[sg_bassist]

Well, now that I know we can bump old threads for the sake of adding our own reviews... (sorry, I first posted this late at night, and I was on the verge of crashing and burning)

Digitech X-Series Bass Driver:

Features:
Level:Affects the overall loudness of the effects.
Tone:Shapes the tone of the effects.
Blend:Affects how much the distortion effect is mixed with the clean signal.
Morph:Allows you to choose between 3 distinctive overdrive sounds, modelled on 3 different bass distortion/overdrive pedals. Also allows you to blend all the other effects that you've already set on the bass driver for that elusive distortion you're after. Easily the best feature of the pedal.

Review:
Effects-wise, the only thing that the bass driver does is to add distortion to the bass, but it does so very well. With 4 knobs to turn and fiddle around with, a person could easily end up with more distortion effects than he could shake a stick at. Of course, it does take experience before you know exactly how to use the knobs to get that distortion effect that you're after.

By turning the knobs to the left, you'll get a light/dry/soft distortion; perfect if you're looking for the "Metallica's Orion bass solo" sound. By turning them to the right, the distortion gets heavier and fuzzier, which probably is ideal if you like your deep notes to sound, dunno, deep. As I've said before, though, you'll never know your ideal setting until you've gotten enough experience from fiddling around with the knobs. I would know because it took me a few months to find that perfect blend between the soft distortion and fuzzy distortion that I use whenever I play some heavy metal on the bass.

One nagging problem, though: because of the potential computing power in the pedal, batteries will be drained within a few hours. Until, as Digitech claims, there is a battery which can pump out plenty of energy, you're better off powering the pedal from an external power supply; while drum solos are impressive, I highly doubt that there is one long enough to entertain a crowd when you're busy changing the batteries in the various effects pedals.

Durability-wise, it's pretty much as the mini-catalogue claims. I swear that Digitech's pedals are actually made from military-grade metal that are meant for tanks. Dunno if that's true, but if it's not, then Digitech still does deserve top marks for making sturdy, reliable things that do what they're meant to do. Total Quality Management, anyone?

Portability-wise, they're small enough to be stuffed into a gig bag. No problems there, unless there isn't enough space to put it in (especially if you're using a hard-case). If you do have a soft-case, try putting it into side pockets. If that doesn't work, what else are backpacks for?

Enough with my ranting. I would give this a 4.5/5. It may only give a distortion effect, but does a bloody good job at that. It's also built like a tank, and is small enough to fit in a suitable gig bag. Of course, nothing's ever perfect, and the power supply is an area that should be improved. Then again... (damn, ran out of things to say...)