Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Delay Reissue

A little tricky at first but not rocket science once you play with it a while - need floor pedal for full implementation. Mediocre documentation but only 1.5 layers deep.

Excellent - here is the full review... I love my 16 second delay a bunch. I have the reissue with the floor control pedal. Like Nels I use mine on a table top. I have many other loopers incluiding a stereo pair of Oberheim Echoplex Pros and an Electrix Repeater. The 16 Second may have the best sound of the bunch. I do wish it had an undo function (hit and hold record for 2+ seconds?). Anyhow this is now an unsupported pedal so that ain't going to happen! Makes me wonder how many are out there? Perhaps as few as the first issue... I did send back the unit and had Harmonix do the upgrade to the unit's software which removed the troublesome 4 click intro and allowed for loops of user determined length which I prefer. I was very pissed off that i had to pay another $80 for this functionality but at least they did this upgrade just before orphaning the unit. What I dig about the 16 Second reissue is that I tend to use it more than my other two rack based loopers. It is there right on my pedal bench heated up and ready to go whenever I need it. It is also more portable than my other rack based loopers. So ther eyou go - an update of a 6 bit digital classic - albeit an extension emulation rather than a recreation - but the price was right ($250 plus $90 for the control pedal). The 2280 does not interest me in the least - this has to be the ugliest pedal ever made - rivaling the POG and other recent EH stuff. I think Matthews is losing it - too many products and not enough cool worked out devices. I had the Flanger Hoax for 48 hours before I flipped it on Ebay - totally useless shite! Does anyone even bench test these things? Might be the Russian mafia has been drugging ole Mike to get his tube factory fro a real estate deal/disco deal...

Fine so far....

They did an upgrade just before dropping unit so OK I guess...

Top gear - a blast.. Fripp in a box take 2

I give it a four because is not an easy to use kind of device but is not a good for nothing difficult bitch to handle(!?) like many people say.
I mean, it is difficult if you want to use it literally to make literal loops out of the box as if it were any modern digital looper.
I had it this morning and i read the manual during breakfast then i was reading episodes during trying; in 40 minutes or so i manged to record not only a great esoteric loop but also a fantastic 6 minutes "Ambient song" a la Bill Frisell or Brian Eno,; i had to add some compression and
mastering effects in the final mix but you always have to do that if you want your recording to sound professional; the point is that i had good luck at the very beginning of my relationship with this toy because is actually difficult to understand. you need a while to learn not how to handle it but to predict its acts.
In fact i spend the rest of the day trying to do something good again out of this pedal but all the results were terrible; however i learn a lot of stuff about the mechanism of this fela: Firs of all if you want to take the metrognom or counter off just slide the clix level down; maybe this is something thast only the latest version has, i do not know for sure...
Other thing is that you have to be careful with the gain slider, if you are not using it with moderation you can get some clipping signal and spoil a beautiful loop or fuck your inspiration with undesirable distortion.

8 because you have to be responsible of what are you running through before and after this pedal, how much gain you'll add and where you are going to send that signal once you have it processed; you can go through a series of interesting modulation options and reverse the whole pack of sound you have created and face the result that could be great or shitty, in part it depends of the source.
Anyway i think the sound coming out of this can is quite dream like, it is an analog circuit and is not meant to give you a faithful copy of the original; be prepared to receive the results with a creative attitud because this is not what you think it should be, this is something else...

Seems fragil, i would be very cautious about it, i wouldn't use it as a floor pedal but as a little mixer or console.A little gem.

i don't even want to think about it.

i make Mostly Ambient/Electronica/jazz like ECM/4AD and em:t mixed in a cocktail and served by the techno germans.
Not a main tool but who knows, i like to take risks and chances so probably i will gig with it. It would be a great link between other delays. The chain today: Fender strato/slow attack echo park/ 16seconds electro harmonics/ 20secgiga delay boss/akai analog filter/interface to laptop/logic studio.
I will not use the metronome for that purpose but i looped in the 23 seconds boss and toasted with the akai filter and it sound pretty cool as i add a little bit of phaser and i have a nice distant low tempo beat. I can also take it off as i say before.i wish the pitch shifting
departament were really working, it does something to the sound but not really change any pitch, no in the way that any pitch shifter does.
I think i love this little cute can but i can sell it if a have a good chance of getting the same money that i paid for it or more, but let me use it for a while first.

Having the sliders there for adjustment of everything visually is helpful. There's a lot of versatility in this pedal, and it *does* take a minute to get a sense for how touchy the controls are, and what the pedal sounds like in the different modes (delay, single loop, continuous loop.) Some of the adjustments aren't super smooth; changes feel linear, rather than tapered, where it would be nice to have some more subtle changes, for example when gradually bringing speed on a loop up or down.

