DigiTech DF-7 Distortion Factory

this is not a easy pedal to use. you have to tinker around with this unit to get it to sound good. I thought the manual was ehhhh, The bottom line you will need to spend some time dialing in your tone.

Ill only use models 5,6, 7 on this pedal.
Model 5 is based on the Boss Mt-2 Model 6 is the digitech Metal Master and Model 7 is the Electro Harmonix Big Muff , other than the Digitech Metal Master which I own , I cant compare this pedal to the originals . So liking models 5,6,7 are my own personal preferences , those to me sound the best .
Now I can tell you the difference between this pedal and the metal master pedal on this pedal you have more control of your highs and lows with this pedal .The sound Im getting with pedal using Model 6 has almost a ring modulation type sound which is very cool.
The other models are just not my cup of tea , I wont say theyre bad , but to my ears and my style those 3 models just sound best .
Im using this amp with my Koch Powertone II a gain monster , Now you may say if my amp is such a gain monster why am I using this pedal . The way I use it , Ill be doing a a chordal thing on the clean channel now I want to rip into some ass kicking rifferage , rather than change into my gain channel , Now ill step on this pedal while still in Clean Channel , and I can turn it off just as easy to return to the clean. It just gives you like another gain channel , So instead of having 2 gain chamnnels a gain and the ultra gain channels now you have 3 with this pedal .Just another weapon to creat some mayhem lol.Im a hard edged rock and blues player ,I love great guitar music so any one from Segovia to Saxon is cool. My own influences are Gary Moore Michael Schenker , Zakk , page , among others
Once I get it really dialed in ILL come back with my settings but Im still dicking with it , I do think like I said you have to really play with this to dial it in. its not a take out of the box type of pedal , its very easy to sound like balls on this pedal , thats why there are so many low ratings, But once you get it dialed I think you will be surprised at how good it will sound.

I hope I can depend on it , just got it so far no problems , Digitech tends to eat batteries so be prepared to spend a fortune on 9volt jobbers unles you use a power supply recommended.

never dealt with em

Ive been playing awhile Im 46 , I play mostly gibsons as well ESPs, Im a self described hard edged rock blues player , While I wouldnt classify myself a metal player , I think I could play most metal, Its I grew up listening to the gods Clapton ,Page hendrix moore , schenker among others so I tend to be more that type of player ,
I think its a decent pedal , its not user friendly , you must work it , but I think once you do , you will find it useable , Its a good piece of equipment I wouldnt say great but I got some decnt tones after fiddling with it . Have patience with this pedal

I concur with the dude about the Distortion factory. It's a mad world of mayhem out there with some musical instrument manufacturers thinking they can sell us the bill of goods year after year and we'll just buy it cause it has Digitech on it!
This unit is nothing more than a made over Grungs pedal with a little tighter EQ on it. You stil can't make shit taste like chocolate donuts!
It wouldn't be so bad if Digitech slod their stuff for say 1/2 off what they retail it for. Then they should market it towards the beginning guitarist and they won't know the diierence.

Tried this though my clean twin cabinet. The thing Howled and grunted with some sort of digital clipping noise. Kinda like a gorilla trying to take a dump in a 5 gallon paint bucket!

I wouldn't take this thing to a practice let alone a gig. Unless you like sounds like braying donkeys im a barrell leave this piece of glorified feces at HOME!

Digitech has lost it's mind. They used to be my fav, now I wouldn't take their stuff if they gave it away.

I want to comply with the terms of HC guidelines but my venacular for my final synopsis of this product leaves me without a comment!

This is an update to my last review. In may last review I said I hadn't bought the pedal yet, but used it a lot in the store and hoped to buy one soon. Well i went and used it some more with lots of guitars and lots of amps and now i'm not so impressed. It doesn't suck, but it's average.

Not very user friendly. Takes alot and I mean a lot of tweaking and screwing and twisting concentric knobs to get waht you want. Then to change in the middle of a set you better know exactly where you want the knobs to be or your S.O.L.

