FANCY DELAY ADVICE (Flight Time content)

JohnPerry

Fancy a change and am considering offloading my Strymon El Cap and Brigadier for maybe a Flight Time. I already have an Echolution 2, which is glorious actually, but the FT intrigues me. Any FT owners want to tell me why this is a good or bad idea?

thisisguitar

@Gassage @Wazmeister

GavRichList

@meltedbuzzbox I've elected you to speak for our team

meltedbuzzbox

GavHaus said:

@meltedbuzzbox I've elected you to speak for our team

I am too new to the game. @Heartfeltdawn is the king of delay and has owned pretty much everything.

I recall he said he felt the empress superdelay vintage modified was better than the flight time. 

I personally prefer the layout and styling of the Superdelay.

I would also say the super delay just sounds awesome on every setting I have tried. Its the first usable reverse delay I have ever seen and the mode switch just keeps giving. 

Loving my so far very much

JohnPerry

Isn't the Flight Time rather more of a digital flavouring anyway? I fancy that. I have plenty of analoggery already. Plus the FT has cute little red LEDs. These things matter

meltedbuzzbox

JohnPerry said:

Isn't the Flight Time rather more of a digital flavouring anyway? I fancy that. I have plenty of analoggery already. Plus the FT has cute little red LEDs. These things matter

not a clue to be honest. 

@Gassage and @Wazmeister will be along shortly to tell you its the best delay pedal ever (apart from the Cornish TES in Gassage's opinion etc). 

Gassage

@johnperry

It's the best sounded digital delay I have ever heard. Huge sounding- that's its key.

I was speaking to Ryan at Coda this morning and he was raving over them.

I'd struggle to take even a TES over it (I would but it would be close)

meltedbuzzbox

I love being right

JohnPerry

Gassage said:

@johnperry

It's the best sounded digital delay I have ever heard. Huge sounding- that's its key.

imagine if it was stereo

Pete24v

I bought one from here recently, I love it! El Cap is off my board and Brigadier is sold.. Still keeping El Cap as the FT is totally different.

I love the presets on the FT, I have my 6 most used delays in there. If I didn't buy the FT I suppose a Timeline would've been the next choice for me.

Wazmeister

John,

As you know, Ive bought a million delays....

The Flight Time is special. It reminds me of the Magnatone amp I had last year; absolutely filled the room with glorious 3D sounds. I think it scores in its clarity of sound; a bit like a TES but with the ability to be darker as well...

It never seems to get lost in the mix, and sounds beautifully sweet. It really does. I sold my El Cap but the FT is a different sound and feel.

Wazmeister

Which leads me onto the user interface. Hmmmm.... Saves well, and is very easy to use BUT i miss knobs rather than the +|- button switches. The banking up and down is a wee bit long winded too.

But its untouchable out there !

GavRichList

Empress SuperDelay. 

meltedbuzzbox

GavHaus said:

Empress SuperDelay Vintage modified in a white superdelay case

fixed

Heartfeltdawn

meltedbuzzbox said:

I am too new to the game. @Heartfeltdawn is the king of delay and has owned pretty much everything.

Does Paypal Gift and a blowjob cover the compliment charge?

I'm not quite the king of delays as I've never had a TES, wouldn't ever spend the money on one, and would be more likely to felch Brian from TGP than to play a Gilmour solo. I'll happily settle for being 'Delay gutter trollop'.  

John, looking at what you've got now, then I'll offer these thoughts:

First, the FT is better than the Brigadier. As the others have said, it sounds huge. Like the Neunaber Wet, the effected sound just seems to sit so well with your actual guitar tone. It's something I've never found with Strymon (as you well know!). It's got the clarity you associate with digital delays without sounding overtly artificial or 'tacked on'. More clarity than the Timefactor or any of the TC delays I've used (Nova etc). The interface is very simple.

Downers? There's two for me. One is the modulation. It's not that great really. My idea of great modulation is something slow and warbly for those lovely detuned sounds you get on Boards of Canada records (one reason why the Empress VMSD is now my favourite delay ever). I couldn't get anything I was happy with at the slower settings. Faster settings, it was better. 

The major downer was the filter. When twatting around with it through my one amp, a slightly fucked up Peavey Bandit which has now gone to a new owner, the filter worked fine. Hooked up direct to a computer... ooooops. On some settings there was clear digital hash present. It was a simple guitar-->Flight Time-->DAW connection, nothing complex, but you could hear it was there when altering the filters, a bit of hash on the repeats. I tried it using two different interfaces, SPL Crimson and Steinberg UR22, both going into Reaper, same results on both. Offhand there is no hash when the filters are off (can't remember the exact setting on that).   

So no problem through amps. Direct recording with the filters working, you might hear it. 

Overall: it's a good delay, no doubt about it. If you want that clarity then you'll have to stump up the cash. For me, it's not the flavour I like, the filter issue is a bit jarring, and the modulation is a bit meh.  

Secondly, dump the El Capistan and buy an Empress Tape Delay. I had an original Superdelay what seems and probably is years ago and thought it a bit sterile, clean but lacking a bit of fun. The VMSD fixes everything wrong with the original. The tape sounds are fantastic, the modulation superb, the sound is warm without being muddy (the low/high cut options can help there) and it's one of the few multi-function delays I've used where I could see a use for each option. It destroys the El Capistan. I sat down for two hours comparing the VMSD to the much-vaunted Echoboy plugin. By the end, I thought the VMSD won by a very small head in sound quality terms alone. 

So yeah. Spend some money

JohnPerry

Thanks all. V useful all that. Will listen to some youtubery and see what's what

Pete24v

I noticed a pretty decent improvement in the modulation on the FT when upgrading the firmware from 1.0 to 1.2

Heartfeltdawn

Pete24v said:

I noticed a pretty decent improvement in the modulation on the FT when upgrading the firmware from 1.0 to 1.2

I'd read somewhere online that was the case. How did it improve in your opinion? 

Lew

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6Tf8mPsvcOs/maxresdefault.jpg

Wazmeister;519923" said:

Which leads me onto the user interface. Hmmmm.... Saves well, and is very easy to use BUT i miss knobs rather than the +|- button switches. The banking up and down is a wee bit long winded too.

But its untouchable out there !

Lew

Gassage;519448" said:

I'd struggle to take even a TES over it (I would but it would be close)

http://blogs.charlestondailymail.com/nerdliving/files/2011/04/Great-Scott2.jpg

Pete24v

Heartfeltdawn;520040" said:

Pete24v said:

I noticed a pretty decent improvement in the modulation on the FT when upgrading the firmware from 1.0 to 1.2





I'd read somewhere online that was the case. How did it improve in your opinion? 

To my ears it was smoother modulation, like subtle chorusing. I've only added it to 1 preset though, Nd not much of it. It does wobble at the extreme settings.