Is This The Worst Guitar Pedal Ever? 

"Here's my clean tone" >Tone is already overdriven Some things never change

One day this guy will have a signature distortion pedal and it will be called “Clean Tone”

"So here's my clean tone" (AC/DC tone).

That “clean” tone needs to take a bath

>pedal has mids >early 2000s I can see why they hated it

Ola could do a "does it chug" on fluffs clean tone lol

"Here's my clean tone" Clean tone: am i a joke to you?

90% of the comments are about Fluff's clean tone actually being overdrive 10% of the rest are us just trying not to comment on Fluff's overdrive clean tone

Perhaps next could be an Ibanez Jem through a dimed 5150 and Metal Zone to test the jazz tone.

I don't think you understand the meaning of "clean tone."

His clean tone is about the same as Angus youngs tone for every acdc song 😂

FFS fluff you know better than this. It's a Clapton pedal so playing a downtuned humbucker guitar in the driven rock amp is hardly giving it a fair shot

It’s the same tone bc your “clean” amp is broken up. It’s gonna take on the character of your preamp after the pedal.

Maybe play a Stratocaster like Clapton but the clean isn't very clean

"Here is my Clapton tone..." (Plugs PRS into Hi-Gain Amp) lol

Re do the video with an actual pure clean tone. Your clean tone has almost more gain than Clapton’s dirty

I’ve definitely heard worse pedals out there.

Try to use a strat maybe? And maybe set your amp to a TOTALLY CLEAN preset. Just like what clapton has.

Lol I was waiting for the clean channel to sound overdriven and it did.

LMAO some dude tossed one of these in the box when I ordered a guitar on Reverb, called it a "special gift"

"So here's my clean tone" (fuzz factory)

Likes his clean tone dirty like Mastodon lol

Its not that bad, but its just an overdrive with slightly different voices. Its kinda cool that there's a reverb in there I guess.

Serious question: why don’t you have a decent fender or any other nice clean non overdriven amp?

Fluff i love your vids but your clean tone was way too clean. Maybe try the insane channel on a line 6 spider iv for a more apt demonstration?

Don't want to get copyright: plays River of Deceit

I wouldn't call your clean tone clean lol. I bought this a few years ago just to see if the reviews were correct and the acoustic sim was a cool sound. Needless to say I got rid of it shortly after. While the acoustic sim sounds kinda cool it doesn't actually sound like an acoustic.

I don't think this pedal was meant to be versatile, it's meant to give you something specific. Whether it accomplishes what it was designed for I can't tell since you pretty much ignored it's purpose. I would definitely say it doesn't fit in your style, but using a single coil Strat and an actual clean amp would have made for a more honest review.

I think this pedal was made for a small solid state amps and bedroom players (novelty). Do you still have your old Gorilla amp to try this pedal on?

The pedal basically became a booster for his "clean tone."

"here's my clean tone" KRAAAANG

REDO !!!! Your clean tone hat WAY more gain than Clapton uses when “dirty” and plays a Strat !

Cross out Crossroads and write "Boston" over the top. Those tones remind me of Tom Scholz's mid-rich and frequency filtered sound. The swirly effect would sound good on the refrain in "Don't Look Back."

You're "clean" tone was not clean my friend - should've used your Revv Generator 100 - much better clean channel

Funny and informative, thanks Fluff! Have you ever tried any of the Wampler stuff?

Fluff, we gotta hear your take on the Dan Donegan signature Digitech pedal next.

Glad I found this video! Always thought his demos were decent but I had this pedal years ago and it’s pretty decent, if you use it correctly! Put any drive into it and it’ll kill everything. Also helps if you play the songs that the tones match. Seem’s like this dude hasn’t got a clue, wont bother with him again.

Won't play Layla.....But River of Deceit is okay. :) Hahaha.

>Sets his "clean" tone as already cranked "That's not acoustic at all!"

Hi great video! Do you or anyone else know if there is a better pedal which nails these early Clapton tones? I've looked everywhere but can't find anything! I bought and sold this digitech clapton pedal as it isn't as good as you'd hope. Cheers :)

Loved the video! Recently people found the original metal zone performed really well as a preamp pedal straight into the effects return. Do you think this might perform better in this way?

Do you have a Strat type guitar, S-S-S pups to if that makes a difference with the tones?

It sounds pretty cool, but testing any of Clapton's signature gear on a guitar different than LP for Cream and Stratocaster for later things is a blasphemy

I never used this pedal and am genially interested in its noises, but agree with the other comments that your clean tone wasn’t particularly clean. It would be nice to revisit it on a cleaner channel. Maybe even just run it into your twonotes studio for ultimate clean But either way, the pedal wasn’t the worst.... which begs the questions. What is? Will the search go on?

