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.

Very easy to use if you read the manual all the way through (plus you might find features you didn't know existed). I highly suggest the RP300 because of the channel button - this makes the unit much more versatile than the other two models - I couldn't do everything I wanted without it. Once you have the sound you want (it takes a while), you can just copy the patch to a new spot and edit it from there. Based off of my original patch, I can duplicate any sound I want to, now.

This unit is so much simpler than my original set of a million pedals. With the proper foresight, the exact sound you want can be just a toe tap away, as opposed to dancing around on each individual pedal.

I am using a Marshall VS Amp along with a Squire Stagemaster and a BC Rich Warlock with Seymour Duncan pickup. It took a long while to get the sound right, but now it easily exceeds the sound from my individual pedals. The stock patches are crap, but as I said before, I took my time, and I am now able to recreate every sound I want to.

The only effect that I have issues with is the flanger, as it sounds too electronic. However, the excellent sound and options available from the other effects make this problem practically un-noticable.

The pitch shifting effects are fantastic. Previously, I had a Digitech Whammy/Wah, and was unhappy with the sound quality. This unit allows me to reproduce Morello effects 'til the cows come home.

The sounds I reproduce are mostly metal sounds, but I play a wide range of music. I have been able to cover everything from my favorite artists without a problem. Grouping patches together from specific artists lets me fly through their CDs without cramping my calves up.

No problems - although it looks like cheap plastic. I hate how it looks.

Not an issue, but I have heard good things about Digitech - their website is helpful and has patch libraries if you are having trouble narrowing in on your sound.

Other than my amp, this is the best piece of equipment I have bought. I fell in love with it at the store, and it has continued to surprise me. I never write reviews for products, but this one definitely deserved justice.

I play at a lot of different locations, so consolidating all of my pedals into two (I kept my wah pedal) has been a tremendous help. Plus, I have a much larger sound bank, and can reproduce everything.

I only wish that I had bought this before I purchased every single effect pedal out there. If you are one of those people that is constantly wondering what you can buy to tweak your sound just a little more, then stop worrying and buy this damn pedal.

And I can't forget about the drum loops. At a push of a button, you have a drummer bangin' it our through your amp. I love this feature, particularly when I'm playing with another guitarists or bassist - it just keeps us moving together in perfect harmony.

It's so cheap! It's less than two good Boss pedals!

Go buy it before it's too late!!!!!!!!!!!!

The short answer is: if you're spending $200 for some sophisticated digital electronic device--READ THE INSTRUCTIONS STUPID! If you do, this pedal is fantastic. You get some excellent patches from the factory and all can be easily adjusted with the great matrix system and 5 knobs. Take out the patches you won't ever use and put in some simple one or two effect patches and you can really round out this pedal.

Unit is very clean. The effects are great. You get lots of parameters on each effect so you can tailor them just like a quality stompbox would allow. I have a couple of Fender transitor amps that I run very clean and use the RP300 to control my sound. I use either an SG or a Strat. Both sound great and both sound different (which is good) thru the pedal. I've got patches for everything from Santana to Cream to Hendrix to the Police to AC/DC to Foo Fighters, you name it. They are all great.

Very reliable for me so far.

I think the support is great on the website. The Digitech web site is great. There is lots of good info and patch libraries that users submit their favorites to. This all makes a difference in your ability to use the device. Just take a look at Korg's for example -- it's worthless, no useful info and there are even mispelled words. I needed some info and emailed Digitech and they responded very quickly.

This kicks ass for $200. You can't duplicate the variety and quality of these sounds for 5 times that. I can even use it as a practice amp late at night and when I travel. I play all types of music, particularly classic rock and this is perfect for me. I've been playing for over 25 years. I would definitely replace it if it was stolen. Don't get the RP100 or RP200 unless you just can't afford the RP300. With the A/B amp switching, expanded display, 5 knob control matrix, rhythm trainer, learn a lick and expression pedal (and the included power supply) the RP300 is by far the best value.

Consider my first review...
Well, it's easy to use until you dont find the troubles in it.. they must work on a second version

Well.. the sound is good, but there's a lot of "bugs" on the unit. First of all the delay between patches... you have to get used to change the patch before picking the strings. Then i noticed the Pickup simulator problem. Actually it doesnt simulate any humbucker.. it just tweak the EQ to give you a fat sound... but it doesnt give the sustain or anything.. (same for single coil sim) it's just a tweak in sound. Well dont use it.. cause if you Bypass or if you go for a patch where this simulator is turned off, all the ones that have the pickup simulator on WILL NOT sound like on anymore, although the led say it's on. I just turned all of them OFF and tweaked the sound by myself. Talking about bypass, this HAS NOT the same sound as if you plug the guitar directly to the amp.. it's smoother or it changes differently anyways... what's a really bad deal because i just lost the great characteristics of my Fender. Another thing of bypass... If they tell you to leave the Amp EQ flat (all on middle) whats the point of bypassing then?! of course i DO NOT use the bypass with the EQ flat on my amp.. and it already made me tweak ALL THE PATCHES again.
THEN... the volume problem... i was using it only in home... not laud... just preparaing the unit with the sounds i wanted for the band.. but when i made it laud, i got another problem.. the sound changes EXTREMELLY... and here i go tweaking the EQ of all the patches ONE MORE TIME in a laud way.. what's very disgusting to do in home.
I still have to think of a better strategy for editing the volume in patches, the master volume and the amp volume... cause my little 30W amp is working much more than it should... it's much gain for the amp.. and it's ruining the amp when it's laud...
I guess there might any other things, but i cant remember now

You can depend on it, but dont go use it laud on a gig in the first time of your life... you'll get ashamed hehe

Could have a better FAQ

Overall, i would really REALLY like to share some ideas and information about the unit, cause i'm a little disappointed with it for now. gelio_matheus@ig.com.br

I found the RP-300 to be very easy to use, especially after reading the manual. Manual is good, and necessary!

I have a '92 Fender Strat Plus, and a Peavey Studio Pro 112. I find it sounds better thru headphones than the amp, but haven't really messed with the amp seetings much yet.

People, this thing is not metal!! It's plastic - I know, because the expression pedal broke on mine ... had to take it apart to see what happened, and one of the plastic 'rockers' inside snapped. Anyway, it's plastic, and the construction of the expression pedal is pretty cheesy once you get in there. Based on all the other reviews here, though, I plan to take it back tomorrow and get it replaced (hopefully).

Haven't needed to deal with Logitech, I've only had the unit 3 days, so I expect the music store to deal with it.

During the brief time I've had it, I've grown to love it. I'm pretty pissed about that expression pedal, but willing to give it another shot. I was thinking about a pod, but I suspect they're over-rated based on everything I've read. Do wish it had an indicator light for the a-b amp switch though.

I was able to plug in and play to my hearts content within minutes! Fortunately, I read the reviews posted here and took the advice to read the manual thoroughly before plugging in. Once I'd read the manual, it was a snap to get things going. My wife bought me the RP-300 for Christmas and I felt like I was a kid again! I played for over 4 hours in my P.J.'s! I was almost late for Dinner at Mom's.

I have a Japanese Strat with a GK 250ML. I've never been much of an effects guy. Until the RP-300, all I ever used was a DOD FX40B Equalizer to boost the gain and give my sound a bit more depth. I've been playing nearly 20 years and know what I like and I like the RP-300. I mainly play Power-Pop kinda stuff (eg: Foo Fighters), Classic Rock (eg: KISS), Alt-Pop (eg: Radiohead) and some Rockabilly/Country to boot. The RP-300 offers so many different sounds it makes it easy to replicate the sounds of these groups as well as allowing you to further personalize them. I have yet to find any problem with how any of the presets sound either through headphones or through my amp. There isn't any extraneous noise or buzzing to annoy or distract either.

As stated earlier, I have only just recently recieved my RP-300, but I don't imagine having any problems in terms of durability. The case is metal and seems relatively heavy duty. I can't believe it'd survive a 20 foot drop without a hitch, but it's durable enough for my usage. It seems reliable enough to use without a backup.

I have yet to deal with Digitech.

