Yamaha DG Stomp

I'm not usually the greatest at getting a nice tone out of an effects unit but this one was simple! The manual takes you through the process of setting up the unit really well and then getting the desired sound from it is as easy as turning a few knobs and pressing a couple of buttons! I picked up all of the features in about half an hour which was mostly spent playing through it rather than studying it! Really impressed with the ease of use. Setting up and storing patches couldn't be simpler.

Playing through a Yamaha SG700 into the effects return on a Marshall VS8080 proved to create some gorgeous clean tones! The chorus sounds fantastic and the other modulation effects are also flawless and have a wide range of adjustment. The compressor works well and the delay/echo effects along with the authentic reverb add to the fine characteristics of the tones produced. The amp selector is maybe a bit restrictive in the high gain department but is simple to use and gives both american and british styles of gain from crystal clear to edgy crunch to screaching amounts of distortion. Sound quality is reasonable in this department although I did manage to recreate the sound of my 8080 with the stomp box very nicely.

Moving on to the speaker simulator - this thing is amazing! When playing with distortion through a guitar amp it probably won't need to be engaged but for plugging straight into recording devices or headphones this thing does wonders! You can recreate the sound of any of 16 famous speaker and cabinet setups from single speakers to a variety of 4x10 and 4x12 options. Sound quality is fantastic at any volume and would be hard to distinguish between the digital and authentic tones.

Can't say too much about reliability because I've only had it about a week but I've been with Yamaha for a long time and haven't been let down yet! Going by the build quality though, the thing is a tank! Heavy duty, all metal construction means it will most likely shake off a good thrashing around.

Never had to deal with them in about 10 years of playing Yamaha products!

Fantastic! If you want to shell out 1000's on seperate equipment for all your different styles feel free but if you want to get all the famous tones you've ever heard played from a guitar, this thing can probably do it for a fraction of the price. It saves a hell of a lot of effort when setting up for a gig and performs magnificently. If I must pick a fault with it, I would suggest that the footswitches (which aren't even featured on many of it's competitors) are slightly close together for big flipper-footed people like myself! Apart from that though it's a fantastic buy and another quality product from the folks at Yamaha.

Pretty easy to use although the manual needs to be absorbed slowly to get the best from it. The manual is rather basic and could have been written with much more expanation adn examples. Editing is easy and just at the press of a button and trirn of a few (or many) knobs.

Brilliant. Creates juts about any amp, speaker and processed sound you would want. This is Yamaha's take on the POD and J Station and it does a pretty good job. Little background noise. Presets are all over the place but that's why they let you set another 90 yourself. Who'd need more than 90? It's got compression, chorus, tremelo, flanger, rotating speaker, overdrive, digital delay, tape echo, hall, plate and spring reverb, and abou a dozen amp simulations and another dozen or so speaker sims as well. Well read the spec. to see if I've missed anything. I don't really know whether these processors get better than this but as a working musician this doaes everything I need and a whole lot more that I'll never get round to. And it does it real quiet which is great. Even came with it's own mains power supply.

Very solid and I would expect no problems. Has lots of chiken head and rotary knobs that you wouldn't want to spet on by mistake, so although it has stomp buttons on it - don't place it anywhere another band memeber is going to accidentally tread all over the knobs.

I've only spoken to the yamaha guys a couple of times but they have seemed very obliging in the past. I guess the suppport on this would be OK - has a year warranty anyway.

I'm a teacher and a player and needed something that would do everything in one box - this is it. I have to play everything from punk to jazz - this box does it.

First off this is an effects unit, as stated before, and not an amp. It's perfect for direct recording and live situations where you go direct into the board. For a list of features see previous posts.

I use a Gibson ES 335 and a Godin LGX-SA W/the duncan pickups. I play a lot of blues, folkrock, Jazz. My group plays mostly acoustic music but lately started adding some caned drums and a little electric guitar for some solos. I was using a fender hot rod (great little amp) but it didn't blend well with everything else (mandolin, guitar, vocal) going direct. Besides the hot rod had a loud hum every time I plugged the Godin into a guitar synth and into the board. Just for the heck of it I plugged the dg stomp that I've had around for a few years direct into Our Mackie board and our mackie powered speakers. After a little tweaking I got some very musical sounds. Nice clean sounds like the Hot rod and good overdrive bluesy sound. Fits nicely in the mix and best of all no noise. The effects section for the unit- modulation and dig delay are quality and the reverb is about what you would expect on a quality amp. Pre amps and tone controls are very well done.

