Yamaha DG Stomp

My second review:

WOW, I got a class a tube amp (Top hat CR) yes a real amp...
Any way the DG stomp just comes to life so much now compared to my Fender new school tube amp. My amp has little drive and using this DG stomp in small amounts really does give me a swiss army knifes amount of classic rock tones. Its a great unit and can sound like SRV style very easy. Trick is dont over do the effects. I actually took off my 1979 TS-808 and opted for just the DG stomp! I love how there is no noise and I get the clean and dirty boost with subtle effects. Great for country blues. The real knobs, I got the Magic stomp but cant stand how there no knobs so **** canned it. Also I find it best to play three patches or three sounds only. Then its like a patch that is SRV sound, then Santana delay thick tone and a few major reverb patches. Just dont even bother with factory patches. Make your own! press save and your done. Don't get into patch surfing and knob tweaking get back to playing and understand this is a pre amp, clean boost with subtle but highly usable modulation effects, chorus, delay, phaser...and best used on a two grand tube amp because you will really be able to turn the amp sim OFF and get back to basics. Not used the cab sim and I use the Pre amp ON setting. Hell its so dead easy I could press the reset command and remove all my settings and be back in a song in 3 minutes.

Features are quite generic, and dealed with in other comments.

Used with '77 Strat, a pair of '79 Fender 75 amps, '68 Hiwatt 4x12 cabinet, and TS-9 for overdrive.

The DG-Stomp is a live, swiss army knife affair. Everybody knows that amp modeling is OK for submitting a pitch for a TV add, but for a real soundtakes there's just no replacing the real thing. I use it with the pre-amp emulator thing off, always, except in reharsal, where I don't carry an amp. The 'emulators' sound is OK for reharsal, and will 'fool' 90 % of the audience, and even the occasional tone challenged bandmate. But I'm the kind of maniac who plays for the 1% that comes up after the show and asks : those are Fane speakers, right ?

The effects cut it live (although the phaser is very brittle and the flanger harsh) but the pseudo-tape delay is actually quite OK, plus, its tap-tempo, wich is a real life-saver. Chorus is usable, but chorus is a cheap-o effect anyway. Nobody in their right mind would use the reverbs on this for a studio take. The high-end resolution sounds like its in the 4 bit range, for god's sake. The tremolo is OK, and choppy as hell if you need it to. I used the rotary speaker effect (sounded OK live) on a studio take once (the leslie didn't fit in the car) and lived to regret it each time I hear the song on the radio.

There's a reason why an actual real effects chain will cost a couple grand, and this costs quite less. There are no miracles. In sound, and in quite a few things for that matter.

The tuner is utterly useless. I can't even believe Yamaha put it in there (their acoustic guitars are quite well intonnated). The compressor is gadget-level, the attack-time is way to slow.

It's not noisy at all, and doesn't really screw up your tone if you EQ it right. The high-low impedance switch can actually heat up your tube amp a little, wich is OK.

It's made of steel, with real switches. End of debate.

It failed to turn on once, right before a show, but never did it again (yeah, the power-bar was on). Yet, kind of makes you nervous.

I got the pdf manual free on the net, so that's OK with me. And you do need the manual, because getting to some of the features is a two-knob at once affair.

I'w been playing for 20 years.

If it were lost, I might try something else, like an actual effects board (I was always to lazy to build a custom one).

I love the fact it's compact, tap-tempo, noiseless, and saves me fifteen minutes in setting up 7 pedals before a show.

I don't really 'hate' anything about it, its just that you have to take it for what it is : a 500$ machine that tries to emulates 80 grand worth of gear.

I had ~ZERO~ luck getting the external Wah pedal to sound good but im submitting this because with a $50 Roland EV-5 used as a volume pedal its great with the DG stomp.

Pros: SMALL compared to the big Boss multi effects rigs.
This wont sterilise your tube amp like Boss digital or POD.
All metal with big metal buttons and knobs.
Delay and Reverb is GOOD!
Volume petal jack is GOOD!
EQ is ok!
There is some magic in this box!

CONS: Built in Wah is CRAP with big tone hit and 20% drop in sound level.
Cant use flanger and chorus at once? Same with rotary, only one at a time. Delay is independent.
Comp is a little lame.

Im using with single coil strat.
This is how I use it. Its on my pedal board in the loop with a bypass switch, although I keep it on 100%.

This is how I got the ~BEST~ results.
1. I programed a BLANK sounding patch with volume pedal program and saved as #11, first program.
2. I have the tone as close to my natural amp as possible and its almost bypass with all effects and EQ at 5.
3. Then I run my effects.
Boss Compressor CS-3 >> TS-808 >> Dunlop Wah >> larger analog multi effects IBANEZ Pie-5 Tube, Loop into the DG stomp.

Its great this way with a little comp/sustain and TS-808 as a booster.

Now the important this is this is not a POD, although it has a "Pre amp" that gives a ton-o gain I never use it ever! Just get a good tube screamer or gain channel amp.

Its very natural sounding and im running this with extremely expensive all hand wired amp, custom strat, 1979 TS-808 and its a keeper. I can get this thing almost transparent! So for a tube purist its even a good deal, your ears wont know its on! Then start to add a touch of reverb, touch of delay.

The PSU got really hot once. Then it quit but the next day it was ok.
On a large pedal board it gets REALLY REALLY HOT! I dont have the feet on it rather I use Velcro. I imagine it needs space under there to dissipate heat. I imagine it might break but ill just get another if it breaks.

talked to a rep once, nice guy knew nothing about the stomp as Yamaha moves so much products in and out they are distached.

If lost id get separate effects but that would cost $300+ and take a lot of room, over $60 in cables to install. Iv had this for sell 3x in Craig's list and it never sold but im keeping it now now that I use it for SUBITLE delay and verb. Not to much or it goes south.

Thing to remember is be sparing with the effects, to much will ruin the sound. Just like I said, make a blank natural patch save as #11 then dabble the effects very slowly in.

I use this as a time based effects unit only and really get my distortion from a tube screamer or high gain amp.

Over all for a guy like me with a hand built amp with ABSOLUTELY NO FEATURES! This little box gives me reverb, delay, some amp Sims.
I cant tell when the amp Sims and drive, lead, lead2 is moved. My big amp 4x12 kind of nutralises that some how. I suppose its a little change in ambiance not anything I spend my time with. Stays on clean setting.

This is my tweak box and im always finding something NEW and useful out of this. Sometimes the sound is down right magical.

Like any effect you use moderation or you get a ball of mud.
I do not like the pre amp or gain as it just adds a ton o grain and dirt. I just crank my tube amp for that.

When I was all digital this device did provide some realistic "Tube" sound.

Lastly, im building a small night club for me and my friends and I will take this off my rig and install on the "House PA" for a guest guitar or second guitar player that might not want to drag his amp accost town.

Its plug and play tube amp simulation;, no wire fuss. Minimal use of effects and its very natural, very warm.

Use a Tube screamer and comp on the front end and its great!
The Rotary effect is good! but the external foot pedal did not change its parameters so I might look for a real Leslie.

Last comment, changing programs is IMPOSSIBLE. They really failed with no UP/DOWN button. I had to pay $50 for a midi up/down but when its about tone you can overlook that.

It's the tone and effect jack and small size that keeps this on my precious over crowded effect board.

Iv seen quite a few guys with $4,000 Tube amps using a DG stomp.
Dont bother with the external pedal jack use it as a volume or swell.
Im very fussy about "Digital" stuff and remember a real analog delay will run $250 alone and this box is around $90 so off you go its ambient to country, to classic rock... Its really old school if you want.

Fetures of this product you can find in earlier reviews. It's very versatile, indeed. Another plus is elegant design. No plastic star trek like crap, solid and simple metal construction. It feels better to be used connected to pa or transistor amplificiation like tech21 engine. The bad thing is you cannot setup effect chain. For example flanger will be always before delay and so one. I found dg-stomp useful for my musical ideas from jazz, ambient and rock.

Used with yamaha erg121 and ibanez af77 ( hollowbody). Stomp gives well textured sound and it reacts diffrent with diffrent guitars and pickups congurations. Can be noisy with single coils. You can get smooth modern jazz sound, type o negativ drive and everything between. Cleans channels are great, distortions good. Effects are somewhat basic, but quality is still very good. I found it very useful in recording. Before stomp i used line6 kidney and m-audio black box. Stomp is simplier ( believie it;s good) and sound quality is much better then kidnej and black box. It's very melodic, full of life and precise tool.

never had problems with this tool. Metal, solid and full of quality.

never dealed with them

I've been playing for 7 years, dealed with music school in jazz guitar class for a year. I would buy it again. very usuful, simply and elegant. I wish it had option to setup effect chain. Exept that - it's perfect for my demands.

Well its got a lot of features Im no expert and this is the only pre amp I own. KNOBS! DUDE!

It has all the classic AMP knobs, gain, master, EQ, all that stuff.

In my opinion its got a great tone. Its not suited for heavy metal I think you can stack a tube screamer for that I dont know.

I can get a great sounding realistic "Crying woman" tone.

Very "Classic Rock" metal heads look for something elce.

I tend to think it sounds better then other units like pod and I would like to think my expensive swamp ash guitar retains its tone and individual finger harmonics.

8 for what it is...

Sure its no tube amp.

10, it looks like it belongs in a police squad car in a retro dash board.

ITS LIKE CAST IRON.

If you had to you could kill someone with this and I just might@!

I talked to a rep in the freaking store and I had an issue with the clock running at 48 hrz.. Ok it was my fault I was using the digital out and recording at 44hrz so play back was SCREWED.

This guy was "Hay buddy I really dont know"

On the other hand the manual is online in PDF I hate how roland bangs you for $30 for the instructions.

SCREW that I hate that kind of crap.
Freaking jerks.

playing for 20 years off and on.
If it was stolen Id hunt them down and beat their heads in with the cast iron unit. Then Id buy one from ebay if I could.

What I like is the knobs and the REAL tone.
You can get so many tones from this! You need to be a little smart I admit for years it sounded like hell untill I removed it from my mixer LOOP FX send return. Its pretty complex unit Im guessing to copy 6 or 7 Stomp boxes.

At $100 used ebay alone its worth the value as an EQ and little over drive.

I dont mess with the amp sims or speaker cabs The ability to reach over and add a little compression is worth the $100.

I dont own other guitar FX so I cant compare this twords a pod

(Id never own a POD and dont want to sound like an army of "Crud" or what ever is the latest NEw metal band with a great metallica face.

Sound like Duane Allman or any old school Classic rock BB king.

The pre progroamed patches kind of suck at at first I was a total beginner with amp sims and I wanted to download some banks but NO they dont have online patches you have to dial them in.

You wont be happy with out putting a thinking cap on.
If you put a little work in this thing is a fantastic deal!

O did I mention that I have this installed in CUBASE with Midi and I can go back and it recalls the bank/patch when I load up my song if I choose to redo an audio track.

ALSO the thing is a tad noisy when used to chain together other midi gear and use as a foot controller. its crappy for a floor foot controller unless you can tapdance.

I took it out from my midi chain of gear (I play midi guitar) and the noise went away. (You could hear little BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP when the midi guitar volume or EQ was adjusted)

SUCKS as a flood controller even though it has the foot switches im still unsure what the hell they are used for.

VERY quiet unit when used with the digital out!

The DG Stomp is a floor based guitar preamp\modeler with built in effects. The effects are Compressor, Modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser, rotary, tremolo), Delay (digital or analog), and Reverb (spring, hall and plate). There are eight different "amp types" for the preamp\modeler section, and large adjustment knobs like on a real guitar amp. The Stomp can be used with or without speaker emulation and has a wide variety of cabinet types to choose from. It is also possible to disable the preamp and use the Stomp strictly as an effects unit. You can plug in headphones for silent practice.

Has a digital coax out for direct to computer recording, has MIDI and is fully programmable. Changing user banks is not as easy as it should be and requires a fair bit of tap dancing.

I bought the Stomp used, to use as an effects unit for live work, so I'll review the effects section before I get into the preamp part. As far as the effects go, they are VERY good. The modulation effects are excellent, especially the rotary, although accessing the secondary parameters is a pain. Delays (up to 2 sec) are fine and have tap tempo. Reverb is limited to 'type' and 'level', but good enough for live use. The Compressor works, but does not have any fine adjustments. An expresssion pedal can be used to change FX parameters in real time. As a simple floor unit effects box, the Stomp really shines, even though it does not have any fancy effects like harmonizer, whammy, pitch shift or that other stuff that I would never use anyway.

I just started playing with the preamp part a few weeks ago. I own several tube amps, Fender and Laney, and have my own studio out in the country where I can play as loud I can stand. I dont really have a need for amp modeling. I did buy a Line6 amp once upon a time back when they first came out, and returned it after a few days. Modeling simply cannot capture all the nuances and dynamics of a real tube amp. (We all know this). But I have to say Yamaha has come the closest to doing that of anybody I have heard so far. The other day I decided to do a side by side comparision, so I plugged into my Laney combo amp and adjusted the preamp gain to get a nice, crunchy Strat tone. Then I ran the Stomp direct to my mixer and into the computer, and was able to dial in pretty much the same sound easily using one of the "Crunch" settings. The Laney was, of course, more 3D sounding and responded better to picking dynamics and volume knob changes on the guitar, but the Stomp did a remarkable job of emulating the feel of playing through a real miked tube amp. I was quite impressed. You could certainly use the Stomp to record direct and probably fool most people. I think it's the best modeler I've heard so far, much better than Line 6, Digitech, or even Sansamp. I also tried running the Stomp in front of the Laney and a Roland JC like a stompbox (with speaker sim off, of course). It sounded better using the Stomp to push the tube preamp section of the Laney than the solid state Roland, but it worked fine with both, like a stompbox overdrive with fine EQ adjustments. No, its not analog but doesnt sound overly digital to my ears.

You cannot get "deathmetal" distortion out of the Stomp, but just about anything else, from country clean, Hendrix, SRV blues to Billy Gibbons nastiness is certainly possible. It is a little noisy on high gain settings, but so is a real tube amp (sorry, no noise gate built in). The main thing is to always have the speaker sim turned on if you are going direct, and to try different cabinet types to get the sound you want. You cannot judge the Stomp by the presets, some are OK, but building your own from scratch is more rewarding.

The Stomp would be a perfect backup system if your tube amp went belly up on a gig, you could just run the Stomp direct into the PA and finish the gig, no problem. It's worth picking one up just for that and the effects section. If you find that you love the sound of its modeling then that's even better.

Built like a tank, solid metal. Love the chicken head knobs!

Dont know.

I have been playing for over thirty years and own\have owned Marshall, Fender, Laney and Roland JC amps. Strat through a tube amp is the sound for me. I also play a Godin ACS nylon string with a GR30 guitar synth, and I use the Stomp for effects on the guitar at gigs, with an FC7 expression pedal for volume. It works great for this. My days of carrying around a big pedalboard full of stompboxes are over. I'm into toting the least amount of gear with the smallest stage footprint possible. Previously I was using a Digitech RP200, nice and compact, OK effects, but cheaply built expression pedal and I couldnt handle it anymore. The Stomp does a better job but does require an external expression pedal.

Yamaha discontinued the DG Stomp a few years back. They were expensive when they came out, but are cheap now. Fantastic value for the effects alone, much less the very good preamp\modeling (if you are into that). The Stomp is a veritable "Swiss army knife" box. There's a reason why it won an editors pick award from Guitar Player magazine back when it came out - it's a quality unit.

If you cant afford an all tube amp, dont want to haul one around, need to get good tones at apartment volumes or do direct recording, then get one of these, I dont think you'll regret it.

Easy to use just turn knobs dial in what your looking for and save config and your set. Has a midi-in, can be controlled by midi controller or other midi devices. It also has a on/off power switch which most guitar eff's processors don't. I don't care for the tuner but that why I rate it 9.

The amp modeling sounds fantastic can get Marshall or Mesa & clean Fender sound with the right adjustments. Modulation eff's sound excellent. Compression, chorus Falnger Phaser Rotary Tremolo, Delay & tape-Echo, Spring Hall Plate reverb & Speaker Simulator. and all adjusted & saved.

Never had any issues it's built like a tank.

I've never tlaked to them...

It's too bad Yamaha stopped making these, soon after they intergraded it into there amp's they stop production...The new guitar eff's processor they make sound no where as good as the DG Stomp, sorry Yamaha you lost it. I used Boss pedals Digitech RD's & Pod's which I feel are over rated, Korg ;there better the Digitech! and many others. Come on yamaha go back use the technology from the DG add a few other eff's ring mod for one and a better tuner & lay it out in a full control board like Korg AX1500 Boom!!! your set.

I love the effects in this item. The chorus and phaser are wonderful. The delay has two different settings (tape and digi, so it easy to dial in any kind of delay with a tap function built in!!! That's right, no extra controller required to adjust the delay time! The only reason why I give it a 9 is the deep adjustments require holding a button down (for chorus, rotary speaker, phaser, and flanger). That's a pain in the a** to adjust on the fly

Why spend the money on Line 6 stuff when you can buy this for half the price and get the same tones.

I have used it for many a gig. It is built like a tank!

I have yet to deal with Yamaha on anything (See my review for the UB99 Magic Stomp).

If this item was stolen, I would search all over EBAY to find another one. I originally bought mine from Guitar Center as a refurb for $125.00, and have yet to regret it a year later. I got rid of my Line 6 stuff after this item (and the Magic Stomp). It simply allows the guitar to be the guitar.......

For the benefit of all those who seem to think that this is an effects pedal, try plugging your fuzz box ( ;D ) or whatever effects that you use into a PA or mixing desk and see what sort of applause you receive......It's a preamp, it wont work without a power amp and a power amp section wont give you any sound to speak of without it. Still not convinced, stick your headphones into the output of your tubescreamer and tell me which ear the mono signal is coming through. How many of us are poking it in the guitar input on our combos? I know I do but I have no illusions. The effects are a bonus and are what probably enticed you to buy it. I admit, that's what sold it to me.
Just my opinion of course!

before i bought this, i tried as many guitars through different amps as i could find, in search of MY sound. i finally settled on a les paul through a yam dg combo (#1,000+ worth...hahahaha), but i was already aware of the dg stomp, and figured it'd have SOME of that sound. let me tell you, it sounds amazing! anyone who can sound bad through this unit needs their hands chopping off. the presets are awesome, and a 50 yr old could edit the patches. the manual is brilliant, too, tells you all you need to know!

i use a les paul, a fender tele(previously with stock poickups, now with bare knuckle pickups), and a homemade electric through this unit, i then go into the mac, or through a marshall 15 watter on the clean channel. sounds amazing, it's a touch noisy on the high gain stuff, but it just adds to the 'balls out' fun of it all, and to be honest i don't do that much high gain shit. i think all the sounds, effects, and cabs are great on this box. i've fallen out with gear before, become dissatisfied with the sound, but i won't ever sell this!

i bought this in june 2001, and i've never had a problem. it appears to be built like a tank. i would never gig without some kind of backup, only a damn fool would, but i trust it not to let me down!

haven't had to deal with the company over this, but i did once before over a keyboard....i've dealt with better, but their gear is top class, so it's not that much of an issue.

i play all sorts, but not so much really heavy stuff. i think it could do any style. a touch noisy on the high gain stuff, as i said before, but it just makes it sound more 'real' to me.
been playing 20+ years. i reckon i'd buy another, unless i was loaded, and would buy the combo, but i'd probably have one of these in the house, too. i love the sounds, some people might prefer it with a noise gate, there are better units for switching banks easier, but some of em don't sound as good as this, anyway, you can arrange your patches together, so thats not such a big deal. it's one thing i can just plug in and it does the job, some gear, it takes you ages to set up, and then you don't feel like playing/recording by the time you're set up. i hate that!
frankly, i was amazed to see that there was no feedback for this product already...it f'kin rocks!

Already despribed in other reviews. Just one thing: with the expression-pedal you can change so many parameters per patch that it's like having 6 patches in a bank and not only three. What I really don't like is the tuner and the wah is useless, because there is a hughe drop in volume when the wah is active. I use a Cry Baby for that.

Well, I had used this thing years ago in front of an amp as an effects-unit and sold it 2 years ago and switched back to stomp boxes. But I live in a city and I'm always go by public transport, so I wanted a solution, that I can always carry around with me. So I decided to give the DG-Stomp another try.

Now I go direct into the mixer and I'm very happy with this solution. The sound is really good. The other guitarist in the band is using a Engl Thunder Combo, but it's me who gets the compliments for a good sound. The unit delivers excellent clean and crunch sounds but high gain sounds won't satisfy you, if you're into NuMetal. But for Rocksounds like Van Halen or Stevie Vai it's ok. I play lot's of blues, rock and jazz and therefore the unit is great. The unit reacts like a good valve amp, especially when playing with your guitar's volume poti. Effects are of good quality too.

One important thing: this unit really amlifies the charactaristics of your instrument. So a shitty sounding guitar will sound shitty trough this unit. It does not polish a bad sound. Next is, that you have to do the right ajustments for your playing situation (speaker-sim, imput sensivity) otherwise it won't sound any good. I recommend doing the mod another guy explained here. You can find the link in his review. It's done easily and totally cancels noise.

So far I had no problems in cutting through the monitor on stage. But I'm thinking about purchasing a small active cabinet for situations with bad monitoring.

For me the price-/performance ratio is a clear 10.

Built like a tank.

Didn't have any contact

IMHO still the best modelling-unit out there, also production is discontinued. The new Magic Stomp is no good for live applications and Line6 units don't sound any "tuby" to me. But I have to say, that I didn't try the Voxe Tonelab Series.

