Hands-On Review: DigiTech HardWire Pedals

Tourworthy pedals—meticulously designed

By Jim Gault
Musician’s Friend Staff Writer

You have to take only one look at DigiTech’s new HardWire Pedals to  tell they are pedals of a higher caliber. They just look especially well  built with all-metal construction and precision machining. And when you  try them out, you quickly find your first impression is confirmed.  DigiTech has always been known for creating effective effects, and the  HardWire pedals will only add luster to their good reputation. These are  pedals that are designed for high-level performance, sport innovative  features and well-thought-out details, and are built to withstand the  rough life on the rock tour.

There are seven pedals in the HardWire Series: the HT-2 Chromatic Tuner, CM-2 Tube Overdrive, SC-2 Valve Distortion, TL-2 Metal Distortion, CR-7 Stereo Chorus, DL-8 Delay/Looper, and RV-7 Stereo Reverb.  As a group, they share a number of special characteristics. First, they  each benefit from all-metal construction with precision machining and  high-grade components. They are built to last and have a number of basic  features that deal with the realities of performance, such as antiskid  bottom pads, glow-in-the-dark labels, and Stomplock, a cap that fits  over the knobs so no accidental changes in settings occur during  performance.

Thinking inside the box

Internally, these pedals are distinguished by a number of special  features. One is true bypass. When the pedal is turned off, it has no  coloring effect on your signal whatsoever. The pedals are also designed  so that if you lose power to them during a performance, they  automatically go into bypass mode. You may lose the pedal, but not your  tone.

Another special HardWire feature is high-voltage operation. Each  HardWire Pedal contains special circuitry that boosts the voltage  supplied by its nine-volt battery to an operating voltage of 15 volts.  This means more headroom so that guitars that have high-output pickups  won’t overdrive the pedal and clip. This same circuitry also keeps  voltage constant so that performance doesn’t degrade as the battery runs  down. There’s none of the grittiness and distortion indicating a  weakening battery found in other pedals.

The HT-2 Chromatic Tuner

The HT-2 fulfills all the usual requirements demanded of a tuner and more. It’s  accurate, visible, and durable. It is also especially stable, which many  tuners simply are not. It has both a note display window and LEDs that  show pitch level, multiple tuning references, and normal and strobe  tuning modes. Its outstanding quality is stability. You don’t have to  hit a moving target as you tune, as with many tuners. This makes tuning  faster and more certain.

Three stereo pedals

First is the RV-7 Stereo Reverb.  This is a great reverb pedal. It features mono or stereo operation, and  it contains seven studio-quality Lexicon reverbs from Audio DNA2:  Room, Plate, Reverse, Modulated, Gated, Hall, and Spring. What is new  and different about this pedal is a “Liveliness” control that adds  sparkle as you dial it up.

The CR-7 Stereo Chorus is another pedal built around an Audio DNA2 chip. It gives you a choice of seven chorus types: Modern, Multi,  Analog, Studio, Boutique, Jazz, and Vintage. It offers stereo operation  as well as mono, so you can connect two amplifiers for especially fat  and spatially rich effects.

The DL-8 Delay/Looper is a third pedal based on Audio DNA2.  It is a really easy-to-use looper—you just hold down the pedal and play  to set up a loop—and it's capable of loops up to 20 seconds. It is also  a versatile delay with delay times ranging from 150 milliseconds to  eight seconds, and has six delay types: Reverse, Modulated, Analog,  Slapback, Lo Fi, and Tape. It sounds fantastic in all modes.

Three distortion effects

All three distortion pedals are fully analog in design and together  give you a wide range of distortions. The pedal any guitar player will  love is the CM-2 Tube Overdrive,  especially those players who stay closer to the clean end of the  spectrum. It has a Classic/Modified switch that lets you toggle between a  warm, smooth, very creamy overdriven tube sound and a fatter,  hot-rodded overdrive with more gain. High and low EQ controls let you  substantially tweak these basic modes, and your real tone shines through  it all. This is not a tone murderer.

The SC-2 Valve Distortion takes distortion to a deeper zone, delivering an amp-like sound as if  the front-end of the amp is cranked significantly. This pedal, like the  Tube Overdrive, sets you up with a choice of modes: Crunch or Saturated.  Level, Gain, High, and Low tone knobs can be tweaked to give you a  range from classic crunch to modern high gain.

For over-the-top distortion, the Hardwire Series offers the TL-2 Metal Distortion.  I like the fact it isn’t one-dimensional as many metal pedals are. It  is a fat, heavy distortion but gives you a lot of dialing potential  within that range. A Tight/Loose voicing switch mainly alters the bottom  end, making it tight and punchy or loose and fluffy. Low, Mid, and High  tone controls with sweepable midrange let you scoop to your heart’s  content.

Surefire hits

The HardWire pedals are sure to find many admirers. They sound great,  are built like little tanks, and each one is versatile and easy to  dial. Features such as true bypass and high-voltage operation only make  them that much easier to appreciate. Above all else, it’s the quality of  their sounds that will win the hearts of even the most jaded  guitarists.

Features & Specs

• Rugged all-metal construction
• Precision machining
• True bypass
• High-voltage operation
• Automatically goes to bypass with power loss
• Constant voltage, even as battery declines
• Nonskid bottoms and switch surfaces
• Lexicon reverbs, delays, and choruses
• Mono or stereo operation in the DL-8, CR-7, and RV-7
• Includes Stomplock knob covers, gaffer tape for visibility labeling, Velcro for mounting
• 9V battery power
• Easy battery access