There are also a few things I wish it did that it doesn't; it would be nice to be able to control the pitch and tempo change of the delay/loop separately, or selectively chain them. As is, I rarely sweep them while playing because it's hard to do it smoothly. It would also be great to have things like delay time and repeats controllable by expression pedal. I'd trade the filter sweep for those options in a heartbeat. The octave up setting also affects delay time, so it's not super functional if you want to record a part with the octave up engaged, then shift it down to act as a bassline and have it play in tempo.

I bought this pedal mainly to use as a looper, and compared this, the 1180 looper, and the Boss RC-20 and RC-50 (which came out around the same time as the 16 second reissue.)

The sound quality is quite obviously better on the EH pedals than the Boss pedals, but the Boss loopers seem more intuitive to use to me, so I waited to buy this until I confirmed that there was a mod available to remove the 4 bar count-in. Some people feel that the first edition of the reissue, with the colored knobs, sounds a bit better than the white knob version. I can't say I really noticed. I had the mod done, so it's possible that changing the chip and software to the new version erases any difference that might have been there. The bottom line is that now, the clarity of the loop from this pedal is almost exactly the same as the direct signal to the amp.

I've found settings that do what I'm looking for and don't compromise on sound. It's a great performance looper and delay-- it won't store a bunch of samples and loops, and I didn't want it to (it always feels more real to me to build a loop in the moment, in front of the audience, rather than come in with a whole batch of prerecorded sounds; a sampler will do better for that anyway.) The volume settings are flexible, letting you carefully tweak your levels so that after you lay a loop down, you can still hear your guitar signal in the mix you've created. You can also boost your signal or the delayed signal.

The modulation sounds good, though not super wide-- it's nice to add just a touch to the loop, to set it apart from your original signal. Very flexible.

It's worth noting that this delay sounds truly good on a whole range of instruments-- guitar, bass, drums, vocals, and probably would be fun with whatever you throw at it. Digital clarity and functionality, while still feeling equally as organic as whatever you put into it.

A few other notes: I was a little bummed at first that the signal would decay as I was overdubbing a few times around a loop. This problem improves dramatically when set to looping with the feedback full up. If you set the feedback somewhere in the middle of the range, the pedal is designed to gradually duck the volume of the repeats, so you can use it as a fade out. This can be cool on delay settings, but you have to be conscious of whether you're trying to use the pedal as a looper or a delay. It's kind of a drag that you can set a nice repeating delay and still use the pedal as a great looper, but i kind of prefer using a separate delay into the 16 second, then looping that.

Timing the loops can be finicky, and again it's important to have the repeats full up. If it's not, I've noticed a tendency for the unit to chop off the first beat of a loop. Once your settings are right I've never played a pedal that lets you find as realistic a way to layer harmonies, and build long, evolving parts in real time, and still sound great. Sounds better than the boomerang, headrush, digitech looper, digital echoplex, and others (though I haven't spent as much time with them.)

The pedal is also fun as he** to use just to manipulate noise-- once you get something going, like a really long delayed line, you can sweep pitches, add chorusing, play with volume swells, reverse it, dub on top of the reverse and re-reverse it, dub on that, flip it all around, add parts that shift octaves, and include most of the changes into your loop as you sweep them. Great for experimental music.

Despite the quality enclosure, certain design features make it fragile-- the switches and sliders all stick out, and I had the mode switch snapped off mine by airport security, even though the pedal was traveling in a pelican case. The company the ATA OUTSOURCES its security to (yep, despite all the problems and homeland security spending, hooray,) put the pedal back in the foam crooked, and that was enough apparently to snap the slider.

The stomp switches themselves feel great, not too stiff or loose, and are quiet and true-bypass. However, one friend who owns one had a switch go bad on him within the first couple months of owning it, and another musician I know had the delay stop working after he'd been using the pedal with the input gain set around 7 or 8 to get a crunchy/saturated repeat sound.

I personally would be cautious with this thing in terms of travelling and gigging with it, especially if you're a lead foot. It seems rugged from the outside but seems to have that classic EH finickyness w/r/t heavy handling.

For a huge company, they respond pretty quickly by email and will actually help you over the phone. They stand by their products and seem excited about them. The fact that you can get someone on the line that knows what they're talking about technically when you have a problem is rare these days with established music companies. Hopefully they keep it up.

