Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler

It is easy to get a good useable sound out of it, whether its a Rock-a-Billy Slapback to Edge style analog delays to hi-fi Delays. You need to put the stickers on it that denote what Tweek and Tweez do, and you will need a light to read them when its really dark on stage.
The three presets are a brilliant idea, wish all pedals had this.

I play blues, soul, roots rock. This pedal can get you in the territory of great tone and can be very musical, but beware, it significantly colours your clean sound. It adds a honky quality to your sound, as a result of digitizing your tone.... if you want to use it, run it through a true bypass loop box and turn the mix all the way up and adjust on your bypass looper. That way you can have your real clean tone with the delay as a second mixable tone with its own volume control.

This is where this product is abysmal, terrible, totally unacceptable. If you want to buy this for your bedroom, to step on with your socks on a carpeted floor its fine, but take it from a touring musician, if you are ever gonna step on the switches with your shoe or put this in your pedalboard it is absolutely going to die sooner or later. Switches fail, solder joints fail, presets get lost, pots fail, The only people who give this a high rating for reliability haven't used it in a real touring situation or have been lucky so far. I was in this category until recently, and mine was one of the earlier models that were supposedly better. Trust me on this please... its from real world experience!!! Line 6 has lowered the expectations of everyone but the fact is these things should work indefinitely, forever, without failing.... Like Boss pedals.

I have called line 6 for other things, they have been fine. But seriously, you can't just put something in a heavy duty box and expect it to be heavy duty. The quality control is terrible and this thing is just an on-stage problem waiting to happen.

On a whole, very user friendly. Anything that you can't figure out just by playing around with it, is not greatly important - and the manual explains everything well anyway.

Gear used: Gibson '59 Historic Les Paul, Fender '62 Re-Issue Strat, Vox AC-30TBX and Mesa 1994 Dual Rectifier.
Superb sounds. The lo-Res, tape-Echo and Analog settings are to die for.
Would like a dual delay setting like Line 6's ECHO PARK, like a stereo with 2 different note values coming out each amp. Also being able to change note values on other delay sound models like with ECHO PARK.

Has been mostly hassel free for almost a year. It did reboot once and resoted to the factory settings!! No big problem though.

Contacted Line 6 about another product i thought i had a problem with and was contacted back next day. Very helpful and knew what i was doing wrong.

If it had a stereo mode with split channels with different note values it would be my ultimate pedal. But i still use an ECHO PARK for some stuff as the DL4 dosen't meet all my delay and echo needs. But still one of the best pedals to date.

Overall, it's very easy to use and program delays. I do wish it had an LCD screen like the Boss DD-20 to see the BPM, but that's a minor thing. It also could use a control for the note value of the tap tempo. This is another great thing about the DD-20 - you can specify eighth, dotted eighth notes, etc. The rhythmic delay of the DL4 doesn't allow dotted notes, which was frustrating.

Wonderful! This is the best part about this unit. Lo Res delay is like nothing else and was my favorite for really ambient stuff.

Worked fine for about 6 months - and I'm nice to my pedals. Like many others have been saying for years, this unit eventually craps out. Unlike Boss, Line 6 are not making a dependable delay unit that will work for years. This is why I switched to the Boss DD-20. Boss just lasts longer and I can depend on it for gigs and such. I actually had this thing go out on me during a number of gigs before I forced myself to get rid of it- the switches didn't switch, the unit froze up and had to be reset, etc. Major bummer.

Sounds great, but I just can't depend on it for gigs - and that's worth half the score here. I'm quite happy with the Boss DD-20 though and I'm not worried about it breaking on me.

The basic functions are very easy to use. There are some little secret options which should be better labeled. For example, if you want the echo to decay after you stomp the effect off (rather than the echo ending suddenly), you must hold the first and third buttons down while inserting the plug. Of course, it could be kinda fun to discover these little things.

I have one for vocals and one for guitar. Both feed into direct boxes with liftable grounds, so there are no sound problems here. I've even used mine for studio work.

