DigiTech Hot Head

I have been an active musician for 26 years. I have played in bands, done studio gigs and worked as a solo artist. Currently, I am the lead guitarist in the band Sinister Mercy.

I originally bought this pedal just out of simple curiosity. I listened to the audio samples on the Musician's Friend web site and decided to buy it. I think that I paid $39.99.

While similar to the Boss DS-1 distortion unit, the Digitech has a warmer overall tone. The range of distortion available with the Hot Head is actually pretty wide. You can get a nicely spiky, overdriven/saturated tone...and you can crank it up until you get a pretty HOT distortion sound. The versatility of tones that this unit gives you works for classic rock through 80s era metal. It also produces an excellent fusion tone. For the money, this simply can't be beat.

Actually, there is nothing that I dislike about the Hot Head. I've seen a couple of reviews on this site where the people hated the tones of this pedal. I don't know how they got such bad sounds because I can't get a bad sound out of this distortion unit. I can use it with tube amps, solid state amps, combos or stacks and it sounds really great.

GREAT. It's that simple. It's more "heavy duty" than Boss...and the Boss pedals are very well made.

I own some custom made distortion pedals, as well as higher end tube distortions from Radial Tonebone and Damage Control. While they do produce a little better tone for certain applications, the Digitech Hot Head Distortion is living proof that a great pedal doesn't have to cost a fortune. While Digitech may be considered to make a product "for the masses", they are successful for a reason; good, innovative product at an extremely competitive price.

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

Advice on this pedal - LISTEN TO THE REVIEWER ON THIS SITE WHO GAVE THIS PEDAL A BAD REVIEW, IT'S ALL TRUE! This pedal should not be going for $40+, it should be more in the range of about $5 to maybe $10 if the store is really trying to rip you off.

I don't think there's anything to like about this pedal, and I'm not kidding either.

It does look somewhat like the Boss DS-1 pedal, both of these two pedals sound totally different. I do have to say the DS-1 sounds better, but I don't even really like the DS-1, it lacks a bit of character, but at least doesn't sound like total crap like the Digitech Hot Head! Like the other reviewer said, you can sit with this pedal for as long as you want, you most likely will be very disatisfied, I definitly was. I also returned mine, it's really THAT BAD! There's a review on here by some guy who actually likes this pedal, said you can get a 'marshal-ish' tone. 1st off, learn how to spell, it's Marshall (and yes you need that capitol 'M', Marshall is the best, hands down!) You can't get anything close to a Marshall sound, saying that makes Marshall amps and pedals sound like crap! Which Marshall amps and pedals are probably some of the best stuff you can buy. I can't believe that guy compared Marshall and Digitech and says the Hot Head sounds similar!? I wonder what kind of Marshall amp(s) he's tried out. Probably just one of the many who say they've tried, had, or even used a Marshall amp, while they are at home with a crappy little Crate or Ibanez amp.

It's built pretty strong I have to say, but sounds like crap...so who cares about how strong the housing is!

Simply put... most Digitech pedals suck. Most of these popular brand pedals suck (Digitech, Boss, Ibanez...you know, the ones you find at your local music shop, the cheap crappy pedals that they sell to the kids who walk in with their parents and say they want this one because it looks cool or so and so uses it.) But, that's what you get for buying overproduced-popular crap, which is something that sounds like total crap. Ibanez made a few good pedal, the vintage stuff, the Tube King and Tube Screamer. There are so many companys out there that you can buy from, don't just buy the cheap crap at your local music store. Need more proof on how bad this pedal really is? Check out the reviews on Harmonycentral.com

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

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 have bought many distortion units in the past, such as the Rocktron Rampage, Dunlop MXR Distortion Plus, Dano Bacon and Eggs and, Ibanez TS9. None of them did what i wanted so i decided to go out and but a differnt one. I went to guitar center and played a bunch of different ones. I played a dano wasabi overdrive and a digitech tone driver and hot rod, a whole lot of em. But I decided on the DigiTech Hot Head. I paid 40 bucks.

This is definatly a very very good pedal. I dont know where to start. MY problem wiht pedals was that if i wanted the distortion to sound good, the clean would be all muddy. And vice versa. But this one handled it. It sounds way better than the DS 1 and it's so versatile. YOu can get like Those cheesy "raging metal" sounds and like a marshal-ish stack sound or a softer type mmore bluesy sound. It sucks that this pedal is so new. If it were older and had been around longer, everyone would have one.It rocks.

Not really anything. The battery life is short, but thats life. Nothin major.

Its a freakin tank. It weighs a ton and if it fell of a building and hit you on the head, you would be dead, but the pedal would be just fine.

Cure for the common distortion. Kicks ass. Get it. At 40 bucks, whats to lose?

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