I play a little bit of everything and I think the RP-300 is a good match for me. My gear collection isn't vast, but I like what I do have. If my RP-300 were lost or stolen, I would replace it immediately. I love the options it gives me and I look forward to recording with it. I love the amp modeling and the variety of effects. What I don't like, and this may be due to the fact that it is still new to me, is that I can't seem to be able to copy a preset to create another and customize it further with similar basic properties. Overall, however, I feel the RP-300 is an excellent bargain at $200 US.

The first thing you should know is that the factory presets are garbage! THEY SUCK! When I first plugged in the RP-300 my initial reactions was disappointment but if you play around with all the effects and settings you can get some really great sounds from it.

I am not using it through any amp. I have been saving up for a really good amp but until they I have my headphones plugged directly into the RP-300. Just make sure you turn up all your gains and levels as you program your patches.

I play alot of Deftones, Tool, System of a Down, etc... You can simulate alot of these sounds with this effects system. Just dont expect to take it out of the box and start jamming. There is a fair amount of setup work involved if you want some really good sounds. Also, if I had to do it over I might have gone for the RP-200 instead of the RP-300 and saved the $50. There is minimal differences. Amp A-B switch (which I rarely use) and Learn-A-Lick, which slows down licks from your CD player so they are easier to learn. (I rarely use this option too)

This is very easy to use. Right out of the box you can get some killer patches. If you take the time to read the manual or just experiment with adjusting the parameters, you can get some phenomenal sounds. You need to figure out which amp types and basic setting you want. Then you can easily modify the user customizable patches for lots of great stuff.

I can't believe how great this sounds for only $200. I have guitars with humbucking pick ups and a Strat. The tonalities are subtle enough that they sound differently for both types of pickups. The amp model are amazing. If you get a patch set up and dial in the different amp models, it's incredible how they differ and each have their own sound. The effects are very good as well. And as I said before, if you take the time to work with this, it gets better all the time. It's not like a two or three knob stomp box. You get much greater variation and modification -- so it takes some skill to get it to do what you want -- but any idiot can do it, if they take the couple of hours to figure it out. The detune, chorus and delays are great. The different reverbs really sound like what they are supposed to be.

Seems solid and I've had no issues yet.

No experience here. But the web site is very good. I sent a couple of questions in and got very quick responses. The patch library is excellent.

This is a killer multi effects pedal. You need to spend a little time with it to really extract its best features but even without much effort its great. You could put it on an amp top and use it like the table top models. With its 5 parameter controls that are quick level adjustments when not programming a patch, you can use it just like an amp. I'd rather have this than a POD because of its value and versatility. I play all styles of classic rock and stuff from the 90's and current tunes as well. It works great for everything from Cream, Zeppelin, Allman Bros., Foo Fighters, Police, Yes, The Cars, AC/DC -- you name it, this can model it.

First off, let me say that this is my SECOND review for this product. My first review is below by "JASON." It's my second because, like a moron, I wrote my first review approximately 48 hours after actually GETTING the unit, and there are things beyond first impressions that you learn over time with this pedal. Now I've had it for two weeks, and that's really all you need to learn everything you need to know about it. It's still easy as pie to edit and make sounds that actually come pretty close to what you're trying to achieve. I know people that try to pin down the Metallica sound and just can't do it. I feel that I have with this machine.

Now there were a few addendums I wanted to make with this pedal in reference to my first column. In the previous review, I mistakenly said that with AMP A/B switching, you could ONLY change the amp channel row. Well, I was wrong. You can also change the EQ. But if you think you can have one channel with WAH and the other without, you're sadly mistaken. My recommendation would be to put a WAH sound in the patch directly above or below what you're using and switch to it there.

Also, my understanding of the Learn-A-Lick feature was sorely lacking. It is a great feature which allows you to record ten seconds of a song from a CD, then play it back slowed down WITHOUT CHANGING THE PITCH!!! So if you want to learn the impossible solo, you can put it into the Learn-A-Lick and slow it down so you hear all the notes! Very cool. The problem arises when you you accidentally turn on the LAL features by hitting the DOWN and A/B switch simultaneously when you don't want to. The buttons on this thing are small, and you have to really get used to where they are and how to hit them. I haven't really found out what would happen when I'm going nuts in the middle of a performance...I don't think I want to. LAL will shut off whatever patch you're in and give you no sound.

First impressions of the effects were correct...for details read my first review.

