Digitech RP 500

Ever since my Digitech RP 255, I've bought a couple more Digitech products. This one will go through the RP 500. The RP 500 is a huge step up and advances on the shortcomings of its 255 brother.

Let's first discuss the back panel. The RP 500 has XLR outputs in addition to its 1/4 inch outputs. The outputs now also have a hex nut around the jack for better durability. The mp3 and headphones make a return to the RP 500. These two features are quite handy and were very useful to me as a bedroom guitarist. The USB output lets the user connect right to their pc or laptop, making recording a breeze. The last point worth noting for the back panel is that it is powered by the 9v power adapter that comes with the pedal.

Now that the back panel has been taken care of, let's look at the physical build of the product and the actual pedal itself. Just like the RP 255 and all of its predecessors, the 500 has a metal bottom and strong reinforced top. The wah / volume pedal has a rubber grip on it making it easier for the user to use their shoes and get a grip of the pedal. This model comes with five dedicated effect switches on the bottom. Compression, Distortion, Chorus/FX, Delay, and Reverb can be quickly accessed by the press of a switch, a nice strong vacuum switch I might add. I feel a lot more confident pressing down on these switches then the plastic bump of the RP 255. This also means that the user doesn't have to switch presets for a new effect. They can just hit the distortion for that nice gritty tone and then kick it off once it's done being used. This saves a lot of time when it comes to presets and lets the use experiment and focus on one preset as opposed to switching back and forth.

With the update the pedal received a couple months after its release, it also has a 30 second looper. The looper works great, but the switch to start and stop the looper is located on the right hand side of the board with the two switched near the wah. This makes it frustrating to hit the switch based off of the angle you need.

On the left hand side of the board you have the bypass and tap tempo buttons. Bypass lets the user quickly go to tuning mode. The display becomes a tuner and denotes whether the note is in tune or flat. Pretty straightforward and functions great. The tap tempo button is for the delay to dictate the frequency of it all. I use is to normally synchronize with the bass drum when I am playing a song that needs delay. Otherwise I tend to not use it. I have heard people complain about the tap tempo and how they are unable to do intricate patterns with it, but I don't find it to be an issue for me just yet.

The presets and the user presets are the next order of business here. There are a hundred of each of them. As I clicked through them, I noticed a lot of the presets focused on the delay pedal, but otherwise, I found a clear variety of effects. Some names are Acoustic, Metal clean, Satch, Legacy, Whammy, Mr. Clean, sci-fi, and EQ-Best. Some presents are covertly modeled after musicians such as ACDC Joe Satriani, SRV, and Black Label Society. Being able to tweak any preset makes for some very interesting changes since you are filled with numerous things to change.

Since this is a multi-effects processing system, it is meant to emulate amplifiers pedals, cabs, effects and more. I’m going to go take one preset as an example and then go down and describe each aspect of the preset that can be changed and how. This preset is going to be number 82, Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean uses a DigiTech Clean Amp with a Twin 2x12 Cabinet with EQ, Noise Gate and two effects, a Digitech Dual Chorus and a reverb that is based on the EMT 240 Plate Reverb. The first of course is whether the user want the wah wah pedal on. The expression pedal normally acts as a volume pedal until the user presses down on the pedal, turning on the wah effect. The next is the compressor followed by the distortion. Just to give you an idea as to what you have to work with, the RP 500 can simulate a Boss CS-2 Compressor, a Digitech Main Squeeze and a MXR Dynacomp. There are more than enough distortions to name, but some noteworthy ones are the Ibanez TS-9, Pro Co Rat, MXR Distortion +, Boss DS-1, and the Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi. Again, these are simulations based on the original pedal.

The amplifier and cabinet are probably two of the more important features that this pedal has to offer because in my opinion, this is where the real tweaking and simulation begin. Due to the amount of sheer possibilities between effects and amps and cabs, the type of sound you can get is definitely limitless. The RP 500 simulates a ’57 Fender Tweed Champ, ’65 Fender Blackface Twin Reverb, ’83 Marshall JCM 800, ’93 Marshall JCM 900, ’62 Vox AC 15 and Sunn 100S. Within the Amp settings, the user can adjust the Gain, Bass, Mid, and Treble settings as well as the overall max volume. Clicking the first button brings the user to the cab simulation where they can pick from a Fender Blonde Bassman, 4x12 Marshall 1969 Straight w/ Celestion G12-T70, Hiwatt Custom w/ Fane Speakers, or a 1x12 '62 Vox AC15 w/20W Vox Speaker to name a few. The same Gain, Bass, Mid, and Treble settings are offered to the user for the cab as well. Going down the adjustment options, the user can then adjust the equalizer, noise gate, delay, or reverb settings. The final setting that I felt should be noted individually from the aforementioned effects are the Chorus and FX.

