Digitech Drop - Great or Garbage?
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
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This pedal is an absolute necessity for me in a modern rock cover band. I bring two guitars to a gig. One in “standard” and one in “drop”. I love not having to bring 4 guitars to a show.
I love taking 4 guitars to the show haha
Works great in my band for pitch shifting down a half or whole semitone for a few songs. I barely notice any sound degradation at gigs. The only downside is remembering to turn it off before starting the next song. That happens pretty often.
Ha ha!!! Yep, have forgotten to turn mine off a few times! 😂
Ha! The number of times I’ve done this. My set list has a song called “TURN OFF DROP” after Superstition.
Hi Jerry. I need a pedal to play Lonely Boy by the Black Keys. Will this pedal do the octave down sound like it is on the CD?? Thanks. Mark.
@@rolandgower5434 thats so funny. I thought I was the only one doing it!! :) Thats one of the reasons I'm flipping to a switcher (BOSS E8) .. I can have it now always on! :)
Finally some peeps who are using this pedal for gigs... And indeed the ''forgot to turn it of'' is a thing😅😅
Can confirm that these are pretty great pedals. It does start to shit the bed a bit once you get beyond 5 semitones down but for the purpose I need it for (tuning down a semitone or two, using it as an octaver) it's totally serviceable.
Agreed, you hit it on the head. That’s exactly when it starts to sound “warbly”
Ok so if I'm at drop c and want to drop to a or g, it should be ok?
@@chris7gabrielyeah, so you want to play bass. Why don’t you just…play bass? Really…drop g?
I listen to a lot of heavy music, and I get tuning down a little, but this shit is out of control. If you need to tune all the way
down to A in order for a riff to sound heavy, then the riff sucks.
Consider this:
The first two Black Sabbath albums are in standard tuning.
43% Burnt by Dillinger Escape Plan…standard tuning.
One by Metallica. In fact, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1/4 step UP and it’s fucking heavy.
Playing telephone line size strings tuned to z doesn’t make something heavy…it makes it dumb and contrived and is trying way too hard.
If you tuned down to A and played “mmmbop” by Hanson, it would be lower in register…but it would still suck.
Alternately you can play “Black Sabbath” or “Electric Funeral” in regular tuning and it can sound like the atom bomb.
@@Tyrannosaurine I play melodic riffs mostly. I like to play around with it.
@@Tyrannosaurinebrain dead comment
I have one, it is a cool useful pedal. I like if I’m using a guitar with a Floyd Rose , I can easily change the tuning with the hassle of re-tuning the Floyd.
I recently got a Floyd rose and I love it but I down-tuned it today and it was long and painful so that’s why I’m here😂
I do have one for several years and it's a real game changer for how many guitars you take with you, and for reducing guitar tuning pauses during live shows (this is my main reason on using it). Life is much easier with Drop, and the latency is super small.
Hi Renner. I need a pedal to play Lonely Boy by the Black Keys. Will this pedal do the octave down sound like it is on the CD?? Thanks. Mark.
@@markthespark6240 Check out the Digitech Ricochet instead. The Drop shifts pitches in steps and doesn’t have a portamento/glide sound.
@@LochNessAnthony thanks so much. I figured someone would know for sure!
This and the whammy really keep that integrity of the guitar intact, super cool tool. Super fun to play with a chunk of gain. It's like having 2 bass guitarists in your band.
Thank you for doing a mostly clean test with this pedal! Lots of reviews just play distorted power chords, which makes it hard to hear whether or not this pedal is transparent while detuning... Great job!
That Groove and riffing from 3- 6 min you did omg that was so amazing!! Som damn heavy !!
bloody awesome!
This Pedal is a little piece of fun to me, specially Minus 7/ Minus Octave settings. I think you completely nail it with this demo !
Such a rad pedal! I dig it! Makes things easier when you wanna try another tuning without snagging another guitar.
This pedal has been the standard every company tries to live up to in pitch shifting since it came out. So it’s obviously pretty great.
I wish I had one of these back in my metal days. I have one now and it's great but I don't really play metal anymore because I'm old and slow and tired. But it is a kick-ass pedal!
In Doom we Trust!
I just bought a couple pedals. This and my loop pedal will really help me practice a lot. Make a backing track with the loop and play along with it or practice solos over top of it.
I just got one again , I am using it for half step down , it does it good other than the latency which is minimal but could drive others nuts, anything below one semitone you get wable .
