DigiTech DROP Compact Polyphonic Drop Tune Pitch-Shifter

Okay before I start this review let me tell you a little bit about who I am and what I do as a prefix on what I was looking for in this pedal. Also, it'll help you understand what considerations I've have taken while reviewing.Who I am very quickly:I'm a professional composer. I'm also a producer, mix engineer, and sound designer. I have been playing guitar for over a decade and I used to be active in bands and recorded various types of music. I also worked for an indie record label. These days I won't gig much but I work on writing new pieces and some production projects.Summary for those who do not want to read any further:This pedal is great. It is probably the best drop tuning pedal out there on the market. If you have some need for multiple tunings either because you play in bands that drop tune differently or you want to play along with your favorite bands by yourself at home, then get this pedal. Unless of course you have unlimited money and can afford a guitar for each drop tuning that you want. This pedal has great value for it's price. It is built solid and does exactly what it was made to do.Tone Issues:Unlike previous attempts at building a drop tune pedal, the Digitech Drop does not create an artificial sounding tone. If you change the pitch of your guitar either by detuning your strings, changing your strings entirely and getting it properly set up, or changing the pitch electronically (like through the pedal) you should expect a change in tone. The change in tone can be slight to barely noticeable. However, your tone changes - it's physics. In the past electronic pitch shifting, either up or down, used to create really artificial sounding tone. This applies to any instrument and voice. Nowadays, we have the tech in studios to change pitch without creating an artificial tone. When I engage the pedal, I can tell that the tone has slightly changed but it does not sound unnatural and artificial. Even when playing clean and dropping down to C or B it still doesn't sound unnatural to me. Once you get really low chords will sound muddy but that is expected (I will explain why). When you switch on the pedal, it will be like you suddenly magically have another guitar in your hand with a dropped tuning. The tone will be slightly different than having your strings actually detuned but I doubt anyone other than you will hear the difference. Also, thankfully this pedal is true bypass, I love my guitar's natural tone.Latency:Yes there is very slight latency in this guitar. It's most noticeable when you are playing fast runs. However, it's really a slight latency and you will get used to it quickly. A latency in a pitch shifting device is expected but this is not a nuisance at all. Honestly, you may not even notice it.Switch and Knob:The switch is non latching which make the momentary mode smooth. At first I though that I would like the reassuring sound and feel of a click but the red LED is bright and large enough. Also the knob does not lock, which makes changing the tuning while rolling your foot on the side of it easy. I can imaging this being super useful if you need different drop tunings while playing live.Does it work for Bass/ Is it muddy when it's low:Yes to both. This works on a bass but when you drop a bass down past B it does get a little muddy. Also for guitar open chords will start to sound muddy to if you drop it past C or more. This is because of the physics of sound. Go on a piano and play a C major chord on all of it's octaves, you will notice that chords on the bass notes start sounding muddy. The lowest audible frequency that most people can hear is 20 Hz. The lowest note on a piano is 27.5 Hz (low A). That is pretty close to the lowest possible pitch that most people can hear. The open E string on a bass is about 41Hz. Between 20 Hz and 40 Hz, sound is pretty rumbly. If your bass produced only sine waves for some unnatural reason, it would sound like sub basses in hip hop and dubstep. However, your bass being a physical instrument with acoustic properties does not produce sine waves so it can sound like mud if you drop it an octave. Well why does my bass sound better when I drop A with new strings you ask? Well, you most likely used a thicker string which changed up the acoustic properties of your bass. However, you can adjust with EQ on your bass and amp to try an clear up as much as you can when you drop using this pedal.Other things to consider:If you watch one of Mastodon's rig rundown videos on youtube you will find out that they used to use the Morpheus Drop pedal so that they can play all of their drop tunings without messing up their guitars on tour. My guess is more pros are starting to use drop pedals for purely economic reasons. Sure, they probably have a guitar and a back up for each tuning that they need. But sometimes it's just not practical to carry that around with you on the road. So get yourself a Drop pedal by Digitech. It's better than the Morpheus (obviously).This pedal does not take batteries.

Este pedal es espectacular. Lo he probado con un bajo de 5 cuerdas con la siguiente distribución: bajo --> drop --> procesador de efectos --> amplificador. El tiempo de respuesta es extremadamente corto. No se siente ningún retraso en la señal. Respecto al sonido, he operado con el pedal en sala de ensayo y no he notado ninguna afectación. También probe el drop con una guitarra eléctrica y el resultado fue igual de satisfactorio.

I never knew what I was missing, this Drop Pedal is awesome. Tired of not being able to play along with recorded songs that are dropped down a half step or a whole step (I'm looking at you Motley Crue), or even more, all way down to a full octave? Sick of dragging 4 guitars around to gigs so you can have all the tunings you need ready to go? This is the pedal for you! Now lets be real, you're still probably gonna need 2 guitars, one in standard and one in an open tuning (like dropped D), because this pedal drops the entire guitar down, it has no way of dropping just one string, but given that limitation, you can drop those two tunings down as far as you want with the turn of a knob and click of a switch. The pedal tracks great, the lag is undetectable, and it sounds fan-freaking-tastic. I will say it sounds better on a dirty tone than a clean one, but clean still sounds good. If you need what this pedal does it's well worth the money. Not may pedals stay on my board but this one will for sure. A+

I've been playing bass in bands for the last 50 years. Recently, my current band has started playing songs in drop-tuning, in most cases to accommodate our female lead singer, who has strained to sing certain tunes in their original key. Down-tuning a bass takes time and while switching to another bass that's already down-tuned is an option, that still takes up time, and when you're in a band that goes from one song to the next, as we do, speed is of the essence.A bandmate suggested the DigiTech Drop pedal. I watched some YouTube videos and saw that the pedal had an overall good rating from Amazon's AI-generated review-tracker, so I bought one.The pedal can down-tune up to 8 notes, but I'll never use it more than two tones. Some reviewers have said the pedal may get "mushy" below 4 tones, but I can't comment on that. It also has an octave-pedal setting, but I have another octave pedal on my pedalboard, so I'll never use that feature, either.I power it, along with all my other pedals, by use of of a 1-Spot cable and it works fine. The pedal introduces no added hum to my board, either.This pedal is a "one-trick pony" but it performs its one function very well for my purposes. When a down-tuned song comes up on our set-list, I just push the pedal on, and away we go! I like this pedal and recommend it.

The product was actually OK. Did not work out for my application. very uncharacteristic of an Amazon purchase taking 22 days for a refund?

Perfect transaction, awesome pedal! Very happy!

PROS: plug & play, keep your ins & outs right and it's ready in 30 secondsI have perfect pitch and didn't hear any variation in the 1/2 step drop.Great for playing in Eb!!CONS: Not stereo, used with my Helix floor, had to run the entire set in Mono. Had to fix the Pan controls to balance the sound. Digitec should state that in the description. How do you run it in Stereo? I guess you'd have to buy two pedals?

It's probably the only pedal I wouldn't ever sell. It's obviously only good for those who want to go into other tunings without switching guitars or returning. The two things I don't like are the price and yeah if you have done any research people will be talking about how if you go farther down the tuning the "muddier" it tends to get.