Digitech's Best Kept Secret!

In 2005, Digitech (the digital division of DOD) released three pedals: the EX-7 Expression Factory, the DF-7 Distortion Factory, and the CF-7 Chorus Factory. They have since become a lost and forgotten subseries, which is nuts when you realize that the Factory series represent a huge step in the evolution of guitar pedals, especially DSP.

The DF-7 Distortion Factory in particular is a pedal that I have used on my pedalboard for years. I think it's phenomenal. I wouldn’t dedicate an entire episode to it if I didn’t. Sadly, most of the internet poops on the DF-7 without giving it a chance. Maybe it’s the kind of goofy-looking enclosure. Maybe it’s the fact that the stompbox itself is made mostly with plastic and steel, not solid gold. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a DSP pedal from 2005, a time when DSP still wasn't totally accepted in the pedal community.

You had a few options for DSP multi-distortion pedals at the time, like the Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler, but they were gigantic. The DF-7 was smaller, the size of a regular pedal, and it started to open up this idea of a compact pedal that does a lot. By “a lot” I mean it let you digitally emulate seven different analog distortion pedals: the Ibanez Tube Screamer, the DOD 250, the BOSS DS-1, the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone, the ProCo RAT, the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff** and the DigiTech Metal Master.

In one pedal. For $98 new. This was a big deal, guys.

**I’d like to take a moment to brag on the Big Muff setting on the DF-7. Now, the normal Big Muff has three controls: volume, tone and sustain. The DF-7 actually improves on this layout in one big way: it allows for bass, mid and treble tone control. That’s a game changer.

The DF-7 also features a mixer output with an amazing cab sim. I know that this pedal was created in 2005, before the cab sim really took off, but it’s still fantastic.

I consider the Factory series to be a stepping stone from the Digitech X series (in fact, the Metal Master is even included as one of the seven distortion modes on the DF-7). The X series led to the Factory series, which in turn led to the Hardwire series. The tech got better and better. But it didn’t happen overnight. Each of these pedals represents a step forward. To quote a previous article I wrote for Guitar.com: “Henry Ford didn’t just wake up one day and invent the mass-produced automobile from the ground up – thousands of small, seemingly unimportant discoveries and inventions add up over years and decades until finally, we reach a technological tipping point, and these tipping points change history from the inside out. And that’s true of all massive inventions that change our world – they don’t just happen, they evolve.”

In fact, JHS multimode pedals like the Muffuletta, the Bonsai, and the Pack Rat were directly inspired by early DSP pedals like the DF-7. I can confidently say that if there had been no DF-7, there would be no Pack Rat. That’s how evolution works.

So next time you’re tempted to crap on a vintage pedal, remember: it’s part of a bigger story.

Before we wrap this up, I’d like to give a shout out to a few engineers who made this pedal series a reality: Craig DeVries, who was in charge of hardware function; Jeremy Geisler, who designed the DSPs, and Billy Clements, the project manager who was basically the ears of the project (he decided when it sounded just right). Great work, guys!