Yamaha DG-1000 Digital Guitar Preamp

The unit is very easy to figure out - every button and knob is well labeled and fairly straightforward in usage. Also, all the knobs move when you switch patch/amp model. That's a cool feature, and makes it pretty easy to see your setup, but it gets a little frustrating since the knobs move so slow. That's only an issue when you're seting up patches or just trying to experiment with sounds, but having to wait up to ten seconds to make adjustments every time you switch amp models or patches to tweak the sound gets old quick.

It's got eight basic amp models, each of which is modified by a master, gain, bass, low-mid, high-mid, treble and presence knob. Splitting the mids up was a good call.

The DG-1000 is a digital modeling preamp. I saw Chris Rodriguez playing live using one of these through a fender head, and really dug the sound, so I found one on eBay. It emulates eight amp sounds. They don't claim to be aiming for any particular amp, but to listen I'd say the folks at Yamaha were going after a Matchless sound. (Actually, before I went and looked at his gear I was pretty convinced Chris Rodriguez was using a Matchless just from the tone.)

I did have a bit of trouble finding an amp that agreed with the unit. Plugging it into the guitar input of any amp yielded pretty poor results. The one amp I had nearby that had an effects loop was a crate vintage club 50. Not a spectacular amp by any means, but it seems to have a fairly warm sounding power stage. Clearly bypassing your amps pre-stage was the way to go. I threw an eq in front of it and tweaked for a bit and the unit really came alive. I would guess that plugging straight into a power amp and a decent cabinet would save someone all the trouble I went through.

I'm very pleased with the sound. It two lead stages are pretty high gain, though not exactly ultra-high gain, so it'd be inapropriate for playing an of this butt-rock revival stuff I hear on the radio these days. (or maybe it's my strat copy that's inapropriate for that style, who knows.) If a cranked dual-rectifier is 10 on the distorion scale, this thing delivers somewhere in the 7 neighborhood. Still a lot of distortion but if you're in a Creed cover band you might want to pass this one by.

I've owned it about three months, so I can't say with much authority that it'll last. I will say that I'm impressed with the quality of construction. It's very solid. Also, the power switch drives a relay that kills the output before killing power to the unit, so it would be safe to turn it on after your amp is on or off before the amp. That really says nothing about the unit's reliability but it's a small touch that at least shows Yamaha was interested in making a quality product, and adding features even if they aren't the sort of thing that would appear on marketing literature. Also, most other professional Yamaha gear I've used has been of very high quality.

I've never dealth with them. They have some patches and literature on their website, so that's sort of cool. I bought the unit used, so I doubt they'd feel very compelled to give me a lot of support.

I've adopted a new policy about posting reviews for guitar stuff, and that is to own the gear at least 90 days before I review it, so I think I'm being fairly objective here.

The DG-1000, while being a purely digital unit, has no "digital" (i.e. chorus, reverb, etc) effects. So it's not nearly as flashy as Digitech's flagship unit, for instance, but has way more lasting value. I've been blown away by factory presets that are all drenched with effects and, in a musical context, not all that usable, only to find that what lies underneath is a very average sound dressed up with way too many effects.

This unit is usable and understandable immediately. The lead and overdrive tones are sweet and surprisingly responsive to dynamics of playing and volume control. I usually find whenever any piece of guitar gear claims to have a crunch sound you can substitute "muddy, unusable mess" for "crunch," but that's not the case here. The clean sounds are nice, too, but if you consider Fender to be the definitive electric clean sound it will fall a little short.

It's midrangey, so if you don't like the electric sound of say, Toad the Wet Sprocket or Live you may very well end up EQing all the personality out of the unit. (It's pretty verstile, so maybe not.)

I think I paid $285 for it, and my overall rating reflects that. If I had paid list price ($800, I think.) I probably would be give it a 7 or 8.

An excellent purchase, I'm very happy with it.

It is so easy to use I did not have to dig trough the manual at all(I found out that after reading the manual). My girlfriend does not play a guitar but can find the sound in seconds. Just like kid stuff but still very pro.