Now, Digitech compiled a lot of effects and put them under this label to save space. This is understandable considering anyone can get really specific with these FX and provide even more categories than needed.  The FX options range from Choruses such as the TC Electronic Chorus, DigiTech Multi-Chorus, Boss CE-2 Chorus, to Flangers and Phasers like MXR Flanger, Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress, ADA Flanger, MXR Phase 100, Digitech Phaser and Electro Harmonix Small Stone. The pedal also offers Pitch Shifters like the Digitech Whammy, Digitech Pitch Shift and the Dgitiech IPS. Lastly, there are also tremolos, Envelope Filters, and Vibrato/Rotary Models.

Now, editing these settings can be a little bit of a nuisance since the font on the pedal is really small. This prevents editing important settings on the fly, something that you cold normally do if you were to have a dedicate pedalboard with individual effects. This is definitely a drawback for a lot of people, but I find that this does not personally bother me since I have not yet started to edit settings on the fly. This pedal is fantastic for the value and what it can bring to the table. It lets me record directly into my laptop and by plugging in my headphones, whatever I hear through my headphones is what gets recorded on my laptop since I record directly into my laptop and not through an amplifier.

The pedal overall is fantastic, especially at the $200 price range. It really opened my eyes to what is possible with digital effects processing systems. I would give this pedal a shot if you see it in a store and really put it through its paces. Go through a couple of the presets and change some stuff around. I recommend trying the Solo Delay Preset (#3), Mr. Clean (#82), Sci Fi (#100), Acoustic (#10), and Satch (#64). 

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Ibanez GSR 200 Review

I picked up this bass guitar two years ago as my first bass. I attended a music school at the time and they needed a bass player for a couple of songs so I bought a bass and learned the songs. It should be noted that I only use the bass for practicing and recording. I don't play shows so it wouldn't know how it cuts through the live mix or anything of that nature. The bass is as heavy as my Charvette by Charvel so I would say around five to six pounds. It's not the heaviest bass I've played and since it weighs about the same as my Charvel, my shoulders don't hurt after and hour or two of playing. The bass has a cherry red finish which I like a lot and is quite striking. The neck is a maple with a rosewood fretboard and it's remarkably thinner than other bass necks. At the point in time when I bought bass I had been playing guitar for three years, mainly on my Charvel and my Epiphone SG 400. The transition was effortless in that respect. It felt like I was playing one of my guitars, just with thicker strings and a slightly longer neck width wise. I believe it's the curve of the neck that's smaller, making it easier to play that a chunkier neck that could be found on a Fender Jazz bass.

This bass is also my first instrument that required a 9 Volt battery. I tried to stay away from using instruments that required batteries at the time because I just felt they were another hassle or hindrance for me, but having an active bass provided to be useful when I needed to use its "bass booster" feature and onboard EQ. It has the master volume, bass booster, treble, and bass knobs for the EQ so it is easy to adjust your tone on the go. Since I was new to onboard EQ's, this blew my damn mind when I really started tinkering with it. The split coil and single pickup sounds alright. Seeing as how it's a budget bass, I wasn't expecting a lot in terms of the pickups. The way the pickups are placed, it lets you rest your thumb at the neck and bridge pickup. Since I believe they are ceramic pickups, the tone isn't great... but I hope at $200 you weren't expecting a Geddy Lee tone. I've plugged this into my Digitech RP255 guitar pedal and put it on a clean setting so I could record straight into my laptop for backing tracks. It sounds decently good, but nothing stellar.

The bass as a whole is a pretty good and it is fantastic like beginners so that they can test the waters and see if they really want to stick with it. The neck is smaller than most basses so it isn't a hassle, the pickups could be better, but are good for the price, the EQ is fun to mess around with to get a few different tones, the finish is stunning. I'd rate the bass a 7/10. If the pickups were a little bit better, I'd personally deem it a fantastic instrument. Regardless, I use this bass a lot and it has never caused me any issues in the two full years I have owned it. 

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DigiTech RP 255 Multi Processor Pedal

I bought this stunning pedal three and a half years ago with no clear understanding of what the pedal could really do. At the time, I bought it because I wanted something that could generate a lot of effects and sounds without me having to spend a lot of money. I figured that if I found an amp model  or effect I really liked, I could buy the physical amp or effect pedal later on in life when had the necessary finances. I used it for making covers at home as well as a few original pieces here and there, but I was completely oblivious to the USB out embedded within the pedal.  Little did I know that this pedal with two switches and a foot pedal would blow me away and become an invaluable tool in me recording music.

This pedal contains 94 various stomp boxes and amplifier tones. The amplifiers are based off of famous models such as the Fender Twin Reverb and the immortal Marshall JCM 800/900, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and the Vox AC30, tones that are so well known in rock and metal, as well as blues, that they can be identified by musicians within as seconds. The stomp boxes, also referred to as effects pedals, range from the most basic distortion pedals and delay, to a wah wah pedal and DigiTech's signature Whammy pedal. I'm inclined to say I bought this pedal for that effect alone. The whammy pedal that made the same wacky and crazy sounds that my favorite guitarist Tom Morello, from Rage Against The Machine, made on songs like Killing in the Name of and Clear the Lane simply inspired me.

With that being said, the pedal has a lot to offer. The physical build of the pedal itself is fantastic for the price. When you press down on the pedal, you can activate the wah pedal at any time. There is no physical button or switch for you to hit, it is all based on pressure. After using my Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal for a year, I sorely miss the physical button, but as time went on, I started to appreciate the "virtual button". You can reset the pedal's calibration so that you can recalibrate the amount of pressure you need to press down for the wah pedal. This kind of made up for the missing switch and I was able to successfully calibrate the pedal to the same pressure I would place on a real pedal. The two foot switches are strong and their main purpose is to switch between each preset. The preset themselves can be modified and completely altered so that you can have your own unique tone, within the pedal's parameters. I find myself always amazed at the sheer amount of options this pedal presents you with. I am able to switch between a crystal clean channel and a rough and dirty channel within seconds with only a slightly minuscule delay. The pedal comes with 60 drum presets and an onboard metronome that can go as high as 240 BPM. The drum presets are great to jam over and are good to play along with since you can adjust the BPM of the loop.

The pedal comes with X-Edit, a piece of software that I find pretty intuitive. Via a USB cable that is not provided, but is commonly used for connecting a printer to a PC, you can edit the settings of each preset via your laptop. I find this more useful then turning the dials for each effect and for each preset. It is really easy to navigate and it is simple enough to backup presets and save them for later. You are also able to download custom made tones that are made by people online that are compatible with this pedal. That in itself opens up a whole new door of possibilities and options for the guitar player. People online are still making presets and creating insanely interesting tones. The pedal has an aux and headphone out port so you can connect your iPod or laptop via 3.5mm cable in order to play along to tracks or lessons. The headphone out allows me to play in silence so that I don't bother my family with my music. As stated before, you can plug the pedal directly into your laptop via USB. This is simply invaluable when it comes to recording since you can just record without the use of microphones and amplifiers. The pedal even comes with Cubase LE 4, which is a recording software. It is great for beginners and the full version is used by professionals and amateurs alike. DigiTech spared no expense with the software and the production of this pedal.

This is essentially how I record. (From top the bottom)(Black)  Power cable. (Cream/beige) USB adapter that goes into laptop. I found printers use the same cable. (Green) 2 way 3.5 m.m. cable that goes into the laptop's headphone port so I can play to tracks. (Silver) Headphones that plug right in. (Golden) 1/4 inch Instrument Cable that goes right into my guitar. 

This pedal is quite possibly one of my greatest musical purchases so far. I thoroughly enjoy everything this pedal has to offer. A week or so ago, I emailed DigiTech with a question concerning my pedal and they were able to get back to me in a timely fashion with various responses, one of which solved my issue. The pedal is made out die cast and I trust that it is built to last. I hope in the future I am able to buy the RP 500 or the RP 355 because they can only get better from here. This pedal is also great for the college student on the go who cannot bring their Marshall JCM 900 with their 4x12 cabinet with them to college. With a power adapter, instrument cable and a set of headphones, you can jam away at your heart's content. Overall a stellar product. 

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