DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory Inital Impressions

[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.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

One thing the pedal does and I didn't know it till today (by accident even though it says you can in the manual) is that whatever distortion model you switched to when you try them with an effect...it becomes that effect's distortion until you change it again. COOL.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

One thing the pedal does and I didn't know it till today (by accident even though it says you can in the manual) is that whatever distortion model you switched to when you try them with an effect...it becomes that effect's distortion until you change it again. COOL.

tone.. don't be the typical guy.. read the manuals first!! heh...
Still a winner for me!!

Spuds..I tried the direct connect thing..

I truely can't tell much difference..

but I have bad ears..

My knobs are all silent when switching...

I tried with humbuckers too..

I get my screaming solos... offkey, but their in there...

I think sumptin happened to yours... :thwap:

 

[Tone2TheBone]

tone.. don't be the typical guy.. read the manuals first!! heh...
Still a winner for me!!

Spuds..I tried the direct connect thing..

I truely can't tell much difference..

but I have bad ears..

My knobs are all silent when switching...

I tried with humbuckers too..

I get my screaming solos... offkey, but their in there...

I think sumptin happened to yours... :thwap:

RTFM!

I never read the f'*** manuals ever. No wonder I don't know what I'm doing. :rockon:

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I want to revisit this thread.

I finally got around to putting my pedal board back together after the holidays. It was dusty as heck so I took everything off and cleaned it up. I've been trying to find the best sounding position for everything now that I have a new Fuzz Face. The circuit of the Fuzz Face is temperamental and it likes being after certain pedals and doesn't like others. I found that it likes being after the EX-7 a lot but the problem with that is that the 2 of them together makes for a hell of a lot of noise. I've been yakking back and forth with our resident pedal guru Duhvoodooman over the best ways to hook things up and he suggested I try the EX-7 through the noise reduction loop of the NS-2. I know Justa said he took his out and that makes sense because the gate would mess with the Space Station setting and decay. I might try putting the EX-7 through the loop anyway to see if that sounds ok. The reason I want to do that is because the Fuzz Face likes the EX-7 in front of it. The tone is much warmer and fuller than it is with other pedals in front of it. I tried putting the Fuzz Face before the EX-7 and it sounded like garbage...but sounds wunnerful after it. Also when I put the Fuzz Face into the loop of the NS-2 it sounds sterile. If I combine EX and FF in the loop maybe things will be AOK. To complicate matters more I've also bought a used Boss GE-7 EQ to try and smooth things out from the NS-2 into the Fuzz Face which would be hooked up the way it currently is on the pic below cept that I would move the Bad Monkey out from that position. I'm using the Monkey in front of the Fuzz Face to help bring back some warmth out of the NS-2 loop and to provide that additional tone shaping and boost. A GE-7 in theory would be better suited for that which is why I got it. Anyway what do you guys think?

Here's a pic of my current configuration.

View attachment 1458

 

[marnold]

Anyway what do you guys think?

I think I got dizzy listening to your explanation, but pictures of pedal boards are always Good Things. Pictures are pretty.

 

[Robert]

Me too got dizzy, for a moment I thought it was from this glass of Scotch, but then I remembered it was Tone talking...

Dude, you have a pedal board again! Congrats, welcome to the gang! That red thing looks purdy. Now you just need a green SD-9. And a delay pedal. :bravo:

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I think I got dizzy listening to your explanation, but pictures of pedal boards are always Good Things. Pictures are pretty.

You think you're dizzy I've been noodling with this stuff in my head all day. I just went back and reread my post and I'm so dizzy I'm rollin' :rotflmao:

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Me too got dizzy, for a moment I thought it was from this glass of Scotch, but then I remembered it was Tone talking...

Dude, you have a pedal board again! Congrats, welcome to the gang! That red thing looks purdy. Now you just need a green SD-9. And a delay pedal. :bravo:

Oh Roberto the delay pedal is on there. The Marshall Echo Head delay pedal is to the top and left of the purdy red thing. I would love to put an SD-9 on there. Who knows maybe I will the year's just begun.

 

[Robert]

I see, I wasn't sure what that Marshall pedal was... silly me :thwap:

I'd really like to try the Maxon VOP-9 which is Scott Henderson's current favorite gain pedal. I bet it's not that different from the SD-9 though.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I used to just blow off the use and praises of the Maxon SD-9 until I tried one for myself. That pedal should be on my board. It's kinda expensive brand new though and I haven't found any on Ebay lately. I know nothing about the VOP. I just know I liked Scott's Dog Party sound!

 

[oldguy]

Dude, that is a seriously nice looking pedal board! :AOK:

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

Someone call Dizzy?

I also have the boss ge-7 but I use mine as the first thing after the loop.. and before the delays... I doubt that helps.. just wanted to add to the Dizzyness...

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Justa if you've got one (GE-7) then I musta done gooda if Justa has one-a. I put it after the Fuzz Face in the loop only cause it didn't do much in front of the fuzz face like I thought it would HOWEVER it's great for bringing back some nice treble freqs that get sucked from the big purdy red thing and the dark purdy green thing.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Update. Sorry no new pictures though. Use your imagination.

I tried the EX-7 in the noise loop and it works but it does cut off the Space Station delay and makes the other models sound weird. I took it out and put it back in front. My guitar gets plugged in there first and it will stay. Next comes the NS-2 then from the loop output I go

Bad Monkey>Fuzz Face>Boss GE-7>Zonkin' Yellow Screamer>Marshall Guv'nor Plus then back to the NS-2 to finish the loop. I moved the Phase 90 out of the loop and now that goes after the output of the NS-2 then I go out from the 90 to the Marshall Echo Head then to the Digitech Digiverb then finally the Boss TU-2 Tuner.

I like having the GE-7 after the Fuzz Face cause I can always tailor that Fuzz Face sound using it. Right now though I'm inclined to use the GE-7 as a brightner and signal boost when I have all the distorto pedals off. Playing clean I get my sparkle back. All those runs and circuits cause some tone suck so having the GE-7 bring them back is nice...and it's also stinkin' quiet. I love that GE-7 you got good taste Justa. :beer: