Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler

Generally easy to use but you need to have the right presets before you start the gig. I tend to tweek the delay for the room (size, hard floor, windows etc.) and doing this on the fly is tough (except delay time --thanks to tap tempo button). You have to capture the knob setting before anything happens -- this can make for some lizzards if you are not careful.

My full setup for stage / studio goes like this: Custom built strat or Les Paul -> Boss Compressor ->Expandora ->VooDoo Labs Chorus -> VooDoo Labs Trem. ->VooDoo Labs Micro Vibe ->Morley Bad Horsie ->Hot Chili TUBESTER ->Ernie Ball Volume -> DL-4 in FX loop of 2 Fender Blues DeLuxe or Mesa Subway Blues or Fender Blues DeVille or some combination thereof. Seems like alot when I write it down. For small gigs I use a box W/ a Boss CE-2 chorus and a Blues driver and a Boss Compressor then in to the DL-4.

In either of these rigs the DL-4 is stone quiet and gives me the sounds I need. I set it for a Echoplex (Model 1 or 2 depending on the room) then a Modulated delay then a ducking delay which I like for distorted tones as it does not muddy up the sound.

I have recently started playing in a band which sequences some material and the keyboard / leader is very excited about the looping possibilities. Truthfully it was not even a consideration for me in the purchase of this device.

No opinion thus far but I have several friends who have been using these products for a while and they report good reliability and excelent cust. support

See above

I want to say that I had decided to buy the modulation modeler (and I still might) and the thing which canged my mind was the modulated delay. If I were really pressed for space (like last night) I could (and did) use the DL-4 as my only FX. Delay is intregal for my sound -- I use little reverb. This device has met my needs better than any other single device I have owned (And as you might guess I have owned a bunch)

If you're looking for an excellent delay with a 28 second looper/sampler then BUY THIS UNIT! Yes I said 28 seconds. They advertise this as a 14 second looper but if you activate the half speed setting before looping you get 28 seconds of looping with overdub and the same audio quality! The half speed will remain active until you deactivate it so you can always have 28 second loop capability.

I use a pod going into a genz benz uc4. It is quiet as can be. I haven't had much time to spend on the delays but my quick review says they are excellent.

It is very sturdy. I have no doubts of it failing during a gig. HOWEVER, sometimes the looper doesn't shut off when I hit the button. I may have a flaky button so that's why my score is lower in this category.

I haven't dealt with support since the damn things are so easy to use.

I was considering the akai headrush since it had 23 seconds of loop but only 11 with overdub. When I discovered I could get 28 seconds out of the dl4 with overdub and reverse plus amazing delays it was no contest. I get alot of enjoyment out of this dl4! I highly recommend it to anyone.

Relatively easy to use--the hardest things include knowing what the hell the tweek/tweez knobs are doing in the various modes. It changes in each. But they give you a good book and even stickers to help remember it with. Also, the tap/tempo button is great and easy to use, but it gets a little wild when you jump to the looping mode--I'm not complaining, but it took a while to figure out how to use it to reverse your loop!! Can be as easy or hard as you want to get.

Good sounds overall--once in a while its digital/modeling nature shows up (when turning a knob while using delay, the modulation on a couple effects, etc.) but overall it's a very versatile, natural, warm pedal. True bypass is a must for any pedal I buy. I >LOVE< the looper--set it to 1/2 speed to record in (doesn't hurt tone that much!) and you get 28 seconds of sampling. A mini-Boomerang!! I jam with... myself! Allow myself to introduce... myself. Haha. My gear includes a strat w/Fralins, Vox wah, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Voodoo Labs Overdrive, Fulltone 70's pedal, the DL4, then a Fender Deluxe amp. I wanted something to let me get some echo/Freddy Jones/Radiohead style echos and noises, and I got a sampler in the process. Great package. I play in the style of Ian Moore, Radiohead, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Big Head Todd, Phish, Dire Straits, Hendrix, etc.

Metal body. Seems tough!

Unsure but I've heard they're good. I like the fact that the guy from Way Huge pedals is now with Line 6.

A good pedal. It made more sense to me than the modulation one because of the looping tool, and the warmth of effects. In some of the delay's/echo's you even get modulation tools (chorus, etc.) It's a good pedal and if you take a look at my signal chain above, you'll see that it can handle some juice coming to it before adding the delay! True bypass in the off mode is so nice (you can set it to have soft-bypass too to have your delays fade out naturally!). I like the old Way Huge effects and it's nice to know he helped with this one. Go for it! I didn't like the POD, and go for natural sounds only, but I still like it a lot.

As complex as the beast is, it doesn't completely lack elegance. However, with four switches and 5+1 knobs and 10,000 features, there is a significant amount of feature overload.

I am frustrated insanely by this family of pedals' relation with its switching system. Buttons A, B, and C all call up presets (that are easy to set and use). However, you cannot dial in a sound, switch the unit off, then switch that sound back on unless you stowed it in one of the precious preset slots. Very annoying.