Sounded awesome. For me best used case is giving the singer a break on a few songs. Also likely able to add a few tunes to the setlist that could have been just out of reach but really needed to be played the way they were written...example opening riff on Cougar's Jack and Diane
I have the Whammy DT, so its the Whammy on one side and a Drop on the other. Really cool pedal and lets you do interesting things like harmonies + octave and semitone shifts since both sides work independently. If you get the chance to mess with one of those, I’m sure you’d have a lot of fun with it seeing the stuff you do with the Axe Fx.
I have Axe FX3 Pitch block. And as everyone else has asked, how does the Drop compare?
I'd be interested in a shootout between this and say the Helix Poly Capo or the AxeFX pitch shift not only for the tone differences but the latency feel as well.
This ^
It'd be interesting to see that! And in case you didn't know, the people who programmed the new Poly engine in the Helix were the same people who worked on this pedal!
@@rhitosparsha I didn't know that. Thanks for that info-- very interesting.
I have it, but I'm so glad I have the capo on FM3... Doing covers I set all pitches correct to a preset and never have to worry about forgetting to click a button after starting a song again.
Steve- using the FM3 (FM9 on waiting list!), can you easily change the notes of each individual string electronically e.g., Standard tuning to DADGAD tuning present?
@@MOAB-UT No, if you want drop D or alternate tuning you'll have tune guitar accordingly.
@@sk1968dart Thanks.
I bought this pedal for my 7 string which is tuned in G#, so that I can go down one whole step to F#. I play a bunch of Erra and their stuff is mostly either of those two tunings
If I'm not mistaken, I believe I saw this pedal with the wah on Dimes pedal board. He was doing a sound check in Japan.
Have one for years. I use it at rehersal and live. Of course I realise a loss of high end and a little latency, but we Cover a Lot of different Rock Songs in different tunings and it works for this application. Definietly better, than taking way too many guitars with me.
I rehearse with this and play live with the ax8 pitch shifter for a couple songs. The Drop definitely tracks more accurately and faster than the ax8.
2 things I've noticed with these:
1.) they eat away gain/highs
2.) it can still sound weird during solos
Yes, in 3 -semitones you will notice a high cutter
Our band used these for C tuning. Amazing.
My band is drop D, but need to move to Drop C. This pedal it’s a solution?
@@Parepito Yea. Exactly what it's made for.
Hi Leon, that was a great video! Its great to play at home and mybe whos know in a gig as well. I got a query, which metal or trash pedal whatever do you recommend me to get ? Its for a Shecter w/FR connected to Boss Katana. Cheers
I see that your "raw sound" just happens to sound like my "lay you down by the fire for sweet love sound". Well done sir.
Thanks for the video, great playing. I love the Drop. Only disadvantage for me is that I several times forgot to switch it off again after having used it for a certain song of the setlist.. So the next song was in the wrong tune 🤪
Mine arrived yesterday. Can't wait to try it at practice tonight.
Hi R Cobos. I need a pedal to play Lonely Boy by the Black Keys. Will this pedal do the octave down sound like it is on the CD?? Thanks. Mark.
I have one. I love it. It's the first "utility pedal" on my recording board. Armed with this and a guitar with a drop tuning peg, you have every tuning at the flick of a switch and a press of a button.
I use a Drop on my pedal board and it sounds great for 1 or to semitones (for bass). Any further and you start losing sound integrity. I can work within that limitation. My only problem with it is it doesn't work in conjunction with some other pedals such as a Bass Chorus pedal. When running both it sounds like two out of tune notes. I've switched it around in the chain with no change. So for now, I can't run both together.
Morning Leon! Cool pedal! Thanks for sharing Chris! Pics of Strats are on my List! I'm a lousy photographer, patience my brother. May take a bit! Thanks for sharing and Be Well All!
That´s one glorious pedal,- perfect for low tuned Vikingr Folk metal as well as Stoner, Doom and Sludge,- could even be good for Operatic Symphonic with a lot of modulations and Barytone voicings.
I need one,- like,- now!
Works great especially if you own a few guitars in different tunings already, that way you won't need to go more than maybe 2-3 semitones at most before it reaches the territory of another guitar.
I got one with the whammy built-in. It's superb. Every sound is a new original song! I would definitely recommend people to at least try one? I think it will change you, and your band!
I feel like this pedal is a must if you like to play guitars with a foyld rose, now you don’t need two guitars to play different tunings
I use it in my 90's cover band. Two of us have the Drop and another has the Whammy DT. It's so easy. We'll usually go down 1/2 step, never more than 1 whole step, unless we're just goofing around. I will use the octave position for 1 song. It's definitely "good enough" on that song. We can all notice the latency, the three of us that use it can notice/feel it, the rest of the band and the crowds we play for have no idea that our tuning changed. Definitely a useful tool! I wish this pedal had been around when I was in a band that played in drop C.
I have just recently started using the Digitech Drop pedal on my board. This is a keeper! For years I have had to bring a guitar tuned to A440, one a half-step down and one tuned to drop C. This affords me the ability to use one guitar for all three. I do have to drop my low string for the drop C songs but that's no problem. I still always bring a backup guitar but I recommend that in any band with any tuning that you use, but this pedal makes life SO much easier with the various tunings that we use and also less time having to switch between guitars. Highly recommended!
Thanks for this, one of the most helpful pieces of info on this pedal and topic that I've seen (from another Aussie).
Thanks, man! You helped me a lot. And guys from the comments as well.
A must have pedal for any Savatage fans. Saves you two guitars since it enables you to have just a standard tuned and a drop-D tuned guitar and then you just use this pedal to drop down a full step for any of the old material.
Mountain king territory at the press of a button!
Nice.
I'm still rocking the rp10 if you ever want to have a crack, I'm just around the corner 😎🤘
The octane down + dry does not allow for independent volume control of the octave down, this is only fail of the pedal.
I just bought one and for what it’s meant to do it’s a great pedal. However, I use a friedmen small box 50 combo, and I also have a tube screamer and a friedmen buxom boost on my board. I like to push the plexi channel on my small box with either the tube screamer or the boost pedal and when I have the drop pedal in line, my signal tends to be noisy. Then, when I take the pedal out, the noise is gone. So what I do is I just leave it in front of my pedalboard and plug it in in the beginning input with the songs. I need to tune down and only use it for those songs. Better than having another guitar with a different tuning.
I know this is an older video, but I just now saw it and thought it might be the Digitech Hammer On from 2025 NAMM.
In a mix it probably sounds fine. I know some people without proper bass guitars like to detune a guitar with a pedal like this or in post and pretend it is a bass. I probably couldn't tell the difference if listening to a track.
But I like having the confidence of knowing my guitar is actually in the proper tuning physically.
I'm wondering if this might be better for extremely detuned 24.75" guitars that tend to come out of tune easily without thicker strings and are difficult to intonate in those low tunings.
It would seem the pedal would fix those imperfections by detuning perfectly, but it's not an autotuner. If there are problems with the original signal the pedal will just amplify those and shift them down.
Then again, you can keep your 24.75" in E standard and shift down without those problems.
For recording at home, the best use of the unit seems to be as a songwriting tool to help you try the same riff in different tunings until you settle on the proper one. A Jamstik or other MIDI guitar can do this as well though and offer increased functionality over the pedal.
I can see why touring guitarists using multiple guitars with different tunings and floating bridges might want this device in order to downsize their gear they have to bring to the show.
Not a bad device. Just not sure I'd have much use for it. As with all devices like this, it is about how easy it is to use while performing.
Leon's attempting to trill with it makes it seem like a rocker pedal would be better for triggering that effect than what appears to be a fairly stiff and slow on/off switch that probably has to be pressed at the correct angle to consistently work well.
It's probably also cool if you want to use it in an instance in which you want the original signal to be colored like it is playing with a harmonizer, with all the slight imperfections and tracking that creates.
I'd rather just have a guitar in all of my main tunings, I think.
I have one and it is on my board. I use it only to drop a semi or a tone. I am not a fan of how it reacts as you get lower.
Las mejores demostraciones, siempre! 💪🏻
Sounds great to me but to be fair you could make a turd with a cable in it sound good 😂 keep up the great work dude love this channel and all you do 👏🤘
Metal guy here who really liked your clean tone in the beginning of the video. How do you get it so sweet? I'm using an Engl Invader so that might be an issue there.. :D
I’ve got one , use it live exactly as you described bring my standard tuned guitar down half a step.
Bass player in my cover band has one too , so can confirm it works on bass also.
Also Leon , how lucky are you to have multiple mates called Chris that lend you pedals 🤣
Invaluable tool to deal with singers! Made me look like a master transposer a bunch of times 😂
I got one for my 4-string bass. I work in a worship band. The leader has a lower voice. We usually drop songs about 1 or 2 semitones due to his range. Sometimes the song counts on the low E or F, but when we drop it, that's not there for me. Rather than drop tune my bass, I use the momentary switch to occasionally hit that D.
Just got my first one today!!🤘🏼 it was on Back-order forever. I’m looking forward to putting mine to work right away!! I’ve got a bunch of uses for it.
Hope you enjoy it!
Perfect emergency pedal for when your singer arrives at a gig with a sore throat.
I don't have have a Drop, but I use the Pitch Shift Effects in my HX Stomp to achieve similar results. I like being able to pitch my guitar/s down to Baritone pitch without have to use a 2nd guitar. I think the Drop may have better pitch shifting accuracy than the Stomp.
In your experience with pitch shifting pedals, devices, etc., do you think they handle some intervals better than others? I know the Math for converting the pitches is easier for some intervals than others. But, I don't know if it actually makes any real difference regarding accuracy and avoiding weird artifacts in real use, given the advances in pedal technology. Thanks
Can anybody tell me if this is a good option for tuning down from drop D to drop A in a metal context? I don't have a budget for a new guitar and keep having problems when I set it up so low.
Btw, if indeed this is a good option for that, what other pedals besides this one do you recommend?
Thanks in advance!
Very good video.
Just one doubt:
In an "extreme" case, with a 6 string guitar if I want to go down to standard A, do you think it would sound better lowering the Drop to 7 semitones (with the guitar previously in standard E) or would it sound more natural/fuller lowering it by itself? 5 semitones with the Drop (in this case with the guitar tuned in standard D)?
Thank you so much.
I own the Whammy DT with the same function...and it's such a great piece of gear. Ok it's not perfect but damn close and enough to play live. It's impressive to see that the Whammy version can hold the detune + the whammy effect without losing track or artefacts.
I think the Drop pedal is nice, but it surely miss the midi function of the Whammy version, it's really great to be able to program midi CC to control the pedal in between songs and prevent forgetting to downtune or getting the wrong detune.
I didn't realize the Whammy DT had midi CC control... that does sound like it makes it much better for live use. I have both a DigiDrop and a Whammy 5, so never saw the use in the Whammy DT, but now I do.
I was hopping someone is going to post a video with direct comparison "Drop D" vs "Virtual Jeff Pro". To this day (2022 y) Digitech Drop D is still a King of Pitch Shifting. Or is it?
I'm getting back into guitar after a 7 year hiatus from regular playing. This pedal will make life easier.
At the moment, it's hard to justify the funds for another guitar when I'd much rather get different speakers...
(just got a JCM 2000 tsl with your advice. Cheers for that!)
But I'm really not a fan of the T75's in the cab (1960A). I'm not playing much 80's pub rock. But head and cab for 850 clams... Can't grizzle much about that 🤷♂️
Once i bought one and still got it. My goal was to drop guitar tuning to Drop A or B-Standard. Works fine, but it's still a simulation, not a real organic sound. Eventually i bought 7-string guitar but sometimes i use Digitech Drop for momentary or octaver.
I was thinking about ordering it for months now and your video made the decision easy. Should be nice in front of the FM3 :)
finally someone that knows what they are doing with this pedal and finally a good demo.. holy cow I was about to give up looking
this one is going on my short list of pedals I need to pick up soon
This was the best demo ive seen so far!
This for me would be perfect in my home studio so i dont need multiple guitars for different tunings
This or "Poly capo" from Helix for detune?
The only modeler drop block that works for me is on the quad cortex, it's perfect for a full/half down. My Axe-FxIII sounds good, but randomly would lag. It was crazy noticeable when I played cowboy chords clean, like say Mr Jones or something. I've used the Digitech Drop Pedal for years, and it does darken the tone a bit, but sound great is so easy to use! My 2nd guitar is now just a back-up if my string breaks.
I like to keep my guitars in Eb but I have a couple of projects that go 1 full step down and 1 1/2 step down. Live it’s great, I am thinking of experiment with using it for recording just needing to drop 1/2 or 1 full step.
It comes in very handy for sure. But... it depends on what you are playing. If you are just chunking metal riffs, no big deal, but if you are playing leads and higher end stuff, you def notice what we call "tone suck" and lose high end and "bite".
Great review. Can this drop my guitar into Drop G? I only have a 6 strings and I want to cover songs that is in Drop A and Drop G Tuning.
I came here for the pedal review but I’ll leave a new fan of Ragdoll. Great sound man.
Thanks so much! All our stuff should be up on here
If I keep my 62 14 gauge strings in b standard usually, could this pedal take me to 8 string sounding tunings?