The close captioning thought you said “wrist spirits in gear.” Great band name.

Great review! I immediately went to Reverb and bought one after viewing this review. I thought it was good with humbuckers but I’m also interested in how it will sound with my Strat’s. Thank you!

Hey Fluff, have you ever played through the Friedman Vintage pickups?

Hey Fluff, use output 2 and go straight into your interface. It will reproduce Clapton's studio tone. Please redo this pedal! Don't think you represented this pedal very accurately. But, I love your videos and keep them coming!

Not that good of a pedal, but the worst ever? Nah. Take at look at the Danelectro Grilled Cheese. That is DEFINITELY a contestant to worst pedal of all time.

So I'm guessing pedal just has a characteristic distortion sound, with the "model" knob being different EQ curves, with some added effects depending on the model? Actually doesn't sound half bad. And let's face it, the MZ being a best-seller, so there's no reason for this pedal to be hated

Hey Fluff, see if you can get your hands on the DigiTech Weapon.

Funny, I don't remember seeing that on Clapton's pedal board! Not that I've ever actually seen his pedal board...

Hey Fluff, i think that there is goin on something with the xseries from Digitech (the mixer output sounds really good to be just a cab sim... I tried it on cheap combo amps) in some modes sounds like preamps, not just overdrive or distortion

I bet Mr. Clapton could make it sound good. He uses clean amps.

Wow, I can’t believe what I just saw. Contender for worst pedal demo ever 2019. You can do better! 🤣😂🤣

I have this pedal. The documentation which came with it shows how to get very different sounds. For example, the Leslie cabinet tone is quite good. I can get very different sounds from each mode. Maybe you have a bad pedal?

Around this time Digitech also had the Scott Ian "Black 13" pedal. It actually had some good tones in it. The S.O.D. setting was great for exactly what it needed to be.... chuglicious! Also, the 'Finale' setting had that shifted delay sound from the intro of the song, which is fun to play around with. Definitely a pedal worth a look.

Back in the day my best friend who had a music store was given six if these from the DigiTech rep because he order so much other DigiTech stuff. He gave me one and while 1-6 were bland to awful #7 Reptile tone was really usable with a Strat loaded with singlecoils. I took it to a couple blues jams and got a pretty good tone.

Jesus, dude, you and I have very different ideas of what "clean" is. Have you never heard a Roland Jazz Chorus or some shit like that?

New Riffs beards and gear? Hell yeah!

Okay, I think that maybe playing heavy stuff may have "altered" your definition of "clean sound" at 2:33 : the sound is already overdriven, so , starting with a "wrong" sound basis, maybe you could not ear the full potential of this pedal. I mainly play BLUES stuff, on a stratocaster and I own this pedal and play it through a little Fender Champ, with a CLEAN basis, and I have very good results.

I remember these. Brian May's pedal was a wah, Scott Ian had one, Jimi Hendrix did as well.

try the pedal with a fender b jr

Fluff: Here is my clean tone. Me: ....still waiting to hear a clean tone.....

The MD at my church: "Dude, turn the gain down" Me: 2:27

You can play AC/DC songs with the "Eric Clapton" pedal 🤘🎸

would LOVE to see the MXR Dimebag signature pedal review... I had one when i was 16. LOVED it but generally in hindsight.. not too great of a pedal tone LMAO.

That was the first pedal I ever owned. And it was stolen from me. Still trying to find one for nostalgia sake.

And the Jimi Hendrix Experience Digitech pedal as well!

"...so I believe control 1 is the gain and control 2 is the tone. I think that´s basically how it goes for all of it..." This guy obviously didn´t read the manual.

Testing a Clapton pedal with a dirty PRS.... Right.....

Dude try the Danelectro Sitar Swami oh 😮 boy you’re in for a ride... somewhere lol

This isn't really that bad of a pedal. Just kinda boring. I wonder why it has such a bad rep

