Hardwire Pedals...

Just played a gig last night with my new Hardwire pedals, and they rock! I got the valve distortion and the tube overdrive pedals, and they are a dream. Through my 65 DRRI, the valve distortion sounded like a Marshall plexi! Made the hair stand up on my neck! And the tube overdrive was great for everything from a couple of our blues numbers, and also gave a really decent Paisley tone when we played "Ticks". My American Tele with Lollar Vintage T's through my Hardwire pedals and into my 65 DRRI....pure tonal bliss!!! Anybody else digging these pedals right now???

I like them muchly. The tuner is great and the Valve Distortion is one of the best pedals out there, boutique or not. The Tube Overdrive was a lot nasally for my liking...but if anyone likes the TS thing...again, the best out there.

I'm using the Stereo Chorus and it's the best chorus pedal I've ever owned. I've had a few Boss and MXR over the years but this thing is amazing with the variety of choruses on it. I don't use them all but I have a few favorites and they always fit. Very tweakable too.

http://www.myspace.com/proazza

Havent tried these but they look cool. IIRC they're made by Digitech and I love my Bad Monkey so Im not surprised they're good.

Also, if you purchase any two Hardwire effects pedals from June 1 to July 31, you get a free Hardwire HT-2 Chromatic Tuner from Hardwire/Digitech. All you pay is $2.50 for shipping and handling, along with a copy of your receipt/invoice for the two pedals that you purchased, and the UPC codes for those two pedals. That's it! I'm going to take advantage of this and get a great tuner. Then I can ditch my Boss TU-2. You can check out the details at the Hardwire website:

http://www.hardwirepedals.com/cmsdocuments/HardWireHT-2Promo.pdf

I haven't tried the other pedals yet, but the Hardwire tuner is a dream compared to the Boss I used to run.

with that promo, i would bite on a combo of any the ff: reverb, delay, overdrive, or chorus.

I have been using the Hardwire Dl-8 delay for a while and i love it, quality and great tone.

I have the chorus and reverb, love them both- had the same experience as schenkadare with the Tube Overdrive, but I'm not a TS guy either- Might check out that Valve OD a little harder.

i also have the valve dist. its soo nice
its soo underated people need to go check them out

I have the reverb and it is awesome. Great sounds, very well built.

I'll be getting the delay eventually. I see that they have a trem/rotary/vibe pedal too! I just got the Boss RT20 the same day I heard about the new Hardwire one! D'oh! :)

As someone who has the Tuner, Valve Distortion, Chorus, AND Delay...

These pedals are incredible.

My faves as well.....
The delay is just real gem...
Looking forward to the new tremolo.

I love it they just droped in price got to collect them all now

I hate to be the downer, but I have the tuner, the delay and I'm on my second valve distortion. I love the sound, but the tuner no longer works and my first valve distortion also died. Props to digitech for replacing the valve distortion. These were staples of my gigging board till all the trouble. I'll use the to record but not to a gig.

I just got these 3 in the other day. I was jamming on 'em and I couldn't stop!

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q126/davecooper36/Pedals/DSC05074.jpg

I love 'em! They feel so solid and look really cool. I like the detent thing in the knobs. That's a nice touch.

My favorite setting on the chorus is the "boutique" setting. It's a really warm phat chorus tone. Kinda like on "Get Together" by The Youngbloods.

And the reverbs sound great. Very lush and detailed. Just pure ear candy.

And the Valve Distortion...... it's very easy to dial in a big crunchy tone with it.

I'm really tempted to get the others. And there's a Hardwire Tremolo pedal coming out soon. I'm definitely getting that!

i have the reverb and love it

I've been considering the Hardwire pedals for a while...got a question though. I want a mild overdrive. Logically, that would lead me to buy the CM-2 Tube Overdrive...however, I have heard some people say that the SC-2 Valve Distortion is a 'better' overdrive and it is more transparent and less mid-humpy than the CM-2.

Does anyone have experience with both at low gain settings? Thoughts?

I have a couple of the old X-Series pedals and they worked fine. They were also heavily endorsed by some pretty popular artists at the time too. DigiTech makes some good stuff, but you have to be careful with the durability. I was looking into getting a Planet Waves tuner, but maybe I will have to bite the bullet and get a Hardwire....

I've been considering the Hardwire pedals for a while...got a question though. I want a mild overdrive. Logically, that would lead me to buy the CM-2 Tube Overdrive...however, I have heard some people say that the SC-2 Valve Distortion is a 'better' overdrive and it is more transparent and less mid-humpy than the CM-2.

