DigiTech Luxe Polyphonic Detune
Introduction:
Jesse from Rogue Guitar Shop here to bring you something different. A polyphonic detune pedal that happens to have a very simple control set. What's polyphonic detune? I'll get to that, but first allow me to take you on a trip through time. DigiTech is largely known for their completely original flagship product, the Whammy pedal. The Whammy was originally released in 1989, sporting it's still currently familiar Ferrari red paint job. A fully featured pitch shifter with a built in expression pedal to mimic the sound of a guitar's whammy bar, but with a greatly enhanced pitch range. Aside from the Whammy II, nearly every pedal in the Whammy line has featured the famous Ferrari red paint job. Since it's creation, the Whammy has been used by many creative and well known guitar players. From Tom Morello, to Dimebag Darrell, to Jack White, and even Noel Gallagher. It's pitch bending capabilities combined with the treadle create many unique and mind bending effects.
Aside from the Whammy, over the years DigiTech had sort of gathered a bit of a poor reputation among the “cork sniffers” of online forums and such. To combat this, DigiTech released the Hardwire series. Effects using a “tough as nails” enclosure similar to that of Boss, with completely True Bypass. Due to a winning combination of quality and affordability, this series caught on with guitarists and bassists of all walks of life. Since then, DigiTech has acquired the rights to DOD effects and has been working hard to bring many of those classic pedals back to the people. Sporting modern features like True Bypass along with the classic sounds those devices are known for. By now, most guitarists have realized that DigiTech never really lost what made them great to begin with. The want and need to always push forward with new and interesting innovations. Since then, Hardwire was brought to the regular DigiTech line, with all the same features of course.
Controls/Features:
This now leads us to the newest effects line from the creative minds at DigiTech. A line of boutique quality effects in their own custom enclosure featuring True Bypass. This line includes many unique effects to DigiTech, one of which is the Luxe, a polyphonic detune pedal. The Luxe features the same polyphonic detune technology found in the venerable Whammy pedal. Now offered as a stand alone unit for ease of use and for those who only desire to have this effect. To put it simply, Polyphonic means the effect can work flawlessly with chords. This being because the effect can isolate each note in the chord individually. One will only have dissonance when actually using dissonant chords! This particular effect sets out to create a chorus-esque effect, but using the totally different method of polyphonic detuning. This is huge, as it allows someone to create chorus effects over a distorted or fuzzy signal without making it undefined and muddy. We have a ridiculous amount of modulation and pitch bending effects here at Rogue Guitar Shop, and I've never seen anything quite like this.
Applications:
Most chorus units works by combining the dry signal with a pitch detuned signal with a short delay. The detuned signal is created by a sweeping LFO, in which you usually have control over. This is a wondrous sound sound cherished by many, especially on clean tones. However the second you dial in any grit, you tend to get a mushy sound or overpowering sound, depending on the location of the chorus in the signal chain. The Luxe features only two controls, Level and Detune. The Detune control has a plus symbol marked on the right side, and a minus marked on the left hand side. Thurning this control to the right increases pitch of the detuned signal, left lowers the pitch. The center is flat in pitch. The Level control is sort of a effect mix control. Upon pluging the DigiTech Luxe in, on a very clean tone, I couldn't help but notice how similar, yet very different this sound is to chorus. It absolutely has the vibe of chorus, but seems to grip your main guitar sound much tighter. Slightly to the left or right of center for the Detune control yielded more subtle sounds. Was able to make the effect very intense with the Detune control far to the left or right. After all of that, I had to try it with grit. This unit operates well, in and out of the effects loop, before or after any grit I could throw at it. I like it, I like it a lot.
Final verdict:
9/10
Not what anyone looking for a traditional chorus effect should look to, do not expect anything resembling a Leslie speaker sound. But if you always wanted to have a chorus-esque sound in your arsenal, but were never a fan of how the chorus felt to play (dynamics) THIS IS FOR YOU. I personally enjoy standard chorus type sounds, but I dig this a lot too. Shoot us a message on chat on RogueGuitarShop.com for the best price around.