Delay pedal in Soldano SLO loop: WWYD ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter IntenseJim
  • Start date Start date

Pedal Delay in Soldano SLO loop:

  • Boss DD-20 with Suhr Mini Mix II

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • TC Nova Delay with no Suhr Mini Mix II

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
IntenseJim

IntenseJim

Active member
I use a little delay for my own amusement at home and even less in my band. But I 'need' to have some delay for ~ 10% of the songs we play. My rig is fairly simple and I don't want to get into MIDI; 90% of the time I use no effect at all.

I have a Boss DD-20 which sounds good and works great with a Suhr Mini Mix II in the SLO loop BECAUSE I can set the Boss to +4 level and kill the dry signal both when the delay is on and when it's bypassed. The DD-20 is quite user friendly too.

I received a TC Nova Delay yesterday to try for a few weeks: it sounds great ( the presets are a bit of pita because you can't see your settings (labelled P1, P2, etc) and changing them is not as simple as on the DD-20). Here's the problem: I can't use the Nova with the Suhr MMII because the unit's bypassed dry signal subject to AD/DA, is always on and out of phase creating a notched or phased dry tone. The Nova Delay cannot be 100% wet when in bypass (off).

I can use the Nov Delay in the loop of the SLO w/o the Suhr Mini Mix with minimal sonic effect. I can hear some affect on my dry tone when I play at home alone and sniff the cork but not live or during rehearsal.


So WWYD?

I'll fiddle around some more but I thought I'd tap this tribe for opinions, hence the poll. I don't want to get an Empress, Eventide Timefactor, etc because I should be able to get my mild delay needs met with either of these two options. Delay is not an integral part of my tone like Bill Frisell, the Edge, or Neil Schon type solos.
 
Given the circumstances I would say go with the option that YOU think sounds better and forget the rest of the details.
 
The poll won't let me vote for some reason, but fwiw, I hated the way the Nova colored/ruined my tone and sent it back asap. I would go with the Boss...
 
Filter500":1xo7qqkp said:
The poll won't let me vote for some reason, but fwiw, I hated the way the Nova colored/ruined my tone and sent it back asap. I would go with the Boss...
Click to expand...

Ditto
 
Hey, man.

I'd take the Nova Delay over the Boss option because I much prefer it's tone. But if you don't need all the features and sound quality of the TC, why bother with it? Just keep the DD10 for now so that the Suhr is still applicable to your setup.

I found, though, that once you own one delay, if it's a simple model, you'll want more. I bought the Malekko Ekko 616 because of it's tone, thinking that I wouldn't need any upgrades and that it would fill my stockings. I don't need anything more but I would really like the additional features of, for instance, the Empress Superdelay.

But that could just be GAS.
 
I'd use a Lexicon MPX-1 with the SLO. You can use a very simple two-button footswitch with it, one button for tap-tempo and the other for on/off (no midi required). It can be set 100% wet of course and will handle the SLO loop level without problem. It will sound much better than all other pedals mentionned. It can now be found for $300 used. As a bonus there's a lot of other very good sounding effects in the box, micro pitch-shift, reverb, flanger etc... :rock:
 
Well, based on what you said the Boss. But if you like the the Nova delay tone a lot more than get a pedal that adds a loop (Lehle) and when you step on it the Nova would be completely bypassed. That only works if the Nova can be set 100% wet.

Not sure if it's worth it too you since you don't really fx it a lot.
 
I'd say, for me, the most important factor of ANY pedal, in an FX loop, is not it's tone when it's on, but it's coloration when it's off.

For that reason, no matter how good the delay's sound with the Nova, I'd go with the Boss and the Suhr MiniMix, because it will keep the dry tone of your $4000 amp 100% pure. :rock:

Why let a $250 delay pedal ruin the tone of a $4000 SLO?

(PS. I use a DD20 and a MMII. The MMII was the BEST thing I ever got for a loop. It's incredible).
 
Good points, esp last post.

Thanks guys.

I find the closer I get to a problem, the harder it can be to see the forest from the trees.
 
RockStarNick":19sbswwk said:
I'd say, for me, the most important factor of ANY pedal, in an FX loop, is not it's tone when it's on, but it's coloration when it's off.

For that reason, no matter how good the delay's sound with the Nova, I'd go with the Boss and the Suhr MiniMix, because it will keep the dry tone of your $4000 amp 100% pure. :rock:

Why let a $250 delay pedal ruin the tone of a $4000 SLO?

(PS. I use a DD20 and a MMII. The MMII was the BEST thing I ever got for a loop. It's incredible).
Click to expand...



But that is why I would run it in a loop bypass pedal. So it is completely out of the path when it is off.
 
I spend the past few hours with both units and setups. My conclusion is to go with the MiniMix set up. There's a special qualifier at the end:

Nova Delay has better sounding delays. That can mean a lot of things (analog, tape sim, etc) but I'll simply it I'll leave it at that.

However, the bypassed signal is not as good as the Mini MixII signal. Mainly a slight loss of punch and dynamics.

Boss DD-20 is not as 'strong' a delay as the Nova Delay. I have to crank the tone knob way over and run the mix knob hard right (wet) to get close to the Nova Delay. Since I play 90% straight in I'm willing to slightly compromise on the times I use delay.


TODAY: My ears aren't that great today because I spend most of the morning and afternoon at 9800 feet with a lot of high pressure in my ears on some very steep and fast lines at Squaw. The noise level when I ski from the wind is very very loud. Whenever I come back from days like these, the high end frequency perception of my hearing attenuates for a 1/2 day. So if I could hear these subtle changes today, they probably are more pronounced than I'm perceiving now.

Thanks for your help guys.
:thumbsup:
 
Little-Lehle-II-15x10cm.jpg

http://www.lehle.com/frameset.php?country=us&lang=en


You should really check this out Jim. Works great.
 
Forgive my ignorance but how exactly does that Lehle pedal work in this situation?
 
The Little Lehle is a Looper/Switcher
with a real True-Bypass function.
The 1.5 mm thick sheet-steel housing
contains a switch with gold-plated
contacts which is activated by the
mushroom-head trigger button. The
Little Lehle uses this switch to manage
an effect loop; it can also be used as a
simple A/B box.



It simply would take Jim's delay out of the signal path when stepped on. It is a switchable FX loop. Since he didn't like the bypass on the Nova itself, this would give him the delays he likes and restore his dry/bypassed signal.

IntenseJim":3fugvcnc said:
Nova Delay has better sounding delays. That can mean a lot of things (analog, tape sim, etc) but I'll simply it I'll leave it at that.

However, the bypassed signal is not as good as the Mini MixII signal. Mainly a slight loss of punch and dynamics.
:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top