Does anyone have experience with both at low gain settings? Thoughts?


Wow! I just got done jammin around again and I had the SC-2 set for real low gain and fat mids. It sounded absolutely gorgeous! Breaks up nicely if you dig in. Cleans up nicely if you back off.

I had the LEVEL about 2 oclock. The BASS at about 3 oclock. The TREBLE at about 10 oclock. And the gain around 9 or 10 oclock.

Sounded awesome! I was playing a humbucker guitar (Epiphone DOT).

At the same time I had the RV-7 set up for a nice spring reverb sound.

I was trying to practice this cool arpeggio run but I kept getting distracted by how awesome it sounded. :cool:

I've been considering the Hardwire pedals for a while...got a question though. I want a mild overdrive. Logically, that would lead me to buy the CM-2 Tube Overdrive...however, I have heard some people say that the SC-2 Valve Distortion is a 'better' overdrive and it is more transparent and less mid-humpy than the CM-2.

Does anyone have experience with both at low gain settings? Thoughts?

Yes...the SC-2 isn't mid humpy at all. The saturated mode is actually a bit scooped and the crunch mode is very open to my ears. The CM-2 is very mid heavy and nasally...but a nice pedal if you like that.

I've been considering the Hardwire pedals for a while...got a question though. I want a mild overdrive. Logically, that would lead me to buy the CM-2 Tube Overdrive...however, I have heard some people say that the SC-2 Valve Distortion is a 'better' overdrive and it is more transparent and less mid-humpy than the CM-2.

Does anyone have experience with both at low gain settings? Thoughts?

I think the sc-2 is more amp like then the cm-2.the cm-2 is mid humpy(in a good way)but is kinda matallicy sounding.The sc-2 sounds more like a tube preamp kinda thing.Very marshall tone in the crunch mode/scooped and modern in the saturated mode.Note also that the pedal has a ton of volume on tap for driving the front of your amp,and also when you crank up the EQ it adds volume and gain like an amp would.

I love the sound of the SC-2. Little more bite than a tube screamer, and the saturation switch is great. I love recording with Hardwires, but my experience with them live made me pull them from my pedal board.

To the above guy, in summary on what the other guys said, and in my personal experience....

The SC-2 is precisely what you are looking for.

Also, Hardwire Tremolo? If my dream amp wasn't an AC30, I'd snatch that!

EDIT: Nevermind, it's got multiple settings. I AM snatching it.

Well... I went ahead and bought the other 4.

Now I have all of 'em!! :cool:

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q126/davecooper36/Pedals/DSC05112.jpg

I love the sound of the SC-2. Little more bite than a tube screamer, and the saturation switch is great. I love recording with Hardwires, but my experience with them live made me pull them from my pedal board.

Interesting....can you elaborate on your live experience with them?

i have the delay, reverb, and the valve distortion. VERY HAPPY with them.

this series is a winner. the first one i bought was the delay and it quickly became my most used pedal. picked up the reverb and distortion early this month.

just well built, well designed pieces of equipment. lots of features. not too expensive. esp
if u get them gently used.

picking up the phaser and chorus next.

I have the Dl-8 and the Rotary Trem on my board - absolutely wonderful pedals - LOTS of bells and whistles, but I see that as a good thing...

I hate to be the downer, but I have the tuner, the delay and I'm on my second valve distortion. I love the sound, but the tuner no longer works and my first valve distortion also died. Props to digitech for replacing the valve distortion. These were staples of my gigging board till all the trouble. I'll use the to record but not to a gig.

I loved my HT-2 Tuner, but sadly it died recently. In it's defense, I used the heck out of it, but I hope it's not a reflection of their quality in general.

That said, I still have the reverb, and it's been a staple on my board since it came out. Great pedal.

I want something with a little more gain than my cb dirty little secret. I want to keep it and add another higher gain distortion with the marshall sound. Do you think the SC2 would be good for this? I'm thinking of it or a mi audio crunchbox.

Another happy DL8 owner here.

Mainly use the tape or modulated delay settings.

