DigiTech GSP1101 Guitar Multi Effects Processor  

Let me start the review by stating that the service from Musician's Friend was beyond the best. I recieved my unit in 3 days (ful order...ordered a few other items) and even when contacted by the staff because of an order issue on my behalf, they were friendly, polite and professional. I also purchased a used B unit which honestly I can not tell any difference from a unit that was a hundred dollars more expensive.

I am a struggling musician (non-professional) arent we all...LOL....who has been playing well I played for 15 years then gave it up for around 10 or so because, well we grow up....get busy with life, and you know how i goes. After 10 years I started playing again. I stil had my guitar (gibson V) but my amp was too big to move when I moved out of state so I bought a little fender 25 watt frontman....having to replace equiptment that I had in the past I bought a Boss multi effect pedal just to mess around with and get some effects....well was never happy with tthat unit...after playing for around 2 years the thing that was really bothering me was my tone....as it was always something in the past that I have had to always work with....I was able to achieve some good sounds but never had the versatility of may styles....So I saw this little unit from digitech....WOW...I have not even unleashed its full potential and only hav worked with a few presets and I must say, this is the best sound that I have ever achieved....Like stated above I play from Metalica to rainbow...to Led Zep....The Who....Ozzy...Maiden...Priest....I was totally into one of these styles throughout my playing...and must say that have achieved good sounds from various equiptment along the years...but never was I satified with playing these from one unit...I am not someone that tries to cover up my sound,...but rather use all my equiptment to achieve it...There really seems endless possibilities of what this thing can do....I am truely amazed...yes more epensive units may do the same thing....but for a mid priced system....this is a keeper....I also bought a Behringer Mini foot controller which I have just begun to understand how to program that...I will give a review on that Item at a different time....I must say that I have used other modeling preamps.....some good...some I was disappointed with like the Boss...just my opinion...and the gsp 1101 hits it dead on...I even said that if I can not get the sund that I am looking for after buying this system that I would quit.....guess I have to play on for a few more years lol.....I must say out of all of my equiptment I have purchased througout the years....guitars...amps....stomp boxes etc....I think this was the the one piece of equiptment that I feel 100% good about buying...without thinking it was an overkill....even though I am a closet gutairist.....this new toy will keep me busy for many years to come...

I am not giving this a 10 because it is a new item and the quality you really never know about until you use it for some time...the knobs seems rugged although I think that if hit the wrong way may damage easily....the electrical componenets has to be top notch even though I am not a electro junkie...with a sounding system like this...they could not have used junk parts..all in all a rugged piece of equiptment

This system can compete with Rack 11 or other systens and is half the price.....

I am ver pleased...like stated this system gives me the versatality that I was looking for, in a pre amp and effect system.....I must say good job digitech

I like the way it is easy to access effects and how it will also do everything from the face of the unit as well as the X-edit program on PC for setting parameters.  Features that I think are a bit cool are the way you can connect it to my amp different ways as opposed to just being just limited to modeling only.

I have been impressed so far with it's tone and quality of effects running through my amp. Im running two of these units through two seperate Fender 5150 heads. I run the set up that is on Page 12 of the manual #7. I really like the way this unit doesn't color up my amps natural sound or change volume levels within my amp. I also like the noise gate and Pitch shift. Soon I plan on getting the Control 2 Foot controller. Digitech states that it is our responsibility to register the product so I did. I haven't had it for very long, but so far I have had no problems with it.

For the money I think Digitech did a good job. For effects and this unit's ability to access it's delays or change IO set up for a different configuration or to do some recording or modeling,..it has something for almost everyone in a sense depending on what you want to do. I have had Rocktron units and what I didn't like about them is the way you have to access everything just to set up something desired. Plus the Rocktron has only 1 second of delay time in the delay department. I do like the way the Rocktron doesn't change my amps sound though, and the Digitech GSPs also seem to operate with the saame quality in that department. I also have used some Lexicon MX400s and they are good but they tend to color my sound a bit and change the amps volume levels when bypassing.

