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Post subject: digitech rp 80 rp 90
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:02 am
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hi i have a squier affinity series fat strat....i am planning to buy a processor digitech rp 80 or the rp 90...could tell me how are they??


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Post subject: Re: digitech rp 80 rp 90
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:06 am
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guitardoctor wrote:
hi i have a squier affinity series fat strat....i am planning to buy a processor digitech rp 80 or the rp 90...could tell me how are they??


Well, I have an RP50 which is the "little brother" of the RP80 and I also have a new RP90.

First let me say that in my always and ever so humble opinion, both pedals sound really great for what they are. I've been playing for over 25 years so I am by no means a newbie to the world of effects...I have many stomp boxes in my arsenal including a few that are now vintage. As I've gotten older, I've gone towards the multi-effects units such as these RP's simply for the sake of convenience...no problems with dead patch cables, dead batteries, etc.. I take -1- pedal with me, plug it in and go. For that, these RP's are quite excellent and they truly sound amazing especially considering the price.

Now the RP80 is basically the exact same thing as my RP50 except that it has the built in expression pedal (which granted, is nice to have) and the RP90 is basically an updated version of the 80. Both pedals sound very similar but the one big advantage of the RP90 is that it gives you considerably more control over setting up the effects. With my RP50 (and thus the 80), while the presets sound good, you are pretty much stuck with what they've programmed into the pedal. In the case of the delays for example, you can't really adjust the delay time, the amount (depth) of the effect, etc.. If you are like I am and like to "tweak" things, this can be a bit annoying. With the RP90 however you have a lot more flexibility in regards to this specific issue.

In addition, the RP90 has several more effects and models than the older pedal has. In addition to the amp models of the RP50/80, the 90 also has models of some distortion pedals (such as the Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer, Boss DS-1 Distortion, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, the Digitech Whammy, etc..). The only downside is that a number of these effects are rather buried in the menus...it can take a bit of digging to find them (the distortion pedals for example are under the amp models).

Another thing I would mention here is that both of the pedals aren't exactly setup to change things "on the fly" as it were. If for example, you're in the middle of a practice or worse, a gig and you decide that you want to use a different amp model or something or that your reverb or delay is a bit too thick, it takes a minute or so to change the settings. The strength of these pedals is in setting them up in advance...getting just exactly the sounds that you want and putting them into memory. For example, let's say you are going to be playing a gig and you use a wide variety of effects for any given song...you can setup patch #1 for the first tune, patch #2 for the second song, patch #3 for the third song and so on. This way as you are playing, you just click thru each patch....very simple and convenient.

Both pedals do have built in tuners and drum machines as well...very nice extras in my opinion. The drum machine on both pedals does sound good but the patterns are a bit limited and tend to come off sounding like a "drum machine"...very redundant. They're good for practice but that's about it.

One other thing I would mention here because for some folks this is an issue...both the RP80 and the RP90 are made of plastic....durable plastic, but plastic none the less. If you're one of those folks who likes to dance on your pedals or is simply very hard on your equipment, this is something you are going to want to keep in mind....these things won't take a lot of physical abuse. That said, personally I take care of my gear and I've been using my RP50 for over 2 years now and it hasn't let me down once. If you take care of them, they'll take care of you.

To be completely honest here, you'd probably be quite happy with the RP80 but unless you can find one for dirt cheap (less than $40), then the RP90 is very well worth the difference as it gives you a lot more bang for the buck...more effects, more control, etc., while still providing the same excellent sound.

Alrighty, I hope this helps!
Jim


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:17 am
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thanks a lot for the advice..never have got such a detail and honest opinion..thanks again :D


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