How noisy is the Digitech BP8?

[tbassist4]

I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Digitech BP8, except that every once in a while someone says that it's "too noisy for recording." Is this true?

I was hoping I could grab one and use it as a tube preamp and compressor to get a better bass sound going into my Digidesign 003 Rack. I can snag one from a local store for $65, but I don't think I could use it at all if the noise is very loud all the time...

[bassbrad]

I use mine for recording all the time with great results, no issues with noise. Now I don't use a lot of gain or boosted highs and have an ultra clean signal chain. The compressor is one I really like and the tube pre sounds are very nice as are all the other effects.

[CopperheadLXXIX]

I find it to be reasonably quiet as well.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

I use mine for recording all the time with great results, no issues with noise. Now I don't use a lot of gain or boosted highs and have an ultra clean signal chain. The compressor is one I really like and the tube pre sounds are very nice as are all the other effects.

Originally Posted by CopperheadLXXIX

I find it to be reasonably quiet as well.

Thanks guys! Glad to hear that it runs pretty quiet. I'm pretty excited to try dialing in some nice warm tube tones. It'll probably make a world of difference over these Focusrite pres onboard my 003... The effects are icing on the cake.

[bassbrad]

FWIW I have even used the BP8 as an effect for mixing because the Delays and Reverbs are so good and the Auto Pan is a cool mix effects as well.

[tbassist4]

Well, I grabbed one of these from a local pawnshop and unfortunately, it went back within two hours. I really wanted to love it, but I'm pretty sure this particular one was defective. Here's how everything went:

I was truly digging the sounds, and the tube preamp really did sound very good. I did a factory reset and started to go through the built in patches. Just about everything sounded very good. Then I remembered something - my amp is pretty clanky, so usually I have the highs and high mids almost all the way down. I turned everything to noon so that I could try the BP8's EQ and...HISSSSSS. Even in bypass mode. I tried a few different basses and cables both clean and through the unit, and it was definitely the BP8. However, the hiss "followed" the LED blinking (meaning it hissed louder with the LED lit, and quieter without). This is what leads me to believe it was defective. There was definitely some bleed of the power section into the signal path or something to that effect. Really too bad. I hope to find one that works eventually, but I'll be very skeptical buying one for more than $50 or so...

Some general thoughts with the hiss aside:
- The pre's made my sub-par Crate BT220 sound really great, especially the tube-based ones. This is the thing I'll miss most about the pedal.

- The compressor was great, as I expected.

- The envelope filters, wah, chorus, reverb, and distortion were all excellent as well. You can get some very cool classic tones, as well as full out synthy sounds. People were talking about limitations in combinations of effects - but unless you plan on stacking a bunch of very similar effects, you'll be just fine. There's a lot of flexibility and potential here.

- However, whammy, octave, 5th, and any other pitch bending patches that synthesized an extra note had a very noticeable delay. They did track alright, but I had to play closer to the neck to get everything to track well (more fundamental made it easy for the processor?). Overall, they weren't very usable; the built in octaver on my Crate has much less delay and actually tracks a little better. Unfortunately, the Crate's octaver isn't all that great to begin with either.


Overall this pedal is very good, but has some serious drawbacks. If this is truly just a defective one, I'd definitely give it another shot. I'd consider it a very worthwhile buy for the pre's, compressor, and EQ alone if the noise truly is a fluke...

[Fitz]

I have an RP200A that is from the same family of processors. It is also incredibly noisy. I've owned mine since new. It's really fun to play with, but it mostly sits in the box ticked away nowadays.

[alec]

tbassist4, I think yours was on the blink. My BP8 is noisy sometimes but certainly not bypassed (tho I can't verify that as my power unit is dead but getting replaced). And my lights have no effect on the noise.
Some preamps have a lot of hiss - I wouldn't record with them. I've heard people say you cure that by putting the BP8 in your effects loop. That would be great for the other effects but the preamps and distortion lose their usefulness, which is a main strength of the unit.

The rest of your assessment is spot on. The lag in time pitch shifting makes that unuseable for me.

[bassbrad]

Pawn shop does not equal "local Store" in my mind so 'm not suprised you had an issue. The BP8 can be noisy if you have the input and outputs out of balance or overpowering the input on an amp or sound board, but in that sweet spot it's hard to beat.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

Pawn shop does not equal "local Store" in my mind so 'm not suprised you had an issue. The BP8 can be noisy if you have the input and outputs out of balance or overpowering the input on an amp or sound board, but in that sweet spot it's hard to beat.

If the input and output were out of balance, would it still make noise even without a signal? That one just hissed whether I was playing or not. I'm just asking because if this is user error (which I'd humbly argue it wasn't since I set levels to avoid distortion) then I might want to go try my luck again. They're selling it as-is for $30 now.

[bassbrad]

I dunno about giving that unit another shot but if you come across another BP8 give it a try. You would want to keep the input where you just occasionally get the clip light and the output at a medium level into your amp or input. FWIW recording can be very challenging getting all the gain stages working together.