DigiTech Crossroads Eric Clapton

When I purchased this unit I was very lucky. I purchased the Guitar Pedle from Guelph music In Guelph On. Canada. I'm a store regular and therefore knew This year it is there 20th aniversary. Due to this they are having weekly draws for forty dollar gift cirtificates for guitar gear. I entered myself into the draw and won their second prize draw. So Rather than paying the $145.99 Canadian that the pedle was going for, Ron Valeriote the store owner took off 40 dollars So I only payed $105.99 Canadian. So I got a real great deal. The reason I got the guitar pedle was because I'm a huge Slowhand fan and decided I wanted this wnderfull palate of sounds in my rig.

I tested the Pedle at the store before making my final dicision and was thuroughly impressed. Playing the pedle using a Fender Mexican Strat and a Fender Frontman 15R and the sound I got from this simple setup not only ammased me but it ammasd the other customers and even Ron The store owner. I coulden't belive the sound that was comming out of the amp. this pedle was awsome. making a comarison with the pedle on and off the pedle made a 100 percent improvementon the quality of the tonal values from the amp. The unit has Seven signature tones from Eric Clapton, all of which have two controls which change functions depending on which tone setting it's on, and each setting can change for nearly every song on the albums they represent. This pedle has several difrent effects including the very popular Reverb effect. After bringing the pedle home I plugged it into my Mexican Strat and a Marshall MG15CD. The tone continued to amase me and gave me an all new palate to work with. Another pro to buying this pedle is that it comes with it's own power source. This makes it so that you don't have to buy one seperate from the pedle. On the left hand side of the pedle there is a direct Input for a mixing bord so there is no need for an amp to record using this pedle. Alternatively it will have an output if you plug a 1/4" jack into the mixer with headphones turning the pedle into a portable amp.

There were not very many concerns with the pedle. however there were some, one of wich is the pedles use of batteries. The pedle is compatable with a 12 volt battery however dueto it's digital technology it eats through the batteries as if you were trying to power a computer using a watch battery. the battery life is very low which is not good if you do regular gigs, however the supplied power source makes this point nearly irelevent. The only other problem I have found with the pedle is that it's hard to memorise what controle dose what in each setting but that just takes practice and frequent use.

The Unit itself is constructed of a metal exterior with a non slip rubber bottom and contact point. The controles are made as not to be moved by your foot if you hit one. The battery is replaced directly underneeth the pedle part of the unit and can be removed and replaced with nothing more than a guitar cable's jack.

All In all The unit gives an amasing preformance enhancing tone sevirelyand giving seven signature sounds that no Eric Clapton fan should be without. It can be used as a portable mini amplifier or DI'ed directly to a mixing board. The batteries wear out quickly, but it comes with a power source, so thats not so bad. the non slip bottom makes the pedle easy to use on stage and the batteries can be replaced with extream ease. So whether your looking for some slowhand sound, or just want somthing new this pedle is for you.

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

The DigiTech Eric Clapton Crossroads is a guitar effects pedal designed after tones played and heard from Clapton throughout the years. It has a 1/4 inch input as well as two 1/4 inch outputs and isn't a rackable effect.

UTILIZATION

Using the DigiTech Eric Clapton Crossroads pedal isn't too hard at all as it just has a few parameters. It has knobs for level, control one, control two, and model. Each of the controls vary on what they do depending on which mode you are using. There are seven different models in all and each is modeled after a classic Clapton tone from all of his biggest hits. The manual for this pedal is almost a must have because it contains the information on what each of the controls will do for each model and what each model is attempting to emulate.

SOUND QUALITY

The sounds on the DigiTech Eric Clapton Crossroads are pretty impressive for the most part, but I don't believe this pedal does all that great of a job of modeling all of Clapton's tone when compared to some of the other pedals in the DigiTech Artist Series. I do like all of the sounds on this pedal and it is definitely a blast to play around with, but I was impressed more with the Hendrix and Brian May models than this one.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the DigiTech Eric Clapton Crossroads guitar pedal for around a year or so and I've decided that while I definitely like using this pedal, I don't think I would recommend it to anyone other than the biggest of Clapton fans. The sounds are pretty cool but I think the people who will get the most from it are true Clapton fans. The price is very reasonable and that is the main reason I took a chance on this pedal. If you're a big Clapton fan, this pedal is a must try, otherwise you can take it or leave it.

The Crossroads pedal from Digitech is like 7 distinct tones in one package. It offers a model of the following distictive Eric Clapton tones: "Sunshine of Your Love", "Crossroads", "Badge", "Layla", "Lay Down Sally", "Layla" (Acoustic), and "Reptile". The controls include a mode selector knob, 2 control knobs that allow you to tweak selected paremeters of the mode presets (like effect intensity or gain), and a level knob.

UTILIZATION

One interesting feature is the seperate amp and mixer outputs.
One frustrating thing is that the preset volumes of the different "modes" vary so much. It seems like they could have balanced them better, so you don't have to re-adjust them when you switch modes.

SOUND QUALITY

Not all of the 7 modes on this pedal are even usable in my opinion, let alone "good". There are a couple that are decent but it seems like Digitech bit off a little more than they could chew. The clean tones are impressive, the distorted tones are a bit bland, and the acoustic mode is just terrible. They should have gone without it. Overall, it lacked a warmth and depth to my ears.

Some effects are quite nice to have; like the rotary effect on the "Badge" model. Some effects are just cheesy, like the chorus effect on "reptile".

OVERALL OPINION

For 100 bucks, this pedal is cool to have for the rotary effect, and some of the clean models if you tweak 'em a bit but its not an increble value. Don't expect to sound like Eric Clapton's during his Cream or Bluesbreakers days- this pedal just doesn't deliver that. I was a bit disapointed. It seemed like Digitech tried to go for quantity on this one, and the quality of sound suffered.
You might come closer to nailing part of Claton's sound with a good strat and a BOSS Fender Bassman amp modeler, but will set you back 150 or so. Ouch.