DigiTech RP1000

Over the intervening years the collection has ebbed and flowed, and is now pretty much non-existent, since for recording and rehearsal I’ve moved over to modern (and vintage) rackmounted, studio-grade effects units for all my time-based effects, with a modern boutique distortion pedal at the head of the chain for when those moments of madness strike. And wah and volume nowadays come courtesy of a couple of original 1970s, mains-powered Morleys.

All of which means that it’s taken me 30 years or so to go from a simple, two-pedal setup to two pedals plus a rack with enough gear in it to outfit a pretty respectable home studio and that weighs enough to need a trolley for a long carry. As you can imagine, over the last 12 years or so I’ve had a good look at the effects and amplifier-modelling multi-effects units that have entered the market, and have even (for relatively short periods) used a couple of them on stage. Moore’s Law (named for Graham Moore, the co-founder of the Intel Corporation, who first propounded it) states that the power of technology doubles every two years, which means that present-day modelling technology should be 64 times more powerful than the first amp and effects modeller I ran into in 1997.

DigiTech’s RP1000 guitar multi-effects processor is the latest in a pretty distinguished line. Built of solid metal with an abundance of black and shiny metallic detailing, the RP1000 very definitely looks the part. Add in heavy-duty switches for you to stomp on and an integrated expression pedal, which can be set to control almost any of the RP1000’s functions in real time, and you have the basis of a very tasty, floor-mounted multi-effects unit.

Cubase LE 4 (which you have to install and register) I don’t intend to get into, other than to say that the RP1000, once you’ve downloaded and installed the USB drivers, offers two simultaneous stereo USB streams, which means that the stereo output of the RP1000 can be streamed to and from a computer in the expected manner.

The manual is only 50 pages long and is an essential read almost before you plug your guitar into the RP1000. Why? Well, there are 200 presets (100 factory and 100 user), which in Preset mode are accessed via the 10 footswitches in 10 banks of 10, and in Pedalboard mode are accessed in 20 banks of five via the lower row of footswitches, while the other five can switch individual effects types (Compressor, Distortion, Chorus/FX, Delay and Reverb) in or out. Under the alphanumeric display that tells you where you are and what you’re doing, there’s a 10 x 6 matrix accessed via Up/Down buttons, and six rotary encoders that let you adjust parameters. There are over 160 effects models (stomp boxes, choruses, delays, amps and cabs) plus 40 tone libraries and 40 effects libraries to navigate your way through. And that’s just for starters!

As you’ll by now have realised, the RP1000 is a pretty complex piece of kit, but if you read the manual (which can be freely downloaded from the DigiTech website) you’ll also discover that it isn’t actually that complicated to use and, in fact, is actually pretty intuitive once you know its major landmarks. As I don’t have the entire issue of this magazine to fill with this review, I also don’t intend to list out every effect pedal, amplifier model and cabinet model that the RP1000 offers, as you’ll find all that information on DigiTech’s website.

The RP1000 also features two switchable external loops: ‘stomp’ and ‘amp’. In the amp loop you have the choice of inserting your favourite preamp, or if you have a guitar amplifier with an effects send and return you can run the Amp Loop Send out to the input of your amplifier, connect the amp’s effects send to the Amp Loop Return and run the output of the RP1000 back to the amp’s effects return. The footswitchable stomp loop lets you insert your favourite pedals into the RP1000’s effects chain, either before or after the internal amp model and the external amp loop. When you go into Bypass, these two loops remain active, and since your guitar’s signal is unaffected, you’ve always got your pure amplifier and effect pedal tone sitting there. Some of us, in the past, have had to build switching pedalboards half a stage wide to get this level of functionality. In fact, when you’re in pedalboard mode with the amp and cab simulation switched out, the RP1000 acts as a comprehensive, cost-effective and capable effects switching system, and its purchase could well be justified on that alone.

Just below the Stomp Loop footswitch sits the Tap Tempo footswitch, which lets you set delay times that are in time with your playing just by stepping on the footswitch in time with your music. You can experiment by tapping once per bar on the downbeat, twice per bar on the on beat and the offbeat, and then four times per bar and so on. If you’ve never sync’ed delay times to your playing, you’ll be surprised at just how much better the result sounds and feels.

The in-built tuner is another highly practical item. Stand on the current preset’s footswitch for two seconds and the RP1000 cycles through Bypass to Tuner mode. The tuner is very easy to use, displaying the note played, with arrows to tell you when you’re sharp or flat. If you’re into detuning, no problem; you can pick alternate references, either in semitone format (down to G-flat) or between A427 and A453 should you need to move away from A440.

Three of the six rotary encoders that sit under the 10 x 6 matrix have their own top-level functions in Preset and Pedalboard modes. On the extreme left, knob one selects from the list of 40 amp tones in the Tone Library. Next, knob two does the same thing for the 40 effect chains in the Effects Library, and knob three controls the balance between effects and the dry signal. The other three encoders (knobs four, five and six) handle Amp Gain, Amp Level and Master Level, plus a selection of effects parameters in their parts of the matrix.

