DigiTech Grunge

Usually a "7" means "just this side of sucks". Not so. It just means that this pedal can crank out LOTS of different sounds and it will almost certainly take tweaking to find your sweet spot. 4 knobs and they all serve a purpose. Level(D-tech's marketing dept calls it "loud"),
Low(they mean it), Hi(ouch), and "Grunge" which is sort of, yet not quite, a distortion level knob. Don't plan on stepping on this and having your dream sound come out of it. It'll take some trial and error.

The "8" may be a bit generous, but I'm rating it for what it is - a low cost 2nd line distortion pedal made with a specific purpose in mind. I play everything from rock to blues to funk to r&b to praise & worship.....you get the idea. My sounds need to believably cover a lot of ground. I've been using a Turbo Rat for a couple years for all distortions, which is not the best for heavy rhythms or low leads that need to cut through. This pedal has what I've been missing - a SOLID bottom end without the mids scooped out so low that the sound doesn't carry. This guy can probably rock with just about anything that doesn't run on tubes.(hey, whaddya want for $40?) Kinda have to watch the high end though. Turn that up much past halfway and you get a REAL thin razorlike tone. Very irritating. A "mid" control would've been nice. The "grunge" knob is, aside from the low end, what makes this unique. It takes the intensity off the distortion without decreasing the actual distortion amount. The only real downside to this unit is that it doesn't mix well with other effects. I run this before a crybaby>>MXR phase 90>>Yamaha Chorus>>Danecho Delay>>Peavey Bandit. Add any of these and the sound loses it's gut and becomes very processed sounding. Oh well, the reason I got it was to stand alone.

Not an issue yet, but I'd hate to drop it on my foot.

Never dealt with them. Never had to.

I guess I covered most of this earlier. Only things I would add or stress are that this is NOT a "set it and forget it" pedal. It can make many different sounds and it may take some adjusting to get a curl at the corners of your mouth. Also, this pedal is made to ROCK. If you play anything that just requires a little boost or a "creamy" sound, look elsewhere. This pedal has a high end that gets VERY harsh and edgy if pushed. I bought this pedal for situations where I need a "give me your attention or I'll take it from you" sound. NOT for polite playing. If you want a pedal that gives the rest of the band whiplash while they're trying to figure out where THAT sound is coming from, this just might be your boy.

easy to operate...its a distortion pedal...4 knobs vol, bass, treb, gain.

not noisy, lots of gain, thick brutal distortion when maxed, the tone controls provide lots of flavors of grind, this pedal goes from about jcm 800 level grind to ripping distortion, it has kind of a stuck wha sound to it, great for a schenker tone or also stryper type snarl.

it seems reliable, only had it a week though

smokin, especially for the money, yes you can use it for leads...you just have to play with the knobs a bit.

four knobs: volume, dist, bass and treble. easy if you dont mind the fixed mid range coming from the pedal.

i am using a few fenders with invaders at the bridge. into an ibanez tb100h into tb412 and hartke vx3500.i personally love the sound of this pedal. i got it to replace my fabtone. it is grinding, heavy and fuzzy. could use a db or two more volume, but i like distortion to be LOUD! my fabtone didnt have as smooth of a center of unity gain with the two tone knobs(also low and high), so it sounded much more filterish than this unit. i was not able to find any of these at local shops to try for myself so i was left with reviews and sound clips. i was partially expecting a ds-2. the whole "nails the nirvana sound" made me a bit reluctant to get this as kurt utilized ever so boosted mids, where as i prefer a deep drop in that range. this pedal delivers both with equally good results, but i still have my preference. this pedal has a nice thickness to it. its not to over bearing. i have all but the highs cranked. havent used it with my band yet, so cant say how it is in a band setting.
so far, i have been able to get a gluey porch treatments buzzo, an in utero kurt, a live at the astoria kat, a bigmuff steve, some self titled korn, some chimaira blasphemer and my own signature tone.
i use a ring mod, two phasers, synthwah and whammy. it works well with all of those.

this is my third digitech/ dod. so far they seem to hold up nicely. but time and my fits will tell its true sturdiness.

no comment

i play dark, heavy folky surf with some funk thrown in. this pedal gives me just what i want a a bit more.
if it were stolen, id get another.
i like that its metal. has a big footswitch. i only dislike the name. and wish it had a tad more in the volume dept.
i compared this to alot of other distortions(ive owned nearly 200, no joke). it is my favorite as of yet.
i have had it a few hours and already pumped out some nice ground work for a couplle of songs.
nevermind the name.

It is quite easy to use. Four knobs: Loud, Low, High, Grunge - twist and see what happens. To get the right sound might take a few moments though.

