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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 Manual
PhilKeaggy

PhilKeaggy

Phil Keaggy "Amazing Grace" E-Bow Demonstration

Video thumbnail for Phil Keaggy "Amazing Grace" E-Bow Demonstration by PhilKeaggy

Phil Keaggy "Amazing Grace" E-Bow Demonstration

PhilKeaggy

PhilKeaggy

Video thumbnail for EBOW - Demo, Review & Tips - Phil Keaggy Inspired Ebow Plus by Nail Guitar Skills

EBOW - Demo, Review & Tips - Phil Keaggy Inspired Ebow Plus

Nail Guitar Skills

Nail Guitar Skills

Video thumbnail for How To Use An EBow The Right Way by JHS Pedals

How To Use An EBow The Right Way

JHS Pedals

JHS Pedals

Video thumbnail for My EBow Guitar Is Gently Weeping by Chords Of Orion

My EBow Guitar Is Gently Weeping

Chords Of Orion

Chords Of Orion

Video thumbnail for EBow : I Share ALL of My Secrets! by Chords Of Orion

EBow : I Share ALL of My Secrets!

Chords Of Orion

Chords Of Orion

Video thumbnail for The Amazing Ebow! - Ebow Plus Guitar Effect demo/review by Landon Bailey

The Amazing Ebow! - Ebow Plus Guitar Effect demo/review

Landon Bailey

Landon Bailey

Video thumbnail for EBow for Ambient Guitar - String Switching Tutorial (Heet Sound E-Bow / EBow Plus) by Chords Of Orion

EBow for Ambient Guitar - String Switching Tutorial (Heet Sound E-Bow / EBow Plus)

Chords Of Orion

Chords Of Orion

Video thumbnail for Ebow Plus Demo/Review - Top 20 Music Documentary Films - Guitar Giveaway Update by Picking and Flipping

Ebow Plus Demo/Review - Top 20 Music Documentary Films - Guitar Giveaway Update

Picking and Flipping

Picking and Flipping

Video thumbnail for eBow Player's Guide Cassette by Audioborg

eBow Player's Guide Cassette

Audioborg

Audioborg

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

  • The E-Bow is often used to create long atmospheric soundscapes with delay effects, drawing inspiration from techniques like Frippertronics.

    Source
  • Combining the Ebow with an octave pedal and heavy fuzz creates unique drone and ambient soundscapes, enhancing musical textures.

    Source
  • Employing the Ebow with a slide and delay pedal can mimic whale-like sounds, adding to its experimental potential.

    Source
  • Incorporating an Ebow with clean reverb, delay, and volume swells enriches the sound, ideal for atmospheric and ambient compositions.

    Source
  • Mixing the Ebow with a fuzz effect and using the neck pickup with tone at 10 can produce a distinct tonal quality.

    Source

Features and functionality

  • The Ebow excels when paired with flangers, phasers, and wah pedals, offering diverse sonic possibilities.

    Source
  • The E-Bow is effective on electric bass and acoustic guitars, unlike the TC AEON and YoJo, which struggle with weak signals on these instruments.

    Source

Comparisons

  • The TC AEON offers a sturdier metal chassis and is more economical on battery life compared to the original E-Bow.

    Source

Other

  • 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.

    Source

Setup and maintenance

  • The original E-Bow is known to consume batteries rapidly and is prone to breakage if dropped, even on carpeted floors.

    Source
Add

4.5 out of 5

Based on 19 Reviews and 158 Ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
dannfeltrin

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.

davepepper

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.

alf_andrew_pedersen

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.

jimmarchi1

agreed

ernie_balcueva

Great effect.

This was recommended by a friend and it does not disappoint. Great for ambient sustains and adding some real cool textures in the background.

alteredstate

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.

bubbajones

completely agree... the Sustainiac I have installed on my Roland G202 far surpasses the ebow.

alf_andrew_pedersen

Agreed. Mine stopped workign all of the sudden, and they are impossible to repair.

courtland_adams

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.

walter_t

The Ebow

I use it a lot to create guitar lines and atmospheric pads. Two different options available for different sounds.

coreyjdavidson

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.

sorchahol

Love the Ebow!

Bit of getting used to but then is awesome. Long life on the battery and hardy. Have dropped it a million times!

ebowglow

EBOW plus

I love the original Ebow but this model has a switch that "grabs" the harmonics in the notes you play...very cool effects with this Ebow!

Artist usage

Add artist
See how Mathieu Vandekerckhove uses Heet Sound EBow

Mathieu Vandekerckhove

...
Verified via YouTube

At 7:49 Mathieu talks about his use of EBow.

See how Masaru Teramae uses Heet Sound EBow

Masaru Teramae

Guitarist, Bassist

Demetori

...
Verified via Livedoor

There is a picture of him with the EBow on his blog.