I love all your riffs wow. Forgot about the pedal lol
I have one for my covers band, it’s very practical for that…..and as you said, in a band mix nobody would know.
I would love to see a comparison video of this pedal vs the pitchflex algo on the H9
How does the comparable effect in the Fractal stuff compare to this?
I have a Fractal FX8 I use to tune down for one song a semitone. It’s ok for 1/5 power chords but sounds sloppy anything more than that. The latency is so awful it makes it hard to play in time. I just grin and bear it for the one song.
I'll second all the questions about latency vs Fractal, but also curious if you're able to measure that. Especially Fm3 vs Axe3 vs Drop.
Does the latency or pitch correctness suffer with open string chords? My main use would be for cover songs where the guitar normally has multiple open strings. For example, in the Allman Brothers "Melissa", I play E, F#m, G#m, but with the low E, High E, and B open. Some reviews I've heard give the impression that open chords don't work well, so I suspect open chords with "drone" strings would suffer too?
Does it work with batteries or i need to use a power supply?
Does it work well when using a wah pedal?
Before even watching the whole video, I will say it is great, I always have one in my signal chain, and own two! Works with no issues for me, but I never really go beyond 4 semitones down with it, usually just 1-3 down. Also, having the intonation spot on is kind of key it seems.
Ever run them in series set to -7 :D
@@LeonTodd I had not... and I am disappointed in myself for that lol. I just did though! With any kind of volume, the speakers really do not like it (I should try with a bass cab). And with any overdrive/distortion, it is pretty much just a farty mess. But, clean, at low volume, it actually sounds kind of cool! Not very usable in any practical way, but still cool lol.
I do have a question... How does it do with held out chords? I've tried a few shift plugins, and after about 3-4 seconds they start to lose the "dropped" sound. Wondering if this pedal has the same issue.
What are the signal chain in this example, Axe-Fx? Amp + mic? Sounds great. 🙂
I used to own one. It's the best for this job for sure out there but I still couldn't get used to the latency und the tone out of the amp gets a bit flat. I agree you most likely don't here it in a full band setup, but still it drives me nuts so had to go
Actually, IMHO the "Rust" part you played in this vid sounds better than the record. No joke.
I have 2 of these any they are great. I have one in my practice board and another that I may have to incorporate with my AxeFX rig as the Virtual Capo of the Pitch Block cannot be set to globally stay at a certain pitch when changing scenes or presets. It just resets. It's be asked for soooooooooo many times on the fractal forum but still not been added yet :(
Nice playing dude 👍
I love and trust my Digitech Whammy DT and love that it has midi…It is a great addition to any effects board.
Thank you for the review, i was looking to get this but after this review im definitely buying one
"Let's try dropping 3 semi tones and see how it sounds" plays 3 semitones up on the neck 🤦♂️
I tried this once and didn’t like it at all. I’m with Leon, I felt and heard the slight latency but was really distracting to me and it threw me off. I also heard a slight loss of pick attack.
I have noticed that when I use this pedal, my guitar tone shifts as I lose some highs and get a more mid-focused sound so that I have to re-EQ my G3 pedal to make up for it. Downside is that when I turn the Digitech off again, my tone is way too bright. Anyone else struggling with this??
Yeah, that’s exactely the problem with this pedal, it cuts the highs to much.
I'm a beginner guitarist and I have this pedal and I think it's great, there's no latency for dropping till 2 semitones or at least I can't feel it, after 3-4 semitones it's a bit noticeable but not a big deal
I have one and it's a fun pedal, problem is I have a serious dislike for any latency at all and I can notice it ever so slightly when I engage the drop, I wish I didn't find it off putting but I do.
This is what I need so I don't need massive telephone wires when I play low metal.
if i start in a quarter step down originally will it go straight to half step down for the first option or will it sound of since i didndt start in standard
The latter It's going to be relative to your starting point.
5:16 you just turned Ragdoll into Periphery in just one switch. How cool is that? :)
You're a real picky gear snob, I like that❤️
Indispensable tool. No longer need to carry so many guitars to a gig. Two guitars and you are done. One in standard tuning and one in drop D. With that you can cover about 99% of the tunes out there.
It’s great… awesome vid…. Deff is great for anyone that wants alternate tunings for songs especially if u don’t have enough guitars for alternate tunings…. Or as a back up for guitars in that tuning when u break strings quick turn of a knob and stomp and ur back at it - Kevin
The octave should track perfectly nowadays, it tracked perfect on the original whammy, everything else it more math than that lmao