Flashback X4 VS Vox Delaylab

[mindseye]

I use to have a L6 DL4 and enjoyed it for what it was but got rid of it and now looking at picking something like it back up.

Any of you guys have any experience withe the Delaylab and Flashback X4, pro's con's, likes dislikes.
Does one work better in front rather than a loop and vice/versa ?


Thanks for looking!!

 

[gbsmusic]

I haven't used the Vox but the X4 is the best delay I've owned! I love mine

 

[5150clone]

I have the vox. Has a lot more options for sure. I had a regular flashback and I assume they'll close in delay sounds (quality ).I like it a lot. You can dial in the exact delay time, 10 banks, killdry, spillover. That being said I haven't done a A/B comparison

 

[bubbastain]

I did a side by side comparison in my home for about an hour with the Delaylab and the regular Flashback. Both sound great. IF I really had to nit pick, I'd give the Flashback a slight edge for it's tone. Barely though. The Delaylab just does so much more. X4 seems great, but I personally would still choose the Delaylab. I am currently only using about 5 presets total for bass and guitar. Lots of fun space left over. Another cool feature is a button you can push to disengage the knobs so if you accidently move one when your pressing one of the buttons, it won't affect it.

 

[gbsmusic]

I did a side by side comparison in my home for about an hour with the Delaylab and the regular Flashback. Both sound great. IF I really had to nit pick, I'd give the Flashback a slight edge for it's tone. Barely though. The Delaylab just does so much more. X4 seems great, but I personally would still choose the Delaylab. I am currently only using about 5 presets total for bass and guitar. Lots of fun space left over. Another cool feature is a button you can push to disengage the knobs so if you accidently move one when your pressing one of the buttons, it won't affect it.

I still have a hard time looking at your avatar

 

[daveg62]

I've had the X4 for a few weeks now. Gotta be the best best delay pedal I've had. I also had the Eventide timefactor for a few weeks and ended up selling it. I like simple, easy to dial in gear, and the X4 was way more to my liking. It's a well thought out design, and the pedal sounds very good. The Vox looks good also , but I needed midi.
That being said I still prefer my Roland SDE's for my basic delays. I did a head to head with the flashback and the Roland's still have that magic sound.

 

[mindseye]

Thanks guys, looks like these two are real close guess I'm gonna have to try and get my hands on booth and see what's wins out......both seem like they both have some good pros and cons.

 

[wirwilf]

I traded my flashback X4 for the delaylab! very happy with the vox.
the flashback sounded great but very limited functionality.
the vox has been a real workhorse!

 

[snowdog]

I traded my flashback X4 for the delaylab! very happy with the vox.
the flashback sounded great but very limited functionality.
the vox has been a real workhorse!

It looks pretty close to the same exact layout on both, maybe you could enlighten us as to what additional functions the Vox has ?

 

[wirwilf]

I traded my flashback X4 for the delaylab! very happy with the vox.
the flashback sounded great but very limited functionality.
the vox has been a real workhorse!

It looks pretty close to the same exact layout on both, maybe you could enlighten us as to what additional functions the Vox has ?

with the fbx4, you really only have 3 usable delays in a live situation. even tho it has toneprint...when you call up one of them you can only use IT... once you select a diff preset you loose the toneprint and recall YOUR 3 presets... you have to phsically reach down and turn the knob to reload the toneprint... hope that makes sense.
also in loading a toneprint it don't actually load the artists saved settings... it loads it with where ever the dials are currently set.
plus I thought you could save your own sounds to a toneprint location... not exactly... you have to upload it to TC then Download to your pedal... way too big a hassle
the vox has 30 real presets easily accessed in a live situation from a standing position... the only thing it needs to be perfect is a bank up AND down button, and a global tap option.

 

[rockify]

X4 but its takes up heaps of pedalboard real estate

 

[wirwilf]

one thing I noticed... and this may be more of a PS issue then something wrong with the vox.
When I first got the FBX4 i also bought a T-Rex crunchy frog. When I hooked it all up, there was no noise that I recall.
When I exchanged for the Delaylab, there was a VERY noticable hum.
I use a godlyke power supply to power everything. I took the Vox off of the daisy chain and put it on its own PS and all is well.
But I didn't do any real trouble shooting... i.e. see if the noise cleared or changed by switching out other pedals... as my suspicions is, it probably will.
I was just happy to be rid of the hum so i didn't bother going any deeper. I have a friend who has complained of noise using the godlyke also, so i figure it is more
related to the PS than the delaylab.