I would definitely recommend that you get some sort of replacement insurance. I play music for a living so I have 4 of these petals - 2 for use and 2 in case the others break. I am religiously careful with my petals but find they still have some crazy quirks.

For example, if you don't 'stomp' the buttons from the right angle they break internally.

Then there are some electronic quirks. For example, when you turn one effect off, another will automatically turn on... for no reason.

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Aside from the reliability issues, this is the best petal I've owned.

Compared to other looping petals, I hands-down prefer this one. It has some important features that other petals don't have (like absolutely precise timing, layer fading, etc.).

Easy to use, like all the modelors, that's the nice thing about it.

I use mostly boutique pedals, a boogie mark I and fender/gibson guitars. I've also got a G&l strat that I love. I wanted to say that in recent months, line 6's quality control has taken a nose dive. I remember when these modelors came out, all of us in town picked them up, because they were easy to use, and they were great for live work. I've held on to my modulation unit, and still love it, now especially since I've had the Keeley mod done to fix the slight volume drop. I was frustrated with digital technology a couple years back, and sold the dl4 I had for some pricey analog stuff. I used quite a few different pedals, but always missed having several presets and tap tempo right there for live gigs where I did a lot of delay changing on the fly. I picked up a dl4 two weeks ago, thinking it was time I had one again. I was in a rush so I didn't plug it in at the store, I assumed it would work fine, and arrived at the gig only to have a dead unit. I returned it, and had the same problem with my second model. Needless to say, I'm reconsidering my purchase, and will most likely go with the boss dd20, although I wish it was true bypass.
Upon researching, I've found that, as of late, many folks have been having problems with reliability of these pedals, and, frankly, it's dissuaded me from buying any future Line 6 products. Three of my guitarist friends still use line 6 pedals on a nightly basis, and haven't had problems, but all of us bought older models, back in the late 90's so I guess quality was better then.
I just wanted to say, I really liked this delay, and I'm sad it didn't work out but, I need something to work for me and not have to worry about it. Plus, it's not like you can resolder a wire or something, the thing is all digital chips and such.
Just my two cents on the dl4.

I've learned to embrace technology, somewhat anyway, but when things like this happen, I wonder if I'm not better off with an old analog delay. My memoryman lasted for years without so much as a rattle, and it was made in the 70's, so what does that say. I just wish someone made an analog delay, with at least two preset levels and modulation. I'd gladly pay extra cash for that.

when i first bought this pedal i looked at it like "ok, i have a dl4 now, so how the fuck do i work it!?" but it's actually very simple to use. after about a week i knew how to work it with no problem whatsoever. the looper is a little more difficult but it fits in with learning how the rest of the pedal works within the week. they also have hidden features for the dl4 if you look in the users manual or download it off www.line6.com

sounds really good. nothing really bad about the sounds. i find it very nice. no noise when switching it on or off and if you do get noise it's either really rare or your pedal is just messed up and you need to get it fixed.

here is where line 6 completely ruined mine and some other people's dl4 experience. i actually just got a new one yesterday because i went to guitar center and pitched a fit because my knobs were shot after 3 months of owning the pedal. 3 MONTHS!!! i took it back and after dealing with the biggest asshole i ever met, he gave me a brand new dl4 for free. i took it home and played with it later that night and this one has never been used and it's already fucked up. for my "B" switch, sometimes if you hit it when not using the looper it turns on the "C" switch instead. when using it with the looper and you hit the "B" switch, it turns on the play once option and if you have the tap tempo switch on while you have the loop running, when you hit the "B" switch to turn your loop on, it will shut the tap tempo off completely. theres nothing wrong with the tap tempo whenever i use it without the looper but i was really pissed when this happened just because of how attached to this pedal i became. it's is by far one of the coolest delays and one of the most popular delays too. but it's basically luck of the draw with them because i know people who have had a dl4 for 5 years. i just wonder how they've kept them working for so long.

i sent them some messages about my dl4 whenever it started getting messed up and they will, i repeat, they WILL send you a message within a 2 day period. pretty helpful people, but they suck ass at building really cool stompbox modelers

I still love this pedal to death but im not sure whether im gonna take it back and see if it will work for atleast 15 days and if it doesn't im probably gonna take it to guitar center and get my money back. i ripped off some dude really big time anyways. they usually sell for $250 but i got mine for $205 PLUS the power supply for free. the guy that worked at guitar center was an idiot. hell i think they're all assholes.

