Until recently I really had no interest Digitech pedals. I guess their marketing never really work on me. Maybe it is the name is reminiscent of digital. Not very appealing if you like analog goodness. I like my digital Holy Grail pedal which does a good job of faking spring reverb. And that convinced me to try the Digitech’s Bad Monkey which does a good job of faking a slightly overdriven tube amp.
So, Digitech earilier this month released Hardwire series I did not imediatley dismiss them. We could have been easy to do thinking there silly in the this one goes to 11 kind of way.
Here is their sales pitch:
The HardWire Guitar Pedals feature true bypass and constant high-voltage operation (15-volts) from a single 9-volt battery or power supply. True bypass allows a guitar’s true tone to pass unaltered when in bypass mode. Constant high-voltage operation prevents undesired distortion when used with high-output pickups and allows effects pedals to work flawlessly in amplifier effects loops. The HardWire Guitar Pedals are crafted from premium, all-metal components to perform night after night, tour after tour.
Each HardWire pedal also features an assortment of tourworthy accessories like green gaffer tape common to pro pedalboards, Stomplock knobguards to maintain pedal settings, and a hook & loop pad to fasten the pedal to a pedalboard.
The HardWire lineup consists of the seven distinct pedals: the HT-2 Chromatic Tuner (a guitar tuner with tuning references including flat and double flat), the CM-2 Tube Overdrive featuring a Classic mode and a Modern, higher-gain overdrive mode, the SC-2 Valve Distortion with Crunch mode and a Saturated mode for modern hard rock tones, the TL-2 Metal Distortions with a percussive Tight mode and a Loose mode for detuned guitars, CR-7 Stereo Chorus featuring seven chorus types from classic Analog to modern Multi-Voice settings, the DL-8 Delay Looper with ten delay types from Tape to Digital and a 20-second Looper, and the RV-7 Stereo.
OK, the higher constant voltage does kind of sound like a this one goes to 11 kind of thing. But I can see it purpose in theory(OK and not for the tuner.) I am not sure if it translated in practice though but more headroom is generally a good thing. I am not a high output pickup kind of guy so may some people could really benefit from this? Whatever the benefit I thought it was an interesting idea when most new pedals have no new ideas. The have a sharp modern look which suits them well.
I think we are going to see more non-boutique pedals like these be true bypass also. While true bypass can be great I don’t think it is necessary for a non-tonesucking quiet pedal. And you if you have a zillion true bypass pedals it is just like connecting a zillion cables together. Buffered switch can be a good think. I have never had any problem with my very un-exotic Boss pedals buffered switching.
None the less interesting pedals.
Double Blind Tests or Not Much Luck
A while ago I started to deeply think about the audiophile phenomenon after reading about The Amazing Randi and his dealings with Stereophile and those marketing equipment to audiophiles(A.K.A. suckers). Then last month I saw this business with hangers versus monster cables that caused me to look for more info on double blind testing of audio equipment. I intended on posting this earlier but frankly did not find much of what I was really after and I consider myself at least a decent googler. Maybe the Internets is not the best place to look for facts?
That probably is the case but I know there is more to it than that. Not a lot of people have that have the means to do a bunch of tests. And the ones that do have few reasons to do so and sometimes lots of reasons not to. Is some print or online publication going to do tests that have the potential to piss off there advertisers? Buying equipment just to test is unrealistic for us normal Joe’s. A good test is not a easy thing to do scientifically. I a lot of what I found was just some guy in a forum saying him and his buddy tested such and such as best they could. Not very scientific maybe but the best that could be done on many occasions. It is kind of a pain to do it right and involves things that most people don’t find particular entertaining like statistics and careful planning.
I just wanted to know test results out of curiosity and a desire to let go of my misconceptions. What I was most interested in was modeling versus the really thing I didn’t find to much on that. I hear a lot of opinions on this topic but it always seems the opinion giver started out biased one way or another. That an anecdotes but nothing very meaningful. I am sure I have my biased and foolish beliefs also but I would like to get rid of them. Even as a pretty skeptical person am sure of prejudices can really color my perception of sounds or anything else for that matter.
The tests though revealing are not a lot of fun. It is human nature to believe in the power of certain objects. We want to believe in them. Our myths and history are filled with them like Excalibur, holy relics, talismans, lucky charms, Starbucks Coffee, Mullard tubes, etc. Myth dispelling is not always fun.
I think a lot of the myths need to dispelled though. Products who’s value is only supported by the fact that it is expensive and/or rare. I am always leery of anything that has a huge jump form other similar products or is proceeded by NOS, vintage, etc. Not that some old product aren’t great but by no means all of them are. And price is only what some is will to pay not what it costs to make or what it is worth.
It is not all about expense and the prestige of owning a fancy piece of gear. I new a guy that cut racket balls in half and set is tuner and cd player on them. He was sure it made things sound better. Everyone likes to think they have an edge including me. I just wish I had a better idea what is reality and what is just my bias’s, skepticism or desire.
There are some links below if you are interested. I tried to keep out the less authoritative ones.
Music Thing A synth test you can take yourself. (I didn’t have a clue)
PC ABX testing software
The Listening Sessions a bunch or recording the could be used in ABX test and just interesting to hear
Christian’s Blog has a VST ABX tester
David Carlstrom has post alot of ABX data
(Georg Mueller Stefan Trippler Synthesizer-Hörtest)-all blind synth sample links from above
recordproducer.com-mic preamp test
Home audio
Logical Lead Guitar
Lutherie Information Website bass preamp test
Mobile Music
maxiumpc-earbuds and digital music files
Hi-Fi Stuff
Wired Pear cables chickens out
NY Times-Excellent article on cables.
hometheraterhifi.com -powercord test
Richard Cark $10,000 Amp Challenge
THE CONSUMERIST coat hangers vs. monster cables
MISC.
some technical statistics stuff