DigiTech Announces Downloadable Demos Of Black-13 Scott Ian Artist Series Pedal

Jan 27, 2006

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DigiTech®, a leading manufacturer of guitar signal processors, and a Harman International company (NYSE-HAR), has recently posted downloadable mp3 demos of the new DigiTech Black-13™ Artist Series Pedal — performed by none other than Scott Ian — on www.digitech.com.

Under the watchful eye of Scott Ian, DigiTech has recreated some of Ian's classic metal tones by applying its proprietary technology called Production Modeling™. The Black-13 Artist Series Pedal furthers DigiTech's philosophy of developing products designed to supply guitarists with the best sounding, most creative tools possible.

Recorded at DigiTech's state-of-the-art recording studio in Sandy, Utah, Scott Ian recently took time out of his touring schedule to come to DigiTech, plug directly into the Black-13 pedal and perform seven of his signature tones for mp3 demos to be made available on DigiTech's website.

"Having Scott Ian's complete involvement with the development of DigiTech's Black-13 pedal, in conjunction with the use of our Production Modeling Technology, has ensured absolute accuracy in reproducing Scott's tone," stated Rob Urry, President of the Harman Music Group. "Black-13 continues our legacy of bringing outstanding quality sounds of world class players to every player."

A master of distinctive metal guitar tones, Scott Ian's career has spanned more than 20 years, covering a range from the full-on metal assault of Anthrax to the hardcore crossover punk of S.O.D. (Stormtroopers Of Death). Now seven of Ian's signature monstrous tones are available to any guitarist.

DigiTech's breakthrough Production Modeling was used to reproduce the studio and live guitar sounds, including effects and processing, of Scott Ian. This includes modeling the speaker cabinets, microphones and microphone placements, pre and post effects, and the recording engineer's production magic. Every aspect of the signal chain has been considered and recreated, resulting in completely accurate models of Ian's tones.

Scott Ian's aggressive playing style helped create and define old-school metal, thrash, nu-metal and even rap music genres, and the Black-13 pedal models seven of Ian's signature tones. Whether used to duplicate Anthrax or S.O.D. songs or for creating completely new music, the tones in Black-13 deliver overwhelmingly heavy crunch and iron-fisted punch. The scorching models available in the Black-13 pedal include:

"I Am The Law," with tone inspired by the comic book character Judge Dredd on Among The Living (1987)

"Madhouse," rhythm crunch from Anthrax's classic Spreading the Disease (1985)

"March Of The S.O.D.," hardcore tone from S.O.D.'s punk crossover album S. E. or D. (1985)

"Protest And Survive," featuring a furious anger-driven tone from Attack Of the Killer B's (1991)

"Room For One More," irreverent tone from the Sound Of White Noise album by Anthrax (1993)

"What Doesn't Die," ultra-heavy tone from Anthrax's latest album, We've Come For You All (2003)

"Finale," a wicked tape-delay effect with a healthy dose of pitch shifting featured on Anthrax's State of Euphoria (1988)

To accomplish the task of recreating this spectrum of crushing tones, DigiTech went straight to the man himself, working directly with Scott Ian to dial in painstakingly accurate representations of his sounds. Four rotary knobs are provided for perfecting each tone: a level control, a Model control for selecting among the seven tone models, and two Control knobs that change functions depending on the model selected — parameters include low- and high-frequency boost/cut, gain, distortion, tone and more. Two outputs are provided, one for feeding a guitar amplifier, and the other for simultaneously feeding a mixer or recorder input. The second output has been specially tailored to reproduce the sound of Scott Ian's guitar amp in the studio without the need to use a guitar amp.

The DigiTech Scott Ian Black-13 Artist Series Pedal includes a pedal gig bag, Scott Ian Artist Series guitar pick, and a PS200R power supply. Now guitarists everywhere can mosh it up with some of the heaviest sounds ever created. These are the guitar tones that built a legend.

For more information, visit their web site at www.digitech.com.