All user reviews of 3/5 for the Rocktron Utopia G300

For specifications:
http://www.rocktron.com/products/floorprocessors/utopiag300/

Channel selections "..."( Clean, Texas, British and Mega). Pre-effects include wah, phaser, compressor. Post effects include chorus, flanger, pitch shift, tremolo, delay and reverb. You get aussi Rocktron exclusive like Our state-of-the-art Speaker Simulator (for recording The Best You Can get), Variac (tube sag emulation) and HUSH ® noise reduction. "
The pitch shift is controlled at the expression pedal, giving an effect of type whammy but polyphonic. It can dive and a chord of 2 octaves up or a sound without becoming a "digital mush." on the other hand, we can not climb that one octave (Whammy 2 with the cons).
It is possible to connect one second external expression pedal to have a volume pedal wah + a for instance.
There is also a chromatic tuner and the ability to affect the expression pedal volume pedal.

I never tried to edit settings via PC or Mac. Their site says: "USB audio recording and playback connectivity" ...

Not because it is a rack-mount bracket.

Digital technology.

The connection is fairly complete: Audio in, out (stereo / mono), midi in, midi out / thru, USB, effects loop send / return, for in (for mp3, cd) headphones.

On paper, it has everything I demand a multi-purpose.

UTILIZATION

Easy and intuitive but somewhat tedious to use with many menus and submenus and only 3 wheels to navigate through all that.

The manual is quite well done and very useful for getting together at first. I only have it in English (purchase in the States).

Editing effects is effective and relevant, but the settings are a bit tedious as I said above. Especially for live settings adjustments.

The effects may be cut one by one, or all at once with one push of the foot. Good thinking.
There is also the channel button toggle switch to change channel (light saturated for example).
on the other hand, there is no bypass the preamp and I really regret. I wanted to use my BB as a simple multi-effect and unfortunately it is not possible ...

SOUND QUALITY

The effects are very well made with good settings effective. On this side, the pedal is excellent.

The preamp is clean or heavy distortion-oriented. No bluesy crunch possible. Sounds hot lovers, go your way, the machine is cold despite the Variac (tube sag emulation).

I use a Epiphone Les Paul that I equipped with humbuckers Seymour Duncan SH1 and SH2 with an Ibanez JEM555 I also recently a Fame Forum IV (very good guitar).
It went much better on my Marshall Valvestate 8240 (in effects loop) on my new Hughes & Kettner Switchblade Tube.

What I prefer: the polyphonic pitch and wah-wah (all but the effects are good).

What I like least: no bypass preamp. What a pity!

(7 for the lack of versatility and coldness)

OVERALL OPINION

I use it since April or May 2009.

I have owned:
Korg A4 a long time ago. Good effects for its time. Now outdated technology.
A V-Amp. Multi nice little low-cost. Copy of the first Pod.
A Digitech GNX3. Nice little multi-purpose (without preamp) but the pedal dropped me after 4 or 5 years ... :-(
Now I have the Utopia G300. It is superior to GNX3 level of quality and robustness of the effects seems foolproof.

I like the polyphonic pitch.
I like the expression pedal rack with on / off switch assignable.
I love the Hush (noise gate) effective. No feedback or unwanted tropical storm blows big distortion mode.
I like the sound distortion and the quality of all the effects (when I plug in the loop of my Marshall or possibly live in a console).

I do not like the lack of versatility and inability to bypass the preamp. And pass directly to the Utopia in the loop of my Hughes without using a preamp would be a heresy.
I do not like the tuner will only work with the harmonics.

The quality-price ratio is normal. The pedal is not cheap but it is well made.

With experience, I do not have that choice again. I keep my house to rehearse with headphones. I opted for a pedal board with power and some good pedals. I prefer the sound of my preamp tube Hughes and the inability to bypass the preamp Utopia disqualifies him in this configuration. Even selecting a neutral setting a clean sound, is not Utopia, but then not at all transparent. If I could use it as a multi-purpose alone (without preamp) I would have kept both effects are all good. Alas, alas hundred times, I do not understand why Rocktron has not provided a bypass the preamp ... This single retail him with a 9 rather than 6. And I do not distribute items like hot cakes!