This unit is easy to get the hang of if you read the instruction manuel. Let me emphasize to READ THE MANUEL!!! Its very helpful and interesting too. The only part of it that takes some getting used to is the Loop Sampler (once again...read the manual)

When I gig I use it with with the following setup:

Squier Jagmaster > Boss TU2 > Fulltone FullDrive II > Boss Super Phaser > Line 6 DL4 > Jade Storm 100W combo.

This pedal provides for most of my delay desires. It has a large range of different sounds that I haven't found uses for yet but I know I will in time. I haven't heard many of the original pedals that it Models but I like the sounds it makes. One minor niggle is when using the Tube Echo setting, if the overdrive setting on the DL4 is not set correctly there is a noticable volume drop but if you play with the setting a bit it works out.

Some of the reviews posted here do worry me slightly but I've never had any problems with it. I definately do gig without a backup cause I can't afford to have two of every pedal. Having said that I would even if I could afford two.

I've never had to deal with them.

I play in a couple of different bands. One is jazz rock/experimental, the second is folk/celtic/reggae, the third is a Christian pop/rock/blues band and I also do some solo ambient/experimental stuff. I use this pedal in all these bands and it has a function for just about everything I need. I love the ambient sounds I can get out of it that provides flavour during very sparse musical sections. The only major thing I wish it had would be extra storage spots...It is hard to function with only three with all the sounds available.

If it were stolen or lost I would get another just because for the price it is definately the most versatile unit around and therefore is perfect for the musician on a tight budget who wants some good delay sounds.

This pedal is not at all hard to use right out of the box. You can really get in depth use if you read and follow the manual (and your amp's manual also). I believe this pedal is best run through an effects loop.

I mainly use a Mexi-Tele thru a 535q wah and a Small Stone phaser. I run the Line 6 delay thru the effects loop of my Mesa Nomad 55. The E.L. level on my amp is set at about 11 o'clock and the mix on the delay is set at about 4 o'clock, giving me the best mix for my taste.
If I tweak either the amp E.L. or the mix level on the delay I lose some tone but that is expected. I have owned this pedal for a year and a half and have had no noise problems with it. I really like the tube echo on the Line 6, although it does not fit every song. The normal digital delay is what I use the most, and it works great, tonally. I also enjoy being able to adjust tap tempo on the fly.

Here is where Line 6 gets a little weak. The "stomp" switches on the outside of the pedal have these little springs with a small, straw like, white piece of plastic that stikes the actual controlling button inside the pedal. I have had the small piece of plastic pop out of place (twice in the last year and a half) on the tap tempo switch losing the tap tempo control altogeher. I use the tap tempo quite frequently so it has been a bit annoying. I also believe that this problem is two-part, Line 6 making the internal controls too weak and Line 6 putting the "stomp" switches vertical so when they are stepped on, they get stepped on at an angle putting too much stress on the inside spring. A small design change would be good here (put the stomp buttons at an angle and make the internal spring stronger!). This has been the only problem I've had with this pedal. (As mentioned in an earlier review DON'T stomp on the switches.) I play mostly at church and I don't need a back-up. This pedal is fairly dependable with careful foot-switching.

The problem I had with the switch was relatively easy to fix, albeit somewhat time consuming, and I did it on my own so I haven't dealt with the company at all.

This pedal works for the styles of music that I play (rock, some metal, blues). I've been playing for 15 years and this is about the best delay I have used. I would buy another one if it were lost or stolen. I love the sounds and the ease of use, and I hate the weak problem I mentioned earlier. If Line 6 were to strengthen the small weakness of this pedal I would have a top-shelf rating for this product.

