BP50 Review

24-bit A/D/A converters ensure accurate tonal reproduction between inputs and outputs.

Ease of Use:	8
Sound:	8.5
Reliability:	7
Impression:	8
Overall rating:	7.9
Users rating:	5.1
Comments:	7

overall: 7.8

Featured review by: CaffeineTripp, on january 03, 2006

Price paid: $ 50

Purchased from: Musician's Friend

Ease of Use: Very easy to use. The EQ settings are nice to have, even though they really aren't needed. Editing the effects is extremely easy, basically a touch and click. Selection for the bass amps is decent if not good. A good choice of effects come with the BP50. // 8

Sound: Generally use distortion with a long delay, distortion, clean, and something with quite a bit of low-end. Like the previous reviewer, to get the pedal into bypass can be somewhat difficult, so it wouldn't be wise to use it at gigs, unless you're prepared to concentrate on foot-placement and not the music you're playing. It does eat through batteries if you have lost the DC adapter, so don't lose it. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Very durable, I've dropped it on numerous occasions and it does stand the test thanks to the metal casing. I can see that the foot pedals will wear out quickly, but then again, they may rarely be used. Very reliable with the exception of the sensitivity of both of the pedals needing to be pressed at precisely the exact moment. // 8

Impression: Quite good for all types of music, especially industrial where a modelling processor is basically required. All around it's a good tool to have during a recording session, but not on stage. For the price, you may as well buy the next step up. // 7

overall: 8.5

Reviewed by: Lasyk, on january 31, 2008

Price paid: $ 118.4921

Purchased from: Absolute Music

Ease of Use: I think that this effects machine for bass guitar is acctually really good for the price. You have 80 diferent preset sounds that you can alter from clean to totally distortated and overdriven. The alteration of the sound you can achieve from it is actually pretty amazing, I think that it's pretty easy to change the sound settings but then again other people may think differently about it. The manual was ok, but it was lacking, for someone Who hasn't been playing guitar for very long, they may have trouble with it because they may not know what certain settings will do and they may not be able to get the sound they want out of it. I think that DigiTech needs to improve there manuals so that they are more inclusive of how to change the settings and not jsut focus on safety and reliability issues. // 7

Sound: I think that the sound I can get out of this little fella is amazing. The only thing I play is heavy metal and a little bit of altnernative rock/grunge like Rage Against The Machine. I'm running the BP50 through a Peavey TNT 150 watt bass amp and a Peavey Milestone IV, I've tried it on my Washburn Bad Dog 30 watt amp and I can get better sounding notes on the D and G strings, but only the higher notes sound good on it like 9th frets and above. With this pedal, when I am playing Rage Against The Machine I have it set so I can go from a really hard wah to a clean setting with a push of a pedal. But for when I'm playing with my band I have one of the 80 seperate setting set for distortion and high level to I can get extremely loud ripping bass notes out. There are quite a few different settings for the chorus, but I don't really like how chorus sounds in unison with the style I play, but with the given selection that DigiTech ahs provided there is definatly a setting that someone would like. it's pretty loud when I'm using it because it has a master volume setting that allows how much output it sends to the amp from the pedal. There is also a drum beat machine built in so if you want to work on your timinf for a certain song or time signature (ie. 4/4 time 5/4 time ect.) you can go through teh 30 different beats and select one and change the tempo to however you prefer. The Distortion options you are given are amazing you have sounds from rasps to screaching to growling and techno wizzingish sounds (I have no clue how to descride that any other way). // 10

Reliability & Durability: So far I've had this pedal for about a month now, it's been kicked a few times, the pedals have been stomped at leasts 3 or 4 times a day when I play, and they aren't losend at all. The only time I have ever had a problem with it. I acctually don't know waht happened, the volume cut down to barly audible then it came right back up and hast happened again since, that was about 3 weeks after I got it. I'm still not sure if it was my amp or the pedal so I can't really say fairly if I've had an issue with it. Yes I'd probably play a gig without a back-up but then again the music I play still sounds really good without the distortion so if it cacked I'd just act like it was a bass break in the song and go and plug my bass straight into the amp. // 8

Impression: I mainly play metal and a bit of alternative/grunge so it's really good for that, I think that someone that was a blues or jazz player could get what they wanted out of it for effects. I was happy to know when I was purchasing it that it also has a built in tuner that you can access that is able to tune you all the way to drop A (that's the tuning that the metal band Korn plays with) so that makes me happy (no more angrily searhing for my tuner anymore). I've been playing for over a year now and I've tried a few different effects pedals and read about a few and I decided that this was the best bang for the buck. I can't think about anything I should have asked before buying this other than "How much is this I want it." If this was lost or stolen I would definatly either buy a new one or upgrade to an even better effects pedal, pretty much I would do what I could afford to do. I compared it to a few othere's at the store but I found that for the price this one had the best selection. // 9

overall: 5.8

Reviewed by: Typik, on december 25, 2007

Price paid: $ 90

Purchased from: Firey Bros Music

Ease of Use: its very easy to use! It comes with a manual that explains everything, and reading through it once, it'll be a breeze to use, I only wish I had gotten the one with the wah pedal, it has all the settings a high end pedal board has, but the features just seem cheaper, the pedal overall is very sturdy, it feels like you could throw it against a wall and it'd be okay. // 7

Sound: Sometimes I'll use some effects on my normal electric but it's mostly for bass, I do not like the distortion on this pedal at all, it's very muddy, I would not use this pedal during a gig, it is great for new musicians, which I was when I got it. I'm giving it a 6 since I know a lot of people use distortion // 6

Reliability & Durability: Its nice for at home playing and just messing around and finding sounds for songs, but like I said, I would not depend on this pedal at all in a gig, though you do still get all the features you'd get out of a high end pedal board, I still wouldn't suggest this if you're a gigging musician. // 4

Impression: Well normally I play guitar, but since this is bass. When I play bass I usually play funk, this isn't really a good match for my style of playing but I know it's good for other styles, Before I bought this product I didn't think there was a higher end version with a Wah pedal, I wish I had known that and I would've gone for it easy. I love playing around with the phaser on it, making the guitar sound real weird. I hate the distortion like I said, very muddy, maybe I just don't know how to work the distortion on the pedal but yeah. Overall I give this, a 6. // 6

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: EtHaNaT0R, on july 02, 2004

Price paid: $ 50

Purchased from: guitar center

Ease of Use: It is really easy to use, all I needed the instruction manual for was to figure out the effects. // 10

Sound: I use it w/ my Gorilla amp and either my RBX170 bass or my Bronze series Warlock guitar, it sounds great w/ either (even tho it's meant for basses) it can get a very wide range of effects and amp modeling features and they all have 9 different settings 1 being the lowest, 9 being the highest. I use the Boss DS-1 Distortion most frequently and it's my fav. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Very reliable, the only complaint I have is that its not too easy to put it on bypass every single time I try, DigiTech needs to ad a special on/off pedal for the bypass thing. // 8

Impression: It works for most anything u would need it for if you don't care about the lack of wah-pedal, buy this one, if you need the wah then bye the other model. If I lost it, I'd buy it again, or if I had the money, I'd buy the one w/ a wah pedal. // 10

Comments

[sexybeast101]

ive used this pedal before because my friend has it, and i personally think that it sucks.out of the 40 different effects, almost all of them sound like crap.i have a line 6 amp, and the distortion on my amp is WAY better and heavier than any of the distortion settings on the pedal.also, if you want to change settings in the middle of the song, then you have to manually go through every setting to get to it. setting 1 is clean and setting 29 is the heaviest distortion channel on the pedal.if you want to change from clean to distortion in the middle of the song without stopping playing, then you have to go through 27 effects, and by that time, youre probably behind in the song.simply put, dont buy this pedal because it sucks..

[johnny92]

I'm a new bassist and my birthday is coming up and i want a pedal 4 it. My price range is about £60.
Should i buy this one?

[bassboy 999]

This model is good for noobs, cause it covers many sounds and effects, but doesn't specialise in any of them. The only complainable feature of this particular model is the reliability.

[linus.d]

ive used this pedal before because my friend has it, and i personally think that it sucks.out of the 40 different effects, almost all of them sound like crap.i have a line 6 amp, and the distortion on my amp is WAY better and heavier than any of the distortion settings on the pedal.also, if you want to change settings in the middle of the song, then you have to manually go through every setting to get to it. setting 1 is clean and setting 29 is the heaviest distortion channel on the pedal.if you want to change from clean to distortion in the middle of the song without stopping playing, then you have to go through 27 effects, and by that time, youre probably behind in the song.simply put, dont buy this pedal because it sucks..

you can move the settings to the place you want, easy to move preset 29 to 2

[danny_plantain]

i have this pedal, and it is a pile of monkey-spunk. worthless for giging, sound is horrible, too much delay between switching. if you want dist, then buy a real stompbox, you want wah, buy a frickin' wah. digital effects suck goat nuts, analog all the way baby.

[Typik]

danny_plantain wrote:

i have this pedal, and it is a pile of monkey-spunk. worthless for giging, sound is horrible, too much delay between switching. if you want dist, then buy a real stompbox, you want wah, buy a frickin' wah. digital effects suck goat nuts, analog all the way baby.

Who wouldn't agree with that?
Digital effects really do suck. It might not suck if you're a beginner and don't know quality of music, but it does suck when you know your shit.

[525bass]

Typik wrote:

Who wouldn't agree with that?
Digital effects really do suck. It might not suck if you're a beginner and don't know quality of music, but it does suck when you know your shit.

+1