DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory

I bought the Digitech EX-7 last year after seeing some ads in one of the guitar publications. I bought it mostly for the wahs and the Univibe, but found myself liking most of the effects. I recommend the optional footswitch because you can change patches on the fly. I wish there was a way to completely bypass the distortions because I have distortions/overdrives that I prefer. Sometimes if you go a little crazy with the wah, you inadvertantly switch on the distortion. I think this pedal is easy to use, but sometimes hard to control it.

My setup consists of; Gibson Les Paul Standard, or Fender '62 reissue Stratocaster, or a Fender Telecaster, into my tuner>Digitech EX-7>Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet>Vox Satchurator>Danelectro Tremolo>Boss DD3, into a Fender Prosonic(60W, class A tube amp with 2 10 inch speakers). The EX-7 is very quiet(except for the squeaky treadle, a little oil should cure that). The wahs sound great(I prefer the 2nd one), and the Univibe sounds very nice. It replaced my Dunlop Crybaby and Dunlop Univibe, thus freeing up valuable space on my pedalboard. I can tweak to my heart's content with the EX-7(not so with my Dunlop units). I do love the Dunlop pedals, but the EX-7 sounds as good, or better, with greater flexibility. As previously mentioned, I could do without the distortions because I get everything I need with my dedicated distortion/overdrive setup. The Whammy effect is very cool, and I find myself using it more and more. Also, the Flanger sounds great. I should point out that all of the effects sound great, I just don't use them all(Space Station, Rotary speaker).

This thing is built like a tank, and has worked flawlessly on countless gigs and recording sessions. I would use this on a gig without backup(seeing as I only have one EX-7). As mentioned, my only concern is inadvertantly switching on the distortion mode during an overzealous wah-fest.

I have never had to deal with the manufacturer, so I have no opinion.

I have been playing for over 25 years. I play a wide range of music, from top 40 to heavy metal, and the EX-7 fits in with just about everything. If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely replace it.

The Digitech EX-7 Expression Factory, is as (supposed by the name) a multieffects unit focusing on expression effects (it has 7).
it is pretty easy to dial in which sounds you look for(at first you'll need the manual to remember what each knob does). though, the univibe sound is difficult to handle as it tends to sound like a tremolo when the depth of the effect is turned on, even at 10 o'clock.
the 7 different effects feature:
1. Crybaby
2. Vox Wah
3. Digitech Space station
4. Digitech Whammy
5. Univibe
6. Leslie
7. A/DA flanger

besides expression, the pedal features 7 distortions, but they apear pretty useless as they cannot be used as standalone and turning on the distortions is pretty difficult.

but as long as you follow the manual, you're pretty good of the start. though it has a bit of a learning curve, or should i say "remembering" curve, as thats actually the worst part.

my current setup is a Gibson SG Menace, which i moddet to have a 81 in the bridge, an 85 in the neck, 1 volume, 1 tone, an Emg RPC(singlecoil emulating EQ) and at last, an afterburner 20db gain booster, it also features an 18-volt battery mod, a bigsby b5 and a killswitch. pheeew... long one, ok, heres the chain. SG -> EX-7 -> Devi Ever Synth Mangler -> EHX Big muff w/ tone wicker -> Voodoolab Overdrive -> T-rex Mudhoney -> T-rex Bloody Mary -> EHX small stone -> EHX small Clone -> EHX Flanger Hoax -> Boss PN-2 ->> TC Nova Delay ->> TC Nova Delay ->> Behringer V-amp L(1) & R(2)->> PA

stand alone, the ex-7 is not noisy at all. beneath i will explain the sounds and useability one by one:

1. Crybaby wah:
the sound is great, but on the extreme settings of the frequencies, it gets a bit to harsh or muddy, but thats what you expect from a wah with those settings. it has some difficulties cooperating with my synth mangler, but i suspect the synth mangler to be the villian as it wont really work together with much.

2. Vox Wah:
to make this short, theres so little difference between the wahs that it seems pointless to have two, instead, they should have left the setting for a universal expression control to use with other effects, that would be genious!

3. Space station:
many have said that its useless for musical purposes, i dont think so. it sounds really lush and spacey, you just need to practice a little in using it.

4. Whammy:
the whammy is really really good, even though it only tracks monophonic an tends to sound like **** if you have more than one tone, but, apart from that, its absolutely awsome, i use it with pan and delays and it gets really droid alike or mechanical, awsome!

5. Univibe:
i dont use this setting as much as i would like to, because, as before mentioned, its difficult to get the real univibe sound, it tends to "play Helicopter" more than make sweet vibes... sad, really, because its a nice effect.

6. the Leslie:
i have never heard a leslie emulating effect that was this close to the real thing, not much to say, this is proberbly the best sounding effect in the ex-7.

7. Flanger:
i dont use this setting at all, but, when bypassed in setting 7, the expression pedal works as a volume pedal, which is pretty cool.

i would deffinately trust this thing on a gig, i mean, the box is of metal, no exposed parts... you could kill SEVERAL people with this thing.

hav'nt dealt with them.

i play experimental and progressive rock, so the expression not only fits my needs, but also gives me new ways to explore sonic landscapes, for me, theres no alternative, so if it was stolen, i would by a new one. i really love the amounts of different effects in this box but its annoying to have two almost identical effects when they could have made the external expression thingy, i also hate the fact that they screwed up the univibe. after i recieved the ex-7, ive been producing atleast twice the amounts of music that i used to, so it deffinately helps me evolve new sounds and gives me (and the rest of the band) inspiration.
last words:
they should have made it like this:
1. Wah
2. Space Station
3. Whammy
4. Univibe
5. Leslie
6. Expression control for external effects
7. Volume
- skip the distortion part and add more control features to each effect :)

This pedal is not easy to use. Anyone of decidedly limited mental acuity or with a short attention span (are you still there??), walk away now.

I've had it since November last year, so I thought it high time to write a review on it. I was hoping that by now I'd be used to it... but I'm not.

You can get used to how this weird, wonderful, highly frustrating box of tricks works, but you need serious dedication.

I'm using this with my standard two-guitar (Fender Am. Dlx. Strat HSS & PRS SCT Artist Pack) and two-amp (Fender Twin & Fender Hot Rod Deluxe) setup.

It is utterly mind-blowing for sounds. How DigiTech managed to get such a badass pedal is beyond me, but at the price it was new, it was a bargain. Used, it makes even more sense. It's seminal!

The first two settings are standard fare for anyone who wants to play at being Hendrix, just a pair of wahs. We've all heard wahs before, and we know how they work, etc. It's after that things start getting interesting...

My personal favourite effect is the Space Station. I always like to muck around with it just to toy with the keyboard player's head, it's a way of letting him know he's dispensable if he annoys me! It's a lovely rich, warm and deep sound that it really ethereal. You can literally have hours of fun with it- I have done in the past, worryingly. Probably after a little too much chemical stimulation.

The Whammy is a good, faithful reproduction of a classic DigiTech sound, I use it quite a lot when I want to pretend to be Tom Morello. Hoist your guitar up, get your government-hating hat on and rock out.

The Univibe is just sexy... very Pink Floyd-esque. It's really good for Breathe, the opening part of the song. Difficult to get the hang of the treadle, but it's fun once you've worked it out. You need really good muscle memory to make the pedal work properly though.

The Rotary speaker is freakin' weird. I like it, but it's weird.

I'm a big fan of the last effect on the pedal- the flanger. It's a truly awesome effect, really great for the psychedelic rock-out phases. Also doubles up as a volume pedal when you're not using the effects and it's set to flange!

Overall, very very cool sounds, which would normally cost you hundreds (if not thousands, talking of rotaries) to get.

This thing is a tank. I don't get the feeling anything would ever break on it. You could most definitely give someone concussion with the damn thing.

Not had to deal with them. The manual did fall apart, but that's nitpicking.

I play every type of music I can, and this pedal fits the bill for everything. It's stupidly complex- how many pedals do you know that need another pedal to get the max out of them?- but that's part of the charm. It's a really intelligent pedal, and has very intelligent sounds to match. Just spend about a month trying to get to grips if you do get it though... but value for money, you just cannot argue with it.

This is a complex pedal. With all the controls for 7 effects plus 7 distortion models controlled by 3 concentric pots, having the manual on hand is a must. The manual was very helpful for me as a reference. Also, it doesn't save settings for effects, but it does save the distortion model chosen for each effect, so you'll want to write down the settings you use if you want to be able to reproduce the sound.

I use it for bass, and it works great. I've only used it at practice volumes, so I can't say how it sounds when you crank your amp up, but so far it sounds great. I haven't noticed any noise, and all of the models do what they should. The space station, whammy, and flanger models are very fun and usable.

You could brain someone without putting a scratch in it. That said, it never hurts to have a backup. I haven't had it long, but assuming that it's not built to fry its own circuitry, it should last for a long time.

I play a variety of stuff - alternative, rock, electronic, classical, and a lot of other random stuff. This pedal can be applied to pretty much anything to add some spice. As far as complaints, I noticed one reviewer said that the footswitches required a very hard press, and for myself I've had the exact opposite; mine goes on or off, perhaps a bit too easily, although accidents can still be avoided so long as a little care is exercised. This may be due to that I bought a store demo, I don't know, but in any case, this is a brilliant pedal.

This pedal does a great deal and because of that (and the fact that it has no memory) it can be a bit complicated to use in a live context. The switches require firm pressure on the right area of the treadle to turn them on or off - it's not the easy stomp of a Cry baby! The manual is well written and easy to understand but you will probably need to study it for a while and refer back for settings for different models. As previous reviewers have said, there is limited movement on the treadle and this makes the pedal feel very different from most wah, volume or expression pedals.

I've had this pedal for about 6 months and I've used it a lot more than I thought I would. The day it arrived, I played around with it for an hour or two at home and then decided to take the risky step of replacing my modded Cry Baby with the EX-7 on my board and going off to do a gig. That night I used the Vox wah setting for several solos (I prefer it to the Cry Baby model - more vocal), the Space Station for a keyboard like intro (that surprised the band!!) and the Whammy setting for another solo. I have to say that the sounds are really good and, if you can remember to alter the settings before each song, you'll be amazed at the versatility of this pedal. I rarely use the distortion settings but they're very good too and useful if you need to come out of a clean part into a wah solo with distortion, for example.

I've had no problems with this pedal at all. I have several other Digitech pedals and I've had no problems with any of them.

Not used it but their website is very good.

I play in a classic rock covers band but I also play some metal (NWOBHM), occasionally dep for a function band playing 60's and 70's pop and soul and I also do some teaching. I've found the EX-7 to be a really useful and good sounding addition to my pedal board. I would buy another one if it was lost or stolen because no other pedal can do all this stuff with such a great tone. It's built like a tank, looks great and seems very reliable. It's annoying that it requires an AC power supply (unlike any other Digitech pedal!!) which means using the power supply that comes with it rather than my board's supply (a Diago). Other than the few negatives in my review, I'm really pleased with it.

Have to refer back to the manual which has been covered enough but yea not great

Now i have been goin through all these reviews to see if any had the same problem i have with the whammy it drifts out of tune unless you hold it, as i use a gigrig to put this in the signal path to give me a blend of the note and an octave up, and the amount of times i have hit the preset to pull this in the path and ended up with almost ring modulation i think it sucks. But on a lighter note the XP300 sounds great dunno if its accurate but its a good sound

i cant depend on the octave up being in tune

I'm writing a follow-up follow-up review, as I've reviewed this thing a couple of times already, and now I'm just bored and slightly drunk enough to do so again.

ease of use, it remains, over 2 years after my initial purchase, somewhat difficult to use. I still have the original mini-manual, sitting on my rig, for me to refer to should I forget which knob does which on what setting. but that's the price you pay to use this pedal, which I have to say, by now, has proved itself to be by far the most useful and fun musical purchase I've ever made. maybe. really, I'm just trying to bump the numerical ratings up for this thing, because it deserves it.

I originally thought I would use some of this pedal and leave some of it alone. but by now, I want to use it on so many of my tracks that I'd have to buy another to play live properly at this point. and duplicate myself.

except that I rarely use the wah's. I'm just tired of wah, plus I have a DeArmond Weeper, which is a sick wah. occasionally if I just don't have an idea for a solo, I'll combine one of the wahs on their more extreme settings with some other pedals to make weird noises, but every other effect is pretty spectacular in some way or other. I use 6 and 12 string electric guitars of various natures, and have tons of other pedals. I use a tiny Epi tube amp, a crazy British tube head and an old school American Sunn high wattage solid state amp with various cabinets.

straightforward rock and this pedal don't really get along too well. maybe the whammy for solos and the uni-vibe, etc, but this thing is best for achieving just plain weird noises, atmospheric background stuff, textures, and its great for soloing, as a lead guitarist, because you can always save yourself one extra boost by going full out on the rest of you equipment, pedals, etc, to go just way over the top kick in the distortion, whatever you have it set for for each setting. the big muff pi setting is, I think, better sounding in my recordings than any of my real, analog, heavy-fuzz pedals. the whammy is especially great in this regard, but so is the uni-vibe and the flanger. lately I've been doing vocals through this thing as well, with a xlr->1/4" adapter, using mostly the space station and the whammy. makes vocals get very wacky. I sometimes run my synth through it as well, makes arpeggios sound really trippy and spacey.

