Delay unit or Pedal

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Wireneck

Wireneck

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I like to play with a little bit of delay on my leads live. For the last year I have been using a Tc Electronics m300 in my effects loop but I recently changed amp heads and I just don't like what the m300 is doing to my distorted tone. I use it in a parallel fx loop and I just haven't been able to get the gain staging right.
I would ideally like to find something that has tap tempo and a swell effect similar to the swell setting on the guitar pod. I was thinking that a pedal might suit me better since I won't have to use my fx loop but it would definitely need to be true bypass.
Any ideas? The only thing I can think of is the Boss DD-6 (not sure if it is true bypass) and the Line 6 delay modeler looks cool but its a bit pricey. Also saw Line 6's echo park but it looks cheap. No idea if it actually is or not.
 
I wish I could give you some solid advice here, but of course it's all subjective.
I was after a new delay a while back and I did a comparison of the Line 6 Echo Park and the Boss, and the Boss sounded alot more pure to me. I just felt like I heard more nasty artifacts in the tone from the Line 6.

I used a Digitech Digidelay for several years and was happy with it, but one day it just stopped working.

Good luck on your search.
 
This is going to be a matter of taste.

I have Boss pedal (DD-6) which doesn't cut it for me. I also have the T.C. G-SHARP which I really like a lot. I know what you mean by getting levels set up...it can take some doing. The G-Sharp gives me some other nicely done time based effects and because I've got it patched into my recording patch bay, I can use it for outboard recording/processing if I get the urge.


Good luck.
 
I think that your problem might be due to the parallel effects loop. I had a DSL401 with a parallel loop, and that thing was made pretty much exclusively for rackmount delay. If you use a pedal for your gain, I'd put it a pedal in front of the amp behind the gain. Otherwise, get ahold of a rack system for delay.
 
Man... I know it's a little steep, but I am absolutely loving my Line 6 DL4. It was like 250 bucks, and is very very versatile and includes stereo inputs and outputs, very high quality delay effects with good parameter adjustability, a 14 second phrase looper that can actually play things in reverse, infinite loop samples within the 14 seconds, half tempo... it is a really easy to use pedal also. I wouldn't recommend going any other direction for a single delay pedal to do it all. Built like a tank. I bet it will last 50 years. I've had mine for about a year now, and it is just awesome across the board.
 
I have an Akai Headrush and it's freakin' awesome! First off ....... I generally don't like digital delays for gits on gigs ...... they're too, ummmmmm, studio sounding .... too detailed .... just too clean and perfect like something you'd mix in for vocals. It just doesn't work well in front of your amp. And, of course, the Echoplex is the golden standard for a lot of things.
So the Akai, to my ears, sounds very analog tape-like and was supposedly designed that way. It even has 4 virtual heads like some Echoplexes did and you can virtually slide them back and forth allowing repeats of varying response times and you even have a seperate output for each head so on a recording you could have an echo go .dink ... dink ... dink .... dink (isn't that great sound imaging? :) ) with each one panned differently across the image field. A H.F. damping control to add to the tapeness of it ...... I think it's one of the better delays soundwise for a guitar that there is.
There is a tempo button

And it does have looping and one other mode but I can't tell you about them ;cause I haven't fooled with them ..... hmmmm .... guess it's time to do so.
 
Lt. Bob said:
It even has 4 virtual heads like some Echoplexes did...

I never saw one that had more than one sliding head, and I've seen a lot of them. I've still got mine.
 
The boss dd-20 is pretty good for the price. I has different delay types with milli sec adjustment. The key here for me is the 4 presets in a pedal. I have ran into problems adusting between songs live. I don't own the beast yet. But I gave it a test run at GC. The analog selection is very nice. I would give it a drive.
 
ggunn said:
I never saw one that had more than one sliding head, and I've seen a lot of them. I've still got mine.
hmmmm .... well all the normal models had a sliding head. But I think there was a rare one that had multiple heads. Probably made in small quantities ...... but I can't say for sure. Perhaps Akai just decided if they were gonna do one virtual head they might as well do several.
Either way .... it's a cool feature.
 
DL4 DL4 DL4 you'll love it...

there's no excuse for using delay without tap tempo..
 
Lt. Bob said:
hmmmm .... well all the normal models had a sliding head. But I think there was a rare one that had multiple heads. Probably made in small quantities ...... but I can't say for sure. Perhaps Akai just decided if they were gonna do one virtual head they might as well do several.
Either way .... it's a cool feature.

I saw the James Gang back in the day, and Joe Walsh played barefoot so he could grab the little spike that sticks up from the sliding PB head between his toes to adjust it on the fly. Great show!
 
or, alternatively, steal a monkey from the zoo. teach him to play guitar with the exact same setup as you, and train him to play the exact same thing you do, just a certain amount of time afterwards. you could get him like a stop watch, and he could restart it after every note.

you could buy him a shirt which has "Mr Delay" written on it, and he could stand completely still until you stand on his foot, at which point he springs into life and starts "being the delay".

i don't know why no one has thought of this before.

i think i may well be a genius.

Andy.

p.s. exactly what d'you think the M300 is doing to your tone? i use one too, and have been more than happy with - i'm not saying you're wrong :p just interested to know what it's altering.

ta!
 
eeb said:
DL4 DL4 DL4 you'll love it...

there's no excuse for using delay without tap tempo..

+1 totally agreed. I still regret selling mine even though I've got a GT8 because of it.
 
MF-104z. Excellent analog delay, with an external loop through the feedback function. Also, the time, feedback and mix functions are CV-controlled by either expression pedal or oscillator.

Does some very kewl Whammy-style stuff.
 
eeb said:
there's no excuse for using delay without tap tempo..


I play with a really short slap-back and a tap tempo wouldn't work at all for ~50ms delay.

I have an old ibanez digital delay that is a piece of shit. It's good enough for me.
 
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