Electro-harmonix Pitch Fork +
Worth forkin’ out over the original?
The Pitch Fork from Electro-harmonix wowed us back in 2015 with its polyphonic pitch-shifting, dualharmonies, Whammy-style bends and more. Now, EHX has added to the Pitch Fork line-up with the Pitch Fork +. The big difference here is that the Pitch Fork + offers two independent, but identical pitch shifting engines, but the price isn’t doubled – with the + only costing around £30-40 more. This means that rather than EHX’S preset dual-shift options on the original, you can now set the two pitches to any of the available intervals across the +/-3-octave range simultaneously. Other new features include an aux out (assignable between the engines/ dry signals), user and factory presets, an external footswitch socket as well as the expression pedal input and the new X-mod mode for giving you ring mod/ Fm-style modulation effects.
Our first question when we plug into a pitch-shifter is about the handling. Here, the tracking is rock solid without any jumping/ wavering pitch wobbles. While there is a slight latency at higher tempos, we found that the Pitch Fork + was more than capable of detuning our guitar for us, allowing us to play in lower standard and drop-tunings with stability.
It’s great if you need a lowtuned or 12-string effected guitar, or even if you want to add basslines to your recordings without a bass. Plus, the dual outputs have serious scope for Royal Blood-style double duty, allowing you to shift and split your signals into different chains when they leave the pedal. The pitch bend and harmony settings are near indistinguishable from the famous red pitch effect, too. Out of the box you can use the footswitch either in latching (for fixed pitch shifts) or momentary modes (ideal for instigating those Morello-style glides). Meanwhile, the X-mod effects are going to be Marmite: they add to the alreadyversatile offering of the pedal, but you may find that these aren’t the go-to modes you find yourself in.
It’s a great pedal that reveals a whole load of uses once your imagination kicks in and worth the comparatively small price tag.