I think the sounds are great, and the more you use this thing, the more you can wring out of it. although I do still need the manual for it, 2 years after buying it.

has been about 90% reliable. it does occasionally freak out electronically and need to be unplugged and then re-plugged in. well made, solid, no mechanical problems with it ever, and its had lots of use.

n/a

I play weird art-rock type of stuff of several varieties. this pedal has made more creative possibilities, um, possible. for me, as a guitar player mostly, it has been a great purchase. this thing isn't for tone purists, its not for people looking to replicate sounds, but rather it is for people looking to make new sounds. the new sounds. yeah. I'm the moon!

It's confusing at first and you can't really figure it out right out of the box just by looking at it. Once you read the manual and play around with it though it becomes easier to use. Switching between the modes requires a very forceful stomp on the front or back of the pedal though and it is very difficult to switch while sitting down. Other than that the pedal is pretty straightforward.

My setup is simply Telecaster --> Digitech Ex-7 --> Fender H.O.T. 75 watt amp (I like to keep it simple to save the tone of my guitar). The first thing i tried to play on this pedal was Radiohead's My Iron Lung using the whammy pedal. Coincidentally all the knobs were turned to twelve o'clock which created the exact sound of the song. Immediately I was impressed. The Vox Clyde McCoy wah was my favorite of the two wah pedals. The Space Station effect seems to be somewhat difficult to figure out, but i see potential in it for it to be a cool effect if I just play around with the settings. The whammy pedal is perfect for playing Radiohead. The Unicord Uni-Vibe is a good chorus and vibrato pedal, and if the expression pedal is rocked all the way back the effect is bypassed, so I use this setting to play around with the different distortion settings. The Leslie speaker pedal sounds like a real Leslie, and makes my Tele sound like an organ. The A/DA Flanger is also a cool effect and is perfect for songs like Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz. Of the distortion models my favorite was the Ibanez TS-9. All the distortion models were great, but some were weaker than others. Overall every effect on this pedal sounds amazing especially considering that this is a multi-effects unit.

This thing is pretty rock solid. It is heavy, and if heavy equals durable then this thing is never going to break. I'm pretty sure that if i was being mugged and I had this thing on me for some reason I could use it to beat the crap out of the mugger, then when hes unconscious on the ground play a face melting solo with it, no problem.

My parents bought it for me for Christmas, and since they were buying it late there was a possiblity of it not making it to my house on time. Some guy who worked for Digitech actually offered to drive it to my house in Chicago from Muncie Indiana. My parents declined, but still that kind of dedication is pretty rare.

I am in love with this pedal. Every single sound on it is amazing and with three seperate knobs for each effect the range of sound is almost endless. It is a bit difficult to begin with, but once you play around with it for a while it becomes easier and more user friendly. This pedal is good for prettymuch all styles of rock and blues.

I'm giving it a 5 not because it isn't easy to figure out. It actually is-- I got it going and got great sounds out of it in the store, with no manual. See previous posts for details. The EX-7 gets a 5 in ease of use for its quirks when using it in an actual playing situation. I will insert my complaint about the lack of movement in the treadle here. This isn't enough to make it less-than-wonderful, but it is kind of an oversight on Digitech's part. Why did they design this type of box this way??? Some of their other offerings (Whammy) have acceptable throws, why not this one? As it stands, you've really got to be careful with it-- people that like long throws might want to look the other way. I'm also not a fan of the external mode/model switch. These two combined with the inability to program patches and the extra oomph required to get the switch going bring it down to a 5 in my book. You've really gotta know what you're doing if you're going to make regular use of it.

As far as the sounds of the effect models go, this pedal almost *has* to get full marks. Blows the modeling pedal competition out of the water. The individual effects are the best simulations I have ever heard, and each is incredibly useful in its own right-- with the possible exception of its two wah modes. As some of the others have commented, why have two? As overwhemlingly happy as I am with the sound quality, there are a number of issues I have with its overall operation-- areas which, in my own humble opinion, leave quite a bit of room for improvement. If you're interested in my $0.02, or curious to see why this is certainly NOT just another moon-eyed rave-up, see the overall rating section.

I have never had a problem with any of Digitech's stuff. The pedal itself is a solid, heavy piece of eqiupment. The external switch, however, is not quite as tough looking. The way things are designed, this switch may be absolutely necessary for some folks, so I'm knocking off two points here.

Never tried, haven't needed to.

Okay-- now for the fun part. As overwhelmingly fantastic as the idea for this pedal is, and as stellar (no pun intended w/respect to the Space Station) as the models sound, there are a number of important areas I would like to see addressed-- things that would really make this thing, for me at least, an end-all and be-all pedal:

1)The wahs. Yes, wah has a place here, and there probable should be ONE wah mode. Yes, one-- not two. They both sound great, but there should be one wah setting that morphs between Vox and Crybaby. Much more useful, and would leave room for:

2)Tremolo. How cool would that be? Have a nice, wavery organ-y sounding trem in the second position-- maybe even a setting that morphs between trem and vibrato...all nice and speed-controlled w/the treadle.

3) If I had wanted distortion in this box, I would have bought a distortion pedal (maybe even Digitech's DF-7, but I've basically got one now--minus one tone control). This, IMHO, is totally out of place in this pedal. The "dual" knobs are great, but I'd rather have control over 6 expression/modulation parameters than access to distortion in one pedal. How much cooler would it be to have the ability to do things like add extra phasing stages to the Uni-Vibe, or control wave shape in the Flanger than these built-in distortion models that aren't exactly intuitive to program and tweak the way you want (and don't do what myself and many other players are looking for tone-wise anyway)?

4) Speaking of programming: there should be a way to program patches in this one. Even though the settings work relatively well when switching between models, it would be nice to have custom settings on tap. This would make the extra cost of the control switch almost worth it....

5) That darned footswitch: another good idea carried only halfway through. Getting rid of the distortion modes could knock it down to 2 buttons, and give it a much friendlier footprint. It's construction should also match the soliditiy of the pedal, and it should be able to plug in with any 1/4" cable. The cable you have to use with it is too long, and the ends are not exactly flexible. In a perfect world, it would also be included in the price of the pedal. I bought mine used, and it came with the switch. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have shelled out $40 for it, even if it does make switching between models handy.

6) Another issue with the treadle throw: this time not its over all shortness, but the fact that you have to keep pressure on it to access the highest speeds/settings of the effects. If I want to leave the Univibe on crazy speed-chop, I should be able to walk away from the pedal. Also the "hidden" volume pedal feature in the bypass mode of the flanger model would not cause volume loss when you walk away from it.

7) My final frustration (as of today, anyway)-- the power supply. I'm not an engineer, so perhaps there is some technical reason I don't understand, but why on earth did they have to make it AC powered? Everything else on my board is happy with Voodoo Lab's PP2+... this one needs a big, ugly wall wart sticking out of the PP2's courtesy outlet. Thankfully someone at Voodoo Lab was thinking!

Again, I am certainly not speaking out against this pedal. It definitely has secured its place on my board and does 90% of the things I need it to do (the only other modulator I now need to bring is a tremolo). I actually sold a Keeley Modded Line 6 MM4 to get this one. The Keeley Mods really brough the Line 6 to life, but even so the Uni Vibe and Flanger models sounded flat and truncated compared to this one. The Line 6 Leslie wasn't bad, but even that isn't quite as "3-D" as the EX-7's. Digitech has really made the grade with the actual sounds of the models, and you get the oh-so-cool Whammy and Space Station stuff in there, too. Great pedal, but I would sell it for the first company that comes closest to making one that addresses my complaints!

Unlike the previous review, I found this pedal to be pretty easy to use. Sure you need to read the manual, but it's not like you have to scroll through menus or punch in parameter values to achieve good tone - it's got 6 knobs and a model selector dial - get over it. The previous reviewer is also wrong when s/he asserts that you can't use the distortion models on their own - you can (see below).

Where I agree with the previous reviewer is the pedal treadle's very short travel - about half that of my Vox wah (of which the EX-7 has a very good emulation - I can't hear the difference), and about a third that of my Ernie Ball volume pedal. Not sure why they designed it like this - surely it would not have cost them any more to manufacture a pedal with a longer travel. Besides this pretty major issue (it is after all an expression pedal), the pedal is pretty self explanatory - RTFM.

BTW I have no issue with either of the on/off switches on this unit.

As a bit of context, my main setup is

Gibson Les Paul -> Boss Super Feedbacker -> Vox Wah -> Roland Jet Phaser -> Roland Space Echo -> Chandler Tube Driver (rack) -> JCM800 Lead Series 50W combo.

I think the EX-7 has Tone, or to be more accurate, the EX-7 does a great job of emulating pedals which have Tone. I don't like some of the emulations, but that's because I didn't like the originals. The Vox is spot on, the Univibe has Dave Gilmour stamped all over it and the Leslie is nice. The Whammy sounds like it should - great for Jack Black style noodling. I don't use any of the other sounds on this pedal

One thing I will say in this pedal's favour is that you can use the distortion models without the expression models - you just need to assign the relevant distortion model to the Univibe setting (and then bypass the Univibe by leaving the treadle toe up) or to the Whammy (and then bypass the whammy by dialing the mix knob to dry). Other reviewers should read the manual before saying you can't use the distortions on their own.

If reliability is related to weight then this pedal should survive a nuclear blast. Otherwise I've got no idea - I bought it new and I've never owned a virtual analog style pedal before.

No idea.

This is a great sounding pedal with a serious flaw - the treadle's travel is tiny. This is not however a deal breaker - it just takes getting used to. The point is that you shouldn't have to get used to it!

The hardware for this pedal uses a standard design that Digitech use for many of their pedals. As such, it is not designed specifically for this product, and it shows. It is a very unintuitive product to use, to the point where unless you are willing to thoroughly read the manual you will never get the most out of this product. There are too few knobs to comfortably use, and the pressure required to switch the thing on and off is phenomenal.

Very poor design. Forget pick up and play with this sucker.

Also, there is almost no travel whatsoever in the pedal itself. Other people have mentioned this, but I didn't realise how bad it was. There must be about a centimetre (half-inch) worth of travel in the pedal. At first I thought mine was faulty, but that's all you get.

Sound quality for me was disappointing. The first problem is that many of the effect models are not going to be used: the Whammy, for example, is a niche product. And why two wah wah effects?

The distortion models are fine, once you figure out how to use them.

My overall problem with the sound was that through my amp it sounded pretty rough. I'm returning my pedal largely because the sound quality is disappointing, though that may have more to do with my amp than the pedal itself. The jury's out, but I just don't like it.

Solidly built, but the power cut out on me a couple of times when adjusting settings. That shouldn't happen!

Major problems with this pedal include the poor interface which is extremely nasty. It comes as no suprise that you will have to fork out for another pedal in order to make adjustments properly - something that should have been built in.

Also, a lot of the features are niche products. Two Wah Wah models are unnecessary, and a strange choice. The Whammy setting is useless to man or beast. It has a reasonably nice uni-vibe, but the Leslie was almost impossible to tell it was switched on. I like the Space Station effect, but only as a novelty. And a flanger? Again, a somewhat niche effect that many will never use. A decent chorus effect would have been better, but was omitted presumably to make room for one of the wahs. Strange decisions that do not appear to have gone through even the simplest check for usefulness. Had Digitech carried out a focus group survey amongst potential users, they would not have put on many of the effects they have.

Bear in mind that the distortion effects cannot be used without first applying an expression effect, making this useless if you want to use it primarily as a distortion box. I suspect this was deliberately done to make you fork out for their seperate distortion pedal.

I'm returning this product, and good riddance. I'm sure if I gave it a chance I could grow to like it, but its too difficult to use and has too many unusable effects on it for me to feel it is good value. I'm sorry, but its got to go.

One final point: these effects can't be chained, making this a one-effect, one-distortion unit. For ??150, I want a little more value for money. And on the point of money, I've seen this sold for the equivalent of ??100 on US web pages. I had to look around to find mine for ??150 in the UK, which shows UK customers are getting ripped off something painful.

My advice: do yourself a favour and buy Boss every time.

Let me say this first. If you are of limited mental acuity, do not buy this pedal. You'll be forever frustrated with it. If you have an ounce of intelligence, you'll understand it in no time flat. As I am (apparently) intelligent, I've got to grips with it fine. Anyone who complains about it needs to step back and read the damn manual- that's what it's there for, and it is very useful.

Spend some time with it before passing judgement. I got mine today, and spent 45 minutes with it, mumbling things like, "How does that work?", "Oh... right...", "Jeez, that's nasty" and "Whoa!".

This pedal is insane. You just have to love it. I got it for the Whammy option, mainly. And to be honest, you might as well buy it instead of a Whammy. You get everything- octave up, octave down, octave up AND down, octave down-down-down, octave running around naked. It's perfect for nailing a Morello sound, but be prepared to get to grips with the short travel. Once you get used to that, perfect.

The XP-300 setting is beautiful, weird, ballistic and just plain worth it. It sounds ethereal, to say the least, and is a great reason to get this pedal. Some of the sounds you can get are really off-the-wall, particularly if you couple it with some distortion...

The wahs I couldn't really tell the difference between, and purists will soon get frustrated with the limited travel action on the pedal. It's something you really need to get used to, but for now- I'll keep my Cry Baby in my rig.

The Uni-Vibe is awesome. What a warm, spacious and airy sound. It's truly stunning, and you can get a great 'Breathe' sound out of it, just like the manual says. Not good for modern chorus sounds, such as Paradise City, but spend some time with it and I'm sure you can pull something out of it worth using.

The Leslie is a pretty cool sound, but rotaries aren't really my bag. Speak to someone who cares.

The flange setting is whacked. I accidentally tripped the expression pedal whilst it was on, and mother of God it went weird. Totally cool, but a real wild card if you're not expecting it.

