Eric in a box: could this be the answer to all your Clapton prayers? PHOTOGRAPHY GAVIN ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPHY GAVIN DigiTech Crossroads £149 DIGITECH DigiTech celebrates the 40-year career of Eric Clapton with a pedal CROSSROADS devoted to some of his classic sounds by Adrian Clark PRICE: £149 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Digital modelling n the past, signature gear has mostly basic blue-print for the new Eric on a single nine-volt battery, although multi-effects pedal been restricted to guitars and amps. Clapton Crossroads pedal. DigiTech also provides a DC adaptor. In FEATURES: Seven ISignature effects units have In terms of the design, there isn’t keeping with the ‘limited edition’ profi le classic Clapton sounds gradually started to appear over the much to explain. Along with the guitar of the pedal, the (rather overpackaged, featuring modelled guitars, amps and effects past few years, but they’re still input, a pair of outputs allow you to to be fair) box also contains a tiny CONTROLS: Level, comparatively rare, and mostly consist feed the digitally modelled sounds gigbag for keeping your Crossroads Control 1, Control 2, of existing products modifi ed to an directly into a mixer/recorder or into pedal in pristine condition. Model artist’s specifi cations. There’s been your amp. Both outputs work CONNECTIONS: In, dual SOUNDS: outputs (mixer, amp) nothing quite like the Ibanez Jem, Brian simultaneously, so you could easily use Eric Clapton has had MIDI: No May’s home-made Red Special or the an A/B box to switch between amp and plenty of time to explore a few guitar POWER: 9V battery or Gibson Les Paul – the grandaddy of all PA in a live situation. For a couple of sounds, and the Crossroads pedal DC adaptor (included) signature models. the settings, both outputs are designed comes with seven of the most instantly OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Dan However, with digital modelling, the to be heard simultaneously, either via recognisable. What’s surprising, Donegan’s The Weapon effects market has the ability to take a mixer or dual amps. though, is that there’s nothing from costs £149, and look out a different approach to the ‘signature’ Of the four controls, one is a master before Cream. Jeff Beck was arguably for the Jimi Hendrix concept. Rather than having an artist- output level control, while another is the more important Yardbird from a Experience pedal which debuted at NAMM ’05 approved pedal, which might only work a rotary switch for selecting the seven tonal point of view, but the lack of a (see pages 77-85) with his/her rig, why not have your top classic Clapton sounds on offer. The Bluesbreaker tone is a curious decision. Sound Technology designers recreate some classic sounds other two, Control 1 and Control 2, vary There are, however, three sounds 01462 480000 for use with anyone’s rig? DigiTech’s according to the sound selected; they from the Cream era. The fi rst two, www.digitech.com fi rst signature pedal was Dan Donegan’s are usually gain and tone, but we’ll look based on Sunshine Of Your Love and The Weapon, which now forms the at the exceptions later. The pedal runs the live version of Crossroads are

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DIGITECH CROSSROADS TEST RESULTS (modelled on a Gibson L5). For both Build quality of these settings, the Control 2 knob Playability adjusts the reverb level; for the Sound acoustic sound, Control 1 boosts the Value for money resonant body frequencies. ■ WE LIKED Easy to use and some very Throughout our tests, we kept A/B- convincing sounds ing the pedal between amp and mixer ■ WE DISLIKED Some models not are outputs to compare the sounds. In as good through mixer output; no general, we thought the overdriven Bluesbreaker sound! sounds worked best through an amp; the basic modelled sounds were a little mid-range-heavy for our liking. similar, with the addition of a mid-range However, this isn’t necessarily a bad boost (for which Eric would have used thing in the case of the fi rst Layla a static wah pedal) on the former. Not setting, which does a very convincing surprisingly, both sounds work best impersonation of a Fender Twin. The with neck-position humbuckers, acoustic and Gibson L5 sounds are best offering plenty of rich, thick sustain. through a mixer, unaffected by the tone While the former is primarily a rhythm of an amp, and the Badge tone works sound, there’s enough gain available for well either way. lead use. The third Cream sound is based on the jangly, chorused arpeggio Verdict part from Badge. This setting can be It’ll be interesting to see what sort of used in stereo, and Control 2 adjusts market there is for the Crossroads. the modulation speed of the rotary Multi-effects units have been doing speaker model. ‘sound-alike’ presets for years, but this The overdriven tone from Layla has a mid-range honk that sounds very close to Eric’s Fender Champ on the original

Moving into the 1970s, you’ll need to could be a great way of getting the switch to a Strat to get the best results sounds of your favourite player without from the next two settings. The having hundreds of other features overdriven tone from Layla comes fi rst, you’ll never use. with a mid-range honk that sounds very We were a little surprised by the close to Eric’s Fender Champ on the choice of Clapton sounds. The acoustic original. From later in the decade, Lay and jazz guitar sounds, while excellent, Down Sally is a clean, country tone, aren’t particularly reminiscent of EC, although you can add a little bite via and there’s no Marshall 1962 the gain control. ‘Bluesbreaker’ sound at all. That said, proceeds from sales will be donated to The last two settings demonstrate the Crossroads does its job very well, Eric’s Crossroads Centre for drug The rivals Korg AX10G £115 the power of the pedal’s digital with just enough versatility without addiction, so you don’t need to feel Yamaha modelling. The second Layla tone being over complex. It’s a little on the too bad about the expense! MagicStomp £169 recreates the sound of the Martin OOO- expensive side for a single stompbox, BOSS ME-50 £229 42 used on the Unplugged album, while although you do get seven radically DigiTech Crossroads There’s nothing in the stompbox market that Reptile has a very impressive jazz tone different sounds. Also, a portion of the RATING will compete directly with the Crossroads, so the nearest equivalents are multi-effects units. All three units here can easily be plugged directly into an amp (rather than worrying about effects loops) and, for people with traditional pedalboards, the Korg and Yamaha units don’t take up too much space

Twin outputs allow you to feed modelled sounds into a mixer/recorder or your amp

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