Built like a tank

Been playing for 30 years (ouch). I also own a sansamp box which has great sounds but isn't as versatile as the stomp. I would probably by one used on ebay if it got lost.

All the features are already listed below. This is my up-date after owning this unit for a year. I was using it with the DS60-112 powered speakers and it wasn't quite doing it for me after a while. The sound from the speakers were muddy. Anyway, I did trade the DS60-112 but kept the DGStomp to give it one last chance. As a personal amp, I found it to be really good and I found the tone that I was excited about from this unit. It is 24 bit sampling rate so it doesn't have that digital decay as some other digital modellers I've tried. I'm glad I kept the unit and got rid of the speaker. I use this to record as well as for practicing late at night when I'm not able to use my tube amp.

The tones are warm. I still haven't found a better digital modeller. I didn't lke the Pod6 because of it's tone, and the PodXT was similar in tone to Pod6 but had a higher learning curve to learn how to use it. I have found that when I use it to drive a speaker, I've tried it with my tube amp, and the tone was muddy. I think it's best used as a personal amp, connecting directly into the mixer or for recording. I can only give it an 8 because of the muddiness when you use it to drive a speaker.

Never had any problems with it. It hasn't even crashed...I can't even say that about my windows based pc!

Never needed them.

It's a great little unit...I prefer it over the Pod6. It's too bad that the tone when I use it to drive speakers is too muddy.

Fender and Fender type guitars.

Bought second hand for #128 "off" ebay because original auction contents had been changed by seller. Unit was D.O.A. Traced fault to dry joint on P.C.B. mounted input 1/4" socket. Warmed up joint and away it went. I was confused at first by the fact that the "wall wart" (sic) showed no output, but it turns out that this psu needs a load to show a voltage. The dry joint had the effect of presenting no load to the psu. Strange really since the psu felt heavy enough to be linear.I like this toy a lot but then I would since I have eschewed effects for 20+ years! No use adding anything to all the foregoing reports but this info may help someone out.

I have dealt with Yamaha and have always found the U.K. setup to be efficient and helpful.

I have been "playing" for 32 years. Early days yet but I think that I would try to replace it if it walked. I love the sounds that I can get at living room volumes. I DO find it a little complicated to use. (my age !!) I wish that there was a straight through sound, maybe there is. I did not compare it to any other products.

Got it just before they discontinued it but after they dropped the price. I play "Music for grownups" in a duo with midi backing and live keys / guitar and vocals - mostly rock but some pop etc. I have to give it an 8 because you can't turn off the preamp modelling for just one patch (both clean sounds are a little too "shaped" for a really good acoustic sound with an electro but I found a decent compromise eventually). Favourite sound has to be Drive 1. Cleans are OK, the compressor is a little odd so I don't use it, the delays and reverbs are very natural, the chorus / fazer / modulation stuff is very good. None of it feels like using pedals though - it's like using an amp, and the chorus makes it sound like you're using lots of amps. Big stereo sound. Speaker simulation is fantastic. I like the way the whole thing does not pretend to be "Brittish afro head" or "California Latino sound" - it does clean, crunch, drive and lead with two useable voicings for each.
The expression pedal inoput is really useful - I use it to adjust the input gain for drive sounds (saves using a TS9 or EQ pedal for solos - just set the sound for solo and set the expression pedal to set the input gain from 5.0 to 10.0), the delay time for the U2 settings, the speed of the tremolo etc etc, but the Wah setting seesm to drop the volume a little ovet the un wah'd sound.