If you can get a Stomp, buy it! There are some stores still having some units laying around and in most cases they sell them cheap.

it's very easy to use. the layout is perfect and the turning of knobs as on real effect pedals or amps is very nice. no scrolling through menus and sub-menus. you just have to memorise a view things when it comes to decide if you want to use the dg stomp for recording or for playing through an amp and using the effect section only without the amp/cab simulations. but the manual is very helpful for that.

i mostly used the dg stomp for direct recording with my MAC. it was very silent, almost no noise at all, except when using lots of gain, but that's normal. the dg stomp is ideal for getting "classic rock" sounds. it sounds very warm and real when dialing in some vintage crunch sounds or overdrive. i loved those sounds in combinations with the american or british 4x12 simulation. you can realy record some AC/DC, Led Zepellin, Black Sabbath ecc. with it. i found not that much difference between the various cab simulations, thats why i almost ever only used the american or british 4x12 or 2x12 simulations. i didnt use the "clean" and "distortion" amps a lot, but they were ok.
i absolutely loved the effect section! you simply turn off the amp/cab simulation and you can use the effects as normal stomp pedals by turning them on/off. especially good sounding to my ears are: tremolo, rotary, echo and spring reverb. the other effects are very good as well. i would descirbe 'em all as warm-sounding and not digital at all.
i bought myself the yamaha expression-pedal because i wanted to use it as wah-wah, but it didnt not work out great.

i am writing in the "past" of the dg stomp because ... it's broken. i had it for 3 years and it always worked great. few weeks ago i plugged in and no sound came out. i send it to repair to yamaha and they said that the central procession is gone and it would cost about 150 euro to get it fixed. to much for me. in my opinion it should have lasted a lot more, especially since i never used it outside my bedroom and almost exclusively for recording.

they made me pay 30 euro only for shipping the dg stomp to repair and for telling me it was broken and not worth to fix!!!! who am i? bin laden? i dont have money to burn - that made me angry!

if you are looking for a recording tool to get a great "classic rock" sound with effects this is for you! if you are playing live and need some effects to depend on but dont want to carry around a big pedalboard, this is for you! if you are a metal-head, stay away from this as you want get the sound you need out of it.
my dg stomp is broken now and i won't replace it, although it really fit my needs and i was happy with the music i recorded with it. i will buy a tonelab now as i have tried it out and it beats the dg stomp.

What more could you want? Maybe more individual effects. I may buy another stereo chorus pedal so I can use the (excellent) DG tremolo simultaneously.

I was just playing along with the new Neil Young Greatest collection and was really amazed at how easy it is to jump around (using manual, not patches--I still haven't gotten around to learning patch set-up) different amp sounds from track to track. My new set-up is much better: the DG is plugged into the LINE IN on back of my old orange Cube-60. Previously I had the stereo leads split to instrument inputs on the cube and a Fender Deluxe. That sound was thin, apparently from wrong levels. Using the DG as the preamp for the cube 60 is a revolution baby! At home I could never turn the Deluxe up loud enough to get the tone and harmonics only available between 6 and 10. I do know a little bit about tube tone, been using Fender Deluxe, Deluxe Reverb, and white Twin amp. Back in the early 80s I got the Roland Cube 60 as a booster. Put a JBL in it and have used it as a second, stereo setup. Prior to getting the DG I used Boss stereo chorus and mono delay pedals. I'd always have the Deluxe a little louder than the Cube. Nice fat sound. I sold the Boss pedals after I got the DG but may get another Chorus pedal as that isn't as good on the DG. The delay is very good though. Anyway, I just plugged the DG into the Line in on the Cube for the first time and now I'm not using the Deluxe. In fact I may sell it for a premium and get a Jazz Chorus as a second amp. The DG amp models and preamp/effects sounds are unbelievably great as a direct in to amp. I would guess that an effects loop would be even better. As a direct box for recording this should be swell. Unlimited variety and TONE. I've never heard overtones like I'm getting at "let the neighbors sleep" volume.

Beautifully overbuilt. Yamaha rep is good. Knobs. Lots of knobs!

Would buy another. I sold my 20-year-old Boss DM-2 delay pedal on eBay for more than I paid new for the amazin DG Stomp. I see there's a new Stomp that's designed for computer recording but all the beautiful chickenhead knobs are gone!!!! Fuggedaboudit.

This is a nice well built unit.
It has a lot of good sounds and I was able to clone my rhythm easily.
The speaker sims work well if you know what you are looking for.
It is a great pracice or recording tool.

The sounds range from real good to why bother?
Again good for recording rhythm tracks.
I would NEVER bring this to a gig, or for that matter, plug this into an amp.

it is only good into a mixer where you can eq and add some compression ( And I use the Stomp compressor too!)
Maybe it would sounfd good into an amp with no preamp.

One mistake I think I have been making ( after reading about Holdsworth in GP) is keeping the gain too high. Maybe lowering that will make it better.
Really some days I like this thing. Some days it's too cold.

Obviously it's built like the proverbial tank.
The chicken heads are nice .
The effects are actually top notch,
Tape delay is very good.
The Phaser and rotary are standout.

I'm sure Yamaha has decent Customer ealtions but since their stuff never breaks , who knows?

I've played 41 years. This is a nice toy.
My nephew asked me to play through "Dark side of the Moon" with the CD and The Gilmour tones just melted in right withh the CD. Both thru a mixer.
The most amazing thing about it ios that with major tweaking , it sounds like I always do which is worth a good laugh if nothing else.
Shows it's range tho'.

This pedal is extremely easy to use and edit patches. I find i can get a good sound quickly and easily and the manual is clear and helpful too. The patches are arranged in groups of 3 and the footswitches can be used to switch between the three in a group or to switch effects on and off. The tap delay is also great i only wish the tap delay time would set the time for the mod effects but its not a necessity.

I run my Yamaha EG-112 guitar (like a Pacifica) into the DG-Stomp and the left output into a Kustom Solo 16-R (great sounding amp!!!). Its very quite; no noisier than is reasonable. There is a LOT of gain available when using the lead amp types and along with compression the sustain is crazy. The effects are good although i usually only use chorus. Compared to something like a Boss ME-50 (which a friend of mine has) this is more oriented toward the amp modeling than the boss which is more the effects side of things. I dont have a pedal to plug into the dg-stomp so i haven't been able to try out the wah. Overall the sound of the pedal is awesome. i can get pretty much any sound of distortion/overdrive/crunch/clean with it that i need. And its not so fancy that u feel like ur playing a computer. I had an RP-80 before i got this pedal and i have to say that the effects and especially the amp modelling of the yamaha is far better. It costs a lot but its definitely worth it. I would say all u need is this pedal and a decent amp and ur set with all u need. I am and for the money i spent on my setup I couldnt ask for anything better.

I think i can depend on it. also the stereo output means that if one channel goes i can use the other still (i use it in mono). And its Yamaha. In my experience their stuff lasts well. Its no-nonsense equipment with performance to match.

The original pedal i bought used was only working on the right channel; the left one was completely gone. So the guy at the store phoned customer service and i now have a new pedal, with no problems whatsover. They were very helpful and kind.

Excellent pedal. i just wish, as i said before, that the tap delay would set the Mod effect's speed. Maybe a few more parameters on the effects wouldnt hurt either. And just for kicks a ping pong delay...
I would definitely try to get another pedal like this one if it were stolen. It does what i need it to do and without frustrating me and taking forever. Definitely worth checking out before buying something else.

See below.

I wish the speaker sims were on a rotary knob or at the very least the speaker sim button was closer to the utility button so one-handed changes were easier to execute.

Also, I wish you could still adjust gain and eq settings while the speaker sim utility is engaged.

No rating here because I don't want to add to or subtract from the hype--I'll simply offer my opinion and you can make of it what you wish.

My current set up, which is used for home practice and praise & worship services, is: Mex Strat equipped with two humbuckers--a SD '59 neck and an Anderson HN2+ bridge. From there I either plug into a Barber Direct Drive SS or a Boss LM-2 Limiter. Then into the DG Stomp, which is amplified by a Roland KC-300. Sometimes I run from the KC-300 into the house pa. I've been using this set up regularly for over a year now with little to no complaints. I am very satisfied.

The Roland's compression driver (soon to be replaced) can be very buzzy but I can eq the Stomp to eliminate or at least reduce that. What I found, even recently, is how sensitive every setting can be and how that affects your tone. For example, turning the gain or up or down, even a little, can drastically affect your eq. Thus, you have to compensate. Volume does the same thing, perhaps even more so. Let me get to the point--each amp model in the DG Stomp has a number of sweet spots like a real amp would and only patient tweaking will give you what you are looking for.

I do not think I would be happy with the DG Stomp on its own. The Barber fattens the tone and makes fast playing easier. However, it also makes it tough to get clean or overdrive tones with it on. I know, "so just switch the Barber off". But then you get the somewhat dull DG Stomp tone. So, I have been using the Boss LM-2 to enhance picking dynamics lately. I really like this. I can now get nice, fatter cleans, and mild, warm overdrives. Shred gains are not as good but turning up the gain on the amp model seems to work fine.

All in all, I am very pleased with my set up and have been for quite sometime. In fact, I have made attempts to move on to other set ups but keep coming back to this one. The Roland KC isn't the greatest but I occasionally use it to amplify my voice, drum machines, and bass so it stays. And I actually prefer the KC to the Tech 21 Power Engine I recently bought. The KC's speaker crunches up much more while the Power Engine sounds dull in comparison, probably due to the speaker.

Let me reiterate--harsh and buzzy treble tones can almost always be eq'd out with very minute adjustments of the eq. The same goes for honky mids. Don't be afraid to try bizzare eq-ing, either. I've been surprised at the results I have gotten by turning everything to "0" and moving on from there.

Finally, I have only attempted to direct record with the DG Stomp on a couple of occasions. I was not very pleased and thought micing the KC sounded better.

No problems whatsoever.

They've always answered my emails. Incredible considering the size of the company.

I know there are many modelers out there, many I have yet to try. But I will say this, the DG Stomp has been a great modeler for me. Finding one that works with the sometimes-to-harsh Roland has been a challenge but one the Stomp has lived up to.

I have to give Yamaha credit--for their first generation modeler, they really nailed it. I would like to see them continue to improve the Stomp. The Magic Stomp doesn't count, in my opinion. I thought it was horrible.

It's a feature-laden preamp in stompbox format. Very good sounding digital effects combined with a modelling preamp. Easy to alter the settings as they are (nearly) all accessible by turning the knobs. Only some special effect parameters have to be accessed by pressing a button and simultaniously rotating a knob.
But changing the bank is a bit problematic - just read the manual.

I use a Gibson Gothic SG into a Fender Vibrosonic Reverb and an Engl 4x12" cab. This is my main amplifier, but I tried this thing with an old Dynacord Excellent (PA with 2xEL34), too.
I have to admit that the clean and crunch settings sound decent. And the drive setting is pretty cool - clean is really hard to overdrive, crunch clears up nicely with volume adjustments on the guitar and drive is beefy. But the major drawback is the lead - the only channel usable for palm-muting. There's a really ugly fizzing noise riding on the distorted sound that just sounds fake.
I also used headphones with this device - and the lead-channel sounded like an endless loop of sampled distorted tone. Hard to describe, but just sounded really bad and artificial.

The effects are top notch - but I didn't really get the difference between the two delay types. They both sounded good but the tape delay wasn't really that different. The digital effects are good - phaser is a little bit plain - stand alone phaser just sound better.

Overall it's a nice practice amp for using it with headphones - but the fake sounds it produced are just not acceptable for this price range. I sold mine.

It seemed very solid. Only the 12V~ wall wart was a little flimsy - but I think it can be replaced with any AC 12V wall wart with matching current capability.

Haven't dealt with them.

It's a very well built stompbox; the included four footswitches are a great idea - I wish more effect manufacturers of digital stompboxes would include them instead of an expensive footboard.
But the sound quality was unacceptable bad for me - even though the effects are hifi.

This is a foot-pedal meets Line 6 Pod sort of system. Does everything I want and is mighty quiet. Seems to be discontinued now - which surprised me as all the Yamaha kit seems very solid and professional quality. Edititing patches is easy, but the manual is a bit light on hard info in an understandable format. Needs a bit of studying to get the best out of it. It isn't what you might cal intuitive.

Ecellent and quiet. All the tone of the guitar seems to come through and the effects applied on top. The tremelo is a bit weak if you want heavy and sharp volume cycles. Chorus, Phaser, Compression, Phaser, Flanger all OK and sound great. Rotating speaker is a bit warbly. Reverb, Tape Delay, Digitla Delay all sound good.

Very solidly built and I'd expect nothing to break in normal professional use unless your road crew are animals.

Haven't used this but the guys at Yamaha I've spoken to in the UK are very helpful.

Great - does all I want it to in every situation. Not extreme but nice and professional sounding effects and quiet. I love the headphone out so I can use this as a practice amp with no other equipment needed. (Stereo too)

I need to add a footpedal to this to be able to Wah and use as an effects swell pedal.

Just like a amp.
Editing is just like a amp.
The manual is great if you have experience with them.

Played regularly with strats and two HB guitars with great results.
The effects are awsome and very adjustable in every way with little effect on your real tone.
Used with Old fenders and staight to a keyboard amp and direct to
PC console with great results.
I can cop tones from every catagory with minamal effort, I love the
old stuff as much as the the new stuff.
If you need more add a pedal infront it works great, My favorite is
a Fulltone distortion pro. but whatever. Anything works. A wah? Go for a Teese, it's amazing. I like the DG for modulation.(SPX 90)

I use the DG every week to save my vintage tube amps without fail.
Occasionally My amp stalls and the DG is allways ready with only a
pull and plug in with great results. Now that I know this thing the
band feels secure if I pull it out. So I locked it in on my first
pedalboard ever. Now I can switch effortlessly with it's many outputs. I bang it around with minamal respect and the thing still
is ready when I call apon it. It's a must!

Did'nt need to deal with them.
It's the SPX effects with amp modeling. NICE

I'm not going to catorgize my style I like music period!!
I've been playing for 30+ years and I don't want catagories I want
good grooves with feeling. Other gear-Matchless. Theres no match.
Start with a great tone and add to it, if you messed it up start
over. I have it.

I sold my FX550 in favor of a newer effects pedal, and I wanted something that had footswitches on it, I'm rather lazy carrying around stuff. Since I loved the 550 Distortions, I searched for some Yamaha products and found this. The preamp knob lets you choose among 8 amps sims, from two leads to 2 cleans, with OD and crunch in between. This little thing also has Chorus, (not a very good one though) Flanger, Compressor, delay, echo, and spring, hall and plate reverbs and speaker sym. No noise gate which I believe is needed and no extreme effects like pitch transposer or harmonizers. Very basic and ideal if you play straight forward guitar.

I use Strats with Gold Lace Sensors, and although in the beggining it was hard getting that Eric Johnson sound, I achieved after tweaking it a lot. The distortions here are not ver well suited if you're into rather heavy metal music. This feels much more like a 70's and maybe 80's dist pedal than anything. Actually, theres no such thing as distortion, you get distorted sounds via the Amp Sym Knob presets, then tweak them within a limited Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence range, like a real amp, no fancy EQ here. Chorus is very dry and lacks depth and richness, but if you're not playing 80's British Pop, you can get away with this. Delay and echo are great (again, I cloned Eric Johnson's echo) Reverbs ara cool too, and the speaker sym is great for headphone playing, but the DG is really a speaker box, you need to plug it in.

I use it on gigs, and it is great. It's very solidly built, knobs are certainly going to last longer than buttons and are easy to tweak. At first there is a learning curve, but then you can program patches rather easily. I hope the foot switches last some years, there's no indication of the contrary, and also seen easy to fis, if broken.

Where I live (In Mexico City) it certainly is lousy. You can not drop you items in ANY Yamaha store, you ahve to travel to the other side of the city to their service center to drop items for fixing, after paying a 15 dollar fee just for looking into the item and telling you what the problem is. They could improve their service.

I've been playing for 17 years, I like pop and blues, so this little bos works great for me. The distortions are very tube like, and the small design allows me to carry it around. I like the integrated foot switching system, love the design, and dislike the learing curve and the preset patches, they totally suck, you can use one or two of them, and they are supposed to be built by German and UK expert musicians. Right. You are supposed to be able to download patches but so far, haven't found any software for that, you have to get the 350 DLS Yamaha Midi storage system for that. No way Jose!. If it were stolen I think I might buy it again, but, I might look for something else also. Then again, I hope it won't get stolen.

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.

Hi, all. Another follow-up to my 06/06/02 & 06/07/02 posts (below). I now use a Dunlop Mr. Crybaby ahead of the stomp for wah; expression pedal set to global, post pre-amp volume control. Also am using the Vibrato ("bright") channel of my DRRI amp. MUCH better sounds. I tweak treble and bass on the amp when I switch between my Strat and ESP H-202. The thing rocks! Armon's anti-hum mod is still holding up very well.
Prices have sure dropped to the basement, so now's a particularly good time to pick up a Stomp.

You by now probably know all the features, if not read othr people's reviews or go to yamaha site and find them, 'cause I ain't gonna write them..Loaded with a variety of different sounds, pretty straight-forward, versatile, easy to dial in sounds, even tho it's my first multieffect unit. I like the metal chasis, really, really well constructed, footswitches are metal instead of plastic, like on some other multi-units. User-friendly interface. Wall-wart is the only feature that maybe bugs me a bit..but no biggy

I'll give this unit a 10 just not to affect the average score because sounds are excellent, but for me, sound isn't what I want. I've been playing for about 7 years and use a Gibson SG Special (my baby), and a Roland Cube-60 Chorus amp. All sounds found in this unit are very very good and usable, the unit itself isn't noisy at all, effects are natural sounding as if you are having a line-up of stomp-boxes, reverbs are really deep and smooth, but it lacks the most important sound to me: a big fat distortion. It simply doesn't have enough gain for metalheads (I am one so I probably know). The clean sounds are awesome, can get an excellent SRV crunch, even drive is rather good, but lead preamp is not so good. Not good for palm muting (Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, SOAD or Tool) or shredding solos. I really like the voicing of the drive "channel", and I think that for me it would be great just if it had more gain, so I could achieve bad-ass metal palm-muted rhythm sounds...but unfortunenatelly, it doesn't.. also, lead channel sounds rather digital and fake, unlike all other sounds in this unit. But: speaker simulators are great, effects are great (especially flanger, chorus, reverb), all sounds but lead are great, and I think that any blues, jazz or rock player will be very pleased with the DG stomp. I tried it through a 4*10 all-tube Fender combo (don't know what model), Marshall Valvestate 102R and various other amps and it still didn't give that high-gain sound, just if you might thought that the problem was in my 60-watt bluesy SS amp...It sounds good even through headphones, and good for direct-to-computer recording...In my opinion, Yamaha knew that it doesn't have enough gain, so high-gain factory presets all have a rather big amount of delay or some other effect as if they were trying to mask this fact. Unfortunatelly, I'll sell it, and my amp too, so I should have enough money to buy a Marshall AVT-50, which is an awesome sounding little(but loud) amp, has great distortion, check out the reviews if you don't believe me.

Had it for only a couple of months, and seems very reliable. The wall-wart gets really hot. Tank-solid metal chasis. Built better and stronger than boss pedals. It would survive the apocalypse.

Really good if you're NOT into metal and high-gain rhythm sounds, not good for palm muting..but besides that, I think it's an awesome tool for any studio-stage-bedroom jazz-blues-pop-rock player. It's unbelieveable that all this warm&cozy sounds are coming from a couple of microchips and transistors. I opened it up, it looks like a computer motherboard, amazing! I wish high gain sounds didn't mean so much to me, then I wouldn't have to sell it.

I've had this pre-amp/modeller for about 6 months now. I believe the features has been described to death by previous reviews so I won't go there. I play mostly classic rock, contemporary, jazz and blues style and the stomp seems to be versatile enough for my useage. I don't like the pre-set patches, they seem to be on the extreme side, but I will call some of them up and then tweak out the settings to get the tone I am looking for. The chorus feature is a nice touch and the amp sim is nice for direct digital recording uses. Thou I do wish that there was something similar to a channel switch that I can access the dirty sounds quickly rather than to pre-program the groups/banks/etc. I read from an earlier review about the Yamaha FC-7 expression pedal and I agree, I took a look at it in the store and the play was way too much! The travel of the FC-7 is so long that it was uncomfortable for me...I bought an older Yamaha piano volume pedal (which the FC-7 basically is) with less travel and that felt closer to my old cry baby wah. The sound of the wah isn't like the cry baby, but it's useable. I haven't tried to turn off the pre-amp and use the stomp strickly as a effects box looping throu the effects loop of an amp but it's nice to know that that option is there. I use it mostly for recording and it shines in that arena. In running it with an amp it does a good job as well. I haven't gigged with it live so I can't comment about that. I have found it to be somewhat easier to use as compared to other pre-amp/modellers out there. The midi option is something useless for me since it would make its use more complicated. I've tried hooking up a left and right speaker to it and you can get some nice stereo feel from them.

I play a '67 Gibby Les Paul with the original hber's, I also have a Fender American Fat Strat with Fender Fat 50's single coil and Gibby PAF's and I also have run my Guild DC50 accoustic electric with the fishman active pick-ups and they all can get great sound from the stomp. As far as digital modeller goes, it is the warmest sounding digital I have found at the price range. Let's face it, it's a digital processor so comparing it to a tube amp is like comparing apples to oranges. It is quiet, with a large range of sounds. On the digital recording, it produces great sounds which I have been very pleased about. Don't judge the stomp by it's pre-set patches, use the pre-sets as a base and tweak them out, you can get some really nice tones that way.

not sure, since I've had it for 6 months I've had no problems and would expect it to be solid. feels like it was built like a tank.

haven't needed them yet.

