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Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:54 am
by Hank2k
Hi Dave

Im with you on the above. For a long time i have now used the Zoom G3 with my band and for that purpose i wouldn't use a tape echo unit and it gives me a good sound and its consistent and reliable and that is exactly what i want live. However i have just got my Vox Short Tom back from repairs after 3 months and after messing around with it last night its blown me away. It is so easy to get a sound just the guitar and echo and amp, i didnt need to use eq pedal etc and it gave me a sound that i cant get with anything else that made the hairs on my arms stand on end and reminded me just what is so great about the old tape echo units (I say old units as i had an ESE 4 head model and found it very clean and clinical)

I was planning on selling the short tom but after playing around with it im not sure i want to now.

The problem I have is i wouldn't want to take it out and use it live so apart from the odd session at home or shadows clubs its an expensive piece of kit just sitting there, i guess that is the issue above all. We all want the sound of the old kit but we don't want the cost, reliability and weight of it all so we have to compromise somewhere.

Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:49 pm
by Clarry
The same can be said for "outboard" reverb units. There's something physical that you can almost touch about it. My Surfy Bear reverb kit built into an old 1938 radio is immense!

Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:53 pm
by Iain Purdon
As someone with no vested interest and a reasonable pair of ears, I'd say you can do fine with or without any of the equipment aforementioned. If you can play well, that's what you'll be appreciated for, no matter what gear you use. Likewise, if you can't, none of these gizmos will hide the fact.
I wouldn't worry about any of it unless you are already in the premier league. And I do appreciate that some members of this site are!

Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 5:13 pm
by Tab
Going back to the original topic.....

https://youtu.be/Mjefkludbqo

Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 2:11 pm
by roger bayliss
I bought the Strymon El Capistan a few weeks back and tried it out as the main head sound mixed with the three lower output heads for various other delay units . I personally really liked the result I got. I would use this at home maybe but not practicable for gigs, but can be done !

It seemed to improve the overall sound and even at relatively high feedback and mix levels it did not get in the way and muddy or drown the sound.

For the Meazzi E2 head 4 at around 360ms is the one to use it for. I be live the Meazzi E1 has loudest head at around 126ms . You have to judge the timing against another delay as no accurate way if setting the time on the Strymon, but once you find the spot on knob scale, it's easy to repeat thereafter.

The only thing that is really missing us the preamp sound but if you pair up with an Hall and Collins or eTap2 for instance the preamp sound is available, using those units for the 3 other heads.

To me this improves the sound. The Roland 301 two head mode is also very good.

The thing with tape delays is how high the mix on the repeats can be set and it does not interfere with the overall tone of the guitar sound. That is one of the reasons the old tape units sound so good.

I DID these tests mainly after listening to Robbys Long Tom sound and realising just how much echo and the length of feedback he had. It sounds fabulous and I wanted to try and get near to that sound he has.

Re: I have found the best Delay unit so far!

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:35 pm
by scmitche
Hi David,
Hope you are fit and well.

I've been studying the Echolette circuitry recently with a view to writing a Blue Nebula emulation. It's very different from a Meazzi or Vox setup as it has 3 recording heads and only 2 playback heads. The problem then is deciding what combinations of heads to use and harder still deciding on the volume of those selected heads. There's only a fixed amount of memory within the digital signal processor for these emulations and only 3 external controls available so if you hit on a few sounds from the Echolette that you like it would help us enormously if you post them for me to trial in Blue Nebula.

If you hear the latest Version 4 patches from the Blue Nebula I'm sure you'll be quite surprised at the quality - not digital sounding at all. It's taken 12 months of research, programming and climbing up the "learning curve" to get this far after the initial release used the standard eTap2hw patches.

Kind Regards,
Steve Mitchell