The Digitech GSP1101 thread.

[Mordacain]

Sweet! I've never been a big Digitech fan, but this unit is starting to sound better and better. The only other units on the market that I knew of that would allow this sort of signal routing were the Axe-Fx and the PODx3. I was planning on getting the X3, but if the Digitech can do this in 2 less rack spaces, for less money, and with real cab IRs instead of L6 cab modeling, not to mention a lower price point, that seems like a no-brainer.

Yea, the recent Beta firmwares have really opened it up in terms of capability. The signal routing was always a strong point of this unit from a design perspective.

 

[madchap]

I use TH1 with impulses (red wire) ATM but I'm pretty much interested in the gsp1101 (actually i should hav bought it a while ago...but I bought a gt10 and then an me70 instead!)...anyway, I'm back on track now but there's one thing I need to know first, how well will it fare as a usb interface?

I plan to use it mainly with cubase, what latency to expect when recording a guitar track? and when using other VSTi (such as a synth/sampler etc)...how many instances of an instrument will it run ...let's say i use DFH superior + trillian + omnisphere and a few other plugs (verb mainly), how will the gsp cope with all that?

i guess it's a usb1.1 connection right?

thanks for all the info

 

[Spinedriver]

I use TH1 with impulses (red wire) ATM but I'm pretty much interested in the gsp1101 (actually i should hav bought it a while ago...but I bought a gt10 and then an me70 instead!)...anyway, I'm back on track now but there's one thing I need to know first, how well will it fare as a usb interface?

I plan to use it mainly with cubase, what latency to expect when recording a guitar track? and when using other VSTi (such as a synth/sampler etc)...how many instances of an instrument will it run ...let's say i use DFH superior + trillian + omnisphere and a few other plugs (verb mainly), how will the gsp cope with all that?

i guess it's a usb1.1 connection right?

thanks for all the info

I've only had mine for a couple of days but from what I can tell, I think you can only run 1 instance at a time. For example, I had ReValver open and then went to open X-edit and it said that it couldn't communicate with the device. Also, you can't load a new IR while X-Edit is open. So, in that respect it is a bit of a pain. If you want to use it as an interface for a program like ReValver, etc.. you have to jump through a few extra hoops as well. You have to either manually or with X-Edit, disable all effects (if you want to send a clean signal) and you have to turn the GSP signal to 0% in the usb interface menu if you want to only hear the plugin.

I can say that the latency is pretty decent but as for everything else, it's functional but not anything to write home about.

 

[madchap]

ok thanks for your input I guess I can cope with those shortcomings, but actually i dont really want to use it as an audio interface to listen to music or other stuff like that... I was just wondering if it was good enough to replace an average audio card (let's say a UA25). One thing just to make sure, you talk about revalver, and say I'll have to deactivatre all the FX to get a clean sound and be able to use the plug, so it means that if i use a synth, the signal from the synth will be processed by the GSP in the same way a signal from my guitar is and not just routed through it to my speakers? ...that would be
so basically, it's not self-sufficient in a home studio context..Ill still need an audio interface right?

any info about the usb? 1.1 or 2.0? probably 1.1 but ...

 

[Spinedriver]

Yeah, if you're looking for an audio interface, you'd be better off with a real interface from M-Audio or similar company. While the GSP is functional, it's hardly ideal.

Also, the only info it has says that it has "2 usb lines in/out". I'm guessing that it's USB 2.0 but the only reason for connecting it to a pc would be to either:
1. Update the firmware
2. Use X-Edit to make/edit some patches

Anything other than that, you'd be better off with a real audio interface.

 

[JPhoenix19]

Sweet! I've never been a big Digitech fan, but this unit is starting to sound better and better. The only other units on the market that I knew of that would allow this sort of signal routing were the Axe-Fx and the PODx3. I was planning on getting the X3, but if the Digitech can do this in 2 less rack spaces, and with real cab IRs instead of L6 cab modeling, not to mention a lower price point, that seems like a no-brainer.

EDIT:ed for redundancy

i was thinking this too, but I found a comparison of a preamp ran through the same IR- one loaded into the GSP1101, and the other loaded in the person's DAW. Even though it was obviously the same IR, the difference was *huge* to my ears. The loss in quality when you port it to the GSP1101, to me, was merit enough not to count the IR loader as a reason to go with it.

EDIT:

Here's the shootout I was talking about

 

[Spinedriver]

i was thinking this too, but I found a comparison of a preamp ran through the same IR- one loaded into the GSP1101, and the other loaded in the person's DAW. Even though it was obviously the same IR, the difference was *huge* to my ears. The loss in quality when you port it to the GSP1101, to me, was merit enough not to count the IR loader as a reason to go with it.

