RP55 Review

Its really easy to use mostly because of the 80 effects and simple 2 Digit screen that shows it, 40 are factory and 40 are also factory out of the box, but are customizable.

Ease of Use:	9
Sound:	8.7
Reliability:	8
Impression:	8.7
Overall rating:	7.7
Reviewer rating:	8.6
Users rating:	6.9
Votes:	30

Reviewed by: unregistered, on october 05, 2009

Price paid: $ 60

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: This is my first effects peddle, and in about 20 min of messing with it, I got it down. Its really easy to use mostly because of the 80 effects and simple 2 Digit screen that shows it, 40 are factory and 40 are also factory out of the box, but are customizable. Editing the effects are very simple. The manual is a simple, 23 page, but very descriptive and helpful. I'm not sure, but think the RP55 is an upgraded version of the RP50. Great for beginners. // 10

Sound: I am using my RP55 for practice and fun. So I use a Yamaha pacifica with it and it sounds great. It is noisy with a good amp and settings, plus you can customize almost anything to make it how you want it to be, you can make it sound like Metallica or maybe more modern stuff, mainly anything. I can say that I have had this for a while, and it is worth playing. // 9

Reliability & Durability: You can depend on it with a power adapter, but you can't really trust anything with batteries. But it has a 15H battery life with 6 batteries. So I would depend on it easy for a gig with no backup, it is very good in sound, and battery life. It is a great one for beginners, but if your pro and on a gig I would probably get somethings else. // 8

Impression: I play rock, punk, and some slow solos. But all sound great with your own customs. I have been playing for 2-3 years now and have had it for maybe a year, but it hasn't failed yet. I wish I would have asked if there was a USB compatibility, but I can get past that. If it was stolen I would probably go out and get another 55, or another in the RP series.I love the built in tuner, and drum Machine along with all the great customizable effects. Amazing for beginners. // 8

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: The Doom 555, on december 19, 2011

Price paid: € 50

Purchased from: Local Store

Ease of Use: Hello, first of all I must say that I love this pedal. I've tried other RP models, and this one sounds really great. Easy to use, and very easy to get your signature sound, either you want a Fender clean tone, or a Marshall JCM800 sound. Editing patches is very easy, and you have a big bank to save your Presets. // 10

Sound: I own a Squier Bullet Stratocaster, fitted with DiMarzio pickups, I also own a ESP LTD EC-10 fitted with one DiMarzio on the bridge, and I must say that it sounds killer. I've tested the pedal with other people guitars, from cheap stock Squiers, to Gibson's, and you get great sounds with it. In my house I use my monitor speakers plugged into the pedal, and my Stratocaster as my guitar. I use the Cabinet Simulation (included on the pedal), and it's ready to go.

The effects are ok, I love the chorus and the phaser (the effects that I use the most). Delays are really great, from Analog to Digital, you can adjust the tempo, it's really good. Also includes Reverbs, from Hall to Spring Reverb, and those are great too. The amps that the pedal includes are very nice to play with, I usually use the JCM800, and the Fender Bassman, every amp sounds really good, but the Mesa Rectifier is too digital, even with the cabinet simulation. Could be way better. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This pedal is very cheap, I've bought mine one year ago, and now it's way cheaper. If you live in Europe you can check one of this pedals on Thomann, for a small price. It's made out of plastic so you must be careful, other than that it's really good, and I use it on my board for one year, and I've done a couple of gigs with it. // 9

Impression: I play from blues to metal, and this pedal suits me very well. If you need an easy pedal, and you don't want to spend too much, I totally recommend this pedal. If you can afford a better one, go for the RP155, also very cheap and simply amazing. It has an USB interface, so you can record yourself. I totally recommend the RP55, or any DigiTech product. Soon I'll post some demos of my pedal on my YouTube channel, so subscribe. Thanks. // 10

overall: 7.5

Reviewed by: mr_rainmaker777, on april 19, 2011

Price paid: $ 50

Purchased from: local store

Ease of Use: This unit is pretty easy to use, you really don`t have to look at the manual, but it does help. Editing patches is easy once you get used to scroll though the LEDs using the buttons. The drum Machine is a bit of a pain... (I think monkeys chose the patches). #31 on the drum Machine is a the best part of this box. // 7

Sound: you can get some pretty desent tones out of this little box IF... You work with it, the recitifer is a good but you really have to play with the EQ to get nice sound, the british stack is one of the nicest patches, its got a real nice clean sound add a little chorus but don`t overdo it. Really the key to getting a good sound and tone out of this is taking your time to tweak your own patches, and don`t over do it with effects. If you have crappy pickups or a buggy amp don`t expect this little box to be a magic cure.