The only sound that sounded ok was the DS1 the rest were just more distortion and the pedal seems to be noisy compared to others. The guy that gave this a 10 says he uses it for recording mostly. I use my pedals for playing live and this pedal doesn't sound that good. It is an interesting concept to have all these sounds in one small box. The name ZOOM comes to mind only the Zoom is easier to use and the Zoom like this pedal sound like POOP! I'm gonna give it a 2 for sound since it does sort of a DS1

Have know idea

Have know idea

Like the first review if you don't know what something is supposed to sound like you might like the pedal. To me this is so much digital crap. My rig Small Clone Chorus, Vintage Rat, Maxon TS9, MXR Micro Amp. Les Paul Custom, Fender Hod Rod DeVille. Been playing 10 years I like all styles of music and play blues to heavey metal

Very easy to use. The manual even has suggested EQ settings for each of the 7 models to attain the most accurate tones. The only bad thing is that when you switch between the 7 modes, you'll probably want to change the EQ to fit the mode...which is time consuming if you are used to multi FX units with saved banks.

I actually don't own one yet, but I tried one in the store for a LONG time with different guitars (Gibson, Ibanez, Epiphone, Schecter) and a 120watt Crate amp. I didn't hear any hiss or noise from this pedal. I don't know how the 7 distortions compare to the REAL pedals they are based on...But I do know they sound good. I think the mode based on the Boss DS-1 sounds better than the real Boss DS-1.

Unlike the Digitech Metal Master, you can turn up the treble on the Distortion Factory sounding really thin and annoying. Aside from having good distortions on its own, you can use the lower gain modes (like the Tube Screamer mode) over amp distortion for an extra boost.

Great for the price. I'd like to buy one, but right now I'm saving up for a new guitar...But in the future I think I'll get one. It would be nice if the 7 mode knob was labeled with the name of the mode, rather than numbers 1 through 7...but I guess you'd start to memorize it once you use it a few times. I compared this with the other Digitech pedals (Metal Master, Tone Driver, Hot Rod, Death Metal, Grunge) a few BOSS Pedals (DS-1, SD-1, MT-2, MD-2) the Line 6 Uber Metal and probably some others I can't remember. This pedal didn't KILL the other pedals, but it was very impressive.

I play various types of metal, from Judas Priest to Megadeth to Death to Dimmu Borgir. I own a Boss Metal Zone, which is a very good pedal for high gain old Megadeth and Metallica type stuff, but not very versatile. I have a USA Jackson, BC Rich NJ Classic Bich and a Crate 120 watt half stack.

This unit gives you a great deal of EQ options which is something that can drastically alter the characteristics of each of the 7 distortion sounds. If you are the plug and play type and don't like to tweak then don't get a pedal like this. This thing gives you alot of tonal options and probably the most variations in distortion sound that I have seen in one single pedal. One of the dual outputs is specifically designed to run to a mixer board and when I ran it to one I found it sounded really good. Some distortion effects seem to mask the characteristics of other effects but this one does not. I found the unit very easy to use and the amount of tweaking required was minimal.

I run this thing into an effects processor and directly to a board...Haven't used it for anything other than recording yet. The sound quality I have gotten out of it has been very good and I haven't encountered any noise problems. I've been playing for 25 years and find this to be the best distortion box I've ever used.

The thing is new and I hope it will last a while...Time will tell.

I own 5 digitec things and have never had problems with any of them so I don't know how their' support is.

Not that easy to use however you can get it with a lot of tweaking and turning and monkeying around. Each different distorion model needs different tweaking. Three concentric controls not sure why they did this, I think someone decided to see how much stuff they could cram into a little box.

Oh boy! this is where the rubber meets the road. The TS9 mode has a real harsh tinny thin sound. The Big Muff mode sounds like distortion through a cow pie and not a Real Big Muff cow pie. The Rat mode doesn't sound like any Rat I ever owned or heard. I have no idea what The Boss Metal Zone sounds like since I never played one. Don't even compare this to a DOD 250 overdrive/pre-amp in that mode it is something else entirely. If thsi is your first pedal and you're 14 year old kid playing "Grunge,Metal,Punk, and thsi is your first pedal you probably will love it. I dorked with thing for and hour and gave it back to the Guitar Center. It gets a 4 because it does make noise and 4 is as low as I can go on anything that sorta works like they say.

I have no idea. I do know you wouldn't know if the pedal was broken or not unless no sound at all came out of it. It appears to be Digitech build cheap quality. Not user friendly for changing a battery ie: unplug your guitar use the tip if your cable to push on a pin and "open sesame"

No idea

Kept it a little over an hour couldn't give it back to the store soon enough. Playing a long time semi-pro weekend warrior gigs. Rockabilly, classic rock, surf, blues, anything but jazz or punk. I know what a TS9, Rat, Big Muff, and a DOD 250 are supposed to sound like and this ain't it.