Yep. Normally I'd say it's personal preference but when the pedal comes with specific instructions... That said it's probably the worst signature pedal I've heard
@@frappachinose4200 Advertising in youtube comments is quite possibly the lowest form of advertising a person could do. So check out my channel on why this is bad
@@thomasfowler2140 if you're going to make a native ad on RUclips you should try harder. And you can use the skills I used in the SkillShare Native Advertising course to create ads that people won't even realize are ads until it's too late!
@@frappachinose4200 1st thing I think is "I make surf rock" is a goofy sounding statement. Musicians say "play surf rock" or "write surf rock." Average listeners who know nothing about music would say "make surf rock."
90% of the comments are about Fluff's clean tone actually being overdrive 10% of the rest are us just trying not to comment on Fluff's overdrive clean tone
FFS fluff you know better than this. It's a Clapton pedal so playing a downtuned humbucker guitar in the driven rock amp is hardly giving it a fair shot
I wouldn't call your clean tone clean lol. I bought this a few years ago just to see if the reviews were correct and the acoustic sim was a cool sound. Needless to say I got rid of it shortly after. While the acoustic sim sounds kinda cool it doesn't actually sound like an acoustic.
Cross out Crossroads and write "Boston" over the top. Those tones remind me of Tom Scholz's mid-rich and frequency filtered sound. The swirly effect would sound good on the refrain in "Don't Look Back."
I don't think this pedal was meant to be versatile, it's meant to give you something specific. Whether it accomplishes what it was designed for I can't tell since you pretty much ignored it's purpose. I would definitely say it doesn't fit in your style, but using a single coil Strat and an actual clean amp would have made for a more honest review.
I bought one of these when they first came out and while I agree that this particular demo isn't really useful, it also isn't a very good pedal at all. I used it exactly as you specified (clean amp, single coil stratocaster, etc) and it just sounded really terrible. There really wasn't a good setting to be found. The big problem with this pedal is that it was trying to put a lot of very different sounds into one pedal well before the point where technology really would allow that to work. It was a marketing gimmick and not much else.
Actually, it was made to be played 2 different ways: (1) through a TRULY clean amp..of any kind..doesn't matter, as long as your clean tone doesn't sound like AC/DC's dirty tone lol. But, that's when running from the "amp" out. (2) When playing through any amps that aren't truly clean, you need to run it from the "mixer" out. The reason for that is this pedal seriously battles with the amp for tone and levels. When you run from the mixer out, it expects to be going to a clean board/mixer. It will completely bypass the amp's tone. The reason this pedal got such bad reviews is cause way too many musicians have no clue how to use pedals with multiple in and out jacks.
Okay, I think that maybe playing heavy stuff may have "altered" your definition of "clean sound" at 2:33 : the sound is already overdriven, so , starting with a "wrong" sound basis, maybe you could not ear the full potential of this pedal. I mainly play BLUES stuff, on a stratocaster and I own this pedal and play it through a little Fender Champ, with a CLEAN basis, and I have very good results.
Glad I found this video! Always thought his demos were decent but I had this pedal years ago and it’s pretty decent, if you use it correctly! Put any drive into it and it’ll kill everything. Also helps if you play the songs that the tones match. Seem’s like this dude hasn’t got a clue, wont bother with him again.
Thank you, Yosser....finally a decent writeup...!! I have two of these. I don't know how this guy can screw up a pedal this badly. Even through the custom '58 Champ I built, with an 8" speaker, it sounds nothing like this mess. These pedals give a decent place to start for a Clapton sound. A 12" speaker helps because that's what Eric usually uses. Turn the amplifier's distortion OFF. You cannot get a chimy, Leslie sound from Badge with a crappy solid state amp set for distortion. I've used my Champ, one knob amp for Leila, because that is what he used. And don't forget, Eric plays like Eric, and most of us don't. Most likely you cannot make everyything you play sound like any of Clapton's albums by stepping on one pedal. As they say, improper guitarist, not the pedal's fault. Nyms herself.
Fluff, I believe you need to get your hearing checked. All of those tones had different timbre. Also your amp was overdriven to start with. Clean tone was about the same as ac/dc's "Aint no fun waitin' 'round to be a millionaire"
due to people who have no ears and guitarists who believe they have to throw 200+$ for a pedal, that is why it have that reputation Truth is that lil Gem is used by couple of world class players. But hey don't care about the prices nor hype BS.
It´s not bad. When I was a kid my country was occupied by soviets the electronics and instruments were hard to come by even until many years after the fall of soviet union. You could buy stuff but they were from weird companys you never heard of. These were the worst of the worst sounding hardware you could imagine, and people made music with it. Back then if i had a pedal like this I would probably have the best pedal in town.
