New effect unit for recording

[WRGKMC]

I bought one of these Digitec Genesis 1 units on EBay for like $25 the other day. It came with the wrong 12V wall wart so I had to buy the right one for it.

I had been using a Digitec RP150 for direct recording lately and the power supplies are the same so I was able to use it on this one. I like the sounds I can get with the 150 but its a foot pedal and really not as well suited for desktop recording.

 

 

 

This one has no programmable presets or fancy effects. Its a Plain Jane manual dial up which is exactly what I like for tracking. I don't have to dork around with sub menus finding the sounds I want or have to save settings. All the knobs are right there for tweaking.

 

This is important because all my recordings are original music and I never know what sounds I want till I get a song worked up and hit that record button. Being able to dial up tones instantly is much like a good chef does cooking something. He doesn't measure out his ingredients. He does a taste test and if it needs spice he adds it as needed. I rarely use the exact same tones twice on a recording

so having the ability to finely tweak stuff on the fly is the best option for me.

 

The amp and cab combinations aren't bad. I have heard better but what it does have I'm able to work with. The output level is pretty hot so I had to dial back my interface input recording levels to get a good 50% range on the levels. Some of the head/cab settings are overly saturated and some are a little too clean. The Rectified, Hot Rod, High Gain are your typical over saturated Metal gains which are actually a bit too hot for anything for those music genres. I'll get some use out of them tweaking gain and tone for leads but they are pretty much a one trick pony.

 

The others have a pretty good range using different cab types. A few of the cabs are a little weird. The green 4X12 is a bit overly muted and has too much of a mid bump. The British 2X12 could use a little more high end. The American tend to be a bit overly bright, etc. I know the real amps quite well so I know what they are attempting to target.

 

The good thing is whatever the settings may be shy of I can still use them all tracking and then finely tweak them mixing. I do this anyway so if something lacks a little sparkle or need a little bump removed its no big deal.

 

The effects are minimal. The Comp has three settings, low medium and high. The high gets a little flubby and muted and you really don't need that much comp so the two lower settings will likely be used more. The chorus is there and you mainly have a rotation speed. I could do better with other pedals but the amount there isn't bad. I don't think I'll use the phase or tremolo much but they are passable as well. The reverb is actually pretty good as is the echo. They are limited and I'll likely get board of them quickly but I have many other options available so no big deal. The gate works well on the low setting and the units dead quite when idle. The higher gate settings can chop the notes so I probably wont use those.

 

In all its a very usable unit and its strength is its simplicity. I don't have to use a dozen rack units to get all these sounds, There's no programing and its very convenient. I have collected several pieces of Digitec gear lately and they are different from other manufacturers stuff. Their settings do have nice sweet spots but they seem to lack the ability to shift that sweet spot around easily once you do select a preset.

 

I've used Boss, Yamaha, Art and Rockton stuff for many years. They too have limitations but they also have options that give them more flexibility. If you select a preset you can tweak that preset quite a bit and not have what I call "dropouts" or unusable sound quality tweaking a single parameter.

 

The Digitec units I have sound great if you stick close to the preset settings but you can go and try to fine tune a parameter too much things quickly go south. I'm sure this has allot to do with their circuit architecture. I really haven't studied their circuits to nail down their faults and its not something others might even notice.

 

Most players are probably happy with the settings. I on the other hand like to be able to tweak things to match my playing styles at any given time. If I'm using certain pickups, at certain heights, strumming with a specific attack for a song, and want to get a specific tone I want to be able get an optimal sound for my style of playing and not have to adjust my playing style to match what they consider to be an ideal sound.

 

A one click approach with one specific gain is good in some ways and restricting in others. I guess this is why I dislike programmable pedals and amps because I'm locked into using those settings which may be out of my performing comfort zone at a given moment and just have to grit my teeth and deal with it. .

 

 

For the $25 I spent I'm not complaining. Its flexible enough to get some variety and I am resigned to the fact no one box does the complete job for me. Its exactly why I own maybe a dozen different drive effects units for direct recording. If I get board of ones tones, I put it aside and use another for awhile. Then when that one gets old I come back to the first.

 

These POD type units are handy and fun though. You spend less time dorking around with mics and you can use your studio monitors to track along to the music and not have to worry about wearing headphones, something I hate using.