New Gizmo Day.....

[jgcable]

Now this... my JCF brutha's... is old school.
Digitech 2120 VGS Artist
I think its came out in 1998 and was the flagship of the Digitech Valve Guitar System. Its NOT a modeler. Its a programmable dual tube preamp. Twin SDisc II processors and 2 tubes. Tons of effects that truly are studio quality.
I need to get a midi foot controller for it. I am looking for something cheap. IMHO... anybody that has a midi foot controller SHOULD be selling it cheap! lol...
Anway.... lots of artist presets, you can pick SS preamps or tube or blend them. It does a ton of stuff.
Its old school. It sounds old school. Very 80's-early 90's hair band metal sounding. Great for pop tunes.
Lots of fun and the purple faceplate is very Prince looking.
I picked it up locally for $60
For all of you that don't know... this preamp was WICKED expensive in 1998. I would guess it was over $750.00

[Jackson8090s]

Nice, I have 2 of the 2101 GSP Studio Tube Processors , one has the Artist upgrade and also Dual S disc.

Oh and btw, I've seen posts by people who said they paid over $900.00 for the unit back in the day and others who got em used from Guitar Center years later for $460-500.00 You scored dude!

Link to the Owners Manual incase you do not have one. http://digitech.com/en-US/products/2120-artist


A great thread here as well. http://www2.digitech.com/soundcomm/g..._id=1077369003

[AdRock]

Congrats, they're great units. You stole that thing. I picked one up last summer, has all the upgrades and got a foot controller with it. I thought I got a good deal for $250. It's real easy to get bogged down in the programming though.

[Nightbat]

For all of you that don't know... this preamp was WICKED expensive in 1998. I would guess it was over $750.00

Sound on Sound mentions £999 MSRP in their article of 1998
The Tube was arguably a marketing gimmick, but overall these things still have a lot of fans for the great sound (and all in one package) they provide

Somewhat off-topic: Still miffed I didn't jump on the GSP1101 being blown out everywhere for less than €300 last year, new prices soared since then

[horns666]

HEY John,..I wanted a gold one when those came out. To mach my Marshall rack. I wanted to switch between preamps didn't know how. I had a 4 way switcher to combine any 4 amps I wanted..that was cool. But I didn't know how to switch two preamps into both sides of the 9200 Monoblock..MIDI is still somewhat knew to me.

I KNOW how those sound. I recorded with a dude from GIT that had one. He knew how to milk everything out of that gizmo. Big Steve Vai/Eric Johnson nut. I remember he had a setting called 'Knuckleclones'..from 'Knuckebones'. It sounded exactly like it..then Cliffs of Dover...anything. Nice preamp..nice score.

[toejam]

Cool. I remember those. I have an old Rocktron Midi Mate you may be interested in, John.
Midimate.jpg

[jgcable]

Cool. I remember those. I have an old Rocktron Midi Mate you may be interested in, John.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]8849[/ATTACH]

Yea. I am looking for something like that.

[jgcable]

So here is the big question... why does this 17 year old piece of digital technology (and a few tubes) sound so good? It was made in 1999.
I am pretty sure its not a modeler. Its a preamp with REALLY GOOD digital effects and a few preamp tubes for style points.
To my ears... it sounds really friggin good. Its very tweakable. I don't think its hard to program at all.
I am not sure if digital technology has really progressed sonically as much as I thought it did because I think this 17 year old relic blows away everything but the super high end modeling gear of today.
Whats great about this 2120 is almost every tone is identifiable as something I heard recorded in the late 80's through the mid 90's. I have a feeling that many of our guitar hero's back in the day used these in the studio. I can compare it to the sounds of a Yamaha DX7. Sure.. its outdated and almost 30 years old but.... if you are old school like me you immediately recognize the patches and identify them with songs from that era because EVERYBODY used the DX7 in the studio at that time. Anyway... the 2120 is a hit. What a score.

[Nightbat]

One could argue it's the lo-fi digital technology (compared to today's standards)

In the world of tube colored imperfections, why would crystal clear effects be a plus?
the fact that we have 196Khz processors trying to emulate 40 year old tape delays kinda says it all

[pianoguyy]

It was just two years ago that I finally moved on from a Rocktron ProGAP and two ART SGE MachII. I needed to get into the modeling and digital worlds.
Crap still works, still sounds great. Why wouldn't we use it. Unless your business model has changed (like mine did), it is a waste of money to buy new stuff when the old stuff still works.

\\nn// rock out \\nn//

[Axewielder]

Very cool. I rocked a 2101 for a long time. They do have preamp tubes, but some modeling abilities as well like cab simulation. So they are a hybrid technology. That expression wheel can get froggy over time, hopefully yours is tip top.

[MetalMedal II]

I actually had the 2120 Artist (used) and liked a lot of things about it. And no, I don’t think it’s a modeler as it predates that term. Preamp/effects processor is how it was marketed.

I upgraded to this from the Digitech RP20 which was the floor board version of the 2120, but it only had 1 of the processors, not 2 like the 2120, which made it more versatile, like having 2 complete signal chains of preamp/effects for separate left and right channels. I actually liked it so much I got a backup buying the cheaper 2112 processor and upgrading the 2120 chip for $20. After the RP20, I decided to dive into real tube amps, buying my Mesa 50/50 in late 98, my first ebay purchase!

The RP20 had 2 rows of 6 buttons plus an expression pedal. You basically needed the separate board for the 2120 to use it in a similar manner, but IIRC you are stuck using the Digitech brand “Control One” controller, which uses a MIDI type plug, but I really don’t think it uses that technology, meaning I don’t think you can use a generic MIDI floor board. I sold all this gear in 2005 before I moved out of state, so it’s all a bit hazy!

I do remember it sounding good and having more effects than I could ever need or use, and also how they kept coming out with new models every 6 months, so I decided to abandon ship and sell it all before they depreciated. I also had a Rocktron Voodu Valve which, although it had fewer effects and overall sounds, it still sounded really good through my Mesa 50/50 and had most effects I needed, plus it could use most MIDI boards.

[Axewielder]

You basically needed the separate board for the 2120 to use it in a similar manner, but IIRC you are stuck using the Digitech brand “Control One” controller, which uses a MIDI type plug, but I really don’t think it uses that technology, meaning I don’t think you can use a generic MIDI floor board.

Yeah mine wouldn't even take a standard MIDI cable with the foot controller. It looked like a MIDI cable, but had some sort of pinout difference (which is kind of lame).

[catzodellamarina]

The only good deals I stumble upon are happy hour specials.
I had a 90's Zoom Valve DSP 9150 I bought new. I liked it as a tube preamp & FX unit but it was even better when paired with my 90's Peavey Rockmaster preamp. The only reason I dumped it was because it had a noticeable .5 sec lag when I switched patches. Once I started using it live, that lag was irritating. I "upgraded" to a Line 6 PodPro. What a joke. As a live unit it was awful.

[jacksonaxes]

I rocked my 2101 for over 10 years. I now use the Eleven Rack.