Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork
136 Guitarist June 2015
QUICK TEST
MISCELLANEOUS
With Royal Blood’s octave-
doubling riff onslaughts
dominating mainstream rock,
it seems pitch-shifting is finally
reaching widespread
acceptance among guitar – and
bass – players, especially since
the development of polyphonic
tracking. It’s good timing, then,
for the Pitch Fork, the latest
evolution of EHX’s own
polyphonic pitch-shifting
technology, which started with
the POG back in 2005.
Where the POG deals
primarily with octaves, the
Pitch Fork gives you the full
range of intervals from one
octave down to one octave up,
plus two and three octaves in
either direction, via a toggle
switch. EHX has also enabled
two harmonies at once; set the
toggle to dual, and as well as one
up-shifted signal, you also get
a preset ‘musically useful’
harmony alongside, including
a POG-like octave-up and
octave-down doubling.
The Pitch Fork encroaches on
the territory of its pitch-shifting
stablemate, the Slammi, by
offering external expression
pedal control. This is in addition
to a non-latching mode,
accessed via the latch button,
which allows the footswitch to
be used for momentary glitches
and shifts. In momentary mode,
you can also use an expression
pedal to adjust the rise/drop
time of the footswitch.
Elsewhere, the Pitch Fork
features a high-quality buffered
bypass, and can run from its
included nine-volt power
supply or a nine-volt battery –
the latter is a genuine option,
too, given its relatively low
current draw of 30mA.
Sounds
No matter what extended
chords you throw at it, the Pitch
Fork delivers spot-on tracking
in every shift, even when
tracking dual harmonies.
Compared with, say, a DigiTech
Guitarist ratinG
Guitarist says: With myriad
shifts, formidable tracking and
pedalboard-friendly dimensions,
this is a handy do-all pitch-shifter
Meet EHX’s latest compact polyphony epiphany
CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix WEB: www.ehx.com
Electro-Harmonix
Pitch Fork
£113
Whammy (5th Gen), there’s
a fraction more latency, but it’s
barely noticeable, especially
with some gain engaged, and it’s
a price worth paying for the
sonic potential on offer.
As well as three variations on
chorus, courtesy of the detune
mode, the full complement of
harmonies work a treat, while
the upper octaves are well-
voiced, doing away with the
sometimes shrill quality of
lesser shifters. The dual
functions are awfully generous,
too: we’re big fans of the flute-y
two-octaves up and one-octave
down setting, and although not
every combined harmony is
musically practical, you can
hardly complain with so many
options on the table.
By cranking the blend to
maximum, instant drop-tunings
are also available, and although
the treble content drops slightly
the lower you go, a dash of dirt
makes for seriously convincing
baritone-style results. The plug-
and-play expression pedal
control is a big plus, too:
hooking up a Roland EV-5,
we had no problems instantly
conjuring classic pitch-shifting
highlights, such as Tom
Morello-type sweeps and Floyd
Rose-esque divebombs.
Verdict
With street prices hovering
around the £100 mark, the Pitch
Fork packs a tremendous range
of sounds for the money. While
every pitch-shifter has its
strengths, the flexibility, superb
tracking and overall tonality of
the shifts make the Pitch Fork
a safe bet for just about any
pitch-based application, and the
Nano enclosure serves to seal
the deal. [MB]
Meet EHX’s latest compact polyphony epiphany
Whammy (5th Gen), there’s
and-play expression pedal
http://bi t.ly/
guitarist39 4
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