End of use is the only thing why to buy this piece of a shit. As i was reading manual i thought i got a exactly what i needed. Pretty simple to use.

Setup: Yamaha APX 620 - DL4+expression pedal - Geroge Denis The Blue. It really doesn't reduce signal at all. This is all you can except. I was trying two of this boxes becouse first one has crashed after ten minutes. Second one still works - big surprise. But i gave it away. No metter how good or bad delays are becouse there's a big pause while switching between delays. Otherwise you can get a good (not perfect) delay sound. There's a lot of options of setup especially using expression pedal but most of them are useles. Or you have to be in high psyachdelic mood.

It looks like tank but it's breakable as an eggshell. Expression pedal was good.

I have no idea what should they do to get my faith in this expensive uselles thing back.

There's no reason to use it. They should rename to LineSHIT! Use BOSS! Or whatever else.

there's a lot to do with this pedal, it takes a while to dial in perfectly. But once that's accomplished, it is very easy to use.

there's some tone suck going on, and a slight drop in volume that only the player and the sound guy will notice. I use it w/ a modified strat and a fender stage 112. Great for cool swells and U2 sound, or just a good delay at tempo for color and space filling.

i've read a lot of these, and i'm surprised to find the problems people have with them. I don't know a good guitarist that dosn't own one of these pedals and i've never heard of any trouble except My roommate just had the tap tempo button come unscrewed, which, if he'd tightened it when it started getting loose, that wouldn't have happened. I have been able to depend on it, along with my roommate and another friend of ours. We all play at least 3 gigs per week and transport the thing in pedal board cases.

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I use this thing all the time. It's a lot of my tone and color. I've been playing for 14 years, and had this pedal for 2. I don't know what I did without it. I'd buy it again, but I do wish it was built a little stronger. I compared it to the boss equivalent, but boss pedals suck even more tone than line 6.

Very easy especially for improvised loop based music the loop sampler feature is way easier and instant than the boss RC -20 xl

I will review the loop sampler feature cause in three years of owning the pedal I have used the delay modeling very little.

Great it puts out what it takes in except in one instance that is very strange indeed. I havve recented been running a drum machine through it and on record it soudns fine, but on play back the high hat sound comes out way louder than it went in and sounding more like the snare.

Never had a problem. I use it almost every day for three years and bought it used. I gig with it regularly and it is covered in dings and scratches, but it works great.

never tried

I wish there was a way to connect an expression pedal and control the volume of the loop so that loops could be faded out.

Other than that it is great. I also have the boss RC-20xl, but I see them as having different uses.

This is way better for improvised music. Also if you are looping stuff and dont ever need to go into half speed mode then start in half speed mode and you get 28 seconds of possible loop time

I found this thing to be pretty easy to use. The factory presets sound really good already and changing it up is just a matter of turning the dials. but there is a bit of a learning curve when customizing it. I've had it for 6 months and still haven't tried everything it has to offer. I mostly fool around with the looper.

my setup is mex strat->big muff->dl4->randall tube amp

again I mainly use it for the looper and that's a ten for sure. the stereo delay is pretty cool too. i find i don't need that many delay effects, but they all do their thing well. nothing sounds bad.

MINE IS ON LIFE SUPPORT! after 6 months of no problems, it has started to behave like it's mass produced brothers. it is now very difficult to get it to turn on. i have to fiddle with the cords. i'm just hoping it doesn't degrade further. but after reading the other posts, i have little hope.

I found it excellent for it's loop function. But now that's it's broken, I'm considering getting the boss loop pedal, especially since it dropped about 200 in price.

I found it pretty easy to use, but was left a little flabberghasted with the "Multi-head" model. I find it really hard to use, but once you put the time in with this pedal, you really get rewarded. Its easy enough to use, especially with the handy stickers provided (to explain what "tweek" an "tweez" do for each model!), but it is always a good thing to read a manual for Line 6 products to get the most from them as quickly as possible

My set up is: Fender Telecaster-Digitech Whammy4, Boss sd-1,Crybaby wah, EH Small stone, Boss TR-2, Line 6 DL4, Line 6 Pod v2.0 - amp

I am really happy with the sounds i get from it. I had a Boss DD-3 before, and i was a bit sick of the digital delay. It was too pin point accurate for me. I love the sound of Space Echoes and Memory Mans, so for me, this was great. Also the sweep-delay is fantastic.

