Review: Digitech XP-300 Space Station
/The moment you've all been waiting for is here! Nick Reinhart and Pedals And Effects takes an in-depth look at the rare and highly coveted Digitech XP-300 Space Station.
Photo credit: c-nelson.com
A little history: Made in the early 90's, the Digitech Space Station was a part of Digitech's experimental Xpression series. Coming off the success of the WH-1 Whammy, Digitech decided to develop similar expression pedal based effects. There was a total of four, the XP-100 Whammy/Wah, the XP-200 Modulator, the XP-300 Space Station, and the XP-400 Reverberator. Each pedal in the Xpression series had an extensive amount of different and unique sounds to choose from. (Specific to each: 30 for the Wah, 35 for the Modulator, 40 for the Space Station, and 50 for the Reverb. The list of sounds/presets were printed on the bottom of each pedal.) But above and beyond the most unique and most sonically out there of the series - was the Space Station. The Space Station has become incredibly rare and expensive, however, there are other means of having your very own Space Station.
Under the hood all of the pedals in the Xpression series are identical components except for a single chip. Pop open the pedal and insert the right chip (solder a few things) and boom, instant Space Station. Nick's Space Station is a former Digitech XP-200 Modulator and mine is the XP-400 Reverb both modded to be Space Stations - additionally, Josh Klinghoffer (RHCP) was kind of enough to lend us his OG Space Station for our review. Nick also mentioned something called the "Jetpack mod" (also known as the XP-All) which mods your pedal to feature every single pedal in one. A 4-in-1 mod! (Note: The XP-100 CANNOT be modded into a Space Station.) In our review we A/B the pedals, let us know if your ears can pick up any difference!
The Space Station features 40 different and incredibly unique presets, ranging from synths, ring mods, octave swells, reverse playback and the appropriately named "Alien" settings. You can't edit the presets themselves, but you can store 6 of your favorite settings for easy live access. The Space Station was so ahead of it's time, with sounds that predate even the "Magic" setting of the Earthquaker Devices Rainbow Machine. There's synth drops, arpeggiators, string sections, a ring mod, and even a sort of bit crusher to get those pixel-y video game sounds. It's crazy to think how forward thinking the design of the Space Station was. Nowadays, if you combo the right amount of octave, and modulation pedals you can achieve just one sound that the Space Station could do all by itself, in one setting, twenty years ago. As weird as the Space Station can get, with all it's experimental sounds, each and every preset is incredibly musical. Whether you're into film scoring, atmospheric ambience, and general overall weirdness, the Space Station is super flexible. This is a pedal that needs to be heard to be believed. Check out the Pedals And Effects review below:
There is a petition out there (with 473 signatures!) to get Digitech to reissue the pedal. Digitech is an awesome company, and head honcho Tom Cram is one of the most resourceful dudes out there when it comes to effects. They reissued a lot of classic DOD pedals and more - But like Nick says, if the demand is there, you gotta show your support and actually buy them! In the meanwhile, be sure to keep an eye on Reverb.com for the Digitech Space Station.
