Line 6 - DL4 delay - reliability?

  • Thread starter Thread starter espskully
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espskully

espskully

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I am lookint at swapping my TC Electronics G-Major for a delay as that's all I use in the TC. I am interested in the Line 6 DL4 - but in the reviews I've read - people say they just stop working, which sounds like a nightmare. Instead, I was thinking of the Boss DD-20 Digital Delay, which is a little cheaper and apparently more reliable.

Any feedback on this? Has anyone had bad experiences with the DL4? The DD-20?

Thanks!
 
Never had mine stop working! It's fantastic to have the flexibility and variety that the DL4 offers...I love mine for all it can do.

Jacob
 
I've never had my DL4 fail me, and I really like the way everything works in it. The only problem I've had with it is that one time the tap tempo footswitch came loose and it fell down into the unit. Rather than send it in, I decided to fix it myself, but couldn't figure out how to get past the circuit board to the back side of the footswitch. I called up the support line that dealer techs normally use and told the guy I wasn't a dealer but that I just needed a quick answer to a small problem. The guy helped me out really cheerfully and told me to call him back if I needed any more help. Ever since then, the thing's been rock solid.
 
Thanks guys. I'll try both out at the store when I go.

Hey jkokura - I am in Calgary too.

Cheers!
 
One thing I will say though is that I haven't found a whole lot of use for all the different types of delays that the DL-4 emulates. It spends pretty much its entire life in the regular Digital Delay setting. I suppose I could find some creative use for the other settings, but I just don't have time to spend on that.
 
I think, if I recall correctly (it's been a couple years since I read about these Line6 units), that on the older versions the switches were soldered directly to the PC board, and were known to break off fairly easily. I think that might be the big reliability issue that people were talking about, and that it might've been corrected at some point. I'm not totally sure, though.
 
Adam P said:
I think, if I recall correctly (it's been a couple years since I read about these Line6 units), that on the older versions the switches were soldered directly to the PC board, and were known to break off fairly easily. I think that might be the big reliability issue that people were talking about, and that it might've been corrected at some point. I'm not totally sure, though.
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If that's how the originals were, then they fixed it a while ago. I've had mine for over 2 years and the switches are attached to the case with the normal "nut onto a threaded shaft", and then there are jumper wires from the switches to the PC board.
 
Right, like I said, this was a couple years ago that I was looking at those for a friend of mine, and I think they had just started correcting them around the time I was looking. Most of the reliability complaints were from people who had the earliest units.
 
espskully said:
Thanks guys. I'll try both out at the store when I go.

Hey jkokura - I am in Calgary too.

Cheers!
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That's cool. What are you up to? Running a studio in your house or are you working at one? In a band right now?

I'm a student, doing the recording thing part-time...

Jacob
 
jkokura said:
That's cool. What are you up to? Running a studio in your house or are you working at one? In a band right now?

I'm a student, doing the recording thing part-time...

Jacob
Click to expand...

I produce music for film/tv out of my home studio. We are buying a new house soon and I want to branch out into producing other bands. No band - gave that up a while ago. Too many politics and ego's. Recording is only part time for me too. One day it would be nice to make a living at it.
 
Well I ended up getting the Boss DD20. It was used and on for $150 (Canadian). My TC G Major has gone down from $725 to $350 - ouch! I got $300 for it. I haven't tried the Boss yet but look forward to it. I'll post a review soon.

CHeers
 
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