DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory Inital Impressions

[Tone2TheBone]

Ok thats the second time I've seen the reference to Luke. What is that?

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok thats the second time I've seen the reference to Luke. What is that?

Spud's new guitar on order and being built for him. Pic of what it will look like in his avatar.

[Spudman***]

I know you Spud. Oh by the way, did you know the price on the Luke is going waaaaay up as we speak?

Already ordered and locked in at an unbelievable price of course. : But ya, there has been a price increase that's why I ordered when I did.

[Tone2TheBone]

Ahhh ok...as in Steve "Luke?" I get it now thanks.

[Spudman***]

Does it suck tone bad?

Yes it does.

I finally got around to A/Bing it today and this pedal changes my guitar signal a lot. I found a loss of low end and a general overall compression effect and loss of clarity with the pedal off. I don't know if they all do this or not, but for me the honeymoon is certainly over.

It does a lot of different things and does them well with a lot of control over parameters, but now that I hear exactly what it does to my original signal I don't think I can live with that.

Maybe the other users will chime in here and do a serious comparison with the pedal plugged in and with it out of their signal chain. It could be that I have a lemon. If I do have a lemon I'll get in touch with Digitech who is only 2 hours from me and see if something can be done or if this is the norm for the pedal.

[marnold***]

Maybe the other users will chime in here and do a serious comparison with the pedal plugged in and with it out of their signal chain. It could be that I have a lemon. If I do have a lemon I'll get in touch with Digitech who is only 2 hours from me and see if something can be done or if this is the norm for the pedal.

Hmmm. In my initial tests I remember being amazed at how it didn't effect anything at all. Perhaps I need to do a retest.

[Spudman***]

Hmmm. In my initial tests I remember being amazed at how it didn't effect anything at all. Perhaps I need to do a retest.

I thought the same thing too until today. I'm using the supplied AC adapter.

[Lev]

I thought the same thing too until today. I'm using the supplied AC adapter.

i tested mine but can't notice any difference, it's the first pedal in my chain.

[marnold***]

What kind of "suckage" are you noticing?

[Spudman***]

I have this as the only pedal between the guitar and amph. With it out of the line there is a nice fullness to the low strings and general good even response across all strings. When it gets put back into the line the low end has less fullness, the overall signal is weakened and compressed slightly and there is an upper mid range pronunciation. The pedal gives the guitar a more nasal quality.

I'm using a single coil guitar. And yes Eric Johnson and I often discuss battery brands and cable length capacitance.

[marnold***]

Hmmm. Well, I just tried it again. If there is a major difference with or without the pedal, I'm not really getting it. I tried it with both the humbucker and various single coils on my Floyd. I also tried it with my '51 since it has the brightest pickups of any of my guitars. Just to ask the stupid questions, you are running it through the amp out and not line out right? You don't have it on model 7 which makes the EX-7 work as a volume pedal when it's off, right?

[Spudman***]

Yes I have it connected correctly. Have you noticed a click or pop as you turn the mode knob?

[Tone2TheBone]

Mine works cherry. Spud the effect knob should not make any noises at all it should move from effect to effect seamlessly. You might have a messed up one.

[marnold***]

Yes I have it connected correctly. Have you noticed a click or pop as you turn the mode knob?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but I thought I might as well cover all the bases. To answer your question, no, mine is dead silent. When I switch between some of the models (not all of them) there sometimes is a brief pause, but no clicks or pops. Sound like you may have gotten a bum steer.

[Spudman***]

Sorry for the stupid questions,

Not a stupid question. Just a stupid operator - me. I initially had it plugged in correctly. I unplugged some pedals the other day and this one got plugged back into the wrong output.

Still, even plugged in correctly I can notice a loss of roundness on the low end and a loss of sparkle on the highs and a minute loss of overall signal volume. It might be that I'm the only one who can tell the difference but I do sense it.

I've got mine into a clean channel at low volume.

[marnold***]

Not a stupid question. Just a stupid operator - me. I initially had it plugged in correctly. I unplugged some pedals the other day and this one got plugged back into the wrong output.

Still, even plugged in correctly I can notice a loss of roundness on the low end and a loss of sparkle on the highs and a minute loss of overall signal volume. It might be that I'm the only one who can tell the difference but I do sense it.

Ahh yes, the guitarist equivalent of PEBKAC (PEBGAA, maybe?). Since none of the pickups I have really "sparkle"--thus my desire to get something new for my Floyd--I just might not be noticing it. I know that my TO800 has some tone suck. It basically dulls the sound a bit. Still, I don't have that popping noise you were referring to. I'd probably need to do some recording to really test it to because by the time I've switched cables around, it's hard for me to remember. Am I to assume the difference is less noticeable now with the right output?

[Spudman***]

The mid range tone boost and bottom end suck and compression are gone when using the correct output. It no longer pops when changing modes either. It's good to discover the popping when using the 'mixer out' before it ever gets plugged into a mixer or recording device.

It seems that when I initially tested it I was using humbucker equipped guitars. Because of this I might not have noticed the difference in my guitar signal. Today it was while using the Tele that I could tell the difference with the tone.

[Tone2TheBone]

I thought about this last night.

Why don't you recalibrate the pedal. It might have gotten funked up when you accidently put the cable in the wrong input (I did the same thing when I got it and I think a few others have too). Recalibrating is easy:

1. Unplug everything from the pedal including the power connector.
2. Insert the power connector back into the pedal and take a guitar cable and plug that into the "footswitch" jack. The LED should flash green continually.
3. Move the effect model knob to #1 and rock the pedal toe down on the pedal to max.
4. Select model #2 and wait for the pedal to flash yellow.
5. Rock the pedal heel down to max.
6. Move the model knob to #3 and the LED should flash green 3 times.

After this procedure the pedal is set back to factory specs. That might cure some of the weirdness from it.

[Lev]

there's also the possibility that it's setup in stereo mode, hence you are only hearing the right or left side. Might explain the drop in some frequencies.