Digitech Valve FX

[reguv760]

Anyone familiar with these units? I'm shopping around for a good rack tube preamp/effects processing program within a limited budget and I might acquire one of these units pretty soon. Just wondering if anyone has good/bad opinions about the Valve FX.

Reg

[BucketBot]

One of my friends use to have one and I thought it was pretty good for a preamp/effects unit. And you can also find them for about $150 on ebay. Sometimes that cheap with the Control One foot controller.

[vwall]

I absolutely swear by them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
am i clear on this??????

They are the best all around multi fx units available!!!!!!

I have 2 just in case!
one toured with me for almost 4 years and it rocked.
now, i prefer a more raw amp tone with minimal fx ( compression, gate, light delay, reverb) for live stuff but i will never rid myself of the valve fx.


I have had almost every rack gear known to man.. from Rocktron pre amps/combos, ada mp 1 mp 2 gear to roland gp 100 and marshall jpm stuff. throw in the ultra harmonizer... 3000 and both 4000 series...
the fx on the eventide are much better but for an all in one pre amp fx processor. its the best thing in the market...
and yes, i have owned the 2120 and 2101 stuff too.. actually bought the 2120 twice hoping the second time around would sound better... but nopes!

i have never been happier with the valve fx!
the best part is when you record with it.
you get those lush tones that you hear in the headphones and not thru the amp when you record out.

dont just take my word... go get one and see for yourself!

[reguv760]

Though this might spark a new subject, i've noticed the Valve FX has midi inputs. I currently have a Boss GT-3 processor and I was wondering if I can use the GT-3 as a footcontroller in conjunction with the Valve FX. I'm not all too familiar with midi in general but if it was possible, would it be easy to program it?

Reg

[vwall]

of course you can midi map it....
thats why those ports are there

[ardell henderson]

yep, I'll give it a big thumbs up also; this unit rocks, smooth to knarly 'n in between...

[7 Dying Trees]

I've been using a gt-5 as a midi controller for over a year now, no problem!

[OME]

I just bought a Valve FX and I gotta say it carries a massive amount
of tone for a processor. The dist. goes from one end to the other.
I will be adding some soundbites to my website from a radio show
I just did and you'll be able to hear how I've set mine up.
I played thru a princeton chorus amp.
radio pics for now
click on the big red box

[courtney2018]

Never thought I'd be one to bump a 7 year old thread, but I just did.

I just bought one of these monsters and I can't believe the sound I'm getting out of it. I've just been toying around with it thru the headphones and the sound, lushness of the distortion, etc. is awesome. I can't believe that I paid $115 for it, but I did.

If anybody is looking for a cheap, but gorgeous sound, check out the Digitech Valve FX. You might say that you have a 2120, 2101, 2112, or something else, but trust me, this one is much different. Right now I'm so glad I decided to get one.

Does anybody else have one? Maybe the people on this thread that posted 7 years ago? LOL

To those that have them and know, the version that is displayed on mine is 1.00. From what I've found out there's version 1.04 out for it. How would I go about updating the version and is it even necessary?

[reguv760]

hahaha you're funny courtney.... totally forgot I posted this thread :P

I did get the Valve FX a month or so after this thread, that lasted a few months as I wasn't getting the sound I was looking for... but the sounds were very lush through the headphones and plugged through a Mesa 50/50. I barely knew anything about Midi back then but i got the GT-3 and Valve FX to do patch changes but the latency between the units were delayed...
Unfortunately, I sold that but got a Mesa Studio Pre in the process (IIRC)... and then I REALLY GAS'd for a modern sounding tube preamp for the next few years I ended up owning a purple-faced 2112 for a short while but I sold that a few weeks later...

But I have to say Digitech's preamp's are quality units, just have to find the right preamp for the right occasion. One of my friend's dying to get the recent GSP1101 and he got me interested in checking those out as well...

As for firmware update, i think ya have to get a hold of Digitech

Reg

[Rodney James]

The upgrade can be done by sending it to Digitech, they also can put in the yellow LCD rather than the hard to see blue LCD, they set up mine this way.

I agree with courtney, great unit, far different than the Digitech preamps that came after it. The valve has much better preamp tones IMO.

The unit works great for direct recording with the speaker sim, nice feature for us that live in an APT, to get live load sounding tones at low levels.

[courtney2018]

Is the upgrade necessary though? What will it give me that my unit doesn't already have? I don't really care about a different colored LED screen.

[LuredMaul]

I had one of these back in the 90's.............I kick myself still today for ever getting rid of it. I miss my Quad Chorus and 4 tap stereo delays.
I bought another one afew yrs back off the bay but I never could find the Magic preamp tube. I still have yet to get the same satisfaction from my pod XT live.

[Rodney James]

Originally Posted by courtney2018

Is the upgrade necessary though? What will it give me that my unit doesn't already have? I don't really care about a different colored LED screen.

Nothing major, same unit really. It makes the midi function more efficient, and they put in the yellow LCD that is dim adjustable. The blue LCD looks much cooler I think, yellow is just easy to read. I had mine upgraded when it was sent in for repair, I knocked it off the top of an amp.

[courtney2018]

Do you know how much the upgrade is? Would Digitech even take it in for an upgrade now. The unit has been discontinued for a loooong time now.