Thing's made of metal. Buttons too small. Footswitch...dunno yet.
See below for details.

Great website.

www.digitech.com

Check out their patch library.

Please see my first review if there's anything that is unclear in this one.

This pedal is the easiest thing to use since a ketchup squirt bottle. There are different assignments for each of the five knobs. Hitting "select" will change the row, and just follow the column to the parameter you want. When you get it, you'll understand. Just believe me when I say you'll be editing right out of the box.

EQUIPMENT: Gibson Les Paul Special (P100s); Fender Deluxe 90 amp

This'll be a long section, since the sound is everything, right?

Well, as with all digital effects pedals, there are many cheesy preset patches. Some of the names they give these things are questionable..."Angus," which is supposed to sound like AC/DC is pretty weak, among others. I'm a big AC/DC fan, so that stands out to me. But here's how the patches work. There are 80. The first forty and the last forty are exactly the same. The first 40 are editable. This is great because if you edit over a good preset, you can still go up the dial and find it again.

Now, the reason I got this pedal over the RP200 is the Amp channel switching. This is a lovely f**kin' feature! What it does is it allows you to have two sounds (e.g., a distorted and clean sound) in one patch. Now, bear in mind that the ONLY THING you can change in each patch is the AMP MODEL row. So if you want a clean tone with oodles of reverb, and a heavy distorted sound with none...oh, well! The effects, reverb, delay, EQ will all remain the same! So keep that in mind. But I play in a cover band and this A/B switch is a godsend! System of a Down! No problem! Want to play "The Unforgiven" by Metallica? Never leave a single patch! Simply beautiful.

Now for the effects themselves. Far and away the best is the reverb section, which offers many different types. Room, hall, spring, arena, CHURCH, among others! The reverb is awesome! The delay, which as an effect I have never found useful, is pretty good as well. Some of the other effects are pretty good, and can controlled by the footswitch. So the effects are usable and real, which is rare these days with these kinds of pedals. The noise gate really does stop the noise when you're not playing! But when you are, it doesn't! It's pretty intelligent as far as that goes.

Also, there's a rhythm trainer which plays a simulated drum beat to keep time. Tempo can be changed and there are several different beats to choose from. To tell you the truth, I haven't really tried the "Learn-A-Lick" feature.

If I had my way, I'd pay less for this exact unit without the pedal. I'm not an effects-head; I prefer to use some good distortion mixed with a clean tone. I like songs that use both to great effect. So the main feature that I love is the A/B switch.

This unit is made of metal, but the footswitch looks flimsy. Since I don't really use it that much, I don't know how it would hold up. But the rest of the unit seems solid.

I've never dealt with their support team, but their website is really good, featuring a section where people send in patches of their music and sounds.

Overall, this unit is really nice and versatile. I can't say enough of the Amp Channel Switching. The effects are usable and varied, and with a good clean channel on your amp, you can go places with this thing.

The RP-300 is extremelly easy to use.. you just have to plug it on power supply and use it! If you can't do that, you should look for help.. (with a psychologist..) hehe j/k!! It's so simple to edit patches too. And the manual is quite resumed (I've been looking for something on it and it didn't have it) but still very good. I'm just giving a 9 cause since I'm brazilian, I don't know some of the technic words in english, so... it would deserve a 10 if they have made it in several languages. My version is 1.0 and hopefully they won't upgrade cause I'll get bored.. hehehehe

