The Steel Guitar Forum

Would appreciate comments from some who have used these units, I noted they are much bigger bucks than average effect units such as Boss and others, my primary interest is reverb and delay, would like to know what Strymon has that others don't, all comments appreciated.

Stunning sound quality and unprecedented control. Will anyone more than two feet away notice? Probably not...

And an analog dry path. That means your guitar itself remains fully analog and doesn't have to get converted to digital and back. Only the effect is digital. And the quality of the dry path is very good, very clean, doesn't degrade or alter the tone of your instrument. Very well made stuff.

Brad

they are probably the highest quality effect made today. Unbelievable sounding boxes.

Yes they are more, and yes the audience will notice because you can get way more creative with them than most other boxes I have tried. Plus they are designed and built right here in the states! Can't say that about the other low cost brands

Point well-taken about the audience noticing due to creativity and, perhaps, because we all typically play better when we like our own sound. The imperfect analogy that comes to mind is playing in stereo. In most cases, few, if any, at the front of the stage will notice but since we love the sound it's both more fun and more inspiring.

My intended point had more to do with the fact that many/most sonic subtleties are lost with the first cymbal crash.

Chris Bauer wrote:Point well-taken about the audience noticing due to creativity and, perhaps, because we all typically play better when we like our own sound. The imperfect analogy that comes to mind is playing in stereo. In most cases, few, if any, at the front of the stage will notice but since we love the sound it's both more fun and more inspiring.

My intended point had more to do with the fact that many/most sonic subtleties are lost with the first cymbal crash.

I respectfully disagree. Why bother using good sounding equipment at all with that attitude? I am a recording engineer and hear this sentiment a lot on recording forums, e.g. why use a Neumann U47 when I can use a cheap Chinese knock-off because the average listener using earbuds won't hear the difference?

In my experience, seemingly little sonic improvements will always compound to make a very noticeable difference in the resulting sound...and the notion that low-quality asian gear is sonically indistinguishable from high quality gear designed and produced in the USA is laughable.

I'm anxious to try the Strymon El Capistan...a player I deeply admire said it is amazing and the depth of the design is incredible. Have you seen the demo of that pedal on youtube?

Best,
Chris

I like the Strymon stuff quite a bit. Talked to them at NAMM, and they are super nice. The multi head feature on the El Capstan does a very good job of emulating a WEM Copi Cat, or other similar multi heads. And it does a lot of other emulations. Their pedals tend to do a number of thing. If you look at any of their manuals, the functionality is pretty deep. I tend to be a fan of pedals that only do one thing very well, and I find that the Catalinbread pedals do that for me. I don't think you could go wrong with any of Strymons offerings.

It is pretty amazing how far pedals have come in the last few years.

Chris G. - Recording is a whole 'nother deal and I couldn't agree with you more. The catch there is that, more and more, I'm asked to cut dry with any effects coming from the studio's gear and not printed. That's especially true with any time-shifting effects.

Plus, in case it helps to clarify, I LOVE my Strymon gear. I have several of their pedals and they're among my favorites. I just don't believe that most folks who hear me play - live in particular - could discern their sound from any number of much cheaper pedals. Doesn't mean I would rather play without them, though!

I bought a Strymon El Cap because of reputation and because of many of its features--bells & whistles, if you will. I decided I just had to have one after listening to a great player on stage doing stuff that didn't seem possible, looking at his pedalboard. I'd had no idea the El Cap could do those things, in addition to standard delay.

Now that I have it, I realize how very little I will use its most interesting features (never say never). But I can't take it off my fx chain because it is simply the most beautiful sounding delay I have ever used.
All the things that make me keep tweaking other delays just don't seem to be an issue with the Strymon. It sits where I put it (in my sound) and works. Never sounds digitally brittle, never distracts.
Go to their website to view video demos of the features and tweaks. You'll just have to trust word of mouth re: the quality of the sound.

Many plusses for features. The ultimate plus for Sounds Good.

I really like the sounds out of my lex rotary pedal. Much smaller than others too. I can change almost every parameter on the thing and get usable different sounds. Very well thought out and executed pedal. I built a small switch that I plugged into the "remote" connection in the back to switch between fast/slow and velcro-ed it to the side of my steel. Instant organ sounds.

Which of the Strymon delay pedals would you recommend, and why?

I have an MXR Carbon Copy that sounds pretty good, but it really changes the tone of the steel. The steel gets a lot thinner and harder sounding. Do the Strymon delays avoid that kind of problem?

Paul Sutherland wrote:I have an MXR Carbon Copy that sounds pretty good, but it really changes the tone of the steel. The steel gets a lot thinner and harder sounding. Do the Strymon delays avoid that kind of problem?

Yes. I get the most mileage out of the El Capistan for steel, and the Flint for guitar. The empress super delay is also a great delay pedal that doesn't get talked about much here.

I am currently using the Strymon 'Blue Sky' reverb, 'Brigadier' delay and the new 'Deco' pedal and once you have heard the difference it is difficult to settle for less. Yes, having $1000.00 plus invested in effects seems a bit excessive, but especially in these modern, (mass produced in Asia) times, quality does not come cheaply. My alternate rig (for clubs that allow smoking on the premises) is a 'Nano' reverb and DD-3 delay with the Keeley mod, and even they pale by comparison.

