DigiTech DF-7 Distortion Factory

Very self explainitary nobs i.e low, high, mid range, drive etc. however all are very sensitive on any of the settings(exept the bass.....read on), which can be good as there are then loads of sounds to be found and expermented with, but can also be annoying as when you find a sound you like if you change it you will struggle to find that sound again. the pedal model nob is a simple click nob, none of that morph rubbish. so its easy to use, but to get a good sound it is rather fiddley.

first of all this is a DIGItech pedal meaning the effects are digital, and so they do sound digital, if you are looking for a really crunchy distortion why are you even looking at pedals, save up and get a tube amp. however if like me you just want to improve your practice set up it is pretty cool. it literaly has a huge rage of distortion can go from blues- rock- metal and everthing inbetween seriously. however none are as good as a tube amp.the tube screamer is good on its own for a sort of bluesy sound, but dont use it like a real tube screamer and put your amp distortion on too, that just muffles the sond. the dod is a very good rock sound. the ds-1 is alrightish a bit heavier than the dod but not nearly enough bass although it does emulate a good crunch. the proco rat is a good punk sound the mt-2 can be very good with a lot of tweaking and can be very metal but it does not have enough bass by far, this is the setting i use and it is very good. the metal master setting is awefull for rhythm but supposedley good for solos which makes sense as it has soooo much mid but it is still awefull. use the mt-2 setting for solos. and the ehx setting is very nice but a little too muffled even though it is a fuzz box the origional is clearly better.

very heavy box and also very solid. i do gig this with out a back up, however i have a metal zone in case of emergencies. and by thge way this is better thatn the mt-2 on that setting because it doesnt sound like a chian saw and it doesnt become flat at high volumes like the mt-2

i play metal and punk mostly but alo some rock and some blues. this is a virtualy perfect pedal for me as it has every style in one box. i mean if you love metal and get a metal stomp box what do you do when you fancy a bit of bleus or light rock. ive been playing for about 5 years now, although my musical knowledge far exeeds that as i am obsessed with music and anything to do with guitars. my current rig is my bc rich w/ dimarzio x2n humbuckers (or my shitty stagg strat copy which i got for ??40. lol)->boss oc3-> df-7-> 65w fender princeton. if it were lost id be pisseed cos i cant affort another at the mo but wen i could i would get something else. i love exploring musical shit: effects etc. love the versatility and love the general sound but hate the lack of bass but im getting an eq this week to sort that problem out. it needs more bass on the 3rd 4th 5th and 6th settings. for the price it is one of the best and with lots of versatility

Pretty simple for anyone who's used to using pedals and the general "art" of EQ tweaking. The only thing to remember is the tone knob is a sustain knob for the Muff setting and a filter sweep for the Rat setting. Meant to emulate the sounds of an Ibanez Tubescreamer, Pro-co Rat, Boss DS-1, DOD 205, Boss MetalZone, Digitech MetalMaster and the EH Big Muff Pi.

I've been a pedal collector for about 10 years, buying and selling based on what I think I need at the time, I gave this pedal a good two full day demoing at the music store I work at. Thought it might be able to clean up my pedalboard a bit since I'm running a Tubescreamer, MXR Wylde overdrive, Pro-co Rat and two Big Muff's (vintage american and newer russian)on my pedal board. For settings based on pedals I already own and use everyday, this thing sounds a little bit like them, in a really proccessed way. You can hear that they got a few elements of the tones right, but the settings don't react like the originals, if you understand what I mean by that. It won't sag like a Muff will, it dosen't warm up with heavier picking like a Rat will, and the Tubescreamer sounds like you put your amp in a big cardboard box. DS-1 setting is completeley void of low end punch. I have zero use in the world for the metal zone or metal master, so I have no real opinion on these. Rolling back high end and pumping in a little low end was a neccesity, this thing is a harsh sounding unit.

We sell alot of digitech stuff, and it's not to often anything comes back broken or faulty, they do make a good solid product. You could not gig with this pedal using batteries, a good one might last a few hours tops.

Digitech is a easy company to deal with, never had a problem

I play classic/modern rock, blues, country, jazz and reggae. I've been gigging regularly and teaching for 15 years. I tested this unit with a Les Paul standard and a Standard Tele into a late sixties YSR-1 set clean as possible. If you're looking for a proccessor that models different distortions, this is a pretty versatile unit. If you're of the impression that this unit can perfectly dail in all your favorite pedals, you would be mistaken. It's not junk, but it certainly does not behave like the pedals it emulates.

Grab a coffee or beer and read the manual 2 or 3 times in detail.

The quality of the sound is good but your amp will make a difference especially if its a tube amp.

These pedals are tanks.

Havent used them.

