Why the hate on EHX?

[eyeballkid]

I've just run across a number of people both here and on other forums who are really down on EHX. Some of the threads here are from the last few years, not like this week. Maybe its snobbish cork sniffing. I dunno. My experience with them has been positive. I had a pedal malfunction ONCE. They fixed it for free in 3 days.. it glitched out again and they replaced it. My other pedals have been great for the price range and some have been amazing for the price point.
I just dont see why some say "I'd never buy an ehx".

 

[oZZma]

More than hate, I see some snobbery. But it's true for other big companies as well (Boss for instance)

 

[oZZma]

. Maybe its snobbish cork sniffing.

This

 

[brianrost]

Hard to hate the first mfr to create a full range of pedals, including bass-specific pedals (my first pedal ever was a Hog's Foot). Before Boss, before DOD, before anybody else.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

Sometimes, they can be a bit noisy. My old Freeze pedal, my pitchfork, they would give me noise before any other pedal I had.

edit:I still love that EHX will run wild with a weird idea. Only other company that seems this way to me is digitech.

 

[eyeballkid]

Right.. the noise issues are sometimes a thing but I've had that on $300+ pedals before so big deal

 

[eyeballkid]

And I agree. They innovate some cool things, especially for, or taking into consideration, bass players. Given, some builders give more finesse or more options but EHX is pretty solid, especially for a working man budget.

 

[JimmyM]

Sometimes, they can be a bit noisy. My old Freeze pedal, my pitchfork, they would give me noise before any other pedal I had.

edit:I still love that EHX will run wild with a weird idea. Only other company that seems this way to me is digitech.

The noise in the Pitchfork was due to not being on an isolated line, I discovered. Once I put it on an iso line, problem solved.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

Right.. the noise issues are sometimes a thing but I've had that on $300+ pedals before so big deal

If you need a clean line, then it is a big deal. A problem is a problem regardless of the cost of the pedal that has it.

 

[JimmyM]

If you need a clean line, then it is a big deal. A problem is a problem regardless of the cost of the pedal that has it.

No it's not. Needing a clean line happens with a lot of pedals due to their design. I've had a few pedals that were just fine but needed a clean line. It's not a big deal unless you want to stay married to a 1-spot.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

No it's not. Needing a clean line happens with a lot of pedals due to their design. I've had a few pedals that were just fine but needed a clean line. It's not a big deal unless you want to stay married to a 1-spot.

I mean a clean line to the amp. Sound without hiss. Not necessarily clean power.

 

[eyeballkid]

well for example Ive had a pedal or two that there was a slight 'pop' when engaging, or a subtle hiss, but nothing so bothersome that I couldnt use it. For recording it would be a problem, but not live.

 

[JimmyM]

I mean a clean line to the amp. Sound without hiss. Not necessarily clean power.

well for example Ive had a pedal or two that there was a slight 'pop' when engaging, or a subtle hiss, but nothing so bothersome that I couldnt use it. For recording it would be a problem, but not live.

Now THAT kind of clean line I would agree about. Got rid of some vintage pedals for that reason. I know that once the song starts you can't hear it, and at a gig you certainly can't hear it, but it still drives me up a wall But I've not had it in any of them that I've bought in the last 10 years unless it was related to needing an iso line.

 

[HelpImaRock]

I mean a clean line to the amp. Sound without hiss. Not necessarily clean power.

The hiss only exists when you daisy chain a pedal that requires it's own power supply though.

well for example Ive had a pedal or two that there was a slight 'pop' when engaging, or a subtle hiss, but nothing so bothersome that I couldnt use it. For recording it would be a problem, but not live.

The pop occurs for a variety of reasons, sometimes due to another pedal or the amp. I used to have an issue in a rehearsal space we used in NYC. My favorite tremolo is an OG bantam box Catalinbread Valcoder. When plugged into a Bogner Shiva (guitar amp), it emits a loud pop and the tremolo is weak. In order to use it, I had to use a Z-Vex SHO as a buffer, to decouple it from the amp. I tried other buffer pedals and nothing else worked. I never had an issue with any other amp. Just that one. Super weird, but random stuff like that happens.

 

[Al Kraft]

Some folks I've played in bands with have had durability problems with EHX pedals, but everyone (including me) thought they sounded fine. IMO (and it's just an opinion) their manufacturing consistency/QA is not always as spot on as it should be. Short of that, I like what their boxes do and they seem to be priced reasonably.

While I do not currently own/use any of their products, I have bought them as presents for musicians in my family and would not hesitate to do so in the future. I will admit to feeling more confident with some other brands (reliability/durability-wise), but no one gets it perfect every time IME.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I've owned at least seven of their pedals, three currently on my gigging board, and I haven't had a single problem with any of them. A guitarist I used to play with had a ton of their pedals and they all worked perfectly. I also hear people say that they feel flimsy or something, but mine all feel like solid metal boxes. My Enigma Q-Balls was purchased used something like six years ago; who knows when it actually rolled off the assembly line? Hundreds of hours of use and it's still working great.

My favorite thing about the company is they continue to innovate. Truthfully, a lot of what they put out isn't really useful to me, but I think it's awesome somebody is doing it.

 

[Rojd]

I like EHX quite a bit. I have several of them on my 2 boards. On my bigger board I have a Hot Wax, Micro Q-tron, The Mole, Bass Soul Food, and a Signal Pad. On my smaller board I have a Bass Metaphors and Bass Soul Food. I had EHX pedals crap out on me a couple of times, but I've had some boutiquey pedals costing 4-5 times as much give up the ghost, too. So EHX is alright in my book.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

hmm i love ehx. They are well respected, as far as I can tell.

 

[FilterFunk]

What I tend to read here on TB a lot that could be called "anti-EHX" (but more like disappointment than hate) is about build quality/durability. Also, some folks who think that EHX has good ideas, but doesn't seem to put it all together, i.e., there's some useful feature (or features) missing from some of their pedals.

Personally, I like EHX. Their Q-Balls is THE envelope filter for me, and I really like the Hot Tubes Nano's low-gain and no-gain settings.

 

[wmhill]

Why is the Earth flat?