I was told by Digitech that the GSP has 2 seconds of delay time. I have adjusted over 4000ms for 4 seconds of delay time in the GSPs digital delay so Im still trying to learn all the ins and outs here.

the chorus units modeled in it sound very nice. The parametric EQ is also very impressive as I was able to scoop out that mush mid and create some more bottom end and boost up my highs. There is also a MXR Flange that I really like. This will work real well.

I have been kind of confused for a while since I own two 5150 IIIs. I was looking at Fractal Audio's FX II and wondering if I want to switch to total modeling with a Power amp or not. I like my Fender EVH heads quite a bit though. The thing is that sometimes total modeling becomes to sterol sounding after a while. Too refined. So I was looking at the GSPs and noticed how they seem to advertise how you could incorperate them in your rig and not have to sacrifice your rigs sound. This caught my attention. And after looking at it closer and applying it to my rig I found it to be a wise investment to run into my amps and have access to some very good quality effects with decent parameters. Sort of like having the best of both worlds. Im running two Fender 5150 IIIs with a BBE Sonic Max looped in back and also in back and in front two of these GSP units incorperated wirth my amps while still using my amps for the main tone. I couldn't be happier. On the floor I still run my DT Whammy,Dejavibe 2 (Fulltone), Vox Big Bad Waw and a Paul Gilbert Airplane flanger and then a MXR Phase 90. For running with my amp I am very pleased. Good tone!

As a young guitarist i've always preffered the consistancy of pre amp effects processors, because every time you turn it on its ready and set. So ofcourse the digitech gsp1101 was all I needed to finely tune my distortions and clean channels... Global and parametric EQ provide two seperate layers of detailed adjustments you could want to make to your guitar tone.

This is part of my live rig and I use it for recording.. how can you go wrong with that?

10 because it provides more than i need and then some.

Worth every cent but who isn't trying to pinch penny's these days?

10 out of 10 no doubt digitech did a fantastic job again

If you plan on using it for live performance, just buy it!  Rather than write another review and repeat most of what's already been said about the GSP, I'll give you some advice...

1 - Buy the Control 2 floorboard controller... It's that good! (and yes, it's way better, more flexible and easier to use than mating an FCB1010 with the UnO chip to the GSP)

As soon as you receive your GSP, immediately go to mustbebeta-dot-com and download the mustbebeta vC63 firmware for it.  It not only adds additional amps, cabs & effects, it also contains a host of additional features and functionality that truly takes the GSP to another level... It even gives the GSP the ability to load up to 10 user cabinet IRs!

If you're not familiar with the mustbebeta firmware upgrades for the GSP1101, do yourself a favor and google it... You'll thank me later, I promise!

Had mine for almost a year now with no problems.  I know others that have had theirs going on 3+ years without a hitch.

I'd give it a "7" with Digitech's official firmware.  Mustbebeta vC63 brings it up to a solid "9" in my opinion.

     Pros - Has tons of effects, distortion pedals, and customizable settings that make the usual live show hassles (such as hitting several pedals at once) a breeze. You need to take about a week or two of in depth setting to get everything perfect to your liking, but can play right out of the box with the 99 factory settings that come with it. I'm still in the process of finding all its capabilities. You can even set every possible effect parameter, such as effect speed or amount of gain on distortion, or volume to the expression pedal

     Cons - There were not as many amp and cab selections as I would like to see but, more than enough to find a sound you like and more.

Solid construction, quality sound, ease of use, what more can you ask for?

I don't give out tens unless I really like the product, this thing has complete remade my sound possibilites and makes set up and tear down a breeze, I have recorded direct out and after tweaking new sounds just for recording it sounds great. It doesn't come with a USB cable though. All around you get 198 sounds, 99 factory that stay the same no matter what and 99 of your own sounds. The only problem I have had with it is when using my small 15 watt Peavey Vyper that I use as a practice amp its hard to keep my clean "CLEAN" but that varies on size, brand, and type of amps. With my Marshall (solid state) half stack, no problem at all. Great product.