Wouldn't you think a reviewer of the "Crossroads" pedal might take the time and learn to play some riffs from "Sunshine of Your Love", "Badge", and "Crossroads" by Cream? IS THIS THE WORST PEDAL REVIEW EVER?
So I'm guessing pedal just has a characteristic distortion sound, with the "model" knob being different EQ curves, with some added effects depending on the model? Actually doesn't sound half bad. And let's face it, the MZ being a best-seller, so there's no reason for this pedal to be hated
Don't guess the pedal's tones from this guy's horrible review on his "AC/DC sounding clean tone." lol Model 1 = 60s Fuzz Model 2 = 60s Fuzz with added Reverb and added mids Model 3 = OD with a Rotary effect Model 4 = an amp modeller to mimic Clapton's Fender Champ Tweed combo Model 5 = a clucky clean tone with a tad gain, for a little extra bite Model 6 = acoustic simulator with reverb Model 7 = a smooth bluesy type tone, light gain This guy also ran it through the "amp" out into a seriously gainy amp. To use to amp out, you need to run through a clean amp. When running to a not-so clean amp, you should run from the "mixer" out, so the pedal will not battle the amp's tone.
We can agree it's not a great pedal but all the tones sound the same because of the amp or the guitar I have done a review of this pedal and the tones avery very different, why it is not liked is because it is harsh and the tones themselves just don't capture the tones they were meant to capture.
the problem comes with your signal: : your clean tone is like a crunch too so before the pedals, the signal- the guitar, the cable first ! but it's a bad pedal too the problem is you can't play like Clapton you should try with a strat and with an amp first but i had it and it sounded very bad ! Sorry Digitech but at this time you were not at the top for some years, you have created great true bypass pedals ! fréquence out etc.
Hey Fluff, use output 2 and go straight into your interface. It will reproduce Clapton's studio tone. Please redo this pedal! Don't think you represented this pedal very accurately. But, I love your videos and keep them coming!
I never used this pedal and am genially interested in its noises, but agree with the other comments that your clean tone wasn’t particularly clean. It would be nice to revisit it on a cleaner channel. Maybe even just run it into your twonotes studio for ultimate clean But either way, the pedal wasn’t the worst.... which begs the questions. What is? Will the search go on?
"...so I believe control 1 is the gain and control 2 is the tone. I think that´s basically how it goes for all of it..." This guy obviously didn´t read the manual.
It sounds pretty cool, but testing any of Clapton's signature gear on a guitar different than LP for Cream and Stratocaster for later things is a blasphemy
Love your videos but you have GOT to change your definition of “CLEAN TONE”. Billie Joe has a cleaner distortion than that nowadays! Please clean up your tone!
Yet, they were also ahead of the curve and came up with pedals that were predating a bunch of crazy boutique pedals, like the gonkulator and the space station
Not that good of a pedal, but the worst ever? Nah. Take at look at the Danelectro Grilled Cheese. That is DEFINITELY a contestant to worst pedal of all time.
I was thinking the same thing. I picked one up at a thrift store for a few bucks and, well, wasted a few bucks. It's almost good (or at least interesting), but the lack of a gain control makes it kind of useless.
Back in the day my best friend who had a music store was given six if these from the DigiTech rep because he order so much other DigiTech stuff. He gave me one and while 1-6 were bland to awful #7 Reptile tone was really usable with a Strat loaded with singlecoils. I took it to a couple blues jams and got a pretty good tone.
FFS I said this is MY clean tone. I didnt say YOUR IDEAL clean tone, the greatest clean tone ever, or hey here is my Roland Jazz Chorus. Do you think those cranked up Marshalls Clapton played were totally clean? What about the 2002 Crate combo most of these were being plugged into? DAYUM.
If the pedal's supposed to emulate his tone into a clean amp on a budget, then it's going to be emulating that cranked marshall sound. You're running it through two gain stages when it's supposed to be an all in one, no wonder some of those settings such as flange sound like total shit.
That pedal was a pure gimmick. The list price was like $150 USD in 2005. It was an album promo, referenced his greatest hits, and did the whole Crossroads rehab charity thing. Look up how many times he’s used “Crossroads” in something’s name.
OK...I have one of these. I picked it up on eBay for about $40 about 2009 or so. Off the top, this pedal is VERY amp dependent as to whether it sounds good or not. I found out rather quickly that it would take a substantial amount of time to dial in decent tones but not more than I was willing to spend with it. I've used it when layering guitars over the years but never as a primary drive. For what I spent on it, it was a worth it. A 'novelty' pedal is the perfect descriptor.
