digitech rp 500, anyone...

[rand z]

anyone using one of these multi-effect pedals? if so, what is your opinion of them as far as SOUND?

thanks!

rand z tropicalsoul.net

[rand z]

i guess i can assume that this pedal is too new for anyone to know much about it...

i have an opportunity to obtain one of these muti effect units, at a reduced price, on a promo from digitech. i have the rp 100 and have used it for almost 5 years (along with a yamaha magicstomp) and feel that its easy to program and sounds reasonably good for what i do. i do not like the distortion or amp modeling all that much, though, and dont use them during our performances. but, i have other outboard pedals for those purposes.

i was hoping to confirm that the rp 500, which has separate foot switches for distortion, delay, reverb, chorus/flanging... which would be a nice backup for current rig, was even better than my rp 100 (5 years newer technology). it certainly has more bells and whistles.

im also hoping that it would be a little easier to maintain than the six separate pedals im running now. maybe easier for direct recording, by eliminating the extra connections etc. all of this, somewhere down the line...

rand z tropicalsoul.net

[Vol. Knob]

I'll chime in... I don't have one, but I'm seriously considering pickup one up. Though first I'd have to sell some stuff to raise the cash. I spent a half hour messing with one at Guitar Center yesterday and was pleased.

I have an RP100 that I bought when they came out in 1999. It still works and has been a worthwile purchase. Granted, its been more of a recording tool and as an occaisional "Special Effect" in my rig (octave, exxtra distortion, envelope filter, weird delays, etc). Nothing I'd use live, its not user-friendly that way. Scrolling up and down the presets isnt conducive to a live show, at least not for me. The RP500, on the other hand, has a setup that is very impressive, each effect with its own switch. Add to that, its rugged and looks like it could take some real world use.

I play in a cover band that does 1/3 oldies, 1/3 '80s, 1/3 modern tunes. We play around 48 songs per show. My tonal needs are simple, yet all over the place. Naturally I play two Strats & a Tele. My amp is simple, a 5E3 head with a 2x12 cab. My pedalboard has 8 pedals, only 4 on them on a one-spot, the rest need their own wall wart. This has gotten ugly and I use 3 of them only once per set.

We just got a new drummer, his rig is electric. He runs through the PA. Our keyboardist runs through the PA. Our 2nd guitarist uses a DigiTech GNX4 and runs throught the PA as well as his own slave amp. The bassist and I are the only ones in the band who don't go through the PA. And at our last show there were spots in the venue where I was barely audible and others where I was too loud. Same with our bassist. Plus I couldnt hear our other guitarist (not the one with the GNX4, for this show we had another guy who used a Delta Blues).

We've been discussing micing our rigs and running them through the PA so we could have total control of the sound and hear ourselves in the monitors. And since I'm looking to simplify things even more, I figured that going with a good modeler would do the trick too. Less to carry, fewer wall-warts, more control.

Besides, when your playing to audiences like ours, nobody cares what type of amp you use. Yeah, a real amp sounds better, and is far cooler. But who notices when you're playing "Don't you want me baby"?

[SatelliteOrders]

Vol, I play in church, and everyone goes through the PA for us. I don't know that pedal. I use a Toneworks AX1500G, which honestly a little bit rinky-dink, but it does the job. If you can find a used GT6 or GT8, that'll do you well. Heck maybe that RP500 is a good thing, too.

[rand z]

now that these have been out on the market for a few weeks at guitar center and other places, (they're pretty new) maybe there's a few people who have picked em up or demoed em?

anyone have a chance to check em out?

thanks!

rand z tropicalsoul.net

[rand z]

finally got mine...

after 2 weeks of having a little time to experiment with this unit:

- it's well constructed out of metal, not plastic.

- the expression pedal appears to be metal too, and, mechanically, operates very smoothly.

- very large led display. this is programmable with your own letters and characters to name your patches.

- all switches are heavy duty and operate as such.