 

[thenine]

I traded my flashback X4 for the delaylab! very happy with the vox.
the flashback sounded great but very limited functionality.
the vox has been a real workhorse!

It looks pretty close to the same exact layout on both, maybe you could enlighten us as to what additional functions the Vox has ?

with the fbx4, you really only have 3 usable delays in a live situation. even tho it has toneprint...when you call up one of them you can only use IT... once you select a diff preset you loose the toneprint and recall YOUR 3 presets... you have to phsically reach down and turn the knob to reload the toneprint... hope that makes sense.
also in loading a toneprint it don't actually load the artists saved settings... it loads it with where ever the dials are currently set.
plus I thought you could save your own sounds to a toneprint location... not exactly... you have to upload it to TC then Download to your pedal... way too big a hassle
the vox has 30 real presets easily accessed in a live situation from a standing position... the only thing it needs to be perfect is a bank up AND down button, and a global tap option.

this sounds quite sucky on the X4 but I am kinda confused. Guess I'm gonna have to read the manual.

 

[wirwilf]

I traded my flashback X4 for the delaylab! very happy with the vox.
the flashback sounded great but very limited functionality.
the vox has been a real workhorse!

It looks pretty close to the same exact layout on both, maybe you could enlighten us as to what additional functions the Vox has ?

with the fbx4, you really only have 3 usable delays in a live situation. even tho it has toneprint...when you call up one of them you can only use IT... once you select a diff preset you loose the toneprint and recall YOUR 3 presets... you have to phsically reach down and turn the knob to reload the toneprint... hope that makes sense.
also in loading a toneprint it don't actually load the artists saved settings... it loads it with where ever the dials are currently set.
plus I thought you could save your own sounds to a toneprint location... not exactly... you have to upload it to TC then Download to your pedal... way too big a hassle
the vox has 30 real presets easily accessed in a live situation from a standing position... the only thing it needs to be perfect is a bank up AND down button, and a global tap option.

this sounds quite sucky on the X4 but I am kinda confused. Guess I'm gonna have to read the manual.

for sure... I only kept it about a day and 1/2 but I am pretty sure this is all correct.
the manual claims it has 7 "presets" and technically that is correct... if you are in a studio and have all the time and takes needed to get to them.
But in real world use it works this way.
You have 4 toneprint locations. you select one via the rotary dial and you can turn it on/off via footswitch 1.
however if you select another preset i.e. footswitch 2... when you click on FS 1 again, you just loaded whatever YOUR saved preset was... the toneprint is gone unless you saved it over YOUR preset onto one of the 3 footswitches.
to reload the the toneprint again you will have to turn the dial one click and then back (unless you saved it as a preset, of which you only have 3)
I hope I am making sense. It is kinda hard to explain unless you have one in hand.
I don't want to knock it overly bad, as it sounds WONDERFUL!! Just wasn't for me i guess.
and also wanted to get the word out so you can think to check these issues in store instead of like me and ended up having to drive
over 200 miles back to store to replace
there was also a slight problem with the dip switch inside. I had to use what i consider pretty excessive force to engage the spillover. Not that the switch was resisting... it moved fine, just didn't engage the effect until I REALLY pushed on it. It took about 3 times going into the unit before I got brave/angry enough to push that hard on it. It is a fairly dainty switch after all.
anywho, if anyone has a different experience please do tell... I don't want to mistakenly lead someone wrong.

 

[themusicinator]

So I had TC Nova Delay Sold it and got the Delaylab, Ok this thing is huge way huge and a bit tweaky for my taste so took it back and got the Flashback x4 and couldn't be happier. granted the FX4 is big to but not as big as the Delaylab.

 

[jsp]

I got an X4 this week. I think the Delaylab has more sounds and options, but the X4 does everything I need, and I love that it's just simple and solid.