Electro Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer 4-stars Reviews

Does a cool thing

Using this as a dirty sustain pedal for my honer, old honers don't have a sustain pedal. It gets the job done in a kind of trippy way.

Great pedal, for what it is

The only thing it's missing is a softer release, a dynamic sustain pedal.

Great pedal

Nice idea for a sort of sustain pedal. You have to learn to use it to avoid some sort of "glitch"/"latency" if you don't synchronize to the millisecond your foot and your hand (no big deal, you only have to get used to it). Yet, you still can use that strange sound in some manner (Bill Frisell loves it).

I have to say that the switch is a bit noisey and can be a little annoying in silent environments (studio work while tracking isolated parts).

I also have to mention the fact that the switch failed on me (I never abused it, of course), it broke and I had to bring it to a repairman to replace it.

Again: great pedal indeed

Does the job

Pros:

- function

- build quality

Cons:

- loud footswitch

Not much to say here; the Freeze does one thing and it does it well. Use it in the intended way to augment your music, or try and use it the wrong way to create some interesting noises. The three modes are useful and build quality is solid as usual from EHX.

One thing to note if you are not familiar with it is that it has the noisy clicky EHX footswitch. When playing something quiet or solo (which the pedal is great for), the switch noise is pretty loud. The switch is easy to replace though.

Nice pedal, change the switch

Everything about this pedal is great, sound, controls, artwork except for that horrible clicking noise. If you want this pedal, do yourself a favor and buy a silent switch.

the freeze pedal has great sound, and arrived without issue. I'm very satisfied with my purchase. the only negative about the pedal is that the button to engage the effect is quite noisy, to the point of being disruptive in intimate settings. other than that great quality

Its my favorite

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

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 !

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.

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.

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.

Great in combo

Great in a combo with other pedals but on it's own it doesn't sound great. I think the sample size is too small so it doesn't catch a very organic sound, it sounds too digital and thin. If it was a bit bigger it could allow for some movement in the sound, which would be nice and make it sound a bit more natural/less plasticy. Good pedal though and the end of a chain.