Delay pedal help

[nickyseow]

HI all.

I've been away so long that I don't know what's been going on since i last left at least a year back.

Anyway, I'm in a spot.

Here's the background of the problem:
For the past few years or so, I've been playing for my church's main service, my rig has been the same since i last posted (tele->tonepress->burst E->bichorus->echopark->an SS amp they provide). When I use the echo park, I have lived too long with having to duck down to switch a delay setting, e.g. from an attack <12 o'clock to 1 or 2 o'clock, or switching from dotted 8th mode to standard tap mode.. you get the picture. So here you have it, a guitarist who stoops down at least a few times within the set to switch settings. Comical, yes, but change was welcome.

Herein layeth the dilemma. Now I know this forum has somewhat gone through many phases, from the boutique love to the toneczar stuff to good old boss to the newer stuff from TC and eventide and everything in between, so I need some input from you guys.

I'm looking for a delay unit that isn't too "frilly" if you get my drift.

- Something I can change presets with the tap of a foot( i.e without the exception of a midi controller, i actually at least 2 presets at my disposal on the fly)
- Something with a global tap tempo would be good
- Something as or more versatile then the trusty echo park where delay character is concerned (if you know the presets on the echo park, you know what i'm talking about)
- Something you can cop analog-y or digital-y or tape-y delay sounds.

I have no qualms with a special power adaptor or what not.

Now, I've narrowed down my search to either a line 6 DL4, a nova delay, or an eventide timefactor. The DL4 appealed to me the most, till i heard of the volume loss issues which put me off a bit. Unless there's a mod that addresses the problem, I'm hesitant.

Then came the nova delay which i checked out, courtesy of the proguitarshop vid and the reviews from HC. Everything about it appealed to me more then the DL4, till i realized I couldn't change presets on the fly. I didn't do "in-depth" homework, but if the nova delay has support for midi control, do chime in. Price-wise, it seems acceptable cos I'll be off-setting it with the echo park i'm selling to a friend.

The Timefactor. $$$. Steeper learning curve. 'Nuff said. Unless you can sell it to me based on my picky prerequisites.

Help!

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

dl4 with volume drop. This one is an old issue and only to certain batches of the pedal(the story can be googled, jeorge tripps, line 6 volume drop, cap issues etc ). It has long long long been rectified. And theres someone local who can mod the dl4 as well, been doing for the last 2 years at least. So no worries bout volume drop or thingy

 

[lifele55]

Something not so fancy but capable of doing what you've stated, I only have 2 in mind.. DL4 and the DD20. I myself just got a DL4 and I love presets and what its capable of doing..

 

[j_m_s]

The timefactor is a great delay pedal. Albeit less intuitive to use live, but once you get used to it, you should be fine. Only downside is... THERES NO STINKIN BANK DOWN SWITCH! to get from bank 5 to 1, you have to press it 6 more times. so it goes/ bank 6 bank 7 bank 8 bank 9 bank 10 and oo voila bank 1.

 

[jupzones]

was in your situation before.

bought a dd-20. great decision couldn't be happier.

just wait for someone to sell one, they go for about 270-290.

 

[jony]

DD-20. Does everything you specified. Some don't think the tones are anything to shout about, but the cost does go alot higher to get something else.

Some people like to stack two delay pedals. 2 DD-5s being one of the popular ones. Basically one is set to Quarter notes and another Dotted Eighths.

 

[Danelectrico]

The Nova delay probably meets all your criteria.

You can program up to 9 presets in banks 1 to 9 (so if you only need 3, you can set it to scroll through banks 1 to 3 only). Do note that you can scroll up, but not down banks, so if you have all 9 banks and you miss 1, good luck to you (the Nova Modulator has the scroll down function but it involves stepping a combination of both footswitches 3 or more times to scroll down...not very friendly when playing live).

Each preset bank allows you to set either a fixed saved tempo, or a global tempo which you can control by the rate knob or tap tempo footswitch. There are also 6 different delay repeat types / subdivisions (regular quarter notes, dotted eights, eights triplets and combinations of the above) for each bank. This is useful if you prefer to set for example 3 banks with different delay sounds (eg 1 = tape delay with modulation, 2 = analog delay on dynamic / ducking mode, 3 = crisp digital delay, 4 = crisp digital delay on dotted eights) and then set the rate with tap tempo for each song.

Do note that even on the extreme "tape" mode, the delay never sounds truly like an analog or tape delay - just the high end on the repeats is rolled off and thickened. It's warm and quite convincing to an extent, but it doesn't react like an good analog delay nor does it have that lo-fi vibe to it.

All in all though, it's my favourite one stop shop delay pedal. The Eventide's got more options but it just seems a bit too complicated for players that are looking for something that bridges the gap between a set and forget stompbox and a more versatile and programmable unit. I liked em so much, i got 2 of em!

 

[edder]

DL4, you can use an expression pedal to "toggle/blend" within 2 presets in 1 bank as well.

 

[nickyseow]

hey guys thanks for all the replies, really appreciate them.

OK some of my thoughts:

1) (regarding the dl4 volume issues), Ah.. Sounds like there were a lot of updates on this, so basically the ones off the shelf would have had the volume-drop issue rectified? I started reading the reviews on HC and I'm almost frightened away. haha. Guess there's no better review then your own pair of ears eh.

2) (regarding the nova delay) Actually, looking at it, and the more intuitive nature of the controls, it DOES look like it suits my needs more. However saying this, I'm slightly put off by the lack of midi control, cos presets are quite key for me. Oh well.

3) (regarding the timefactor) oh hey, after some homework scouring the web, it looks like the timefactor does have the preset thing going on! 10X2 presets if i read correctly? oh my oh my. This just changes everything. haha. time for an ebenex visit.