In a nutshell...

- Buy this pedal for the Whammy and XP-300 effects.
- Once you've gotten bored of those, move onto the Uni-Vibe and A/DA flanger.
- Mess about with the wah sounds, but don't spend time on them if you're the type who angers easily.

It's sure built tough. I would never gig it if I wanted to use more than one effect (not without the footswitch, anyway). Solidity is the key to this pedal, you could batter someone to death with it. Not the best thing for a pedal that can frustrate easily.

I haven't dealt with them, and don't plan to.

This pedal is just awesome if you're a bit of an experimental player who hasn't found their 'sound' yet, or someone looking to expand their rig with some truly messed-up sounds. It's already given me new outlooks, and is worth buying for the Whammy and XP-300 alone.

If you're a tonehound, look elsewhere- this pedal is a compromise. Not a dedicated machine. It's a bit like buying a BMW M3- you can get the performance of a Ferrari, but with the multi-tasking ability of carrying shopping, kids, and the other dreary paraphernalia of real life. This pedal is just like that.

If you buy it, then think carefully- ??150 is a lot to blow on something you might not use- but I think it's worth it. Particularly as you are getting some very good sounds for not much dough.

This review is solely for people interested in the "Synth Swell" feature of the EX-7. I own both the original Space Station and the EX-7 and am supplying what is hopefully the most in-depth comparison.

The Ex-7 suffers from a variant of the problems associated with the original Space Station regarding the Synth Swell feature. Both pedals lack an effective way of blending the synth sound with the original signal. The Space Station, except for one setting, used the expression pedal as a synth volume pedal. So, your sound was heavily processed by the synth sound and your original guitar sound was gone. You had to use a splitter to blend the unaltered sound in. Frustrating!

The EX-7 does the same thing! Unbelievable! You turn the synth sweep on, and bye-bye guitar sound. I was hoping that the expression pedal would act as a blend between guitar and synth, but no. It either is synth volume, or controls the amount of the envelope generator (which controls how quickly the effect begins) used in the sound.

The envelope generator itself is a piece of crap. I have multiple Digitech boxes, they build the worst envelope generator of anybody I know. It is very hard to control with the volume pedal and mis-triggers so easily it almost is useless. When it mis-triggers you get a very irritating fixed rhythmic echo that goes "ba-ba-binga" with your original sound. You can't switch this echo out, either.

On the positive side, the EX-7 has a control that was not available on the original Space Station. It allows you to blend chorus with the selected synth interval (octave, 4th, etc.) on a variable basis. This is a welcome improvement.

In the end, I have to give this product a low rating for ease of use for Synth Swell because it requires external equipment (splitters, envelope generators, etc.) to use it effectively.

For many people who loved the original Space Station, this is the bottom line: how well does it emulate the original Space Station Synth Swell? If you haven't heard Synth Swell, it is a very surprising effect. It is like a metallic orchestra playing in an ice-skating rink. It is incredibly hard to duplicate with other devices. I know, I've tried... I've used pitch shifters with echos, choruses, on and on, and never been able to nail that sound with anything else. Personally, I find the sound to be too over the top unless it is blended in very delicately. This is why I have always had to use splitters and so forth to tame the sound. It is too weird and intense for me until it is blended in carefully.

But, oh, when it is blended in right... it is magic! It gives the guitar a dreamy, other worldly far-away sound, like from a different time and place. That's why I love the effect.

The EX-7 is best described as "inspired by" the original Space Station rather than saying it sounds exactly like it. The Space Station has more of a mashed and compressed sound, and swells up in ways that the EX-7 doesn't do. I put an external envelope generator (a Guyatone Slow Volume) in front of the EX-7, and that improved it quite a bit. It sounded much closer to the original. But there you go again, having to solve its lacks with external processing gear.

As I mentioned earlier, the unit inserts a rhythmic echo at all times. The Space Station masked this through its mish-mash of other effects, so that you got a sheet of sound whenever it triggered. The EX-7 doesn't work this way, with the result being that you get a boinging echo which triggers even when the synth part isn't playing. I really don't like this at all. This is again the result of Digitech's poorly-designed envelope generator on the front end of the effect.

So, the bottom line on sound is this: Out of the box, the effect is similar to but not equal to the original Space Station. If you add external gear to manage it, it comes very close. Plus, it has the chorus/interval blend, which is nice.

The pedal is pretty heavy and tough. I wonder about the types of switches they put into it over the long haul

Again, I am evaluating only the Synth Swell feature versus the original Space Station. It is the only modern pedal you can buy that comes close to reproducing the Synth Swell sound. If you don't feel like shelling out $300 for a used Space Station on eBay, this is the only game in town. I can't use the sound without splitting it and blending it back in. I hate Digitech's envelope generator, and will use the Guyatone in front of this pedal at all times. So, instead of one device I now have to use three. If Digitech had designed this a bit better, it could have been a killer effect, well worth a rating of 10. As it is, I give it a 6.

I really wish it didn't make me start with the bad, but I suppose it's good to get it out the way. Ease of use is where this pedal falls short of my expectations. I like to consider myself a bit of gear freak and I'm still yet to find any effects pedal or processor that I can't get my head around, but occasionally, the EX-7 does puzzle me a bit. It's not terribly bad however and it certainly could be worse, but with a bit more time spent on the design of the interface, DigiTech could have taken the market for this pedal by storm. Things like having to hold the pedal down in different positions and in different modes to access many of the manual controls really let the EX-7 down. Having said that, when you're not in need of manual alterations such as changing distortion types and such, simply getting a sound out of it couldn't be much simpler. My cat could get a sound out of it... if she was heavy enough to actually press down and switch the effects on!

The only remaining bone I have to pick is with the amount of force needed to fully depress the pedal. I am a real lightweight at only 125lbs, but even when I put all my weight onto one foot and stand on the toe of the pedal, it still occasionally doesn't switch! You really have to slam on this thing to get it to work! What's even harder is when you have to hold the toe switch down for 3 seconds to choose the distortion type. If I can't get it to stay depressed at all, how am I gonna get it to stay down for three seconds? I can't just get a fat roadie on stage everytime I want to change distortion type!

Anyway, I hope in time, the pedal will loosten up and become easier to use in that sense.

Before you read on, remember; it's only $180 worth of kit. As much as DigiTech try to market it by saying things like "$3000 worth of effects for less than $300!" it is never likely to compare to the original effects that it models. The Cry-Baby wah is very good. I tend to keep the frequency range on it quite tight so my sound is only slightly affected. This works well for blues and lighter rock. If you open the range up a bit, it can become a bit to "experimental" for my liking and not "popular-sounding" enough to make it into any of my recordings. The Vox wah is essentially the same really except there's a little more edge to the high frequencies and the lower frequencies are cut. This is what I'd use to replicate sounds from the likes of Hendrix. Like the cry baby model, if you open the range up, it all gets a little wishy-washy, but for 99% of situations, it's very good. The Whammy effect... amazing. My only problem with it is how the blazes do I encorperate that into my music??? I mean, I've touched on prog. rock and tht sort of Genesis/Yes/ELP stuff, and for those things, occasionally the all out experimentalism of the prog. rock genre enables you to get away with using this effect, but I'd probably never find a use for it in the Blues/Indie genre I usually play. Regardless however, it is great fun to play around with! The Uni-Vibe effect is really nice. This is something I could use in my music. Nice and spacious. Good for rhythym and solos. Especially good when combined with a tonne of distortion! The Leslie speaker effect also works a treat. Believe it or not, I ran the EX-7 through my keyboard with this patch and it worked just as well for the organ sounds on my keyboard. Certainly better than the Leslie models on my keyboard. Flanger is great aswell. Not the sort of effect I'd use on a regular basis, but it's good to whip out every now and then. Now, the space station... I would never try and bring this to the front of a recording because the sound quality of it, if you get a good listen to it, is not very good. But it's a great substitute for a keyboard-synthesised orchestra; and it works well, providing you keep it in the background.

The distortions are average. Some I like, some I don't. The Muff Pi model I like. The Boss and Digitech metal sounds however, I don't like. This is possibly because no matter how hard I try, I can't make them work in my music... but who can blame me? I'm trying to put a metal distortion into a blues song. It's never going to work! I would not use these distortions instead of my amplifier distortion, but maybe as a booster if I ever needed to.

While I'm on the topic of distortion; my biggest problem with this pedal is that you can't turn off the effect and leave the distortion on. The Boss V-Wah lets you do this and that factor very nearly made me buy one of those instead. I'm glad I didn't though.

Purely from the weight of the box, I knew this pedal wasn't going to be a pushover. It's solid. All metal. I wreckon I could drop a brick on it from a third story window and it would still work. I am not going to do that though! Do you think they cover that on the warranty?!

None needed... yet.

As you may have gathered, I play blues primarily, like Clapton and Rory Gallagher. I also write some prog rock songs every so often and Indie/Britpop stuff frequently aswell. This pedal has some sounds that are pure gold like the Uni-Vibe which I could apply to almost anything and make it work. It also has some sounds that will work for certain genres, like the whammy effect only being able to work in experimental prog rock. I got rid of my Zoom GFX-5 as the sound quality simply wasn't up to it. I feel I have made an improvement in that department. For the money, this pedal is very good. Could be better, but good nonetheless.

The only other option if you're looking for this sort of pedal is the Boss V-Wah. I turned it down because it lacked the versitility of the EX-7. If you're specifically looking for a wah sound, go for the Boss V-Wah because it's $100 cheaper! But if like me you want something more versitile, it's worth spending the extra on the EX-7.

This pedal has some great sounds, and it's a little complicated, but for the most part, I put all the knobs at 12 o'clock and got a pretty decent sound out of all 7 models. The main problem I had with this pedal is trying to turn it on and off. You switch it on and off by pressing the expression pedal all the way forward, like a wah pedal, except this switch was super iffy, I didn't know when it would work easily and when it wouldn't work at all. In a live situation, this can't happen. I found that if I put it on the ground instead of on my pedalboard it helped (I think because my pedalboard bends a little when you put your weight on it), but it was still sketchy. It became useless to me because I couldn't trust it, but it had so many good sounds and models on it that I really couldn't live withoug that I found a way to work around it. I bought an effects loop pedal on ebay, which basically a way to put a bunch of pedals into this pedal and turn them all on or off with one switch. This way I have the EX-7 on all the time, and when I don't want to use it I take it out of the mix with the effects loop pedal. You can get these pedals for real cheap, and it made the EX-7 a useable pedal again.

I run a lot of pedals, but I've always been looking for a good Leslie simulator, as well as a good wah and Univibe. Well, in my opinion this has all those and more. It sounds really good for a modeling pedal. Both wahs sound great, the space station is really cool, the univibe, Leslie, and flanger are all great, really organic sounding (much to my suprise). The only one I don't really like is the Whammy, but that's just cause I have no use for it, I really can't tell you if it sounds like the real one or not. My favorite by far is the space station, it makes your guitar sound like a keyboard synth, with cool swells and chorus. It's hard to describe unless you play it yourself. I was very pleasantly suprised.

I run a Fender Tele -> Effects loop pedal (Boss TU-2 tuner -> Digitech EX-7 in the loop) -> Seymour Duncan Pickup booster pedal -> Tube Screamer -> Barber Direct Drive -> Voodoo Lab Tremolo -> Boss Tremolo -> Dunlop TVP-1 Volume/tremelo -> Prototype Tremolo (handmade) ->DOD Vibrothang -> MXR Phase 90 -> Boss DD-5 Delay -> 2nd Boss DD-5 delay -> Digitech Digiverb Reverb -> TopHat Club Deluxe

It seems solid enough.

While it is possible to set all the knobs to the 12 o'clock position and get some good tones, it really takes a little while to get to know this pedal. It has 3 control knobs, 3 distortion knobs, 1 model knob, the pedal itself, a toe and heel switch, and 4 input/output jacks. It is not the simplest pedal out there but it does so much, and the manual is very helpful. There are suggestions for each individual model to replicate "insert guitar hero name here" sound. It is true what they say about the toe/heel switches being hard to nail, but would you really want it switching off when you barely bump it? I think it's a good thing, but if you play sitting down, you will probably be standing up breifly to hit the toe/heel switch.

I have never used a ME-50 or GT6/8 or anything, but this thing is so diverse. 2 wahs, flanger, univibe, Leslie, whammy, and the almighty space station. Even if you don't use all 7 models on stage (which would be pretty damn hard without the FS3) you are getting a lot for your money, and all the models are fun to experiment with. If I could swap one of the modes out, I might swap the Vox Wah for a compression/sustainer because I think the Crybaby is superior in every way, but this is nothing to get upset about. Each model comes with a preset distortion, but you can actually change which dist. goes with which model (you could set the TS-9 to be the dist. for all models), tho not on the fly. I think this thing sounds freaking amazing 90% of the time. Oh, and the ADA is freaking sweet.

It seems very reliable. The shell is metal and seems very sturdy, the only thing I could see going wrong (within reason) is the knobs breaking off if you step on them or something.

I have never dealt with customer support.

I think this thing is better than a lot of people give it credit for. I considered getting it for awhile, back and forth, reading various reviews. $200 is a good chunk of money to spend if you're not sure what you're getting. Try this out at a shop somewhere, but the shop will probably close or kick you out before you can try EVERYTHING this pedal does, so that is a factor too. I found one on ebay for $120 new in the box. I guess it is still a good value at $200, but I like $120 better. It would be really nice if they could incorporate the FS3 footswitch into the EX7 so you don't have to spend another $40 on a model up/down-bypass switch, but it is usable without it. If it was stolen, I would get another one, for sure. The audio files on digitech.com are pretty acurate representations of the sounds you can get out of this, though it does depend on the amp you play it through. Bottom line - if you want an extremely diverse tone bank for about the price of an entry level guitar, pick this up and express yourself to your full capability, and stay out of the correctional facilities.

