[Chris]

I don't like the interface of the 2112/2120 nearly as much as the 2101. I had Steve's 2120 at my house for about 2-3 weeks, and really tried to like it - the 2101 just blows it away.

[Scott]

Well I never used a 2101 before, but yeah. The 2112/2120 interface is crap.

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by Chris

The 2101 and the 21 are night and day. I had a 21, and I liked it, but comparin' the 21 and 2101 is like Ferraris to Toyotas. I the 2101.

What's different other than the obvious addition of the tube preamp?

[777]

dont hateme for saying his but is all that rack gear really nesessary i mean how could you possibly need all that for a good tone?????

ill learn someday and yes i ahve seen john petruccis ego rig :O

[Chris]

Originally Posted by technomancer

What's different other than the obvious addition of the tube preamp?

They're completely different. The 2101 is S-Disc, the 21 isn't. The only thing in common between the two is that they have "21" in the name. It's like comparing an Eventide to a Pod.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by 777

dont hateme for saying his but is all that rack gear really nesessary i mean how could you possibly need all that for a good tone?????

ill learn someday and yes i ahve seen john petruccis ego rig :O

The 2101 is 2U, my power amp is 2U, my outboard compressor is 1U, and I have a few doodads thrown in like a 1U tuner and a Quadraverb that I use for acoustic reverbs.

I like the outboard compressor better than the one built into the 2101, mostly because I can fuck with it on the fly. I like the Quadraverb for the reverbs I use it for when playing acoustic.

Some people are perfectly happy with a head and some knobs. I like to fiddle. I'm not doggin' on the guys that use Rectos, etc (or any standard unit), but nobody sounds like me, and I like that.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by 777

dont hateme for saying his but is all that rack gear really nesessary i mean how could you possibly need all that for a good tone?????

ill learn someday and yes i ahve seen john petruccis ego rig :O

You don't, son. All you need is a good guitar, a Mesa Nomad, and a delay pedal.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Scott

Well I never used a 2101 before, but yeah. The 2112/2120 interface is crap.

It's just way overboard compared to the 2101, which is still complex as hell and takes a lot of reading to use. Digital units are like that, you can control every aspect of every effect. On my noise gate alone, I can control the attack, release, hysteresis, hold time, delay time, db level and overall gate threshold. That's one effect, and I can chain them on the fly in the signal path where I think they sound the best.

So instead of having "distortion and delay", I can have:

distortion -> delay -> compressor -> reverb

or

distortion -> reverb -> delay -> compression

etc, etc, with any effects, and have complete control as to where they are in the signal path.

Additionally, since I have the Artist model, it has two processors in it (S-Disc), so I have 100% seamless program changes between patches, regardles of how many effects are in the algorythm. So if I'm holding a note, and I switch from an effect-laden solo patch to a plain dirty distortion, there is NO drop at all between the changes. I can also do things like auto-fade/swell in and out between program changes, and set the rate on that as well.

Again nobody needs it all, and people get great tones with simpler setups. I love my tone though, and I'm yet to hear someone that sounds like me, and a lot of that has to do with me having an extremely complex preamp for 8-9 years now, and dialing it in as I go.

/novel

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Drew

You don't, son. All you need is a good guitar, a Mesa Nomad, and a delay pedal.

Case in point about tone being subjective.

Drew hates my tone, I hate his.

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by Chris

They're completely different. The 2101 is S-Disc, the 21 isn't. The only thing in common between the two is that they have "21" in the name. It's like comparing an Eventide to a Pod.

Ahhh ok, I thought the S-Disc came in with the next model...