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SOARING TEADTOIIE'taken is to house the pedals in a toughand durable metal chassis. These boxesare iust a l i t t le wjder than Digi tech's

regular X Series pedals (or indeed theBoss compact pedals) and look verysturdy. One of the features that weliked on some of the more recentDigitech pedals is the way that thefootswitch cover section can beremoved for easy battery access.

Having to get a screwdriver outevery time your 9V ceil dies is a rightpain, but in this case you just push inthe pins at the hinge part of the pedal

with the tip of your jackplug or anyequallypointy obiect, andyou have

instant access. Of course, you can

still use a suitable power adaptor

instead, which ls more practical

if you're adding stompboxes

to a pedalboard

Each pedal is also supplied withsome useful accessories. If you are apedalboard user, each Hardwire pedal

comes with a bespoke velcto pad thatattaches to the base. Another stick-on

extra - a glow-in-the-dark sticker thatgoes on the footswitch section - will

help you find the pedal on dark stages.Digitech has also considered anotherpotentjally emba rrassi ng on-stagesi tuat ion: accidental ly knocking thecontrols with your foot so that you endup stomping into something totallyinappropriate. The solution here is aheavy rubber block that fits over thecontrols so they can't be touched.

It's an ingenious solution that worksperfectly and doesn't upset the knobpositions as it's being applied either.While we're talking knobs, it's great tosee that Digitech hasn't scrimped onthe potentiometers. They feel really

expensive in use, thanks to the solid,

graduated feel as you turn them.It's quality all the way as far as theconstruction goes, but all of thispractical stuff will be for nought if thetones aren't there.

To this end, al1 of the Hardwirepedals use true-bypass switching sothey shouldn't interfere with thesignal when they're switched off, andDigitech has wrapped up some

carefully considered tone-bend i ngcircuitry with an important featurewhen it comes to retaining the quality

at stage volumes: plenty of headroom.This has been achieved by increasing

the operating voltage, and as well asadding to the maximum volume thishelps to avoid that'sized-down' feelyou can get with some stompboxes.

CM.2 TUBE OVERDRIVEThis increased sense of size reallyhelps with the Tube Overdrive.

It means that it feels more like the

overdrive is coming from the amplifieritself rather than a pedal, and with anoverdrive pedal that can really make

or break the effect.

There are two modes to choose

from: classic and modified. Classicbrings that conventional overdrivestyle of clipping, where the tone of theguitar retains a lot of its naturalqualities and to a certain extent you

can control the level of the drive fromyour guitar's volume control. It's apleasing overdrive with a warm basictone that you can either fatten orbrighten with the simple low and high

controls, but we found that subtletywas the best option. E

DIGITECH HARDWIRE SERIESi

Switch over to the

modified setting and a

bit more treble, along

with more gain, coaxes

the pedal into delivering

a soaring lead tone. That

extra compression bringsout some exciting,

squeal-inducing,

long-sustaining potent ia l . a l l

without losing the natural fee1. It

works great for boosting the front

end of your valve amp too.

TL.2 METAL DISTORTIONThere's a lot more tone-tweaking

potential on offer from the Metal

Distortion. With this kind ol

stompbox it's vital to get the

mid-range right and retain plenty oflow end, and here you get the high

and low controls combined in one of

the dual-concentric knobs whiie themid-range level is bundled together

with a mid-range frequency control onthe other. This means that you canzero in on the precise area that you

need to either scoop out for your

chugging metal rhythm sound or

boost for a monster lead tone.

Either way, you have a good amount

of solid low-end to add that vital bass

wffi

,SOMEOFTHE BEST DELAYSWE'VE HEARD FROM A DIGITATPEDATINATONG TIME'thump to proceedings. The tight andloose switch takes this a step further,

effectively giving you the option

, . of a more moody sty le of metaltone such as early Sabbath or

Queens of the Stone Age, or

a tighter 1ow end forpounding nu metal or

a more punishing

and extreme

industrial tone.

