Electro-Harmonix Black Finger Sustainer

This pedal takes some getting used to. The instructions aren't very helpful. EHX seem to be scared of ever seeming too technical, but with a compressor, a little technical explanation would make everything a lot clearer. However, with time and fiddling, all becomes clear.

Setup:
Guitar: Aria Pro RS Knight Warrior (HSS) into a Mesa Boogie F50 and a Fender HotRod Deluxe.
Bass: Ibanez BTB470 into a Gallien Krueger MBS 3.

Okay - a lot has been written about how noisy this effect is. This can be rectified a little by tightening the screw between the tubes, but it still emits a lot of hiss. But this is only really an issue in NORMAL compression mode - which is a shame because you can get some lovely tones, but they are all ruined by the noise incorporated into your rig. BUT on the 'SQUSH' setting the hiss is all but elimintaed and the tone of your instrument is still vastly improved. I use the 'SQSH' setting all the time for electric, electro acoustic, and bass - and it is good for all of them. The output is a little lower, but that can be rectified with the pre/post gain settings. The tubes really warm up the sound of an electric either clean or dirty, provide body to an electro-acoustic, and really bring character to your bass sound. In my opinion the BF particularly shines with a bass. The thing that lets this pedal down is the fact that the 'NORMAL' setting is simply too noisy to be worth using (unless you've a high gain setup where a little (actually, quite a lot of) hiss won't be a problem.

This pedal is solid; the tubes are protected; it looks like it'll last. It's okay for gigging - although it is quite large and requires its own power supply and I'll probably favour a BBE Orange Squash for most live situations.

Haven't had to deal with EHX

I play a varety of styles from finger-picking folkesque stuff to blues to grungeier dabblings. I think this pedal is great for all of them - I just leave it on all the time to brighten up and even out the tone of whatever guitar I am playing. I've used a compressor almost since I began playing fourteen years ago, and I think this compressor is very good (if you ignore the sad fact the 'NORMAL' setting is unusable). In the studio I will always use it with a bass and with an electro acoustic, but I can't help feeling there's a better compressor out there for my electric sound. The BF is great at warming and fattening the overall tone of an instrument, but it doesn't really tighten up the sound in that funk-like way that you sometimes wish of a compressor.

If you know, what is a compressor, and why you do/don't need it - it's quite simple. If you have no idea, what is it for - you'll probably be dissatisfied ("Whaa?.. Why I can't hear any difference?")

It does what it should, and sounds really good.
I've used it together with Ehx LPB2ube with my bass guitar, and it had much more punch in the sound.

It's quite solid (even though not as solid as the other non-tube ehx products). Wwent through several gigs with me, including one which I have no memory of - don't drink before you play!
The lamps are weak part - you'll have to change them once in a while, otherwise the thing start to produce lots of noise.

Never dealt with them.

Great thing, but you should be really sure about what you want from that pedal.
I've enjoyed playing around with mine for a year, then sold it together with LPB2ube, and don't regret about it.
Tube sound is quite funny, but for the bass guitar I prefer transistors - they are much clearer sounding. For me.

there's enough buttons and options to get the kind of compression you're looking for.
as with all EHX pedals, you need to experiment a little before you get what you want. but if you're familiar with compressors you'll have fine results in no time. (forget the one-page 'manual')
what's there works well!

i bought this second hand pedal and noticed at home there was a serious static noise present, rendering the effect utterly useless! this seems to be a problem for many people who'd bought the black finger. the static goes away only when you touch the metal casing. sounded like an earthing problem to me. couldn't find a solution on the internet so i decided to mail EHX.. (surely they must have been aware of this noise issue since so many people were having the exact same problem)

to my surprise they actually replied two days later... and giving me a solution that would almost certainly solve the problem, so they said..

it did!

what you need to do:
remove the cap protecting the two tubes. you'll notice a screw between the tubes. you need to fasten this screw as tight as possible. (not that mine wasn't entirely loose, but it was actually possible to tighten it more)
problem solved! ... to my amazement!

the sound is very clear, warm and basically improves about everything you send through it.. guitars, bass, vocals, ...
i'm going to use it for live gigging (guitar) but especially during recordings..
i have the strong feeling this pedal is going to deliver well in a studio surrounding.
for now i'm giving it an 8... (i still have a lot of experimenting to do with this thing..)

EHX produces fantastic sounding pedals, but i find them hard to rely on.
they tend to malfunction quite soon... which -needless to say- sucks when that occurs on stage (nothing that you couldn't repair yourself though.)

the support i got from EHX in this particular case was fast and obviously extremely useful! (never dealt with them before)

i think the black finger will be a worthy asset for what i'd like to use it for: guitar compression on stage and studio recordings.
if you can find it somewhere cheap, go for it! it's the definitely one of the best compressor/sustainers around!

well, first of all set the input gain and the output gain. This will determine the sonic character of your signal. Try to level it so it sounds just as loud as the unprocessed signal. Then add compression with the compression pot.

The lamp will sound better at first because it lets some of the attack of your instrument through. If that??s what you want - fine.

I prefer the faster LED because it really levels out the complete signal and makes it more even. As long as you keep the compress pot near sane settings, it will sound fat and tasty.
The LED indicates the intensity of compression, in most cases you??ll want very little to no compression in the sustain phase and hard compression when you hit the strings.

I haven??t found any use for the squashing setting but y.m.m.v.

If you start with these tips in mind before you try to get creative, you??ll end up with a nice compression sound.

I was a little hesitant to buy this puppy after reading some of the reviews and after having had some trouble with a bassBalls pedal.

Right out of the box, the pedal worked well for electric bass but in every respect unnoticably. It compressed the signal, all right. It sounded just as good as the unprocessed signal. Alrighty. BUT I somehow found it lacking in fattening up the sound or giving it any charcter at all.

Well, I just recently swapped the EH tubes/valves for JJs. And I must say: if you haven??t, try this out yourselves! The EH ECC83s are really clean sounding, very linear and have a certain HiFi-Touch to them.

When I tried to overdrive them, I got all kinds of farting noises in return. Not really pleasant. The JJs however give me a thick sound. Now, the pedal is able to really colour my bass sound and give it some tube dirt.

This will give me another year before I finally have to add a real tube amp to my rigg ;-)

mmm... I don??t know, this unit may stand some abuse, although the tube cage doesn??t seem perfectly comfortable being stomped on hard. Which is its sole purpose. Which in turn leaves me a little uncomfortable.

I will put it in a case and this is one pedal you??ll keep on all the time so the stomping factor might not count that much after all.

I own two active bases and a MarkBass LMKII amp. The Markbass is a very clean sounding amp which is something I really like about it. Normally. But since starting to play in a punkrock band, I always felt some dirt was missing.

Now I think I have exactly what I need for this band. And the super clean sound is always one stomp away.

This box is easy however difficult to cary it is really huge box.
Manual could be better , there might be some seetings shown for diffrent types of effect you want to achive.
I've noticed promo book is 30 times longer than manual ?

I checked this pedal in a shop twice , I was astonished about the big sound you can get it turning this on. For the long time, about a half year the price was about 400$! yes guys this are european taxes, pain a lot, but recently it was drop off to 300$ so I decided to buy it.
My first impression at home was like a wow! but just after when I tried to record on norm with 50% pre gain and out I figured out sandy harsh kind of distortion. What is really wired that when I set pre gain to 90% it gone away and my simple soundgear fly away.
With sqash set up more or less everything sounds good.
I checked mic. and lead gt on it too, and I had same harsh on norm setting. So I haave to give 50% is for good.

Big box looks really great, EHX put lot of focus to details, paint, knobs, grind alu box maybe except taiwan voltage supply which where wire gauge is too small and plug looks funny (old DIN speakers connection system I guess)
Tubes must be russian for sure not becouse it is write down, but you can really listen to the russian radio station (my parents told it happend many times, I come from Poland)
Anyway all these issues should not happen it this luxury price range and could be just smaller to pack to your gig bag, especially if you have few of them and no tech guys to carry the stuff for you.

I will have to check it becouse obviously I try to exchange to one without harshy sound

Overall if was good I would be very happy, however it looks like EHX like most of companies have serious issues with quality.
This is not for the first time for "made in china" cheap stuff.
But for the first time with "made in USA" (maybe I had just one :-) )
Anyway the only diffrence is when you pay for pedal 300$ than you expect good quality.
I haven't gone through all of reviews but one you capture all, you come up with conclusion that there is something is wrong with quality inspection in this company they just limit check to operate no-operate, but this sort of check can be done in China by 10 times less money.

Bought in 2008 for GBP 119. The controls are relatively simple and self-explanatory, and it's very difficult to make it sound bad. Nevertheless, it's pretty versatile and you can spend hours tweaking and finding different sounds.

I use this with a Strat Plus, Tokai Les Paul copy and a Jackson Soloist Pro. The amps that I use vary, due to being at university, and that is the main reason why I bought this. In front of a good valve amp, it is what it is - a very good compressor. However, the main benefit it has for me is being able to add warmth and depth to any amp that I use. The two amps I own here are both smallish solid state amps. With my old Fender Princeton 112 (65 watts) it gave a little flavour of the old glory of my Twin, and with the Orange Crush 30R I recently bought, it forms a great combination.
I play in a ska/rock band and in a funk band. I can set this pedal to add some tight compression to funk picking, or by pushing the pre-gain, get a little bit of tube overdrive. The best tone I've found is to have the Black Finger on the edge of breakup, with the volume quite high to just push the input of the Crush. I haven't been able to get this kind of sound since I let my Twin at home.

It seems reliable: made in USA, a heavy duty metal box with a cover for the tubes, which are the only delicate part. Even then, they are only preamp tubes so they should last for ages. Replacing them looks like it would be a cinch too.

The power adaptor is of a very specific kind - apparently it needs to be in order to supply the required voltage. The only worry I would have would be the cable getting a break inside, as has happened with a few standard 9 volt adaptors I've used. Just have to be careful with it I guess. Using it at a gig, I would always place the pedal on top of the amp (since I never need to stomp it off), keeping the cable out of the way of the hordes.

I've never dealt with them. Haven't heard anything bad about EHX though.

Anybody who's never heard of compression should find out about it - it's a key difference between a harsh, messy tone and a nice smooth, pro-sounding one. One of the reasons valve amps sound good is because they impart natural compression - for these, the Black Finger can be useful for adding compression where you need it, eg sustaining solos or funk picking. Used in front of a decent solid state amp, pushing the pedal's tubes a bit, it is a fantastic "always-on" effect that is a key part of getting a good sound.

Lots of variations here so take your time and find the combination that works for you. I've only used it for guitar so far(is reportedly good for recording vocals) and it affects humbuckers and single coils very differently! It adds a little beef and snarl to my SG and 335 when I've got the amp cranked up. I love it with those two guitars. But it completely squashes and muddies up my telecaster on the same settings, so it takes some playing around with to get used to depending on what you've got it plugged into.

After having had this amp for a few months I've realized that it really isn't anything all that special. I use the controls to add a touch of compression to my sound, but no longer try to use it as an additional overdrive sound in my rig, which in all fairness to the pedal, overdrive isn't what it was designed for anyway. So if you'd like to add a touch of compression to your solos, this will do the trick. That's where the pedal really shines, it doesn't do much for chords.

One can really get a lot of different tones out of this pedal, so i see no point in getting rid of it. It's better than the boss CS-3 i used to play with.

So far it's been fine. I've gigged with it a few times and have transported back and forth to practice multiple times in it's box and I haven't seen any noticeable wear and tear on it.

Just be sure to unplug it when you're done. There is no on/off switch on it!

Haven't had to deal with customer support yet. If the pedal crapped out on me, I'd probably shelf it and I wouldn't look back.

I had extremely high expectations on this pedal and feel a bit disappointed. If you're looking for the ONE pedal to give you a killer tone, this ain't the one. It is good for a little bit of a flavor on my guitars, but takes a while to dial in what i'm looking for based on the guitar/pickups. I bought this to upgrade from a boss compression sustainer that i had been using. The EH Black Finger is a superior pedal to the Boss, but I no longer feel that compression is the effect I'm after. I'm very curious to try this in my home studio for vocals, however. It may prove to be vaulable yet...

The search for TONE continues!

Compared with other optical compressors that have a two knobs, this is a little more complicated. But it also has a lot more features, well covered by other reviewers. There was no manual, and EH's website is pretty bad. I just plugged it in, turned the gain and compress to 9:00 and had a great sound out of the gate.

The compression offered by the Black Finger is perfect for the bass. It is very, very transparent, natural and open sounding. I play a Lakland 54-94 through a EA Iamp800 through 2 Aguilar GS112. This already great setup has benefited greatly from the Black Finger. The B-string on the Lakland is so powerful, it overwhelms the sound and notes on that string end up sounding too loud compared to the other notes. The BF solves this problem beautiful,evening out the dynamics. My guitar players loves it because he can hear the melodic stuff I do in the midrange and upper register without me having to increase volume. I have actually lowered the master volume on my amp since I bought this pedal, but my tone is even more audible. Could you ask for more???
Also, if you crank the gain a little you get a great tube grind that is very AMPEG SVT like. Most distortion pedals sound horrible for bass, even ones meant for bass, but the BF adds great tubey sound that can very Jack Bruce-like if you want, or it can have no tube-crunch at all if you dial down the gain. It really warms up my EA Amp, which is very hi-fi sounding on its own. I can't imagine a more useful pedal for a gigging bass player. I give it a 9 because there is a little hiss but that is common to all compressors.

It is not as solid as a Fulltone pedal, it is aluminum with plastic knobs. It doesn have real tubes, that will some day burn out. So I wouldn't feel comfortable unless I had a couple of extra tubes which I will take with me at all times. This is a necessary evil of all tube gear, so there is nothing new here.

I have never dealt with EH. Their website could be better...

For a rock band, this is THE pedal for bass. Negative review of this product seem to be from guitarists who obviously want a heavy-metal type of compression. I have played bass for 16 years, and have used many products. This is the best compression for bass that I have ever used. I am comparing my experience with the Demeter compulator and I like it much better. The Demeter had an unnatural sustain that would cause the notes from my bass to swell a little at the end and I didn't care for that. This pedal has no setting to adjust sustain, but seems to be perfectly dialed in anyway. The compression offered by this pedal is so smooth, so natural that you don't even hear it as compression, it just makes your bass sound very very good. If that was all it did, I would love it. But what I really love is the tubey crunch I get when I turn up the input-stage gain and really grind with my fingers. It gets that Geddy Lee tone that I love so much-yet I don't have to carry around a 500 pound SVT.

This is a Black Finger Tube Compressor with 2 12AX7WAs. It's easy to not get a bad sound of it. The manual could include service directions and schematics. It isn't modded or upgraded.

P90 and HB equipped Gibsons, Marshall AVT50 & JTM45 through a 2x12 V30 cab, a pair of modified Valve Juniors with Eminence Alnicos. Originally, This thing hissed like a pair Brittney Spears' Boas. You expect this with tube devices, but not to this degree. I took it back and they replaced the EH tubes a COUPLE of times, and the hiss went completely away. The compression effect is excessively weak, sustain is non-existant. I'm trying to replace my 20 year old Rockman compressor/sustainer. This offers no where near the compression of the Rockman. There is no sustain increase what so ever on any setting. The only way to get any compression is with the SQSH setting on LED, which is very slight. The compression pot does nothing, except weaken the input signal. The post gain pot adds an oscillating distortion, quite unpleasant.

It's seems very sturdy and is probably reliable. The foot switch could be more rugged. Due to the lack of effect, there is no reason to gig with it. As a matter of fact. It will probably just go back in the box and put on a shelf, if the dealer won't take it back. Mayabe some day, someone will post a fix, or mod / redesign on the Internet and I'll retry it.

I've had other EH products, and they were great. The dealer replaced the faulty tubes without issue. I purchased it because of the reviews I'd read, and also the EH name. It was ordered for me because there wasn't one in stock to try. This was with the understanding that I could take it back. I have.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned. It's seems to me though that a $200 compressor / sustainer would compress better, and have some degree of sustain. The feature I would like to see with this is compression and sustain.

Its easy to get a good sound out of it.Takes forever to settle on a favorite setting.very versital.

I use a strat through a fender amp and I got this to fatten up my gain.Ive been able to turn my gain from 5 to 3 after getting this.Its wierd,either one by itsalf sounds pretty clean but when used togeather a little but of edge from each somehow creates the smoothest overdrive Ive ever gotten.I also use it as a recording tool for vocals and bass.Besides using it for drive it can get some pretty extream setting such as the squish.That sounds cool with vocals.I still almost never use it the way it was intended(the bf volume is set higher than bypassed)but it doesent matter.It basically just makes my od 100 percent gooeyer and round.Much more than any distortion pedal I have ever tried.

I have dropped a guitar right on the tube cage.A trumpet case fell right on it from my closet shelf and put a big shlash in it.Never stopped working.Same tubes for over a year.Sometimes it buzzes for a second after being turned on but I dont care(I leave it on the whole time I play).

Had to get a memo man fixed once.I had to pay 20 for shipping even though I recieved it brand new without a working blend knob.I blame the store who orderd it for me.After I brought it back the same day they told me it was supposed to be like that.I mean you couldnt even hear the initial note.Just the delayed ones.So I had to call eh.They were cool about it but to have to wait 2 weeks and spend 20 more on it before even getting to actually use it is just bogus.Someone dueshed me fo sho

If it broke or got stolen I would hve to get another unless I changed my whole setup.It does tend to add a bit of staticish noise when on but it doesent really make the original hum from the amp louder.It just kind of changes it from buzz to static.Whats the diff?