Review: Digitech FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator

Let’s get our Freq On! I am not going to lie to you, I bought the Digitech FreqOut solely for its looks and rarity of what it creates. For years, sound technicians have fought feedback. Guitars, cables, amplifiers and pedals all love to contribute to unwanted feedback. But, what if you want to actually create feedback and try to control it? That is the niche that the Digitech FreqOut pedal fills. It won’t find a place on many gig pedalboards, and you would be hard-pressed to hear someone refer to it as their “always on” pedal. But, there are a lot of studios and musicians who hailed its creation. I love it just for the fact that Digitech created something new and different.
I ripped open the packaging, threw it on my pedalboard, and started to jam. Hmm… I quickly figured out the FreqOut is not a jam pedal. In fact, this pedal took me awhile to figure out how exactly to use it. I dug back into the box for the directions (A rarity for sure), and that didn’t explain all the nuances of the pedal either. I had to scour the internet and find the Digitech FreqOut owners manual. That did the trick. A nice little explanation of each dial and setting. I am going to briefly explain them to you below.
What if you want to actually create feedback and try to control it?
The most important dial on the Digitech FreqOut is the dual purpose Gain/Time knob. The inner Gain knob controls the amount of feedback you wish to produce. The outer onset knob controls the time it takes for the feedback to grow. If you want the feedback to kick in a few seconds after you strum, turn the outer knob all the way clockwise. For instant feedback turn the outer knob all the way counter-clockwise. This dual purpose knob is the mothership of the entire pedal. The other knobs and switches change the frequencies higher and lower dependent on which one you choose.
The Momentary Switch is used to tell the footswitch when to operate. When the Momentary Switch is “On”, the pedal is only activated while holding down the footswitch. When the momentary switch is “Off”, the footswitch operates like any other footswitch, On/Off.
The Dry Mode switch was pretty neat. With the Dry Mode switch “On”, you hear what you are playing, followed by the feedback. With the Dry Mode switch “Off”, you just hear the different feedbacks. Nothing musical.
Your pick attack also changes the frequency. The softer you play, the lower frequency feedback is produced. Pick a little harder and the higher frequencies are prevalent. Digitech recommends that the FreqOut works best at the start of a signal chain.
The Type knob has (7) different harmonic feedback types. The first five: Sub, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th will create higher harmonic octaves of feedback, Sub being the lowest. The Nat Hi Type emphasizes the higher frequencies and the Nat Low emphasizes the lower frequencies. Although, the Nat Low should probably be called a Nat Mid because it didn’t seem to get very low. This Digitech FreqOut pedal does exactly what it was created to do, create feedback. Pretty innovated pedal idea.
- Something new and different from a quality manufacturer.
- The Dry Switch is a really nice function of the pedal.
- Fills a niche that many people were searching for.
- Graphics and layout are fantastic.
- Knight Rider red feedback LEDs