EDIT:

Here's the shootout I was talking about

It's funny how one person's experience can be so different from another's. Personally, I was a coin flip away from deciding whether to get the RP1000 (for the included footswitches, looper, etc..) or get the GSP1101 (for the IR loader, 2 processors for real delay trails from patch to patch, etc..) and in the end I went with the GSP.

Since then, I've loaded up a couple of the LePou IR's and all I can say is that after 3 days, I'm getting just as good, if not better sounds than 4 years of slogging away on a Pod XT. Granted not all IR's are going to sound great. I've loaded a few that are even worse sounding that the stock ones.

I guess I just wanted to say that granted, having an IR loaded onto the GSP may not sound as good as running one in a DAW on a pc/mac but the ones I have loaded now sound 10 times better than the stock ones. So in respect to using the GSP w/IR's when not hooked up to a pc, it's definitely an advantage. If you plan to use it for a lot of recording (on a computer) then perhaps not so much, it just depends if on if you like/don't like using extra plugins/effects, etc... when you're recording. I personally like recording scratch tracks straight out of the unit and don't bother much with vst's and all that.

 

[JPhoenix19]

It's funny how one person's experience can be so different from another's. Personally, I was a coin flip away from deciding whether to get the RP1000 (for the included footswitches, looper, etc..) or get the GSP1101 (for the IR loader, 2 processors for real delay trails from patch to patch, etc..) and in the end I went with the GSP.

Since then, I've loaded up a couple of the LePou IR's and all I can say is that after 3 days, I'm getting just as good, if not better sounds than 4 years of slogging away on a Pod XT. Granted not all IR's are going to sound great. I've loaded a few that are even worse sounding that the stock ones.

I guess I just wanted to say that granted, having an IR loaded onto the GSP may not sound as good as running one in a DAW on a pc/mac but the ones I have loaded now sound 10 times better than the stock ones. So in respect to using the GSP w/IR's when not hooked up to a pc, it's definitely an advantage. If you plan to use it for a lot of recording (on a computer) then perhaps not so much, it just depends if on if you like/don't like using extra plugins/effects, etc... when you're recording. I personally like recording scratch tracks straight out of the unit and don't bother much with vst's and all that.

Good points. I guess my point doesn't stand firm in a general sense, because of course it's possible to get great tones from an IR rendered with lower 'quality'. I just think that for my purposes, a processor that can load IRs and render them the same as my DAW would be ideal. I'd love to be able to make an IR for my mic/cab/power section and be able to record and silently practice with it- with it sounding consistent across the platforms.

 

[Zugster]

I run my 1101 into a carvin ts100 into a 2x12 cab. So, as far as I can tell, I don't need IRs - unless I use them for direct recording... or if I were to plug into a mixing board into a PA, ...or into powered monitors, etc. Or am I missing something?

BTW, the 1101 sounds great to me the way I run it.

 

[Kairos]

I run my 1101 into a carvin ts100 into a 2x12 cab.

How do you like that Carvin? I need a power amp, and am definetly looking to go tube. Will that help warm it up, or more become less digital? (or whatever other adjective you would like to use to describe a tube's tone)

 

[JPhoenix19]

How do you like that Carvin? I need a power amp, and am definetly looking to go tube. Will that help warm it up, or more become less digital? (or whatever other adjective you would like to use to describe a tube's tone)

I can speak for the older T100. And yes, it does add some nice tube coloration and liven things up a bit. My only regret is that I never put 6L6's in mine.

 

[TMM]

EDIT:

Here's the shootout I was talking about

Thanks for posting that! That just instantly made up my mind over whether or not I will get a GSP. I wanted a unit to run 4CM w/ my Soldano; the GSP's features seem cool enough, but the IRs are what was making my decision, and if they're not going to sound the same through the unit as in my DAW, I'm just going to stick to what I know and love - an X3-Pro. I love it's OD models, it's noise gate, it's crazy effects (for those rare times when I want to play clean), and it's clean tones. Plus, I will have need of running vocals & bass, so that seals the deal.

 

[Kairos]

I can speak for the older T100. And yes, it does add some nice tube coloration and liven things up a bit. My only regret is that I never put 6L6's in mine.

Are you not able to put 6L6's in it because they're not compatible, or you just never got around to it?