At first it was a little difficult to get used to however, if you simply get the manual out and go through the pedal along with the manual interactively, it makes good sense. This unit cannot be used as a seperate distortion pedal or as a seperate effects pedal. This is truly a design flaw however, I already own a DF-7 so I really have it covered (it also has some decent sounds). Reading a manual is required on this unit so put of your bong hits and spend some time actually learning the unit first. Dope is for dopes.

Using a number of guitars into a number of pedals which lead into a Boogie Tri-Axis that is running with a Boogie 2:90 amp. Bottom line is, I use top notch gear all the way there is no "knock off" gear in my rig at any level. I also run in stereo however, I run the EX-7 in my floor pedal signal path (mono). I leave it to my T.C. G-Major to create my stereo effects (very sweet too). The individual effects vary in my opinion. I find the Crybaby ok but the Vox wah is very nice. Good tight feeling to it. Really gets that whacka whacka you are looking for ala Hendrix, SRV etc. You do have to get used to the way the pedal feels though...this is true of any wah device. If you are trying to compare the "feel" of the Crybaby or the Vox (both of which I own) you will be frustrated. Just spend some time finding the the sweet spots and you will be fine. The Space echo is very cool and can be used as a nice pad type effect. It gets that spacey U2 Unforgetable Fire type ethereal stuff perfect! The Whammy is perfect. As many have said, it is worth the price of the unit. It does both octave up and down so I don't understand some of the reviews that say it does not. The Uni-Vibe is ok but my T.C. rack unit is much more convicing. I had the Dunlop Uni and even though it is the quote unquote original thing, I actually didn't like it that much. I found it over emphasized on the down cycle. The EF-7 has better overall control but it does not hold a candle to my TC. The leslie effect is ok but again, I find my TC does a better job with more over all control. The flanger simply pisses me off everytime I use it. I have a EH Electric Mistress and though it is noisy (which is why I have a Decimator) it simply gets a better overall vintage sound ala Andy Summers. So here is the bottom line:
1.) Both wahs are fine...experiment and get used to the feel of the pedal. Once you have that down, you will enjoy it.
2.) The Space Echo is fun to play with and sounds just like the original box in my ears. (I had one in the 80's)
3.) The Whammy is the coolest and is worth every dime of the unit.
4.) The Uni-Vibe is useable and gives you good control vs the Dunlop
5.) The rest of the unit is fairly unexciting

If you are looking to use the distortion features, you will likely be let down. They are a true pain in the ass. As stated, since I already own an DF-7 it is a non issue. But ultimately I use my preamp distortion tones anyway.

Be aware, that this is not a true bypass unit but I have a ToneBone Loobone to route my signal path accordingly.

So you get 3 great pedals for the price of one...this is justified in my rig. I use it regularly.

I have not had problems with the heel toe switches as others have described and I do, indeed have one of the first issued pedals. The pedal squeeked a bit when I first got it but it went away after awhile. Never had any problems with the unit.

Have not needed it.

I play a wide array of styles but ultimately I am an old school rock guitarist. Been playing for 28 years and own tons of top notch gear: Keeley Comp, Keeley Javaboost, Digitech DF-7 (I use the TS-9 emulator only), Electric Mistress, TC Gmajor, BBE Sonic Stomp (nice box by the way), Loopbone, Decimator (the only noise reduction to buy). If it were stolen I would replace it for sure. Of all the effects it brings to the table I use 3 of them regularly which justifies the cost to me. It would have been nice if they allowed you to use the Effects and the Distortion factory seperately but since I own both, it's a non issue. The effects are convincing and very clean sounding. The wahs are fine once you get used to the feel of the pedal. The Whammy is totally inspiring and has assisted me in getting the Audioslave/Rage sounds with ease. When I use it with an Ebow and a slide it gets totally crazy, very fun to use.

Okay, this is not good.

As pointed out by other (multiple) users, this is not a "plug-&-play" pedal. There are a *lot* of functions packed into a tiny interface, and there's little meaningful visual feedback, especially if you're in the middle of a performance ("uh oh, now what was model #5 again?"). That's assuming you can even read the tiny knobs in the typical dim lighting onstage.

Best advice I can give is to find one, maybe two, useful sounds which are worth dedicating to this pedal. There are plenty of nice sounds that can be coaxed out of the EX-7, but if you try to use it for all -- or even more than one -- of them interchangeably, you're merely asking for confusion and headaches.

Also, I'd read that the early models had problems with overly stiff buttons for the toe and heel switches, so I made it a point to get an EX-7 that had been manufactured relatively recently. I even tested it in the store to make certain there wouldn't be a problem. What I failed to take into consideration was that I tested it on the floor of the showroom, but my pedalboard has a tiny bit of flex in it. Consequently, I'm stomping on this thing three or four times just to turn the effect and amp models on and off. I think I cracked my pedalboard last night. Grrrrrrr...

I'm not taking the EX-7 back, but I'm definitely retiring it as a "studio only" device.

_

Many, many of the models do sound passable, and you're likely to find something here that you'll like. Just don't expect to like everything, and you'll be pleased with what you find. Most of the other reviewers give a good overview of what's available, so I won't merely repeat their reviews.

However, one thing that has only been mentioned peripherally is that this thing is a MAJOR TONE SUCK. I've had this problem in the past with other DigiTech pedals. The EX-7 is not true bypass. What's more, it seems that it is digitally processing your signal, EVEN WHEN NOT ENGAGED. I can't even use the darn thing as a Volume Pedal without having it suck all the life out of my instrument.

If you do purchase an EX-7, do yourself a favor and also budget for a true bypass loop, so that it will not digitally suck out your tone when you're not actively using it.

_

Seems built pretty well. I don't really have any reservations about taking it out on the road (at least, not in terms of build quality).

_

Never had to deal with them, so I'll give this one a pass....

_

I've been playing a variety of instruments since the '70's, and have owned several recording and project studios since the 1980's. I purchased the EX-7 for use with a couple of my guitars (vintage Fender Tele & Vox Tempest XII, primarily), as well as my 10- and 12-string Chapman Sticks.

I thought the EX-7 would be a workable "swiss army knife" effect. I don't have many of the original boxes after which its effects were modelled, and wouldn't use those particular effects often enough to warrant buying the originals. In this case, the EX-7 does provide a workable solution.

Most aggravating are the "ease of use" considerations -- which pretty much relegate this as a studio-only box -- and the annoying digital sound quality. As I said above, I'm not taking this one back to the shop because it isn't entirely worthless. However, it is going to spend most of its life on a shelf, waiting for an instance when one of those particular "special" sounds is called for.

_

Does anyone know how to get the squeak out of the pedal? I usually use lithium grease for my crybaby wah but the mechanism that moves up and down is tucked in too much in this pedal and i cant really access it for greasing? please post a review here or email me, thanks so much.

This pedal is complicated.. long story short, you have to manually switch a small knob between effects and also adjust small knob parameters, if you can memorize the settings as i have its fine but for convenience it is weak

cool sounds generally, and what they lack in replication of analog effects they make up for in unique and exciting tones

yes

nope

its very original and for the OPTIONS it offers you, it is well worth the money if you do experimental, jamming or anything that utilizes original sounds.

Moderately easy to use after a quick read of the manual. Thought there is one GLARING isuue which I will explain later.

The Wah's are quite good except for the limited pedal travel. The XP300 sound is a bit "out there" but may be of use to the experimental musician. The Leslie and Uni-Vibe are fair and the Flanger is good. The best feature to my mind is the Pitch Shifter except for the fact it has no octave down setting. It is responsive and does not suffer the delay effect that the RP300 has when used for pitch shifting (thought the 300 has a better pedal action).

Seems sturdy.

I recieved a response within a week about the GLARING ODDITY of this devices operation. Which you'll find below.

YOU CAN NOT TURN OFF THE EFFECT MODEL AND STILL USE THE DISTORTION MODEL! The heel switch turns off/on the distortion model (with effect model) and the toe switch turns off the effect model when the distortion model is disengaged so you're left with a straight, clean sound!

I ask you, what good is that? Say I like the Wah with the Ibanez distortion model but I would like to actually turn OFF the Wah after a solo and continue playing using the distortion sound... NO GO! CAN'T DO IT!

You want the distortion model on when you turn off an effect? Go buy a Distortion Factory to use WITH your EX-7 (another $100.00). You, like me, might think you're getting two independent models that can be combined or used singularly. Not so! I mean really, Why on God's green Earth would you want to design a unit like this?

An unfathomable oversight or a really poor design choice. Such a shame. The sounds themselves are very good. The distortion models are great. The pitch shifter is far superior to the Digitech RP300's. No delay. Pedal travel is limited, there is no octave down function. The two Wah, Wah models are very good. The Leslie and Uni-Vibe are passable.

No presets are stored except the distortion and effect combination!

If you can find it for under $99.00 used, you can get yourself a decent pitch shifter and Wah, Wah. Personally I am very disappointed in the design. What were they thinking.

First of all, unless my unit is defective, you CAN NOT TURN OFF THE EFFECT MODEL and still use the distortion model! The heel switch turns off/on the distortion model(with effect model) and the toe switch turns off the effect model when the distortion model is disengaged so you're left with a straight, clean sound!

I ask you, what good is that? Say I like the Wah with the Ibanez distortion model but I would like to actually turn OFF the Wah after a solo and continue playing using the distortion sound... NO GO! CAN'T DO IT!

You want the distortion model on when you turn off an effect? Go buy a Distortion Factory to use WITH your EX-7 (another $100.00). You, like me, might think you're getting two independent models that can be combined or used singularly. Not so! I mean really, Why on God's green Earth would you want to design a unit like this?

An unfathomable oversight or a really poor design choice. Such a shame. The sounds themselves are very good. The distortion models are great. The pitch shifter is far superior to the Digitech RP300's. No delay. Pedal travel is limited, there is no octave down function. The two Wah, Wah models are very good. The Leslie and Uni-Vibe are passable. No presets are stored except the distortion and effect combination.

If you can find it for under $99.00 used, you can get yourself a decent pitch shifter and Wah, Wah. Personally I am very disappointed in the design. What were they thinking.

Takes awhil;e to figure all the possibilities out, but one thing to note, you can set all the control (except the effect select) on 12 and get great sounds, so start with that and go from there trying all the effects out. Lots of stuff in there ...

I have owned about every pedal out there, but I hate carting them all. Digitla effects are basically not as rich sounding as the originals.

However, I think this pedal sounds great. You want to carry a separate wah-wah, univibe, whammy, flanger then knock your socks off. I recorded a bunch of stuff with those pedals, and they sounded outstanding. I have no noise or crackle in mine. In fact, it is unbelievably noise free, even on the flanger settings. If you own a good flanger, then you know the analog version is noisey by nature. Score 1 for digital improvement.

I actually use the 2 different wahs, the Vox for my Grosh, the Cry Baby for my Parker Mojo ... and the Univibe is excellent. I set it like Hendrix did live and it swooshes and dives perfectly.

The whammy is the "Killing In The Name Of" lead effect by Rage Against The Machine. I can nail that sound, and it is quiet, quiet, quiet. Leave the pedal at the octave setting and play Fire and Purple Haze leads ... perfecto.

All you guys who don't like this seem to have valid reasons. I use expensive amps (Egnater Mod50 currently) and the pedal is like gold to me. Maybe this is not a pedal to pair with another digital amp ...

NA

NA

Love the pedal, does what I want, I use 5 of the effects at gigs, it sounds great. The price should be about $50 cheaper IMO, but I paid the cash, and I am glad I own it.

It is built very sturdy for a digital pedal, and the foot pedal is easy to operate (for me at least). I think it is hands down the best multi effect I have tried, and I have blown a lot of cash on these things. Try it out with an amp like the one you own before buying it though.