I use a Fender American Standard, a Dunlop Cry Baby, a Meteoro - Thor 30W practicing amp (made in Brazil), and sometimes, a Boss OS-2 OverDrive/Distortion pedal, and... seems stupid, but I can't remember the last time I went buy cables for my guitar!!.. so.. i also use Santo Angelo cables, with a loooong warranty, which i know i wont have to use! It's a little bit noisy.. cause I like enough gain.. so i'm using noise gate in all distorted patches... But oh well.. Single Coils wouldnt be faithfull if they didnt make noise! hehehe The Effects are ok i guess... Although, i expected i little bit more before checking it on the store.. like: the Pitch Shifter... I thought i would be able to make cool duets like in iron maiden, but it's not what ppl call "intelligent".. it doesnt follow the scales and stuff... i dont use it... the whammy... I thought i would be able to make different tunes to my guitar, (like playing some Guns, SRV, all half step down tuned) but it doesnt sound good... the both tunes come out from the amp.. and it sounds i play worse than i already do.. haha! plus.. it doesnt even have half way (i guess, after 5 months looking for it heheh) so i have to use some patch like limpy and configure the whammy... the Yaya is great! i cant wait more a while before buying a talk box! It's great to play Sweet Emotion hehe... The wah is weak.. but i dont care, i have a Dunlop! hehehehe... Oh! yeah... they could make Acoustic lauder..... I got some patches that REMINDS the original bands.. (any Van Halen yet, but hopefully someday) Like Pink Floyd, Randy Rhoads, Iron Maiden, Zakk Wylde, Slash, SRV. And i would love to trade patches with ppl.. (since the library is so poor yet, but it's going okay) The point is, i always loved Mesa Boogie amps, andnow i can have something like this with Rectifier! the best in my opinion.. i can't argue about some effects, cause unfortunatelly i dont know how touse it often (like panner, rotary, tremolo, and even the whammy, that i fighted with heheh) I'm giving a 9 cause it completelly revolutioned my sound!

Alright, it's metal and stuff, but it scares me! The expression pedal... uuuhh..first time i used i almost got freak cause of the noise.. i thought it was breaking!! well... and i'm so bad lucky! once i took out the cable from my guitar and it fell over the matrix... scared me again, but nothing happened.. Oh sure.. the Dunlop wah (so much more METAL than this hehe) hit beside it once, and a very little piece of paint had to say bye... not a big deal! Alright! it is strong! I can and i will depend on it, and would use without a backup!!! i would buy strings instead!!

Just.. once i was walking around FAQ's for RP-300 and it seemed useless for me... i just asked for a "friend" of mine that works for Digitech and Fender imports and he'll e-mail me hopefully... I was just using the pedal and.. noticed.. what i could call a bug... Well, for example: When I'm using my main patch (MESA-01) which is programmed to simulate a humbucker, the simulator do its job! but then, i go to another patch (CLEAN1-05 for example...) which I do not use pickup simulation. Well, it works not simulating anything, so it's good 'till here.. BUT, when i go back to my main patch (MESA-01) the pickup simulator is not on the sound anymore, even if the light says it's on, it doesnt sound like being on! So i have to turn on the pedal again or store the main patch one more time... not hard job but sucks! Another thing is... I DON'T KNOW IF IT CAN DE DONE, but, i wish i could be able to change the pattern volume when i turn on my pedal, cause 34 is way way too much for me in home... i use 10!! and sometimes i wake ppl up with the noise! If anyone here knows about one of these things, please, e-mail me!!! (gelio_matheus@yahoo.com.br) So that we can talk about other things of the pedal too! the ones i'm forgetting now! heheh Ok, i'll give an 8 cause of the FAQ's... OH SURE!!! by the way!! the upgrade is included on the Custmer Support here... What does it mean?? If they upgrade i'll be able to get it with support or BUY A NEW VERSION??? Thanks for who will answer me hehe

I play rock'n'roll, heavy metal, blues, etc... and the pedal is great for me to play this! I play for three years only, but have made some little shows already. I have, plus, an special gear.. hehe A TUNER!!! by Cort... cause the one in Digitech... i just ignore it!!!!! Same as i still dont find what is it about the jam along... it cant even put both volumes (radio and guitar) the same by itself! I would buy it again... NO, i would buy it first time, cause this one i got from my girlfriend as i said.. (she's from canada, so it's cheap for her... in Brazil it's very expensive!!) she gave me the Dunlop too!! I'll marry her!! hehehehe I love and hate many things on it,asyou could notice on the whole review... but there's mostly things that i love... It could like.. clean the strings of my guitar and lub. it too but oh well... hehehe..! I chosen this one cause i as thinking about buying a new amp, but this pedal just plugged on PA really rocks!!!!! The amp simulation is very very good!! i didnt get RP-100 or 200 cause it sucks.. i would regret!! I wish i could edit the factory presets.... or if the A/B channelcould be completelly dependant, not only EQ and Amp. V-Switch is cool! i wish it could have the Talker, Intelligent Pitch, some detuning system for all the string and only some of them, and something to like.. record some lick, and then play over it... BUT THAT'S TOO MUCH HEHEHE... dream dream dream... It doesnt help me have ideas of music, but it makes my music sound so much better...! Well... i wish nice ppl could send me e-mails to trade ideas and information... and well... if someone can tell me how the hell this user group works, i would thank for the help... Thanks ya folks!