Im a massive Radiohead/ Pink floyd fan, and i find i can get so many of their sounds using this pedal. Its great!

Gets 10 for amazing sound, but also for "Delay tail" function.

I've only had mine for a month and it hasnt been gigged, but so far its doing great. I've a friend who keeps having the tap tempo button screw up, but he bought it second hand. Also read so many bad reports, but what the hell, i want to see if mine is any different. So far so good! I look after my stuff too

If i gigged (ever! lol), i wouldn't bother with backup

8 as i havent had it that long, but i have faith!

I've dealt with Line 6 before, and they are crap. Straight up shit

I think its a great unit, and im very happy with it. It's really quite expensive, but it does so much more than many other delay units available. Fair enough, it doesnt sound EXACTLY like all the models on it, but im a student for gods sake. How can i afford a Space Echo and TC Electronics? Beggars cant be chosers, but this beggar is happy with his find!

The product is relatively easy to use. The loop sampler is incredibly easy to use. The user- friendly aspect of this modeling pedal by FAR the greatest thing about it.

good sound quality. generic tone but like most line 6 stuff, it is very tweakable.

Pathetic..... OK ladies and gents...as probably one of the first owners of this modeling pedal (owned it since 2001) I can tell you that I know this product very well. The warranty lasts for one year. Most people who buy this product do not need it because the lifespan of this product is anywhere from 1-3 years. After about the third year, that is when the problems arise. There are many factors but the most important one is simply the fact that one (for most of its usage) is using their feet to STOMP on the product. Needless to say, this is no excuse for its poor craftsmenship or poor engineering. To make a long story short, the line 6 delay is not a ROAD hog.... I, under no circumstance, would recommend this product for live gigs due to its lack of dependibility, inconsistency, and sheer unfaithfullness. DUE yourself a favor and buy another delay modulator...there are plenty of other ones out there....

Ok...but not useful after the warranty has expired.....

Below mediocre....do not recommend buying

I found it easy to use, and though I am not a manual guy, I found the manual to be super helpful in guiding me to the sounds I wanted and in easier ways of using the pedal for all its worth. I was primarily a boss loop station user, but found that using the 2 pedals together helped fill in the gaps. Because what one pedal misses, the other seems to have.

I use a telecaster, varying fender amps, and after the line 6, a boss loop station. I never had problems with noise, but sometimes distorion being run through the pedal cause awful overtones.

It worked for a year, then the lights would come on but it wouldn't work, so I took it apart, cleaned it out, and it worked again. Then after about 8 months, it just quit. Doesn't work at all. I was dumb enough to have not registered for a warranty, but hell, for 250+ bucks I expected more. Don't know if I'll ever buy another one.

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I play rock/country/grunge/americana.
Was planning to buy another until i saw the 8 billion reviews here saying their $%^& quit like mine. I don't think i can part with another 250-300 for such crappy reliability.
The number one and two advantages over a boss loopstation is that you can make really short loops and you can begin recording immediately when the first loop repeats.
When it worked, I rate it a 9.
Now it's in the closet. A rated negative whatever. Waste of 250 bucks for a lot of people.

10! Very easy to use, very convenient tap tempo for on the fly tempo change. Not much to programming it, like they say, no weird button combinations or banks to scroll through, just knobs and buttons. The manual is not only helpful and easy to follow, but these guys are a trip so it'll keep you entertained.

8. I'd give it a 10 except for one minor (strange) problem. The effect actual lowers your signal level when it's turned on! It isn't a drastic change, but definitely noticable. I'm going to have mind modified by Robert Keeley (www.robertkeeley.com, check it out, they're amazing!) which corrects this problem... but in my opinion, I shouldn't have to spend an extra 100 bucks to make a 250 dollar pedal work like it should! Other than that problem, it's amazing sounding. Very accurate representations of the original effects, low noise.