I've been playing for 23 years and have owned a few gears along the way which were mostly tubes. this is the first digital gear I've ventured into and I have to admit that I have been pleased with it. the only thing I wasn't impressed with is the pre-set patches. I think Yamaha could learn a little from Tech 21's Tradmark 60's. The midi option is basically useless for me, midi controllers seem to just complicate the use of the stomp. Sometimes I think there are way too many features on it then I need but I've found myself in situations where I was glad that Yamaha had put them in there like the phaser. If stolen , ya I would pick up another one.

NOt sure what year it was made.
Very versatile for what I play (garage rock)
I play it wit hmy band and for home recording.

Using Gibson SG-I with this amp. I also have a dano and a LP copy but the sg sounds best with this unit.

It suits my style well which is 60's garage and 70's punk. I love the fact that you can pick a clean amp and with the right speaker sim, you can force it to over drive. You can get a nice early Stones/Who sound, better than an OD pedal. It can be noisy at hi settings.

I recorded some stuff with this an also with my tube amp, then I neglected to mark which was which on my tapes. Listening to the tapes I can't distinguish which was my tube amps and which was the DG stomp.

The amp can make country sounds all the way to heavy metal sounds.

I'm not sure if I'd bring this without an amp to a gig. I like having an amp up there as a monitor.

n/a

been playing 20 years, own a traynor ycv-40 and an old ampeg reverberocket.

I did not compare this to any other multi-effect units. This is the only one I have ever owned. I chose this one after playing it in the store and I loved the sound.

I wish it was easier to navigate to different banks.

As I said before I love the fact that you can overdrive the clean amps.

I owned one once before but returned it to buy my tube amp. So this is the second one I've had. And this time it was used oneBay and cheaper!

I've had the DG Stomp for about 6 months now. I am really pleased with it. It may not have as many features as the Digitech GNX series, but I find the sounds (and the price) to be much better. Without using names of the amps it tries to emulate, it calls the different amp selection ?Clean, Drive, Crunch, Lead, etc.? This highlights the fact that it does not matter whether you sound like this or that amp as long as you can get the sound you want. The foot switches make it convenient to select up to three patches which is enough for most songs. The difficulty comes when switching between banks and groups, which is normally required between songs. I personally find that ?tap dancing? a bit ridiculous and error prone; for example, I once switched from user area (user programmed sounds) to preset area (original presets from Yamaha) by mistake and it took me a few seconds to realize that my sounds were wrong. You do not want that hassle when in front of a crowd. For that reason, I am thinking of buying a midi foot controller to switch patch sets on the DGStomp.

Speaking of sound... This is what I like most about this unit. I have been reading these reviews before making the ?right? choice. I found the DGStomp to be generally the best in that category and sound quality WAS my number one criteria. Some people give a very low rating, many give a high rating. Others say that speaker simulation is too subtle or useless. The way the DGStomp is plugged in the system is VERY important. This is a preamplifier, which means you should bypass the pre-amp of your amp by connecting to the effect return (if you have one). Speaker simulation has almost no effect otherwise. On the other hand when connected properly, speaker simulation will remove that annoying ?buzzy and fake? sound some have been commenting on. Connecting directly to a computer or PA (with speaker simulation on) also produces a very good sound. I play a Strat. I recorded a small jam over a boring bass and drum line directly into the computer; I wanted the distortion to be proportional to volume in this specific case. For those wondering what the DGStomp sounds like, you can hear this mp3 sample (1.72 MB) at http://pages.infinit.net/jremi/GuitarTest.html

No problem so far. Yamaha is normally reliable.

N/A

I have been playing mostly rock, progressive rock, blues (no heavy metal) for more than 30 years and this is my first such device. I would buy it again without hesitation. I can get any sound I want for the type of music I play. Again, to whoever is thinking about buying one, please ensure that your current setup will allow the DGStomp to shine before investing in one; otherwise you may become one of those reviewers giving a low sound quality rating and using adjectives such as ?buzzy?, ?fake? or whatever else.

I've had the DG Stomp since its inception (really bought into that nonesense in Guitar Player) and as with all similar devices it has too many features; too many options. Instead of doing one or two things well. On the plus side, this unit achieves a level of quiet that Roland and Digitech can only dream about.

What can I say...in the Yamaha tradition its a high fidelity device. So the sounds that call for lots of processing are impressive. Lots of nice chorus, delay and so on. But a simple distorion--the kind you can get from a $200 tube amp? No way in hell. Its just shrill, buzzy and fake. Like the J-Station and the Pod.

After a year (when it was never out of the house) the thing died. Being Yamaha and so clean sounding I always felt like I was taking a stereo receiver, placing it on the floor and stepping on it. Seems I was right.

I didn't have to wait on hold and I didn't have to listen carefully as their menu options had NOT changed. Bravo!

If it matters I've been playing since 1966. And if anyone should love the DG Stomp its me since I'm not interested in sounding like Megadeath or Blue Cheer or whatever. But aside from its breaking down, the lack of any decent overdrive, the worthless manual, the too-subtle speaker simulations and the unneccesary complexity have made me appreciate the advantages of using a tube amp and high-quality, individual pedals. A lesson learned.

It's been pretty much covered.Anything you might ever REALLY need it has got it. A bit spastic to use it live but I've found the cure:I have created 9 groups of sounds and just change the banks with the foot switches.Forget about trying to change the groups live via the foot switches,except if you are an expert tap dancer!

I am an analog stompbox fanatic and I used to own a POD that I sold cause it did not sound very good to me.This small unit REALLY surprised me.VERY warm and un-digital sounding especially through a tube amp (I am using a VOX AC30) but also very realistic sounding through a soundsystem.Having the speaker sim ALWAYS on is the key to a great sound.I am very impressed by this little thing,especially the killer overdrive sounds

built like a tank

a very nice sounding effects/preamp especially when I can't carry my huge pedalboard.VERY good sounding effects w/ the exception of the compressor that sounds bad.I always use a MARSHALL ED1 comp in front of the unit that enchances the tone dramatically

I needed a floor unit for rehearsals & small gigs so I wouldn't have to lug around my Rocktron Prophesy or Rocktron Chameleon 2000, both of which I love very much. At $150.00, this unit is an outstanding value given the fine versatility and usability of the amp tones, the quality of the effects, a well-thought-out user interface that's pretty easy to follow and access.

The metal chasis seems to be contructed very well. I do prefer that the knobs used on the unit are continuous rotary encoders where adjustments can be made on the fly instead of having to turn the knob in the direction of the current parameter before the unit recognizes that a change is being made.

MIDI implementation seems complete relative to how I would have a sequencer control the unit. However, some MacOS X software interface would be very welcome.

The provision of S/PDIF I/O allows for direct digital recording but a switchable sampling rate between 44.1 and 48 KHz instead of just 48KHz would have been nice as I mostly record using the 44.1KHz.

This is a great little tone box that I have been using as my live front end. As much as I still love my Rocktron Chameleon 2000 and Rocktron Prophesy, they have not seen the light of day for a long time now (six months) since I started using the DG Stomp.

While I'm not too familiar with the sounds of the variety of amps that most modelers mimic. I am exposed to and play a wide variety of commercial and fine arts music so I have an awareness of what kind of sounds complement whatever style. And playing with the unit on these varying styles, I find that it fits in very well with all them except for ones that need ridiculously high gain.

The amps I revolve around are as follows:
- Lead 2, having less mids & being bassier is perfect for ballsy muted power 5ths and shred stuff.
- Lead 1, being more prominent in mids, sounds sweet & is typical for melodic playing in fusion music
- Drive 2 I use for that tube-saturated glassy texas blues type sound
- Clean 2 I use for chordal/rhythm work on pop/rock styles
- Clean 1 for jazz
- Crunch 2 for country

The effects are great sounding despite being of the bread & butter kind. The delay helps me emulate a Holdsworth type swell and the chorus is quite rich.

What I may not be completely satisfied with are the speaker simulations, as they tend to retain some edginess that I end up having to EQ out. I tend to go with the Y412 and Y212 simulations which have a good balance for me.

The unit has been very reliable in 6 months of weekly use. Then again, I do my best to take care of my stuff.

No experience with Yamaha in this area.

I've been a musician for 15 years now, but playing guitar for 10 of those years, the last 5 with some competency. And of course, I am maintaining progress with the craft. I originally intended to use this unit as an alternative to my rack stuff for small gigs & rehearals but I am very pleased with the quality of the sounds I get that I will continue to use it as the primpary front end for quite a long time. It's sound and simplicity is what attracted me but there is quite a bit of power to the unit and it serves my musical purposes well. With technology going at the rate of progress that it is, I'm sure that time will bring us with much finer units. Yet knowing that fact, I find no need to make meaningless comparisons between GNX, PODs, and the like nor dream of what the future lies in store. I wish to reinforce that I am thoroughly satisfied with the DG Stomp.

I have read the manual twice and am still a bit confused. I'm not the type who has problems programming a VCR either...I'm a PC tech by day. Any help would be appreciated. I keep getting fustrated and am considering offing it because of this.

Distortion seems very "tinny" and "thin" I play a Gibson SG Special through a Fender Blues Jr. It sounds great plain, but the Fender has no gain channel, and I was thinking this box may add some dimension and distortion to my sound, therefore I bought it. Maybe I could have done better with a Boss DS1 for $30? I have to admit there is no line noise. Very quiet operation. If the sounds can be "thickened" up, I would be happy to give it a 10.

I bought it used, and it seems sturdy and fine. No line noise, quiet pots, etc.

Discontinued item...manual and patches available online. I have no MIDI knowledge, so it is pretty useless at this time for me.

I play blues, rock, folk, & jam. Even though I've been an on again-off again player for 18 years and am still a beginner. I am just beginning to take this more seriously. The other effects I have are a Crybaby & tube screamer (TS7). I tried a Digitech RP200 and took it back to the store. it was a pain in the a$$ to program (but easy to figure out) and was built cheaply. This also has compression, delay, modulation, a built in tuner, and reverb settings ---but finding the right sound is a challenge. I would really appreciate any help so I can have a more positive review on this product. I would not replace it if it were stolen. I would just buy single stomp boxes. (I want to spend my time playing guitar, not endlessly tweaking knobs and buttons for effects)

I prefer clean sounds and I get them with this. I have used it on tape and digitally.

Only the wall wart bugs me. I know it would add to the cost but if I were sitting in thqat meeting I would have insisted on getting rid of it.

This is a great product and no one was more skeptical than I was when a guy I work with lent me his for a weekend. I was basically a straight in the amp kinda guy for 32 years with some expermentation with effects. But the amp modeling is what I have been looking for.There are a lot of obnoxiuosly opinionated people who say they hear this and they say they hear that, you know the same ones who claimed CDs would never take over. Get a life. This product proves two things, science is still wonderful and this is the new century. If you want to be one of those 60 year old geezes in some dusty guitar shop go ahead and be my guest but I am moving on.

Purchased off Ebay, price included the expression pedal.

For what it is, it has great features. The only thing I wish it did was tune my guitar for me! Seriously, I don't get what some of these reviewers want from this unit. No noise gate??!! A noise gate does not belong on this. It should be some consolation that you get a compressor because a compressor doesn't belong on this type of unit either. You're not gonna buy this unit for the compressor any more than you'd buy it for the noise gate it doesn't have. You might, however, buy it JUST for the quality and ease of setting up and using the effects, regardless of the amp and speaker models.

I find the tuner quite easy to use. But I am comparing that to my IntelliTouch tuner. They're very similar.

Well, I guess it "only" has 8 amp types, so it's not as versatile as the Pod. I'll put it this way - 8 is already one more than I can keep track of. It also costs about half the price of the Pod.

Because it has fewer functions controlled by each knob - and therefore more knobs - it's a lot easier to set up than many similar units. I found it quite easy to store patches. Recalling them, however, is a bit more complicated. But again, not more so than similar units. If you added a midi controller (which sort of undermines the simplicity of the unit) it would be every bit as easy to use as the Line 6 or Johnson amps - which also require a midi foot controller for ease of use.

There is definitely a limitation in that you have basically three presets you can call up per song. Fortunately, this is exactly right for me.

To an aging player suchb as myself, the coolest thing about this DG Stomp is that it sounds good and doesn't weigh 85 pounds. My Boogie Mark III just keeps getting heavier! It'll be 200 pounds by the time I'm .... OK, 50.)

I use the DG Stomp with headphone with speaker model turned on. I also run it into the main amp input of an Eden Traveler bass amp. That's a cool application: I can have a bass plugged into the front of the amp and use all of the preamp controls of the Eden for the bass while keeping a guitar plugged into the DG Stomp and running to the main amp input, which is not affected by the preamp controls. This means that I can just lug my Eden 210 rig for practices and leave the Mark III home. (I play both guitar and bass.)

I play an ES335 and a Strat about equally. I tend toward jazzier sounds. Mainly clean sounds. Gee, there are nice clean sounds available from the DG Stomp too! It's not ALL about distorted sounds. There's a very nice, bloopy jazz preset too.

Did Yamaha make a mistake by not actually NAMING the models "Tweed," or "Twin," or "JCM?" Some reviewers are hung up on the notion that Yamaha didn't actually emulate specific amps. If you ask me, it's quite obvious that they did just that. They just didn't opt to use the trademarked names. The Stomp's Clean 2 sounds as much like a Twin as the "Twin" model in my Roland VS880EX. It's better than the Johnson Millenium I bought and returned. But frankly, I am not looking to sound like someone or something else.

The only real problem with the presets was that they are so maxed that the pick attack seems to glitch digitally. If I back off on the gain I get a responsive "interactive" type of attack "something like" a real tube amp. If I want to get the kind of springy responsiveness of a real tube amp, I play through my Mark III.

I like the chorus better than my Roland CH-1 or the CE-3 (which sucked but it's highly desirable now because it's "vintage" and made in Japan. I sold it for more than I paid for it brand new - nearly 20 years ago. Yeah, I'm a geezer.)

I like the spring reverb in my Mark III better than the spring reverb model in the DG Stomp. The DG Stomp's reverb is still good, though. To be more specific, it's got too long of a decay for the higher reverb mix setting I like to use. I think it's just what I'm used to - It's not really better or worse. It's still a nice, useable reverb sound.

Well, for this price, you can get two of them, if you want a backup. But one of the uses of the DG Stomp could be AS a backup: If your amp goes dead, you CAN run this through the PA.

I have been playing for 35 years. I've owned a lot of gear over the years. For the price, this is a great piece of gear! I probably will actually get another one just because it looks like they don't make them anymore. I love the simplicity and versatility of the DG Stomp. It's perfect for nearly everything I do on guitar. I'd still take my Mark III with me. But that detracts not at all from the DG Stomp's usefulness. My points of comparison are a Johnson Millenium head, which I returned after a week. The models in this little Yamaha are far better than those of the Johnson, which really sucked. My experience with Line 6 has been an early combo amp, which was terrible, and just trying out the Pod. The Pod's nice. And way overpriced. It does MORE than the DG Stomp, but it doesn't do it as well, in my opinion. The other comparison is the effects cards in my Roland VS880EX (digital hard disc recorder.) I assume these effects are like those in the Boss VF-1. The Roland's models do sound better to me than any of the other modeling amps.

on starting up the box, it's easy to use the preset sounds and by just adjusting them a little get very good, personalised sounds. trying to use some of the more complicated functions is more tricky however. the manual helps a lot, but some of the functions, such as the tuner, and the wah wah pedal, are a little complicated. could be better.

i use an epiphone elitist les paul with seymour duncan 59's. i put this through either a modified peavey valve amp (used to be a hammond tr-30 thing) or a marshall 200w solid state power amp and an ashdown 2x12 cab. the only other effects i use are a marshall guv'nor pedal, and a cry baby wah. through both of these the dg stomp sounds excellent, it requires a little tweaking to get the sound right, (as you'd expect) but overall it sounds very good. My only complaint would be with the phaser and flange effects, they themselves are very high quality, but they would be better if they had a mix or volume control, it's hard to get a subtle sound using some phaser and distortion, the phaser is just a bit loud. not that it's a problem though. using it as a preamp works very well as well, the speaker simulator is excellent, and the sounds add that extra realistic warmth. would be nice if it had a dual rectifier style sound though, the lead sounds are verry high gain anyway, but it would be nice to have somthing more mesa boogie esc. maybe that could be an upgrade, who knows?

i've not had anyproblems with this at all, i've had it for about 6 months now, and have gigged with it several times. on all occasions it's performed brilliantly. i'd never hesitate to take it as my only effects. it's built like an absolute tank. there's no risk of it being damaged, yamaha have done an excellent job with the design and layout.i think if i dropped it, the floor would suffer more than this would. a great piece of kit.

i had to contact yamaha to get a new plug when my little brother threw it out the window in a temper (don't ask) and they sent it along within about 3 days no problems at all, very helpful.

overall, an excellent piece of kit, well worth the money and a great alternative to the line6 pod. definatley the best piece of equipment i've ever bought, just wish the foot pedal (the fc-7) was a bit cheaper. i definately reccomend it to anyone looking for some excellent amp sounds and high quality effects.

The DG-Stomp is a pre-amp and effects pedal. The unit is fairly easy to use as far as creating patches. They obviously took their time making the presets and modifying them is simple enough. They have a tri mode button that you have to use to change sound banks and I can't say that I care for it. Not a problem when you're recording but on stage it's slow. The manual is straight forward and simple. A little experience with Yamaha gear helps. It's certainly better than the old manuals that were poorly translanted from the Japanese. As with their other pedals of this type, you have to initialize each function before you can make a change. This means you have to find the setting is it on and move the dial to this point before it will register a change. I thought this odd at first but then realized that it would be the only way for you to know what setting is used for the preset. Not a bad idea at all really. Any and all changes you make including bass, treble, presence, gain, etc are saved when you create a patch. The tuner doesn't seem to be able to "commit" and is largely a waste of time. Although I haven't done so (yet) you can hook up an expression pedal to it to alter sounds. Pedal function is assignable.

I use a variety of guitars with this pedal but all of them use either single coils or P-90's. I believe this to be the best multifunction pedal I've ever owned. I've been using guitar pedals since 1966. They have included all the effects I could want. The inclusion of phaser (think MXR Phase 90) and tremolo are a real bonus to me. The speaker cabinet emulations are great for recording. At first I was amazed that it had no "distortion or overdrive" button. But that function is handled by the "amp select". I believe all the effects are first rate (the "spring" reverb is outstanding). The presets would probably suffice for all but most picky tone monsters. Plenty of crunch, clean, and lead patches They have a few "experimental" patches but only a few. Patches with names like "Santa-Ana" are self explanatory as to what tone they are aiming for. It is not noisy in general but I've had to tweak the compressor on a couple of patches. I've sent the output direct to my computer, to a Mackie P.A. amp, and to my Crate DX-212 amp. The stomp handles all of them very very well.

The box is made of metal and the stomp switches are solid under your feet. There will not be any physical problems with this unit. I will use it without a backup but I haven't sold my RP-1 yet.

I haven't dealt with Yamaha since the old DX-7 days. When I did call them about parts for mine they were friendly and helpful. If they still train their people the same way I'm sure you won't have trouble with them.

I play in several different live situations and I record several styles. This unit will find it's way into all of that. I've been making guitar music for almost 40 years and I think I know the good stuff. Unlike most gear I own, if this were lost or stolen I would try to replace it immediately. As a pre-amp OR as an effects unit, it's more than worth the price I paid. As both, it's the deal of a decade. I hear this pedal has been discontinued. What a pity. One of my bands has 3 guitarists and we all got one after hearing it. It may be the one and only thing we agree on. If you can find one to audition give it a whirl. You'll be leaving the store with it I guarantee.

Ease of use: -3 Ease of using the manual -10
I have been playing with the Stump for 2 years. The best thing about the Stump is that some of the preprogramed Patches (all 90 of them)sound great. With some of them you can virtually play anything and it sounds good. Remember the first time you tried a Fuzz Tone and nobody had any idea what the song was or even cared? The worst thing about the Stump is the manual. It is so confusing and has such little useable information I don't think it makes any difference whether you can read or understand any of the 6 languages it is written in. Once you go through the discription of the controls, the rest of the information is just more confusing.

It is easy to edit the patches but difficult to keep track of what you have done without keeping a note book for each patch number you modify. And Heaven help you if you touch one of the 21 momentary buttons after you have set up what you want, your not in Kansas any more.

That being said, it is relativly easy to get the device working as long as you stick with the preprogramed patches. The Stump is split into 2 identical sections. The factory setting (90 Patches) that can be altered but not saved, and a user section where the settings (same 90 Patches) can be altered and saved.

I use a Carvin SC90T and a Martin D28 with a Gold under bridge pickup.
The Stump is pretty quiet. It sounds like they actually have added noise that would be tipical of the effect.
I play through a Rivera, Fandango and a PV Pacer100.

The good effects always sound good the so so ones always sound so so.

If anything I think they tried to do too much. Included effects are: Compressor, I give it a 5, Chorus-8, Flanger-2, Phaser-2, Rotary-3, Tremolo-9, Delay-7, Tape echo-6, Reverb/spring/plate/hall-7. In addition they offer different outputs of: Lead 1&2, Drive 1/&2, Crunch 1&2, and Clean 1&2. While they give you 1&2 1 would have been enough. There are also 16 different speaker simulations taht all kind of get blurred from one to the next. Four or five distinct cabinets would have been plenty. The Preprogramed patches are various combinations of the effects. With all of these buttons and dials you would think that there would be a way to bypass the Patches and use the effects you want, if you can I haven't figured it out yet.

It is reliable if you can remember what Patch does what. I should put a lable on the bottom and write down the settings I use for the different user stored patches. I do gig with the Stump but don't venture too far out of 2-3 patches I have worked out at home for what I'm playing. And once you turn it on and select the patch don't touch anything!

Customer support was just as confusing as the Manual. You understand real fast who wrote the manual and it took almost a week to get a reply that was not at all helpful. Saddly when I asked what a particular discription in the manual meant, they restated what it said in the manual. I guess I shouldn't have asked such a question.