I'm not a big budget guitarist (that's why I bought this one too) and I have Laney tf700+cabinet and Epiphone Les Paul standard. The grunge pedal roars for my ears just perfectly, and has the greatest low fuzzing sound. It makes a little noise, but not disturbingly. Compared to Boss ME-30 distortions (what I used before) it makes noise like a burning candle..
It is not that limited to one soundthan its brother "Death Metal". I too, like the previous reviewer, was about to buy the Death Metal -pedal, but in the shop my mind was changed. How can this be cheaper..? :P

I just bought it, so I don't know for sure, but it is said that Digitech is made to remain...

Nothing to say about this either..

I play hard music, mostly alternative metal. And yes, if this was stolen, I'd find the thief and beat him up. So beware..!
As said above, in my opinion "Grunge" is better than the "Death metal", since it has the option to adjust the amount of distortion. And it was cheaper too! Also it looks quite cool.
I haven't tried so many pedals to say if this is the BEST pedal to get, but after buying it I don't even have to. It makes me pleased. But nothing is perfect!! (that's why I gave 9)

Easy to use, 4 knobs and on/off pedal. I wish the knobs would be labeled better...I mean, instead of Level is says Loud and instead of Gain it says Grunge, which is lame and somewhat confusing the first time you use it. There is no control for Mids, and that sucks! I would gladly give up the Gain control for a Mid knob (which is the knob setup that the Digitech Death Metal has)

First of all, let me say you can get some GREAT sounds with this pedal but it's easier to get CRAPPY sounds out of it. So make sure to tweak the controls and find your tone before you say "man this sucks." I agree with the first guy who reviewed this pedal, it is a METAL pedal. I actually went to my local guitar shop to use the Digitech Death Metal and when I was done trying it I tried this pedal out. And this pedal sounds much more suited for death metal and black metal than the Digitech Death Metal! This thing has really powerful EQ, so you can really add a ton of bass or treble depending what sound you want. It doesn't have much background hiss either. I play Speed/Thrash Metal, Death Metal and some Black Metal. For Death and Black Metal this pedal is good, however for Speed Metal you might want to try the Digitech Metal Master or Boss Metal Zone.

I don't know yet. I haven't had a problem, but I still trust a BOSS pedal more because they are built like tanks.

It's pretty good...but for $40 it's F*cking great!

It wasn't long after I purchased this stompbox that I was able to find my "Green Sound". Knobs were sensative when turned which is great since you can get variety of sounds.

I use this through a Gibson SG and a Marshall combo Avt 50. It was very quiet when I wasn't playing. No humming at all. But it doesn't restrain the sustain while I'm playing. If you have a delay stompbox this is a great pedal for tapping. Digitech never fails in quality of sound.

This is made of metal and very heavy duty. Actually the second day I had it I dropped it and was worried that I might of cased some pieces to come lose but nothing was damaged at all. I shook the pedal and nothing was loose, not even the pedal that covers the battery came off. So I'm sure that this pedal can withstand any force from any foot onstage.

Haven't needed it but the user and customer support forum on Digitech's website are very useful. Especially if you are just looking for some hints on getting the sound that you want.

This is a great pedal that will not dis-please anyone who gets it. It will only melt faces!!!

It's easy to be used as a pedal, but it's not quite easy to be used as a pedal for the grunge sound! The suggested settings on the manual (which is well written) are good starting points, otherwise you may need to twist the HIGH and LOW a while to figure out where the desired sound hides. But there is just where the surprise comes in...

Guess what, this little baby can do BLACK METAL! As long as you keep the HIGH above 3:00, and full crank the distortion (GRUNGE) knob. You may also need an external EQ if you want more bass. Digitech should rename it as Black Master or Death Viking or something. Trust me I'm a die-hard metalhead and I know what I'm saying. This one sounds a little more gentleman and more modern than the DOD grunge, and is more suitable for black metal than grunge, though it surely can do some not-so-dirty types of grunge (like those in Nirvana's Nevermind) or Green day-ish punk-pop as well. But then you better keep the LOW and HIGH under 12:00.

The painting has some minor flaws. Other than that it's very solid. Much better than the DOD version.

Never need to deal with them and I think this is the best customer support. Their website provides most of the information I need. I've emailed DOD once and they replied in a few days, but I'm not sure whether they're the same persons at Digitech.

I was originally going for the Digitech Deathmetal but I finally came home with this one. I'm not trying to say that it's a better metal distortion than the others. If you're looking for a traditional heavy metal sound or pure death metal sound you should look elsewhere. But if you play some certain kind of black metal and couldn't get your dream sound from the effects you owned, or if you want to create your own sound from a small compact unit, you really should give this one a try.