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« DigiTech RP200 Multi-Effects Processor »

Published on 12/18/03 at 15:00
I bought this on Musician's Friend for $150. I had been trying to find a good effects modeler, but I was on a budget, and after hearing one played at a friend's house I opted for this one.

The RP200 has so many excellent features. Pickup modelling, which allows you to get the sound of a dual humbucker guitar even if you don't own a guitar with humbuckers, and vice versa, amp modelling, noise gate, delay, compression, wah, custom mic settings, and 28 studio-quality effects. The amp models sound incredibly true to the originals. Worried about not having a built-in distortion effect? Put your fears to rest, as the gain settings will give you all the screaming sustain and crunch you'll ever want. To the trained ear they might not sound fully realistic, but it is very hard to tell between the real amp and this modeler. Another thing that's so great about the RP200 is that it has all kinds of fantastic-sounding effects (the chorus on this thing rules!). There are even a few things I've never even heard of, such as SynthTalk. You can tweak all the parameters separately to achieve the perfect sound. There's also the mic placement sections, which offers, I believe about sixteen mic placement options. This is a great pedal for live use because it has so many features. And the drum machine, though a bit limiting and primitive, sounds great.

Well, the wah on the RP200 sounds pretty bad, and the pedal on the side doesn't make it any better. If you use a lot of wah in your sound, keep your Crybabies because this isn't your machine for wah. The pedal does seem a bit useless, too. I personally only use it for Whammy, because everything else you can use it for probably won't need to be adjusted in the middle of your playing. It's also a little hard at first to access the tuner or bypass the system, but you'll get used to it. Plus, there is no internal power source, so you have to always find a plug if you want to play it. So that essentially means that if you run out of plugs near your rig, you're screwed.

The RP200 is made of extremely durable cast-iron. This thing is very sturdy, so it won't break if you accidently drop it backstage. The actual plug is a little awkward because there is no internal power source and it must be plugged in via an outlet at all times, so that is kind of annoying. But the body is not at all cumbersome and actually becomes convenient most of the time.

This is an excellent pedal for someone looking for a ton of different effects and features but can't afford something bigger. It does have some drawbacks, but the good points more than compensate for it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com