounds/effects. There are a few thing that you do need to read up on like storing patches and other details on editing but other than that its easy

I use a Gibson Les Paul Studio with a Peavey Classic 30. There is some noise sometimes, mostly when i have the flange on high and the noise gate isn't on, but the noise wasn't a problem for me. You can use the noise gate to basically turn off all sound until you hit a string, otherwise when you are palying you only here what you are playing, not noise in the background. The synthtalk effect seemed to have the most noise, i don't really use that effect, unless i want to anoy my friends.

The sound in general of the effects are great the mod effects, reverb and delay are cool. The amp modeling is pretty good considering i don't own every amp modeled. The distortions are nice especially if you are using a practice amp with crappy distotion. On my Classic 30 there is a pretty big difference in power, for example: the rectifier is one of the amps i like to use in the modeling, but when i have my amp, i put the channel on direct and use my amps distortion, its more "real" sounding, louder and has much more bass and punch in palm mutes.

Its proven worthy i guess, its pretty solid. there are things like the bottom sheet metal that bug me, but its not a big deal at all. The nobs are a little flimsy but i dont hit them or bang on them, so they're fine. The bottons have been good so far. There was one time when i set it up and got ready to play and the down botton didn't work unless i pushed really hard, more like a stomp or kick. after a few moments of kicking the botton with frustration, it hasn't had that problem since. i could probobly gig with it without a backup.

so far there hasn't been a need for calling them

I mostly play any rock stuff, i try to play jazz, blues, and other cool stuff. I've been playing for about 3-4 years now. This was deffinitely a good thing for me, it does just about everything i need. If it were stolen, i would try and get it back, but if i couldn't i might get the GNX3 or something.

Some of the cool features are:
-The A/B botton to switch channels. the cool thing about this is you can set A to clean or direct and then B to a distortion, that way for each effect you almost get 2, ex: chorus A-clean or B-distortion. you don't have to make seperate effects.
-The v-switch, this is a switch on the expression pedal you control with your feet. You can adjust the sensetivity to whatever you want and when you push down to the pressure you put, it turns on the wah. you control it on the effect you have on. so now you get even more effects ex: Chorus A-clean, A-clean w/wah and B-distortion, B-distortion w/wah. thats 4 different variations on one effect.

That is probobly what makes the pedal so great for me. and compared to some of the other pedals and prices, this was really good.

I wish it had more parameters to adjust effects and maybe banks with a few effects controled in a row. but other than those, it's great.

It definitely helps me in making music. when i tweak with the nobs it gives me ideas of what i could do. sometimes i get out of hand but thats because the pedal is fun to play with.

-Pretty simple to use. Just playing around with it in the music store, I was able to figure out how to operate it pretty quickly.
-You need to read the manual though to figure out how to store the patches you've created. ( that's what it's for )
-The manual isn't half bad it's fairly straight forward if you have some experinece with multi effects units such as this. If this is your first multi effects box it may be a little bit overwhelming though, but it shouldn't drive you crazy.

-I used it in the store with a fender stat w/ noiseless pick ups and just listened through it with headphones. With the cabinet simulators the sound didn't sound to bad.
-at home i plugged in my De-armond m-66 w/humbuckers through my vox pathfinder practice amp. The sounds were pretty crappy(vox pathfinder is a great sounding little practice amp BTW). I then tried it with My deluxe powerhouse strat through a fender stage 112 combo. I even sent the line out from the unit to the FX return patch like the manual suggested and put the EQ flat and it still sounded pretty lame.
-I have an old BOSS ME-8 unit, I rented the RP-300 because, from reading the other reviews, I thought that I may want to trade it in for it. I was wrong! The BOSS ME-8 is way cooler and better sounding
(of course it did cost double the price of the RP-300)
-The distortion,i.e. the amp simulated distortions are not very good at all.
-I guess the clean sounds and modulation FX aren't to bad.
-Acoustic simulator sucks though.
-Wah effect is crap.

-The unit I rented had a bug. When I hit the select button to edit the patches, it kept scrolling through all the difft. parameters. It stopped when I was actually changing the parameters with the knobs but once I stopped moving the knobs it began to scroll again.
-The unit I was testing out at the store didn't have this problem though, the rental unit must've been older.
-would not use it at a gig because i wasn't to impressed with the tone. If I had to I would constanly be worrying about the thing screwing up or accidentally engaging the bypass mode or learn-a-lick.