I'm really surprised that this thing has been dogged a bit in some of the reviews. It seems like its downfall is that it's in some ways too much for people looking for something easy, and in other ways not enough for people looking for a hyper-programmable, do-it-all delay/looper. I found it was a great buy because of its sound quality, and that it's well thought out and should offer good solutions for people who want several different things from it. Its usefulness as a wicked-long digital delay with lots of sound shaping opportunities is great. I think they knew when to stop in terms of tacking on different types of modulation options and so on; This thing probably sounds rad in combination with the flanger hoax, HOG and POG, and some of their great new compact pedals.

I thought about this for a while before I bought it because it's a bit of an investment, including the foot controller. Really worth it? For me it is. If you already own a Boss looper or something and don't mind not being able to tweak and **** up the loops and noises afterward, and don't notice the degradation just from having it in your chain, it might not be.

It does take a wee bit of getting used to.. you really have to keep your music in time to create a seamless loop. I got used to this quite quickly though.. The manual was great help.

I must say, i bought this pedal right before they stopped making it, and mine had the software update on it, meaning i could stop the four beat count in.. FANTASTIC. I can understand the 4 beat putting people off.. but it actually helps you keep time!

The sound quality is fantastic. Both for live, and recording. The reverse is amazing, and the octave is great for putting down good low bass lines.

I play and play over the top, and never really notice a sound quality loss. Of course it does get a bit crazy 10 loops over!!

The chorus is a nice effect too, but can be a bit over the top..
Once you get used to it, great sounding loops are easy!!

I haven't had this pedal for that long, but think it will be fine. Im tryin to look after it, cos i dont think i'l be able to get another one.

All the EHX pedals may seem kinna flimsy at some stages, but of my other 2 pedals they have lasted over 5 years, with loads of gigs, and use.

I would cry if i lost this! Its fantasic. wether you will use it to practice (which it acts as a fantastic tool!) or live, i think you'l really impress your listeners.

I bought the pedal.. then found out you really do need the footswitch as well.

Great pedal.. best i've ever bought. I use it mostly on the acoustic guitar, but its class with electric too.

I didnt want to go BOSS cos they are just so plain.. EHX are so different, boss just sounds nice but "normal". You play through this thing and people will be like wo!??

Im going touse this live, and I cant wait to show it off.

The main problem I had with it..like everone else is the 4 BEAT COUNT-IN, and the way you set the LOOP LENGTH.

Most people who do live looping are used to the PUSH-RECORD-PUSH system to define the length and tempo of the loop. This peda des not do that out of the box.

I learned recently that Electro Harmonix were making updates to the pedal to fix both these problems. You have to send it in to them with $35, and they send it back with the ability to choose which mode to loop in. E-Mail them, or call at: 800-633-5477 for more info.

After learning this, I thought twice about selling it, and sent it in to be updated.

I hope this helps someone who is not considering this pedal for that reason.

Yes. It is not an immediate grasp. Well worn musician and an MS in engineering as to education, I had to think before enjoying ....
Good end user manual but the technician would enjoy some figures and schemes.

I mainly bought it because of the delay and modulation excellence. Versatile, from superb reverb like fullness to Grand Canyon multiple echoes. Modulation shines and gives life to both guitar and -even more effective- my fretless Manne bass. I do not need any other effect for my fretless playing.

Excellent looping reproduction provided you correctly set the various level/gain options.

It is an ehx. Absolutely reliable if you know how to deal with them. My first one was a Little MUFF some 25 years ago... I got acquainted.

no idea

I play everything, being a bass player and doubling on guitar. sometime a one man band relying on midi network and PC. Do you want to have more complex looping and archiving capabilities: use a PC sw (Ambiloop my choice). With a midi pedal it allows everything you need for complex solo work or band live acts...
For spicing up a solo performances, linked with a drum machine, the gear fits the bill and stimulating: you can drive any audience crazy. And if you're enjoying yourself alone in your attics ... delightful! Grat fun and practice.

The 16 sec is something different, not something for everyone and for everyseasons. I do not think it was even intended for. It'll be an other piece for amateur or for the working, creative, musician.
I am not everyone. I've slected my preferences. I've got tons of instruments, first class ones, today playing Mannes, Alembics, Ibanez and a Fendere Roscoe Back. through SWR or DI and PA. Main effects are Digitechs and Korg. The 16 secs fits perfectly.

being fairly experienced in all things effects.......i found this thing to be annoying at best....
it muddied up after only 3 overdubs...