See how Bill Laswell uses Heet Sound EBow

Bill Laswell

Bassist, Music Producer

Praxis

...
Verified

Used for Cymatic Scan, as mentioned in the December 1994 The Wire interview "An Interview with Bill Laswell" by David Toop.

Not chord-changes music: Cymatic Scan (Fax)... "That was done really quickly. I don't think he [Tetsu Inoue] realised we were doing it. I set up a bunch of guitars and stuff, like with E-Bows. He works all analogue, so it's like Electro Harmonix pedals and a bunch of keyboards. You just set it all up and because of the effect of the pedals, they all start talking to each another. And that's incredible. It's always different. I'd set up the same with string instruments, which I never touched this way [mimics normal playing position] but I'd just do stuff with them when they were down flat. Because I had a volume pedal and primitive pedals, the pedals were doing all the talking. We did that for like an hour and then I said, 'We got it.' He's like, 'OK, I think I'm ready.' And I said, 'No, we shouldn't mess with that. That was really good.'"

See how Tom Bromley uses Heet Sound EBow

Tom Bromley

Guitarist

Los Campesinos!

...
Verified via Getty Images

Tom Bromley, guitarist for Los Campesinos!, uses a Heet Sound EBow, as evidenced by a 2010 photo of his pedal board featured on Getty Images.

See how Titanic Sinclair uses Heet Sound EBow

Titanic Sinclair

Guitarist, Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

Titanic uses an EBow throughout the video to create a sustain effect on the guitar tracks.

See how Mark Potter uses Heet Sound EBow

Mark Potter

Guitarist

Elbow

...
Verified via DrownedInSound

"I used it a fair bit on ‘Little Fictions’ (the track). The mayhem and craziness at the end of the song came from a wild sample that Craig found, along with me playing. I used this and a piece of hoover tubing, and the idea was to play randomly which is the most difficult thing you can do. I remember Les Dawson playing the piano badly, and later on you realise just how hard it is to actually do that! A friend said the end of the track sounds like galloping horses, and that’s something like what we were trying to get. A lot of sound creation went on in the album and the end of that track is the most obvious example of it. Everything is random on there."

See how Robert Randolph uses Heet Sound EBow

Robert Randolph

Guitarist

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

...
Verified via YouTube

Robert Randolph demonstrates the EBow at 10:35 in this Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar. “It’ll play forever this thing.”

See how Kristian Dunn uses Heet Sound EBow

Kristian Dunn

Guitarist, Bassist

El Ten Eleven

...
Verified via YouTube

"Um, my EBow, again, life changer."

See how Cloudkicker uses Heet Sound EBow

Cloudkicker

Guitarist, Composer

...
Verified via Google

Per the official Cloudkicker Gear List page, Ben used the Ebow on ]]][[[, Beacons, Fade, Portmanteau, The Discovery, and The Map is Not the Territory

See how Jesse Triplett uses Heet Sound EBow

Jesse Triplett

Guitarist

Collective Soul

...
Verified via Premierguitar

According to Premier Guitar, Triplett uses an eBow when he needs an infinite sustain.

See how Donna Grantis uses Heet Sound EBow

Donna Grantis

Guitarist

3RDEYEGIRL

...
Verified via Donna Grantis

"Donna's pedalboard rig, referred to by her techs as "The Starship", consists of 21 pedals across 3 interconnected boards. It was built by Craig Pattison Rig Design and includes a TC Electronic Flashback Delay, Vortex Flanger and Hall Of Fame Reverb, and a BOSS Blues Driver BD-2, Flanger BF-3 and Loop Station RC-30, among others. Donna's love of feedback is evidenced in her use of an EBow, as heard on the song "ANOTHERLOVE" from Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL's debut album, PLECTRUMELECTRUM and “MR MAJESTIC” from her debut album, DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE. Most recently, Donna has been experimenting with the Empress Echosystem Dual Engine Delay that features up to 35 presets ranging from classic to obscure sounds. She uses the pedal in-stereo creating complex delays by assigning unique settings to multiple cabinets."

From Donna's website.

See how Darts Sekiguchi uses Heet Sound EBow

Darts Sekiguchi

Guitarist

Fishmans

...
Verified via Twitter

During a soundcheck, Darts Sekiguchi mentioned using a Heet Sound EBow in a tweet, adding a playful note about feeling lost in a "labyrinth."

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.

Fender Jaguar
Fender Jaguar Solid Body Electric Guitars
5
Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster Solid Body Electric Guitars
5
Strymon BigSky
Strymon BigSky Reverb Effects Pedals
4
Ernie Ball 6166 Volume Pedal
Ernie Ball 6166 Volume Pedal Volume Effects Pedals
4
Boss RE-20 Space Echo
Boss RE-20 Space Echo Delay Effects Pedals
3
Strymon Mobius Modulator
Strymon Mobius Modulator Multi Effects Pedals
3

Community setups

Show yours
saint_fire

saint_fire

Gear IQ 220

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