Digitech makes good pedals but has a few that are not so hot. This is one of their best.

very easy to use
select the distortion type you require and then fiddle with all the other knobs to tweak it endlessly.
this is easily done and the functions are simple>bass, mids etc
manual reasonably helpful, lets you know what stompboxes each setting emulates

i use certain settings a lot, others rarely
however it is a pleasure to have so many sounds available without having 6/7 pedals all over the place.
tubescreamer setting is good
next one is ok
the third one is awful but so is the pedal its copying!
rat is amazing
the next 2 metal ones are ok, dont use them that much
the fuzz is ok, doesnt have the bass power of the original but is still pretty decent.

reliable
i use a power source not batteries

i have been playing the guitar for years
i enjoy it and i enjoy this pedal
its probably my favourite pedal purely because distortion is a major part of my playing you get a lot of pedals in one!

Lot's of tweakability - usually more than the real pedals. So that could be viewed as more difficult. But it ain't rocket science either.

First I have to say, the best thing about this pedal is that you can actually turn the knob that changes models and keep an even volume. That means you can play a mild overdrive with the Tubescreamer in one song, twist the knob for the Metal Zone and get a heavier sound without a blast of volume. This is critical to be used for live playing.

I have the high EQ knob rolled down a bit and that seems to keep everything warm. When fiddling with tone, make sure you sit in front of your amp at "performance volume" to simulate what the audience is hearing. Most people find they need to turn down the treble a bit because you don't hear the piercing frequencies when you are standing near the amp and above the speakers. Other people notice this? Think of the audience.

Playing in a cover band, this pedal allows a guitarist to sound very different. I use 3 models. Tubescreamer for mild overdrive, DS-1 for crunchy rhytm and the occasional Metal Zone for the few heavy songs we do. Are they perfect models? I don't know, but I like the sound and the versatility.

Seems really well-built.

Can we all agree to not use battery usage as a measure of "Reliability." This isn't a little clipping overdrive circut that uses virtually no power. You're running a computer here. The pedal isn't unreliable when it dies in a couple hours. Your power source is. Plug it in!

In 3 months, it has performed perfectly.

Covers all my bases and takes up little space on the pedal board. For what it does, it is reasonably priced.

I found this extremely easy to use. You just turn the equilizer knobs and you're set. No pedal model sounds bad when tweaked, which is awesome. They all have variations to suit yourself, and they all sound really good, and all you need to do is turn a couple of knobs.

The manual explains things quite clearly, although it just tells you to set each model's knobs to 12 o'clock to reproduce the pedal. I don't mind it, though, because only a loser beginner would want to exactly model the pedal you're set to. Just find out what you like.

But the manual doesn't really matter, because it's all about the operation of the pedal, which is so simple even a goldfish could remember how to set it right. I give the DF-7 a 10/10 for ease of use. It's so simple that it's great.

The sound quality is excellent. I use a Stagg Les Paul model through a Roland Micro-Cube, and even with the tiny little amp, the pedal still sounds awesome. You get basically no hum out of it, except if you turn it up so loud you could bust up your amp.

For each pedal model, the sound seems to have been reproduced falwlessly, and you can make it stronger or weaker depending on your taste. Given the easy knobs, you can simply turn them to match yoru style of playing, or whatever sound you love.

So, this is a 10/10 too. Absolutely flawless.

This feels mighty, mighty solid. It's built like a tank. I reckon if you placed it in the middle of the road, a car would hit it and go flipping into some guy's house. Very well built pedal.

I haven't had to deal with the company so far because I only recently bought it, and plus it's built like a tank, as above.

I play mainly rock, not much classic rock, but more heavy rock that's been introduced recently. This pedal suits it perfectly, especially since I love the sound of the Mesa Boogie Rectifiers. Although the Boogies aren't included in this pedal, it sure can get close to the sound.

I've only been playing it for a couple of days, but already I love it. Since it contains 7 awesome pedal models, especially the MT-2 (which I was going to buy before I discovered this beauty), I will never need another distortion pedal again, unless of course it breaks or is stolen. And if it was, I would break into the highest secuirity place in the world just to get another one.

As mentioned above, I was originally going to buy an MT-2. After comparing these two pedals, I found that this one was a lot more versatile, and since it contained the MT-2 anyway, I didn't need the little BOSS.

Overall, it's a wonderful pedal, buy it, buy it, buy it, or you'll regret it 'cause I'll come and kill you myself. For all those people who don't like it, I think you should get a plunger or something and get that shit out of your ears, cause this is an awesome pedal. The only thing I'm not sure about it everyone's complaint of the battery draining, since mine is just new. So I'll have to see.

A lot of the negative reviews for this product stem from the fact that is is actually very difficult to get the sound you want. The EQ is REALLY flexible so it's easy to come up with something that sounds poop if you're not careful. Takes time to set up.

I bought the pedal because I produce a lot of bands with lots of different styles so I needed something with all the sounds for direct recording/Tracking.

On balance nothing from the DF7 has stayed on any record but it sounds pretty good as a guide guitar and I've been impressed by the quality of the speaker simulator.

I've been lucky enough to do blind A/B comparisons with some of the sounds:

(we were going through a marshall stack on a clean channel with an SG)

Proco Rat vs. DF7
The Rat wins hands down. Everybody prefered the rat. It sounded beefier and sharper somehow.