it seemed to me to be a little quiet in my fx loop...no noise persay..
my rig is Gibson LP custom---ibanez ts-9---Line6 Fm4----fulltone soulbender---Line6 echo park---mxr blue box---70's e-h smallstone---2 Dl-4's---and then the 16 second (for the time that i write this...but gettting returned very soon)-----al into a vox ac-30w/2x12 extension cab
im in a rock ban called novella, and the 4 bar count in really really turned me off as i like to loop on the fly with the press of one button...this thing isnt even going to make it to the practice space.....

eh pedals are hit or miss as far as i am concerned...i want to love them... but of the last 3 new eh pedals ive bought( little big muff, nyc big muff, and the 16 second) all 3 have been sold or returned....i have hopes that something will change

never dealt with them

Novella sounds like portishead meets black sabbath....i had hopes that with the 4 minutes of savable time that i would fall for this pedal, but the sliders got under my skin the second i tried to set a tempo to match a sequence with my midi keyboard rig( ms 2000r--yamaha s08---trinity rack---darkstar---a-station)....i have been playing for 19 years, worked in music instrument retail for 6....
this gets in the way of creating ....simple as that.....and its all cuz of thatt damned 4 bar count in..

complicated. impossible to use live due to the stupid 4 bar count before you start recording. can only record 4 minutes and save 1 loop. If they ditched the 4 bar count, and let you record more, and save 20 loops this thing would be at the center of my rig. I heard the old ones are better.

exellent sound quality, electro harmonix pedal seem to add a certain warmth. you can get killer reverse sounds like hendrix, add mild flanging/phasing roto sweep effects, speed up loops and do all sort of crazy things with this. it pisses me off that you get all this and then find out it is really useless in a live situation. Recorded a couple cool things with it just miking the amp and making a couple crazy loops and manipulating them.

Unfortunately i did not do what I thought it would, but if they improved it and did not charge so much (i bought it on sale at guitar center for 250, now i know why the price was cut)

the greatest sounding useless pedal in the world. whoever designed this was on acid.

The 16 Second Delay IS easy to use. The loop/delay modes all have useful purposes, it only took me about a week to understand all the functions. I've read a lot of reviews of people bitching for stupid reasons about ease of use for this pedal. look.. The 4-bar count in. People say its confusing cuz you don't know when its starting to record, but you just keep playing, and no matter when it started recording, if you play it correctly, it will loop over right when you began. If you've ever used a metronome for practice, setting the loop length isn't hard. I'm buying the footswitch so that it will be amazingly easy for live control.

The sound quality for this pedal is awesome, I don't think anyone can dispute that. It has perfect reverse and speed changing that sounds badass. The sweep is unique and I noticed if you have any noise at all in your chain, you can turn on the sweep and it turns it into warm sounding modulation

Electro-Harmonix pedals are dependable and sturdy. I've never used a pedal with sliders like these but after some months I know its not some pussy cheap factory made quality but you could drop it and it should be fine. I guess maybe if you threw that shit..

Electro-Harmonix are nice I've contacted them for information I'm sure they'd help if you broke a pedal or something

This pedal is badass I think any intelligent person can use this in a lot of unique and awesome ways

I'll be honest, I found it hard to get my head around this pedal. The main confusion for me was that some of the sliders worked the opposite to the way I expected them and also that some of the sliders had two different 'modes'. I mean, its not rocket science, but I'm not a rocket scientist either. I'm a guitarist and I found it all a little baffling. However, this is the downside of having so many features (and having many features is a good thing!)

Gibson les paul platinum studio with Bareknuckle VHIIs, through a variety of Catalinbread, Analogman, Keeley etc pedals into a Marshall JCM800 2203. It wasn't noisy. The effects were good, although I would question the necessity of having a sweep modulation option with the unit. I found it worked well as a delay.

All the little sliders worried me regarding reliability, but in the time I owned it, I never had any problems. And the price is quite prohibitive, so I guess I would have to gig without a back up.

I emailed them, they replied in 2-3 days. Not exactly super helpful, but decent enough. Can't complain!

I play rock and some more esoteric stuff, I like to shred but also to mess around with loops and effects. Been playing 11 years. I loved the retro-vibe of the unit, and the ability to just while away the day jamming over loops. But I just found, because of the complexity of the layout, it was hard to be spontaneous with the unit, which I think all delay units should be. I have since sold it on, and recieved an email from the guy I bought it off and he said it's the best pedal he has ever had and he is in love with it - different strokes for different folks I guess. At the end of the day, I would say the best thing to do would be to try one of these out, in-depth, at a shop. Then you can see if it's the right thing for you. If it is, then I reckon you are in for a treat. If not, then it can be quite a pricey error. My main mistake was that I was looking for a delay pedal which had some looping capabilities; I think this pedal could be better classified as a looping pedal that has some delay capabilities.