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).