Hi Fluff...thank you for demoing the pedal. The presets cover most of Clapton’s career during which he was playing primarily an SG and an ES-335 and by the time his solo career started he had switched to a Strat. His acoustic choices were pretty sparse as he’s seems to grab a small bodied Martin. I’m not surprised that the pedal’s electric guitar tones are nuances of the same tone. If one listens to Clapton’s recordings from Cream and going forward to the times in his career that this pedal covers, his core tone has not really changed too much. Even when he went from double humbucker guitars to to single coil Strats (whether equipped with traditional single coils or Lace Sensors), he essentially just upped the amount of gain that he used out of his Marshalls, or other amps that he has dabbled with, to compensate for the lower output of the single coils. Stylistically, his OD vs clean tones are the result of where he has the volume control on his guitar parked. Regardless of the guitar he’s played, he tends to favor the front pickup most of the time, using the guitar’s tone control also as a tone modifying option. To me it makes sense that the stomp box’s tone settings are very similar as Clapton sets his amp in his own personal home point and then gets what he needs from his guitar. It’s apparent that the designers were well aware of this and created the pedal accordingly. The acoustic setting can be made more convincing by using a Strat with more vintagey single coils or the Gold Lace Sensors. It’s still not the best acoustic emulator out there, but it is dependent on having a particular style electric guitar and pickups. Truthfully I could make the pedal work for me because that core tone is not a bad tone and will give up the goods if one understands the how and why behind its creation.
So I owned this pedal and I really have to say that you are giving the designers a lot more credit than they really deserve. This wasn't some clever boutique pedal or even something that a lot of thought was put into. It was just Digitech throwing a few basic gain sounds with very different EQ settings in alongside a basic (and rather poor) rotary sound, and a pretty rough sounding acoustic simulator effect. It was all the kind of stuff you would expect from a entry level multi-effects pedal and sounded accordingly. This pedal was a marketing tie-in and not much else. If it was as you describe, it would have been three times the price but in reality, it was really just the kind of pedal that entry level guitarist/Clapton fans would pick up and not much else. It wasn't really good but it also wasn't priced or designed in such a way that one could reasonably expect much to begin with. Lastly. You might want to do a bit more research into how Clapton's various rigs were set up over the years. You seem to have some gaps in regards to his preferred pickup choices and even the more basic underlying sounds he has gone for over the years.
I had this, and while nothing crazy special, each setting is much different IF YOU ACTUALLY USE A CLEAN TONE! Try with a Not-overdriven Twin. You’ll get different results.
I bought it for the sitar simulator, which is pretty good, as well as some of the distortions/FX. I didn't use it much so I sold it to buy more synth gear instead.
Around this time Digitech also had the Scott Ian "Black 13" pedal. It actually had some good tones in it. The S.O.D. setting was great for exactly what it needed to be.... chuglicious! Also, the 'Finale' setting had that shifted delay sound from the intro of the song, which is fun to play around with. Definitely a pedal worth a look.
I liked when you pointed out all those amp models in the pedal sounded the same except with different EQ. Other than the super high end stuff, that's how most modeling gear strikes me.
Hi great video! Do you or anyone else know if there is a better pedal which nails these early Clapton tones? I've looked everywhere but can't find anything! I bought and sold this digitech clapton pedal as it isn't as good as you'd hope. Cheers :)
I have this pedal. The documentation which came with it shows how to get very different sounds. For example, the Leslie cabinet tone is quite good. I can get very different sounds from each mode. Maybe you have a bad pedal?
You've completely missed the point of this pedal. Try a clean sound on your amp and use a Les Paul or a strat then compare to the actual recordings. If used the way it's intended, then it does a pretty good job. Not a bad pedal at all.
It sounds better than a Boss DS-1 and you would have to combine 4-6 pedals to obtain some of the sounds in there, which makes it a good value since the main distortion tone actually mimics a boosted tube amp :)
Loved the video! Recently people found the original metal zone performed really well as a preamp pedal straight into the effects return. Do you think this might perform better in this way?
I imagine you’d need a strat to get what they were going for. Still, no denying most models sound the same. Also I don’t think his tone is “already overdriven” as some have suggested so much as high output hbs are what they are
Di base credo che Clapton usasse solo Marshall Fender Music Man Soldano amplificatori . I pochi pedali che aggiungeva erano Wha Wha Leslie Chorus Eccetto anni 80-90 dove credo usasse anche rack per la modulazione del suono
"This pedal is just the same tones!" Yeah, you're playing it through a distorted amp. The exact OPPOSITE of what the instructions say. I hate people who do reviews like this. They'll review a pedal through processors, computer interfaces, and all sorts of junk then complain about it.
The Digitech Brian May pedal is worse. When I first saw one, all I could say was “Why?” The rotary on the Crossroads sounds useful, but the other tones were the same.