- sonically it seems comparable to my rp 100 but with many more options

- options include various stompbox brands of delays, compression, distortion, chorus/modulation, reverbs and amp/cabinets. Lots of specific amps and cabinets.

- option of running effects with amp/cabinet selection, or a "bypass" switch which just runs the effects to whatever amp youre connected to. nice feature.

- you can turn on/off any of the 5 effects through their designated switches, in front of you allowing 100 different personal setups of 1: compession 2: distortion 3: chorus/phase/flange etc 2: delay 5: reverb. again all are individually on/off switchable in each separate bank. again very nice.

i havent had time to really lock into the quality of all of these effects, amps, cabinets etc., but on initial experimenting they are of standard digi tech quality, so if you like their pedals, this is comparable.

btw, this is all standard wall wart driven unit... actually, im not sure about battery capabilities...? probably is, though.

if anything comes out and hits me in the face, or it poops out on me, i'll come back here and make a report.

imho,

rand z tropicalsoul.net

[fauxsuper]

I thought I'd try to revive this thread as I just bought one myself and am quite hopeful it will work with the band I'm currently with where I'm required to make all sorts of sounds.

Any info you have about the unit's operation and what things work for you and don't work wouold be helpful. When I get more familiar with it myself I'll post a review

[bluesboy]

I've been using this for over 2 months and I love it...I give it an AAA+++! The twang(58) setting is perfect thru my Tele and when I want to kick it up for the lead, I just hit the distortion pedal and it give it just enough. I also use this setting w/distortion for the Marshall Tucker Stuff. The rocklead setting (60) is the perfect "Can't Get Enough" sound. The Acoustic setting (10 I think) is realistic enough when I put my tele switch in the neck position to make most people turn around to take a look.
I think it is more durable than the Line 6 stuff and a hell of alot easier to use. Dat's all folks!!!

[fauxsuper]

Thanks, bluesboy! I bought an open-stock one at Guitar Center for $211 bucks as it was missing the power supply, manual, and software. I knew I could likely get the manual and software from Digitech, and all I had to do was go over to their Live Sound area and picked up the power supply, as Harmon uses basically the same one for things as diverse as the Jimi Hendrix pedal and Lexicon reverbs. The counter guy in guitar accesories couldn't even make an effort to do anything for me,nor did he offer. Typical GC experience.

Last weekend Digitech's web site was down and I sent them an Email asking when it would be back up and they told me to send them my address and they'd ship the stuff right out to me. Nice to have hard copies.

[fauxsuper]

I've had the unit for over a week and I think I might actually keep it for a while. It seems to blend quite well with my Frenzel in an almost organic manner. Some of the Presets are very cheesy, but a lot of them have proved as useful starting points for getting sounds I like. Being able to hit bypass is nice, as I have a few "solo boost" patches I can punch in and out. I still have a lot to learn, but I think I'll end up being able to use it on stage.

[rand z]

ive had mine for about 2 or 3 months and am having a hard time getting consistant sounds from the custom settings... it just seems to change in sound from one gig to the next. and i dont have this problem at all from my regular pedalboard setup with independent effect pedals.

im not sure why either. i actually think that the settings i program are changing after i down power the unit. im pretty sure that i know how to save them as there are some that havent changed. for starters i dont care for any of the distortion pedals and settings that are included. the compression seems to change the most from gig to gig. getting louder and/or more or less compressed. reverb sounds great at one gig and soft a mushy at another. ive tried re eq-ing and this too seems to change quite a bit.

i realize that room size and acoustics change from room to room, but again, i do not have this problem with my regular pedalboard.

perhaps its way too much to expect one unit to really take the place of 8 or so individual pedals, and then have 100 banks of those pedals (and being able to turn them on and off, individually) in one unit. i do have a digitech rp 100 that ive used on and off for 5 years that has sounded good most of the time. i think that there might be some BUGS in this new unit that might need to be worked on... maybe itll be improved. i hope so, as it is a novel, but practical idea.

imho.

rand z tropicalsoul.net