I'm completely out on digital stompboxes.

[tleeitsme]

So many months ago I bought a couple $20 pedals off amazon when they were all the rage and about half of them came not working. Crappy chinese digital pedals. Cest la vie..


Decided to buy myself a big boy delay and opted for the fender reflecting pool digital delay/reverb. Not even 1/2 hour of use out of the box and it has bricked itself like a frozen computer. Signal comes through but the pedal remains completely unresponsive (yes I have tried unplugging it and olugging it back in lol). Crappy chinese digital electronics. This time it was $300 not $20.

I bought a NOS bass neck that was absolutely garbage from fender about 6 months ago and they made me jump through a million loop-holes to get it replaced. Theyre on thin ice and definitely about to receive an earful over this junky pedal.

 

[zombywoof5050]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I got a Boss Digital Delay DD-6 many years ago, and it has never given me any problems.

 

[J Posega]

For a $20 pedal you can’t expect much. $300 though... have you tried contacting customer support? I mean, most companies have great CS now and sometimes poopie just goes wrong. I think you’ll find more people who’ve had good experiences with digital gear than bad if it was made in the last 5 years

 

[crguti]

when you buy cheap, you get cheap.

 

[thabassmon]

So many months ago I bought a couple $20 pedals off amazon when they were all the rage and about half of them came not working. Crappy chinese digital pedals. Cest la vie..


Decided to buy myself a big boy delay and opted for the fender reflecting pool digital delay/reverb. Not even 1/2 hour of use out of the box and it has bricked itself like a frozen computer. Signal comes through but the pedal remains completely unresponsive (yes I have tried unplugging it and olugging it back in lol). Crappy chinese digital electronics. This time it was $300 not $20.

I bought a NOS bass neck that was absolutely garbage from fender about 6 months ago and they made me jump through a million loop-holes to get it replaced. Theyre on thin ice and definitely about to receive an earful over this junky pedal.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, and you can write off digital pedals. But they are not inherently bad just because they are digital, I have digital pedals made by Source Audio and Electro Harmonix that work absolutely fine. I also have a Boss MD500 that is also absolutely fine, I used Boss single stomps for a long while without problems and a Digitech Whammy 5 and Synth Wah also without problems.

Point is there is nothing wrong with digital pedals, I think the problem here is Brand and Model selection.

 

[GMC]

Buy cheap, you buy twice...first the cheap thing, then the more expensive pedal that you should have bought the first time around. Key words here are Eventide, Line 6, Strymon, Boss, Chase bliss, Empress, Source Audio & Electro harmonix. To a lesser extent, Zoom. However, their MS-70 CDR is a very serious peice of kit, although limited with it's control...bang for buck...nothing else comes close.
In terms of clarity, the top end digital boxes carry a lot more although that may not be obvious on first hearing. A Zoom MS-70CDR has great reverbs, delays and Chorus options. However things get a little muddy when they are stacked.
With the higher end options, often the available sounds are simular but they are alot clearer and stack way better without getting muddy or thick and undefined. Resolution and detail is much higher and far better maths is being used. It's not just about the unit's raw potential processing power, the quality of the algorythm / maths is just as important. This most apparent with Eventide's H9 unit. Becuase all of it's processing power goes into just the one sound and they have spent a lot longer creating their algorythms. The result is that they stack amazingly well, even with very dense and complex reverbs. Where as something like a Mod Duo or Helix HX (great units), they are dividing the units processing power between various effects (Algorythms) and they can run out of poke or the sound can get muddy as the unit drops some resolution.

 

[Wasnex]

So many months ago I bought a couple $20 pedals off amazon when they were all the rage and about half of them came not working. Crappy chinese digital pedals. Cest la vie..


Decided to buy myself a big boy delay and opted for the fender reflecting pool digital delay/reverb. Not even 1/2 hour of use out of the box and it has bricked itself like a frozen computer. Signal comes through but the pedal remains completely unresponsive (yes I have tried unplugging it and olugging it back in lol). Crappy chinese digital electronics. This time it was $300 not $20.

I bought a NOS bass neck that was absolutely garbage from fender about 6 months ago and they made me jump through a million loop-holes to get it replaced. Theyre on thin ice and definitely about to receive an earful over this junky pedal.

In 2008 I bought an Empress Vintage Modified Superdelay. A few years ago I noticed the mini toggle switch that is used to select whether the expression pedal controls the mix or feedback was damaged. I contacted Empress to see if they would send me the part and they offered to fix it free. I sent the pedal in and they replaced the faulty switch, and a few other component that are prone to wear out free of charge. All I had to pay was shipping one way. I won't hesitate to buy another Empress pedal or recommend them to others. Great company and stellar products.

I probably would have hassled Amazon about the $20 pedals that arrived DOA. I would definitely hassle whichever vendor sold you the Fender delay. If you are not using the power supply that came with the Fender delay. Do make sure you are feeding the Delay the appropriate voltage and current. Digital Delays tend to be fairly power hungry and they may distort or refuse to pass a signal if not adequately powered.

My Empress requires a center positive plug which is the opposite of most pedals. Also, it pulls 300mA which is more than many pedal power supplies can provide. All of my other pedals run off a couple of Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 power supplies. I use the Empress wall wart for the Superdelay because none of the outlets of a Pedal Power 2 can supply 300mA. Eventually I may buy a current doubler adapter and a polarity adapter so I can ditch the wall wart.

 

[Killing Floor]

+1 for calling in the warranty on the Fender pedal.