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James... « Great preamp for the price »
Published on 08/06/11 at 18:13Digitech took a different route with the 1101. Instead of making a true rack unit with high end effects they decided to do the Line 6 thing and design a high end rack modeler. It's sort of half way point between hi-fi sound and analog modeling. It's a pretty capable unit in terms of connections. You can integrate it into almost any setup whether you've got a power amp, a combo, or just going direct to board. It's also a great studio tool in theory.
UTILIZATION
I used it along with a VHT 2/90/2 and an Orange 4x12 for a while. Sometimes it was my lone unit and other times I paired it with a tube preamp or two. You won't find a tone of deep menus in the 1101. Most of the effects are based on pedals and real world amps, so there aren't massive amounts of settings to tweak like some rack preamp/effects units. I remember the old Digitech GSP's offered some deep menus and powerful functions if you were willing to read the manual, but the 1101 offers a simpler approach by modeling units that are already simple themselves. There are however a lot of different options for connections which affect how it will sound in the end. Some people will use this in the rack of their amp head while others will use it as a straight up preamp. Fortunately all these connections are made easy but a setup wizard which I must admit is very nicely done by digitech. The editing is also pretty simple. Unfortunately I was left wanting to dig deeper into my sounds but Digitech's simple layout doesn't allow that much.
SOUND QUALITY
While you are limited with your options in how exotic you can get with effects, the sounds are good. The effects sound good, although sometimes feel a bit goofy. Especially the mod stuff. The reverbs are great. And the delays are good. The drive pedals are alright too. The whammy is a standout.
It's best to think of the amps as not being models per say, but just really good sounding caracatures of their real world counterparts. I have played a lot of the amps in real life, and while I can't say the models are very close, they still sound good in their own right. Really, they do. They have a studio sound to them that makes them sound a lot cleaner and processed than a raw amp, but I say this in a good way.
OVERALL OPINION
For the price, there's some great sounds in here. And it will likely fit your setup whatever it is. It might be worth getting 2 of them though because the effects run out quickly in terms of what you can do with them. I have tried also the Eleven Rack and Axe-fx and this unit can't quite keep up with them, but for the price it's still worth looking at. I will say this, I have a lot of preamps and units that are more expensive than the 1101 by far, and even though I sold it a year ago, I kind of miss it. That should say a lot.
UTILIZATION
I used it along with a VHT 2/90/2 and an Orange 4x12 for a while. Sometimes it was my lone unit and other times I paired it with a tube preamp or two. You won't find a tone of deep menus in the 1101. Most of the effects are based on pedals and real world amps, so there aren't massive amounts of settings to tweak like some rack preamp/effects units. I remember the old Digitech GSP's offered some deep menus and powerful functions if you were willing to read the manual, but the 1101 offers a simpler approach by modeling units that are already simple themselves. There are however a lot of different options for connections which affect how it will sound in the end. Some people will use this in the rack of their amp head while others will use it as a straight up preamp. Fortunately all these connections are made easy but a setup wizard which I must admit is very nicely done by digitech. The editing is also pretty simple. Unfortunately I was left wanting to dig deeper into my sounds but Digitech's simple layout doesn't allow that much.
SOUND QUALITY
While you are limited with your options in how exotic you can get with effects, the sounds are good. The effects sound good, although sometimes feel a bit goofy. Especially the mod stuff. The reverbs are great. And the delays are good. The drive pedals are alright too. The whammy is a standout.
It's best to think of the amps as not being models per say, but just really good sounding caracatures of their real world counterparts. I have played a lot of the amps in real life, and while I can't say the models are very close, they still sound good in their own right. Really, they do. They have a studio sound to them that makes them sound a lot cleaner and processed than a raw amp, but I say this in a good way.
OVERALL OPINION
For the price, there's some great sounds in here. And it will likely fit your setup whatever it is. It might be worth getting 2 of them though because the effects run out quickly in terms of what you can do with them. I have tried also the Eleven Rack and Axe-fx and this unit can't quite keep up with them, but for the price it's still worth looking at. I will say this, I have a lot of preamps and units that are more expensive than the 1101 by far, and even though I sold it a year ago, I kind of miss it. That should say a lot.