I play a lot of different music styles from Jazz, to Rock, to Clasical. I have been playing for, "Oye vey, 40 years". If the Stump were stolen or lost I probably would not buy another one. Sadly, I don't love or hate my Stump I am indifferent. The favorite feature is, I have been able to get a feel for several types of effects with one device. That being said I will probably be buying some individual effect boxes.

With all the obvious work that went into building the Stump (none went into the manual), I would have paid more attention to the relation ship of the Gain control knob to the Volume knob. My impression is the designers have never used an amp that really had these features built in. It is very difficult to get a truly clean sound.

I think this is a great idea that got beyond the designer or maybe there were too many desiners, I'm Stumped.

I'm surprised this is classified under 'amps' rather than 'effects' like other amp modelers, but maybe it's a typo. Anyway, I got a recently discontinued DG Stomp from Musician's Friend, and had the chance to play it and compare it to my Johnson J-Station. Other multi-effects I've owned in the past: Behringer V-Amp 2, Digitech RP100, Zoom 505.

Specs are listed in other reviews, I thought I'd just share my general impressions compared to other amp modelers. The DG Stomp has less options as far as amp sims and deep editing goes than the J-Station or V-Amp 2 (or the POD 2.0 for that matter). I think this is both good and bad. Good because it doesn't require as much tweaking to get a good sound - out of the box the sims sound better than my J-Station, which sounds a little muddy/muted for my tastes. You don't need to have a deep knowledge of working effects because they simplified it. For example on the DG there is only knob to adjust compression, whereas on the J-Station (with the J-Edit software) you can modify attack, release, threshold, and gain. The J-Station also has more fine control over things like delay (numerical values) whereas here it is basically a tap delay. They clearly designed this for live users who want to set it up quickly and play, versus the J-Station which is essentially for home studios. Also the J-Station has bass and acoustic amp sims while the DG is strictly guitar only. The downside of course is that if you enjoy having lots of options and tweaking for hours then the DG Stomp is a little simple.

Nonetheless the DG has all the essential sims and effects and allows a wide range of sounds (I noticed this just by cycling through the presets). It has a digital coaxial out with 20-bit/48kHz. The most noticeable omissions are lack of editing software (even though it has MIDI in/outs) and a noise gate (more on that below).

I am using this with an el cheapo Squier Affinity Special. The clean amp sims and time-based effects are superb, very lush-sounding. I would rate them above all other amp modelers I've tried. The gain sounds are a mixed bag, some of the lead sounds are very studio-like but some other distortion sounds have that digital grittiness. I haven't seen a digital unit that can reproduce the smoothness of a Pro Co Rat or a USA-made Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, so I think it's best just to stick with stompboxes for those sounds.

As stated above the unit lacks a noise gate. Even with reduced noise pickups (with 'dummy' coils) set in humbucking positions (Strat 2 and 4), there is still a noticeable hum. On positions 1,3, and 5 the hum is just unbearable. This is compared to the J-Station which has almost no noise on 2-4, and very little on the 1-3-5 positions.

Very solid construction with metal casing. I wouldn't stomp on it too hard in case I might errantly stomp on the display or knobs, but it has a Boss pedal-type construction to it.

Haven't dealt with them yet

Soundwise it is better than all the other amp modelers I've tried, except for the increased noise. It is more dynamic and natural sounding than the J-Station and V-Amp 2. It is not as feature-rich as those two but it is more suitable for live playing in my opinion. If you can find it for under $150 then it's a great deal.

Excellent features for the money although usability can be an issue (switching amp settings for instance).

Having used this and a POD I have to say that the Stomp has far more natural sounding amp tones. Especially good is the way that the Stomp responds to picking dynamics, getting cleaner with less guitar output.

Where the POD wins hands down though is that it reproduce real amplifier tones form Marshall, Fender etc. Given that the presets on the Stomp are pretty useless this is a major shortcoming. Marshall/ Fender settings for the Stomp can be got at http://yamaha.dgstomp.users.btopenworld.com or by side by side matching to a real amplifier (a slow process). These settings turn the Stomp into a wonderful collection of vintage amp sounds and make it truly usable.

I guess it's a 9 for sound quality but only an 7 for actual sound choices.

No problems with reliability.

Other Yamaha spares seem outrageously expensive ($200 for a new grill cloth and baffle, $30 for a push/push pot).

I've been playing for over 30 years, mostly Strats and PRSs. My first real rig was a Marshall Plexi with 2 4x12s. I've been searching for that sound ever since in a more manageable package. The Stomp is the closest thing I've found for recreating valve amp sounds whilst retaining some of the natural warmth. My POD 2.0 got the EQ spot on was just wasn't compelling to listen to for me other than direct.
Overall a 9 (when set up with the Marshall and Fender tones).

I'd like to add a few words to my previous post. The features of the Stomp have been covered in detail by a lot of people on this page, but there's still some confusion as to the quality of the gain on the DGS. After some months of use, I found the following, which may help a few people out there get good/better distorted sounds:
1. on the back panel (where the guitar plugs in) there is low/hi output switch. Always leave it on.
2. ALWAYS leave the amp sim on. That changing the sim has negligible effect on the sound is one of the DGS's shortcomings, but turning it off ensures that you'll sound like Marylin Manson underwater. So leave it on.
3. Likewise, ALWAYS leave on the chorus or preferably phaser from the modulation bank, unless your song demands otherwise. This helps to get a big, tubey sound from the DGS, and if you're careful it doesn't sound too much like the effect is on at all.
4. Having the compressor effect on but turned down all the way seems to work for me.
5. Away from this, look at your guitar: use thicker strings, HB pickups, thicker picks, tune down 1/2 stop; increase amp volume where necessary.

Good luck!

Digital preamp modeler with effects. There is some dispute on this page as to whether this should be called a preamp; since I have run mine directly into the power stage of my amp and am getting at least as much volume as I ever did using the amp's pre, I say it can be safely called a preamp.

There are some truly marvelous features on this box, but it will not get a 10 from me because you can only use one modulation effect at a time, and because there are features that really should have been built into it that were omitted (ie noise gate, clean boost on demand, which you can do with the foot controller but I would have rather had a built in 10 db boost on the fourth ftsw than tap tempo for the delay, or ideally be able to assign either function to it) However, as I will get into in the next section, overall the features are pretty good, with some rising to excellence.

Let's break this down in sections.

AMP SIMS: 2 types each of Clean, Crunch, Drive, and Lead preamp models, all with Gain, Level, and 4 band EQ. I use mostly the Clean 1, Crunch 1 and 2, and Drive 1 (the Lead channels have a very sort of nu-metal sound, which is way not me), and overall I am fairly satisfied. Pick of the litter is definitely Clean 1, it's almost 100% noise free and it's very easy to make it sound good. Speaking of noise, there have been some people who have called this box noisy; I suspect these people are using this preamp into the front side of their amps. If you have a Power Amp In (FX Return on a series loop equipped amp) USE IT!! 90% of the noise disappears. Yeah, the higher gain settings get a little noisy on single coils, just like almost every OD pedal I've ever used does when you crank the gain. A lot of people have also complained that this does not sound like a good tube amp when it distorts. To this I say: no shit sherlock, nothing sounds like a Bogner or a Boogie except a Bogner or a Boogie!! The DG will, however, get you about 80% of the way to that kind of tonal nirvana, for about 4.6% the price. If you absolutely positively will not be happy with anything less than real tube tone you should know better than to buy a digital preamp. If little digital boxes that weigh a pound and sell for under $500 could really make EXACTLY the same tone as a 100 lb, $3000 tube amp, do you really think the big heavy things would still cost $3000??? Do you really think they would still be made at all if that was the case? And would anyone buy one of they were? Come back to reality everyone. If you use the Gain judiciously it's not horrible; if you push the hell out of it it gets kinda harsh.

MODULATION EFFECTS: chorus, flange, tremolo, rotary (vibrato), and phaser. You can only use one at a time, so if there's one you can't live without you might consider getting or retaining a separate pedal for that effect, as I'm doing with the chorus. Some of these effects are tremendous: the other guitar player in my band, for instance, owns a $100+ Voodoo Labs trem and he's jealous. I was never a fan of flanging before, but I am rapidly falling in love with this one. Then there's the others, which for the most part I could take or leave; however there are 4 parameters you can adjust for each effect, so with careful tweaking I may yet find a use for the phase and vibrato.

DELAY: two modes, delay and tape echo. Feedback, level and time controls; peg the time to 10 and you get a little under 2 seconds of delay, which is a lot longer than my old Boss delay that went to like 1.2 I think... What can you really write about delay? It is what it is. I don't hear much diff in Tape Echo mode, personally.

REVERB: Spring, Hall, and Plate modes, Effect Level knob. Hall is great, Spring is a little too bright; I say the plate sucks, but I have yet to find a digital plate reverb I like so take it for what you will.

PATCHES: You get to make 90 patches, and it has 90 (mostly useless ones) preloaded. 10 Groups x 3 Banks x 3 Patches. Editing is intuitive; I've played with the thing a total of about 4 hours this week and have created and idealized about 12 patches. Storing is easy unless you want to store across groups (ie, tweak patch 1-1-3 and store it as 5-2-1), which gets to be a pain. I myself am trying to organize them so that I don't have to change groups during a set; hence I'll have 9 patches at my disposal in any given set, which I can switch to FAIRLY quickly... This depends mostly on how intelligently you use the thing. And on how many patches you feel you need in a given song or set; if you really need more than 9 patches at any given moment you need MIDI I guess.

OTHER FEATURES: Speaker Sim, haven't used it yet. Master Output Volume, without which I wouldn't have bought the thing because I have lived too long without a master volume. Tuner, which will make you want to break your guitar over your

The chassis could be run over with a small car, msot likely. Time will tell if the innards prove to be as durable; I've had it for a week and gigged once with it, so I couldn't say. I intend to baby it as much as possible.

If I had bought this for $400 I would rate it a lot lower, but for the price I paid I feel I got a tremendous value. No it does not sound like a Matchless or Bogner, but then again I will never herniate myself trying to put this in my car or carry it up a flight of stairs, plus it didn't cost more than my mortgage payment. It all comes down to priorities. If I was a millionaire with a road crew I would have gone for a Twin and a bunch of boutique pedals. Being that I am in a barroom band, schlep my own gear around, and am lucky to come home with $100 in my pocket after settling my tab, I am willing to make some compromises.

Even if I had that Twin and never used the amp sims (which are bypassable), at the price I paid it would still be a phenomenal value just for the effects. You couldn't buy the same quality delay and trem, for instance, for twice the price even on the used market. If it was stolen and I could get another for the same money I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

I won't bore you with re-writing the features of the Stomp. Thou, I decided to get the stomp bc of the digital recording. Also, I needed something that I can use without waking up the neighbors.

The sounds are good and for a modeller, it's warmth is closest to a tube compared to others in this price range. I've tried the POD and Pandora, neither of which I was impressed with and found them more difficult to use. What I play mostly is jazz, classic rock, santana and clapton, and for what I use it for, it does the job very well. I use an Amer. Strat with single coil, '67 Les Paul with humbuckers, and a Fender acoustic with diMarzio pick-ups and I get great sounds from all of them. I've paired it with the DS60 "slave" speaker and I find that it's got enough power for most small to mid size venues. I have tried it with a Peavey 258 Transtube and found it too digital sounding...but I believe it was more the Peavey than the stomp. I won't give it a 10 since I don't think any amp is perfect, but it is good for it's purpose.

since I haven't had it over a year yet, I won't rate it for reliability. but it seems to be built well. I do like that it's cased in metal.

haven't needed it yet

I've been playing for 22 years and have Marshall and Peavey amps. I would get another one if I lost this one.

This unit is quite easy to use although a couple of workouts
with the manuel are neccessary to set up your patches (up to 90).
Editing is a snap after you become familiar with it. This unit has
great tone and only needs a plain solid state amp to play through
and even sound great through my Danelectro nifty fifty but ofcourse
nicer through my Pevy keyboard amp. The pre-amp can switched off
allowing only the effects to opperate if you want to run it through
a nice tube amp. The effects can be dialed in to suit any style
of music. It was easy to get a nice clean tone, overdrivin to any
degree, and explosive fat grinding sounds for blues, rock, or
whatever. I had a POD for a year and I never came close to what
can get from this thing and you can edit everything without a
computor and store it in a flash.

I use single and double coil guitars with it and get no noise
except for on the monsterous gain settings that is part of that
style anyway. The effects are very nice and fully editable. I can
cop a SRV thing easy , Santana , Van Halen , Robin Trower , Clapton ,
Metalica , Desturbed , and also sweat fat clean jazz tones. I like the
sound of it through my keyboard amp with all tone controlls set at 0
which is a Pevy KB60 w/1-12" and a tweater. Through head phones it's
not as thrilling.

It's built like a tank and no dought it'l be around
for ever. All metal construction.

N/A

This is the best pedal/preamp i've purchased. I've been
through a POD, H/K Tubeman, and a dozen little pedals and none
of them have been this usefull. Blues music is my fist love
and I'm gettin some great Hendrix , SRV tones. Nothing beats
a cranked up vintage or botique tube amp to me , but now I
don't have to lug my sweathearts out in the cold for every
little jam night.

As we all know by now, the DG Stomp box is not an amp, but an effects box. How it ended up in the amps section here at HC is anybody's guess.

The features of this box are bountiful and troublesome at the same time.

BOUNTIFUL...
* Plenty of studio quality effects, including chorus, reverbs, rotary speaker, doubling, tremelo, flangers, phase shifter
* Excellent clean sounds
* Variety of speaker simulators
* good mix of desktop recording and live play features
* Midi In/Out and a digital recording output
* Stereo sends
* Good OD tones with 6 or 8 different OD models
* Ability to cut off the preamp and just use the effects
* Rugged, heavy-duty, stage-worthy metal housing, buttons and connectors
* Very quiet with my amps; tiny bit of BG noise with phase shifter
* Some usable pre-programmed patches
* Hi/lo input switch for passive and pre-amped guitars
* Sound carries from patch to patch as you switch - no popping or cutting of sounds
* Fairly low power consumption @ 15W (for those of you with a convenience power jack on the back of your amp)
* Global master volume knob
* Much better tones than higher-end Zoom pedals (GFX-4, GFX-8)... absence of fizzy tones

TROUBLESOME...
* Crappy on-board tuner; doesn't track harmonics well at all
* Too many foot stomps to change banks and patches... four per bank/patch switch! Forces you to group patches by song rather than function, duplicating some patches just for ease of getting to them quickly
* No global bypass just to get pure amp tone without any of the pedal; must create a no-patch patch
* Big kahuna wall-wart
* Really need a MIDI pedal to navigate more effortlessly thru patches
* No expression pedal (not really a problem since every unit I have seen with an expression really skimps on the quality of the pedal)

Guitar: ES-137P (P90) archtop
Amp: Fender Super Amp, Fender Princeton Chorus

My DG Stomp is virtually noiseless except on very high gain settings and extreme phase shifter settings. Really much less noisy than other pedals I have owned. Ptreety much 100% noise-free on most settings.

I play jazz for myself and rock/blues in a band. The DG Stomp fits the bill best, I think, on blues/rock, though there are serviceable fusion tones in there as well.

Straight jazz sounds best just my guitar through the amp, thouhg, to be honest, I have not experimented much with turning off the preamp and using only the effects. I really need to do that, don't I?

The OD tones sound good to me and all the tones (clean or OD) are clear and distinct, unlike other pedals like the Zoom 505-II.

I really like the chorus and reverbs on the DG Stomp in conjunction with the preamps.

The DG Stomp sounds better than any other multi-FX pedal I've had, including the Zoom GFX-4/GFX-8/505-II/GFX-707, Digitech RP-14D/RP-3/RP-7. The pedal also sounds much better than did my Yamaha DG-80 amp! I don't understand that one...

I own other Yamaha gear - CPX-8 flattop. I've never had a reason to contact support.

I've been playing longer than I sound like. I've recently joined my first real band of middle aged rockers, though I have been playing for a long time and played in garaga bands in the late 70's, before giving up guitar for almost 20 years.

I've had my share of gear over the last 5 years. For an incomplete list, see: http://www.geocities.com/oasysco/gearidx.htm.

Amps include Fender SFSR, lots of SFPR's, BF/SF Champs, Gibson GA5T's, several different digital modeling amps, dozens of pedals, and a slew of SS offerings from many manufacturers. Guitars include various archtops - vintage Gretsch, Gibson, Lyle, SLM with my share of solid bodies and flattops.

The list of features (good and bad) I recounted above pretty much sums up the way I feel about the pedal... can't beat its sounds; wish it was easier to use for live play... I'll give it a "9" based on the "good" features and the tones.

Yamaha's try at amp simulation (think: Line 6 POD) and a well built one it is. Metal chassis, very rugged, with LED-Display top left, a row of pushbuttons on top (effects), followed by two rows of rotary pots (effect settings/ amp controls) and four footswitches (channels or effects, your choice) at the bottom. The most intuitive, easy-to-master set-up I have come across! Very easy to dial in your sound, I wish the POD was as user-friendly.
BUT: The changing of patches/banks is crap, very complicated. I recommed using the DG-Stomp in the manual mode, where it really shines. Using it that way, I give it a 10, but in general I deduct 2 points. The manual is okay, though.

I use the DG-Stomp with a 50's Telecaster Reissue ("Tequilacaster"). I simulate a slighty overdriven Bassman with Slapback, Reverb and ocasional Tremolo a la Johnny Burnette Rock'n'Roll Trio.
The Sound is nice, but slightly too precessed. Running it through the Power-Amp section of my amp, a Blues Deluxe, helps for live situations. The speakers seem to color the sound and take out the digital cleanliness.

Would I use it to a gig, without a backup? I did, no problems. I own it for about 10 months, it has not let me down. But someone has yet to spill beer on it, then we'll see... The AC-Adapter runs HOT very fast, but it did not fail yet. Plus there is no other unit on the market that is as compact and user-friendly.

Never dealt with them.

My sound is basically fifties-style rockabilly. So why bother with amp-simulation at all and not go for the real thing? First of all, I would have to schlepp a heavy Bassman amp around with not much help (two girls, one other guy in the band). And I'd have to crank up that baby REALLY LOUD to get distortion, which would drown out everybody else! And this way, I don't have to deal with stompboxes (batteries, patching up etc.).
In a perfect world either Line 6 would make their POD more user-friendly or Yamaha would make a better sounding unit, so I would not need both. As it is I stay with the DG-Stomp for gigs and POD for recording.

It does just about everything. The best feature in my opinion is the display and adjustment knobs for all of the effects. In other words, you have separate knobs and LEDs for the effects so you know exactly what is on and off at a glance.

Unbelievable. For the price, this stomp box creates some great tones. If anyone says it doesn't, they didn't know what they were doing. I just returned a PODxt because the sounds were very simliar and I already own the DG Stomp. It's that good.

No problems.

Don't know. Haven't needed them.

Wonderful tones for those looking for a versitile stomp box in this price range. I wish the tuner was more accurate, but the tones more than make up for that. Yamaha was ahead of their time with this unit. You can get them now for under $200, so buy one!

This guitar effects processor offers a lot. 8 amp characteristics, 16 Cabinets, tuner and many effects. I would give it a 10, but it does not have a Noise Gate.

I play Smooth Jazz and Fusion instrumental music. I get a great sound from the DG Stomp. I love it. It is the best guitar effects unit available that sounds like a real amplifier. The Clean patches sound amazing for all styles. The gain presets sound as good as a tube amp. I will say that if you are in to the syle of Metal you may not like this unit. You can't get that scooped metal Mesa Boogie type of distortion from the Stomp, but you can get a Fender and Marshall sound out of this and it sounds great! This unit fits my style perfectly.

This may be the toughest floor effects processor ever made. Very gig worthy!! Solid Metal!!

I have never dealt with Yamaha. I bought the DG Stomp from zZounds.com which is where I buy everything from. Their prices and Customer support is the best! If something went wrong with it I know zZounds will take care of me.

I really love the DG Stomp. I can't believe it is selling for $139.00 new. Like I mentioned earlier, I wish it had a noise gate. It isn't that noisy, but a noise gate would have been nice.

It's very easy to use but impossible to get great sounds out of it. I give it a 5 just cause it sounds so bad.

I've been playing guitar for 12 years and I know my gear. This thing isn't noisy but sounds like crap. There isn't nearly enough gain for shredding and the distortions just remind me of some bad boss distortion pedal on half. Even with a lot of tweaking and trying to put the dg's effects on to help the tone I couldn't get a usable tone out of it. It sounds very low gain and very low quality. As soon as I got it as a gift I called to return it.

I'm sure I can rely on it to work but it just sounds so awful.

I didn't deal with Yamaha since i'm returning it to the store.

I don't think the tones on this thing are believable enough for any genre. I think too many people just want the convenience of an all in one piece of gear and they end up sacrificing tone to do it and that's sad. I never wanna sacrifice good tone just for convenience.

DG Stomp is easy to use. I really like the method of editing the patches. "Tweak" the knobs until it sounds good. (Good quality pots!) There is a manual and no complaints.

Right now I am using it with a Behringer Blue Devil. Also have a JC120, can't wait to try it out with that. When I first plugged it in it was a bit noisy, but I think it was the hi/lo switch in the back of the unit, and also the presets are a bit extreme, especially when the pots on my Gibson are turned on 10. The effects really sound good. I like the distortions and the clean sounds. I like digital sound, so if it sounds like "tube" or not isn't an issue. (I will spoil myself someday with tubes, for sure.) Right on the box it says that it is quiet, and I think it is too. The clean effects are very rich, and you can't really hear any modulation when you are not playing, and I checked for that with the phaser. I am happy with the purchase, since I was looking hard for the right pedal.

It is probably very reliable. (Kid you not, says so on the box: "Don't be scared...") It is in a metal housing with 4 "classic" stomp box switches. However, they don't have that annoying "click" that some of the classic old pedals had.

