Talk to me about delay pedals?

ThePrettyDamned

GavHaus said:

...or pre-program BPM presets. That's what I do.

You'd need a damn good drummer, though. 

not_the_dj said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

not_the_dj;410050" said:

Forgot about the DD-20. Works best if you get a separate switch for the tap tempo, otherwise IIRC it's the press and hold routine to get to tap tempo mode....ticks everything on the list (I think).

No way, really?! It's got two switches, I assumed you could assign one for tap tempo.

Left switch is on/off, right switch scrolls through the pre-sets....or hold to access tap tempo. Easier to hook up a seperate dedicated tap tempo switch. 

That's a really neat set up then.  

steamabacus

Paul_C said:

steamabacus said:

I've just watched this Burgs review...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmSq341sry4



Probably even more expensive than a Timeline, though.

£379 from Coda

£20 LESS than the Strymon? BARGAIN!!!
8-}

Drew_TNBD

Preprogrammed BPM's haven't ever worked for me really. Our other guitarist does it with his DL-4 though, for the few songs that he starts on his own.

GavRichList

Ah, we have backed electronics on ableton, so our drummer has to play with headphones anyway.

stickyfiddle

Programming bpms in advance is lovely but doesn't let you re-jig them mid song if tempo drifts, and it's shit for studio stuff when you haven't finished working out the part yet. 

In my experience there are guys who can't live without tap tempo and those who don't care. I'm definitely in the first bunch!

GavRichList

...I've got the Empress Superdelay for all the really nice stuff

steamabacus

The Free The Tone jobbie has a 'bpm analyser' that will adjust the tempo by up to 20% to match the drifting tempo of what is played into it.

not_the_dj

That Free the Tone one looks great. Needs a 12v supply though.

I did like having the BPM readout on the TC Nova. That worked great for some recording/looping stuff where everything was based on a fixed BPM. 

stickyfiddle

not_the_dj said:

That Free the Tone one looks great. Needs a 12v supply though.

I did like having the BPM readout on the TC Nova. That worked great for some recording/looping stuff where everything was based on a fixed BPM. 

Balls to that! Bakc to Strymon. Can anyone lend me 300 quid?

lincolnblue

I can highly recommend the TC Nova Delay

hugbot

Vox delaylab. Duel delays, plenty of patches. Cant remember if it does bpm readout because I never use that but it might.

ThePrettyDamned

hugbot;410169" said:

Duel delays

FIGHT!

meltedbuzzbox

hugbot said:

Vox delaylab. Duel delays, plenty of patches. Cant remember if it does bpm readout because I never use that but it might.

it does a bpm display. 

I really like my delaylab, it does more than I will ever need

stickyfiddle

I'll look into the Delaylab but it's a bit bloody huge. The Strymon is a nice size and would let me fit lots of other pedals around it. Gah!

I can happily sell a couple of pedals to make the difference. But that's not so easy out here. Bah!

Drew_TNBD

I liked the DelayLab for its sounds, but it's tap tempo implementation is crap. Also the fact that the front of the pedal doesn't slope downwards even just a tiny bit is really annoying. It's like stepping on a brick!

My favourite delays (and I've been through a lot!):

TC Nova Delay

Line 6 DL-4

Line 6 M9

Boss DD7

english_bob

stickyfiddle said:

I'll look into the Delaylab but it's a bit bloody huge.

The "bloody huge" part is definitely one of the biggest downsides of the Delaylab. In every other respect it ticks your boxes. It's kind of like a DL-4 on steroids- does just about everything a DL-4 will do and a load more besides, but has a few little weird quirks.

Because it's got so many different modes it's easy to get lost and overwhelmed by what's going on. You really need to read the manual, or you would if it was remotely helpful, which it isn't. The only page you need is the one that tells you what each knob does in each of the 30 different delay modes. The rest is sitting down with the Delaylab, some strong coffee and a bottle of aspirin. Unlike the DL-4, where the delay time and feedback knobs controlled delay time and feedback in every mode and the other two knobs were called "tweak" and "tweez" so you knew they did different things depending on the mode you were in, on the Delaylab they've got sensible names, but those names don't necessarily relate to what they do in each mode. Not conducive to experimenting during band rehearsals.

Another thing worth knowing is that the tap tempo control only works with the Delaylab on- not in bypass- and that if you make any large tempo adjustments while playing (which you wouldn't normally I guess, but might if you accidentally missed a tap and ended up halving your tempo or something) it works as though you'd given the delay time knob a yank, and you'll get that "peowww!" noise as the delay repeats change pitch.

If you really liked the Flashback X4, it's worth knowing that TC have a new delay out that's designed primarily for running multiple rhythmic delays.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/flashback-triple-delay/

Drew_TNBD

Another thing with the delaylab, it felt slightly unintuitive when it came to the values. Like... with the Boss delays, I set my mix to 50%. With the delaylab to get the same sort of thing, the value had to be something like 7.0 and it felt kind of difficult to get the balance right, and this was global to all parameters. So feedback on my Boss pedals, around 40% of the knobs travel... on the delaylab it was closer to 9.0.

crunchman

I've owned DD6, Nova Delay, and Timeline.  Timeline is different class.

DD6 is unusable because of the way you have to hold the pedal down for 2 seconds to get into tap tempo mode, and another 2 seconds to get out of it when you want to turn the pedal off.  Doesn't sound that great either.

Nova Delay died on me twice.  First one was under warranty and I got a replacement, but then the replacement died after the warranty was up.  Authorised TC service centre was £78 per hour including VAT so it wasn't worth me fixing it.

Timeline has been bomb proof so far, and sounds a lot better as well.  The modulation is a lot nicer.

stickyfiddle

@english_bob I have seen that new TC one. They announced it literally the day after I got the Alter Ego... It looks nice, but I still think there's better for my needs on the market, and I've found I really like having a screen to see what all my settings are doing.

Delaylab looks good, but the house-brickness rules it out I think. I also think the knob travel thing @Drew_fx mentioned would be annoying. Not deal-breaking but one of those niggles that just piss you off a bit.

If I ditch the M9 and a couple of drives I can easily stretch to a Timeline (actually cheaper here than at home - higher shipping cost but no VAT )

If I was in the UK I'd go try a Vox but it's a pain buying and selling stuff out here and tbh I'll probably still covet a Timeline if I buy anything else.

not_the_dj

not_the_dj said:

Just buy a bloody Timeline and be done with it ;-)

Still this /\  :P