Digitech Freqout or Sustainiac - Thoughts?

deakle

deakle

Experienced
I am in the market for either a Digitech Freqout or a sustainiac equipped guitar and was wondering if anyone had used both and has any thoughts/comparisons of the two? Not much on line in the way of a comparison. The sustainiac equipped Schecter's are a good bang for the buck, but if the same type effect can be achieved utilizing a pedal - why not? So what are everyone's thoughts/opinions of either or both?
 
I've never used a sustainiac so not sure about that.... but from whta I can tell it depends on how nit-picky you are. if you just need to get a general sound there are presets that sorta come close in the AxeIII. If you need something that gets you closer to how a real speaker works, then I can vouch for the freqout - throw it in your loop always on and toggle your loop to use it... or just stick it at the very front.

Of course, if you're super duper sensitive to how feedback behaves then TBH you won't really like any solution right now.

There is a freqout thread here on the forum if you want to dig in.
 
I find that provided I have decent monitor volume I can actually use the freqout to coax an infinite sustain, aka real feedback, but at a much lower volume level than would otherwise be needed to produce feedback.
 
Also depends what your goal is. Freqout is a great pedal for under $100 if you just want to produce a pretty decent sounding feedback effect as part of a song. Totally different than the price of a whole new guitar with a sustainiac circuit and the musical things you can do with it as it’s actually driving the strings.

I’ve played one and it’s cool, but like an ebow, nothing I found consistently useful for my music. Cool sounds but not sounds I like to make.

I do like to hit an open A, let it ring, then step on my freqout and have a pretty cool feedback sound, at any volume level. That is kind of cliche but it just doesn’t really get old lol.

wouldn’t pay several hundred or more for that fun, but I think I got my freqout for $90 or so and it’s good bang for the buck
 
sprint said:
90$?? - what currency is that? Freqout sells for $250 Cdn up here in the great white north.
Click to expand...

They were blowing them out when Harman dissolved digitech or whatever and fired all the designers. Carosa was $59, rubberneck analog delay was $119, freqout was $89, couple of the lesser known DOD reissue pedals were like $29. Only one that didn’t seem to get super cheap was the reverb pedal. They were making lots of awesome stuff but didn’t seem to fit into rest of the overall brand family I guess.
 
lqdsnddist said:
They were blowing them out when Harman dissolved digitech or whatever and fired all the designers. Carosa was $59, rubberneck analog delay was $119, freqout was $89, couple of the lesser known DOD reissue pedals were like $29. Only one that didn’t seem to get super cheap was the reverb pedal. They were making lots of awesome stuff but didn’t seem to fit into rest of the overall brand family I guess.
Click to expand...
Man - I paid over $200Cdn for my Freqout when it first came out. Been trying to find a Digitech Mosaic at a descent price but have seen none so far less than $230Cdn.
 
+1 for the sustainiac too. I got a freqout and was disappointed by how the notes kept dying out after those 6-7 seconds.
 
Sustainiac is a PITA to install + cost (even more cost if you make someone do the job for you), but GIVES YOU infinite sustain. Freqout acts like a compressor and adds harmonics. It is fine, but not infinite sustain.
I installed 2 sustainiac (I'm masochist) and they are cool but can react differently depending on the guitar. And the neck PU sound is not as good as a real one at least for a studio job.
 
The Freqout is one of the only pedals I still use. I‘m not trying to use it for long, sustained notes though. I use it mostly at the ends of phrases, like how Gilmour would get some feedback swelling in at the end of a phrase before starting a new one. It’s also great for jumping octaves without traveling up in pitch to get there.

I wouldn’t use it the same way I would a Sustainer/Sustainiac/Ebow, mainly because it doesn’t do the long, never-ending sustain. (Though you can get some longer sustains by adding a compressor in front of it).

Actually, this song has a ton of Freqout on it. It’s in the pre-choruses, I’m riding the volume pedal then letting the Freqout create the feedback at the end of the notes, then it’s all over the solo. Anytime the guitar jumps an octave, that’s the Freqout. Can’t do that with a Whammy pedal the same way.

 
RevDrucifer said:
The Freqout is one of the only pedals I still use. I‘m not trying to use it for long, sustained notes though. I use it mostly at the ends of phrases, like how Gilmour would get some feedback swelling in at the end of a phrase before starting a new one. It’s also great for jumping octaves without traveling up in pitch to get there.

I wouldn’t use it the same way I would a Sustainer/Sustainiac/Ebow, mainly because it doesn’t do the long, never-ending sustain. (Though you can get some longer sustains by adding a compressor in front of it).

Actually, this song has a ton of Freqout on it. It’s in the pre-choruses, I’m riding the volume pedal then letting the Freqout create the feedback at the end of the notes, then it’s all over the solo. Anytime the guitar jumps an octave, that’s the Freqout. Can’t do that with a Whammy pedal the same way.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you're able to bend notes while sustaining via Freqout - is that correct? Where do you place the Freqout? I have mine at the beginning of the chain in a loop controlled by expression pedal - works well but it goes all warbly if I even sligjtly bend notes while sustaining via freqout.
 
sprint said:
Sounds like you're able to bend notes while sustaining via Freqout - is that correct? Where do you place the Freqout? I have mine at the beginning of the chain in a loop controlled by expression pedal - works well but it goes all warbly if I even sligjtly bend notes while sustaining via freqout.
Click to expand...

I keep it in loop 3 of the AxeFX by itself and just turn it on/off with a momentary switch on my pedalboard. I can post the block later when I get home, I had to tweak the Scale, if I remember right, a little bit to get a perfect 45 degree angle on the axis screen. The loop is on a parallel line, immediately after the input. There’s still a slight unaffected signal coming through but you can barely hear it in the mix, or even by itself.
 
diart said:
Sustainiac is a PITA to install + cost (even more cost if you make someone do the job for you), but GIVES YOU infinite sustain. Freqout acts like a compressor and adds harmonics. It is fine, but not infinite sustain.
I installed 2 sustainiac (I'm masochist) and they are cool but can react differently depending on the guitar. And the neck PU sound is not as good as a real one at least for a studio job.
Click to expand...
I installed 7 sustainers/sustainiacs. Installing then was relatively easy, providing you don't have to rout a cavity for the circuit board. Sustainiacs are easier to install then sustainers, and I must be one of the few people who does like the neck PU sound. Then again I do not have the Golden Ears the Gods. Which makes life SO much easier.
 
Years ago there was a device that screwed into the back of your headstock to vibrate it, driven by its own power amp-like floor box. Extra cabling, weight, and expense, but it provides a mechanical feedback loop that makes it work really organically. Don't remember the name of it though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ESW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom