Re: [Harp-L] A tipping point for used Digitech RP prices?

[Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Bob

I suspect you'll hear opinions to the contrary but I have played both. The RP is a wonderful way not to have to carry an amp. But an RP (or ANY amp modeler) and a PA is no substitute for a good tube amp like an SJ. They just don't sound the same. The "real thing" is smoother, fatter, warmer, bigger and WAY easier to hear on stage without feedback issues. Modern PA's don't have tubes - everything in their design is about making clean sound. So you use the pedal to manufacture digital simulations of tube distortion, speaker distortion, speaker cabinet resonance…..and then hope the PA reproduces them accurately. But they were still digital simulations to begin with. Some day I'll be too old to lift my tube amp. But I ain't there yet!!!

There's probably a reason that the vast majority of the most famous blues players still haul real tube amps to their gigs. (I'm saying vast majority to allow the possibility, but I can't think of a single internationally known blues harp artist who uses an amp modeler through a PA.)

/Greg
http://www.blowsmeaway.com





> From: Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] A tipping point for used Digitech RP prices?
> Date: September 3, 2013 11:21:08 AM PDT
> To: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> On Aug 30, 2013, at 6:20 PM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> I check prices for used Digitech RP devices on guitarcenter.com every once in a while, and I've noticed recently that a lot of RPs are showing up there in good-to-very-good condition at prices 50% or less of new.  I
> 
> Sounds intriguing. Sorry in advance for the dumb questions but can you run the RPs through the PA with no amp? How does the amp modeling do with the boutique harp amps like the Sonny Jr series?
>