Delay Unit That Will Not Alter Steel Tone

Kenny Radas · Post by **Kenny Radas** » 11 Jan 2013 7:16 am

Can someone point me to a delay unit that will not screw with the natural tone of a steel guitar? Can be rack mount or a floor pedal. I just want it to not either suck the highs off the signal or pump the top end up like the Boss DD-3 does. What are other players using that you are happy with??? Thanks much.

Karen Sarkisian · Post by **Karen Sarkisian** » 11 Jan 2013 7:59 am

Have you checked the strymon pedals ? el capistan and timeline seem to be the best out there right now. I have an mxr carbon copy which is great for guitar but definitely darkens and distorts a bit with steel. I also have a tc electronics flashback pedal and a boss dd-6. i like the flashback best for clean pedal steel but its got a lot going on as far as pre-sets that you cant really change. I do think it is a good compromise between the dd-6 sterility and the cc analog darkness, i particularly like the tape delay setting. I would like to try an el capistan, i hear that is the holy grail of tape delay emulation, but they are expensive, timeline is even more, but i think those are probably the best pedals. I may sell my flashback and grab an el cap myself.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 11 Jan 2013 8:13 am

Karen Sarkisian wrote:Have you checked the strymon pedals ? el capistan and timeline seem to be the best out there right now.

Yeah, I've got their "Lex" rotary pedal & it's great.
I was wondering about something with a smaller footprint though....if there's anything comparable.

These look nice but they ain't cheap!

....or for a bit less $$$

Dave Morrison · Post by **Dave Morrison** » 11 Jan 2013 12:37 pm

I just got a Wampler pedal that I'm liking .Check em out.Dave

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 Jan 2013 12:58 pm

I picked up this Vox Time Machine delay pedal a while back and like it a lot.

Mike Sweeney · Post by **Mike Sweeney** » 11 Jan 2013 4:11 pm

Kenny, I'm using the Hardwire DL-8 and love it. Straight through by-pass.

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 11 Jan 2013 4:35 pm

Tc electronic Flashback. Small and very flexible. I'm not crazy about the absence of a tap tempo option, although there is a tempo recognition option, which is kinda cool but not very practical. I just started using the bigger Flashback X4, which has a tap tempo switch and three presets. It sounds fantastic withh both guitar and pedal steel. i think the Flashback and TC electronic Hall of Fame reverb make a for an excellent combo for steel, tons of options, excellent quality and easy on the wallet.

Dan Galysh · Post by **Dan Galysh** » 12 Jan 2013 10:05 am

My favorite is the Strymon Timeline. The Hardwire DL-8 sounds great, with the downside being- settings can't be programmed into it- if that feature is desired.

Dan Blaisdell · Post by **Dan Blaisdell** » 12 Jan 2013 11:39 am

TC Electronics ND-1 Nova Delay works well. It doesn't seem to effect tone, has a tap feature, and has several programmable/recallable presets available. I mainly use one programmed preset set on Dynamic at 275 ms.

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 12 Jan 2013 12:26 pm

The Strymon pedals arA great, but they are not cheap! The strymon Timeline and the Eventide Time Factor are most likely the most powerful and flexible pedals out there, but they are overkill for most users.

If it's just for a simple echo/slapback, something like the Wampler Faux analog echo or the Keeley AD-9 would be sufficient. But again, I have to say, for the money, the TC Flashback is tough to beat.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 12 Jan 2013 12:54 pm

Alex,
Have you tried the Wampler you mentioned?
If so, how did it compare with the Flashback?

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 12 Jan 2013 8:51 pm

I do own this Wampler but I haven't used it much. To me, so far, it sounds like a really great pedal for short delays and slapback. Kind of a one trick poney, albeit a very good one, and the tone is really good. I got mine for my guitar setup, not for the pedal steel. Give me a week and I can make a better evaluation then. I just got the pedal during the Holidays.

The Flashback is more versatile, and is expandable and updatable via USB. If you want to do ambiant things, reverse delays, long delays, then the TC would be a good choice. It really depends what use you want to make of it. The other really useful type of delay on this pedal is the dynamic delay, which is fantastic for pedal steel, because the delay only occurs when you're not playing, so it doesn't make a mess when you play solos and fills.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 Jan 2013 6:47 am

Have you tried the Flashback with an alkaline 9V battery at all?
Just wondering what the battery life might be.

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 13 Jan 2013 7:54 am

I can't remember if it was the WET reverb or the Flashback but one of those was eating battery like its cheesecake. I think it was the Flashback. Fancy delay pedals seem to use more current than other pedals, or at least thats my very unscientific observation.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 Jan 2013 8:47 am

Yeah...the WET reverbs can't run on a battery.
Only with an adaptor.

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 13 Jan 2013 9:03 am

I have the mono WET reverb, I think it does allow for battery operation. Dont have the pedal with me now, so I can't say for sure.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 Jan 2013 11:05 am

"WET" page

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 13 Jan 2013 5:14 pm

On my massive pedalboard I've been using what I considered the greatest delay in the world--a BYOC 3 knob unit that I built. Just last week I finally had to confront the fact that the only reason I was so high on it was that I built it and it worked the first time I plugged it in. If that ain't love, what is?
Anyway, it lacks flexibility and it lacks transparency. And it is fairly dirty (white noise).

I just ordered a TC Alter Ego which is a Flashback with a few custom features, commissioned/codeveloped by Proguitarshop.com .
I was quite impressed with the youtube demo. It does a bunch of stuff that I'm looking for. It has great ambience options including a 'dynamic' setting that basically ducks the delay while you are picking and raises the level when you stop so that you can do some long, long multi-tap stuff that won't be mud while you pick but will trail into the space when you stop.

It can do dark stuff--a cure for the digital crispness that bugs me. (These are all features that I believe the Flashback also has).
And it does tape delay sims and slapback stuff. And I freakin love the small footprint.

Anyway, I'm jazzed--should get it by the end of the week.
.
.
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Billy Carr · Post by **Billy Carr** » 14 Jan 2013 4:17 pm

I've had good things only trying the Boss DD3. I'd like to try the delay Mike S. mentioned. If he says it's good, that's good enough for me. Hey buddy! Maybe we can pick again at another Fulton, MS. show down the road.

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 15 Jan 2013 3:51 am

I've tried a bunch of delays and reverbs. There are quite a few really good ones but for me, the Timeline is far and away the best. I haven't even scratched the suface of all the things it fan do. Pristine sound quality. It's expensive but well worth it.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 Jan 2013 5:40 am

I'm late getting into this. My DD-5 does not color the tone. The tone of my steel is not altered either when the delay is on or bypassed. The bypass mode tone is exactly like the steel tone direct without the DD-5 in the circuit.

There are a lot of effect units that will color (affect) the tone even in bypass mode, but the DD-5 does not.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 15 Jan 2013 5:54 am

Cartwright Thompson wrote:I've tried a bunch of delays and reverbs. There are quite a few really good ones but for me, the Timeline is far and away the best.

No doubt...all the Strymon stuff is top notch. Anything "in the ballpark" that's smaller?

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 15 Jan 2013 6:57 am

I don't know of any better delay pedal in the world than the Timeline by Strymon...

B

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 15 Jan 2013 7:22 am

Jay,
It's not as big as you might think, only a little more than 1 1/2 times the size of the El Capistan.
The El Cap would be my second choice after the Timeline. I have one but don't use it much, although it does things that the Timeline doesn't do.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 15 Jan 2013 11:10 am

For sessions, I use "expensive" rack mount delays, and I sometimes have to modify the signal going in to get the "steel sound" coming out.

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