GBREVIEW EFFECTS DIGITECH THE WEAPON PACKIN’ HEAT THE FIRST IN DIGITECH’S NEW RANGE OF ARTIST STOMPBOXES THREATENS TO BE DANGEROUSLY GOOD. PAUL SALTER TOOLS-UP IN STYLE ... The past few years have processor, all housed in a foolproof raised pedal surface. It’s been given a GBINFO seen a bit of a renaissance stompbox to provide an instant cool prototype-like appearance by for guitar-based gear. Obviously collection of tones based on a leaving the surface of the aluminium DIGITECH the whole digital modelling particular guitarist – a forehead covered in machine and file marks, THE WEAPON PRICE: £149 concept has proved an amazing slapping idea for sure. with the graphics applied in a hand- BUILT IN: USA phenomenon and has inspired The Weapon is the first in a series written style. Of course, it wouldn’t TYPE: Multi-effects manufacturers to produce of artist-based pedals, this time based be very wise to leave bare metal stompbox some truly incredible products, upon the tones of Don Donegan from exposed, and to prolong the life of EFFECTS: Distortion, phaser, wah, sitar simulator and EQ although there’s also been plenty the metal band, Disturbed. It certainly the distinctive look the chassis has FEATURES:Level, 2 x control, of innovative design right across looks the part, but will this regular- been coated with a tough clear plastic- amp output, mixer output, the board. sized stompbox really enable us to ‘get based sealer. 7-position-type knob Impressive though the majority of down with the sickness’, or just leave If you choose to power The Weapon POWER: 9V PP3 battery (approx. 4 hours’ use), or new products may be, however, not us slightly nauseated? with a 9V battery rather than the included power supply unit many combine a collection of already supplied power supply you can expect DIMENSIONS: 55(h) x 80(w) x 125(d) mm established ideas into such an obvious CONSTRUCTION around four hours of continuous use, concept, that you wonder why it’s The Weapon has been built in the now and also a quick job when it’s time CONTACT: Sound Technology never been done before. DigiTech has familiar DigiTech styling with a robust to replace it – the footswitch part of PHONE: 01462 480000 brought together the appeal of artist cast aluminium chassis, and generous the pedal is removed by pushing in WEB: www.digitech.com presets and the power of a multi-effects rubber pads covering the base and the two hinge-pins at either side. ➔ AUGUST 2004 GUITARBUYER 121 GBREVIEW EFFECTS It’s the kind of task that seems to GBOPINION TAKE CONTROL require three hands, two of which DIGITECH need to be simultaneously poking EASY ACCESS TONES THE WEAPON something pointy – Digitech ■ The tones that The Weapon’s seven GOLD STARS recommends the jack plugs of your Metal-worthy tones types are based upon are listed in the lead – into the pins. Still, it’s easier Total ease of use manual along with tips on how to set Intelligent concept than unscrewing the baseplate [and the pedals. BLACK MARKS you can just push one of the pins – In most cases the controls are simply Inability to remotely DigiTech stompbox-using Ed]. set to their mid-points, but if not, the switch between types suggested settings are illustrated. All of IDEAL FOR... the tones are taken from tracks on the FEATURES The Sickness A collection of instant Disturbed albums and usable tones The purpose of The Weapon is to Believe, shown below. provide you with seven tones that resemble those used by Don Donegan. Each of the tones are accessed from the ‘Type’ knob, with a full explanation in the handy manual of what’s involved with these signature sounds, and from which particular Disturbed tracks they are based upon. Type 1 Rhythm sound on ‘Stupify’. Obviously there isn’t the amount of Type 2 Rhythm sound from the bridge tweaking potential that you’d get with section of ‘Mistress’ Type 3 Intro to ‘Voices’. a fully-fledged multi-effects unit, but Type 4 Wah section of ‘Bound’ Type 5 Octave effect as used in both ‘Rise’ and ‘Intoxication’ THERE’S AN IMPRESSIVE Type 6 Simulates sitar from ‘Stupify’, Type 7 Radio-style distortion from ‘Mistress’ ■ Dan the man, ‘’RANGE OF EFFECTS PACKED the records and his signature tones the two control knobs will be INTO THE DIGITECH WEAPON do control different parameters familiar with the kind of amp set-up depending on the effect type. For that’s required for The Weapon. If you ‘’ example: three of the settings are have too little level from the pedal, or different distortion tones with no too much treble on the amp you’re in added effect, and here the control for a disappointment. With the knobs are designated for low and high required tweaks sensitively applied EQ. Another includes a sitar simulator, though, The Weapon is very and in this case the controls set the impressive. The first ‘Type’ is a full- amount of fret buzz and the reverb bodied distortion tone with a satisfying level, respectively. There’s not enough bottom end and midrange strength control to radically change the tones if that suits fluid, harmonic-rich leads as they don’t immediately appeal to you, well as modern metal rhythm parts. but the point here is stompbox Surprisingly enough, it’ll loosen-up simplicity, don’t forget. considerably from your guitar’s volume Considering that simplicity, there’s to provide some useful options that an impressive range of effects packed you wouldn’t expect from the average into the unit. As well as the distortions distortion stompbox – good stuff. and sitar simulator, there’s also an auto A further click clockwise provides a wah, pitch shifter and a phaser. And lighter version of the first which (given thanks to the addition of a mixer that there’s no provision to adjust output as well as one for regular amp either gain setting from the pedal) is use, The Weapon needn’t be just fine by us, especially as this time destined for live sounds either. This there’s more definition and bark to the output doesn’t claim to be speaker tone, and a more rock vibe than metal. simulated, but there’s some kind of The third setting ■ Credit card in the filter in play that rounds-off the name of Dan, anyone? distortions to produce some Just kidding… effective direct sounds. There’s also enough level from this output to drive a set of headphones – albeit in mono – to what is a considerable volume for practising purposes. SOUNDS Anyone who’s ever used a distortion pedal as their sole source of overdrive 122 GUITARBUYER AUGUST 2004 DIGITECH THE WEAPON ... DETAILS UNPRECEDENTED VERSATILITY IN A STOMPBOX: A GREAT SHOW FOR DIGITECH’S FIRST ARTIST PEDAL ■ The artist treatment also includes a power supply, soft carry case – top marks – and a Dan Donegan pick ■ Basic parameter control offers up reasonable flexibility from The Weapon’s seven sounds is very cool indeed. A step on the pedal in this case affects the phaser’s hard on the ears but has a very introduces a respectable phaser, and intensity. The fun bit is when you step impressive sustain. Not a tone you’d this is configured to give what is a and hold down the pedal, which starts want to use often, but great for a one- usable modulation throughout the to fade-in a distortion effect. Both off effect for emphasis. travel of the first control knob; which effects remain active until you release One thing’s for sure: we now have the pedal, where the phaser cuts out, an answer to all those ‘I can can only TWICE AS NICE leaving just the distortion – loads of buy one pedal – which one?’ letters! fun and very useful if you’re sparing TWO OUTPUTS OFFER with the phaser. GBCONCLUSION GREAT VERSATILITY Types four, five and six are based ■ By using the amp output of The GREAT DISTORTION AND LOADS MORE BESIDES around the auto-wah, the octave Weapon you can benefit from any of ■ the impressive tones through your pitch-shifter and the sitar simulator, It goes without saying that the appeal of The regular rig, but the addition of the respectively. All are typical of what Weapon will be either compromised or enhanced by mixer output means that you can hook you’d expect from cheaper multi- the association with the Disturbed guitarist, depending up to practically anything else, too. effects units and are well worth on how much you like the band’s music. Great results are possible for experimenting with. The wah and That’s the nature of signature products of course, but like most recording – the rounding-off of the octave effect particularly offer a products that bear an artist’s name, there’s always a far wider distortion isn’t as sophisticated as a dedicated amp simulator, but it’s good degree of variation. range of applications that they’ll be suitable for. surprisingly good. It’s also possible to Perhaps the least versatile setting is In this case there’s a hugely impressive batch of sounds that use both outputs simultaneously. For the last. This is a rather fuzzy distortion could bolster the sonic arsenal of any guitarist. The first two instance, you can feed your amp and with a restricted frequency range that’s distortions are excellent examples of metal pedal tones and offer a direct signal to a mixer at the although they’re limited to that genre, it has to be kept in same time for a big spread of sound.