Strymon Deco question

thecolourbox

Hi all, hoping somebody with knowledge of the Deco pedal can answer this, would be much appreciated

I understand that the pedal can operate with stereo inputs if you change something inside, which sounds good. But how does the echo element of it work then? Because I'd assume that with a mono input, the dry signal would probably go to one stereo output, and the delayed signal on the other virtual deck would go to the other stereo output.

But if the Input is already stereo, how is that routed? Is it merged to mono then bounced to stereo as per a normal mono input?

Thinking of it as an effect either after two separate guitar preamps at the same time, to get some retro sounding tape effect and/or slapback/doubletracking, or as a send effect on a mixer just as a tape effect

Thanks

Gagaryn

thecolourbox said:

Hi all, hoping somebody with knowledge of the Deco pedal can answer this, would be much appreciated

I understand that the pedal can operate with stereo inputs if you change something inside, which sounds good. But how does the echo element of it work then? Because I'd assume that with a mono input, the dry signal would probably go to one stereo output, and the delayed signal on the other virtual deck would go to the other stereo output.

But if the Input is already stereo, how is that routed? Is it merged to mono then bounced to stereo as per a normal mono input?

Thinking of it as an effect either after two separate guitar preamps at the same time, to get some retro sounding tape effect and/or slapback/doubletracking, or as a send effect on a mixer just as a tape effect

Thanks

Sort of. It also has two separate stereo output modes (Wide and Normal) selected by the secondary function of the wobble knob. In Wide mode stereo input is summed to mono like you suggest and the input goes through the reference deck to left out and the delayed signal goes to right out. In normal mode (which is what you want to use I think) each individual left and right input channel goes through separate channels - each with a reference and lag deck (except in Bounce mode the right channel lag deck feeds back into the left channel reference to make a new stereo image).

That sounds complicated but is more straightforward than it sounds hands on. Get one they are brilliant! The only fault with it is that stereo input needs selected internally - this is a pain as if it is selected you have to always use stereo output as it won't sum to mono if you only connect the left output.

I'll say it again - get one, my favourite guitar related  purchase for a long time, and I got a CS Jazzmaster the same week!

thecolourbox

Brilliant @Gagaryn thanks that is very helpful. I guess there is the flexibility for a few different uses there so would be good to try them to see what works. I generally prefer my guitar noises to sound like recorded tones rather than "amp in the room" which I'm aware is contrary to normal preference, and given my favourite recorded sounds are White Stripes albums and they were on tape, that would be a nice addition to get that retro sound, the something extra. Also the stereo double tracking is a big part of their recorded sound so thinking it should be a good purchase when I can get round to it...  Cheers again!

hotpickups

Gagaryn said:

thecolourbox said:

Hi all, hoping somebody with knowledge of the Deco pedal can answer this, would be much appreciated

I understand that the pedal can operate with stereo inputs if you change something inside, which sounds good. But how does the echo element of it work then? Because I'd assume that with a mono input, the dry signal would probably go to one stereo output, and the delayed signal on the other virtual deck would go to the other stereo output.

But if the Input is already stereo, how is that routed? Is it merged to mono then bounced to stereo as per a normal mono input?

Thinking of it as an effect either after two separate guitar preamps at the same time, to get some retro sounding tape effect and/or slapback/doubletracking, or as a send effect on a mixer just as a tape effect

Thanks

Sort of. It also has two separate stereo output modes (Wide and Normal) selected by the secondary function of the wobble knob. In Wide mode stereo input is summed to mono like you suggest and the input goes through the reference deck to left out and the delayed signal goes to right out. In normal mode (which is what you want to use I think) each individual left and right input channel goes through separate channels - each with a reference and lag deck (except in Bounce mode the right channel lag deck feeds back into the left channel reference to make a new stereo image).

That sounds complicated but is more straightforward than it sounds hands on. Get one they are brilliant! The only fault with it is that stereo input needs selected internally - this is a pain as if it is selected you have to always use stereo output as it won't sum to mono if you only connect the left output.

I'll say it again - get one, my favourite guitar related  purchase for a long time, and I got a CS Jazzmaster the same week!

I guess one could get a Sum to Mon switch/box made up after the Deco for those times when you go out with one amp etc?

Gagaryn

hotpickups said:

Gagaryn said:

thecolourbox said:

Hi all, hoping somebody with knowledge of the Deco pedal can answer this, would be much appreciated

I understand that the pedal can operate with stereo inputs if you change something inside, which sounds good. But how does the echo element of it work then? Because I'd assume that with a mono input, the dry signal would probably go to one stereo output, and the delayed signal on the other virtual deck would go to the other stereo output.

But if the Input is already stereo, how is that routed? Is it merged to mono then bounced to stereo as per a normal mono input?

Thinking of it as an effect either after two separate guitar preamps at the same time, to get some retro sounding tape effect and/or slapback/doubletracking, or as a send effect on a mixer just as a tape effect

Thanks

Sort of. It also has two separate stereo output modes (Wide and Normal) selected by the secondary function of the wobble knob. In Wide mode stereo input is summed to mono like you suggest and the input goes through the reference deck to left out and the delayed signal goes to right out. In normal mode (which is what you want to use I think) each individual left and right input channel goes through separate channels - each with a reference and lag deck (except in Bounce mode the right channel lag deck feeds back into the left channel reference to make a new stereo image).

That sounds complicated but is more straightforward than it sounds hands on. Get one they are brilliant! The only fault with it is that stereo input needs selected internally - this is a pain as if it is selected you have to always use stereo output as it won't sum to mono if you only connect the left output.

I'll say it again - get one, my favourite guitar related  purchase for a long time, and I got a CS Jazzmaster the same week!

I guess one could get a Sum to Mon switch/box made up after the Deco for those times when you go out with one amp etc?

ABY box would do that but I haven't bothered - I just run it with mono in