There are a fair amount of parameters to tweak on this pedal but in a very short time you can be coming up with interesting sounds. The Manual helps but omits answering a few important questions you're sure to have after playing this unit for a while.
in brief :
- 7 effects : Crybaby/Vox Wah, Synth, Whammy, Flange, Leslie, Chorus
- 7 distortion models : TS 9, DOD 250, Boss DS1, Boss Metal Zone, ProcCo Rat, Muff Pi, Digitech Metal Master
- 7 of different cabinets
= the effects can be used clean or in combination with a distortion model (any 1 plus any 1.) Each distortion is combined with a cabinet model which can be changed according to preference

I tried this unit through both single-coil & humbucker equipped guitars. Before discussing sound quality I want to mention an issue that immediately became apparent and was never resolved : hideous line noise
Playing through a Spider 212 (an amp notoriously free-from-hum)with top-quality cords, I experienced a crackling-hiss that made using any of the EX7's effects clean absolutely pointless. Hanging chords would have their tails eaten and obscured by white noise. This costs the EX7 half its functionality right there. When using effects/distortion combined the noise was still there but at an acceptable (but still irritating )level.
to fix the problem I tried :
- changing outlets
- changing adapters
- changing guitars
- changing location of amp/pedal
- using a noise gate & and power conditioned
- contacting DigiTech & Line 6 for advice
- taking it back to the store (where it worked noiselessly on every amp it was plugged into, including a Spider 212 II)
The noise problem was never solved...
As for the sounds the EX7's actually supposed to make, I thought :
Distortions : the Metal Master, Metal Zone & Big Muff Pi all get high marks for their sound and tweakability; didn't think much of the other models however as they sounded a bit thin and lacking in power to me.
Effects :
Dunlop/Vox Wah - each did the job for me; no complaints
SP 2000 Space Synth - Hated it; wondered why it was put there in the first place but this attitude could be caused by all the line noise
Whammy - loved it; could (and did) spend days varying the interval positions; awesome for leads: I'll definitely be looking into a pitch-shifter
Chorus - nice but didn't blow me away
Rotary - Ibid
Flange - my pick for the 2nd best setting; love that jet whoooosh

I should mention I haven't owned most of the effects the EX& is supposed to emulate so the above ratings are based on my own ear and taste

In the third week of use, I crouched down to tweak an EX7 dial. When done, I used my pedal-foot to stand up.
"Hmmm, probably shouldn't put that much weight on the pedal." I belatedly though about half-way up but was comforted by Digitech's claims of durability and that I only weigh 150 lbs on a heavy day.
The next time I worked the pedal though it was obviously some damage had been done; there was now a 'buckling' sensation in pedal that I could feel in the sole of my foot every time I worked it from heel to toe.
Obviously, I mistreated the pedal a bit but at the same time, I'd expect more for something intended to be stomped on by rock guitarists. Even the rubber footpad on the expression pedal looked like it was pining to peel off. By comparison my friend's Boss digital wah pedal was world's away in the solidity of its construction. The EX7 looked like a cheap child's toy next to it(and the Boss does practically all the same things minus the hum; too bad they don't make them anymore...)

Sent emails regarding the noise problem; never heard a word...

Bought this on an expensive whim as I needed something to use when gigging through house amps. I haven't used many effects before this so the EX7 was a learning experience :

Likes : the Whammy and Flange effects, Muff Pi, Metal Zone & Master distortions.

Dislikes :
- incurable line noise
- suspect construction
- this pedal doesn't remember settings!!!
A question : what kind of company produces a mult-effects unit that doesn't save your customized settings?
For instance, you're gigging, playing rhythm on Mode 1 (the Dunlop-Wah, all tweaked to your liking)but here comes your lead; stepping on your FS3X footswitch (sold separately) you clickity-click your way over to Mode 4 for some pitch-bending madness (you've already spent hours getting the perfect tone.)Guess what? The EX7 doesn't remember how you set up Mode 4 previously so instead it gives you the pitch-bender effect according to where your dials are currently set (Mode 1's Dunlop Wah.) Since you'd probably want the knobs in different positions for such radically different effects you and your audience are in for an unpleasant surprise...
Not only does this make the EX7 useless for anyone how wants to change effects midsong, it also questions the sanity of making a foot-switcher in the first place.
I'm so angry at this I don't think I'll buy Digitech again; their design department obviously aren't thinking like (or for) musicians...

one last gripe :
- the dials themselves are small and ill-labled; you'll need nimble fingers, a flashlight and a magnifying glass to adjust settings in between songs on a darkened stage...

The Verdict
- I love the concept of a multi-effects expression pedal as well as some of the sounds the EX7 creates; just wish more thought went into the design: inability to save customized settings a deal-breaker
- Even had it worked flawlessly, the price is still outrageous.
- May be useful in a studio but inflexible and problematic for live perfomances
- Luckily for me, the place I bought the EX7 has a 30-Day return policy. I returned mine on the 30th day less the reshelving fee, exuberent I wasn't going to get stuck with it.

not as easy as pedals in its range which come with various effects or more then this!

Like any other fony synthy effects unit, you get what you pay for , the only unique thing about this pedal is you use your foot.

Hard to tell, Digitech usualy has cheap knobs, looks strong from what i see.

Have no idea

i am a session guitarist, as well as a producer.
You have to love this world of music to stick to it as long as some people who had been through everything (wife, kids etc) , (Bands, production, Post) and still play with pedals like this.


The only thing i can say i that with all the effects possabilities in the world, live mixing or recording still does not require you record ot go direct into your amp with them, but these types of pedals ar ethe only ones which you should officially use live and direct., but this one seems to sound like a multi effects unit, and this goes with out saying that its not gonna cut it if you do not have full control,

I believe the price for this pedeal should be $125.

Its basically a cheap wha with a built in lIMITED multi effects set up, i did not spend enouth time to say whether all these effects where that clean, but they where certainly not as effective as the origionals and just a realy cheap version of them, like Pandora guitar effects units.

Those who say they are getting a deal for $200 bucks should invest it in a pedal that can simply connect to a computer since they can use it to its full range then, if they can find one like this for that price, until then (which is soon) there are others out there.

Takes some time to figure out but certainly not rocket science. What makes it tricky is that for each effect, the three knobs do different things (though similar). If you have ears though you can figure it out quick. After having a GT6, this thing is a peice of cake. No layers of menues to scroll through. WOuld be nice if their was a way to save tweak for each effect.

OK, here is the deal with this pedal: IF you use, say, a wah-wah alot, or want to do your Jimi Hndrex Univibe thing alot, or you want to sound just like you are plugged into a hugh brown peice of furniture with speakers shwirling aound inside, I would not buy this. It is not that cool. However, if you want a reasonably good version of these, this is ideal. Instead of buying 7 effects (and schlepping around a Leslie cabinet), this one does them all fairly well. The wahs are nice and the whammy is worth the price alone. I can stay up till 2 in the morning jamming on this one, lets you get nice bass sounds, along with the high octave, almost like an octaver sounds with the distortion on. The univibe and leslie are convnincing though not the "pure analog bliss" feel you pay $300 a piece for. The space echo is cool if you still want to make this sound (I stopped using this in the 80's). The flange is cool in an over the top way, use sparingly to avoid sounding like Heart Baracuda.)

The distorions are just OK, really more of an added bonus than the main deal. I really do not use these types of distorions much, and these did not convince me to start. The Rat impersonation is kinda cool if you wanna shred. The big muff is, in my not so humble opinion, really bad, more bottom end than Oprah on a bad year and more useless fuzz than a donought shop (at which way you may also find Oprah). The TS 9 is not a bad impersonation of the real thing. I have one so I know, and in fact I may just leave the little green box off my pedal board and use this for a while. To my ears this is the best one offered, but that is probably because this is the type of OD I like - smooth, mid ranging and tube like. You need to spend some time matching the distortion to the effect, and once you do you can keep it matched so that it becomes the default distortion for that effect, and it is very flexible and easy to switch these - just hold down your freakishly large big toe for 3 secords and BOOM - the pretty blinking light comes on and your ready to try out 7 new distortion pedals, some of which you might like.

So far so good, seems sturdy, weighs a ton

Haven't used it, though the small manual is very thorough and readable (sounds like the person writing it actually spoke English, which is more than I can say for the Boss instructions (sorry but true). "...for really nice rock and roll sound..." come ON! I'll shut up now - they WILL take over the world some day.

I like this pedal alot, it works for a middle age guy like me who wants alot for his money. You actually get 14 things to mess with (7 effects and 7 distortions), so fer $200 smackers it's alot of bang for your buck. Again, not for the hardcore analog heads (but hey, you are not reading this review anyhow). This is a good sollution for the player who wants these type of sounds but does not want to pay $1,000 to get them all and take up that much space on your pedal board. Use wah, univibe and whammy one song a set? This is the pedal for you, and you may actually use them for 2 songs a set. I am keeping mine (and believe me, I return ALOT of gear to GC on a regular basis). Thanks Digitech for a nice product (and no, they did not pay me to say this ; )

This is a double review, I'm on my 2nd one of these already.

The first one was a dud, unfortunately. It was almost impossible to engage, especially the heel switch, which i was only able to activate twice despite putting varying degrees of pressure on it, up to and including a gentle press with nearly my whole weight, which tipped my whole pedalboard, which is hardly normal. Even worse was that it had a fair amount of digital distortion glitchiness, the bad kind, when the pedal itself was rocked, very pronounced on some settings. I don't really care about the distortion/heel features, but after a careful few tries to get past the flaws, it was clear that it was defective. It also would not calibrate per the manual instructions, despite several tries, and arrived packed sloppily from mail order, sorry to say, which wouldn't be a big deal if it worked, but the digital glitches in sound were a deal breaker. I guess it was just faulty.

That said, a glance at the manual tells all about the settings and it's easy to understand and use right out of the box.

After the first one it took a leap of faith to gamble on the same product, but I have other Digitech stuff I like, so maybe this is an isolated experience. I tried one of these at NAMM and it sounded a lot better, so I requested a replacement instead of a refund. The 2nd one I got is stiff to engage but it does indeed work, both toe and heel, which is a relief. The digital scratchiness is absent too, thankfully.

It's not noisy, it's digital and very clean. Some of the effects are on the harsh side of digital at first to my ears expecially if set to extremes, but fine tuning each I quickly found acceptable several settings for nearly every mode, which is great. It's VERY flexible.

The wahs are both good, #1 is very smooth, impressive sounding for an emulation. #2 is ok, but nice to have both.

The Synth Swell is a little of a disappointment in that it's tough to tweak within reason, but it's a fun extra to have and sounds pretty nice for what it is, since it could easily be a disaster when you think about it. It's very 'preset' though, a shame because a little more control would make it much more useful. As is it's cool though, very trippy.

The Whammy setting is generous. It's a little too brash but the mix control goes a long way. The multiple pitch settings almost justify the whole package.

The univibe is my favorite. Unfortunately it's a little hard to get a feel for the rocker in this setting, but after a few minutes it comes easy. Calibration might help here.

The Leslie effect is nice too, if a little digital and a little over the top. It's one of those effects that no one seems to nail, but perhaps the suggestion below about running stereo at high vol. would make me a believer. I love Leslie sims anyway, so I'm not complaining, but in this case YMMV.

The ADA flange is something I was really looking forward to, but it's not for the faint of heart. Nice for synthy tones, but doesn't really do it for usual flange duties. The shift sound in the rocker emulates a real flange effect, in that it "zippers" up and down, which could be cool in the right setting.

Since I already got a bad one I can't swear by it, but it's heavy duty. Other Digitech stuff has been reliable.

The online shop was very helpful. Didn't contact Digitech.

I really like this thing because of all the variety. It does the job of 7 pedals and more. Modelling is modelling, but this is more about the creativity, not replacing analog, IMO.

The univibe is mostly what I use it for. Everything else is a bonus, but the Whammy and wah and Leslie are nice too. Space Station and flange are nice extras for special effect.

I don't use the distortions. I haven't played with them too much but I wasn't crazy about what I heard when I did. This doesn't bother me since I didn't buy it for that.

Since the first one was iffy, I'm leaving the ratings blank, but despite the disappointment I ordered another and so far it's works well and I like it. Time will tell if it's a keeper, but it really is fun to play and offers a lot of creative options.

This pedal is fairly difficult to make full use of. I bought the extral, external footswitch for it, which does add a bit to its functionality, but to a limited degree. That said, there are great things and not so great things about how the pedal works. I appreciate DigiTech's even trying to make something like this though, I'm generally on their side with this one, this is a real attempt to broaden the horizon of what an expression pedal can do for guitar.

The switching could be better, but at the same time, I have to say that the way it functions makes it necessary for the toe and heel switches to be slightly difficult to engage. If they weren't, you would be accidentally switching things around in a much worse way. You just have to practice with it, perfect how much pressure to use to engage / disengage. Get used to it, the switching isn' very difficult once you do.

Keep in mind that this pedal can do so many things, that there really isn't a convenient way to create a bug-free, perfect interface. The best thing you can do is play with it reguarly, and make yourself change the settings around regularly. The more you know the pedal, the easier it is to use.

Well, quality is relative for some things, and not so much for others. I find the wah settings tweakable, passable. Not extraordinary, but useful on the whole. You won't get that 'stack of dimes' sound that you can get from an analog pedal with real inductors. But at the same time, there are interesting sounds to be found within the realm of the digital weird wah. As a noisemaker more than a tone purist, I am satisfied with the wahs. I have owned a Cry Baby, Ibanez Weeping Demon, Boss V-wah, Hiwatt Custom Wah, and DeArmond Weeper, as well as the EX-7. Only the DeArmond and the Hiwatt really worked better as a wah, but the Weeper boosted my signal SO much that it was difficult to use under all circumstances, and the Hiwatt had such f-'d up power supply issues that it became too much of a hassle after a while (although it has amazing tones, but what use is a pedal that shorts out ever few minutes?). The 2 wah settings of the EX-7 are a bit difficult to distinguish from one another, but play with the settings, and remember what sounded best. You'll find something that works fine eventually. Not the most extreme effects, but good enough for my purposes.

The Space Station, while very cool to play with at first, is not so usable for what I do, which is noise/rock in the vein of Pavement, Mercury Rev, the Cure, etc. I think I'll have to just devise a whole song around it, rather than trying to incorporate it into a song that I've already pretty much determined the sound of. As the last reviewer mentioned, would be hard to use this setting more than once per show without it being a bit cheesey.

The Whammy setting I LOVE! Its so tweakable, and can really achieve some seriously weird sounds once you memorize the settings. I find it to be a great soloing tool that is varied enough to use as repeatedly as you would a wah. To me, the ability of this pedal to create all of these different effects relatively well is its main selling point. The Whammy settings went far beyong my expectations, whereas the Space Station settings seemed more impressive at first. My band did a recording on which I use this pedal in several capacities, and by now I've played 3 live shows with it. I am pleased with my purchase after all of that, so that should say something, despite the pedal's limitations, which are many, and which many reviewers have pointed out.