Big muff pi original green edition vs. DF7
The DF7 was considerably sharper and a little harsher. Half the people thought the DF7 sounded better! Pretty good.

DS 1 vs. DF7
Again, the DF7 performed fabulously with a couple of EQ tweaks it sounded better than the DS1 and fooled everyone In my opinion this is the best setting.

Tubescreamer vs. DF7
We gave up here because we had a couple of different tubescreamers that sounded completely different from each other anyway! so it was difficult to compare. In anycase the DF7 sounded great.

The metalzone sounds awesome but it does remind me a little of the ZOOM emulation. A bit digital.

The metal master setting is pretty unusable. I don't understand it! It is almost ringmodulating. It could be used for some kind of solo as a special effect. I suppose. To me it sounds like bagpipes being played underwater!

No problems, but it sucks up batteries. The battery is just for back up.

N/A

The DF7 is a great sounding pedal. A bit like a swiss army knife. If you are a guitarist that doesn't like digital sounds or if you are looking for a rich analog experience, don't buy it! Buy the original pedal that you need.
For producers and for recording, it's an excellent time saver. I prefer it to the Line 6 pod which costs three times the price.

This pedal is like any other boss or digitech single effect pedal out there. Its very simple to figure out and doesnt take long at all to get a great sound out of this pedal.

I use this pedal with a Peavey HP EXP Signature guitar and a Budda Superdrive 80 Series II amp. The amp and guitar that youre using this for and the style of music really determines the type of sound you'll get out of this. The pedal has a feature where you can scoop the mid frequency and I find that quite handy. My favorite setting on this pedal is their rendition of the Boss Metal Zone. This is the best model on the pedal although it doesnt sound as full as the true Metal Zone pedal. The low end is not as full as the real deal

This thing is built solid! I have had no problems with the casing or anything breakin on it. I've dropped it down a flight of stairs and it still worked.

Ive never had to deal with the company

I'd say that if youre a metal/ hard rock player..that the metal zone setting would be the way to go for you on this pedal. If I lost this pedal or it was stolen I wouldnt buy it again because I only leave it on one setting. If it came down to it I would go and buy a Boss Metal Zone for this style. I wish it had a noise gate because when other electrical appliances or on it can be noisy

I'm a techie so this one is a no-brainer.

No single setting can fit in everything. You have to consider what guitar, amp and song you are playing. And that is why I love this pedal. I have a Yamaha RGX 421D, Ibanez RG 321MH and an Epiphone Del Rey. They all have different pickups and wood so they sound different. With the Yamaha, I usually adjust the tone higher than the Ibanez. The Del Rey sounds great with any setting :-)

If I use a 40Watt amp or bigger, model #3 (DS-1) is more than enough for the tone I'm looking for. For smaller practice amps, I would have to use model #5 (Metalzone) to beef up the sound. I also play a lot of blues and model #1 (TS9) is awesome.

If you can't find the sound you're looking for in this pedal then consider getting a professional sound engineer because that means you are a moron.

I think this is bullet proof :)

Never ever had to get in touch with them.

This is the Distortion pedal I have been looking for. An added bonus is the mixer out which allows me to plug it directly into my computer sound card line-in for recording. If it were stolen I'd cry :( ... and get another one.

And now to hunt for the best Chorus pedal.

read the manual. if you can do that, you can get a nice sound of it. the manual is pretty straight-forward: slight variations in knob functions with different pedals, but nothing drastic. again, if you read the manual, very easy to use.

i use an epi lefty les paul custom with seymour duncan jazz and custom-5 pickups wired with push-pull pots for phase-reverse and coil-splitting through a behringer blue devil gx 112, sunlop cry baby, and korg tuner pedal with a dunlop brick as power supply.

sounds great (the cabinet modeling comes in handy). all the models have potention (imo), but my standard right now is the 1st model (ts9). use that with a scooped-mid setting, and you can find a tonal happy place. goes well with reverb and wah (haven't tried much else with it). not too noisy at all, however if you max out the gain and highs on any pedal, then how many noise suppressors do you think you'll need to keep it quiet? then again, if that kinda setting is your preferred choice, why are you worried about excess noise?

the model selection seems to cover the style bases pretty well:
ts9
dod overdrive 250
boss ds-1
proco rat
metalzone
metal master
big muff

cabinet modeling includes some fender, marshall, and others I can't think of right now.

nice little brick. stands up to my size 16 feet nicely.

haevn't had to deal with them. they're website seems to usually be up and running well, and warranty registration was easy, so some points there.

i usually play praise, jazz, rock, stuff i make. Some favorite artist: beatles, zeppelin., third day, audio adrenaline, beatles, django reinhardt, chet atkins, beatles, fleetwood mac, jan akkerman, jeff beck, casting crowns, beatles, etc. been playing for about five years.
i would get another one if something happened to this pedal. have had a few pedals. this one works. period (hence the period at the end of the last short sentence). if you can't find ur kind of sound in this pedal, then you should just learn how to make pedals and build your own. i like that it gives a selection of equipment and not just rip offs of certain artists' sounds. nice job digitech.