NPD — Digitech Hardwire Stereo Reverb

[luciguci]

I haven't heard many things about this one, but most people liked it or thought it was okay, and others though it wasn't wet enough.

I was about to agree with the former, especially on modulated reverb, as it wasn't very present, but everything changed when I went stereo.

Holy shit, it is so lush in stereo. I cranked the controls, put it on modulated reverb and it was amazing. If I had an extra chorus, I could enter a sort of Cocteau Twins sound. Then I tried the hall with all the controls maxed out and added fuzz in front of it, hit a Gbm7 and let it drone and I got lost in the reverberation; I just sat there and let it go on, and then I'd turn off the fuzz and gently pluck some notes and I was in post-rock heaven.

The spring reverb is amazing as well, I got it to get that Dick Dale sorta sound, and then I messed around a bit more and got the gentle popping in the background reminiscent of The Sounds of the Sounds of Science by Yo La Tengo, especially with some behind the nut and bridge strumming on my SG, just fucking around.

The room was really nice too, sounded just right playing Into Dust, but it also got pretty wet too. Plate is excellent, metallic, and deep, and clearly the base for the mod reverb. Reverse reverb is okay, but I'm kinda pissed that there's absolutely no dry signal at all. It was kinda hard to use with timing, but is still excellently done. The gated reverb is also pretty fun to play with, because you can get the sort of 80's drum sound by muting the strings with the fretting hand and strumming.

TL;DR
It's an excellent reverb, and especially in stereo. I'm never gonna be able to get another reverb unless it is stereo.

[dots]

whoah. . . digitech gets slagged a lot, but i liked all the products i had of theirs for they were worth. i rocked an rp7 in my rig for several years.

POST PICSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[atmo]

The Hardwire modulation/delay pedals are awesome.

I've currently got a HT-2 tuner, an RV-7 reverb, CR-7 chorus and the TR-7 trem/rotary. They're some of the best sounding (except the tuner of course), most versatile pedals I've tried.

[luciguci]

Dude I fucking love this reverb. I'm really interested in getting the Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus (not the old ones) just to hear it with this.

[Thom]

I had a play with James' when I picked up his bassman off him and I was mightily impressed. Really good pedal across the different modes.

[Concretebadger]

I've actually heard a lot of good things said about this one, the only negative thing being that the balance control doesn't go up to 100%. The same can be said of Boss' RV-5 actually, but I still keep that and an RV-3 on my board because I like the 'modulate' setting that the '5 has. The '3 on the other hand can go completely wet, but some players think that Boss 'verbs are too cold and sterile. *shrugs* I just tweak the tone knob to counter that.

Unfortunately my setup is only in mono. Most well-known reverb pedals these days seem to have stereo out jacks, so I guess they're intended to be used that way. I suspect many people are too stuck in their ways to try a stereo rig to get that reverb sound though. I know I am.

The best spring 'verb I've tried so far is the EHX, funnily enough. The Boss 'spring' sound is so useless it's not even worth mentioning, but the HG+'s spring emulation isn't a million miles off the old-school effect I get from my Fender DRRI. It's a bit darker, and almost gritty. I'll have to find a YT vid that gives an A/B comparison between that and the Hardwire, because the prices of the Strymons and other high-end offerings are out of reach for me.

[luciguci]

I played with the reverse reverb and some fuzz in front of it and got this lovely piece right here.
http://soundcloud.com/christian-guzman-10/waves