DIGITECH® TURNS 20

— Famed signal processing developer marks its two-decade anniversary with new generation of signal processors that combine advanced technology and classic tones —

NAMM WINTER SESSION, ANAHEIM, CA, January 20, 2005 — This year marks the 20th anniversary of DigiTech®, one of the industry’s leading developers of signal processing pedals and a Harman International company (NYSE-HAR). This milestone is marked by the release of DigiTech’s next generation of signal processing products, which combine the best of new technology with vintage sounds. Winter NAMM debuts include the Jimi Hendrix Experience™ and Eric Clapton Crossroads™ Artist Series Pedals, DF-7 Distortion Factory™ and GNX2000 Guitar Workstation™. Building on a history that now spans two decades of innovation and a keen sense of what the guitar signal processing market needs and wants, DigiTech moves full-speed into the future, continuing to provide guitarists with cutting-edge creative tools.

DigiTech was created as an offshoot brand by John Johnson and David DiFrancesco, who founded DOD Electronics in 1974, bringing DiFrancesco’s talent with electronics, honed in the repair department of a Salt Lake City music store, together with Johnson’s knack for business and his degree in Marketing and Music. From the very beginning, DigiTech was a company with its ear close to the pulse of music and technological innovation. The first operations were held in a basement, and later a garage, in Salt Lake City. In 1987, DigiTech brought out the DSP128 multi-effects processor, which allowed the use of three effects at once and was supported with an aggressive advertising campaign, “Three At A Time For $399.” The DSP128 was the first multi-effects processor and received critical acclaim from end users and journalists alike. DigiTech also marketed the IPS33, the first commercially successful intelligent harmonizer that produced three-part harmonies for musical instruments. It was then followed by the Vocalist, which produced up to five-part harmonies in a desktop chassis and became a massive seller for the company. In 1990, the world was treated to the invention of the Whammy® Pedal, a pitch shifting pedal which continues to influenced guitar players and has become one of the most sought-after pedals in the vintage market.

The DigiTech RP-1 was the first self-contained multi-effects preamp/processor and introduced a trend for those types of products. The RP-1 literally began the “hands-free era” of guitar processors and the RP-1 ad, “Do It On The Floor,” firmly supported that position. DigiTech engineers then developed the SDISC, a studio-quality 24-bit signal processing chip. Paired with TSR24, it resulted in its most advanced multi-effects processor to date. DigiTech utilized the TSR24 platform with an all-tube front end, creating one of the best preamp/processors ever invented, the GSP2101. Internationally popular and recognized by guitarists around the world, the GSP2101’s memorable ad headline, “Chrome de la Chrome,” said it all. In 1993, DigiTech moved to a new manufacturing and R&D center, on Sandy Parkway, in Salt Lake City. There, SDISC technology powered a new generation of guitar processors, including the TSR12, TSR16, DHP55, DHP33, Vocalist II, RP10, Legend II, Valve FX and others. As the millennium was about to turn, DigiTech delivered yet another generation of great products, including the RP2000, Whammy4 and Johnson J-Station, which utilized amp modeling and offered studio-quality effects using DigiTech’s revolutionary new AudioDNA™ chip. Ongoing strategic innovation integrated DigiTech’s prowess in signal processing with digital recording capability, such as with the award-winning GNX Series, supplying multi-track recording and advanced DSP in a single package.

Today, DigiTech is poised to release its most ambitious generation of guitar signal processing products yet. Employing its proprietary Production Modeling™ — a critically acclaimed technology that was explicitly designed to help reproduce the studio and live sounds as well as the detailed effects of an artist’s sound, as heard on their recordings — DigiTech has created two new Artist Series Pedals. The Jimi Hendrix Experience effects pedal was developed in a joint effort with Eddie Kramer, the legendary recording engineer and producer who captured Hendrix’s amazing talent on record. It will be launched in conjunction with the Crossroads™ pedal, which is the result of working with Eric Clapton and his long-time guitar technician Lee Dickson. The GNX2000 Guitar Workstation, a full-featured, multi-modeling digital effects processor that provides key features for both live and studio applications, also joins the DigiTech line, in addition to the new DF-7 Distortion Factory pedal, featuring models of seven of the all-time greatest distortion and overdrive stompboxes.

DigiTech will continue pioneering new technologies to give guitarists the tools they need to realize the full force of their creativity.


posted on April 21, 2005