I hear lots of different tones when you change up, I'm not sure what you were hearing but it all sounds good, I think you may have sold me a pedal. I'm perplexed by your assessment of this pedal.
Oh dear - so you genuinely do not realize that most of the pedal's problems were because you started with far to much gain on your tone. A lil hint - when you plug pedals into a distorting amp, most of what you hear is the amp distortion, which will make every pedal sound identical.
"Here's my clean tone"
>Tone is already overdriven
Some things never change
Yep. Normally I'd say it's personal preference but when the pedal comes with specific instructions... That said it's probably the worst signature pedal I've heard
and that's why the pedal sounds crap here.. should go to a clean amp!#@$(@&^
Yup, and with a guitar tuned down by god knows how much. Pure Clapton ;)
I love his videos so much but God that drives me insane lol
@@m.balauszko This is in standard tuning
"So here's my clean tone" (AC/DC tone).
His clean tone is my dirty channel
*clean tone enters chat*
When you're metal, AC/DC is pop
One day this guy will have a signature distortion pedal and it will be called “Clean Tone”
😂
lmao
Jason Sather “the do nothing pedal!”
That's pretty funny man
OMG I literally LOL'd out loud and spewed my "Social Distancing Whiskey" all over the place.
That “clean” tone needs to take a bath
Underrated comment
LOL
It’s the middle of the night and I just laughed out loud at this comment. 😂
Two years ago, on this fateful day, you well and truly won the internet.
i agree! i have one and it sounds great he is not using it properly
>pedal has mids
>early 2000s
I can see why they hated it
@@frappachinose4200 Advertising in youtube comments is quite possibly the lowest form of advertising a person could do. So check out my channel on why this is bad
@@thomasfowler2140 Dude, check out his surf music.
@@thomasfowler2140 Justin Y would argue.
@@thomasfowler2140 if you're going to make a native ad on RUclips you should try harder. And you can use the skills I used in the SkillShare Native Advertising course to create ads that people won't even realize are ads until it's too late!
@@frappachinose4200 1st thing I think is "I make surf rock" is a goofy sounding statement. Musicians say "play surf rock" or "write surf rock." Average listeners who know nothing about music would say "make surf rock."
Ola could do a "does it chug" on fluffs clean tone lol
I would love to see that lmfao!!
Lmao
That's funny
😂😂
😂😂😂
90% of the comments are about Fluff's clean tone actually being overdrive
10% of the rest are us just trying not to comment on Fluff's overdrive clean tone
Yet here you are doing both
@@cameronturner2346 the Venn diagram is complete!
"Here's my clean tone"
Clean tone: am i a joke to you?
I would love to hear his overdriven sound... lol
@@darrellmcdonald7883 prolly tripple rectifire with tubescreamer in front. Or similar...
eDgE oF bReAkUp
Perhaps next could be an Ibanez Jem through a dimed 5150 and Metal Zone to test the jazz tone.
Lmao this comment didn't get enough attention
@@anthonyderosa7730 thx.
Maybe play a Stratocaster like Clapton but the clean isn't very clean
or a 335 or a sg like in the cream era...................
Most of the songs listed on that pedal weren't played on a strat.
@@NorthernSuede His strat tone is boosted, too.
Mark Ewing In Cream Clapton mainly played a Gibson SG Standard and at the beginning a Gibson ES 335
His clean tone is about the same as Angus youngs tone for every acdc song 😂
yeah, not clean at all...lol
lol
FFS fluff you know better than this. It's a Clapton pedal so playing a downtuned humbucker guitar in the driven rock amp is hardly giving it a fair shot
Dont forget the same ole, boring, open chuggy riff. Exactly what Clapton was known for and what the pedal was probably meant to be used with.
@@lunatictumor Do you think Clapton is known for his rhythm playing??
I don't think you understand the meaning of "clean tone."
Re do the video with an actual pure clean tone. Your clean tone has almost more gain than Clapton’s dirty
"Here is my Clapton tone..." (Plugs PRS into Hi-Gain Amp)
lol
hahahahaa
And drop d tuned
Blackie was a PRS right?
@@MaxKing222 Nope, it was a Fender Stratocaster
Try to use a strat maybe? And maybe set your amp to a TOTALLY CLEAN preset. Just like what clapton has.
Lol I was waiting for the clean channel to sound overdriven and it did.
LMAO some dude tossed one of these in the box when I ordered a guitar on Reverb, called it a "special gift"
You just made my day LMAO!
"Here, you throw this away!"
I'll take it if you don't want it.
@@wmg1958 Idk, I kind of hate-love it (?) at this point... makes a great paper weight on my computer desk!
@@ZepIV wow, that bad?
I’ve definitely heard worse pedals out there.
Don't say metal zone.