This is very easy to use on a novice level and even better if you're a serious, sophisticated user. Right out of the box you get some great patches. With the 5 knob parameter controls you can quickly and easily modify the sound of the patch you're using and can tweak the gain, EQ or volume. I can spin the gain control up with my foot and do so frequently to kick the drive up on the patches. The expression pedal serves multiple purposes and works well as the wah wah (no, it not as good as a real wah, but right there I saved $70 to $100 on that one pedal alone). I use the pedal to control the effects in a lot of my patches so you can "dial in" the amount of chorus, detuned sound or delay in a performance mode. If you take the time to understand the settings and parameters within the patches you can do fantastic things with the modest priced pedal. Download the default patch settings from Digitech's web site and you can gain a great understanding of what you're doing and how to customize the patches. There are a growing number of patches that users post as well and many are excellent. Editing is very easy and you can store and name your new patches quickly. I've even modified my custom settings right in the middle of a practice when I realized that at performance volumes I needed to make some changes. The matrix controls for the patches makes modifying them very easy. The manual is pretty good. I've seen a lot of the multi-effects manuals and none are standouts. If you have an idea what the effects are, what they do and what the amp and speaker models do; the manual is fine. I also use this as a practice/headphone amp. With the CD input, I can boogie all night and not disturb my family. The Learn-a-Lick feature works fine as well.

I have a 65 Strat and a DeArmond S-73 (their SG clone) so I approach the RP with a classic single coil and a potent humbucker. Both sound great through the RP 300 -- but you have to recognize that the patches will sound differently for each guitar. That's a very positive note about the unit, as it does not blenderize the instruments and make them all sound identical. I even can run my Wah, Big Muff, OD pedals and a Daddy O' into the RP, using if for amp modelling and it will react much like an amp would with those pedals running into one. I use two Fender all transistor amps -- easier for me to maneuver -- and run them clean, letting the RP do the distortion thing. I'm into Classic Rock -- many different artists -- and can get an accurate patch for all of them. My favorite amp models are the ones more prone to distortion: the Stack, Rectified, Hi Gain, Boutique and they work great for me. Look, this is only $199 and includes a power supply. There are some compromises made to cram all this stuff into the unit. I would be great to have the six pedal switches on the GNX2 but I didn't have that kind of money. You HAVE to spend some time to really learn how to use this. It's easy to use and you can get some good sounds out of the box, but if you spend some time to analyze the patches and parameters, you can make this very useful. You can even set up simple patches with just one basic effect on it so you could use it like a chorus, whammy, delay or whatever, pedal and run it into your amp. You couldn't assemble these great effects AND have the option for the amp, pick-up and speaker modelling for anything close to the cost of this unit.

Had if for about 4 months. Seems very rugged. Case is pretty solid metal and the switches seem robust enough. No question that I would rely on it at a gig. I bought a back-up power unit (pretty cheap insurance) which I would do for any effects pedal or unit.

I haven't had to deal with the company but the Digitech web site is very good and the patch downloads, particularly for the RP 300 is outstanding. The parameter by parameter listing of each patch is very useful when you want to analyze and modify the settings.

I've been playing for 35 years. Way back when I was using the originals of the Maestro, Fuzzface, Big Muff Pi, Boss Tone, Vox Wah and could only have dreamed of the stuff we can get today. This unit is superb, particularly for the money. I love using it. I discover a new sound every time I plug it in. I have no unreasonable expectations that this will sound like digital processors costing thousands of dollars. But it can't be beat for the price. You have to spend the time to learn how to use it, to take advantage of it and you have to understand the limitations of the unit. I would definitely recommend to anyone that they skip over the RP 100 (no power supply included and it's only $100 less) -- or the RP 200 (no A-B channel switching) and it's only $50 less -- and go directly to the RP 300. The A/B switching, if you set the unit up right, is a great feature for performance use and the expanded display and matrix controls on the RP 300 give it an edge over the smaller units. I would buy another if this was stolen. It is a fantastic value. Just using it as a practice headphone amp saved me about $50. Add up what the cost of a chorus, delay, overdrive, distortion, fuzz, wah wah, flanger, amp modeler, and many, many more pedals would be and you're way ahead on this one. I got this for under $200, out the door at Guitar Center...can't beat that. I'm saving my pennies so I can get the priciery GNX2 in the future, but I won't get rid of the RP300 even if I have another.

