DigiTech Death Metal

I paid $50 for this pedal at george's music. My amp's stock distortion just wasn't cutting it so i started looking for distortion pedals. I previously bought the Turbo Flange by Digitech and was very satisfied so i decided to get another digitech. I didn't want to pay $80 for the metal master so i looked at their new series.

I love the raw sound it gives perfect for any type of metal. I currently use a 10 watt guitar package amp with it. When i go out to stores and try out the world reknown marshall distortion/amps and a guitar that costs double mine i still prefer the death metal pedal over it. Can't wait till i get my marshall 50dfx then itll be even more amazing. Sounds amazing with downtuned strings and is great for rhythm as well as doing solos. Also an incredibly versitile distortion. Has as many if not more different tones then the metal master and costed much less. Amazing deal.

Hmmm....Not much really that i don't like...it takes a while to control the feedback. When i first got it i'd have to keep clicking it off to prevent terrible feedback. Once you learn how to control it the feedback can actually be a very good thing. I use the treble setting and the tone at 0 to create the least amount of feedback.

My brother dropped a ten pound weight on it...it still works as great as ever...also the digitech stompbox design is very comfortable.

One word to completely describe it - Lethal. Most amazing thing i've ever bought. I highly highly recomend this distortion for anyone whos into metal

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is a distortion pedal made by Digitech. It has two 1/4" connections for input and output as well as an input for a 9V adaptor. This is an analog pedal and as such cannot be edited through a computer or midi controller. It is not rackable.

UTILIZATION

Using this pedal is actually irritatingly simple. There are knobs for level, low, mid, and hi. The most obvious thing about this distortion is that it's missing a gain knob, which I find very frustrating. How do you dial in a level of distortion that you want? It makes the often erroneous assumption that metal players only have or need one tone.

SOUND QUALITY

I really was disappointed by this. It does have a really heavy sound that can work for a few different sub-genres of metal. While I figured that it would stick to mostly heavy tones, I really didn't anticipate just how limited it was. The lack of gain knob makes it go really hard the whole time. Sure, there's a three-band EQ, and it can have a volume adjustment that gives it some wiggle room, but the fact that it's the same amount of gain the whole time is pretty ridiculous. It basically colors the sound so much that it sounds roughly the same with every guitar, though obviously a humbucker will sound better as it will cancel some of the noise. It really removes the originality from just about everybody's tone, which is something I find disheartening as a guitar player.

OVERALL OPINION

I would only use this pedal if I had no other options. It's probably one of the worst I've tried. It's cheap, but I guess that's for a good reason. I wouldn't use this anywhere considering I don't play metal, which I guess does make me a little bit biased. But I still doubt any self-respecting metal player wouldn't want to take control of his tone, which this pedal doesn't allow you to do. Thus I must strongly urge all of you not to buy this.

The Digitech Death Metal effect stomp box is a single distortion pedal. It is a digital pedal, which cannot be edited. It is not rackable and has audio outs.

UTILIZATION

It is a pretty simple pedal, meaning that no manual is really required. The effect editing is easy as well, just 3 simple knobs on the front let you edit the sound. I have yet to need the manual, but the diagrams are very descriptive, and make everything very simple.

SOUND QUALITY

The effects are good for someone looking for a simple distortion. I use it in about 4 out of 10 songs and it sounds alright. The mid control brings a little bit too much hiss and the sound of the distortion is a little bit too overdrawn. Hitting multiple strings is almost impossible to make sound good, without some form of better EQ or compression.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using this product for about a year. I like the ease of use that this pedal has, making editing the effect drastically easier than some of the RP models, but the sound suffers a little and sounds slightly like it is a trash can. I tried the overdrives and Grunge pedals and this one beats the Grunge, which is horrible. The price is decent for the effect, but more expensive models sound better, such as the Boss Heavy Metal distortion. If I could make the decision again, I would probably buy the Boss pedal.

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.