Nope, Danelectro black licorice
DOD Supra Distortion
@@onefatstratcat +1 It was my first dirt pedal and the worst. Tried to get $10 for it at a shop. They politely chuckled and refused.
Metal Zone had some usable sounds, but it takes a bit of fiddling with the knobs to find them.
Likes his clean tone dirty like Mastodon lol
Not gonna lie, Clapton to Mastodom would be a really interesting "Six Degrees" game
Its not that bad, but its just an overdrive with slightly different voices. Its kinda cool that there's a reverb in there I guess.
Serious question: why don’t you have a decent fender or any other nice clean non overdriven amp?
Maybe he's straight :)
Fluff i love your vids but your clean tone was way too clean. Maybe try the insane channel on a line 6 spider iv for a more apt demonstration?
I wouldn't call your clean tone clean lol. I bought this a few years ago just to see if the reviews were correct and the acoustic sim was a cool sound. Needless to say I got rid of it shortly after. While the acoustic sim sounds kinda cool it doesn't actually sound like an acoustic.
"So here's my clean tone" (fuzz factory)
Don't want to get copyright: plays River of Deceit
Yeah, i picked up on that too.
REDO !!!! Your clean tone hat WAY more gain than Clapton uses when “dirty” and plays a Strat !
Clapton didnt play a strat on most of the songs this pedal is supposed to emulate....
And he definitely wasnt always a low gain clean guy.
He played an sg and les paul
rolando limon claptons best tones where an Sg, les paul, or 335, into a wah, then maybe a fuzz into a cranked jtm-45 or blues breaker, that’s all.
Cross out Crossroads and write "Boston" over the top. Those tones remind me of Tom Scholz's mid-rich and frequency filtered sound. The swirly effect would sound good on the refrain in "Don't Look Back."
I don't think this pedal was meant to be versatile, it's meant to give you something specific. Whether it accomplishes what it was designed for I can't tell since you pretty much ignored it's purpose. I would definitely say it doesn't fit in your style, but using a single coil Strat and an actual clean amp would have made for a more honest review.
I bought one of these when they first came out and while I agree that this particular demo isn't really useful, it also isn't a very good pedal at all. I used it exactly as you specified (clean amp, single coil stratocaster, etc) and it just sounded really terrible. There really wasn't a good setting to be found.
The big problem with this pedal is that it was trying to put a lot of very different sounds into one pedal well before the point where technology really would allow that to work. It was a marketing gimmick and not much else.
I think this pedal was made for a small solid state amps and bedroom players (novelty). Do you still have your old Gorilla amp to try this pedal on?
Actually, it was made to be played 2 different ways: (1) through a TRULY clean amp..of any kind..doesn't matter, as long as your clean tone doesn't sound like AC/DC's dirty tone lol. But, that's when running from the "amp" out. (2) When playing through any amps that aren't truly clean, you need to run it from the "mixer" out. The reason for that is this pedal seriously battles with the amp for tone and levels. When you run from the mixer out, it expects to be going to a clean board/mixer. It will completely bypass the amp's tone.
The reason this pedal got such bad reviews is cause way too many musicians have no clue how to use pedals with multiple in and out jacks.
Okay, I think that maybe playing heavy stuff may have "altered" your definition of "clean sound" at 2:33 : the sound is already overdriven, so , starting with a "wrong" sound basis, maybe you could not ear the full potential of this pedal. I mainly play BLUES stuff, on a stratocaster and I own this pedal and play it through a little Fender Champ, with a CLEAN basis, and I have very good results.
Fluff, we gotta hear your take on the Dan Donegan signature Digitech pedal next.
Leon you should do one of this with a propper clean tone lol
Glad I found this video! Always thought his demos were decent but I had this pedal years ago and it’s pretty decent, if you use it correctly! Put any drive into it and it’ll kill everything. Also helps if you play the songs that the tones match. Seem’s like this dude hasn’t got a clue, wont bother with him again.
Thank you, Yosser....finally a decent writeup...!! I have two of these. I don't know how this guy can screw up a pedal this badly. Even through the custom '58 Champ I built, with an 8" speaker, it sounds nothing like this mess. These pedals give a decent place to start for a Clapton sound. A 12" speaker helps because that's what Eric usually uses. Turn the amplifier's distortion OFF. You cannot get a chimy, Leslie sound from Badge with a crappy solid state amp set for distortion. I've used my Champ, one knob amp for Leila, because that is what he used. And don't forget, Eric plays like Eric, and most of us don't. Most likely you cannot make everyything you play sound like any of Clapton's albums by stepping on one pedal. As they say, improper guitarist, not the pedal's fault. Nyms herself.
@@nymsmacgregor7232years later and I picked this up at a yard sale.....this isn't the worst pedal of all time but definitely the worst review
The pedal basically became a booster for his "clean tone."
