EHX Freeze Pedal Review

The EHX Freeze pedal is a pedal that literally freezes your sound in a given moment (the moment you click on the pedal). This sound then drones on, allowing you to play over the top or seamlessly move to another key via capo change etc... The possibilities are potentially as creative as you are!

The EHX Freeze 'Sound Retainer' - it does what it says on the tin...

I first looked at getting the freeze when I was exploring using synth sounds on my iPad via OnSong. (I will post about this in another blog entry).

But what happens if you're not able to take a direct feed out of the iPad to the desk in order to hear the synth sounds, or you haven't got a MIDI control surface to activate the sounds, or don't have a sound assigned etc...?

The Freeze fits into these scenarios perfectly. Yes it's a bit of a 'one trick pony' but it does what it does very well.

There are three modes - fast, slow and latch. The 'fats' and 'slow' modes are engaged with your foot on the pedal. As you release your foot, the sound releases very quickly (fast) or at three varying levels of time (slow). You can change the release speed while in 'slow' by following simple instructions - http://www.ehx.com/assets/instructions/freeze.pdf

The 'latch' mode means that one click will freeze the sound. If clicked once, the freeze will sustain the current input (at the time of clicking). A double-click will turn off the freeze.

So how do I use the pedal? Well, I mainly use the slow (set to the longest release) as a transition between songs (the 3 seconds or so allow me to move to a new tuning). Alternatively, the Latch mode is useful when I want an ambient sound in the background of a song, for example if playing alone or without a synth. For both, I use the root note for the freeze.

For example, if playing a song in E, I will freeze an E chord or E octave and then play over the top of the song. I mainly use this technique with synth sounds in OnSong on iPad. So this sounds good when used with songs like Cornerstone (Hillsong), even 10,000 Reasons or Unbroken Praise (Matt Redman) etc.

I use the pedal easily and seamlessly using both electric guitar and acoustic. I tend to only use it when there's just myself playing (occasionally alongside a looper, occasionally alongside OnSony synths) or if there's 2-3 of us. Very rarely any other time and have never used as part of a band, although am sure it's possible.

A great pedal for adding some texture to your sound or doing lots of epic reverb, shoe gazing type music. Or just for use with transitions.

I can't beat this link for an incredible review I found on Youtube (and the only really decent review to inspire me!) to help you make up your mind - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOabP5WZLMY