Electro Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer Reviews

Infinite sustain

Clever little, simple pedal from EH - basically freezes the note

/ chord you play & either holds it for as long as you depress the switch or has a latch option. Great for ambient sounds, adding pedal notes, beefing up chord sounds & as a practise tool. Only dropped one star for the noisy footswitch - you'll want to mod it out with a silent one

Fun little pedal

I once saw an acoustic guitar player perform alone, yet somehow he was creating some synth-like organ sounds as he was playing. The pedal he used was the EHX freeze. Since I am always happy to steal other people's tricks, I ordered one to see what I could do with it. I ended up doing mostly the same thing as the other guy, but it is a fun trick to have.

Build quility is as solid as EHX always is, strong metal casing, the thing could probably take some serious abuse.

The freeze takes a tiny bit of your guitar signal and sustains that as long as you want. You get to select if you want it to sustain as long as you step on the pedal or to have it latch on until you step on it again. Using it, you get to create synthlike sounds, almost sitar like at times. Really adds a some layers and depth to your sound while strumming chords. Of course, you can also use it to endlessly sustain that one note at the end of a guitar solo, or let one chord ring out while you noodle lead parts over it, but I like it best for adding that layer to strumming chords.

Controling it is a bit tricky, I must say. If you step on it too early while hitting the chord, it can just sustain the sound of your pick or fingers hitting the strings in stead of the sound of the ringing strings. Not very pleasant to listen too. Hit it too late, and it doesnt pick up enough sound to really ring out. I use it in songs where I also sing, and it gets quite challenging at times to get the timing right. With some practice though, it is a very useful tool to have on your board, and also a rather unique one. It is not one of the commonly used effects, but certainly worth giving it a go.

Nifty effect

A nice-looking and delightful pedal, if a locking sustain (for just about any source of sound) is what you're looking for you have found it. These days it perhaps stands as a one-trick pony amidst various other options for sound retaining but it does its job admirably. It is suited for simple sustain for clean or effected sound and is also helpful for experiments in exploring wacky new textures of tone and noise - you might be surprised what latched "snapshots" of various sounds results in. In short: a simple and fun device.

Mind blowing!!

You can lose yourself in music for hours with this pedal!THe EHX freeze sound retainer is a pedal that I had seen many reviews,I had tried it one time and I knew that iwould have it on my pedalboard.From psychedelic rock to downtempo music is a pedal that has an atmospheric feeling.It's pretty easy to use with three levels of sound freeze.You choose what ever fits for you and play the guitar for hours!!

Totally recommended!Worths every euro!!

wonderful little effect - dynamic & creative!

Not a guitarist but this is great

This piece of equipment is a cool tool to have if you want fast sound design.

Pros:

Good sound quality

does exactly as advertised.

Cons

Wish it were stereo

Its my favorite

Just perfect!!! The only cons is that I can't use it with battery....

A Cool Breeze

I use this for a Bass guitar and learn the modes of in jazz music.

It really have to build the sound up easily and understand the harmony better.

pros

Good for live and learning, build like a tank

cons

in these days, I think this can be replaced for an apps easily, for this price to buy one pedel with one function....think that for yourself.

From unobtrusive to radical, the Freeze is a gadget that rouses innovative playing without being gimmicky. The execution conceivable outcomes?from filling stripped space in a band game plan to in-your-face freakouts?are fascinating. Be that as it may, regardless of the possibility that you don't expect to record or play live with the Freeze, you'll discover it's an extraordinary device for forming music and amicability without anyone else's input. EHX has executed this impact with such straightforwardness', will undoubtedly speak to players and tweakers of all sorts and capacities

Top quality

Great effect for jazz guitar. I use it to play over changes for practice and also on gigs. A very nice things is that they have upgraded the latching footswitch with a momentary one and that is absolutely amazing. I am really excited with my new purchase.

A wonderful intuitive pedal that allows for infinite sustain.

Thats what this product is sold on and it doesn't disappoint.

So many of EHX pedal demos are aimed at dull guitar sounds but I use this for synth/electronics and its astounding what this pedal can do.

No volume drop or loss of clarity, just captures a sound and keeps it and you're able to create lovely volume swells using the one and only knob on the pedal. Its great in a feedback loop.

As ever with EHX, the switch itself is a little clunky and noisy which may be distracting for subtler effects but generally I think the pedal is incredible!