N/A

-I play everything from: alt. rock,funk,jazz to hard rock and metal.
-I've been playing for about 10 yrs. or so.
-I couldn't seem to get any real great tones out of this thing. I'm glad I am only renting it. I'll probably return it tommorow though since I won't really be making use of it.
-I guess for a beginner the overall value is good, considering you can get a whole bunch of difft. fx for a reasonable cost. But for more experienced players this thing is like a kids toy.
-I have an old BOSS ME-8 ,sounds a whole lot better and is more versatile, but because it was priced at a higher price range it's not really fair to compare. I also own a MAXON OD-808, awesome pedal costs alot but is worth it. Even my old original Dunlop CRYBABY had a way better wah effect even though it tends to pick up radio signals.
-Finally, I would suggest that if you are planning to purchase this digitech product, that you first try out alot of other pedals in the same price range and even the ones that cost a bit more. You may have to pay more for a better sounding unit, but in the end you'll be glad you did. Who knows maybe the unit I rented was deffective, considering the rave reviews it got from others, but I'm not going to bother to find out.
- I use to own a discontinued Digitech rp-? valve(don't remember the #), which sounded really good, very versatile, but their was a split second delay when you stepped on the patch selectors - DAMN ANNOYING. Since I've only had bad experiences w/ digitech I'm afraid I will not be trying any of their products for a long time. :-( VERY DISSAPOINTED!!

Where I'm coming from - wanted a compact box to give me a variety of effects. Ease of use and reliability most important so long as sound is acceptable.

That said... it's pretty easy. Remove from box, plug cables in where instructed and off you go. Most presets sound good, but some of them seem very limited (3rds, 5ths).

In terms of setting up your sound....It get's more challenging when creating one's own patches or tweaking the presets. I sometimes find myself wanting to achieve a particular sound, but have difficulty finding it. With so many parameters, it's easy to choose the wrong one. Too much of a good thing?

If you know what sound you're looking for it's easy to get into the parameters and make quite precise adjustments.

While playing live.... if you're really into going through a lot of different sounds in a performance, you'll want to rearrange the patches in the order you plan to use them. Access is sequential, not direct, so you could have to scroll through 79 patches to get to the one you want. If your math is really bad.

Using a Jap Strat into a 50W Marshall JCM800 combo. Play mostly blues-based rock, power pop.

Clean and noiseless for the most part. Noise gate seems to do a good job. A tendency to throw some really high-pitched feedback on some of the really hi-gain patches. Just a matter of turning them down.

While the patches, especially amp modeling, let you get a huge variety of sounds, it still stays true to the source - my strat still sounds like a strat, and likewise for a Les Paul I tried with my setup. One of the parameters is a pickup emulator, that lets you change a single coil to a humbucker and vice versa, but his wasn't one of the more convincing features.

No problems as such. Other users have expressed frustration with accidentally engaging 'learn a lick', and that'll drive you crazy when it happens (don't wear your doc martens while using the rp 300).

Also, on rare occasion while rapidly scrolling through the patches, it's kept scrolling once I took my foot off the switch and had to reset by unplugging. Never happened live, fortunately.

Sent an email asking if learn a lick could be disabled and they were quick to get back to me. It can't, unfortunately.

For all you are getting for the price, it's a great deal.

I tried competing products from Line 6 and Boss and those lost out in ease of use and/or features. Nice to have the expression pedal built in.

Being able to plug headphones in is great, but won't sound the same as amped. Still - it saves having to buy a separate practice amp if the band practices away from home.

If it died on me, I might go up the next Digitech line, that allows for more direct access to individual parameters.

The unit has 40 factory presets which allow editing and storage and 40 factory presets which do not allow editing. This is a good feature in my case because I screwed up two of the original presets because I did't read the manual.(LOL). READ THE MANUAL! After going through the manual the unit is very easy to use.

I only use three or four of the presets and edited presets. Reveb and delay are very good. I am playing a Gibson 135/Godin SDxt through a Traynor CV40 Tube. I play jazz/standards with some light rock thrown in so many of the distortion and metal/hard rock patches are never used. The unit has so many variaitions, some of which I have never heard of, that I can't imagine not having something in there for everyone. For me this unit completely fills the bill.

Seems like a sturdy unit. I have dropped it twice, once on a hardwood floor and it still ticks. I usually play in a dark enviroment(Jazz Clubs) and the system backlighting is very good.

Purchased from Guitar Trader in Southern California and they were very helpful. I would send it back there if something went wrong. DigiTech has a very good customer service reputation. They answered all of my emails about some of their other products.

I wanted a good reverb and delay effects system. The RP-300 offered both and more! I looked at two units from TC Electronics. Wonderful units but much more than I needed and at a much higher price. I am very happy with the RP-300 and if the need arrises in the future I would look to Digitech for more equiptment. Good product at a fair price.