I use a'62 re-issue Tele with standard pickups (but has had Seymour duncan mini '59 in it) and a solid body electro with a P90 fitted (a sort of acoustic Les Paul Jr thing).
I previously used a Korg Pandora, and here lies the BIG difference (and the reason that the DG Stomp *does* belong inthe "amps" section) - the DG is NOT an effects pedal or processor - it is an amplifier simulator. I have used just about everything, from Boogie to Fender via Vox and Marshall; valve, solid state, hybrid, custom built, hotrod, luxury, cheap as chips, old classic and new hot poop, and the DG is *exactly* like using a real amp, only you can do it quiet or through a PA LOUD AS WOTZIT and it still works. The clean settings even break up like a real clean amp would, and the drive settings clean up if you play gentle, just like a real amp would.
The big mistake is to think of it as an effects unit - if that's what you want then get one, and run it through the DG to make it sound like it's amped up.

The only kit I use now - never let me down, I gig 2 or more times a week.

never had a problem.

Superb - I got it becaise it has foot switches, I keep it because it works.

First of all, why is this unit listed in the "amp" section? It's not an amp, it's an effects pedal! OK, now down to business.......I love this little thing. So easy to use! It has KNOBS!!! Can you believe it? KNOBS!! Just like an amp! SO easy to use! It's very versatile because all you have to do is tweak the KNOBS. No "programming" knowledge is needed...just turn the damn KNOBS until you hear something you like and then you can save it. I also run it thru a compressor pedal because I think that gives everything a little better sound and feel. Sustain, ya know? Also, it is a foot pedal type of unit but I don't use it that way. I bought a nice wooden music stand and I set it on there. That way I can tweak the KNOBS, yes it has KNOBS, without bending down all the time. It's a lot easier to use that way. It doesn't have a whammy/wha wha pedal mounted on it but that's OK. Wha-whas usually suck on these kinds of pedals anyway (it does on my RP-7) and I have a Dunlop Crybaby for that. Also, I don't Whammy so.... Nice echo's, reverbs, rotary, chorus and even the tremelo is pretty good. All adjustable with......KNOBS!!!! NOT BUTTONS!! None of digital crap. Ya gotta love that!

Very nice sounds that are easy to tweak because it has KNOBS!! I play my Strat and my SG through it into a Carvin Belair 2x12 amp on one side and a Peavey 50 watt bass combo on the other side and it sound very nice. It can get noisy at times but, then again, so can I! Did I mention it has KNOBS? Oh, I guess I did... Sounds good thru headphones too. Haven't recorded with it yet but it does have cabinet simulation which sounds decent thru the headphones.

So far so good! I've had it about eight months and it's made of metal so.....I don't play outside the house much anymore but the occasional jam does happen now and then. Nice old fashioned metal buttons to step on so they should last. Oh yeah, it has KNOBS to turn just like an amp!

No problems, so I wouldn't know.

I've been playing for oh, about 40 years. Wow, am I old? Anyway, I also own a Digitech RP-7 that I've had a couple of years. I bought it because I fell for the fact that it has a tube in it and would create sounds like an overdriven tube amp......WRONG!!! It's sucks compared to the Stomp! The only thing that's crappy about the Stomp is the tuner. Maybe it's just me but I have a hard time reading it. The RP-7 has a much better tuner setup. I would buy another one if it was lost or stolen, that's for sure. Maybe I'll keep the RP-7 as a tuner since they sure don't sell for much anymore.

this is the most user friendly multi effects i have ever used. the manual is helpful at letting you know the short cuts and other little nuances. the effect tweeking is plain as day.

i play a fernandes vertigo through an ampeg r50 head into it's 4x12 cab. some of the presets on the DG stomp are a little loud,but you can tweek them to your liking and save them that way.the effects are great. i love the rotary speaker.very analog sounding for a digital unit. the amp and speaker sims are cool.

i usually don't gig with lots of effects ,but i have used this on stage twice and it never failed. i would say you could trust this item, but like anything if you treat it like crap it will do the same right back.

i've never had to deal with Yamaha directly. but they are a company who has been around for a while. so...

i play alot of experimental, heavy, fast power rock music there are infinite possibilities with this unit. the only thing i wish it had was an octaver effect. however the optional expression pedal really opens this unit up allowing you to change modulation depth,speed and delay speed all at once.