I bought it because I am involved in a project and we are playing "personal power" alternative, a la Anthony Robbins. Pearl Jam and Chili Peppers come to mind, although we aren't talking to any of their people. :-) I have been playing 25 years, single, no wife. I own a modest Gibson Firebrand, and a couple of Mexican Tele's. If Stomp were stolen, I would buy it again, but if I couldn't buy it again (see the price I paid, new???), I would wait for the next wave of effects to come out, and start my search all over again. REELY

tiene todo lo que la gente necesita en un studio, pero no tiene sonido real.... suena bien con caja directa a una consola, no intenten comparar esto con amplificador de tubos verdadero....

jejejejej, primeramente a quien se le ocurriria comparar una marshall del 1974 con un pedazo de @!#$@# digital, puedes tener la mejor guitarra del mundo con los mejores microfonos, cuerpo de cualquier madera... etc... el resultado final es que este equipo suena bien en estudio cuando no tienes buenos equipos(profesionales) y quieres un sonido que pueda resolver tus problemas de equalizacion rapido,

pero el sonido real viene de amplificadores y guitarras reales (punto)

asi que el que espere que puede comparar una marshall jmp mark II conectada con una gibson custom a un pedazo de $%@$ digital mejor que se vaya a su casa y lo pienze ....

despues de todo suena bien si eres una persona que no sabe o que no puede probar lo (real)!!!

para el que quiera saber, no considero que este aparato deberia usarse en vivo porque no se puede sacar un sonido descente.... pero en studio podria dar (a lo mejor) resultados aceptables.....

Easy to use. Easy to edit and store patches.

Distortion(2 types), crunch(2), drive(2) and clean(2) sounds all have an unpleasing harshness in the mid and high areas. The best sounds are the clean sounds. One crunch and one drive are'nt too bad either. I tested it for studio purposes only and it does not compare to a real amp at all. Also there is no air or dimension in what I hear.
I am very disapointed. It is a lot less convincing than the other most popular modeler out there! (you know, the red kidney bean)
Effects are cool. Chorus, flanger, rotating, phaser, tremolo, dlys, reverbs, comp. They're all fine. Really, it is the dist. and the like that sucks, a bit like plugging an overdrive pedal directly into a mixing console (I exagerate but you get the picture).

From what I see and the company reputation, it should be reliable.
The construction is solid. Good for onstage.

I bought it (I had a good deal though) to work at home first. I already have a POD and an Ampfarm plug in at work so I wanted something that would give me another sonic color. Maybe it would be good in a live situation but then again it does'nt have a bypass switch. From what I see you always have to be on one of the 8 amp simulation so if you still wanna use your amp tone once in a while, you're screwed! Like I said, the amp simulations dont cut it for me. The different cabs are not convincing either, more like a twisted eq to me than a real cab characteristic.

For features I have to give it an 8. This is only because there is no true by-pass switch so I can go through the amp alone...transparently. I got around this a bit by programming the patches so that I have a lead tone, a clean tone, and an alternative tone for 'song types'. For example if I want a Hendrix bank or a Skynyrd bank, or a Clapton bank, I have three sounds in each of those styles. Not ideal but it seems to work fine. This leads me to another negative. Changing banks is a pain. If I'm in the 011/012/013 bank and I want to move to the 021/022/023 bank I can't without doing it manually. The pedal feature for doing this takes me directly from the 011 bank to the 111 bank...skipping all of the remaining 0 prefix banks. Oh yeah the tuner sucks and I still use my Fender floor tuner. Minor problem. Beyond that it's very versatile when dialing in different sounds. I've programmed some quality banks and they don't sound overly processed. I can get some really nice warm tones. Programmability is a snap...a short review of the manual and I was on my way. I like the pre-amp feature...presence is nice to have available to help you cut through the mix.

I'm using Strats and a '77 LP through the Stomp and I find that the settings I've dialed in with my Strats have to be modified a bit (at least to my ears) when I use the Les Paul. As I said before I'm using a floor tuner instead of the internal tuner on the Stomp. From here my chain goes----> Vox Wa ----> Stomp ----> Marshall 50 watt Plexi head into a Duncan 4-12 cab with Celestions -OR- Into a Vox Cambridge 30R into the Duncan cab. I tend to get better sound through the Vox with the Stomp I think primarily because the Vox has such a nice clean tone that allows the Stomp tones to come through. The Vox is only 30 watts but with the pre-amp in the Stomp I can get some blistering output. I prefer to go directly into the Marshall just because I think it's a crime to color it's naturally beautiful OD tone. The Speaker cab emulations are a bit weak in the Stomp...there is very little tonal variation on the Clean 1 and 2 settings...ther is a more noticable difference on the Lead /Crunch settings. Overall great performing tone. Fro the price I'm really happy plus it allowed me to get rid of my rack which was a pain to haul around. I play rock and blues primarily and the tones suit my music in good fashion. One thing I miss with it is the ability to use my guitar's volume control to go from clean to OD as I do with the Marshall...reducing the volume on the input does not dynamically change the characteristic of the OD effects. I wish it did.

it's built damn solid...I could drive nails into the wall with it and then plug in and play.

No experience herre yet...but that's good right?

I've been playing since I was 14 (I'm 49 now....*sob*...;o) I've got an '02 Fender American Strat Limited edition (Butterscotch Blonde), a '99 Fender Strat - '57 reissue in Shoreline Gold, a '77 Gibson Les Paul Custom in Tobacco Sunburst, a Duncan 4-12 cab with Celestions, a Duncan convertible 2000, a Marshall 50 watt Plexi head, and a variety of other stuff (mics...pedals ...Fender floor tuner (very good!) etc.)

If it were lost or stolen, I'd replace it. I tried Zoom, DigiTech and others. To date the Stomp is the best yet in terms of quality of sound. No noise problem...and I don't doubt that there are ground loops and other have noise problems, but I don't.

Primarily I love the programmability and the variety of tones I can dial in. It's versatile and flexible. I hate the tuner, lack of a true by-pass, and the bank selection method. I hope for future incarnations the add a true by-pass and improve the bank selection process.

Preamp, Tuner, Chorus, Flange, Phase, Delays, Reverbs.... you've heard it before.

I've been playing 40 years now. Mostly classic rock, big band jazz, funk, blues, pop.... most everything but country and classical. I had this box about a month learning all about it.

First, there is a very awkward, non-standard method of selecting patches.... especially for live performance. Too many "stomps" to get where you're going. Loading out a bank of 3 is easy enough. More than that and it gets hairy. Hold the bank button long enough but not too long or you're muted in the tuner mode. That's terrible. There are plenty of switches to do a simple up/down bank/patch selection, but this is just not easy at all.

Second, I know it's a preamp. I bought it partially for that. But I also like the straight sound I get with my rigs. No bypass switch means I've got to program a "no setting" setting to get this. Again, a simple feature left out.

Third. Try as I might, I could NOT get rid of the hum. I tried every trick in the book but it was always there. Not always loud, sometimes unbearable, but there just the same. All these features and no noise gate?

The tuner is pitiful.

Battery operation would be nice and may help the noise some. Several reviews have indicated that the unit is not built for proper grounding. I didn't open it up because I wanted to be able to send it back.

I also bought the FC-7 foot controller. The pedal has WAY too much sweep. You'll get a sprained ankle trying to get a decent WAH. I know it's variable, but the areas outside the target area are just dead and serve no purpose. A wah should wah the full range of motion and it shouldn't be as much range as this thing. The "on/off" feature is also very awkward and lets you turn wah on/off without trying at all.

Guitars: Gibson ES-175, Epiphone Del Ray, Fender Strat, Samack Classical, Ibanez Acoustic, Takamine 12-String.

Amps: Fender Super Reverb, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Peavey Bandit 112 Transtube

Effects: Super Crybaby, MXR Compressor, MXR Phase 90, Tubescreamer.

Noise was constant, though not always really loud, but enough to make me return it.

This box, though, does have some very powerful features and very nice sounds. Chorus and Flange very nice. Phase ok. Amp simulations aren't as much simulations as they are distortion sounds. All relatively useable and full sounding. Compressor sucks. Delay is nice and clean. Reverbs ok, but I use the amps.

But that constant persistent noise...........

Try breaking a brick. It'd be much easier.

Didn't use it so I have no idea.

Overall, the box has a lot of features, some very good sounds and is a good buy for the price-to-feature ratio. However, the noise.......

I sent mine back.

With the pedal.

It is a little bit complicated , but in 1 hour you got it figured out.. cus it has a great manual .. So after a little bit of reading , you have a nice warm sound :)

I use the DG stomp with an Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special , and a Trace Elliot Super Tramp Twin amp . It sounds pretty grear.. The DG is not noisy , unless you have 10 gain 10 treble and 10 precence on the most distorted thing , but then every effect would make some noise then. .
I can get it to sound like my favorite player steve vai , if i put a lot of effort to it.. but i wont.. hehe,,

The efffects are GREAT .. chorus on clean ,, *druel* .
The distortion can be a little bit hard to get a good sound , but the possibilities are there. no doubt,

Its a damn tank ... enough said :D

havent needed to do anythin with it..

I play Steve Vai style music.-.. and sometimes a little bit of blues.. its great to my type of music-.
Ive been playing for 3 years and startin to get a hang of it now.

You all know the features by now...if not, go to the Yamaha website. It's loaded, considering the price at $139.99. Wow...one good pedal would cost you that. This has MULTIPLE GOOD, and I mean GOOD pedals in it. 90 Factory, 90 User....even if you get 5 GREAT sounds out of that, it's a steal at $139.99.

You have to dig in, and learn how to dial it in...like anything. Figure that out, and you've got a gem. I give it a solid 9 only because I haven't found the "10" yet.

Too new, but seems durable as all get out. Solid steel chassis, Yamaha makes solid equipment.

Don't know.

It really does sound alot better than similar products (POD, ZOOM, DIGITECH RP's, etc.). Much more of a "pro" type unit. Built like a tank. Intuitive if you read up on the manual. Lot's of features, but I agree the tuner blows. Spend $20 on a good tuner somewhere else. EXCELLENT recording direct, VERY GOOD in front of an amp, OVERALL GREAT DEAL. Snap one up at $139.99 while they last. Guitar Center, ZZounds (will beat Guitar Center, got mine for $136.95). I think she is a keeper for the low price!

A nifty, multi-purpose box. I guess it's intended mainly as a recording box, like a POD, but has live performance use as a DI into the PA. I tried direct into the PA, but was less than satisfied. I do use it as a stomp box into an amp, and at this it does very well. It can also function as a headphone amp, but I haven't played with that much either. I think everybody else has covered the details.

I'm using this with a variety of electric guitars (humbuckers, strat single coils, tele single coils, P-90s) into a homemade amp, loosely based on a 50W Fender Reverb Amp circuit. The amp sims are pretty good. I woudn't say they sound "just like another amp" but many of the sounds are very usable, and allow me to get a number of different tones, clean and dirty from my amp. Best of all, they respond very well to picking dynamics. For classic electric guitar sounds, it covers a wide variety. I don't think there's too much "nu-metal" in there, but I wasn't really looking. Effects are pretty good. I pretty much only use the reverb and trem, as well as the amp sims. Some delay. I'm not into swirly effects for electric. I also use the box with an acoustic guitar with the "preamp bypass", so I can get some FX on the guitar through the PA. The "preamp bypass" is a misnomer, as it only bypasses the amp sims, not the volume and tone controls. It does very well in the areas I use. Maybe not boutique level, but much better than any Boss box. A lot of different sounds, and I've barely scratched the surface. The tremolo, I guess since it's digital, can get some really fast choppy sounds that would be impossible with a traditional tube driven circuit. Not sure if that's useful.

The box itself seems very rugged. The wall wart less so. I hate wall warts. Hasn't broken yet, but it's only a matter of time.

I haven't had to deal with Yamaha for this product, but I've dealt with them before, and they were very helpful.

I like this box a lot. It doesn't sound as good as my FDII for it's characteristic distortion sound, but it does make a number of quality dirty sounds, and allows me to dump the tremolo pedal. Reverbs are very nice. There are several things I would change, though.

The tuner stinks. Big time. It works better if you roll down your tone control, but it doesn't even come close to a Zen-On Justina, much less a TU-2.

There's no bypass. If you're plugged into a nice amp, you'd like to get uneffected signal. Some of the clean settings are nice, but it's not the same.

The speaker sims for direct into the PA sound kind of lame. OTOH, if I had to finish a gig like that, if my amp went down, it's MUCH better than the alternative.

Ditch the wall wart, and hard wire a plug. I know all the reasons maunfacturers use them, but I still hate them.

The "preamp bypass" shouldn't be all or none. You should be able to ssociate it with patches. I've got acoustic patches and electric patches, and it's a pain to remember to switch them.

Allow the tremolo to be placed after the reverb, like it is in amps. This would be huge.

The "Hi Z/Low Z" input level switch is also a pain, and should be patch selectable as well.

Add tap tempo tremolo. It would have been very easy to implement.

For people who use it as a stompbox it should have a decent "bigmuff" fuzzbox sound. How hard could that be?

All that considered, the box was a complete bargain. I am very impressed with the sound quality for my application, and the price is unbelievable for something that's not made out of polycarbonate.

This is an incredile piece of gear that's usually underrated. It's currently being closed out for $139.00 at most retailers because Yamaha historically does a poor job of marketing their often superior products. This preamp/FX pedal is extremely versatile. I find it has a very tubey feel when dialed in correctly with very little noise. The previous reviewer must not have known what he was doing, or hooked it up wrong 'cause mine is quiet even at very high gain settings. Natural guitar tones come through vey well, shimmering clean and way over the top distortion are possible as well as everything in between. You can set it up as a preamp with FX or bypass the preamp and use just FX with your amp. I have several amps and use it both ways. It's amazing for recording direct. Much better than a POD. There's no comparison.

Sounds great with Strats or Les Paul type guitars. I play a great variety of styles, rock to funk and this works well for all. This preamp is capale of extremely brutal distortion. The key is using the high gain button for the guitar input. The manual is very poorly written and is probably the most antisceptic document I've ever seen for such a fun piece of guitar goody. I'm sure it turns most people off, but to get the most out this unit, you should read it. I give it an eight for this category, which is very high for anything digital. The effects seem lacking at first but are very adjustable. After playing around a bit, I was able to get very useful sounds from the effects section. My Marshall, Laney, Lee Jackson and Hafler tube amps get a full 10 as they have that extra presence and vibe. The DG Stomp has great vibe that translates directly to your finger. Great job Yamaha!

Very well made. I wish it didn't have a wall wart.

Yamaha is very good at supporting their products, even very old, discontinued ones.

Playing for 27 years, own everything, I'd absolutely buy it again especially for this price. Love the versatility, ease of use, killer tone, convenience, etc. The wall wart sucks. C'mon people...stop making shit that uses wall warts!!!! This is a great preamp/processor. Grab one before they're all closed out! Manny's, Guitar Center and Musician's Friend still have a few left for $139.00

See Yamaha Web site.

This Amp/FX simulator is an extremely bad example for *engineering*.
It hums. It hums far too much. Why? Ground loops. Take a look at the jacks.
All of them are mounted to the metal case. They're for sure mounted to the
circuit board ground, too. This 'feature' leads to a 1 in this category since I expect
from an amp manufacturer, which also produces HiFi gear, that he produces not only
a terrific sound, moreover I require LOW NOISE.

I did not spend much time to test it's sonic qualities due to the noise problem.

Junk.

I think this thing is pretty easy if you only need three
sounds from it . Anything beyond that, in terms of changing
banks is a multi-task operation.The little finger buttons
that scroll thru the banks should have been the same feature
for the foot buttons. Oh well. Fortunatly,I canget by with
three sounds and the rest of my rig.
Adjusting all perameters and storing are totally clear and
intuitive all though I find capturing the knobs value a very
sensitive thing.when your turning the knob the value blinks
until captured, the blinking is easy to remember,BUT, after
adjusting all the knobs, you can't return to a knob and know
it,s value. If you turn the knob, the value changes. Better
keep pencil and paper handy

I LOVE the Crunch 1 model. This is where I here all my sounds
just about. I'm not really looking for too many sounds,just the
few great ones that have been floating around in my head for the
last 48 years. I got this thing the moment it was available. I
owned the Line6 AX2 for years as my gigging amp and it did a
great job with again my few sculpted tones.But the first time
I A/B'd the AX2 with the Stomp,two years ago,I was blown away.
The thing that wasn't there in the AX2 was there in the Stomp.
Let me explain.A sweet old Fender amp can truly get the tone
right? When the verb is on just right, you can take your right
hand down on the strings as in a palm mute, you can do it as a
whack and HEAR the depth of the tubes. It comes out as a low 3D
thump that is always there regardless of your tone settings.
I just hear it. The same activity with the AX2 just never had
this quality. In the mix of a band it was OK though. The AX2
could never do a decent SRV.
The Stomp HAS this quality in all its models all though my
favorite IS Crunch 1.
Stevie can be found hear, so can Robben and Steve Kimock,Sco
Stern,Clapton,Beck...Iv'e had great success coaxing these
tones out of it.With the help of the other pedals in my rig.
Here's my chain. G&L ASAT or 335 to Boss Advanced EQ to Stomp
to Digidelay to Digiverb ( Digitech stomp boxes- GREAT ). to
two Tech 21 Power Engine 60 power amp/cab for stereo. I want
to try a Fulltone Distortion Pro. But,the Stomps higher drive
is what distortion pedals are designed to achieve and combining
the two together does not always sound musical. Anyway, the
Stomp stomps on all the distortion pedals I've tried up to this
point.I have hopes for the Fulltone but it's hard to improve on
the overdrives of the Yam.
Am I playing a Dumble or Two Rock or Bruno? No. Do those amps
sound better than my rig? You bet. You got the scratch?
I recently A/B'd my rig with the Line6 Vetta. Does my rig
compare to the mighty Vetta? The two can be dialed in to
sound like each other. From that point, the Vetta's tree of life
becomes far more advanced and the possibilities are amazing.
BUT... It wasn't there. The sound I described earlier in the
Fender AND the Stomp wasn't there in the Vetta.Don't get me wrong
the Vetta is the cutting edge and sounds great. I can't wait for
Yamahas next contender.This IS the company to stretch the bounderies.
Come on guys' Round 3.

Seems sturdy. It lives on my floorboard with my other pedals
and doesn't get hurt.Yet.
At a gig I couldn't see the red display in the sun when on
stage. It limited my options. No tuner.No knowledge of what bank
I was on.( I knew what bank I was on by the tone though.)

They've helped me out once and told me it was the wall wort,gave
me a new one for free, shipped it back and payed for it. Cool.

The DG Stomp is pretty straight forward and pretty easy to adjust perameters. It could use a compare feature. I find it hard to switch
banks.On stage or studio it's hard to process the two foot taps and
one must be held down at least half a second but not longer than a
second or you go into a muted tuner. So your doing all this while
trying to play in time and then navigate the new banks. too much
to do. It's a lot easier to squat down and use the little buttons
designed for fingers. Better yet, and this is what I do, is to create
three complimentary sounds and have them on one bank and thats what I
have for that song.
This is my sound chain and floorboard: Guitar > Boss Advanced EQ > Yamaha DG Stomp > Digitech Digiverb >
Digitech Digidelay and then on the next smaller optional floorboard is my Line 6 delay and Boss loop station.> Left and Right Tech 21 Power Engine 60's.
I found the Yamaha sounds better with it's reverb off. Dont get me wrong, the yam verb is very nice, however the amp models sound shaded
by the effect. Turn it off, get an outboard reverb like the exellent
and very trasparent Digiverb and the amp models come alive more 3D

I use two guitars. A G&L ASAT ( soooo sweet an smokey )And a Les Paul
semi-hollow thang with S.D.Antiquity pickups.
I'm into Steve Kimock for all that clean overhead (TwoRockAmps),
Robben Ford for that Dumble flavor. Sco,Stern,Frisell,SRV. I,ve
designed patches for all these guys with the Yam and it blows
my mind how close I can get it.Sometimes it needs a little nudge
from the Advanced EQ BUT... very little.The chorus allows me to cop
an excellent Mike Stern sound.
This unit does the Two Rock to Dumble to Bruno to Fender thing very well. But you must be patient till you dial it in.
I A/B'd my rig with the Line6 Vetta and to my ears, It met the challenge. There's an airyness and a warmth that the Line6 didn't have.

This is guitar preamp/effects unit that sits on the floor rather than in your rack. It has 8 preamp models from pristine clean to scream shred lead. It also has Reverb, Delay, Compression, Flanger, Phaser, Rotary and Tremelo effects. It also has a dozen speaker simulation models. Stereo guitar jack outputs and a single digital coax style output. Midi in and out. Expression pedal functions (external pedal required).

This unit certainly has enough effects for me but for the total effects junkies it wont be enough. My philosophy is that a good guitar tone is the best effect you can have, and everything else is just cosmetic. This unit certainly does generate great tones. It has a perfectly usable tuner as well, which is great for convenience.

I play guitar in various roles. I use the DGStomp for gigs in a cover band as well as studio recording. I also have a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier (3 Channel) head running into a Soldano 4x12 cabinet. I use that for BIGGER gigs. Ofcourse the DGStomp wont replace the Mesa/Soldano rig for big gigs but the Mesa/Soldano wont replace the DGStomp for home recording or smaller gigs. For each tool there is a perfect application. I think we as players should be mature enough not to identify ourselves with only ONE piece of equipment - it would be like wearing the same clothes every day... Smelly and unoriginal.

I also have a Yamaha DG100 2x12 combo. I loved it so much that when I joined the cover band and heard about the DGStomp I thought it would be a great way to cut space overheads and ensure a more reliable and consistent tone at every show.