The expression pedal opens up a huge new territory and was designed to be frighteningly flexible. You can assign states to the heel-down and toe-down positions, and rocking the pedal sweeps between them. You can modify delay times, tweek&tweez settings (like wow&flutter, feedback, modulation depth/speed). In practice, however, I find the pedal setup methods to be capricious at best.

The loop/sampler has been talked about enough. Pretty straightforward except I'll add that the tap-tap-pause-tap to get into half-speed reverse is not only awkward, but introduces the intermediary tap-tap (reverse) sound before the half-speed enganges.

With the knobs stuck in one place, presets set and sounds ready to go, it sounds awesome. Warm, roomy, spacious... Line 6 is to be congratulated for doing what this old luddite thought could not be done.

The bad part comes whenever you tweak knobs while a sound is playing (this includes the expression pedal). This is where this machine sounds truly digital. Sweeps are ridiculously stepped (very unlike analog smoothness of the modeled pedals) and the modeled feedback of pedals like the DM-2 and echoplexi sound ridiculously contrived.

My guitar player and I got two simultaneously. On my pedal one of the switches ("C") was non-functional and on his, there was a nasty digital click on each of his.

I have no doubt that Line 6 will take care of us with utmost care and since neither problem is life threatening, we will use them until we get the replacements.

Sounds great when you don't touch it, sounds like digital cheez when you start tweaking live. It seems to be concensus among other Line 6 users that they design products for studio use primarily - while I'll get plenty of use out of the modeled fx, this unit will be completely obsolete when my vintage pedal + boomerang collection gets more complete.

To those who say this is a difficult pedal to use/understand I say they should learn to READ. The manual is very accessible and fun to read (and a bit educational). Once I fiddled with the unit and got into the manual I was flying. Without the manual it DOES take patience, but all guitarists could use a bit more of that anyway.

I'm using an American Strat through a Fender Vibrolux. Various other pedal configurations. This is such a fantastic box. I was a hardcore vintage guy before I heard about this pedal. I was interested, but not convinced until I got it home and spent some time with it. So many options/configurations are available. I usually use three seperate delay/echo effects in my setup- but I may just get another DL-4 and go from there. Some great space type effects and the stereo delays are actually very good/clean if you want them to be.

So far it's been great. It seems to be built like a tank. However, I cannot comment on the actual reliability because I've only had this for six months...I've got a few more months and gigs to go before my "safe period" ends-who knows, but I have faith. These guys seem to have made a great product.

I have dealt with them. I ordered a power supply direct from them and they were a little punchy, but I think it was a bad day. I haven't had to deal with "problems" yet.

I mainly work as a sideman for singer/songwriter types and I also have a "post-modern" rock band (so they tell me). The box works for what I do. I've been playing for about 10 years. Gear...a bunch of random crap (e.g. old blue/silver MemoryMan). If my DL-4 were to be taken I would form a search party and kill...actually I would just buy a new one. I love the flexiblity and "tweek-ability". I haven't used the Loop Function to its fullest yet, but so far it's nice. I do wish it had a few more user presets. If you're a vintage junky, but you're tired of dragging your Space Echo and Echoplex around...get this unit.

Confusing thing is that as soon as you turn a modeling knob the PRESETS are kicked in, and not the settings on the other dials. Move any other dial, and now the dial settings are what you hear.

The only digital piece in my chain and you CAN notice. However, digital may be appropriate for the kind of band you're playing with.

The responded to my email very well

Very versatile, but probably better for a studio than for a live performance. Not enough presets. The dynamic rhythm setting is useful. Sampling at the 28 second length gives you a poorer sample, BTW.

for as complex as the unit is, it is very easy to use. set up out of the box, and i was consumed by the variety of adjustment, and control. after reading the manual (several hours later ) i realized how complex the set up is. all the controls have multiple purposes, some of which change depending on what sound you are modeling. i don't like that feature, but after i get it narrowed down to a half dozen favorites, it will work out. no trouble patching my own presets. overall very easy to use, set up, and figure out.

this unit is so quiet you can't tell if it's on, or off. the quality, coloration, tone, depth, etc. all change with each model set up, some clean, some dirty, some weaker. i imagine if you had all these units set up they would each show their own characteristics, so i would expect that here. does it copy the originals? don't know, or really do i care, i'm not interested in copying others, as i am an artist in my own right. i've been playing 35 years, the sounds i get from the dl-4 bring back memories of some great sounds. i'm much more interested in creating great sounds in the present. i play a custom made dual humbucker solid body, neck through body design. i use a carvin x-100 combo amp, all tube with two g12m-70 greenbacks. i play anything from blues to new age. the combination of my amps clean channel, and the dl-4 produces a very clean, multicolored, brilliant variety of sound. the loop is cool, i am reserving opinion on that aspect because it is a complicated procedure, and i simply haven't explored it well enough to form an opinion. i messed with it a little, and see that it is an awsome tool. but with variable speeds, and ability to change effects with each overdub, it will be a while before i can really explore it's potential

i hope it's reliable, it looks like it would survive a nuclear war. score an 8 because it appears to be well made, and judging from the sound quality, it must have high quality components.

don't know, but there web site is friendly. the manual is very user friendly as well.

excellent buy. i did a lot of research before buying this thing. i never bought line6 before, but i wanted a noiseless echo-delay. i looked into multi-effects types with a zillion presets, and options. just too much stuff i never use, might play with it like a toy, but never really use all the variables. i also think you get what you pay for. a little more for one type of effect compare to 8 lower grade effects for a similar price. at any rate i am very overwhelmed by this unit. it performs great, it's easy to use, and it is full of sounds that i will actually use creatively. i would recommend it to anyone looking for these type effects. i can make this thing accent a clean jazz sound, or roar like a harley, there's a lot more in this thing than the adds tell you, or than you'll discover in a guitar shop try out. i rate it a nine because it could be improved upon in some areas.

see below

I never ended up buying the pedal yet i feel i have to make a submission. The sounds and quality of the pedal are astounding, i base all my music around new and vintage delay pedals. However, this cannot be used live with only 3 presets. i was frustrated just playing in the shop that it automatically sets back to the line 6 presets. I really wanted to buy one, but will only get an updated model further down the line when u dont have to fiddle with knobs every time u want to play.

This pedal is fairly easy to use if you start out with the factory presets and just mess around with them you can find the type of delay sounds you are looking for. However, since there are so many types of delay it can be hard to figure out which one you like the best ( I was spoiled for choice). It is also a bit hard to remember the functions of the the twitch and tweek buttons for each effect. I liked the fact that you get three presets and that you can use the tap tempo for each preset however i can't wait to get an expression pedal as line 6 says that you can use this to change one or several parameters at the same time ( example: delay time repeats etc)which should make this unit nearly as flexible as a rack effect, without the hassle and with a much better sound (except for maybe TC electronics or Lexicon).

I am recovering from a major dose of rackitis and have decided to use pedals instead as i started feeling more like an amateur engineer than an amateur guitarist. my set up is a musicman luke I into an Ibanez TS9 tube screamer, a prescription electronics yardbox, the DL4 and an Engl screamer amp.I have plugged the DL4 into the front of the amp rather than the fx loop since I wanted to get a more vintage sound (old fenders and marshalls don't have effects loops).I bought this delay because I was sick of cold digital delays and the analog type delays like the Ibanez AD99, Danecho, DOD FX 96, have short delay times, no true bypass and bad reputations. I have no idea what an original echoplex sounds like (apart from on pink floyd records) but I liked this unit straight away although the delays are made using digital modelling the unit produces very warm delays. I especially liked the reverse setting which gives that hendrix type effect, the dynamic delay which emulates the TC 2290, and the trippy psychadelic effects you can get when you play and turn the control knobs (this pure radiohead and pink floyd.

Only time will tell if this unit is reliable but I know a few people who have Line 6 products and they've never had any problems. I would definetly use this at a gig as I can get most of the delay sounds I need however in view of the price of the unit I won't be buying a backup unit even though the unit is great value for money.

I play mainly rock, blues and funk. My main influences are eric johnson and david gilmore. This unit allows me get close to the type of delay sounds they use which is one of the reasons I bought. I reckon that you can get any type of delay you need out of this box especially vintage ones. If you have owned an echoplex or any of the other delays the unit emulates don't expect to get the exact same sound rather the same type of sound without the noise or the hassle of vintage units. I would recommend this unit to anybody who is looking for those vintage delay sounds or someone who owns these type of unit but would not drag there units out to a gig. For the price and for what it does and is capable of doing this is by far the best delay pedal out there and even sounds better than a lot of racks. I have yet to find something I dislike about the DL4 but then again I'll wait and see just how long it runs before I have to change the batteries.

Not too hard. Read the manual and you'll be alright. It's fairly simple to set up and get a good tone in a matter of minutes.

I'm using the DL4 with a Strat, a Les Paul Junior, and either an SG or Les Paul. It sounds good, it's not noisy at all. I run it into a Marshall Bluesbreaker. I use it mainly for the tape delay simulations. They sound really good, but there is a definite tonal coloration when using the tube echo model, even with the tube drive control all the way down. It seems to boost the signal a small amount, with a slight increase to the top end. Another thing I have noticed is as you turn your volume down on the guitar, the relative level of the echo effect doesn't decrease, so whatever your guitar's volume, the echo level remains constant to the level in regards to the mix. I would prefer to hear the effect level decrease with less signal input. Minor thing, no biggy.

Seems reliable so far. I'll let you know after finishing a world tour. :)

Heard back relatively quickly when I sent a question to the company regarding using other volume pedals for the expression feature. They gave me the info I needed, which was cool, since that would mean I don't have to buy their Expression pedal.

I play rock and pop, currently working on my first solo record after releasing material on RCA and A&M. I wanted a relatively portable, reliable substitute for a real Echoplex. It has the ability to store three preset echos, and seems pretty well built. My only beef is I would really like to keep everything analog in my signal path, but whatever works. I previously owned a Way Huge Aqua Puss, which is the analog delay made by the designer of these pedals, and it sounds as good as the Way Huge, in a much more flexible package. My only beef is I'd like the effect to react more to the guitar's volume, and I'd like less tonal coloration on the tube echo model. All that aside, it is a great sounding delay.