"here's my clean tone"
KRAAAANG
This isn't really that bad of a pedal. Just kinda boring. I wonder why it has such a bad rep
Mids and the 2000's... you do the math
Misuse, and like fluff. Humbuckers all the way up and griping the acoustic sound issn't right. Here's my clean tone. FUUUZZZZ!
Fluff, I believe you need to get your hearing checked. All of those tones had different timbre. Also your amp was overdriven to start with. Clean tone was about the same as ac/dc's "Aint no fun waitin' 'round to be a millionaire"
due to people who have no ears and guitarists who believe they have to throw 200+$ for a pedal, that is why it have that reputation Truth is that lil Gem is used by couple of world class players. But hey don't care about the prices nor hype BS.
I remember these. Brian May's pedal was a wah, Scott Ian had one, Jimi Hendrix did as well.
@Elliottfan1993 yep. It was in a brushed metal housing and had like a sitar effect in it
It´s not bad. When I was a kid my country was occupied by soviets the electronics and instruments were hard to come by even until many years after the fall of soviet union. You could buy stuff but they were from weird companys you never heard of. These were the worst of the worst sounding hardware you could imagine, and people made music with it. Back then if i had a pedal like this I would probably have the best pedal in town.
Wouldn't you think a reviewer of the "Crossroads" pedal might take the time and learn to play some riffs from "Sunshine of Your Love", "Badge", and "Crossroads" by Cream? IS THIS THE WORST PEDAL REVIEW EVER?
You're "clean" tone was not clean my friend - should've used your Revv Generator 100 - much better clean channel
So I'm guessing pedal just has a characteristic distortion sound, with the "model" knob being different EQ curves, with some added effects depending on the model?
Actually doesn't sound half bad. And let's face it, the MZ being a best-seller, so there's no reason for this pedal to be hated
Don't guess the pedal's tones from this guy's horrible review on his "AC/DC sounding clean tone." lol
Model 1 = 60s Fuzz
Model 2 = 60s Fuzz with added Reverb and added mids
Model 3 = OD with a Rotary effect
Model 4 = an amp modeller to mimic Clapton's Fender Champ Tweed combo
Model 5 = a clucky clean tone with a tad gain, for a little extra bite
Model 6 = acoustic simulator with reverb
Model 7 = a smooth bluesy type tone, light gain
This guy also ran it through the "amp" out into a seriously gainy amp. To use to amp out, you need to run through a clean amp.
When running to a not-so clean amp, you should run from the "mixer" out, so the pedal will not battle the amp's tone.
We can agree it's not a great pedal but all the tones sound the same because of the amp or the guitar I have done a review of this pedal and the tones avery very different, why it is not liked is because it is harsh and the tones themselves just don't capture the tones they were meant to capture.
the problem comes with your signal: : your clean tone is like a crunch too
so before the pedals, the signal- the guitar, the cable first ! but it's a bad pedal too
the problem is you can't play like Clapton you should try with a strat and with an amp first
but
i had it and it sounded very bad ! Sorry Digitech but at this time you were not at the top
for some years, you have created great true bypass pedals ! fréquence out etc.
Hey Fluff, use output 2 and go straight into your interface. It will reproduce Clapton's studio tone. Please redo this pedal! Don't think you represented this pedal very accurately. But, I love your videos and keep them coming!
I never used this pedal and am genially interested in its noises, but agree with the other comments that your clean tone wasn’t particularly clean.
It would be nice to revisit it on a cleaner channel. Maybe even just run it into your twonotes studio for ultimate clean
But either way, the pedal wasn’t the worst.... which begs the questions.
What is?
Will the search go on?
Won't play Layla.....But River of Deceit is okay. :) Hahaha.
"...so I believe control 1 is the gain and control 2 is the tone. I think that´s basically how it goes for all of it..."
This guy obviously didn´t read the manual.
>Sets his "clean" tone as already cranked
"That's not acoustic at all!"
It sounds pretty cool, but testing any of Clapton's signature gear on a guitar different than LP for Cream and Stratocaster for later things is a blasphemy
Funny, I don't remember seeing that on Clapton's pedal board!
Not that I've ever actually seen his pedal board...
Love your videos but you have GOT to change your definition of “CLEAN TONE”. Billie Joe has a cleaner distortion than that nowadays! Please clean up your tone!
How can it be the worst when there is the DOD Grunge pedal? Interesting that DOD and Digitech are responsible for so many bad pedals.
Yet, they were also ahead of the curve and came up with pedals that were predating a bunch of crazy boutique pedals, like the gonkulator and the space station
What a shame that he blames the pedal for this awful effort. I've seen this pedal on other videos and it's not bad.
