Digitech 2101 Question

[courtney2018]

Hi all,
Recently I've been checking out the old Digitech 2101 tube preamps on the bay and have been considering getting one. I did a search on here and didn't find quite what I'm looking for.

I guess Digitech produced two different models of the 2101. One is a limited edition and has a shiney purplish paint on the front and the other is just plain metal I believe...maybe painted grey or something. The limited edition model as 2 SDISCs which is the processor. The regular version only as 1 SDISC.

So first off my question to the group is, does anyone have a 2101? If so what are your thoughts.

Secondly, does anyone have any time on the regular version and the limited edition version? Is there that big of a difference between the two as far as sound, quality, patches, etc.? If I'm going to get one should I be looking at the limited edition version?

Thanks all for any help!

[Lefty Robb]

Good for what they do but a bit outdated. I blew the tranny in mine old 2101, had some really nice modulations but the distortion was mediocre, and the interface was a bit cumbersome to learn at first too..

IMHO get a Prophesy.

[Tubarão Guitars]

I've owned the 2101, the 2101 Artist, and now i have the 2120 v.2.11

Pleeeeeease make sure to buy the 2120 model, not the 2101.
They're completely different units.
I just love that thing!
Cheers,

[Lefty Robb]

Yeah, they improved the sound like 10 fold on the 2120, it actually has usable gain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GheQ...eature=related

here's the Prophesy II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_TBTUEVOHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY5xd...eature=related

[Distantshore]

+1 on the 2120. I had the 2101 about 10 years ago, and ended up returning it and going back to my Valve FX (which I still use)

[eviltwin]

I can only say that I completely disagree with the above comments, on so many levels

First some info on the 2101, the original used a single SDISC, which is fine, but it won't do smooth program changes (reverb etc gets cut off when you switch patches).

However, even the earliest 2101 can be upgraded to dual SDISC, and many second hand units have already been upgraded. It will also require a software (BIOS) upgrade, allowing the use of the dual SDISC, while also adding harmonizers and some other features. Later 2101s (Pro or Artist models, including those with wild colored face-plates) came standard with Dual SDISC etc.

Have a look at this thread http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9129 some of the artist versions are mentioned (but those lists are not exact)
I also remember some other threads where the 2101 etc. came up:

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...highlight=2101
http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showpo...5&postcount=13
http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...highlight=2101

Later units such as the 2112/2120 are almost identical in technology, both in the preamps section and in the digital signal path. But those are much simpler in set-up and therefore less versatile.

On the 2101 the twin tube distortion covers a broad range of tones, but the presets are crap. You will have to do a lot of programming to get the best out of it. The digital domain on the earlier 2101 is totally flexible, if you want to do pitch shifting AFTER reverb you can...want to do flanging after ducked tremelo? No problem. On the 2112/2120 this flexibility is discarded in favor of "ease of use".

The only real upgrade the 2120 provides over the 2101 is the ability to do simultaneuous parallel distortion paths (one Solid State + one Tube) as well as assigning analogue tone controls (wah) BEFORE distortion. The 2101 is limited in that respect, as it only allows analogue compression BEFORE the tubes, and analog EQ after the tubes, everyting else is later in the digital path. Parallel paths does exactly what is says: it sounds like running your guitar into two preamps; one nice twin-tube, the other (harsh) solid state. Whether or not this is usable also depend on the rest of your set-up, but it's not very natural.

As for distortion on the 2101 you do have a choice of channels: clean tube, distorted tube, saturated tube; Solid State comes in two flavors Grunge and Overdrive. Just "cranking the gain" is not recommended, you will want to adjust compression befor the tubes, which have twin gain controls and you will also need to tweek the EQ. In any case you will also need a decent power amp to get it to sound good, built-in speaker emulation for direct recording is quite limited in tone.

