5 string Mike Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 So far, been digging GC's used gear site. Just ordered a Digitech RP500 MFX pedal for about half the price of a new one. I've been going back & forth about what to get- one of those or a Fender Mustang III amp v.2. Almost pulled the trigger on the amp, but even though reviews say it's loud, I have a feeling it might not be enough in the long run. Besides, the V2 is the one to have, and there needs to be some time in the market before getting a decent price on a used one. Right now, I'm only really playing at church and I'm going through a Peavey Austin that's almost as old as I am... But it sounds really cool. The RP500 has a lot of features I will like. The tap tempo and pedalboard modes, plus the USB interface, etc. I'm also digging the Lexicon reverb and UniVibe effects. It's certainly better than my 10+ year old BP200 bass pedal I'm using now... Should have it some time this week if all goes well. "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertbluesman Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Good luck with it. I still use my Digitech GNX2 after all these years it still functions. dbm If it sounds good, it is good !! http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=143231&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Enjoy it! Use it to its strengths. It'll probably sound better through a PA and monitors or a keyboard or bass amp, than through a real live guitar amp; that's how it is with my DigiTech GNX4, which I typically use going to a PA and monitors completely in parallel with a real-live tube-amp, with most of my pedals in front of both, the Left-Out of one of the pedals feeding the tube-amp, the Right-Out feeding the GNX4 digital-modeler/multi-effects to the PA, in stereo... Gives me a sort of poor-man's multi-amp rig that way. I assume it has a headphone output? With "Speaker Compensation"? I've used my GNX4 as a killer headphone-amp for years, with all my cool pedals in front of it. Invest in a pair of really good cans if you don't already have a pair, you'll really appreciate it all the more. Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 string Mike Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 Yeah- it has headphone out, aux in, 'speaker compensation' in the form of an AMP/MIXER button. It comes with Cubase and X-edit software as well. It has stereo L/R 1/4 inch and XLR out. I do have a rig that I could play it through. I have a Laney powered monitor I could run the RP into that and out to the board and run it on PA mode. I also have a small bass amp I could use too. The DigiTech site has about 100 user created patches available for download through X-edit. Just found out it arrived at the house. Get to check it out later. "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 string Mike Posted October 28, 2013 Author Share Posted October 28, 2013 Got the unit in the mail last Wednesday- spent some time with it. It arrived from the GC store well boxed in bubble wrap and very secure. It looks brand new- not a mark on the foot switches, a couple minor scratches on the screen, it was good. I spent about 2 hours with it on Friday- I played around in x-edit a lot, trying out the different patches and settings. I really like being able to turn on/off each effect individually. I even played around in Audacity and laid down a couple small tracks. I took it to church Sunday morning and ran it live, I really liked what came out of it. I was running it into the Peavey Austin, and it had a good clear tone and harmonics. I used the delay tap tempo, it was real nice. I only got a little use out of it though- our bass player had another commitment so I would up playing bass for the service. I'm going to tweak it in a little more, and we're going to start running it through the mixer with the amp/cab models and give that a shot. We're moving towards IEMs, etc, so this will work real good for that. So, I can say, so far, so good. I'll know more once the 'new gear smell' wears off... "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Yeah, I always run my GNX4 in "Stompbox" Mode so that I can more readily turn some of the individual virtual-pedals and effects on and off with the stomp of a foot-switch. Does the RP500 have a model of the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive? Or, the option to blend in a clean/straight/direct signal along with a Tube Screamer style overdrive? If so, I'd bet that you will likely enjoy and be able to make very good use of it! My GNX4 includes a model of the Sparkle Drive. I love using it for a very smooth, clear, warm, fat, almost clean overdrive for leads and fills. Sounds great with a phaser before or after it, and it is nice for smoothing, warming and fattening an Octavia or fOXX Tone Machine style octave-fuzz. I've enjoyed it so much that I mean to get a REAL Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive or Sparkle Drive Mod sometime! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 string Mike Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 Yes, it has the sparkle drive. It's the first OD I set up. Same as you, I liked the tone for playing rhythm and doing fills. I have the Univibe chorus set up after it. As far as the blend option, don't know about that one. Don't think so... I have some fatter distortion on a couple other banks- I like the Rat model a lot, too. A bandmate has a Rat and I like the sound of it. The biggest things I wanted in this one was the tap tempo, the Univibe, the Lexicon reverb models and the Hiwatt amp models. Plus the stompbox mode- that is a big plus. The nice-to-have's are the fuzz face and Big Muff Pi, along with the Tremolos. I can do the firmware update and get the 20 second looper as well... "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 Yes, it has the sparkle drive. It's the first OD I set up. Same as you, I liked the tone for playing rhythm and doing fills. As far as the blend option, don't know about that one. Don't think so... Aaaaaah, it's almost certainly there in the deeper edit functions, as the whole object of the Sparkle Drive is its clean/direct blend/mix control; that's where the "Sparkle" comes in, if you're playing through a clean fender amp, some attack and characteristic sparkle is added to the Tube Screamer style overdrive sound of the pedal, sounding somewhat as if you're playing through two amps at once, one clean, the other overdriven. If the tube-amp (real-live or virtual/digital-model) is cranked-up and/or pushed by the output of the pedal to the point of being overdriven, the blendable clean/direct-signal can have a smoothing effect instead of the sparkling attack and clean sound blended in. Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 string Mike Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 I'll have to look. I haven't spent much time with it yet this week It sounds like a really cool concept. hope it's able to do that... "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 I'll have to look. I haven't spent much time with it yet this week It sounds like a really cool concept. hope it's able to do that... It's a safe bet that it does, 'cause that's the Sparkle drive's bailiwick, so a digital-model of one would include that feature. (Again, it's included on my DigiTech GNX4, so it doubly stands to reason that your Digitech RP500 would follow suit.) Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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