I've toured with this pedal extensively and its never let me down.

simple but effective and different allmost organ like in ways and used with a looper as well can be very interesting lie a lot

Quality pedal; with a slight modification.

Being a jazz guitarist this is a great tool for intros, outros and everything in between with a little bit of practise.

The only thing that annoys the hell out of me and the audience is the clicking sound while using the pedal; changing the harmony. In a small club setting it is really noticeable; but with a slight modification at "guitar / effect custom shop" guy I was able to get rid of this annoying clicking sound.

Other then that I have no complaints. It is very well made; great size for already overcrowded pedal board. It need its own powersupply which is included. Be sure to use it; especially if you are also using stereo delay (if you use the same power supply it tends to have a buzzing sound). (*at least this was the problem on my pedal board.)

Otherwise, all in all, a quality pedal.

Great unit

Great pedal with great ratio siez/ efficiency.

It will hold "freeze" the sound you just played, mostly like a synth.

Great expressive tool !

Incredible

This is exactly what I have dreamed about for ages. It sustains the sound you play. Forever. No matter how many notes you play. It just plays you back the sound you let ring when pressing the button. You can use it to create beautiful soundscapes and use it for some very unique solo playing. I use it with my fretless bass and it's just a blast. The number of possibilities of sounds you can create with this little thing is endless due to the three modes: FAST, SLOW and LATCH.

FAST means that the sustained sound will decay instantly once you let go of the button.

SLOW mean that the decay will be more subtle.

LATCH means that the note keeps on playing once you let go of the button.

The only downside is that the switch button makes a loud click which you can't hear when you play loud or in a big group, but I use it to create soundscapes on a relatively low level so it's a little bummer for me. But with some know how and a little knowledge in soldering you could easily replace the button for something else just as I plan on doing.

Overall. My dreams have come true with this little helper.

Fun to play but gave me the rash

The tone is GOOD and fun to play but I didn't keep mine for long because the pedal consumes tons of current (had to have a separate electric adaptor) and the pedal happened to cause some mild buzz on my soundsystem (because of the adaptor? Or because it is not true bypass and the buffering is not pro-grade? dunno) and I'm VERY allergic to unwanted noises.

Fun little thing!

This small box is a surprising addition to a pedal board, the versatility is amazing! Simply it's placement before or after drive, distortion, delay, reverb etc massively changes it's role on the board. This pedal is surprisingly difficult to review considering the unusual nature of the effect, and in my opinion is not a gimmick but very usable when carefully considered. The pedal reproduces the input signal instantaneously with surprising accuracy, there is obvious degradation when after certain pedals and it's is important to note to draw backs of the pedal. For one the pedal is not true bypass and very sensitive to power, with noise being a problem when in a daisy chain but, if the is individual psu is used though there's no real issue.

Just Amazing!

Definitely, one of the most revolucionary guitar pedal! Excelent for trio and hightly compatible with other pedals

does what it says

very nicely indeed. the sound really is frozen, and what you get feels like the last thing you played has been stopped at some sonic event horizon - this does mean that the quality of the sound has little feeling in it and is as flat as a pancake but (in my case) liberates you to create all sorts of cool contrapuntal b3 type effects bt rapidly switching the sustained note but keeping it floating across bars. it's a simple effect that really has the potential to be a huge musical tool. build q is EHX usual, ie simultaneously both rugged and slightly crap. but toggle switch is blissfully quiet. all in all - a bargain and an essential addition to a pedalboard. ehx really should make the gliss freeze on the HOG 2 available as a sep. effect, though. they'd sell a million.

Great versatile pedal

Like all Electro Harmonix products this pedal is a well made durable pedal. It is a nice compact size for fitting on pedalboards etc.

This pedal "freezes" signal into drones; play an E minor chord and press the pedal and you get an E minor drone to solo over etc.

The options available for freeing are great. You can have it gradually fade into the frozen sound or straight away or choose whether the pedal must be held pressed or just toggled to activate function.

I have used it in a variety of live and recording circumstances and it has done me well in all.

It's limited but does what it says!

This is a very solid, well built bit of Kit. I've found its gig applications limited but for exploring in a home/rehearsal environment it's great. It's like a basic loop station but when combined with other effects it makes for a great sound scape builder.

I've used it both with acoustic and electric. It's more suited to electric use but still sounds good with an acoustic, but run with a magnetic and under saddle for pure acoustic signal.

I recently bought a B9 by electro Harmonix and the combination of the two works very well and I think this could work its way into my live set up.

But over all a great product.