The Uni-Vibe works pretty much like a Dunlop Rotovibe, to my ears. Only not quite as deep an effect, and without the 'pop' sound that occurs when turning the pedal on and off. Works very well as a Choruse that is adjustable on the fly. I thought I'd have no use for this setting as I have a Maxon CS-01, really rare Japanese-only-made chorus pedal which pretty much rules (I sold a Boss CE-20 once I got it...) but this setting is really useful, and I've based a whole song around its adjustability by now.

The Leslie setting is similar in usability to the Uni-Vibe function. May sound un-impressive in your bedroom on a practice amp or on a more powerful amp turned down, but try it out in a big, stereo setup. You will find the effect needs some room, and some volume to breathe. But, it does. About 10 yards away from a stereo setup...you'll be impressed. A useful noisemaking tool, if you have enough equipment to make use of it!

The ADA Flanger is to me, the least impressive function. Although, it is a bit more subtle than really pronounced flangers, which actually works for me, as I have a Guyatone FL-3, which gets about as extreme as flangers get. So, this can serve different functions for me. Also, when I have it on, and then use this setting of the EX-7, using the pedal can make really weird noises as it goes in and out of the sweep of the other flanger. Hard to explain, but definitely weird sounding. I like that it can be adjusted via the pedal, but overall, I don't have too much use for it. PLUS, WATCH OUT, since when no effect is engaged on this setting, the pedal funcitons as a volume pedal. This is handy, sure, but if you're using the flanger with its distortion, then turn it off and don't remember to push the pedal forward again, ... UH-OH, WHERE did my signal go??? Oh shit! Thats right, I just turned it into a volume pedal with the volume all the way down! Watch out for that, its gotten me a couple times now.

To be perfectly honest, I still haven't played around with the distortions yet, and don't really care to. I just use them as boost functions basically, to get louder if I need to. I already have an amp with very good distortion (Ashdown fallen angel 60), a Boss OD-3, a modded Boss BD-2 (Monte Allums), and a Tech 21 SansAmp GT-2 in my rig, so what could really beat any of that? I just use the distortions to boost those, or make them heavier if I feel like I need that Spinal Tap go-to-11 type of thing.

I'm awarding a 10 in this category based on the sheer scope of what this pedal can do. Some of the effects could sound a bit better, some sound absolutely great. On the whole, I think this pedal is a winner for my playing style. Email me if you want to hear sound samples of my band, and me using this pedal for solos, etc. The word "Pristine" doens't really apply. Its the versitility I want to reward.

Hehe, ummm. sort of. I do gig with it without backup, but it makes me nervous. Why? Once, during practice, after switching the settings around a lot on the fly, the pedal suddenly freaked out and only produced static. LOUD static. Static that wouldn't go away, until I unplugged the pedal for a half a minute or so. I plugged it back in and all was well again. But, if that happens to me at a crucial point in a gig, my whole opinion of this thing might change. A tip - this happened when I switched things around without disengaging the effects, ie the effect was on and I just turned the knob to another, then did so again, etc. I haven't experienced this at all when properly turning each effect off before swtiching to another. However, this is exactly how the external footswitch functions, so I worry about that. Haven't experienced this with the footswitch yet, but worry that I might at some critical point in time.

No idea.

Overall, I've said about as much as I can say. Tone purists, blues players, metal players, you probably have no use for this thing. Just get individual effects that do what you want, no one pedal can do it all, though this one attempts to. I don't even try to make use of every function on this thing, but over time it has impressed me, and I've been able to get a LOT of useful sounds out of it. It is a strange creature though, and surprises me at times. I don't like too much unpredictability in my gear, but a little bit here and there is a spice of life, you know? I've played for about 16 years, owned several expression pedals, and basically kept buying and selling them one after the other, until I got my DeArmond weeper wah. That I used faithfully for a while, but it died right before I was to play a gig. I'm still hoping to repair it, but I went searching again after that, and bought this as soon as I realized it existed. And even if I get the Weeper repaired, I'm keeping the EX-7, because it really is a cool and useful product. Imperfect, but very useful.

Changing the pedal settings requires reading the manual. Some kind of indicator to show which effect was active would have been nice since it does have external switching capability--as it is now you have no idea which model is active once you start switching up/down through the models with the FSX3.

So I would put it right in the middle in terms of easy/difficult to use, plus one bonus point for having instructions on the bottom of the pedal.

For a $200 pedal with 7 effects + distortions, this is pretty darn good. The two wahs may not be the absolute best wahs you've ever heard, but given that they're tweakable in the frequency range and intensity you want, they're pretty flexible. The space station effect is good for a one-use-per-show special effect, and the whammy is quite serviceable. The vibe, leslie, and flanger are all useable--wouldn't want to depend on them as my only option if I used those effects all the time but they're they're good as bonus options.

So as a tweakable wah + whammy pedal I rate it pretty highly.

A bunch of these apparently shipped with bad switches. I know this because I'm on my third one. The first one wouldn't turn on at all with the toe switch, and the second one would only intermittently turn on with the toe switch (and required a great deal of force to do so). The third one works fine. That's not a very good batting average.

The folks below complaining about how hard it is to turn on aren't idiots, they just have bad units in all likelihood. A properly functioning one isn't hard to switch on at all. If it's hard to switch or doesn't always switch, return it.

I didn't have to deal directly with Digitech since I bought it from Sweetwater. Sweetwater was good to deal with throughout the process and tested the third pedal before shipping to make sure that the problem would be solved.

This pedal is a solid 8. If it was programmable (given that it's digital there's no reason other than price point and footprint not to have a display and memory) it would warrant a 9 or a 10 rating even if priced higher. Still, it's a good tool, capable of both nifty sci-fi soundscapes as well as bread and butter wah effects.

The way I look at this pedal is that it's good for one effect. Pick anything you like out of the seven that are available. If you look at it that way, it's fine. It's not really set up as a multi-fx; I doubt that many players are buying the optional footswitch.

Everything you need to know is printed on the bottom of the pedal.

I bought this on the strength of its Leslie simulation. Unless you put it side-by-side with a Leslie 147, it's pretty convincing. Better than the Boss RT-20. Better than the DLS RotoSIM. (IMO, of course.) I don't really care for the drive control; when I want to add some grind to the Leslie simulation I use one of the EX-7's built-in distortions.

The whammy and synth swell effects are good, too. The EX-7's synth swell and whammy behave better than the same effects on a Digitech Space Station that I used to own.

The flanger and unibe effects are simply atrocious. The wahs are pretty good; I actually prefer the short pedal travel.

The built-in distortions are just OK; there isn't as much tweakability as found on the Digitech DF-7.

Can't judge a book by looking at its cover. Too early to tell how this might hold up in the long run.

Never dealt with Digitech customer support. Don't intend to.

I play a variety of material that borrows from rock, folk, classical and jazz. Most of my playing is fingerstyle. I've been playing for almost fourty years - seriously for the past seven.

I use a Koll Custom DL Thinline plugged into a Fender Vibro-King. That rig gets about 99% of my playing time. I have a few other effects (Aphex Punch Factory, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Toadworks Redux, plus one or two new ones still on probation) and a Leslie 147.

The EX-7 is just passing through - I won't be keeping it. The Leslie effect - my motivation for having bought the pedal in the first place - isn't satisfying enough for me to want to make this pedal a permanent addition to my rig. I find the noise gate bothersome, too.

As a Leslie sim, the EX-7 is pretty good. As I said above, it sounds better (IMO) than the Boss RT-20 and the DLS RotoSIM (although not as configurable as either). It's still no competition for the real thing. If I was looking for a pedal to give me three or four of the EX-7's effects for occasional use, I'd probably hang on to this pedal.

Not the easiest thing to use but its like everything you get use to it.

May not be the best, but it's the best because of what you are getting in the whole package. If you can get 90% of the sound why throw out 100s more dollars. Its really a matter of opinion but if you are experimenting with effects this has great quality on my marshall tube. Some of the effects sound great, just a few sounding good is well worth the price.

It's made out of metal, what do you expect. Can't imagine its broken on anyone if you take care of it.

Great because of everything you get in the entire package.

Although some have complained about the ease of use, I really don't know what their issues are. Toe down - heel down. Pretty simple form most. Maybe a little tougher for some (if you are struggling with this procedure, I advise to get off the herbal enhancements).

The editing makes a great difference and would like to see digitech find a way to "save" patches. Without this option, your use of this pedal might be limited.

Manual was pretty simple.

Every setting starts with dials set at 12 noon. The expression pedal does give you some control. The sounds were really good. I didn't see this thing sucking any tone from my sound.

Pretty quiet pedal with no popping between channels. I purchased the optional FS3X control pedal and it keeps me from stage diving while preforming.

I liked ALL of the settings. I was especially impressed with the tone I got from the Leslie rotovibe. However, I am not really familiar with the space swell or whammy, so I really don't have anything to compare on these two channels.

The wahs sounded really good. I bought this pedal mainly as an option of having an adjustable wah and thought the other modeling options woudl be a bonus. I am not disappointed. Great wah and two usable chorus like effects, not to mention a great flange!!

I have never had trouble with Digitech and this thing looks really solid.

Never had to call them.

Although the sound quality is great, I was pretty disappointed that saving presets was not an option. Come on Digitech, hear our cries!! Because of this I can only give it an 8.

I would probably NOT buy another if this were lost in hopes that the next model would have a save option. THAT WOULD BE THE PEDAL TO HAVE.

Until then, I will have to make this one work.

this is a preliminary review, will post a thorough one after longer period of usage. i just think this pedal is getting savaged and wanted to chime in with some more positive feedback. keep in mind i've only had the thing a few days, but my initial tryouts of this thing have been great. as far as ease of use, there are a few aspects to consider: people complaining about how hard the switches are to use are...probably slow, if you know what i mean. there is nothing the least bit difficult about the switching, unless you have poor control of your appendages. being an expression pedal with tons of settings and adjustable parameters, this pedal is not easy to make full use of, as patches can't be stored, etc. that is worth griping about and hopefully will be upgraded if they keep making the pedal. it would be more useful as a live tool to be able to cycle through the settings more, but at the same time i can't imagine an interface that would make that easy to do either...i plan on getting the extra optional footswitch, but i still imagine it will be tough to tell which setting you've switched to until you start playing. so, that will be an adventure!

this pedal is kinda cumbersome to use, its true, but i had a Boss v-wah for a while and it was way, way worse in every way. shorter sweep, worse tone, harder to program and tweak, worse disortions, wahs nasal with barely any sweet spot even after extensive adjustment, etc. i really like this pedal, but maybe i'll hate it in two months, we'll see.

i have used the pedal once through my tiny epiphone 5 watt tube practice amp, and once through my main rig at decent volume. i can't say i experienced the tone sucking that's been mentioned, but usually i think that is mostly in people's heads anyways, or there are some people who just can hear beyond the normal range of human hearing. either way, the wahs do sound good, and not at all digital. i had been using a dearmond weeper up until recently, which is a f-in' sweeet wah pedal, but it died on me, wahhahah. the sweep of this pedal is certainly lacking by comparison, but its ajustability makes up for it in some important ways. the dearmond boosted my signal so much that it was hard to maintain even levels when playing live, i could kick it in and suddenly be dominating a whole show, which is not what you want, usually. i've already figured out how to not have that problem with this pedal, so that's cool by me! both of the wahs sounded pretty similar to me so far, will have to tweak more to find the differences.

i've never used a space station, and so can't make a comparison with that, but i think the effect sounds great! i will definitely find some uses for this, its a really nice thing to have on hand.

the whammy sounds cool, if a bit processed. but, i don't care about that too much, i'm not a "tone purist" in many ways, i do like to have some pure sounds here and there, but I like junk and %$#@^& up noises too, a lot, really a lot, so this device for me is really much more useful than just a plain wah pedal. so far i can't say I've achieved what could really be called a 'dive bomb' with this whammy, but its possible that its in there and i just havne't tweaked it right yet. didn't spend that much time using the whammy, just got a sense of it by playing a few wankish harmonized solos, and i think its cool.

also never used a real univibe, so i can't compare that either, but I have used a dunlop rotovibe, which i ended up selling due to the loud 'pop' it made when being engaged with the toe switch, and i missed having that controllable warbly effect. now I have it back, yay! i'll make use of this for sure, but i doubt that it exactly mimics vintage analog equipment...but again to me that's not the most important thing.

the leslie simulator sounds fine to me, and again, its adjustable on the fly with the treadle, which is really handy for weird effects.

the a/da flanger - i have a guyatone fl-3 flanger already, which is seriously so kickass that i would be its better than an original a/da anyways in several ways. but, I like this again simply because of being able to effect it with the treadle. makes cool weird noises. I combined this with metal distortion (not from the ex-7, elsewhere) and the 'reverse' and 'twist' modes of my boss dd-20 - sonic mayhem!!! i'm really excited to play a show with this and disorient some people, hehe.

i can't at all rate or describe the distortions or cab. models, as I really don't expect to use this pedal for the disortions. maybe for practice sessions where i don't want to carry my whole pedalboard to the practice space, which this little guy will be great for, by the way, cause my gear all together weighs a friggin ton by now...anyways, i think its handy to have the distortion on hand to further boost a solo on the spot if i want to and if i run out of other effects to engage, etc., so whatever. its worth the price of the pedal to me just to have the above described effects. hopefully i'll figure out the 'divebomb', cause i really want to be able to do that. but overall, to my ears, it sounds great, really, really cool, if not entirely 'pure'.

seems really solidly made, i don't know what people are complaining about. jeeez this thing costs almost $200!! take decent care of it people! why would you treat something so expensive like crap enough for it to break? this thing is solid, somewhat heavy.