The only thing this unit lacks is onboard power. I dont like using power supplies as they are a high point of rig failure. I have purchased a spare power supply and have left it with our sound engineer so if something goes wrong live I have a backup.

I play a Soundworks Custom guitar (check it out here: www.members.optushome.com.au/thrak/customguitar.html ) as well as a MusicMan Silhouette Special. Both sound fantastic through the DG Stomp. Unfortunately though the DG Stomp doesnt sound great with the Piezzo bridge in my Custom guitar. It is a little messy and jangly. I guess I will have to get an AG Stomp to bring out the tones in my piezzo... Now that would make a nice rig idea...

Currently I use the DGStomp through a PA when playing live. It sounds killer. I use it through headphones or my PC when at home. It sounds passable in these environments. It records well. Very well, in fact.

I am pretty sure this unit will be reliable. I only fear the reliability of the power supply which is why I bought a backup power supply.

No idea. Never needed to use Yamaha support.

I have been playing 12 years. I play styles from shred and progressive to pop and top 40. The DG Stomp can generate tones suitable to all my applications.
I would replace it if aliens stole it while giving me an anal probe.
I love the size and tone, as well as the effects and gig/studio flexability. I hate the power supply.
I compared it to the POD and JStation. I hated both of the later, they are not units for guitarists but for engineers who need the odd guitar line added. The DGStomp is for real players who need real tone.
So far I have used the DGStomp for rehearsals, live and recording. It excels in all fields. This unit is a keeper for me. I love the Yamaha DG range of products. If they are good enough for Allan Holdsworth they are good enough for me.

So, WHY there are NO reviews about this effect?? C'mon, join it!! Well, this unit is pretty easy to use, but I don't like AT ALL that you can't edit the patches when the amp simulator is on.. damn it, I can I hear if one is better than the others!!!???

The sound quality is AWESOME..but there's a big BUT.. this unit is noisy.. I wish it had a noise gate, I was very disappointed with Yamaha about it.., anyway, you can get a very good clean sound and EXCELLENT overdrives.. the best I've ever heard about it.. if you want a Kotzen sound this is what you're looking for, no doubt about it!
The lead2 channel is also great but.. well, if you're looking for a VERY heavy distorsion go elsewhere.. this thing is not good for it..
About recording this unit does its job, but as I've said before I didn't like the fact thet you can't edit the effects while changing the amp simulator.. and I would say that ,for my tastes, half of these simulator are unuseful (and terrible!)..
I own a Ibanez RG and a Yamaha RGX, both sound almost the same..

It's a tank, everything is metal, it seems built to destroy!

Never have dealt with them

I'm not totally satisfied with the DG stomp.. don't get me wrong, it's a great unit, but it's just what I don't need... I play mostly metal and I can't get a very heavy distorsion out of this unit.
If you like the sound of R. Kotzen, Ty Tabor, Reb Beach, R. Blackmore.. you will find the DG stomp very great!!

I have been using the Stomp since December 2001, and love it more by the gig. Whether played in line, into the output side of my Fender amps or straight to the house of my PA, I can get a beautiful tone in no time.

6 amp models with great character for each of them allow a huge tonal pallette to be created, all of which benefit further from some very refined speaker/cabinet modelling that saves with patch data. At the end of the day, you can emulate virtually any tone you want, and still keep your own personality - however crazy that may seem to some players!

I would be careful in saying it actually lacks a feature, but a good acoustic preamp would be a nice touch. I know Yamaha have an acoustic version of this very excellent box with full features, but many of us could live with a simple, yet effective acoustic preamp.

Easy access to change patches, and the edit on the fly capability enables the minute adjustments that are usually needed in differing rooms and situations. The ruggedness of the box is a tremendous advantage - I trust I will still be using this years from now, much the same way I am my 18 year old SPX 90!

The ability to switch for hi/lo, go with optical out, and the strength of the MIDI section are huge features for any working guitarist, or home recorder. I use this thing for duo gigs in a heavily sequenced gig going direct, and it rocks. I use it as a pre-amp/effector in a six piece act, and it rocks. I use it most Sundays in a modern church setting, again direct to the house, and it rocks.

Overall a 10 - I may even go to 11!

I play a Pacifica Mike Stern model with a hot rail at the bridge and double coil at the neck, both pickups are pretty hot and set up to play as loud and clean as possible.

My work ranges from chording/fills on rock and pop tunes to jazz fusion, worship music at church, etc. The DG Stomp gives me a fabulous tone no matter what style I am playing, however loud or quiet. The unit is extremely quiet, whether DI, in line, or digital out.

I can produce tones from the jangly clean Fender style, to legit Tele and Strat tones (I play on old Strat too) to remarkably warm jazz tones, and tweak them readily using good old fashioned knobs. A big improvement on the toggle buttons and digital displays of some units, and a must for live use.

The clean sounds stay nice and clean even up loud, warming up nicely as things get louder.

The distortion ranges from warm and fuzzy to screaming, so lots of room to wrangle.

Very rugged, strong, durable, gives me a great sense of confidence about the ability to stand the test of time. I gig with it without a back up, though I carry a spare power supply.

Does occasionally get confused and need rebooting, which is a concern from time to time, this may yet prove to be a reliability factor.

1 year parts and labour, great help desk, good online support.

I have been playing professionally 20+ years, own several vintage amps, some great guitars, full PA system, MIDI gear, etc. Recently retired a Digitech RP6, which I loathed parting with, but this thing is very much the equal.

I would definitely replace the DG if it were to get stolen. I love the variety of tones, the quiet and clean performance, the flexibility, and the ruggedness. It needs a longer power supply set, along with a more durable connection. This seems to be a Yamaha problem, I have had plenty of their gear over the years.

I compared this to the latest greatest Boss pedalboard, the POD, the J Station. Overall, I felt it provided the best overall combination of sounds, ease of use, excellent amp modelling, durability, portability and value.

8 model preamp with compression, chorus, phaser, tremelo, flanger, rotary, two types of delay, 3 types of reverb and speaker simulator. Unit has a 4 botton foot swtich that lets you change patches, effects on/off, accessing the tuner and a tap tempo for the delay. Midi in/outs, stereo outs, headphone out and a high/low switch to make your guitar's output and finally a digital out jack.

One thing I suggest doing before you plug in..... READ THE FRICKIN' MANUAL !!! The modulation effect knobs have a secondary function when the effect button is pressed. This is a good thing to know.

Very easy to dial in a sound and save it into memory. Using it in a gig situation, I absolutely love the last poster's review of how its done. I tried this and it works great. Set each bank as 1(clean), 2(rhythm), 3(lead) and all your bases are covered.

I use this going straight into the power amp of my peavey ultra 112 combo, and for latenight practice via headphones. I recorded with it going into the computer and even tried the digital out on my home theatre sound system via the digital out. How much more versatile could you possibly get?

I use a Kramer Baretta from the late 80's and a Godin Artisan ST-4. Both guitars are humbucker equipped with seymours. It has something to offer for every style out there except the extree high gain death metal sounds (of which I don't play death metal) so the box suits me jsut fine for what I need. It's very quiet even on high gain settings. The cleans sound amazing with a hint of chorus and reverb. You can get that slight overdriven breakup sound when you use your guitar's volume, which sounds and acts much like a tube amp. My favoite model is the lead 2. Also works great with a tubescreamer pushing the preamp. Try it, its works great.

Heavy duty foot switches and metal construction make it feel really solid, it definitely feels gig worthy, just be careful of those plastic control knobs though. I always think that if you're good to your gear, it will be good to you. Over the years my theory proves itself over and over. I'm giving this an 8 because I haven't owned it long enough to give a 10, time will tell, but Yamaha has a good history record.

1 year warranty. Haven't dealt with yamaha support, because I never really had to. All of their gear I've owned over the years has been top notch or could be adjusted myself.

Been playing about 12 years off and on. If it were lost or stolen and I had the money, I'd get another one for sure. It's a great little box. I tried the v-amp2, and a POD 2.0 several times before I finally picked this. It just sounded better than both of them to my ears. Had more of a "tube feeling" than the others. I would have liked to have a little bit more gain on lead 2 for the few songs I play that require it, and lighted LED's for the knobs like the v-amp 2 has would have been cool. I love it for it's versatality, and great tone. It was also $50 cheaper than a POD 2.0

Features covered in other reviews, just a few I haven't seen mentioned...Unlike some other digital devices, there is seemless patch selection. No drop out like on the line 6 Flextone series. Programing is very intuitive. Patch selection is not as complicated as many have said. Also, don't waste your time and money searching for the exotic power supply. If yours breaks or you pick one up used without one, Radio Shack does indeed have one that will work as a replacement. The power requirements of the Stomp are 12VAC 700mA. Look on the Radio Shack site at the power adaptors and you will see they have a power adaptor designed as a replacement for AT&T answering machines that is selectable to 12VAC and up to 800mA. It cost a mere $15 verse the $50 it will cost you to order a replacement from Yamaha.

This is a great pedal. I guarantee you will be able to design many very usable sounds with the unit. I disagree with some of the other reviewers that said this unit can not do modern high gain sounds. The lead 1 preamp with the right cab sim will get you in the right area. Many of the "in-between" sounds are awesome and break up the harder you dig in. Another thing I recomend trying even if you have a low output guitar is to select the low gain input and mess around. If your a fan of vintage sounds, you may prefer using the unit this way. It's very pleasing the way the preamp models react with the cab sims in relation to the presence dial. Very realistic direct sounds. Try the 2 Drive models with the same settings changing only the cab sim and the presence knob and you will be able to go from vintage to modern. Although there are no specific amp names assigned to the models, you will here some very familiar sounds. The effects are all top notch as well.

Looks solid.

I picked it up used without a power supply and had to contact customer support twice before I got a response via e-mail. But when I called the parts department in response to my e-mail I got excellent service and was on hold for less than a minute. The lady even advised that I would get a better deal if I found a dealer that would order the part for me. But in the end I felt the replacement power supply was not priced to the consumers advantage. Go to Radio Shack (see above). On the other hand, I've dealt with much worse, some companies will not even contact you back or give you incorrect information. I would say the company is a little above average.

I recomend this to anyone looking for a direct recording device that can easily make the transition to the stage. There really are a bunch of great sounds in this thing. And if you're asking "Does it sound like tubes?" I ask you this...does it really matter? Don't get hung up in the tube verse digital battle, its mostly hype. What matters is if you like your sound no matter how you get it. If non tube amps suck so bad why are all the digital amp manufacturers trying to model the Roland Jazz Chorus? What about B.B. King's use of a solid state Gibson Lab Series? In the end, isn't your sound going to be printed digitally to a CD anyway? I'm not against tube amps, I just encourage you to experiment and listen with your ears. Tone is subjective. If everybody agreed on what makes a good guitar sound, then there would be one guitar manufacturer, one amp company, and everybody would sound exactly the same. Sounds boring to me. I will post some sound samples soon.

Coverd in depth below. I just want to address the patch access issues with the footswitches. Yes, it is somewhat limited compared to a full midi footcontroller's access. I suggest the following: I have 10 patches set up in 3 consecutive banks, I.e. 111, 112, 113, 121, 122, 123, 131, 132, 133. They usually go from clean (i.e 111) to crunch (112) to lead (113), one set of 3 are "fender" based, one set more midrangey rich based, the 3rd set are chorus, trem, and rotary versions of the rich tones. Within any set of 3, 1 tapo is all thats needed to switch patches. To get the next 3 is real fast because it only requires punching in the last 2 digits, not all 3. Since you can "pre enter" all but the last digit and have it wait for the last without changing your current patch, its easy to get to where you want with a little thought. The tap tempo is always available, and I can fade in the reverb with the controller pedal. Try it, its truely gig useable.

Very good, especially thru a tube power stage, IMO much better tone and feel than the Pod 2 I used to own.

very well built, probably not an issue given reasonable treatment.

bought used, unknown

excellent

The only thing I feel is lacking with the DG is the built-in ability to quickly change between more than three patches in a live setting, which is what my review addresses.

I'm not going to go through all of the features and sound quality again, as I feel that enough has been said about it. But in a nutshell, I'm on the side of the fence that really likes the way it sounds and think it's quite easy to use as long as you read the manual!

That said, what I really want to address is something that is not mentioned much in most of the reviews. The DG has a StompBox mode (read the manual)! This allows you to set it to a particular patch, and have the ability to assign the first three buttons to a particular effect - modulation, delay, and reverb, that you can switch on or off. The fourth button is still available as tap-tempo for the delay! However, the limitation to this is that you can't switch between patches on the fly without an external MIDI controller or reaching down and pushing the little Up and Down buttons. What I did was get a Tech 21 Midi Mouse for about $100 so I could easily scroll through the half dozen or so patches that I use live (you don't need as many patches if you can turn your effects on and off!). One could also get an inexpensive MIDI controller like a Midi-Buddy and have instant one-button access to all of their effect-switchable patches! Add to this an expression pedal, and you will have a very flexible and great sounding direct-to-board setup!

I also use a Marshall Blues Breaker pedal in front of the DG as a boost for solos on my cleaner patches. It works very well and sounds great.

I've had mine for about 8 months and no problems. The only backup I carry is my backup guitar, in case I break a string. :-)

Never contacted them, so no opinion here.

I've been playing since '77 and I've always looked for good ways to keep from hauling around a ton of gear. The DG is a good alternative as long as you have a good PA and monitoring system to plug into so you can hear yourself. There are other options out there, but this has worked well for me. I did compare it to other floor type units, and this one just sounded and "felt" better to me. The lack of flexible built in switching is certainly a minus on it's own, but at the same time is a positive thing if you wish to incorporate it as a component into your other gear and don't need any extra buttons and such. Over all, I think it's a solid, reliable and nice sounding unit, like most of Yamaha's gear.

This is a follow-up to my 06/06/02 review. One thing I've noticed (at least on the patches I've used regularly) is that the manually actuated wah is very weak-sounding. I've tried to tweak the settings for range, "Q," etc., but am still experimenting. I've got the FC-7 expression pedal (eBay, $25) which works great. I typically set the Stomp for "global" expression pedal input, which means it's available for whatever patch you happen to choose. I alternate between wah and after-preamp volume control.

Still experimenting. . . .

Still think it's a good unit.

Very easy to use, reprogram, and save revised patches. Manual is short and sweet, though a bit confusing as to how to program the expression pedal to do what you want it to.

Great sound. I play a Squier Strat through the Stomp, to a '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue (normal channel with treb & bass at 1). I also have the Yamaha expression pedal (a must have for playing Rush), and a Rolls Midi Buddy to tap to patches which are not in the same bank. Onboard tuner is easy and accurate.

I do get the 60 Hz single-coil hum through it. However, this is greatly reduced via Armon's modification (see http://www.soundside.de/_modifications/DGStomp.htm). I was able to replace all the screws on mine after insulating with no increased hum.

Only one modulation effect available at one time (i.e., chorus, flange, phase, vibrato, etc.). Not a problem though. One patch uses the flanger like a vibrato setting. Great for playing Smokin' Joe Kubek band.

Rush is my "favourite" band. Tweaking of several patches has enabled me to match the chorused sounds on "The Trees," to the hard-driving sounds on the new cd (such as "Earthshine"). I've had it approx. 1.5 years now and am not looking for a replacement.

No back-up required. Has been extremely dependable

N/A

Awesome piece for metal, rock and blues. Easy to silently switch between patches (particularly w/the Midi Buddy).

As an addition to my previous post, I use adn Ibanez TS7 in front of the DG Stomp. I get this way a bit more gain and sustain. My settings for the TS7 are: gain 12 o'clock, tone 1 o'clock, level 2 o'clock.
It can get muddy if you have fat humbuckers. I'm planning to buy Dimarzio Evolutions, so this suits for me.

I just noticed one thing that is PARTICULARLY lacking in this and other amp-modeling devices: Feedback. If the whole concept is to do direct recording with this device, it needs some sort of feedback simulation... think about it, it wouldn't be all that hard, there are already directX plugins that do this for hard-drive recording setups. I imagine it would be much like the cabinet settings, in that you'd have a set of say 12 different feedback "environments" to choose from. From there, you could simulate coming closer or going farther away from the amp with an expression pedal. Or you could set the expression pedal to be a wah and manipulate the feedback that way... Perhaps with the pedal pushed as far forward as it could go, they could have it set to simulate that cool headstock-against-the-cabinet sound, and at the other extreme, no feedback at all. I did notice that certain settings DO seem to sort of "swell" increasing the volume, they must be doing it through a combination of compressor and delay. It's nice to know the Yamaha people are at least thinking about these things, but there should very specifically be a Feedback Modeling just like there is Amp and Cabinet Modeling. Until then there won't be a device that truly simulates everything for direct recording.

ahhhh. Finally. My 5th and final DG stomp arrived the other day. It works! It works! ...and it came with the correct adapter (an AC adapter), which, it turns out, makes all the difference. Musician's Freind DID ship it with more packing... however the packing was lumped into only 3 sides of the package, putting my new purchase flush up against the other 3 sides. Doesn't ANYBODY out there know how to pack something that's going UPS? You put padding on ALL sides! Sheesh.
--enough of that. The sounds: they are actually very good, not at all like the cold-sounding processors I've heard over the years. They don't have quite the quality of a bazillion-dollar rig, which is why I give it an 8... I'm saying although it does MODEL amps it does not perfectly replicate them. That's not so bad though. For the price and what it is supposed to do, it is perfect. In that sense, I give it a 10. It will do most anything you might want to do. (could use an octaver but oh well...) But in comparison to all those other products out there, I give it an 8, I don't want to give the impression that this device is superior to somebody's prized Matchless amp.
--consider this... there was a time when synthesisers first really started to become popular, I think it really broke out around the time Yamaha released the DX7. It wasn't that a DX7 was better sound quality than a real piano, but if you are gigging and using a lot of house pianos, well, some of them are going to be out of tune, sound like crap, etc. People went for it because it was such a DEPENDABLE sound and such an improvement over what was available in that class before. Doesn't sound exactly like a grand piano, but for much cheaper, you can always get a pretty good sound that will be in tune. So that's the situation analagous to today's amp modelers. They really don't give the absolute coolest most authentic tube sounds out there, but they dependably give you a lot of good sounds at a decent price. With a modicum of skill and cash, you can get a sound that is just below professional quality. And of course, they will improve in the next few years... (and now I'm going to get on a soapbox amps as they relate to modelers...)
I specifically bought a very neutral amp (roland jc-120) so I can take advantage of developments as they happen. In another year or two the DG-Stomp will be obsolete and Yamaha (and others) will have something even better for us. Why would I want to buy one of these amps with the built-in modeler/processor? Why would I want to always lug around an obselete effects processor attached to my amp? Or it means I'm going to have to keep switching amps every couple years when a jc120 will easily give me all the amplification I will ever need for my entire life. If I live to 100, it will probably outlive ME. Besides, what if you have a good modeler/bad amp design or vice-versa? This way, I just order the newest best modeler-thingy, plug in, and I'm ready to go. It's too bad the major stores are phasing out the jc-120 (and similar amps), which with the advent of the modelers are more useful now than ever, probably THE perfect amp to use with a modeler preamp. It's indestructible, can function in true stereo, is incredibly loud if needed, and has an almost hi-fi quality of sound. Using this amp, whatever sound you choose with a modeling device will be delivered flawlessly. Sorry, but I see other (superior) products getting crowded out of the stores and I just hate to see people getting suckered into buying these amp-modeler/amp combos.

You can see the features in other peoples reviews.
I personnally am happy with 3 of 8 amp types (cl2,cr1,ld1). I don't use the other types much. I also use the spring reverb and digital delay. Also the speaker simulator's good. I'm not into mod effects

The sounds are very good for the money. Of course it's not a tube preamp, although it simulates it. I think this is the best stompbox-preamp tubeamp-simulator. I've tried the POD also and didn't like it cause it was too digital-sounding.
You shouldn't judge the sounds just trying the presets. I haven't found any of those suitable for me.
Try my presets:
Instrumental Rock: Ld1, gain 8.9, treble 6.1, middle 7.9, bass 7.5, presence 6, sp. sim M42
Beautiful Clean: Cl2, gain 8.5, treble 8, middle 4.5, bass 4.5, presence 4.5, delay 6.1/5.5/3.8, reverb spring 4.4, Sp. sim B22
Crunch: Cr1, gain 7.5, treble 9.5, middle 8.3, bass 5.7, presence 6, reverb spring 4.4, Sp. sim M42
Hope those help trying out the Stomps good sounds :) Btw my guitar is Ibanez RG 570.
Remember to set the right guitar input -level. Basically if you have humbuckers, switch to the quieter setting, and with single-coils, the louder.

It's very reliable. At least it has been to me

Yamaha's customer support sucks. I've been trying to contact them a lot of times, but they never answer.
They should take a look how Dimarzio's customer support works.