I play a Ibanez Jem 555 guitar. It has character belive me and DG-1000 does not kill it. It gives the guitar tone the unbelivable flexibility. Neck pickup (DiMarzio Evolution) sounds extremely warm with the clean 2 setting. I have never played trough an amp that would sound so warm and still crystal clear. Then comes the same pick up with drive 2 setting. All you hear is just the blues that even most of fenders do not produce. Next stop is lead 1 setting. It sounds so smooth and warm i thought i am playng trough mesa boogie. OK maybe not just like so but considerinhg the price... I like very liquid warm but still full of live sound with the lead 1 setting. The most of (pre)amps have liquid sound only when you darken the tone considerably on the guitar and on the amp EQ. That kills the tone. No such thing with the DG-1000. There are also great crunch and great metal or punk sounds. What I admire is that this preamp does not simullate any famous amp. It has its own sound, so do I. It is not noissy even if you create superdistored and loud patches. When you use it with a good valve power amp the sound is accurate and does not lose definition. I used it with squier 15W at first (funny ha?!). Suprrisingly it sounded very dynamicly. I was then shocked when I plugged it into a Ibanez GX60 amp (solid state, middle quality). It sounded far better I expected. The secret was in the "trim" knob. It matches the guitar output with the preamp input and it has too be set so the preamp almost but still not clips the signal. The bottom end gains dynamic, power and definition. I played trough a Rocktron Piranha but sounded like a toy against that mindbubbling bottom end. I thought of playing it then trough a marshall el34 50/50 valve power amp and 4*12 Celestion Vintige 30's. The conclusion: The true projection of the sound with extra added valve poke. Why I gave it a 9? Because I know there are (although not many) preamps that sound better (eg. triaxis). Don't be suspicious about this preamp being a digital one. I know what good tone is and I am willing to spend a lot for it. You won't notice that there are no valves in there, honest (just use it with proper components).

Have it for 8 months. Cannot really say...
I am worried about the motorized knobs, but the people in yamaha have probably also consider this before starting selling them.

They were very friendly when I e-mailed them and asked for a advise on a proper midi foot controler that would enable me to control various products from diferent makers via midi merge in real time. Got a useful answer.

I play blues, rock, metal and it really suits my needs. I've been playing for 6 years. I own now a Marshall el34 50/50 power amp, marshall 4*12 Celestion Vintage 30 and an Ibanez Jem 555 electric guitar. I would buy it again if anything unpredictable came across. I was testing various gear in hihger price range, but nothing compared to it (Rocktron Piranha, Marshall JMP-1, Line 6 Pod, Fender Hot Rod DeLux and any other Marshall or Fender combos or heads). Of course there are also mesa boogies but are out of my range. I miss direct XLR outs and FX loops, but this is not a big problem. Sometimes I wish it had two processor chips so there would be no delay betwen program changes. It is a very slight but in some cases it is anoying. Otherwise, this is pro stuff.

This thing is easy to use!! It tweaks like an amp, but is an incredible sounding all digital guitar preamp. I use it with a midi switcher, and I can program every song for my whole gig easily, and it programs much easie than other preamps that I have used.

I use it with several types of guitars for every kind of music except metal and country. After every gig someone comments about the great sound of my guitars. I record it miked, but mostly direct with the speaker simulator on. It sounds like any amp at the twist of a button

No backups needed. I have 2 of these, and I use them every day. In 2 years they have never broken.

Long phone waits, but very helpful. They told me about a midi upgrade on the website and it was awesome!

I am hard on gear. It works great. I run it into an Alesis midiverb then to a Mesa 20/20 stereo poweramp. It just sounds great!! Direct or miked it is better than a JMP-1, any Rocktron product, except for a Soldano or a Trixaxis, but they are close to 2 grand. Great product. It looks great too!

You can get a wide variety of Sounds out of it. I'm currently using it with my Ibanez RXxxx(am upgrading to ESP M-II very soon!).
I play mainly metal, and it's nearly perfect for that.
In the lead channel, it has too less gain, but with a tube screamer in front, this schould no longer be a problem.
Finding a suitable sound is also very easy, just dial in your sound with the knobs as usual and here you are.

The DG-1000 is basically the preamp used in the Yamaha DG series of Amps(so see those reviews for detailed information). Though it's not a tube preamp, it sounds pretty close.
THis thing is very versatile, it has 8 different Gain stages (clean 1&2,crunch 1&2,drive 1&2, lead 1&2). 128 user editable MIDI Presets.
Doesn't have an Effects Loop, wich doesn't matters much; just run from its output into your multi-fx box...

I can't really tell, had it only fr some weeks and no chance to gig with it yet. But it seems reliable.

Never dealt with them.

I play for several years now, had other amps, but this is my first "all rack" system. I'm using the Yamaha with a replifex and an ENGL 840/50 TUBE(!!) Poweramp. This is a really good preamp, I compared it to an ADA-MP1 and Triaxis, the TriAxis was the better amp, but about five times more expensive....
For the money, you get a pretty good preamp, which blows away others in its price range as well as higher priced gear(like the ADA, imho)BUT be sure to use it with a good TUBE Poweramp!

Unlike any other preamp of this caliber, you can actually use the damn thing. The dials make it just as easy to use as a normal amp. Anyone can great tone from this

I'm using a Park practice amp with this (kind of defeats the point ...) but it still rocks. And I have played it through decent amps, e.g. Marshall, Fender, Laney. Whatever. It rocks. I mean, the distortion tones can be anything you want. You can get any sound from this.

Well, it's big, metal and heavy. I don't thing it's going to break ...

I like Yamaha. They're very nice and cuddly.

I paid #99. F*cking ridiculous! It lists at #799!!! And it's just the sweetest thing. It's not worth #800, but it is worth at least #400.

For the price I paid, an easy 11 out of 10, but then, I don't think you can get it this cheap unused anywhere else, and the store that was selling them cheap has now gone back to retailing at #375.

Only one downer - it doesn't come with a MIDI footswitch, and that's gonna set you back a fair bet ...

There isn't too much to say on this one. Yamaha has strived to designed the interface as traditional as possable. You get a standard arrey of controls - pre-amp, master, treble, high mid, low mid, presence - as with most single channel amps, except the extra mid control which is nice, 8 voice switches - clean 1&2, crunch 1&2, lead 1&2, drive 1&2 - input and output pots and finally the storing recall buttons.
All you have to do is set up your input level till the led lights green. Select your voice. Twist a knob or two till you're happy. Play your guitar. If you like what you've heard just select a patch number and hold down the store button for a few seconds.

That's it.

Firstly I've come out of the pre-amp and into the power amp section of my Fender Super60, then into my Marshall SE-100 (power soak and speaker simulator) from there it goes into my mackie desk with a Behringer Autocompressor as an insert effect and finally I add some reverb with a Midiverb 3. All this gets monitored on a pair of Absolute Zero speakers. Ok Ok Ok so its a recording set up not a live one!
I'm not really into mega distorted tones, I'm more of a bluesy jazzy funky kind of a guy. This preamp can deliver some really good crunch sounds. The clean tones aren't very fendery but the EQ section is powerful enough to warm things up nicely.

Does it sound Tubey? I think you could say that it sounds just as tubey as a lot of tube amps but it doesn't sound greatly tubey like a AC-30 or something. To put it another way, I own a JMP-1 which is tube based and sounds rubbish, the DG-1000 isn't tube based and it sounds better.

Can't say. The only thing I'm worried about is the life of the motorized knobs.

The shop I bought it from is part of a big chain. Don't know if that's good or not yet.

I like it, its just another box to my collection which doesn't really sound like the other boxes I have.

I liked the price, #99 pounds or US$170!!!! It's list price is #799 here in the UK. #99! WOW!

I guess that Yamaha haven't been able to sell any since the release of Line 6's POD. I can see why too, people want lots of different amp sounds with effects. I remember all the fuss over the original Zoom though too. Deju vu......

#99 though. Ridiculous.....