??? hopefully won't have to find out. or, hopefully they'll listen to the complaints about patch memory, add the feature, let me mail mine back in and get it installed. a guy can dream, can't he?

this pedal was used once before i got it on eBay. as I said, i'll use it for a few months, play a few shows, then do an in depth review. but, out of the box, it seems really promising to me as a noise making tool. i just really like to be able to make a wide variety of weird noises, but also wanted a decent wah to replace my beloved dearmond. i am completely satisfied thus far. i'm excited to get the extra footswitch so that i can at least attempt to switch modes live and see how it goes. i think this pedal is a great idea, if not flawlessly executed, its still really cool. price should come down a bit, to say $130 - 40 or so. But still I feel like I'm getting my $165 worth and more. Who knows, I may feel differently in a while. Will be back!

Hard to use on stage, sounded pretty lame, can't save patches... ARRRGH!

Using with PRS guitars and Dr.Z amps... THis thing is a tone thief! sucked a heck of a lot of mojo from my rig. THe wahs were kinda thin sounding, not as good as my crybaby (with Fasel) The flange was bad, and the leslie effect was passable at best.

As to the distortions/amp models? fake. I have use most of the distortions that they are modeling and they are way off. I was hoping this would really let me have a little fun on stage tone wise, but it is heading back to the dealer.

Wou;dn't gig without a backup, wouldn't gig with it... those hard to press switches are just waiting to fail.

Digitech.... THey forget about you pretty quick from my experience.

Overall... a failure. I figured I'd give Digitech another chance, but this thing sounds terrible, works wierd and will not be a part of my rig. I had hoped for something cool. Not here.

This is almost a loaded question.
It is really easy to plug in, select a model, work the treadle, and get really compelling results on all each of the 7 modes. It's very easy, intuitive and fun on the showroom floor.
hit the toe switch, it's an expression effect. Hit the heel switch, it's that expression effect with some distortion.

However, when you try to edit the pedal, things get frustrating.
First of all, you HAVE to consult the manual to figure out what the knobs adjust. Every model "opens up" with it's knobs at "noon", so tweaking the knobs may get wild jumps in settings. There's only three, so it's pretty easy to just follow your ears, if you take it slow.
The unit also ahs 7 distrion-and-amp-model settings, which you can individually adjust, and drop into a given experssion slot.
you'll then read in the manual about how to change distortion-amp models, change their settings, etc. It's not hard, but you have to take it slow and kinda already know what you're after.
The frustration sets in when you realize;
Second of all, unfortunately, digiteach provided NO WAY TO SAVE USER SETTINGS ON THE EXPRESSION MODELS. If you want anything but the "demo-floor-model-knobs-at-noon" preset, you have to dial it in EVERY TIME you bring up that expression model. The distortion you set up will be right there, waiting for you.
I just don't get it, they built in the parameter technology to adjust the expression settings, they built in the MEMORY technology to SAVE the distortions onto given spots (1-7) on the model-select knob, but they just failed to "put 2 and 2 together" .

someone below said digitech almost got it right. I think they REALLY missed the point. BOSS made their "wah factory", and it allows you to save up to 3 (actually 4) settings, all with their own expression and distortion settings. When it comes time to play live, You can surf through all your presets on THAT unit with just heel and toe. THIS x-7 requires you to bend over and not only change the mode, but probably also tweak your expression stuff. Unless you want to use the "noon" setups, which will bring you THAT MUCH CLOSER TO SOUNDING LIKE EVERYONE ELSE !...

digitech has been getting really smart with their DSP lately.
I have to admit, on the pure "quality" of the sound (input -> output), this thing is has a nice dynamic range, doesn't sound harse and digital, and pretty quiet on changes (no popclicks).
The authenticity of their models, however, is VERY HIT OR MISS.

READ below for sound critiques of the distortion bits. I don't even want to go there.

I DO, however, wish to critique some of the mis-fires of how "expression" models do sound, and how they are controlled.

bear in mind, for all accounts, this treadle is very shallow (not much room to express).

modes 1 and 2 sound good like dunlop and clyde wahs, and they sweep like nice wahs. the shallow treadle makes it easy to get quick movements and wah "barks", but hard to get "pronounce" the subtler stuff.
mode 3; space station... some people say that this re-cap model is what sells the pedal. I've used an original space sation. IT's great that they let you choose different pitch-shift intervals (in case you want dissonant), but again, you can't save em. They really missed out on TWO counts here. FIRST, you could "overswell" the space-station patches, which is half of why they sounded good. SECOND, the original had the treadle control input volume, you you controlled how "swollen" the synth wash got. This ex7 has the treadle control "swell time"... BIG difference. With the expression factory every note you hit will swell all the way, at a steady rate, but never over-sweel. much LESS expressive, if you ask me.

the Univibe actually sounds fine, but I'd much prefer the action on the boss v-wah.

the rotary speakear is also quite convincing, but you really need more sweep room do do much with it. Like the wah's, you're just jumping from fast to slow. Nice that they let you pick your minimum speed.

The flanger; the other big mistake. They should just make the treadle control "speed", and allow "full-back" to make it STOP. that would be much more fun that foot-sweeping the MANUAL delay time at the same time that an LFO sweeps it around. no LFO depth to speak of either. This flanger just doesn't sound right.

Used it at the store. Figured out everything in an hour (much to the salesman's delight)
was not impressed enough to take it home (much to the salesman's irritation). I don't own one, So I don't know.

A carbon fibre finish does nothing but LOOK good. digitech makes their wild dsp with the cheap components, so if anything inside breaks, you have a really nice looking paperweight.

Can't say for this product, but for the other stuff I've owned... digiverb (great pedal) vocal FX 300 (...see below !!!...), turbo-flange (fun), hyper phase (less so)... their support is fine, but not impressive.

I don't mean my review to sound so snotty and negative, but I had really high hopes for this pedal. Their ideas could really blow even line6 out of the water here and there, but their compromised execution keeps them coming in just under boss. I'm really glad I didn't mail order it.

Digitech made a great product for in-store demos. looks nice, fun to demo, and you can figure out all the features right in the store. This product will sell like hotcake for 1 year, until everyone gets tired of it's very painful limitations.
line6's green delay has been lurking on the charts for the past two years, So expect half a dozen radio hits of the 2006-2007 alternative rock charts to feature space-station synth-swell sounds.

It would have cost very little more to make it possible to save expresion paremeters, and even little more again to allow you to choose what parameter the treadle got assigned to.
this is a fun bunch of presets in the size and shape of your wah. It's hardly worth replacing your wah, if you're so worried about pedal-board real-estate.

Along those lines,
If you really want some "expression pedal fun", then, seriously, save your money, free up a little more room, and get the digitech vocal300. it's basically a mashup between a guitar multi effect (comp-gate-disortion-Eq-mod-delay-reverb-level), and a cheesy vocal effector (with vocoders, ring mods, more pitch shifters, breathing effects, etc).
you can set up a full patch, then assign the onboard treadle to up to any 3 of any effect parameters (including the input-volume on reverb and delay blocks). I made "synth-swell" patches on my vocal300 that could out space-staion the original space station. Trust me. and the vocal300 still sells for less than the coveted space stations. HAH. (...and don't buy the vocal400, all you're paying for is poopy usb and poopy recording software bundle).

The manual is OK, but you just need to spend an hour or so with the pedal to get used to how it works.

Sound quality is great. I'm using it with studio monitor headphones, a 65' reissue Twin Reverb and a 4X10 Fender Blues Deville.

Since it's new I don't know. I would never gig without a backup.

All I know is that Digitech sent me a nice gig bag and a nice 15' cloth covered cable for free when I bought a GNX4. So they have to be somewhat OK.

I wouldn't mind a gig bag for the Expression factory.

Ok, I'm an old 60's rocker. I play almost every day and my basic equipment is listed above.

I really like the carbon fibre finish on this unit.

The only thing that I don't like about it is bending down to tweak those knobs.

This is not a good pedal. It will drain your tone, some of the effects do absolutely nothing, you will be throwing $200 down the drain. I asked for this as a gift because the advertising for this product made it seem amazing but I was played like a Fendar Strotocastyr. Now I have to figure out what to do to return this thing.

Sounds terrible with my Epi Alleykat->crybaby wah-.boss ds1->boss cs-1->pignose G60VR.

Wouldn't want to.

The intructions are well written and can be viewed at the digitech website. It is easy to get some good sounds quiclky thanks to the suggested settings in the instructions. It bit of a pain to us elive because you have to dial in each setting, there are NO presets. I have used the EX-7 several times during gigs. I keep it on either the Wah or Leslie and it did fine for live play. The distortions are fun and sound pretty good through a PA also. The unit seems to like clean amps and PA's. Not real easy to learn the toe/heel deal but you'll have it with a bit of practice.

Considering all the effects it has along with the distortions it has, it is really an amazing unit. You have to do some tweaking for your guitar and amp setup but after you figure that out the rest flows pretty well. The distortions are the weak link in this unit and the effects are the star. I really have had a blast learning them all. I really dig the Leslie, Uni-Vibe and that Flanger is really nice. The Wah's are pretty good and they are very adjustable. The Whammy is a trip in of itself all the octave settings are there. The XP300 Space swells are volume synth driven and just a blast to trip on. I love old Floyd space rock kinda stuff and this works well.

I have been using teh Digiverb and Digidelay on my acoustic rig every week for over a year with no issues and I think this will hol dup fine.

Never needed to .

I play space rock and plenty of other styles. It's a great tool to have in your bag of tricks and really neat in the studio.
Here a clip of it http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3516349&q=hi
get one if you can!

Very easy to use right out of the box. Digitech has determined the "12:00" position as the default for each model at it's most "normal" function. The truth is, it is actually fairly convincing at this setting and is a greaty starting point.

Very clean. Not digital sounding.
The wah's:
are excellent and I have found myself gravitating towards the Vox wah over the Crybaby and I own a real crybaby that should be called the "Noisy Crybaby". The old typical layer of white noise as you send the pedal through various osolations is not present here. The response is a bit different and the true quack zone at 12:00 position is about mid way from back to front but like others have said, I kind of like it like that. It's a bit more comfortable to hit the quack and you get more of the high end osolation to play with. Very surprisingly nice.
Space Station:
As others have said, this is worth the price of the unit. I use it in conjunction with a stereo delay (old Quadraverb) and it truly sounds amazing. Very orchestral. You can adjust the octaves for various timbres but the 12:00 position does seem to be very sweet to me. The ethreal posiblities are endless.
Whammy:
I have never used a Whammy before. It is a pitch bending device that I have found you can stop at various positions within the heel to toe motion to lock onto some pretty outrageous octave points. You can sort of get the old Yes "Owner of a Lonely Heart" octave thing going. It tracks pretty well but you have to get use to it if you are using it to arrive at that "Audioslave vibe". I have a feeling that the original versions of this pedal had more versatility but it has been some fun to play with.
UniVibe:
I own a Dunlop UniVibe and actually like the model better in this unit. The original pedal tends to get a bit crazy when you are using humbuckers and overdrive. It is hard to keep a good balance between the original note/chord and the effect thus the mix always seemed off balance to me. With this unit you can use the pedal to control the speed where with the Dunlop UV you have to buy an external expression pedal to attain this control. But those of you who own a Univibe, don't dump it just yet. You cannot get the Unvibe chorus effect with the EX-7....and if you own a Dunlop...you know the sound I am talking about.
Leslie:
It's about the most convincing model I have used but it still lacks that choppy sort edge that a real rotating speaker has. It's truly as good as it gets though. I have realy enjoyed playing around with this section.
Flanger:
I have to admit, I don't like this flanger much. I use a EH Deluxe Electric Mistress and really would much rather use the EH. Perhaps it is because I am very particular when it come to attaining that Andy Summers vibe and the EH Mistress nails it spot on.

Distortion Factory.
I have not really liked any of the models. I am going to play with it some more however, I use a Mesa Boogie TriAxis and have always preferred natural overdrive. I use a ToneBone Loopbone so I can use the boost feature to scorch the font end of the Boogies Recto Section and murder any pedal, any day of the week. Those of you who one a TriAxis already know what I mean.

Seems built very well. Very clean sounding, no pops when you click the switch on and off. I expect this unit to last quite some time.

No idea.

This is an outstanding pedal for the the Wah, Space Echo and the Univibe effects. It is a keeper. I play many styles of music from blues to metal to jazz to fingerstyle. My main set up is either a US Strat w/ vintage noisless pickups, Les Paul Classic (1960), Epiphone Sheraton II, a beefed up old Jap Tele with Fralins and sometimes a my Parker Fly. This goes through my pedal board consisting of EX-7>Keeley Compressor>Input of LoopBone, Loop 1>EH Electric Mistress >Phase 90. Loop2>Fuzzface>Dunlop UniVibe. Output of Loopbone to ISP Decimator (awesome noise gate!). I have an Alesis Quadraverb runnning through the loop of my Boogie and control both units with an old school Digital Music Corp Ground Control. This unit benfits greatly from each guitar I use. The strat is edgy and SRV/Jimiesque. There are many feels and moods available. I would buy another if I lost it. I own an original crybaby and this unit is cleaner and a bit of a nicer "sweet spot" about mid way between heel and toe. Very nice feeling. Some have said that switch is hard to turn on. I have no idea why they would say this. Perhaps they are trying to do it with a hand instead of foot or perhaps they just have dainty little toes. Who knows twinkle toes?!! I have derived some great moments with the pedal. I have just ordered the optional foot switch and am looking forward to using it in conjuction with the unit. Very nice expression pedal. Outstanding value considering the over all offering and performance.