Just bought the CM 2, 4 days ago. Yes it is a TS with more features and yes it is mid humpy. But for an overdrive this pedal gives you more than you need, the bass and treble controls not only boosting the highs and lows freq but it affect the overall output volume. The more you turn, the more you get. One good thing about CM 2 is this thing offers a great great headroom and tight bottom end. I compare it to my MXR zakk wylde, for headroom the CM2 knock out ZW for sure. A good pedal with a good price. I'm curious about the valve distortion. Anyone compared it to fulltone ocd? I'm considering to buy one

...and they're just really nice pedals. They seem very well-built, the knobs are notchy and precise, and it comes with the rubber knob-guard(?) that protects your settings. They're kinda pricey, but Amazon heavily discounts them from time to time.

I've got the reverb and chorus and love them. They're built like tanks!

I have the RV-7 and it kicks serious ass. It has the best affordable spring reverb digital simulation I've found, even in extreme settings. A major plus is that it's unbelievably transparent. Whether OFF or ON, I can 100% hear my guitar and my amp. To me, it looks sturdy allright but less sturdy than the Boss pedals.

I use the RV7 and the tuner on my board.

I have the RV-7 and it kicks serious ass. It has the best affordable spring reverb digital simulation I've found, even in extreme settings. A major plus is that it's unbelievably transparent. Whether OFF or ON, I can 100% hear my guitar and my amp. To me, it looks sturdy allright but less sturdy than the Boss pedals.

Less sturdy than Boss...not in my opinion...the Hardwires are rock solid.

I haven't used any pedal for years so I can't really tell, but my mxr phase 90 and gt-od and some boss pedals I've come across seem sturdier than the Hardwire. In no way is the Hardwire a fragile or prone to wear pedal, I'm just saying if I was forced to guess which of the above could maybe even probably somehow fail first after decades of heavy usage it would be the Hardwire. Still, this is a very subjective point I'm making.

An other minus of this awesome pedal is the shining tops of the knobs... I need to adjust the pedal's level between songs and I can't discern where each knob is set. Looks cool in the daylight/house but in venues I believe the black/white knobs are better.

I bought the the Hardwire OD (the Green "Tube Screamer") a few years ago, had it for two weeks and returned it to GC for a refund.

I just did not like what I thought was to be a processed OD tone (compared with other OD's I have owned, I feel the same about the Bad Monkey too- it may be too smooth from the active EQ for me...) . Also the fake chrome knob covers became loose from the shafts, so they would spin around w/o moving the shaft. Was NOT impressed and got my $$ back.

I bought the the Hardwire OD (the Green "Tube Screamer") a few years ago, had it for two weeks and returned it to GC for a refund.

I just did not like what I thought was to be a processed OD tone (compared with other OD's I have owned, I feel the same about the Bad Monkey too- it may be too smooth from the active EQ for me...) . Also the fake chrome knob covers became loose from the shafts, so they would spin around w/o moving the shaft. Was NOT impressed and got my $$ back.

I didn't keep mine either, but I didn't have a problem with the build...mine were USA made before they went to China if that makes any difference??? I had the CM-2...I thought it sounded great and loved the modified higher gain option, but it was rather nasaly and it had a bad hiss. The SC-2 is a better dirt pedal IMO...open crunch mode or compressed saturated mode...nice pedal.

^^^ Too big& heavy too! Like a Hummer!

I do have a Bad Monkey but it is only used to go into a PA or SS amp- as backup (it has good amp emulation, just plugged in, even if OFF)

I have four of them, the tuner is great, the chorus is good if a little on the subtle side compared to my old Boss , the OD is great, the dl-8, I stopped using as it seemed to add noise to the signal...

I will say up front, I have never had a pedal that does any of these effects. I like all the tremolo and Ultravibe effects. The Vibrapan is too over the top and the rotary speaker sim does not sound authentic even through 2 amps in stereo.

I will say this, I am not usually a fan of modulation effects but the Ultravibe setting in stereo sounds amazing. This is the first time I ever connected 2 amps and I can get this amazing swirl of beautiful clean tones through that setting.

I like the Valve Distortion...the orange one...I think it is designated as SC-2.

I like the Valve Distortion...the orange one...I think it is designated as SC-2.

Yup..that one...good pedal.

Ah, the glory days of the WWF...great name!

Yup..that one...good pedal.

Ah, the glory days of the WWF...great name!

I picked up a b-stock SC2 from AMS for $49. Great bang for the buck. I like the voicing and I'm pleasantly surprised at the flexibility of the tone controls. I do like it more with my Brit amps. It's a bit bitey with my old BF Showman and SF Dual Showman.

SC-2 Valve Distortion is the only one I have, but it's terrific. I got it at a discount as well so couldn't be happier. I can't imagine wanting another distortion pedal and at that price it really can't be beaten imo. :)