I'd like to try the Stomp through Yamaha's DS60-112. If anyone has, please share your feelings :)
Also if someone has cool presets, my mailbox is ready ;)

This is an addition to my earlier post. I finally heard something back from the Yamaha customer service in response to my email. Since it was a required field in order to submit my complaint, I DID give them my phone number. I stated in my message "contact by email only, please." They called my phone anyway. Apparently, the power supply IS a bit... exotic. Not being an electrician, I don't understand it as fully as I would like, but the gist of the explanation I was given is, most wall-wart adapters are dc. The DG-stomp adapter is an AC unit, make sure the wall-wart you're using with the DG stomp is labeled "AC-10." If not, you may end up frying your unit. The 3 Stomps I got from guitar center had all been out on the floor, so the salesmen had presumably been messing around with them a lot. I actually watched as 2 of them were plugged into power supplies that were clearly not the one that comes with the unit. Having already read the manual from that FIRST defective dg-stomp, I cautioned them that it specifically warns not to use some other adaptor; they assured me that it didn't matter. So word of warning... if you are at the store, definitely play something through the DG stomp and make sure there is a nice clear signal coming out of it, as someone may have opened up the box and plugged your new purchase into a power supply that would kill it. If I get a working unit, (currently one on its way from Musician's Friend, should be here in just a few days. Hopefully they ship with a little more packing material than zzounds...) I think I'll see about getting a spare wall-wart. Sounds like you can't just drop by at Radio Shack and pick up a replacement.
As far as complaints ABOUT there being a wall-wart go... where would you rather the transformer be? Inside the unit, causing a noisy buzz? The cord is longer and slightly more tough-looking than those of most wall-wart units, but I plan to wrap it in electrical tape for three reasons:
1. to prevent having to special-order a replacement
2. (if you use some other color than black) to differentiate it from all the OTHER wall-warts people use. Imagine jamming with some people only to find out the next morning somone has mistakenly grabbed your irreplaceable Yamaha power supply and is now a 1-hour drive away. (or of course you can wait for your power supply to arrive in the mail...)
3. Again, using some other color than black, to differentiate it from all MY OWN wall-warts. Imagine plugging in only to realize You've just fried your 300.00 piece of equipment with the wrong power supply!
So... I don't know why this situation with the power supply is the way it is. Did Yamaha want to force people to buy their own power supplies, or was it that this was the best way to handle the design? Idunno, but this is something owners of the DG stomp are going to have to be careful about.

(my earlier submitted review has not appeared, must have been a glitch, so I'm trying again, with this improved version...)
At least as a concept, this is a very good product. It has a much better user interface than POD, its main competitor, in that it can be used live or in the studio, holds more presets, doesn't require a midi pedal board to control it, etc. It has a nice "retro" look and feel, the knobs are great, the small buttons that are used to turn various effects on/off are very nice... I like how they light up and turn off based on whether the effect is being used. The navigation through patches is really easy, actually. I don't know why people have problems with this. There are ten "groups." Each group has 3 "banks." Most people think spatially about navigating through the patches and that's actually the best way: think of the Groups as up/down, think of the Banks as left/center/right. As soon as I caught that concept, navigation was a breeze. Dunno if there are different ways to do it, but I used the two up/down buttons in the upper righthand corner to move between groups. To navigate between Banks, you just hit the far right pedal until you see the LED's light up, take your foot off, and choose your bank, which I think of as 1/left, 2/center, 3/right. from there you tap once more for patch 1,2,or 3 within the bank.
Another great thing about owning a modeling device like this is you're covered if you have no backup amp. If your amp dies, you just turn on the amp/speaker simulator and patch into the P/A. Apparently Weezer did a whole tour using PODs patched directly into the P/A system, so using modelers that way seems a viable alternative.

While the unit DOES power up and I practiced navigating between patches, I have never heard the DG-Stomp's sounds, more on that below in RELIABILITY

My eventual plan for how I will use this device if I ever find a working model? Strat--DG Stomp--Tube Works Tube Preamp--Roland jc-120. Obviously my philosophy is get the sound just how you like it before it gets to the amp, and then keep it the same sound regardless of amp volume. I don't like everything getting all mushy and indistinct just because I have to keep up with the guy using a Marshall cranked to 10. (Or to be more accurate, if I want it mushy and indistinct, I'll make it that way on purpose, not because my amp simply can't make any other loud sound.) And yep, I'm planning on following the digital tube amp modeler with a tube preamp. Call me crazy.

I have bought and returned 4 DG-stomp units:
#1. made a low buzzing noise
#2. clicked like a geiger counter
#3. made a high squealing noise
#4. clicked much like #2.
it wasn't merely that there was unwanted sound mixed into the output, it's that there simply was no other output. After 4 tries I'm starting to think that if I crack open the DG-stomp casing I will find someone's rubber-band collection or something. (I've done some sound engineering, so yes, I know enough to check every point in the signal chain. I double-checked the cables, instrument, amplifier, etc. and as a final test, substituted a different processor in the signal chain for the DG, and that worked fine.)

Yes, the thing is built like a tank on the outside. But compare the two scenarios:
1. sitting inside a very strong metal box and being pushed off the top of a 3-story building.
2. sitting inside a very strong metal box while people pummel the outside with sledge hammers.
My point being, there are obviously fragile things inside the tough exterior of the DG-Stomp. Once I get it on the floor, I'm confident the outer casing will transmit the shock of any impact into the floor rather than into the components, but I would not trust the thing to surviving being dropped ANY distance. If I ever get a working model I will be transporting it inside a foam-lined case. I think the deceptively rugged exterior is causing more problems than it solves. People are banging it around with a little too MUCH confidence.

I called an official Yamaha service center. They said that I could drop it off and they might have it fixed in about 3 weeks. I asked if I could do an exchange and they said no. I also sent a message to their support at the yamaha website, but all I have recieved back from them is an automated email thanking me for visiting the site.
I also had some interaction with some vendors. Although I am not factoring that into my "1" rating, I'll desrcibe my experience:
---Zzounds: The package arrived on time, which was great, but they packed it in a cardboard box with a small sheet of bubble wrap thrown on top. The box that it is sold in has NO padding, ie there was nothing between my new purchase and the ravages of UPS but a thin layer of cardboard on 5 sides. Zzounds WAS very helpful in arranging for a return of the defective unit, very prompt AND helpful in their communications with me. They asked if I wanted them to send another one, I said I would if they could guarantee 2-3 inches of padding on all sides. They said they couldn't guarantee that that would happen, so I've elected to just return the defective unit. Although dealing with their customer service reps has actually been pleasant, I will probably not order anything from them again. What's the point if it arrives broken. (I also ordered a Roland jc-120 from them. It's a solid-state amp known for being able to take abuse. It arrived damaged. Again, not enough padding.)
---Guitar Center: Bought a DG, brought it home, didn't work, went back to the store and we did an exchange... turned around right before walking out the door and asked to test it before I left... that's when we heard the high squealing sound. Finding that they had one at another Guitar Center across town, they gave me a reciept, called ahead, and told me they'd be holding it for me, all I had to do was present my ticket and walk out. I was assured they had tested out the unit. When I got there they made me wait about an hour and a half while they "worked out the paperwork." They also said they couldn't find the power supply. Eventually I took it home, tested it using the power supply still with me from the defective DG from zzounds, and it did not work. So they lied and suckered me into driving all over town. I should have caught it at the store. How can you test the @$#&@!!! thing out without a power supply!?!? I swear I am NEVER going back to Guitar Center.

As a concept it is marvelous. I plan to try to buy a functioning DG Stomp ONE more time for that very reason. As I cannot seem to get a working unit and yamaha has expressed no concern on the issue, I can't imagine why I would rate it higher than 2. Maybe it should be 1.
From the other reviews here, I'm holding out a faint hope that there really ISN'T just a bundle of used rubber bands inside the thing. If I get one that works I may end up coming back and writing a glowing review. Until then....

8 channel preamp with effects and amp sim, stereo output, headphone out, spdif out and midi connectivity. It has a high/low impendance switch to match the output of the guitar with the stomp.
Programming the unit is easy and you can always switch to manual mode by pressing one knob.
I use a Roland FC200 midi pedal for switching patches and the buttons on the stomp to switch the effects.

I use a Gibson Explorer with EMG 89 and 60 PU's and a few acoustic guitars with piezo's.
I do not or have owned any real tube amps so I have little to compare with but the stomp can produce warm and 3 dimensional sounds. It sounds better in my opinion than any other digital preamp I have tried.

With 2 clean, 2 crunch, 2 drive and 2 lead channels there is plenty variety in possible sounds but the drive channels have not enough gain and the lead channels are a bit muddy for palm muted riffing. With a Tube screamer as boost I solved the gain issue for the drive channels.

This unit really shines for crisp clean to medium distorted sounds but I would not suggest it to metal guitarists (I play plenty of Metallica riffs with the help of the tube screamer but it is not what most metal guitarist want to hear).
With the lead channels the unit can be pretty noisy but a good noise gate can really help (why they didn't put one in?).
The effects sound good except for the compressor, I like the phaser, tape echo and hall reverb most.
The amp/speaker simulations makes the difference for this thing, it can make a patch sound good or very bad depending on the setting.

I own the stomp for 1.5 year and it never failed . I gigged with it a few times (through the PA) and use it for practising and home recording (the spdif out comes out really handy here). I never use a backup.

never dealt with them

I have been playing for 10 years. I used a few solid state amps and a zoom 9000 for years but this unit sounds way better than any of them.
Before I bought the stomp I tried several other al in one boxes like the POD and J-station but the stomp had the best sound.

I love the sounds of the Stomp but there are a few things that could have been better:
- the absense of a noise gate and the weak compressor
- when the wah is switched on there is a noticable drop in volume
- there is no patch editor for PC, most other digital units have one.
- It does not read the position of the expression pedal when switched on or changing patches.

If the unit was stolen or broke I would try the new VOX valvetronic amps first but they are much more expensive. Overall I think the DG-stomp has good value for the money.

Many brilliant features. You can use the DGstomp as a preamp with or without speakersimulation or as an stopbox without preamp. You can use the three of the four buttons to switch between patches (2 * 90) or to switch the three effect-sections on/off. Also, a very good tuner are included. There are many more features, too many to mention.

I'm using Les Pauls with either PAF-humbucking or P-100. I'm playing through a Yamaha DG60 digital amplifier. I'm still thinking it over, whether the DGstomp are sounding best direct to the amplifier or to the preamplifier - which containing many of the features included in the DGstomp - so it will doubling them. Next time I'm going to the rehearselroom, I'll leave the heavy DG60 at home, and will only bring the DGstomp and connect it to the PA. What I like in the DGstomp: The 8 ampsimulation are great, especially Lead1, Crunch1 and Clean2 - these are also great on the DG60. I like the compressor, the chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and the three reverbs. I like the speakersimulation, although there aren't any big difference between the 16 different simulations. The two delays are also good, but maybe my DanEcho are better sounding, so I'm still using that. I'm also using a DanElectro 7 eq, for better controlling the tonesettings, and I'm still using my Boss NoiseGate. The DGstomp are exellent using headphones. I'm thinking, that the P-100 Les Paul are the best choice, as it will cut better through with sharp tones. All in all, the DGstomp are very, very good - whether used as preamp or as a set of stompboxes.

Totally reliable. No plastic.

I've been playing for 25 years. The DGstomp are the best thing happened to my musically improvement since I purchased my first Gibson Les Paul many years ago! You will play better with the DGstomp, because you will get a whole new universe of sounds!

oh it has features

if u want a mean deep distorted sound that can really express all of thos fucked up feelings we keep hidden... then keep away from this product.. oh it can produse the sound, but with it comes the loudest hissing and cliking ever... no noisgate will stop it

its a tank

its really REALLY an awsome product if u hapen to have normal emotions to bring out... it'll never do for me... i want the deepest..

It's kinda odd that this product is listed under amps. I mean, it's a pre-amp/amp sim. Anyway, as far as pre-amps/amp sims goes, the Stomp could well have had more parameters available for each of the supplied f/x. Still, the parameters you get are well chosen and quite adequate.

It's not all that easy to change banks via the foot switches though.

As opposed to most reviewers, I use the Stomp exclusively to record directly to disk (using Cubase VST/32 and a Yamaha DS2416 sound card).
And in this environment, I LOVE what the Stomp does to my sound!

In real life, I prefer a Strat and a Fender Super Reverb with 4x10" Jensens and the gain set mid-high, maybe with a box like a Boss Super Overdrive too. I'm not sure I'd have liked the Stomp if I were, say, a Marshall JCM800 at 11 kinda guy...

The Stomp may not be a Super Reverb, but it get's closer than any other amp sim I've tried (including the Korg Pandora series, the Pod, the new Behringer and the cheaper Roland VS stuff).

Basically, the Stomp is transparent and allows my guitar's and playing's characteristics to come through in a dynamic and natural, 'tubey' sort of way.

Not the real thing obviously, but way better than I thought possible for a digital box.

As I've never used it on stage, I really don't know. But it's *very* sturdy and should be able to take quite some abuse. I'm a bit worried about the tiny programming knobs though, they seem a bit flimpsy.

I've been playing guitar since '78, both live and in the studio. I'm a die hard Strat/single coil kinda guy, but otherwise, I've gone through a lot of different sonic ideals. I've used and owned several amps, including 60's and 70's Marshalls, Fenders, Crates, Rolands, Peavyes, Laneys et al.

The last ten years or so, I've prefered Fender Super Reverbs (4x10") and similar amps.

When I bought the Stomp, I was looking for something that would give me a clean, yet dirty sound, in a dynamic and responsive manner. I wanted both warmth and sparkle direct to disk, so that I wouldn't upset the neighbours! :-)

I tried everything I found in like five or six shops. I liked the Line 6 stuff, as well as some Roland gizmos and the Behringer VAmp (great value for money!). But when I tried the Stomp, it only took minutes to realize my search was over.

It's not the most versatile pre-amp/amp sim around, but given my preferences, it's the *only* one that delivers.

It is easy to get SOMETHING out of the DG Stomp, not necessarily the sound you want at the precise moment you need it. There are 90 non-programmable patches, most useless and and equal number of programmable patches. They must be set by you in an order convenient to your playing style and set list. Changing patches within a bank of three is easy - any more than that gets dicey. All the information you need is in the manual - finding it in a logical manner, that's something else. It's obvious it was translated into English. One CAN bypass the whole patch thing and set effects such as reverb, chorus an delay to be switched by the stomp buttons - but not distorion! I am supremely disappointed in the ergonomics of this device.

The chorus has a very flangy sound to it that is difficult to erase. There is also a low-mid wolf tone that is likewise difficult to kill. The cleanest setting is very brittle sounding, also difficult to fix with the tone controls. If you can work around these problems, the unit is very quiet. I usually run direct from my effects box to the board and take a line to my amp, a small SWR combo. The Stomp is a pre-amp so you can plug directly into the power amp section of your amp if you want.

It is well constructed, but it has frozen when I used the tuner. I have to switch it off and on. You must plug it in via supplied wall wart, it is not battery powered. There is a battery inside that saves your progammed settings for about 3 years. The manual says you must have it changed by a repairman. If it dies you're left with the factory pre-sets. I'm not likely to still be using this device in 3 years, so I'm not worried about it.

There was a rebate on this device, and I received it in short order, so that's a good sign.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd take my old Zoom 505 out of the bag and play the gig. I would not replace the DG. One of the deciding factors in my purchasing this unit was the Guitar Player Magazine Editors Pick Award displayed in the catalog. I'll be looking for THAT seal of approval again real soon.

See below

I'm using a 335 and a Blade Strat, and the DG Stomp is definetely able to get very close to most tube amp sounds. Tweaking is required to reduce the harshness in distorted sounds. Also, it is not as dynamic as a good tube amp, but versatility outweighs these differences. Don't have any noise problems. All in all, very usable, but don't expect a 1:1 tube emulation.

Very reliable, seems sturdy.

don't know

Been playing for 10 years, mostly clean and blues stuff. My setup is simple and includes a blues deville 410, a mesa v-twin and volume pedal. i'll use the dg for some fx and for practicing at home, and probably also on stage, because nowadays so many obscure tone-guys are putting shitty mics in strange positions on stage that I may be better of going directly into the PA. After all, live and in the mix the dg's sound is as good as any other quality amp.

Very versatile but not easy to switch presets.
Great effects and overall potential if you know how to use it!

I would give it 9.5 onthe 'digital scale' on which Roland
VG-88 is the best = 10: that is still inferior to my very best
analogy and tube gear that is then rated 11-12 on that scale.
If you have ever heard Buddy Guy live, that's 13 :-)

Many reports were misleading, so here I explain how
to use and get good sounds from this versatile box:
To test the sounds I connected an excellent full range PA
system (lB Technologies 2 X 160 W) ...

I chose the preset 133 Traditional Clean as (presumably) it's Fender Twin or similar ... well, I had to bring the bass
down and again I pushed the gain to 10, middle to 9, reduced presence to 2-3, added compression to 3-4 just as I would have done it on my real Fender Twin ... this was all with my Les Paul
(modified with RMC piezo-synth bridge... )

Then I reduced the treble tone on my Les Paul neck pick-up and WOW: it was the lovely BLUES TONE ... sure, I could hear this
minute digitalness in the background, but with any band you would not hear the difference in the mix.

Finally, I switched to Clean 1 setting (as this was Clean 2) and it was EVEN BETTER sounding!
Here I added the $190 Baby Blue overdrive (the sweetest OD from Sweden) and the reaction ws just as it is with the Twin - nice singing tone.

CONCLUSION:

All anyone should do to have the best sound from DG-stomp is this:

i) First try the PA system and INDIVIDUALLY find a good one that reproduces WELL the preset 133 (as the Fendr Twin is
THE REFERENCE combo amp & sound anywhere in the world).

If any one of you people can just tell me the reference preset for Soldano, British Marshall double stack and the Mesa Boogie
and above all Vox AC 30TBX - then we are all in the business !

ii) Once when you have the reference clean sound of your favorite clean amp, then you CORRECT the EQ, and you can begin working with the GAIN and compression.

iii) Only when all this is OK, you add the desired (great) effects and you can even add best pedals up front (and wah :-) as on the true tube amplifier. The final result is very close the a real thing and in a dense mix or within the lively band nobody will hear the difference (except for Buddy Guy, BB King, EC and me :-)

Finally, although the $1k VG-88 is even better and more versatile for most people the DG-stomp can provide portable near-paradise sonic solution BUT:

.. we have to agree and exchange references on top reference amps. Vox AC30, Bassman '59, Marshall stack, Mesa Rectifier ...

No problem.

As I said, in digital world the VG-88 is even better but costs
3-4 times more. The POD is different and I use it too.

This is never better than the best tube(analog gear that
I use for my jazz and blues band yet you can get sounds
that are fabulous: I explained how to do it - above.

As others said, but not easy to use live and quickly switch
patches. However, nice and compact.

I did very serious testing of the basic sounds of this unit.

i) I used the stock Fender Strat Plus and Sennheiser HD 480 II headphones.

ii) I always used the natural cabinet i.e. 4 X 12"
for singing guitar lead sound or 2 X 12" for the
Twin jazz clean to blues emulation.

I evaluated two KEY situations:

Can I get clean to blues crossover (Bassman)
Can I get blues to singing crossover
(like Mesa Triamp or Marshall stack)

ii) Beyond that I behaved like any guitarist and
placed all EQ initially the middle (12 o'clock)
and just played with the GAIN knob as any normal
guitarist would do.

iv) All effects OFF - just bare basic sounds of the pre-amp.

Now, push the gain to 10 and keep
the compression at say 3 just to vaguely emulate
tubes, keep presence at 2-3 minimum
as you do not need too much in headphones to cut through ...

Change the clean 1 to 2 to crunch to ... to lead 1, 2
and what do you hear ... you hear that it is still
not giving you that dramatic difference in sound, as it should !

On a true tube amp, when you use neutral EQ
in clean channel and place the gain close to 10 then
the cleans will always get somewhat dirty but you
will be able to reduce the guitar volume and still
play even staccato clean, while by raising the guitar volume
you will get this bluesy crossover; on the other hand
when you go to lead 2 it should SING forever,
or even scream as your gain is at 10 !!!
and that even with the Strat on a good
overdrive channel of any modern 2 channel amp.

None of this really happens. Yet it happens with any
of my analog and tube amps.

Try for yourselves and you will see that you all get your best sounds only artificially by add ing tonns of effects or more compression or whatever
BUT not directly from the pre-amp
section that should DEFINE the BASIC tonal range
and character ...

If you place the gain at 9 o'clock oreven less things
are even worse and the box sounds really clinically
digitalishhh ... far too clean and thin with the Strat.

OK, in the above description I do exaggerate deliberately
to make the point clear but
from now on if you want to convince ME
when you will all have to get firstly BASIC sound
correct and then tell me it is tube-like sounding
and then add as much delay or whatever you want.

NOTE: I am NOT against reviewers here nor the DG-stomp !
I have $20k in gear and I bought this box as Geetar Player
gave it 5 star rating that it doesn't really deserve ...

Moreover, if there IS a TRICK that I missed
you guys and gals will be able to tell me as
there are NO EFFECTS involved, just basics ...
please do not tell me about nice effects; I agree ....

All I am trying to do is to get your ears and fingers in ACTION so that we ALL get the BEST BASIC sounds out of this box, so that maybe I do not have to sell it ... hey, it is easier to keep it
so I want to make damned sure - we have
tested all posibilities of BASIC DISTO sounds ...
not the post-pre-amp effects that are indeed very good .

Thanks for your help and understanding:
it is best for all of us, I hope.

I guess top - 9

See the review of the basic sounds; I can give there only
6 at best yet post pre-amp effects are 9 so overall is 8
as I can hear too much digitalishness ... more than
in my VG-88 or even POD.

I play since 1960s ... all styles ... so can probably tell
a few disagreeable things about DG sound :-)

I have had this unit less than a week, which is exactly why I'm reviewing it now, despite the guidelines. This unit is not easy to fathom, and once edited, the patches are not easy to access via foot switch unless one actually practices doing this as you would practice a new riff. The patches are grouped in stacked sets of three, making it extremely easy to arive not only at the wrong patch, but much further away than you want to be. The device is not intuitive, it is not even logical, as all devices of this sort should be. The manual has the feel of something that wasn't written originally in English, and one must jump around it's pages to follow one line of thought and get a complete picture. One thing that is rather simple is patch editting and storing. The DG Stomp can be run from patches or one can turn effects on and off, but curiously not the distorion parameter. I would have traded the reverb switching for distortion switching.

I bought this unit based on the reviews of the AG Stomp, and it's sound certainly lives up to expectations. It is dead quiet, even with my Zoom expression pedal, which was noisy with the Zoom unit. The effects are all they should be and the eq allows you to roar or sparkle. I run the output to a DI box, then to the house and to my amp, which is an SWR Workingman's 110T. My guitar is a Parker, and I use the acoustic sound a lot. It sounds gorgeous through the DG Stomp.