I left a review here about 2 years ago, just wanted to add a little. I still own my Stomp. Almost sold it recently as I had just been using it as an effects processor for the last year and a half. I was buying a new amp and wanted the cash. But then I gave it another chance as a modeling pre-amp that I could use with headphones, I did a little extra tweaking and found it quite useable for that. I do even run it into the power amp section of my new amp sometimes, it sounds better a really low volumes than my Boogie...my Boogie just sounds best when it's louder. Not ear-splitting loud, but generally louder than my sleeping baby will tolerate!! The DG Stomp works great for this, and it was definitely worth keeping, considering the paltry sum it would fetch on the used market these days! One thing I found that made a great difference for me was the orginial amps that were used for the different models. That was my biggest complaint about this unit, for those of us who have never owned all those amps, it makes it easier to find a tone remniscent of our favorite artists when we know what the basic building blocks for the different models are. I don't know if I'll remember everything here or not, but for those interested who have not seen this before, I'll try.

Lead 2 - Based on Marshall Silver Jubilee Stack
Lead 1 - Based on vintage Marshall
Drive 2 - Based on a hybrid of a Hiwatt and Matchless (my favorite model)
Drive 1 - Based on a Vox, I almost think it was an AC-15
Crunch 2 - Based on a Boogie Mark II (I think, one of the Marks, anyway)
Crunch 1 - Based on a Fender Bassman
Clean 1 - Based on Fender Silverface (I think, it was some Fender and I don't think it was a Blackface and I know it wasn't a Tweed)
Clean 2 - Based on Fender Twin Reverb

Anyway, knowing that helped me to zero in on some of the tones of my favorite artists, and I'm real happy with the unit now.

Had the thing for almost 3 years, no problems with it. I did replace the battery a few months ago, but that was easy enough.

I've had this gizmo for just over a year - you probably already have the low down on the features. Here's the pros & cons (from this player's point of view anyway...)

Pros: First, the tone on this is really nice. Not so with the other multi-effects I've owned in the past. I've heard lots of players say the POD & J Station & others sounded dull once the excitement faded... Reviews on the DG Stomp consistently gave good reviews for tone. That's why I picked one up on eBay and I agree! Second, I really like the fact that it has at least some footswitching capabilities. Third, I like that it feels more like an amp than a computer when you start tweaking the knobs... Last but not least I like that it sounds very good direct to PA - which means I don't have to haul amps into my little church gigs.

The Cons: First, it does sound kind of harsh and dull on some settings - mostly the more extreme distortions and the ultra-clean sounds. Everything else in between is nice though! And even though I was attracted to the footswitches (POD has NONE!) it is too complicated to go past the three settings in front of you in one song. I rarely use more than 3 settings per song let alone 3 setting per set so not a big deal for me.

I use my Carvin "Strat" with Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails & Little 59 in bridge and My Epi Dot with Duncan Jazz neck and Duncan 59 in bridge. Oh yeah - I even use my bass with it too. I play at church so I use it for contemporary/rock/blues/gospel etc...

It gives very nice clean, semi-clean & drive sounds. Again, tone is nice & it's very musical. Sounds best direct - effects work just fine in the effects loop of my Trademark 60 amp but the drives sound considerably weaker. Of course I use the drive from my amp and other pedals in this situation. The chorus is my favorite effect - fat & warm! The rotary sim is a close second. I have the Expression Pedal and unlike some of the other reviewers I'm pretty happy with it. You can adjust the settings to fix the range of motion so that it's comfortable for you. Wah not crybaby quality but it works fine and can become a volume/paramater control if you want. Sounds great with headphones for practice - best headphone amp I've ever had.

Stay away from this if you're a metal-head or if you want ultra clean funk tone. Everything else in between is very useful for me.

This thing took a dive out of the back of my truck when I was unloading one night. Hit hard enough to knock the battery loose. I lost all presets, but other than that all is well! Pretty tough for a computer I would say!

Great tool for players who want good tone and convenience. If it were stolen I probably would pick one up again if I could find one. I can't think of another multi-FX unit with tone that I like.