Not that good of a pedal, but the worst ever? Nah. Take at look at the Danelectro Grilled Cheese. That is DEFINITELY a contestant to worst pedal of all time.
I was thinking the same thing. I picked one up at a thrift store for a few bucks and, well, wasted a few bucks. It's almost good (or at least interesting), but the lack of a gain control makes it kind of useless.
I checked it out and it definitely sounds like SHIT
i think a strat in standard tuning through a clean channel would have been more apt.
Back in the day my best friend who had a music store was given six if these from the DigiTech rep because he order so much other DigiTech stuff. He gave me one and while 1-6 were bland to awful #7 Reptile tone was really usable with a Strat loaded with singlecoils. I took it to a couple blues jams and got a pretty good tone.
FFS I said this is MY clean tone. I didnt say YOUR IDEAL clean tone, the greatest clean tone ever, or hey here is my Roland Jazz Chorus. Do you think those cranked up Marshalls Clapton played were totally clean? What about the 2002 Crate combo most of these were being plugged into? DAYUM.
yup
If the pedal's supposed to emulate his tone into a clean amp on a budget, then it's going to be emulating that cranked marshall sound. You're running it through two gain stages when it's supposed to be an all in one, no wonder some of those settings such as flange sound like total shit.
That pedal was a pure gimmick. The list price was like $150 USD in 2005. It was an album promo, referenced his greatest hits, and did the whole Crossroads rehab charity thing. Look up how many times he’s used “Crossroads” in something’s name.
OK...I have one of these. I picked it up on eBay for about $40 about 2009 or so. Off the top, this pedal is VERY amp dependent as to whether it sounds good or not. I found out rather quickly that it would take a substantial amount of time to dial in decent tones but not more than I was willing to spend with it. I've used it when layering guitars over the years but never as a primary drive. For what I spent on it, it was a worth it. A 'novelty' pedal is the perfect descriptor.
You can play AC/DC songs with the "Eric Clapton" pedal 🤘🎸
Hi Fluff...thank you for demoing the pedal. The presets cover most of Clapton’s career during which he was playing primarily an SG and an ES-335 and by the time his solo career started he had switched to a Strat. His acoustic choices were pretty sparse as he’s seems to grab a small bodied Martin. I’m not surprised that the pedal’s electric guitar tones are nuances of the same tone. If one listens to Clapton’s recordings from Cream and going forward to the times in his career that this pedal covers, his core tone has not really changed too much. Even when he went from double humbucker guitars to to single coil Strats (whether equipped with traditional single coils or Lace Sensors), he essentially just upped the amount of gain that he used out of his Marshalls, or other amps that he has dabbled with, to compensate for the lower output of the single coils. Stylistically, his OD vs clean tones are the result of where he has the volume control on his guitar parked. Regardless of the guitar he’s played, he tends to favor the front pickup most of the time, using the guitar’s tone control also as a tone modifying option. To me it makes sense that the stomp box’s tone settings are very similar as Clapton sets his amp in his own personal home point and then gets what he needs from his guitar. It’s apparent that the designers were well aware of this and created the pedal accordingly. The acoustic setting can be made more convincing by using a Strat with more vintagey single coils or the Gold Lace Sensors. It’s still not the best acoustic emulator out there, but it is dependent on having a particular style electric guitar and pickups. Truthfully I could make the pedal work for me because that core tone is not a bad tone and will give up the goods if one understands the how and why behind its creation.
So I owned this pedal and I really have to say that you are giving the designers a lot more credit than they really deserve. This wasn't some clever boutique pedal or even something that a lot of thought was put into. It was just Digitech throwing a few basic gain sounds with very different EQ settings in alongside a basic (and rather poor) rotary sound, and a pretty rough sounding acoustic simulator effect. It was all the kind of stuff you would expect from a entry level multi-effects pedal and sounded accordingly.
This pedal was a marketing tie-in and not much else. If it was as you describe, it would have been three times the price but in reality, it was really just the kind of pedal that entry level guitarist/Clapton fans would pick up and not much else. It wasn't really good but it also wasn't priced or designed in such a way that one could reasonably expect much to begin with.
Lastly. You might want to do a bit more research into how Clapton's various rigs were set up over the years. You seem to have some gaps in regards to his preferred pickup choices and even the more basic underlying sounds he has gone for over the years.
I had this, and while nothing crazy special, each setting is much different IF YOU ACTUALLY USE A CLEAN TONE! Try with a Not-overdriven Twin. You’ll get different results.
The close captioning thought you said “wrist spirits in gear.” Great band name.
Hey Fluff, see if you can get your hands on the DigiTech Weapon.
I have The Weapon, it's a decent pedal
I bought it for the sitar simulator, which is pretty good, as well as some of the distortions/FX.