DL.8DELAY/

LOOPERThe DL-S puts

out some of thebest delay sounds

we've heard from a digitalpedal in a long time. Not only

do they sound and feel l ike they're

coming from a very expensive piece ofstudio equipment, with next to no

addi t ional background noise, they're

also very easy to set up. There arelevel, repeats and time controls - all ofwhich are totally intuitive - and thena function swltch that takes the pedal

beyond straight digital delays into

slapback, modulated and reverse delayand some very convincing analogue,

'lo-fi'and tape echo emulations.What's more, a1l of these delay modes

are available in both mono and stereo.The quality remains well above

impressive at all times, and you onlyneed to hold down the footswitch fortwo seconds to engage the tap tempomode and get those delays perfectly intime with the song. The additlonalloop mode offers up to 20 seconds ofrecording and is very easy to use. Youcan overdub loops but there's no wayto undo or save them, and while thisis a handy extra mode, big-time looperfans will still want to keep hold oftheir dedicated loop pedals. It

90 GUITABBIffiB FEBRUARY 2ooe

DIGITECH HARDWIRE

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CR-7 STEREO CHORUSThe bog-standard chorus sound foundin late-'80s multi-effects units andcheap pedals has been responsible forputting a lot of people off chorus as aneffect. The CR-7 could well be theperfect antidote and just the device towin back the chorus-jaded.

Just as with the previous pedals, theeffects are clean-sounding, robust andvery reminiscent of good-qualityrackmount gear. Best of all is theability to be genuinely subtle withoutpushing the effect into thebackground. There are several effecttypes on of fer , t i t led studio, mult i ,modern, boutique, analogue, iazz andvintage. All of these are easily

configured with the level, speed anddepth controls.

If you're after very expansive effects/don't forget that this is a stereo pedalso you can set up two amps with iust atouch of chorus for a ridiculously hugelive sound. Similarly, you can iniect itinto two channels of your recordingsetup for some massive tones. It wouldhave been nice to see some tremolo orrotary-style effects stuck in here too,but then again we wouldn't want tolose any of what's already included.It's all too good.

RV.7 STEREO REVERBStompbox-based reverb has alwaysbeen one of the worst affected by the'sound-shrinking' phenomenon of

battery-based effects.It's so great, then, tohear iust how big theRV-7 can sound. Even ifyou choose to plug thepedal into the front ofyour amp rather thanplacing it in the effectsloop, it sounds reallyexcellent and the

options available exceedthose of many a multi-effects unit.

The reverbs are actually licensedftom top-notch studio gearmanufacturer Lexicon, whicn comesas no surprise when you hear them.The spring reverb option includes allthat extra mechanical detritus of thereal thing, the gated reverb will surelyhave your drummer on his kneesbegging to borrow it for his snare,and the room, hall and plate varietieshave a genuine sense of atmosphere

W

92 GUITARBI|YEB FEBRUARv 2ooe

with complex-sounding and veryrealistic reflections. Even if your amphas a decent reverb, these studio-styleeffects are a great alternative.

You also get reverse and modulatedsettings for more adventurous reverbantics, but wherever that mode knobfalls you'1l have no problem tweakingthe reverbs to taste with the simplelevel, liveliness (brightness, in otherwords) and decay knobs. Again,background noise is very low and thepedal sounds so lush that wed veryhappily use it in a studio setting too -it's that impressive.

CONCLUSIONThe popularity of 'boutique' pedalshas meant that even the mostrespected mass-produced stompboxeshave the prestige they once enjoyed.Some guitarists seem to feel that,unless their pedals have been built bya hermit in a cave using componentsreclaimed from pre-war radarequipment, they can't be any good.

This new range from Digitech doesmore than simply address some of theissues of large-scale productionstompboxes - it knocks them out ofthe park. The Hardwire pedals boastfull, detailed tones, very lowbackground noise and excellent buildquality (not to mention someingenious accessories). The delay,chorus and reverb pedals in particularoffer a broad range of really excellentsounds and must rank as some of themost powerful stand-alone pedalscurrently available. All of these things,together with some very competitiveprices, put these Hardwire pedalsfirmly in our'Best Buy'category. GB