Hi Fluff...thank you for demoing the pedal. The presets cover most of Clapton’s career during which he was playing primarily an SG and an ES-335 and by the time his solo career started he had switched to a Strat. His acoustic choices were pretty sparse as he’s seems to grab a small bodied Martin. I’m not surprised that the pedal’s electric guitar tones are nuances of the same tone. If one listens to Clapton’s recordings from Cream and going forward to the times in his career that this pedal covers, his core tone has not really changed too much. Even when he went from double humbucker guitars to to single coil Strats (whether equipped with traditional single coils or Lace Sensors), he essentially just upped the amount of gain that he used out of his Marshalls, or other amps that he has dabbled with, to compensate for the lower output of the single coils. Stylistically, his OD vs clean tones are the result of where he has the volume control on his guitar parked. Regardless of the guitar he’s played, he tends to favor the front pickup most of the time, using the guitar’s tone control also as a tone modifying option. To me it makes sense that the stomp box’s tone settings are very similar as Clapton sets his amp in his own personal home point and then gets what he needs from his guitar. It’s apparent that the designers were well aware of this and created the pedal accordingly. The acoustic setting can be made more convincing by using a Strat with more vintagey single coils or the Gold Lace Sensors. It’s still not the best acoustic emulator out there, but it is dependent on having a particular style electric guitar and pickups. Truthfully I could make the pedal work for me because that core tone is not a bad tone and will give up the goods if one understands the how and why behind its creation.

Is 7:42 a little snippet of Mad Season's 'River of Deceit'?

That pedal was a pure gimmick. The list price was like $150 USD in 2005. It was an album promo, referenced his greatest hits, and did the whole Crossroads rehab charity thing. Look up how many times he’s used “Crossroads” in something’s name.

do you set all your cars idle to 2,000k RPM?

Wouldn't you think a reviewer of the "Crossroads" pedal might take the time and learn to play some riffs from "Sunshine of Your Love", "Badge", and "Crossroads" by Cream? IS THIS THE WORST PEDAL REVIEW EVER?

When you listen to so much dj0nt that your clean tone is heavier than nickelback

I think I could still beat that if you wanna have a go ;)

OK...I have one of these. I picked it up on eBay for about $40 about 2009 or so. Off the top, this pedal is VERY amp dependent as to whether it sounds good or not. I found out rather quickly that it would take a substantial amount of time to dial in decent tones but not more than I was willing to spend with it. I've used it when layering guitars over the years but never as a primary drive. For what I spent on it, it was a worth it. A 'novelty' pedal is the perfect descriptor.

I love how after the second setting he just goes wait....THATS THE SAME TONE

7:40, ayy, mad season! I love playing that riff

It's funny because I had the Disturbed pedal from this series & the tones were wildly different from one another for the most part.

That clean tone is crunchier then these takis I'm eating

I would love to hear the Scott Ian sig Digitech from the same era!

How can it be the worst when there is the DOD Grunge pedal? Interesting that DOD and Digitech are responsible for so many bad pedals.

i think a strat in standard tuning through a clean channel would have been more apt.

I liked when you pointed out all those amp models in the pedal sounded the same except with different EQ. Other than the super high end stuff, that's how most modeling gear strikes me.

what are your top bad pedals

So next up the Scott Ian in a box by digitech?

Clean means "clean" as in no drive at all... Clean tone, like acoustic guitar clean.

In the context of this video, playing "Layla" is fair use.

I had this, and while nothing crazy special, each setting is much different IF YOU ACTUALLY USE A CLEAN TONE! Try with a Not-overdriven Twin. You’ll get different results.

I remember this pedal back in the day in the shops.would love to hear this pedal on a fender amp and a strat....

Oh dear - so you genuinely do not realize that most of the pedal's problems were because you started with far to much gain on your tone. A lil hint - when you plug pedals into a distorting amp, most of what you hear is the amp distortion, which will make every pedal sound identical.

On the headphones, I can hear all different tones to their own degree. Might want to try it on a blues amp and try out some single coils. The pedal isn't completely horrible,I'm thinking a different set up might help,,,possibly.

Hello Fluff ,first of all ,I’m a big fan of your YT channel,I just wanted to say ,when EC designed this pedal with the people from Digitech,I think he probably used a fender amp and a Strat because he played that kind of rig since the early 70‘s.The mods on this pedals are based mostly on Cream songs like Badge,Sunshine,Crossroads...In that time he used 100W Marshall full stacks and Gibson guitars (firebird,les paul,sg).I think that pedal cannot sound like that rig ,but you can probably get some decent tones when you play it through a fender amp and strat because he used that rig when he designed this pedal,He would not put his name on something that sounds so bad,I think it’s not fair to play that pedal through a Revv amp and a PRS guitar (which is a killer rig),with drop D tuning and a slightly overdriven clean,it’s not meant for that ,huhh I think this makes sense ,if not I’m sorry,have a great day,and one more time ,big fan of your channel 🤘🤘

But how does it work as a boost?

I hear lots of different tones when you change up, I'm not sure what you were hearing but it all sounds good, I think you may have sold me a pedal. I'm perplexed by your assessment of this pedal.