Be aware that the El Capistan, the only Strymon with which I have experience, is a simulation of a tape delay. Its huge range of features and tweaks are all about adding 'age' to the 'tape', adding 'dirt' to the 'tape heads', adding warble based on stretched, degraded 'tape', etc (all simulation) .

I would call all of this extreme overkill for anyone not looking for these sorts of effects (you can get great Melotron sims).
--except--
As I said above, it just sounds so good.
At its minimum settings it can sound like a great analog delay. I don't intend to ditch something that sounds as good as this sounds.

Again, go to the Strymon site and watch the demos and decide for yourself. If someone wants a 3 knob set and forget pedal, this is probably not the best fit.

I use the Blue Sky, Mobius, and the Womanizer(made by Damage Control, which is Strymons previous name)...all can't be replaced with anything else I have heard. My delay is by Eventide which is great but that was before Strymon had one, and not sure which would be prefered now...
I screwed up and plugged the wrong wall wart into my Blue Sky and fried it. I called Strymon and owned up to the fact that it was NOT their fault, and 'I' was to blame...still, they replaced my Blue Sky w/o a charge! Now THAT is a company worth supporting.

I will also vouch for the quality and creative potential of Strymon's products. I currently use both the BlueSky and El Capistan, hoping to move up to their respective big brother in the near future. They are deep (almost every knob has a secondary function), well thought out and sound stellar IMHO... The two that I bought were totally worth the scratch for what I want to hear coming back at me.

Best,

Julian

I don't mind a pedal that has a lot on it that I'll never use. Both the El Capistan and the Brigadier have many more features than I need or want. I take it they both have similar tone quality, if all one is doing is putting a touch of delay into the signal path.

Which to get: El Capistan or Brigadier???

My Carbon Copy would be just fine if it didn't mess with the tone. I should say that sometimes I really like how my steel sounds with the Carbon Copy.

The Brigadier will be much more similar to the carbon copy, in that it should be able to nail the carbon copy bucket brigade sound with a lot more control and fidelity. I have the timeline, and find myself using the tape (El Cap) modes the most because I think they sound beautiful with my steel. I also use some of the other modes on certain songs for soundscapes and weird delays.

I also have a Flint, Lex, and Ob.1.

The Flint is always on for me, I use the 70's plate verb and blend it with some amp spring reverb. I love the 3 knob design for the reverb section, just the right amount of controls for my liking.

The Lex is super fun and sounds great with a POG, but is more of a 1 song a night kind of pedal for me.

The Ob.1 is my favorite compressor on steel. Can be very subtle (compared to the Keeley). I only use it with the louder modern country band to smooth things out a bit, although I use the boost function a lot.

I have the Blue Sky reverb unit and it is fabulous!

The Deco is probably my favorite one. Its a tape delay, and also has a transparent tape overdrive.

Since its stereo, you can get a real Sun Records thing happening where the slap comes out of one amp and the original signal comes out of the other. Plus you can speed up or slow down the tape for stereo chorus, phase, etc.

I bought a used Flint from a Forum member and use that all the time too. They are so much friggin fun. I am gonna make the leap to a stereo rig soon just to take advantage of the Strymon pedals

I replaced a carbon copy with an el capistan- the cc had a tone-thinning quality, and left ugly sonic artifacts with complex slides. So far the el cap has been an excellent delay- I use about 20% of the pedal's capabilities onstage, and make noise with the rest at home- cool reverb in the pedal as well.

Thanks for all the info, you have convinced me that Strymon is the way to go, SID, good to hear from you, hope you can be with us at China Grove on March 28

Gerry Simon wrote:I use the Blue Sky, Mobius, and the Womanizer(made by Damage Control, which is Strymons previous name)...all can't be replaced with anything else I have heard. My delay is by Eventide which is great but that was before Strymon had one, and not sure which would be prefered now...
I screwed up and plugged the wrong wall wart into my Blue Sky and fried it. I called Strymon and owned up to the fact that it was NOT their fault, and 'I' was to blame...still, they replaced my Blue Sky w/o a charge! Now THAT is a company worth supporting.

I still use my Damage Control Liquid Blues pedal. I love it. It has a big footprint though.

The Strymon Flint, with Reverb and Tremolo is welded to my pedalboard. I use it primarily for conventional 6 string guitar. It is ideal for Rockabilly with 3 modes of 60's, 70's and 80's reverb as well as a beautiful Tremolo side. It is a double pedal. I would really like to get any of the Strymon delay pedals. Wonderful quality, and you have to pay for it.

I have a Lex, a Flint, and a Deco. I use the Deco for slap back and chorus. The Flint does a fantastic job on the Fender "Harmonic Vibrato," which is why I bought it. The Lex with an EH B9 is frighteningly good.

Strymon stuff is top-notch. It is well-built, sounds good, built like a tank, and intelligently designed. It's expensive and worth every penny. I'll probably still buy an El Capistan. I saw an international group recently, and sat next to the FOH. They were using an El Cap for echo on the vocals.

steven