It doesn't take much to get a good sound out of this..but, YOU NEED TO READ THE MANUAL. The manual is great. It has all the information you need. I strongly suggest reading the manual completely before even connecting and trying this pedal out. It not that easy to use so I have to rate it a 7

I run a Togaman Guitar Viol (www.bowedguitar.com) to EX-7 > Boss Tuner > Digitech Bad Monkey (my fav) > Boss Delay > Boss Chorus > Boss Pitch Shifter > to Yamaha T50 amp.

This pedal is quite clean on all settings. It all depends on how u set it. All the effects sound great. My favorites so far are the Vox Wah with DOD 250, Unicord Uni Vibe, Leslie 147 rotary. I am still experimenting with it. I love the Vox Wah/DOD 250 combo for that Michaeln Schenker sound. It just sings.

This unit is built pretty good. Digitech has been making really great products lately. I own a Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive and it is just the best.

Never dealt with them.

I play jazz, new age, blues, rock and latin all put together. This pedal makes my pedalboard a lot cleaner and lighter cause I don't have to have a Uni-Vibe, Flanger etc. This unit does it all. I have been playing for about 10 years now and own plenty of pedals to know what works for me.

My wife gave me this for my birthday, but if it was stolen I would buy it in a sec. I love the amount of effects on this and the quality of them. It is a bit complex to operate, but the manual is really helpfull. The Vox Wah and DOD 250 are my favorite.

This is the real deal.

Hard to plug in to. Nearly impossible to click toe or heel footswitches.

Sounded pretty good while it worked. Distortion models very noisy with single coil pickups.

I received it on a Friday. It died Saturday after I used it for about four hours. Still cannot get it to work... I'm returning it to the dealer.

They have not answered my e-mail yet, but they answered previous e-mails

I would like it if it hadn't died. I'll give a replacement unit a chance. They need to do a couple things...make the footswitches easier to activate and allow storable settings so the unit can be used live. I use the remote footswitch with it (FS3X), but i want to be able to save each model the way I want it, because otherwise you just have to set all knobs at 12:00 O'clock and compromise the sound of each setting. Or you would have to crouch down and tweak it on your pedalboard every time you changed models...not very professional behavior at a gig. I think DigiTech almost got it right.

I am highly critical of digital modeling products and I initially set out not wanting to believe the sound clips that I had heard were as good as they seemed to be.

My basic impressions of this pedal are as follows...

The Sweep...

OK...the sweep is pretty short, but I find that I am able to get a lot more articulation with the wahs than I normally would...so I like it a lot. Some may not, but I find it to be one of this pedal's strengths.

The Switches...

Again...some may find the switching to be stiff...personally, since it has a double switch, I like the fact that it's not super easy to activate the pedal. To be fair, it's not that hard to turn it on and off.

The Wahs...

I own a Teese RMC-3. It's a great pedal and it's very flexible...however setting it up can be a pain, so I usually leave it on one setting.

The wahs on the EF-7, while not as sweet as the RMC-3 (which is a pretty high benchmark) are remarkably good...and they're very easy to tweak. I would never guess that they were digital. Digitech really out did themselves with these models...and I usually hate any kind of digital modeling. I really like the wah's.

The Synth Swells...

As many have said...this effect pretty much makes this pedal worth the price of admission. Sounds great clean...sounds great with some distiortion. It does what it does as advertised without a lot of hassle.

The Whammy...

I never used any of the earlier Whammy pedals, but I like this effect a lot. It definitly adds to the value of this pedal. It's easy to setup and use and sounds great.

The Univibe...

OK...yes...there are better Univibes out there. The vibe on my Captain Coconut 2 is one if the best. Again, while this doesn't sound as awesome, it's still pretty damn great...I'd say it's at least as good as my Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe, which is nice. The chorus sounds great too. I like this particular model a lot.

The Leslie...

It's good...in fact it's one of the best Leslie sims I have heard...I need to tweak it a bit more, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better Leslie sim.

The Flanger...

I found that you can get this to sound a lot like a phaser, which is great because I'm not the biggest flanger fan. This effect is a little more difficult to set up than the others, but there's good sounds to be had here.

The Distortions

OK...while these are supposedly designed to be used in conjunction with the other effects in the unit (I guess they don't want to kill sales of the Distortion Factory pedal) here's how you can work around it and have the Expression Factory become a Distortion Factory...When you go to edit your distortions...make sure you do so in the Whammy mode and set the wet/dry mix all the way to dry. Presto...instant Distortion Factory.

As for the sounds...I have to admit, I'm not as impressed with the distortion models...not that some aren't good, and not that some of them don't sound cool with the other effects, they are not the high point of the pedal...but they do add value and functionality to it so let your personal tastes be your guide here.

The DOD OD/Preamp...

It takes a little tweaking but this is one of the better models. Sounds the most like it's supposed to.

The RAT...

This functions and sounds very little like a real RAT. I was able to get one sound out of it that I liked, but it still was just OK. Best used as a textural effect than as a stand alone distortion. Aside from the one setting it's either too bright or too woofie sounding. You won't be tossing out your favorite distortion pedal for this model.

The Digitech Metal Master...

This is a decent sounding metal/rock distortion...not surprising since the DOD OD/Preamp also sounded decent. Again, like the OD/Preamp, as a stand alone it's utilitarian in function. You can get good results with it, but don't expect to be knocked out. Sounds great with the Synth Swells and the Whammy.

The Boss Metal Zone...

This sounds very little like a Boss Metal Zone. It just sounds bad. I really question the inclusion of this model since the Digitech Metal Master model sounds so much better. The lack of low and mid range EQ really hinder this model. I think it's the worst sounding of the lot next to the TS-9 model. It's pretty much useless. They could have put a Fuzz Face model here instead.

The Big Muff...

This sounds NOTHING like a big muff at any setting. I compared it to my rehoused Big Muff and my ICBM Fuzz on a number of Smashing Pumpkins riffs and some other better known Big Muff riffs and it doesn't even come close.

However I think once you get the notion that it's supposed to sound like a Big Muff out of your head, you can find SOME usefull sounds here. Again...I think this model is best utilized in a textural context. Fans of the Big Muff won't use it as a stand alone fuzz.

The TS-9...

This sounds nothing like any TS-9 or clone I have ever used...I couldn't get a single useful sound out of it. Again...with the OD/Preamp model already in place, there is little use for this model unless it actually sounded like a TS-9...but it flat out doesn't. Probably my only serious disappointment with this pedal.

The Boss DS-1...

I actually like this model better than a stock DS-1...that's not to say I love this model, but it has it's uses and it does some things better than a stock DS-1 (for example, it has a nicer low end). Works best in a textural context.

My final thoughts on the EF-7...

As a whole, this unit is an amazing creative tool that is rugged and fairly easy to use. This should be in every recording musician's tool box.

The modeling is better than anything I have heard from Line 6, Korg, Berhinger, Vox, etc.

I think Digitech is heading in the right direction with these kinds of effects. If they continue to release more quality pedals like this, the Experience Pedal, and the Jam Man, I'll keep buying them. Keep upping the ante guys.

What I would like to see

1. Two obvious things that are missing are tremolo (which would benefit greatly from having it's speed controllable with the expression pedal) and a nice reverb. If it had those two effects this would be a complete package.

2. Better distortion models. Everything else sounds so great...the DOD/Digitech models are the best ones. If Digitech raised the bar in this area, they could easily put Line 6 out of business. Seriously.

3. MIDI/Preset Storage/LED Display...it would be great to be able to store 99 presets and be able to name them so you can keep track of them and have a MIDI "in" and "thru" for being able to switch between presets. This would be a HUGE improvement to the functionality of this unit.

That's pretty much it. As it stands, it's a must have unit for the studio and a handy device for live use. I give it a hearty 8.5 out of 10.

Well, first things first...you have to calibrate the pedal. on the underside of the pedal are the instructions for calibration. its fairly easy to play with the settings, the 3 "tip" knobs control the settings for whatever expression pedal you're on, the 3 "ring" knobs control the settings for whatever distortion you're on. rock the pedal forward to engage the expression setting, rock it back to engage the distortion setting. there's a bit of light programming type stuff like "setting a distortion", but thats about it. its a plug and play pedal, but you really should setup the thing to get decent sounds.

my set up:
guitar> boss compressor>ernie ball volume> distortion section> DIGITECH EX-7> delay> boss reverb> amp

it sounds kinda silly but i should start by saying, you should want the effects this pedal provides, if you want something else, buy something else.

the distortions are all right. they're very....digitech. its pretty useful in a live situation, i have a few overdrives that i really love and i only use this pedal for a few moments when i need a really over the top drive, and after passing through my effects chain, the sound is really warmed up. it says it models amp cabinets, though i can't figure out how to select them...i think each distortion has a cabinet its modeled to. wierd. its got a couple outs too, so you can play around with that, also it supposedly a cab emulator good enough to record direct out. haven't tried it though.

the univibe isn't as warm as an original, but its actually pretty good. the same can be said of both the flanger and leslie settings. personally i like spaced out sounds, so the fact that these sounds aren't as warm doesn't bother me.

the whammy could definitely have better tracking, if you're looking for a very stable pitch shift, you're better off getting something else. as i said before, im into noisy effects, so the fact that the tracking warbles a little is kinda cool for me.

the wahs are pretty good. they do sound a little bit digital, but you can EQ them with a kind of control that you don't get with traditional wahs, so for this reason alone they're pretty great. my personal favorite is the vox clyde mcsomethingorother wah. its a little more versetile as the crybaby can sound a little too stereotypical (think "stereotypical" porn music). but again, you can eq the heck out of them.

finally, what i bought this pedal for...the synth swell. i never played an original digitech space station, but ive heard them and always wanted something that could turn my guitar into a orchestra-esque string pad section of a keyboard. this is definitely it. you can adjust the accompanying pitches into 2nds 5ths octaves up and down etc. you can also adjust how much of the pitch comes through, and the length of time it takes to swell to full volume.

very good pedal sounds for the price all in all...

these knobs feel kinda flimsy. i really wish i could open the thing up and replace the pots/knobs with boss ones. this doesnt seem like an easy to fix pedal though, so im not going to bother it until it breaks on me. the actual pedal looks/feels like plastic, but i think its metal. cheesy carbon fiber overlay on the whole thing too. digitech and dod always have this way of making things cheesy looking, i kinda wish they'd just cool it and make sturdy, plain ol' pedals, and spend the extra effort on better sounds. its velcro'd to my board though, so its not too worrisome. the rocker seems strong. but the actual switching mechanism seems just as flimsy as the knobs...again, i wish they'd spend more money on parts than looks.

no idea......yet.

i play ambient rock music. this pedal helps out lots for unusual sounds.

if it were lost of stolen, yeah i'd probably get another

i read that theres a footswitch for it, though without some sort of indicator, it'd be a chore to remember what setting you're on.

i wish it had a dedicated footswitch for the distortions, i don't like that you have to rock the pedal to the "volume off" position to turn on the distortion.

i dunno how legit this thing would sound: guitar >ex7 >amp. but in a chain of effects, its really nice.

i wanted every effect it provides, and i can have it in the convenience of one pedal. there are certain effects i'd never really rely on non-analog pedals for, but these are mostly to make ambient noise, so its great.

I had a few problems combining some of the effects with the distortion, so mine may have been a bad unit. Sometimes the footswitch is hard to shut off because it isn't a regular footswitch like on a wah wah. It appears to be inside the casing and might be digital? Sometimes it is hard to turn it off/on and some effects get stuck, so I'm hoping this is not a problem that all units have.

If you are familiar with the Digitech Distortion Factory, you get the same pedal/sound from that with the addition of the efffects. I found that a couple of the effects weren't useful or just didn't sound very good. The 2 wahs, univibe, and whammy appeared to be the best functions on the pedal. YOU CAN ALSO PROGRAM THE DIFFERENT DISTORTIONS TO USE THE EFFECTS OR HAVE JUST THE EFFECTS OR JUST THE DISTORTIONS WORKING. Pretty cool idea. The Whammy if you set it right, you CAN get the Dimebag, Satch, Vai, Morello sound going and its dead on. Go out and try this sucker its not perfect, but does a pretty damned good job that is crammed in the size of your standard wah pedal!!!!!!!!!

Not sure because it just came out how reliable it is/will be in the future. I am hoping that it will be like most standard Digitech products and hold up to years of use and abuse. For another 200 bucks, I'd buy another one as a backup because so far I'm very seriously impressed with it.

They were very prompt in responding to my e-mail and my questions. I hope that others out there will have similar experiences. They should also have a manual/part on their website advertising the product to learn about it.

For the wahs, whammy, and univibe it more than pays for itself. This is the same company that made a modeled pedal for Jimi Hendrix and in general most have been very satisfied with that. Not to mention that you get the 7 distortions AND can COMBINE ONE OR MULTIPLE DISTORTIONS WITH THE DIFFERENT EFFECTS and set them in memory. It does have a few defects like hard pedal switching, some effects didn't sound that good,and some functions didn't seem to work all the way they should (2 distortions had effects coming out of them in JUST distortion mode).... but for the price of an antique distortion pedal, you can sure find something that will sound kick ass! I'd say to try it out first before you but it to see if it is in your liking. I couldn't tell any difference between the effects and the real ones on records, so it comes pretty darn close to the real thing.