Regardless, the digital tone shaping could be used to get the best out of the tubes (or S-S), without EQ the distortion can sound a bit flat and lifeless, but all patches come with 7band analogue EQ, if necessary 15band and parametric digital EQ are available as well. In this respect the 2101 is no different from the later units. It has lots of power and flexibility, but it's up to the user to get it out of the machine.

[courtney2018]

Thanks everybody.

Eviltwin,
I read about the processor upgrade. Is this making the non-limited edition units the same as the limited edition models in that it has two processors? Can you put the processor upgrade in the limited edition models as well?

Changing from patch to patch isn't a big deal with me, so if 1 processor doesn't make a difference on how it's performing on a particular patch, then I probably won't upgrade it. That being said, can any unit, regardless of if it's single or dual processor, be upgraded to the latest firmware version?

This is mainly going to be used just to mess around with and record. I'll be using my GNX4 mainly. I've got some really great patches that I've tweaked and I have to say the tone that I'm getting out of that thing I've got no reason to even think about replacing it. I've even consider getting the new 1101, but I've got no reason to. I'm also getting a Voodoo modded ADA MP-1 in shortly and it's going to be used the same way as the 2101...just to record with.

Thanks for your help everyone!

[HDS]

Had a 2120 Artist, kinda miss it but I use an ADA MP1 with the 3tube mod and its kills the 2120.

[rastachild]

totally agree with eviltwin, the 2101 is the one i'd go with. i had a 2112 and sold it because it did not have the depth of programming flexibility as the 2101 and the distortion didn't sound as natural to me. if you have a good tube poweramp, the 2101 will sound amazing. but you definitely have to have patience to tweak it, and honestly, there can be a learning curve that can be frustrating. i've owned mine for 10 years and just started to understand it around the 5 year mark. although nowadays i primarily use it for home recording.

[courtney2018]

The GNX4 can be the same way. There's alot of stuff you can do with it, but I've messed with the patch settings and come up with some really good ones.

I didn't realize how great they sounded until a friend of mine that's a tube amp freak - he also own the holy grail, a Trainwreck (the 4th one ever made) - and he absolutely loved my tone. He couldn't believe that it came from a GNX4.

Anyways, not to get off of the subject, I'm definitely going with the 2101. That part is decided. I'm just questioning whether or not to get a limited edition version or not, but I think it'll be cheaper to get a limited. The regular 2101's that I've seen haven't been upgraded to dual processors and that upgrade is an additional $200, or thereabouts. To upgrade the firmware on a limited to the latest version is like $30 or so.

[HDS]

Had the GNX4, sold it. To may playing live problems, was good for recording though.

[eviltwin]

Originally Posted by courtney2018

Thanks everybody.

Eviltwin,
I read about the processor upgrade. Is this making the non-limited edition units the same as the limited edition models in that it has two processors? Can you put the processor upgrade in the limited edition models as well?

Any 2101 with only a single SDISC can be upgraded to dual, but it may first require a firmware update.

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/gsp...101upgrade.htm

The regular 2101's that I've seen haven't been upgraded to dual processors and that upgrade is an additional $200

I'm not sure from the above link, what versions (if any) came with dual SDISC as standard.

Changing from patch to patch isn't a big deal with me, so if 1 processor doesn't make a difference on how it's performing on a particular patch, then I probably won't upgrade it.

If you don't need seamless switching or want to write huge algorithms, necessitating the double memory that comes with the dual SDISC, then the PPC210 is overkill and expensive compared to the full unit, second hand.

That being said, can any unit, regardless of if it's single or dual processor, be upgraded to the latest firmware version?

I think so, you need to do the firmware upgrade first anyway.

This is mainly going to be used just to mess around with and record.

Messing around is great, but when recording directly, you will be tonally limited by the speaker emulator outputs. It's better to run the regular outputs into a stereo poweramp or FX return of a set of combos/heads and mike those.

[Axeslinger]

Are there any good resources for shortening the learning curve on programing?