 

[alfaphlex]

i was thinking this too, but I found a comparison of a preamp ran through the same IR- one loaded into the GSP1101, and the other loaded in the person's DAW. Even though it was obviously the same IR, the difference was *huge* to my ears. The loss in quality when you port it to the GSP1101, to me, was merit enough not to count the IR loader as a reason to go with it.

EDIT:

Here's the shootout I was talking about

That person's test doesn't specify whether he was using mono/sterero IR or whether it was 16/24bit. Before C57, using 24 bit impulses resulted in a sort of phased sound, but C57 fixed that. The person in your link used C55, so that might be why he got different results.

Also, the way the GSP uses stereo impulses is that it will always take the left side and duplicate it on the right, so stereo impulses will not sound the same regardless (if mixed cabs are used). Other than that, 16/24-bit impulses should sound pretty much the same in the GSP as in a DAW plugin.

Here's a thread in the mustbebeta forum discussing the development of the IR feature in the GSP. At the bottom of page 2, a user that goes by "Saber" posted a comparison between the GSP and DAW using both 16 and 24 bit IR. Everything sounded pretty much the same until the 24bit in the GSP was used, but this has been fixed and now the 24bit sound really nice (see the positive reaction on page 3).

I love my GSP. Just ordered a HD500 cuz I needed a foot controller for it anyway. It has 9 completely midi assignable switches and foot pedal and really good fx (extra fx slots in GSP's loop). Plus I've heard the pod HD preamps using IRs and they sound so much better than pod cab sims and the GSP just happens to do that too. Win-win.

Btw, if you used the "left-side only" feature in the custom cab uploader app, the GSP will use 256 taps instead of the just 128. Only downside is that the right line-out will be cab-less. I always output mono-so this is no biggie for me, but it's also a great way to have that 2nd line-out going into the return of an amp (or poweramp).

 

[madchap]

Yeah, if you're looking for an audio interface, you'd be better off with a real interface from M-Audio or similar company. While the GSP is functional, it's hardly ideal.

Also, the only info it has says that it has "2 usb lines in/out". I'm guessing that it's USB 2.0 but the only reason for connecting it to a pc would be to either:
1. Update the firmware
2. Use X-Edit to make/edit some patches

Anything other than that, you'd be better off with a real audio interface.

thanks a bunch for this clear answer ...couldnt find any reliable info anywhere! soi reckon i'll have to keep my audio interface then.

 

[JPhoenix19]

Are you not able to put 6L6's in it because they're not compatible, or you just never got around to it?

never got around to it. The T100 doesn't have a bias switch, so to switch over you'd have to adjust the bias manually. The TS100 features a bias switch so you can easily switch between EL34's and 6L6's

 

[Zugster]

How do you like that Carvin? I need a power amp, and am definetly looking to go tube. Will that help warm it up, or more become less digital? (or whatever other adjective you would like to use to describe a tube's tone)

When I first got my 1101 I went with a solid state Carvin DCM 200L. I loved that it was a feather weight (8 pounds), 1 rack unit amp. Sounded good but felt a little cold and stiff in a way that's hard to describe. The TS100 definetely feels more alive. It weighs 27 pounds or so if I remember right.

The TS100 is very transparent and doesn't color the sound much at all. It does have that tube reactive feel though. It's loaded with the stock 6L6s. It can also handle EL34s. I know of some people who run EL84 based power amps (Mesa 20/20) and complain that there isn't enough clean head room - though they do like the impact on distorted tones.

If I were to go solid state, I would recommend a larger 2 rack unit type with the lowest harmonic distortion (THD) you can find. I would get at least 500 watts, so that you're never anywheres near the amp's rating.

 

[Ben.Last]

I love my GSP. Just ordered a HD500 cuz I needed a foot controller for it anyway. It has 9 completely midi assignable switches and foot pedal and really good fx (extra fx slots in GSP's loop). Plus I've heard the pod HD preamps using IRs and they sound so much better than pod cab sims and the GSP just happens to do that too. Win-win.

That is a really great point. I may have to pic up an HD500 to use with the GSP now.

 

[Zugster]

That is a really great point. I may have to pic up an HD500 to use with the GSP now.

A marriage of Line 6 and Digitech... Sounds like a shotgun wedding to me.

 

[Metalman X]

Did I read something about a thick, heavy Crowbar-inspired 1101 patch? Think you could hook me up with this? I love the RG model, but I'm really into the Orange 120 lately.

Little late, but finally got to it. My guitars are primarily mahogany/basswood, w/ SD Invaders, tuned to C# w/ 13-56 strings, so YMMV. Just tweak the EQ to taste.