One of the features I was looking for was rugged construction. I wanted metal, no plastic in the case, no plastic jacks. The DG Stomp appears to be what I need. There is no provision for battery power, and the power cord is a detachable wall wart to a small guage wire. I think I'll buy a spare.

I like a company that posts the user's manual on their website. I knew a good deal about the device before it arrived.

I don't like to carry a lot of stuff, and I like to set up/tear down quickly. Sometimes, (opening for national acts, for example) it is a must. Many people don't like multi-effects, but they do the job for me, as I am now sure the DG Stomp will. I seriously like the sound this produces but I have more to learn to operate it smoothly. My chief gripe is that Yamaha didn't make that task easy.

At first try, it operates just like the knobs on a real amp. But to get full use of what this little wonder can do, you need to use the owner's manual to figure it out. Once you get it figured out though, this thing is great!

9.99 actually. I'm running a Carvin 7 string into a Danelectro octive pedal into a danelectro fabtone into the DG-Stomp. Out of the Stomp, into a Ibanez lo-fi filter pedal and then into the mixing board. This thing is incredible! It doesn't just sound like a tube amp, it reacts to your playing very much like an all tube amp! all the amp types are very usable and I have custome patches that use all of them interspersed with the onboard effects, which are very good. GET AN EXPRESSION PEDAL for it! You can manipulate 8 different effects parameters with it at once and I have more than a few patches that manipulate several at once! This simulator does not model specific amps, but gives you 8 types (2 each of clean, crunch, drive, and lead. The difference between type 1 and 2 being a scoop in the mids.) the clean and crunch sounds are very Fender-ish and sound incredible! The drive sounds are very similar to a vintage marshal with the gain about half way up, and the lead channels are like a full blown marshal stack. BE WARNED: None of these are modern high gain type sounds (like a Dual or Triple Rectifier). But, if you run a distortion pedal (like a boss mt2, zoom tm-01, or a dano fabtone) on a clean channel, problem is solved!!!! Big and brutal!! You can make the dirty channels clean by rolling off the gain too, so it is really versatile. The on board effects are great and can be tweaked like crazy! They consist of chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, and leslie cabinet. There is also 2 types of delay (regular and tape echo) and 3 types of reverb (spring, plate and hall). The effects and delays are excellent and VERY tweakable! The reverbs are ok, but not great. the delays are controlable for timing with a tap tempo foot switch. You can set this sucker up to change patches with the 4 foot switches, or set the switches up to turn effects off/on and use a midi pedal to change patches. The speaker simulations (there are a bunch of them!) work pretty well, although they suffer from the same problem that the line 6 POD does: the speaker simulator seems to roll off a little too much treble. Turning off the speaker simulator and running this thing into a power amp into a 4X12 cab ROCKS! The DG-Stomp is very quiet. It doesn't have a noise gate and does not need it! I can get all sorts of cool sound from this thing! I've got patches programmed into it that sound like everything from countryfied twang to super saturated surf guitar to classic AC/DC, a very good Tool sound, some classic vibey sounds ala Bauhaus and violet burning and some of my own very strange concoctions to boot! It should be noted that Meegs from Coal Chamber just signed on with Yamaha and is now using DG preamps, and I can see why. You can get just about any type of sound with this thing! For you commputer nerds, it has a direct digital out for recording into your commputer. It also has stereo outs. When there is space on the mixing board at gigs, I go one channel hard right and the other hard left. Sounds huge!

I've had it for a year and gigged with it regularly and have not had problem one with it. The internal memory battery needs to be replaced every 3 or 4 years though so if you gig with one, be sure to get a backup battery and learn how to install it.

have not had to deal with them yet, but Yamaha has a reputation for being very good in this department.

My band plays a hybrid of industrial, goth, and nu-metal blended together (if Korn got together with Circle of Dust and Violet Burning, this would be it). This requires High gain brutality one minute and multi-textural subtlety the next. This unit allows this with the punch of a foot switch! I have been playing for 13 years. This thing is a great match because it lets you do everything. I use it at church on sundays where there is a need for lots of different types of guitar sounds needed. So versatility is it's best asset. It's also nice to not have the back row of the stage cluttered up with a half stack that needs to be turned to 11 to sound good. I just have my DG and other effects on the floor and run it out of the monitors so that the stage volume isn't too loud. If it were stolen, my insurance company WILL replace it! It sounds and reacts to my playing better than a line 6 POD and costs less. If I could change one thing about it, I would add a dual rectifier type modern high gain setting to it so I wouldn't need to use a distortion pedal, but that's it.

I started using this little sweetheart in a studio a little over a year ago and never cracked the instruction manual open. I may be somewhat of a 'power-user' but I've also seen others figure this piece out as easily. It's very well laid out and self-explanitory. The manual is simply and efficiently laid out as well.

I started running this through a Peavey Chorus 212 Stereo directly into the power amp inputs, and went from there to a Peavey 210 powered cabinet (two ten-inch scorpions and single 300 watt amp) and I've easily kept up with a Marshall setup and a Matchless! I've not noticed any noise to speak of and the distortion settings are superb.
It cleans up well at low instrument volume and the transition into increased volume for more distortion is VERY smooth. I've been able to reproduce the sounds of pretty much any Rock or R&B guitarist with just this setup. The only effect I have any problem with is the chorusing which (in my opinion) could be a little 'sweeter', but then I don't really use a lot of effects other than an occasional leslie (which is KILLER). Everything else I've tried on it is superb.

Wow! It has done better on stage and in studios being bumped around, the cables jerked, someone spilling beer on it, falling from two feet, etc. than any of my prior Digitech, Peavey or Boss units ever did! I no longer feel the need to carry a backup device, but if I did it would be another of these and nothing else!

Haven't needed upgrades or repairs, no dealing directly with mfg. at this time.

My styles range from British Rock to Classic Rock to Blues, Country, and even Jazz. I've even been known to run my acoustic guitars through it with fantastic results (now I want to check out the AG stomp for acoustic guitars!). I've been playing for over thirty years, eighteen of those with other bands and as a soloist. I use a Fender Strat, Gibson Les Paul, Guild S100, Kramer F6000, Hagstrom Viking, Gibson ES125, Gibson LC100, Gibson 12-string, Hagstrom Swede, and all through this device. My favourite feature is the amp modeling; it is unmatched by the other processors I've used. I tried out the Pod preamp and still preferred the DG. It's small enough to be convenient but with big enough sound capability for any (and I mean ANY!) venue. Very pro device. The new price (I think) is around $500, and I would say worth it. If I do purchase a second, it will be new just for the warranties available.

Some background: I had a DOD TR3R for years and wanted to upgrade. On a visit home to England I saw the Stomp for less than I expected and decided to buy it. So all my comments will be tacitly comparing to the DOD unit. Also I only had five days alone with it and my normal setup on holiday before I had to return here to Poland; so, I've not worked everything out yet...

The first thing about the Stomp is that it incomparably more advanced than the DOD. I suppose it is unavoidable that it is then rather more difficult to work. The DOD had three effects, each with four knobs and a foot switch, as well as a master on/off switch. Very easy. The Stomp has 11 effects (without expression pedal), each with a very wide variation in sound. There are a s***-load more knobs but only four foot switches, so at least a glance at the manual is necessary.

Having said that, that Yamaha people obviously appreicate player comments because it is very easy to tweak the effects and get the sound you want (with your hands). There are 90 preset patches and you can modify every one - the unit switches to manual when you change the settings. The quality of the factory patches is very good - obviously you'll never need some - and I found myself getting the best sounds when starting with a patch and adapting it slightly. I didn't try putting in my own patches. After some playing around, you could set your patches in banks of three and access them quite easily. You might have a problem if any given song needs more than three guitar sounds, but come on...

The manual is good and very comprehensive, but anyone not completely anal will spend more time experimenting. PS - some of the patches are crazy! - more like a synthesiser. Very good indeed. I would like to see a master switch on this.

I used the Stomp with a Strat and two amps: Session Duette 110 and Laney GC120. The Session is a practice amp with wonderful clean sounds and bluesy distortion. I only use the laney for jamming with my drummer friend.

The Stomp does not add any noticeable hiss or sound. All the digital effects are very good. I always worry about the distortion on these multi-effects units - they usually suck, but the Stomp gives some quite good distortion with good range. Some settings sound harsh and brittle and definitely digital, but I was pleasantly surprised by others. I found that you can get either a good lead or rhythm sound, but not both. But anyway I would use a dedicated unit + sustainer for that purpose. The other effects are excellent, although it's slightly strange that you can only choose one of Phaser, chorus, flanger, rotary speaker or tremolo at a time.

Another reservation is the 'amp modelling'. The manual does warn that this the best results come from using the unit for MIDI, and they're right. There's no noticeable change in the speaker simulations when you try yourself. Having said that, many of the presets involve the speaker sim light being on, and when you turn it off you get a different and equally good tone. It's possible to get wah and volume control with a Yamaha expression pedal (next purchase!).

It's made of metal. I would use it without a backup, unless somebody wants to buy me another.

N/A

I play bluesy metallic riffs: imagine SRV playing through Kirk Hammett's rig and you have something close. I also love Alice in Chains, like the songwriting of Jim Steinman and have just started to get into HIM (the band).

Even after 10 years' playing, I haven't tried much gear. The Stomp is by far the most advanced thing I own. There are features I didn't know it had until I looked on the Yamaha website: automatic delay setting, wah, volume...

What I like: ease of use, great sound quality, professional appearance, not-too-bad distortion, obviously great flexibility, excellent range of effects.

What I don't like: no master switch - I do use other effects!, absence of expression pedal, speaker simulation.

I would buy this again like a shot. It is very good value and they seem to be selling like hot cakes. Having said that if I had a gig tomorrow I wouldn't take it - not until I had figured it out and was happy playing songs with it. Perhaps in a couple of weeks.

Everything you may need except control pedal;
but the switching is tricky for a gig ...

The gentlemen before me described it BEST so far:
so read what he says - I agree. I would rather say
I have to add the Art Tube levelar up-front to make
even the response truly tube-like and then I can run
my tube amps as he described with results that
are roughly 8-9. 10 is reserved for my all tube divine
amps and I have several.

I play since 1961 and I play all styles but metal, punk
or grundge (whatever that is) or rap, so this pedal
covers my sounds EXCEPT: singing Santana !

I tried 111 and it's OK with humbuckers but sux
with my Fender Strat Plus - I can never have enough
gain especially READ THIS if I switch OFF cab simms
which is necessary for most settings: in this case
actually I have to leave it ON?

Roland VG-88 is even better for recording and gets 9,
the POD gets 8 and this box 8.5 for sound.

Well, for a man who pays top dollar for the best gear I have to say
this thing is fine if you pay $250, yet still verify the newer boxes
with 24bit converters and 32bit processing, 96kHz :-)

I still prefer everything analog yet this gets a solid 8.

Controls consist of a set of amp types, then the usual amp knobs (Gain, Master Voume, Tone Control etc) and a four-bank effects set (Compresion, Chorus/Flange etc, Delay, Reverb). The pre-amp can be turned off so you can use the effects without the amp types.

This is the best-sounding stomp box I ever had for what I play and what I use it with. I'm not sure why a lot of folks compare it to tube amps and get disappointed, it's just a stomp box (look at the name! How did it get into the amp reviews anyway?) Maybe expectations are too high for a $250 box. Anyway, if you like the Mesa/metal wall of sound type of thing you'll be disappointed. If you like rock/blues and avoid the presets, you'll like it. These are things that sound really good for me: I use it to front-end a Lexicon 284 recording amp, and use the 284's speaker simulation out to the desk or mike up the 284 connected to a Greenback. Although the Stomp's output could go into the effects return I think it sounds better into the guitar input. I also use it to drive a Vox AC-15 and with a Strat through Drive 1 into the Vox, it's amazingly bluesy and tubey. Not digital at all, just that gritty greasy twangy sound. The Drive and Crunch channels are the best, the Clean ones are ok, the Lead ones are ok at low gain for what I do. At high gain I can't imagine anyone would like the Lead channels. The Stomp is also surprisingly good with a distortion pedal in front of it driving a Crunch channel at Gain about 4 or 5. It made me wonder if that's what the low gain/high gain guitar input settings are really for(Yamaha talk about high/low output pickups) - you can use the low gain setting if you're driving the Stomp with a pedal that might push it into clipping too much. I never use the speaker simulation because I have IMO better simulation boxes. To summarize, it seems to sound best when used to drive the guitar input of a nice tube amp, reproducing some classic tones quite well. It also seems to happy if you front it with a tube distortion pedal and drive a tube amp. Used like this, it's more versatile than most of the pedals out there.

No experience.

No experience.

features are descriped in other reviews
dislikes: 3patches per bank, no text for display

this unit sounds really great. but it also depends on the quality of teh amp or pa behind. you never can approve the sound of an amp with an effects unit.
most people, who are not satisfied with the sounds, make mistakes in addjustments of the sounds (speaker sim, outputlevels, etc).
i use the preampsounds and effects in a coverband and the preamps react much more dynamic than those of the line6 pod. the unit reacts to the guitars volumepoti like tubeamps do. effects are imho better than those of boss multi-fx units.
in the band where we make our own music, i only use the effects of the stomp. i use a sovtek mig 50H top and a selfmade 2*10" cabinet with it. i also use a proco rat and a ibanez wh10 wah in front of the dg stomp. so i have my own sound with great effects in my main band and can achieve all the sounds i want in the coverband. this unit is a keeper!

nothing to complain here

haven't delt with them

this unit is great, also with the price aside. but when you take a look at the price too, it's imho unbeatable. give it a try!!

See other reviews below: but note it's
a poor design for live use!

Not as good as most people say and it does sound
digital as the reviewer below said ( I agree 100%):

''My problem is with the distortion character. If you listen via 'phones and disable speaker sim, surely the harsh, brittle, thin, sputtery, fizzy nature is audible to anyone. The speaker sim, which BTW didn't make much difference model-to-model, doesn't remove the clippy breakup enough. It is in the nature of the beast. Just maybe the unit I tried was a poor example but I don't have the opportunity to store-test different ones.
The rave reviews here and GP mag(!) really make me wonder what people are listening for these days.''

I wonder how on earth Holdsworth can use these cold
sounding digital Yamaha boxes ... no warm sound in it !

Even POD is better and any decent tube combo is MUCH better.

I cannot recommend enough to serious musicians to stay away.

looks strong

I play since 1962 and have all the gear in the known Universe
and like the guy before me really wanted to like this box.

Sorry, this is not tube-like sounding box: sounds cold and
digital in terms of decay ... I don't think any serious
blues-tube type of musicians can live with this one.

I give it 7 as I am polite.

-well described elsewhwere
-make sure you can deal with the patch swithching or go external MIDI control

First, are we all singing from the same songsheet here? I'm looking for smooth but articulate distorton, "natural", responsive; the type associated with good tube amps but I really don't care where it originates because good tone is where YOU find it. Furthermore, I expect a device like this to work as advertised under all conditions i.e. into phones, direct recording, as a preamp and maybe even as a front-end stomp-box.

The clean tone is good and adjustable over a useful range. The compressor will suck your string attack though. Lots of amps can produce good clean live sound. The DG may be good for clean recording but I didn't keep long enough to check this aspect properly.

My problem is with the distortion character. If you listen via 'phones and disable speaker sim, surely the harsh, brittle, thin, sputtery, fizzy nature is audible to anyone. The speaker sim, which BTW didn't make much difference model-to-model, doesn't remove the clippy breakup enough. It is in the nature of the beast. Just maybe the unit I tried was a poor example but I don't have the opportunity to store-test different ones.

The rave reviews here and GP mag(!) really make me wonder what people are listening for these days.

Don't know, but the hardware looked and felt really nice on the outside.

Really dunno about this one.

I wanted to like this box but the sound is not there for me. I have tried a POD v2 and it sounds MUCH smoother and more natural (IMO, of course) but not perfect either. By comparison, a Tube Screamer into some EQ for extra bottom and a bit more bite gets me into the sonic ballpark (live) well before this unit. If only someone would build one with multichannels and effects (I know Ibanez came close).

This coulda bin a contendah. But it's more like lunchbag letdown.....

I was lookig for another practice amp, one that I could use in my livingroom with a headphone jack so that I do not bother anyone.
I was looking at amps when I saw the DG. I decided that for $299
(minus a $50 rebate), I could have a good variety of options in a pedal and have a good practice amp all in one.
I liked it better than the Pod I tried because I could easily tweek the knobs on the fly and save the settings I liked.

I've used it thrpugh my headphones and through my Fender Hot Rod Deville and both sounded good. Then I tried it through a Roland KC500 Keyboard amp and wow ! In fact as I often play in my church's worship band, I now just take the DG and run it through the church's KC500.
I get questions on what Im using all the time, it sounds great.

One reason I went with the DG over the POD was I like the control the knobs give me. The other reason is that a buddy of mine does repairs for the local music store and he told me that the POD has had reliability problems.
As far as the DG goes, It has never given me any problems.

Have not needed them,

Overall, I feel it's been a great investment. I now have a good sounding pedal and a great practice amp all in one. Nice.

I bought this unit during my investigations into modeling gear. I also own a Boss VF-1 and Pandora2 and Pandora3. The editing of patches is really simple and saving them is a snap. You just turn the knobs till you get what you like, press the store button, select the patch number (only necessary if you are saving to a different patch number than the one you are editing), press the store button again, and you are done. I've done it on stage many times. The manual is excellent. The sound quality of the effects is really good. It has compression, phaser, flanger, tremolo, rotary speaker, chorus, delay, tape delay, hall, plate and spring reverbs, 16 speaker sims, a built in tuner (really handy) and 8 preamp types.

I've been trying to find a setup that is all digital or solid state (read "lightweight") and sounds good. The best I've found is a Pandora PX3 through a Polytone MegaBrute - lightweight, killer sound. The DG Stomp has some excellent tones, but I was not really able to use it with its preamp section on through any of the combinations of gear I tried. UNTIL...UNTIL I ran it into the front end of my 1971 Marshall Super Bass head (single channel w/Bradshaw Mod - so much for going tubeless). I dialed up just a really nice tone on the Marshall and use the DG Stomp for different levels, distortions and effects. I set the unit up so that the three switches are on/off for the effects and use a midi-pedal to change the patches (I have a small ADA pedal with a double bank of switches so it is really compact). I run the Marshall into a 2x12 closed back cabinet with Vintage 30's. I use a Carvin DC135 with Dimarzio Super Distortion and Seymour Duncan JB Junior pickups w/Floyd Rose. The unit is not very noisy, even at high gain settings. The effects are really good and I like the added ability to set up a patch with all the effects set up the way I like, save it, then save it again with the individual effects turned on or off, depending on how I want the patch to be when I first go to it. When I switch to that patch, I can then turn the effect on or off (like delay in a solo patch) by stepping on the switch, and it is set just like I want it. (does this make sense?) What I am saying is that I can have 99 patches set up anyway I like them and switch the effects within each patch on or off while I play. Pretty darn handy. I think the eight gain stages are really four stages with a setting eq'd for either humbuckers or single coils. This is a useful item for me, since I own many different guitars with either singles or buckers. The speaker sims are pretty cool (16 or them) and they alter the output characteristic of the tone without killing what you've dialed in. I tend to favor full tones (I own a bunch of Fulltone pedals also, he he he) with lots of balls. I like tones like SRV, Gary Moore, Santana and to that end I own two Marshalls(the Super Bass and a DSL401), two Mesa Boogies (MarkII and MarkIV), Ampeg Reverborocket (1962 original), many many preamps, both tube and ss, two Classic 50/50 power amps w/EL84's, three ss power amps, and lots and lots of effects gear. I am in a constant state of experimentation. I finally found the right combination for the DG Stomp. It didn't sound quite right going into any of my other SS gear, but it DID work in the effects loop of the MarkIV with the preamp section of the DG turned off and only using the effects. It is a very versatile little box. I can dial in almost any tone I want with it now. (And switch between them easily....) It makes for a really simple setup and my former bandmates (who came to see me at the last gig) were really impressed with the tone. Thanks, Yamaha......

I've never had a problem with it, but I carry a backup for everything, anyway.

Never dealt with them.

I like to play rock, blues and soul, although I've been playing a lot of stuff like Sheryl Crow, Natalie Imbruglia, etc, recently in a band I've been working with on the side. It works great for all that stuff. I've been playing for 35 years and own tons of gear(6 tube amplifiers, 2 SS amps, 2 tube preamps,2 ss preamps, 2 tube power amps, 3 ss poweramps, 1 bass head, 3 rack effects units, multiple stomp boxes, 12 electric guitars, 4 acoustic guitars, 1 bass guitar, 2 4x12 cabinets, 1 2x12 cabinet, 2 1x12 cabs (GAS, big time). I'm really digging the tone from this DG Stomp/Marshall combination and if it were stolen I would definitely buy another one. It enables me to get that bad ass Marshall tone with some unique combinations of effects. Kind of makes my Marshall into a channel switching amp.... I've found that each of the modeling units I own works well with certain combinations of gear and not so well with others. It's been a matter of trying all the different setups until I hit on the right ones. For now, it's the DG Stomp/Marshall and the Pandora PX3/Polytone (a little 75W amp w/ channel switching and an 8" speaker - real light, but ballsy). For ease of use, I'd have to say the DG Stomp is the winner. If you are going to buy one (or any other modeler/effect unit), take your own amp in to the store and try it, or make sure they have a similar amp or a good return policy so if it doesn't work with your gear, you can return it. Some of the things I've purchased over the years are really useless, but some of them, like the DG Stomp, just needed to be used in conjunction with the right amp. Just be sure you give it the best shot you can. It's definitely got the Mojo.