The DigiTech GSP-2101 came with various front
panel colors and screen printing. The early ones had black panels with the
words "GSP 2101 Studio / Tube". The Limited Edition models came with
exotic colored front panels. Unfortunately, the exotic colors tend to
flake off. Finally, the Artist came with a black panel.
Essentially, when you compare different models,
you should disregard what it says on the front panel and focus on three aspects
of the internals - EPROM version, clock speed, and whether or not the
optional PPC-210 is installed.
The latest EPROM version is 3.00.00 and it's well
worth the investment to upgrade an earlier EPROM version to version
3.00.00. Early 2101s have a 10MHz clock and later models have a 20MHz
clock. You can tell if your 2101 has a 20MHz clock if the lower-case "a"
appears after the EPROM version number during power up. For example,
3.00.00.a indicates you have both the latest EPROM and the 20 MHz clock
installed.
The PPC-210 board provides a second SDISC
processor which allows more complex algorithms and seamless program
changes. If your 2101 doesn't have one of these, you can occasionally buy
them on eBay for a premium.
How Many Factory Programs Does Your 2101
Have?
All GSP-2101s have 100 user programs. The
number of factory programs depends on the EPROM (software) version and whether
or not your GSP-2101 has a PPC-210 co-processor board installed. Heres a
table of total programs (user + factory) versus software version and PPC-210
installed:
EPROM Version: Pre-V 3.0.0 Version 3.00.00
No PPC-210 installed 200 240
PPC-210 installed 215 255
If youre ever thinking about buying a second-hand GSP-2101 from someone, ask them to fire up their GSP-2101, use the DATA wheel to dial up program 1, and then press the Program Down button one time.
The program number now on their GSP-2101 display
should be one of the values in the above table. This value tells you if
they have the latest EPROM (software) version 3.00.00 and whether or not a
PPC-210 board is installed.