Very easy to use, you'll be an expert in days. it's easy to edit patchs.

i play an ibanez SA160 with EMG81/EMG-SA/EMG-SA pickups, through the rp300 to a crate mx120r. with the noise gate, it's very quite. the flanger, delay and reverb are all pretty good, as is chorus. all the effects are pretty good actually. i don't use most of the amp models yet, i stick to the stack, rectifier, and a few different amps for clean. if you use the EQ and sweepable mid freq, you should be able to find your sound. i play death/thrash/grindcore, and i have a distortion set up i like very much. Rectifier is the best distortion on this peddle, can sound very heavy.

it seems dependable, it's metal. the peddle kind of sucks.

haven't had to talk to them, but i hear digitech is pretty good with custo support.

i've found a very crunchy, low, raunchy death metal tone, as well as good ceans and others so i'm happy. i think i might try a pod if i lost it, but it's a good peddle for the money.

Well documented in 'discernable' English sentences. Plug-n-Play out of the box.

Using it with my Bandit65 and it is really great through the rhythm channel, but you have to back it off big time for the lead channel. Sounds like a rock polisher in that circuit. And, no, this is not popular 2 me. Does away with a lot of other "noisy" stomp peds. Has a great swell effect, and compressor as well.

just bought it.

Will put it to the test soon.

Very easy to use once you get used to editing the presets and experimenting with all the fx. The manual doesn't help much. But any moron can figure it out. The pedal doesn't operate smoothly. It gets "stuck" in certain positions. Maybe it's not greased enough?

I was using an Ibanez s470 and a Fender Stage100. It was really noisy through the fx loop. I tried plugging into the front of the amp, but the effects sounded terrible that way. The rp300 sounds great through my home entertainment system with surround sound, but thats about it. I now have a 5150 and cannot stand the harsh, digital noise this thing produces. I can't get rid of the noise!!!!! Even with the noise gate on, it buzzes and hums and just ruins the warm, rounded tone of the 5150. Even in bypass mode it's noisy! I don't like the digital effects sound either. The wah sounds like crap.

Deffinitely durable. I've drop-kicked it about a hundred times and it still won't quiet down. I can't kill this thing even if I try. I don't think anyone would need a backup.

I have not had to deal with support. It will not die!

I don't want to bash it too much, but this thing just plain sucks. I play all kinds of music -mostly hard rock. This thing can get some good tone with a solid state amp, but it kills the tone of a tube amp. I would recommend it to a beginner who's not too fussy. I've been playing off/on for ten years and this is actually better than a lot of the multi-effects pedals out there for under $300. If it were stolen I wouldn't care. I don't use it anymore.

Very easy, if you haven't had a guitar processor before there is a manual. And those of you who are to lazy to read the fucking manual don't deserve this pedal.

Brilliant. This one is very good. You can switch between various distortions. It imitates all the famous amps like marshall jcm900 and mesa dual rectifier. Everything you need just a matter af taste. The effects are all extremely good and the best thing about it is the triggered flanger and phaser. The wah is ok but you can get much better results from a real wah pedal.

Very sturdy metal box. Shouldn't break if you treat it like a normal human being. I have to say they should have made the footswitches just a little bit bigger because if you accidentally step on them two at a time it will bypass or the rythm trainer is activated and that happens rapidly with me but hey just watch you step. Also my expression pedal makes an awful noise like a rusted metal door and it can be very annoying. Otherwise very reliable.

Don't need'em yet.

This is a very good processor that offers a wide variety of settings and at a good price. I recommend this unit for anyone who is young and looking to change from a boring bedroom amp and one lousy distortion pedal into better equipment.