I didn't use it much so I sold it to buy more synth gear instead.
I think I could still beat that if you wanna have a go ;)
Simon The Magpie magpie is kang🔥🔥
That was the first pedal I ever owned. And it was stolen from me. Still trying to find one for nostalgia sake.
Testing a Clapton pedal with a dirty PRS.... Right.....
Jesus, dude, you and I have very different ideas of what "clean" is. Have you never heard a Roland Jazz Chorus or some shit like that?
Around this time Digitech also had the Scott Ian "Black 13" pedal. It actually had some good tones in it. The S.O.D. setting was great for exactly what it needed to be.... chuglicious! Also, the 'Finale' setting had that shifted delay sound from the intro of the song, which is fun to play around with. Definitely a pedal worth a look.
It's kinda ironic that a portion of the proceeds went to drug rehabilitation, considering I sold mine for drugs.
Do you have a Strat type guitar, S-S-S pups to if that makes a difference with the tones?
Clean means "clean" as in no drive at all... Clean tone, like acoustic guitar clean.
And the Jimi Hendrix Experience Digitech pedal as well!
I've got that, it's surprisingly usable!
So to summarize, not completely useless, just completely meh.
Fluff: Here is my clean tone.
Me:
....still waiting to hear a clean tone.....
I bet Mr. Clapton could make it sound good. He uses clean amps.
I liked when you pointed out all those amp models in the pedal sounded the same except with different EQ. Other than the super high end stuff, that's how most modeling gear strikes me.
Hi great video! Do you or anyone else know if there is a better pedal which nails these early Clapton tones? I've looked everywhere but can't find anything! I bought and sold this digitech clapton pedal as it isn't as good as you'd hope. Cheers :)
I have this pedal. The documentation which came with it shows how to get very different sounds. For example, the Leslie cabinet tone is quite good. I can get very different sounds from each mode. Maybe you have a bad pedal?
You didn’t read the instruction carefully, it says Eric Clapton is not included.
7:40, ayy, mad season! I love playing that riff
I own the worst pedal of all time, if I tell you what it is....you will go listen, and it will make you want to cry.
You've completely missed the point of this pedal. Try a clean sound on your amp and use a Les Paul or a strat then compare to the actual recordings. If used the way it's intended, then it does a pretty good job. Not a bad pedal at all.
Funny and informative, thanks Fluff! Have you ever tried any of the Wampler stuff?
I would love to hear the Scott Ian sig Digitech from the same era!
Black 13. Really good, but they're rocking horse shit now.
“This is my clean tone” 😂
Probably help if you knew how to play the Eric Clapton songs associated with the pedal
It sounds better than a Boss DS-1 and you would have to combine 4-6 pedals to obtain some of the sounds in there, which makes it a good value since the main distortion tone actually mimics a boosted tube amp :)
I have one there great you need a clean amp
Loved the video!
Recently people found the original metal zone performed really well as a preamp pedal straight into the effects return.
Do you think this might perform better in this way?
I imagine you’d need a strat to get what they were going for. Still, no denying most models sound the same. Also I don’t think his tone is “already overdriven” as some have suggested so much as high output hbs are what they are
Can someone teach fluff the meaning of clean? Your "clean" tone is always super crunchy
Di base credo che Clapton usasse solo Marshall Fender Music Man Soldano amplificatori . I pochi pedali che aggiungeva erano Wha Wha Leslie Chorus Eccetto anni 80-90 dove credo usasse anche rack per la modulazione del suono
It's funny because I had the Disturbed pedal from this series & the tones were wildly different from one another for the most part.
"This pedal is just the same tones!"
Yeah, you're playing it through a distorted amp. The exact OPPOSITE of what the instructions say. I hate people who do reviews like this. They'll review a pedal through processors, computer interfaces, and all sorts of junk then complain about it.
And in most cases they don't even know how to config those softwares. Bad review. We are hearing his amp clipping. Not the pedal.
The MD at my church: "Dude, turn the gain down"
Me: 2:27
In the context of this video, playing "Layla" is fair use.
You think the RUclips algorithm cares about fair use
The Digitech Brian May pedal is worse. When I first saw one, all I could say was “Why?” The rotary on the Crossroads sounds useful, but the other tones were the same.
That clean tone is crunchier then these takis I'm eating
I hear lots of different tones when you change up, I'm not sure what you were hearing but it all sounds good, I think you may have sold me a pedal.
I'm perplexed by your assessment of this pedal.
Oh dear - so you genuinely do not realize that most of the pedal's problems were because you started with far to much gain on your tone. A lil hint - when you plug pedals into a distorting amp, most of what you hear is the amp distortion, which will make every pedal sound identical.