Two patches converted from the Digitech GSP-2101

Thanks for posting these, and I'll be sure to check out any new ones you hopefully find time for. My Axe-Fx hasn't yet arrived so I can't test them, but I just checked them out on my 2101. I probably won't be using the "Curiosity?" one, haha; but it's cool that you were able to reproduce it.

It's taken a long time for the 2101 to be defeated ;)
 
Actually, if you sit down and play wit curiosity, it can be really fun to play with. I know it seems weird when you just casually check it, but give it a chance. Sit in a quiet room and do some bends and slides with it. It's really pretty sweet. (My Axe version that is. It's really close to the 2101's, but I found that the Axe one actually sounds better and is easier to play with.)

Man, I loved my 2101, and I still do. I still have it sitting on top of my rack in its own 2 space rack and I have it patched through the Axe. Here's what you do...

1. Run the FX output from FX output 2 Left on the Axe to the rear input on the 2101.

2. Press the I/O menu button on the front of the Axe, go to the Audio tab and set Copy output 1 to output 2 to On.

3. Run the normal left / right outputs from the 2101 to the left / right FX 2 returns on the Axe.

4. In the patch you're working on, go down to say the third row and stick in an FX Loop block on the first block and shunt it all the way to the output. Then on rows 1 and 2 (or usually just 2), build Your preset you're trying to copy, and set your first block's bypass mode to Mute. Set the FX block's bypass mode to Mute as well.

5. Adjust your input and output levels for 2 on the front knobs of the axe and set your 2101 output to noon. You may have to adjust the master volume in the 2101 on some presets as well.

Ok, now, if you were able to follow all that (I know it probably sounds confusing now, but once you get into the Axe it'll all make sense), what you've done is to set yourself up the ability to quicky A/B compare the 2101's patch with the patch you're working on in the Axe. Bypass the FX block and enable your first block in the Axe patch you're working on, and you're getting the Axe sound. Bypass the first block in the patch you're working on and enable the FX block, and you're listening to the 2101. It creates a very easy way to switch back and forth between the two so you can A/B compare easily and work toward the tones you're looking for.

Also, though there may be others, and you can try them all, I think the Recto Orange amp sim is probably the closest to the 2101's Saturated Tube distortion. There may be others that are closer, but that's usually my go to one for my first attempts at copying a sound.

Hope that helps man. Yeah, it took like 16 years to find something that could replace my good ol' 2101. I tried the 1101 they came out with but absolutely hated it, and Digitech as a company treats its customers like crap, lies to people about updates, etc.... The 2101 walks all over the 1101. I finally decided to sell off my two back-up 2101's, my 1101, my drum kit and my Art Pro VLA-II compressor to get an Axe-Ultra. Best move I ever made. If you're like me, you'll have a hard time actually pulling yourself away from the 2101 at first, but the more you get into the Axe and the more familiar you get with how to dial in your tones, the easier it'll be to let go. Like I said though, I still have it connected up through the Axe. It's a great backup for it and sometimes...you just want that particular tone it has. Hell, if you really wanted, you could run it the way I described above to use the 2101 distortion and then build your effects after the FX block instead of above it, so your 2101 sound is the first thing in the patch chain. It's totally flexible, and I don't think you'll for one second regret getting your Axe.

Hope you enjoy it when it comes, and that UPS doesn't destroy it before it gets there, which has been known to happen. :p
 
Interesting idea, thanks! I'll definitely be using that setup for comparing tones.

Orange amp, eh? What about the 2101's "Distorted Tube" distortion? That's the one I use along with an overdrive pedal.
 
I didn't use the Distorted tube too often. I usually used Saturated. I'm guessing though that for Distorted, you could try the Recto Red model. If that's not close enough, there's a Recto New, or you could just explore all of them until you find something you like. The Recto Red is less saturated and high gain than the orange and would probably work nicely for that. For me anyway, it seems like the difference between Saturated and Distorted in the 2101. Again, you can go through all the amps to see what they all sound like, but that'd be my recommendation for a starting point.
 
Ok I just A/B'd the 2101 and the Axe. Recto Red is definitely the amp sim you want to duplicate distorted tube. I was able to duplicate the tone exactly using it between the 2101 and the Axe. Set the presence in the advanced settings of the amp sim to active and then adjust your presence and the EQ. I have the drive in the sim set to 7.01 and that equates super close to a gain of 9.0 | 9.0 on the 2101.

Here's the settings I used:

Amp Sim: Recto Red
Drive: 7.01
Presence: 2.28
Depth: 0
Damp: 0
Sag: 4.02
Master: 5.0
Level: 0

Advanced Settings:

Bright Cap: 1.0
Presence: Active
Warmth: 5
Thump: 5

Adjust EQ dials to taste.