You can also delve deep into the delights of programming the RP1000 via the X-Edit Editor/Librarian, which can be downloaded from the DigiTech website, and you’ll need to ensure that you download all the files required to update your unit to Version 1.2 before sallying forth into its inner secrets.

Back at the RP1000, once you’ve got past the ‘playing through the presets’ stage you’ll probably want to start programming your own, and that is where the fun starts. Presets 1 to 100 are the user presets and, when you first open the box, are identical to the factory presets residing in F1 to F100. It is your bounden duty to make sure that you change them all, and the RP1000 gives you access to modelled effects, amps and cabinets — not to mention all their possible parameters — that’ll have you filling the memory slots in no time at all.

Thoughtfully (and thankfully), DigiTech have introduced some order by laying out the effects chain as it should be, starting with a Wah and ending with a reverb. In between these two points sit the Compressor, Chorus/FX (which can be inserted before or after the amp/cabinet models), Distortion, the amp/cabinet models, Noise Gate, EQ, Volume (insertable before or after the post-amp/cab Chorus/FX), the post-amp/cab Chorus/FX, the post-Chorus/FX Volume, and finally the Delay.

Adjusting the parameters of all these groups of effects is where the 10 x 6 matrix comes into play. The 10 families in the effects chain run down the side, and the six rotary encoders control the various parameters for each model within each family. LEDs indicate which families are active at any one time, and selecting between them is accomplished by Up/Down keys sitting just below and to the left of the matrix. The alphanumeric display above the matrix tells you which model you’re dealing with and the value that you’re setting. It all might sound a little daunting, but it is extremely intuitive to use — the hard part is remembering all the models!

The expression pedal, in addition to its obvious volume, wah and whammy roles, can be set to control, in real time, almost every parameter accessible through the matrix. And to make your life simple, it is equipped with a ‘V’ switch so that a toe push can switch it into wah mode at any time. The top row of footswitches can be assigned to different roles when in Pedalboard mode, so you could, for example, use one to toggle chorus effect speeds between fast and slow.

Getting your sound in and out of the RP1000 is also a fully featured area of operation. All the connectors sit on the back panel, and in addition to the guitar input and amp and stomp loops you’ll find stereo quarter-inch jacks and XLRs to connect to amps or mixers. The jacks have an Amp/Mixer level switch, and the XLRs always have speaker compensation active, as they’re designed to always be run into a full-range audio system. There’s a 3.5mm headphone output for those moments when inspiration strikes at midnight, together with a Ground Lift switch to help reduce hum loops, the USB connector, the stereo jack for the looper footswitch, and the aforementioned non-locking power connector.

On the amp/cabinet front, the choice is so huge that there’s no way that anyone of mortal means could ever own all the originals in order to make meaningful comparisons. Essentially, they all sounded fine, and I preferred some amp and cabinet combinations to others. Going deeper into the modelled amps that I know well (‘57 Tweed Deluxe, ‘65 Deluxe Reverb, ‘63 AC30 Top Boost, ‘65 JTM 45) through a variety of cabinet models, I came away very impressed indeed.

Nothing — and I mean nothing — sounds like a valve amp running hot through a good speaker cab, but the RP1000 comes pretty close, especially if you run it into a decent PA cab operating at amp-realistic levels. I ran the RP1000 from its XLR outputs, through a mixer, into my Bose L1 system, and had a great time remembering those four classic amps. Since I just happen to have a mint ‘65 Deluxe Reverb on loan, I set it up with an MXR Dynacomp, Distortion+ and flanger, plus a TC Electronic chorus, and compared the results directly with the RP1000’s modelled equivalents running through the L1.

Looking at the results from a practical stage perspective, it was a close-run thing. Certainly, the real thing was, for me, more fulfilling to play on, but thinking about the average gig situation, I’d have to say that the RP1000 and a decent powered PA cab would often make a lot more sense than a vintage valve amp and a bunch of pedals laid out on the floor.

Running into the Deluxe with the amp/cab emulations turned off turns the RP1000 into probably the biggest pedalboard in the world. You just couldn’t own all of the originals whose models reside in here — I haven’t, and I’ve owned a lot of pedals. The ability to run your own preamps and pedals in the external loops is a really great facility, as I’ve got an Ethos Overdrive and a Groove Tubes Trio that I really like as front ends.

On stage, you can either run the RP1000 into a PA-type backline or, with amp/cab emulations turned off, plug it into an amp. With the amp/cab emulations turned off, the RP1000 becomes a giant pedalboard and switcher. The ability to integrate it with your own preamps and effects pedals just makes it an even more enormously flexible hub for your on-stage setup. Whoever specified and designed the RP1000 certainly knew what he or she was doing, and once you delve into the model editing possibilities, you’ll see just how good design can allow you to tailor a sound precisely to your needs.

So, it’s built like a tank, sounds great, interfaces with anything you’ll run into in stage and studio situations, is easy to programme, can be as simple or complex as you like, and is operationally controlled by footswitches and an integrated expression pedal. If you’re looking for something that does what the RP1000 does, or even if you’re just looking to downsize your existing pedalboard whilst adding to your pedal armoury, then there isn’t anything else around I know of that’ll do anywhere near as much in such an elegant and cost-effective manner.  0