This thing is easy to use. Knobs like an amp, wan't to store/push the button, want to recall/push the button. 128 patches to store. You don't need a manual for this one !! ( manual included is only 3 simple pages, plug and play, yeh ). The amp is really easy to use. Presets to work with: 2 lead/2 drive/2 chrunch/2 clean No effekt send/return. One way in/out. There's a midi in/out. Works well for dumping settings.

I've owned many amps. None got me sattisfied completely. A marshall/vox is good for the marshall/vox sound, don't try anything else on it. In my opinion that goes for most amps. So I was looking for something that matches more sounds. I use the preamp with a marshall 8008 / marshall box and a boss gx700. The reason for buying is that the boss misses the knobs, and you have to do some editing before you get a "nice" basic sound.During a gig there's no time for editing ! With this in mind and a small budget, +/350 US, i decided to go for the DG1000 ( in the netherlands were i live it costs bout US800 !) The yamaha sounds good without any editing at all...That's for the clean/crunchy sounds. So far I don't like the lead sounds ( bought it recently ).Here the amp misses something, sounds cold. It might be the marshall I use as power amp. As far as I know the preamp is only 1/3 way to a good sound. Poweramp/speaker does the rest. I was nicely suprised when I plugged my Godin LGT (s/s/h) into the yamaha ,yip, with this preamp there's a big difference between the pickups. I also play an AS200 IBANEZ through it, I have to get used to the new sounds of this one. For the money payed, very good value. The going price in my country is bout US750. If it's worth that money I'm not sure.
I gave it an 8, maybe not fair because of my poweramp. Through a real tube poweramp I suspect it to sound much better/ even good.

I don't own own it long enough for an opinion about reliability. But I don't suspect any problems. Using a backup, let's be honest if you're no pro., who the f... has the money for backin up everything.

I'm playing for about 20 years now. The longer I play the more important becomes a good sound to me. With this preamp I'm satisfied. Still to come is a good power amp. I play different kind of styles, swing/jazz, blues latin/afro. For these styles ( clean/crunchy) it matches good, especially with the gx700 wich I use for chorus/delay and reverb, no more crunchy sounds out of this one. A good sound helps me playing good, inspires. With this one I can't complain right now.
The price payed I gave it a 10.

The DG-1000 is as simple as an amp. Pick one of the 8 amp settings, set your Drive,EQ and Master settings and store it. That's it. And, oh yeah, The front panel knobs are motorized!. They change position with patch changes. They do take some time to move but the sound changes instantly. No gaps in between!

I've used it with several different setups. Power amps (Alesis RA-100, Mesa Boogie 50/50, ADA Microtube and a Peavey 50/50 and 60/60, with several diffent cabs from single 12's to 4x10 and 4x12's. I've also used it with lots of differnt single and double 12 in combo amps. It also works VERY well for clean sounds DI'ed into a mixer. All in all the best sounds I've recorded on tape or played live. There are 8 different amp simulations; 2 clean's800, 2 crunch's, 2 drive's, and 2 lead's with a 4 section EQ (Treble, Hi and Low Mud, and Bass, plus Presence) that actually works when you move the knobs. I can't begin to say usefull the EQ is. It really widens the already huge tonal choices. Live i use a Strat and a Tele, both with Humbuckers in the rear. I also use a Yamaha AES 1500B Semi Hollow body axe and several differnt acoustics, and they all sound great. Actually, it forces me to play better because I can't blame any bad sounds on my gear. One other thing, this is the most quiet piece of gear I've ever owned. A "10" I sold my Peavey TubeFex for it

I depend on it every day and night, and it has performed flawlessly, although I do take a backup. Folks, if you're going to the gig without a backup, you WILL incur the wrath of the Equipment Gods at some point. I learned that in fornt of about 4000 people once and will never forget it.

Yamaha's ALWAYS been great for support. The best out of all the manufacturer's I've dealt with.

I play with 4 different bands: Pop, Alternative, R&B, and Country. It works with great with anything. Period. I like it so much I bought 2 and will probably invest in the full combo amp when it hits the shores. And hey, THE KNOBS MOVE!!! I couldn't ask for anything more. Just having the freedom to turn around and make an adjustment without going thru a maze of menus and pages is a huge relief. It's really the best preamp I've heard.