I might have forgotten some stuff, but you can play around with it. It'll get you real close. Add an EQ block after the amp sim for fine tuning of your sound and once you have the basic tone, you can add the drive block in in front of the amp sim block and you should be able to dial yourself in to a pretty much identical sound, if not even a little better,.

Hope that helps man. :)
 
I just got done converting the Band of Jeeps preset as well. That one uses Grunge distortion in the 2101. I ended up using FAS Modern along with a FET Boost drive block to re-create the tone. It was a hell of a lot of tweaking though. Since the amp models are all tube amps and that grunge distortion is solid state, I had to combo it with the drive block to get the right sound. There aren't any amp sims that could re-create that alone with just some EQ tweaking. It's not exact tone-wise, but it's super close. I'll post that one next time I have the Axe in here in the computer room. The patch also uses a mono delay and a quad chorus that took a lot of time tweaking to get it to sound basically the same.

It's tons of work, but honestly, I find it quite fun converting these patches over. If you have any 2101 patches you'd like help converting let me know and I'll see what I can do.
 
Awesome man! Thanks a TON!! It's all dialled into Axe-Edit and ready for testing when my unit arrives (hopefully tomorrow)

And cool, "Band of Jeeps" was a pretty good one. My favourites have always been "Airgulls", "Lead On Me" and "Warm Sweet Solo". Just personal preference. Not implying that you should reproduce those— but if you were going to anyway... :cool:
 
Ok I got Airgulls done too. I was mistaken about which amp sim I used for the Grunge distortion. I ended up using the Big Hair amp sim in the Axe plus the drive block for that. I used that same combo for Airgulls that I used for Band of Jeeps. I'll try to get my Axe in here sometime tomorrow and I'll upload them on this post.
 
Axe-Fx arrived today and I'm impressed by the sounds its presets have. Unfortunately, I can't yet get my USB MIDI interface working with the Axe-Fx to transfer your patches (and mine).

I've started dialling in basic tone, though. I put in your 2101 "Distorted Tube" settings with my gain/eq settings and it sounds ~90% the same. I think I just gotta tweak the eq a bit. However, putting my MXR Wylde Overdrive in front like I did with the 2101 did not produce the same results; the Axe-Fx becomes muddy, static and almost lower volume. I realize they're not the same preamps, but I'm not quite sure what to do.
 
Awesome congrats man!

You can open my patches in Axe Edit and go through all the settings on each module to enter them manually into your unit, unless you're planning on getting a new midi interface soon.

Hope you're enjoying the new unit! :D
 
Yeah, I'm enjoying it, but I really gotta get my tone in there. But am held back from doing so atm cuz of my MIDI interface, and it's makin' me mad, heheh. If you happen to have the same one, please check out the post: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19229
 
I have a UM-2G and it works great. Go into the Axe Edit settings, drop down both midi input and midi output and make sure they're UM-1G, Midi channel is set to 1 and Sysex ID is 125. Now go into your Axe-Fx's I/O menu, tab over to the Midi settings and make sure the midi channel is set to 1 and the Sysex ID is set to 125. Then just make sure your cables are going to the right connections on the midi interface and Axe, and also see if you can verify that both cables are in good working condition. Sometimes it's just a bad cable and ends up being the last thing you think to check.

Once it's all done and working you can click test at the bottom of the setup menu and it should say there's an Axe on Midi channel one and Sysex 125.

Then you close that and go over to the source button in Axe Edit and select the Axe as the source and sync it with the editor or load each program individually as you work on them. You can also set the source to preset folder so you can load up patches to put into your Axe with the patch manager, or just work with patches without the Axe connected.

Hope that helps. I don't have a mac, but it works fine on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit PC. It should work perfectly fine in XP too if you tried it on there. Since it didn't, I'm thinking settings or cables are the issue, not midi drivers in the comp.

Good luck!
 
Jeez, I dunno what to tell you then man. Without actually being able to sit down and look at it, I can't really think of anything else. Keep at it. It's probably something small and stupid that'll make you do a facepalm when you figure it out. :)
 
For sure. This kinda crap happens all the time and that retarded feeling that follows never ceases to pop up :lol:

And hey.. I nailed my tone! I set the bright cap as low as it'd go and that's it; "Distorted Tube"! Kicked on the overdrive and there's my metal tone. Only problem is I'm getting some clipping even with the overdrive bypassed. Everything's at 0db, so I got no idea what's causing it
 
You can take it below 0db on the level in the amp to get that clipping down, or you can lower the master level by going to the layout view and paging all the way over to the mix tab.

Have you set your input level knob properly? That's important as well.

Congrats on nailing down your tone! Now you can try my patches when you get your midi working and it'll feel more like the 2101 all the time. :D
 
Heheh, yeah

And hmm, why would things clip if it's all at 0db, though?

And yup, the knob's set to right before redline
 
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