Michael Nielson agrees with me: the FTT Flight Time is the best delay pedal ever created

[jbru91]

Is it expensive? Yes.

Is it complicated? Yes.

Does it sound like god? Ohhhh yes.

Does it look like the cockpit of a jet fighter from top gun? Also yes.

Michael Nielson joins me, @itsgoodnow , and a few others in the chad FTT Flight Time enjoyer club

I have the Tri-Avatar which is probably my favorite tri-chorus i've tried in any pedal.

I picked up the Future Factory a while ago and just didn't bond with it. I think the Flight Time is more appropriate for my needs. The Metal 80s lead tone is exactly what I want to achieve with it.

 

[thegame]

I realize I'm probably in the minority of people who care about such things, but to me, without the sound of the entire circuit, a 2290 is just another modulated digital delay with panning and ducking. It's that specific sweetening that the entire circuit provides that makes it so special.

I believe in some cases the sweetening effect wasn’t even intentional. Probably a byproduct of specific old school parts used, in combination with the intentionally designed preamp/input stages baked into these circuits. I have an analog Diamond Memory Lane v1 delay pedal and even when bypassed it does something cool to the signal (thickens the tone and a slight mid push without degrading clarity).

 

[jabps]

I have thought about a VP4 also, as I have an Axe 2 and FM3. They sound great, but the idea of the pedals is to have something simple. I also want analog dry through, and the VP4 + mixer starts getting very non- simple.

When I de-racked several years back and put everything on the pedal board, delay was the biggest hold back as I had years of delays built into my old rack unit, not to mention I was used to the sound and feel of it.

At the time I did a shootout with all the name delay pedals (except the Flight Time) and narrowed it down to the Nemesis and Timeline. Nemesis won because of the digital delays. Timeline is close though. Also the Nemesis gave me more room on my board plus I literally could dial in what I wanted without even having to go to the phone app. So my big midi board has a Nemesis and Ventris but I use Verbs very sparingly. More as a special effect for me whereas delay is on everything. Kept the Timeline and was going to build a small non midi board around it then the VP4 hit and it's kinda up in the air now.

 

[ChurchHill]

I agree. I don't think they were trying to create the exact sound they did. Rather, I think they were trying to create the best product they could. They definitely crafted the analog stages. The end result was produced in the same way that SSL mixers didn't sound like Neve or API. They were all trying to create the best product they could, and due to differences in components and design philosophies, they all sound unique and identifiable.

Another aspect is that the digital components were used differently back then. More modern devices put the AD converters at the very beginning of the circuit and DA converters at the very end. In the early days of digital, the large majority of the circuit was still analog with the AD/DA conversion happening only when needed, in this case as a replacement for the tape or BBD and converting back to analog for the rest of the circuit. That meant more passes through the AD/DA, which were not mass-produced parts like they are today, but usually custom chips that also contribute to the uniqueness of the sound.

Over the past 5 years or so, there seems to have been a reemergence of this technique. I think that Diamond Memory Lane is one that does that, too. That's a great emulation of an EH Deluxe Memory Man. I'm not sure if FTT uses this type of design, but whatever they're doing, they are getting closer.

 

[Superunknown]

The FTT Flight Time has been my main delay for many years. To my ear, out of all of my delays, it sounds the absolute best through the effects loop of any high gain amp.

 

[Exo-metal]

That's my point, digital always leaves behind audible artifacts in the higher register, rendering those nice low od/edge of breakup tones harsher than they need to be which is why I've never kept any digital pedals, amazing as they might've otherwise been.

We, who play heavy need them to keep a trace of clarity.

 

[SonVolt]

Where's the best place to buy on of these?

 

[Shask]

We, who play heavy need them to keep a trace of clarity.

I have a few analog delays, and they just turn to mush with high gain.

Even on multi-mode digital delays, out of tape and analog, tape is always better with high gain.

 

[Exo-metal]

Tape is legit but still falls short of digital for high gain.