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Description
The EBow is a hand-held electronic bow for guitar. This small battery-powered unit replaces the pick in the right hand letting the guitarist mimic strings, horns, and woodwinds with unbelievable sensitivity. The EBow produces a powerful infinite sustain, rich in harmonics for incredible guitar sounds. Unlike plug-in effects, the Energy Bow does its work on the string itself... Direct String Synthesis™. Infinite Sustain is just the beginning.
Owner's manual
Heet Sound EBow User ManualVideos
PhilKeaggy
Phil Keaggy "Amazing Grace" E-Bow Demonstration
Reviews
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Heet Sound EBow.
Use cases and applications
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The E-Bow is often used to create long atmospheric soundscapes with delay effects, drawing inspiration from techniques like Frippertronics.
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Combining the Ebow with an octave pedal and heavy fuzz creates unique drone and ambient soundscapes, enhancing musical textures.
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Employing the Ebow with a slide and delay pedal can mimic whale-like sounds, adding to its experimental potential.
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Incorporating an Ebow with clean reverb, delay, and volume swells enriches the sound, ideal for atmospheric and ambient compositions.
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Mixing the Ebow with a fuzz effect and using the neck pickup with tone at 10 can produce a distinct tonal quality.
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Features and functionality
Comparisons
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The TC AEON offers a sturdier metal chassis and is more economical on battery life compared to the original E-Bow.
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Other
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For novelty effects, the E-Bow can mimic a buzzing insect by using a dying battery and slack-tuned low E-string, adding experimental sound possibilities.
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4.5 out of 5
Based on 19 Reviews and 158 Ratings
1871
An incredible tool
An incredible tool, but I found it very limited. Transitioning between strings was not easy. I recorded one song with it. However, playing it live was awkward and for that reason I started to play with more distortion + compressor to get my notes sustained longer, which did the job. After that, I sold the Ebow. I know people who love using it, maybe it was not right for me.
640
It's an ebow and does what ebows do
Yes - ebows are limited. You need one or you don't. I did so I got one and I love it. It does one thing pretty well. And that's about it really. Sustainiac is an option of course but it doesn't sound quite the same. If you want bagpipe sounds, an ebow is where it's at.
Bad build quality.
Had mine for ten years now, treated well and never dropped it in the ground or anything. All of the sudden it stopped working, and these things are not built to open up or fix. A fun gadget, but not worth its price at all.
41029
agreed
335
960
Kinda Dated
Yes this thing is cool for infinite 1 string bowing. But it's dated. Fernandez and Sustainiac have made improvements on the "Infinite Guitar" Sound. Neat, but you can get better features elswhere.
1312
completely agree... the Sustainiac I have installed on my Roland G202 far surpasses the ebow.
201
Sweet, sweet sustain
I use an EBow on Medicine Club's song 'Hear No, Speak No'. The ability to sustain notes, especially when combined with some delay, allows you to create incredible soundscapes which can really fill a venue/recording.
235
Something for your music toolkit
A versitile and relatively inexpensive piece of equipment to add to your music toolkit. Great for creating drones, loops, soundscapes and mimicking other instruments e.g. violin.
Artist usage
Add artist
In this live version of "Wishlist" from a 2010 Pearl Jam performance, we see Vedder play the song's guitar solo using an eBow.
An "electronic-bow" for guitar. James uses this small hand-held device on many of the Pumpkins songs, usually combined with a digital delay. The way the effect works is that it is placed over the string on the pickup of the guitar and it vibrates the string and keeps the note sounding. The EBow is most easily noticable on "Sinfony", which is entirely EBowed, and on "Stand Inside Your Love".
Paul Banks can be seen using an EBow at 0:27 into this video of Take You on a Cruise.
In this Guitar Player interview from 1979, Paul mentions using the Ebow on his 1978 solo album titled Paul Stanley. Paul was asked, “Did you use special effects on the solo record?”
“I used the E Bow [Heet Sound Products, 611 Ducommun St., Los Angeles, CA 90012] on quite a few. I really found it incredibly useful. I don’t know how practical it is for live performing, because you can only utilize it on one string at a time, which really makes it a little difficult. Most of the time on Paul Stanley; when there was an E Bow there was really between three and six of them over-dubbed. They were on “Tonight You Belong To Me”; on the melodic line from the front of the heavy section, it’s not a keyboard, it’s the E Bows. On “Move On,” the next song, they come in around halfway through the solo; there’s about six of them there. And then on “Ain’t Quite Right,” they tend to give a certain kind of mood, like a haunting kind of sound. To me it’s something like an oboe, or a synthesizer crossed with an oboe, and I’ve been fascinated with sounds like that ever since I can remember.”
In a user-uploaded photo on Twimg, Wata can be seen with a Heet Sound EBow placed atop a Space Echo unit.
Peter Buck used an Ebow throughout his 31-year tenure with R.E.M., both live and in the studio. Peter can be seen using an Ebow at 2:57 of this 2004/05 live version of "Electron Blue" from the band's "Around the Sun" world tour.
Album Usage
The Heet Sound EBow has been featured on the following albums:
Elemento Noches De Salón
Enjambre (2023)
Wrecked
Imagine Dragons (2021)
DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE
Donna Grantis (2019)
MR MAJESTIC
Donna Grantis (2019)
Too Shy
Kajagoogoo (2017)
Little Fictions (Fickle Flame Version)
Elbow (2017)
Weightless (Radio Edit)
Northlane (2016)
The Serenity of Suffering
Korn (2016)
Sonic Highways
Foo Fighters (2014)
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire (2010)
The Great Misdirect
Between the Buried and Me (2009)
Around The Sun
R.E.M. (2004)
There Is Nothing Left To Lose
Foo Fighters (1999)
Conspiracy #5
Third Day (1997)
The Colour And The Shape
Foo Fighters (1997)
The Division Bell
Pink Floyd (1994)
Through The Hill
Andy Partridge & Harold Budd (1994)
Superstar Car Wash
Goo Goo Dolls (1993)
Earth 2
Earth (1993)
ARE YOU NORMAL?
Ned's Atomic Dustbin (1992)
Nonsuch
XTC (1992)
Hybrid
Michael Brook (1985)
About Time
New York Gong (1980)
Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley (1978)
Go 2
XTC (1978)
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Heet Sound EBow, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
Community setups
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