Digitech The Drop update: perfectly OK

Pickups, pedals, amps, cabs, combos

Moderated By: mods

User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Digitech The Drop update: perfectly OK

Post by NickS »

My hardly-used Digitech The Drop transposing pedal went faulty when I switched it on last night. I bought it because it allows me to drop the guitar down a semi tone for all those soul covers in Eb (at the moment, only one really needs it) , do baritone or octave down. It's good enough for live. One option is octave down + dry. The trouble is that last night it started doing dry with everything. A quick search shows one or two other people complaining of the same problem. Digitech offers a one year warranty and although hardly used my pedal is 18 months old. However, I bought it from thomann.de, and it appears they do a 36 month warranty. I've emailed them...watch this space.
Last edited by NickS on Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Bacchus
Whatever's handiest
Posts: 23431
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:10 am
Location: wandering

Post by Bacchus »

I suppose it couldn't hurt to contact Digitech, too?
Image
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

Bacchus wrote:I suppose it couldn't hurt to contact Digitech, too?
I filled in their contact form but as the digitech.com website's approach on the 1 year warranty is "Approach the retailer first" I'm not expecting a lot. In fact I asked them whether a repair was economically viable.
User avatar
dots
BADmin (he/him)
Posts: 1021961
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Esco-A-Go-Go
Contact:

Post by dots »

do they offer any way to refresh the firmware or flash it back to factor defaults? if there's not a way to backup your presets, i could understand any hesitation to take that step.
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

dots wrote:do they offer any way to refresh the firmware or flash it back to factor defaults? if there's not a way to backup your presets, i could understand any hesitation to take that step.
No, there's no USB or owt like that as far as I can see.

However, Thomann have asked me to send a video demonstrating the problem.
Digitech haven't responded.
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

While setting up to record the video I discovered that the pedal is not faulty. The un-shifted tone was being picked up acoustically by the vocal microphone and when I turned the mic channel down on the mixer the "problem" went away. :oops: :oops:
User avatar
Thom
lamp
Posts: 6987
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:23 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Post by Thom »

:lol: at least it’s resolved!
User avatar
BearBoy
.
.
Posts: 6998
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:27 am
Location: Strung up to the lemons

Post by BearBoy »

Ah **happy**

Was watching this thread with interest as I have a Drop and wondered whether there was a common issue with it. I don't generally play too loudly these days and so can often hear the original note coming acoustically from my strings, which can be a bit distracting tbh.

At least you've invented a new harmoniser pedal?
Fran wrote:I love how this place is basic as fuck.
ekwatts wrote:I'm just going to smash it in with a hammer and hope it works. Tone is all in the fingers anyway.
User avatar
plopswagon
cutesy tag
Posts: 18527
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: 3rd Fret
Contact:

Post by plopswagon »

Wasn’t that kinda what Freddy was saying in the chat just without applying it to the current situation?
► Show Spoiler
ekwatts wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:53 pm The word "moisty" has made me irrationally angry.
User avatar
Freddy V-C
NOD FLANGERS
Posts: 5562
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 4:55 pm

Post by Freddy V-C »

The implication is clear: I am a genius.
User avatar
plopswagon
cutesy tag
Posts: 18527
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: 3rd Fret
Contact:

Post by plopswagon »

[youtube][/youtube]
► Show Spoiler
ekwatts wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:53 pm The word "moisty" has made me irrationally angry.
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

Freddy V-C wrote:The implication is clear: I am a genius.
That goes without saying, but I thought Freddy was asking whether I was hearing the strings directly, as that was the issue that he felt would put him off using a pitch shifter; that even in his quiet pieces he's still hitting the strings hard enough to hear significant direct sound; while I was sure that both tones were coming out of the speaker, which they were. So yes, I was hearing the direct sound.... but indirectly!
User avatar
plopswagon
cutesy tag
Posts: 18527
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: 3rd Fret
Contact:

Post by plopswagon »

the mic could hear it better than your ears
► Show Spoiler
ekwatts wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:53 pm The word "moisty" has made me irrationally angry.
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

Eh?
User avatar
NickS
.
.
Posts: 13528
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 am
Location: Close to the edge, down by the river

Post by NickS »

I got a reply back from Digitech's UK service agents Sound Technology of Letchworth:
Hi Nick,
Unfortunately, it is considered uneconomical to repair by Digitech, and as such no parts are available for it.
Kind regards,
Alastair
So it looks as though they do not do component-level repair in the UK.
User avatar
ekwatts
A series of tubes
Posts: 24489
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:35 pm
Location: Bongchester

Post by ekwatts »

NickS wrote:I got a reply back from Digitech's UK service agents Sound Technology of Letchworth:
Hi Nick,
Unfortunately, it is considered uneconomical to repair by Digitech, and as such no parts are available for it.
Kind regards,
Alastair
So it looks as though they do not do component-level repair in the UK.
Is that genuinely all you got back from them?

No recommendation for alternatives?
Image
Brandon W wrote:you elites.