Bought it from local music store for $42 thinking it would be better than my DS-1. I really didn't like this pedal that much, the only thing I liked, it had a bit more gain than my DS-1. As for its tone, terrible. This thing is a terrible copy off of a Boss DS-1 with bad tones. Even though there is the low and high EQ, you still can't dial in a decent sound, either too much highs or too much lows, and if you equal the out, it just sounds bad. I thought this thing would have been compareable to my DS-1, but it isn't, it only looks like it because of the orange color, as for sound, the Hot Head is a joke. There are no mids at all on the Hot Head, so be prepared for a crappy sound. It's built very solid, it's heavier than most compact pedals its size. It might look like a Boss DS-1, but sounds like a crappy $10 distortion pedal that an idiot would use. I plugged it in, noticed I couldn't dial in a single sound I liked, so I returned it right away for my money. I'm sticking with my DS-1, it is 10 times better than this rip off, copy of a DS-1 with a $hitty tone. The DS-1 has one knob for tone, but covers a wide range of sound, and sounds so much better than the Hot Head even when the HoT head has the EQ for your lows and highs. You really must be dumb to buy a Digitech pedal, all of Digitechs compact pedals are copies of other companies pedals, but they just ruin them. The only good Digitech pedals are the Whammy series, I have a whammy pedal, it's the only Digitech pedal I will ever use. Try out the Hot Head yourself, then try out a DS-1, the DS-1 is a lot better. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I paid $80 for mine's at Guitar Center I bought it bcause i wanted a razor sharp distortion with big sustain for leads and chunky dropped "D" rythim. The best of this unit has to be the sustain and wild extreme amounts of gain. It has very quiet bypass and it can make any amp even a wimpy little one loud and mean When i crank the volume on the unit, it looses some of the definition. The distortion tends to be very wild and hard to control at higher volumes. This effect is great for lead, but when two guitars are involved in rythim, it makes the song sound like mud. The left hand side Effect options on the pedal all sound like AM radio. The 12' o clock position is good, the best are 1 and 2 o clock. To take it beyond that is extreme, kinda death metal but horrible when cranked loud. The quality is excellent but you definitely must conside buying the adaptor. One thing that pisses me off is that the control knobs esily shift positions when transportin the pedal in my pedal board. sturdier knobs would be nice. The metal pedal is great for lead. Solos sound awsome specially when using a whah or a delay to compliment the distortion. However, if you have two guitars in the band and both are playing dirty rythim, the metal pedal will not be your best friend when it comes to clarity and definition. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I bought this pedal about a week ago from the Guitar Center in Plano,TX for around $70. This pedal has a variation of distortions built into it. You can adjust the tone and gain real easy. It's a great buy! The only thing I don't like about is if you put batteries in it runs them down in about two hour and you can't turn it off. The pedal is made from some pretty strong metal that will last a pretty long time. This pedal is great! I recomend it to anyone! It has alot more sound than the Boss distortion. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
This is a pure distortion pedal. You can get overdrive out of it, there are even presets for it. However, I believe this pedal is specifically tailored for hard, heavy, driving distortion. The heavier, the better. It is a digital unit and cannot be edited via computer. It is a floor pedal, so it is not rackable. The unit has one input and two outputs. One output is for going to an amp. The other is a cabinet modeler that allows you to go straight into the mixing board. UTILIZATION Configuration is simple. It has four knobs : level, low, mid and high. As digitech says, they've set the gain on 11 and ripped off the knob ! Thus the lack of a gain knob on this unit. Sounds/effects editing is very easy and the clear, colorful manual makes it even easier. There are not only presets for just this unit, but the manual also shows how you can combine it with other effects to get a solo tone. SOUND QUALITY This pedal really only serves one purpose....it's a death metal pedal, just like the name says! As such, it sound greats for death, trash, nu-metal, and even heavy metal! I put this thing through a Fender Twin and it was palm muting hell (or heaven depending on your opinion.) It is great for heavy rhythm grind. Unfortunately, because the treble is so harsh, I don't feel this is a great pedal for soloing. The manual has a sample setup that has this pedal chained to a delay and a chorus for a smoother soloing sound. When I mimic this set up, it sounds a little better, but the treble is still too harsh in my opinion, even with the delay and chorus. OVERALL OPINION I've had this pedal for about 3 and a half years. I love playing Metallica style, Evanescence, basically any kind of power chord riffs with this thing. Unfortunately, it is not good for soloing, even though it has a soloing preset. And using this thing at praise and worship? Forget about it! The only time I've used it on stage at church is when we played Bring me to Life by Evanescence. I figure that will be the extent of my use of this pedal in a church setting. I tried many DOD and digitech models before buying this one, but this one won at the time because I was specifically looking for something that could play the heavy riffs of a song I wrote. Unfortunately, I apparently did not take into consideration the soloing capabilities of this unit. If I did, I very well might have ended up with something different. It's not too bad of a $50 spent, and at least the 2nd mixer output gives me the option of adding another amp to my rig in stereo.