The default factory patches really are crap. The 3 band eq is ok, not great but hey its only 50bucks, don`t expect an ADA MP1. The drum Machine really only has a handfull of usefull patches, the most useful is patch 31. Yes there is a patch 31 which is a click track/metronome, it can only be set up to 100bpm, but if you know how to use a metronome this is really not much of a problem. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I would stay away from using batterys with this unit, stick only to a adapter, I think that's where most of the problems arise with this unit, it does need a GOOD STEADY voltage to sound good.

again this is best used as a bedroom practice tool, toss on some decent headphones and have fun with it, if it sounds like crap, change headphones, amp or play with the editing, but you can make this 50buck box sound good IF you work at it. // 7

Impression: been playing just about everything from hanksnow to Yngwie for over 30 years, teach a little off and on, sometimes I use this for lessons. What I like about the RP55 is the price, I got a few little small multi effects and is is the best in its price range. Wish the drum patterns were better, its almost like they had a monkey chose those patches. // 8

Comments

[Allumenator]

Great sound? I'm use it and think that it sound like shit.

[CptRevell]

I have a RP100, I would assume it has a similar chipset. The distortions are iffy, but I think the other effects are serviceable. The cab/mic effects can really muddy up the sound.

[lathblade]

I hate my RP50 cause it murders tone if you have a halfway decent amp...just get a couple decent pedals and make your own sound.

[ChucklesMginty]

The RP series isn't bad, but it's not really worth it unless you get an RP250/255 or above.

[zeatle]

digitech is alright, but i dont think that you would want to use it on recording an album.....its almost like the fisher price of guitar stuff.....its good when your starting out.

[zapatista89]

zeatle wrote:

digitech is alright, but i dont think that you would want to use it on recording an album.....its almost like the fisher price of guitar stuff.....its good when your starting out.

yeah i mean id never think about using my digitech WHAMMY while recording an album

[r0ckth3d34n]

I have an RP50 and I can't stand the fact that when you let a chord or note ring out, there's this buzz feedback. I mean, if I were to play a show with it, no one would notice. But nonetheless, when letting chords ring out or muting, there's that feeback. I hope its not like that with the RP355...

[sammo_boi]

it's not digitech that's bad, they make some great stompboxes, including distortion ones, it is just multi-fx in general that suck.

[Zakattak264]

ChucklesMginty wrote:

The RP series isn't bad, but it's not really worth it unless you get an RP250/255 or above.

yea, the 500 i have is great for anything. remember people, music is expensive and if you are too cheap, your sound will be cheap

[bluesguitarpunk]

The distortion is horrible for basically anything but metal. It has some good effects mixed in. This great for its price.

[jonnyblade7]

I use a bunch of digitech stomp pedals but the only multieffect guitar pedal of theres ive tried is the rp350 and thought it was an exalent pedal. the bp80 and bp200 are great for any bass player to have also.

[jpnyc]

I’ve been playing around with an RP55 for a few weeks. The distortion sounds fine if you really push it for metal, but if you just want a little fuzz or crunch it starts to sound really dirty with crackles and pops. The clean tones are pretty sweet and warm. The effects are good if you just want to lock in a sound that’s “close enough” and don’t need to get exact tones with analog dials. The biggest problem is that the tone it puts out is WAY too bassy. If I play my strat through the bridge pickup the sixth string is twice as loud as it should sound and my subwoofer sounds like it’s channeling the ghost of a ska bassist.

[ePOWsa]

For the price it isn't bad, the presets are pretty good, I'm just not good at customizing them. I think I would just rather have a few extra analog pedals than the processor.

[Knutrh]

I bought this one a week ago or so, for my 15w amp, and I was really surprised by it, compared to the price. It's easy to use, and the sound quality is great for my purpose.

[engineno9]

Just bought this today, and for $50 I thought it was quite the bargain. I was playing with my buddy through some "acoustic" brand ss amp, me through this and him through a pod x3, and comparably my tone was lacking, I'd say it was pretty thin really, but for $50 it doesn't really matter. Maybe with some tweeking it would have been better but I was short on time and just wanted to jam. I only really bought this to play around with and try out a bunch of different effects and for $50 its totally worth it.

[anus$Agape]

One thing that no one here has mentioned is the latency. What I mean is, there is a very noticeable delay from when you strike the strings, to when you hear the sound through the RP55. This was using an AC adapter and $30 headphones direct from the unit. To me, this latency makes it very painful for me to put up with this unit. In addition, the sounds out of the RP55 do not sound "hot", but rather heavily compressed. Try to do a pick scratch on a so called hot patch and it is barely audible.

[timrocket]

unreliable piece of manufactured crap
distortion sounds bad too