If I could give it a negative 10 for reliability, I would. I have bought THREE (yes... THREE) of these guys. I'm so paranoid about them locking up or frying that I actually keep two of them on and powered up on my pedal board at all times! That says a lot for how amazing the quality is when they're working though right? All three of them have had to be sent in for service, and all three, after being serviced, still have occasional lockups and glitches (and it's almost like they KNOW I'm in a gig because they always lock up DURING perfomances!) I ended up selling the third one but now I gig with a backup that I program with mirrored settings to the first and leave in my effects chain and powered up just in case.

Again, if I could give it a negative 10, I would. The customer support on the website, and the guys on the phone, are very helpful. BUT! Here's the problem. Line six whores out their service to "repair centers" all around the country. Basically third party music stores or electronic repair places that fix them, and line 6 pays them to do it. Each one of these places that I have contacted have acted like they were doing me a HUGE favor for letting line 6 pay them to fix my equipment. They have all mentioned that they don't make any money off of fixing line 6 equipment (which I know is a lie, why would they do it if they weren't making money? It's not like line 6 forces them to be their repair centers!?!?) I had one store tell me it could be up to 2 months to get my pedal fixed, the other center told me, after having it in hand for a month, that "he hadn't had a chance to look at it yet" and "he has to make a living, so his other customers that he gets commission on take priority." By the way, if you are in or around Charlotte, NC... AVOID TRITECH ELECTRONICS and BROOKS MAYS MUSIC!!! You're better off getting a five year old to hit it with a hammer and pray that in doing so, something gets knocked back into place. These guys are incompetence in it's highest (lowest?) form.

If they were reliable and there were no issues with repair on the outside chance that there was a problem... I'd give it a 10 no question. Sounds amazing, easy to use, brilliant concept! Only problem is I cringe every time I turn the effect on out of fear that I'll step on that switch and it'll just laugh at me. Feel free to e-mail me if you're considering buying one... or if you have one and have similar problems, we can share our horrible experiences.

you really have to read the manual and look at everything to get a truly good sound out of it. i was the type of guy that knew exactly what i wanted, so i just kind of dialed everything in and had my perfect sound right then. the manual is really good and really fun to look through, it tells you all about the history of delays and all of the ideas behind the presets on the pedal. overall it doesnt take much to get a good sound out of it, you just have to know what you want and what you're doing

i've experienced some signal droupout on a couple of my presets, this was pretty upsetting for a 250 dollar pedal. the delay sustain isn't that great.
there are a lot of effects in my rig and i lost some tone with this but i have a BBE in my rack so that makes up for any loss of tone. i have a gibson sg standard and a fernandes vertigo elite, into a dual rec.
overall this pedal sounds good, definately one of the better delays on the market but i think that you don't get enough bang for your buck

these things are built like tanks, mine has heavy road use and after 8 months hasn't gotten faulty at all. then again, i keep it in a pretty heavy duty pedal case. but the pedal itself is completely reliable, as long as youre not using it with batteries

they have tons of customer support on their website, and the dudes are really nice over the phone as well. my friends have only had good things to say as well

i play progressive-tinged metal that has a fair amount of ambient clean parts, this does exactly what i want it to there. i had a sound in mind and this thing delivered. i've been playing guitar for 5 years and this is one of the best pedals ive owned, its just a little overpriced and i think overrated. i wish the power cable came with it, thats kind of ridiculous. it definately never gets in the way, its grown to be a pretty crucial part of my rig

This is an amazing pedal. I don't know of a better pedal for the money. It would be nice with a digital display, but it is still reaally easy to get an amazing sound out of it; it just takes a little playing around with it (just like with anything else).

I have been playing guitar for seven years, and I play a Schecter Diamond Series Omen 6 through a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 with the Line 6 delay as my only effect at the moment (hopefully I'll have a vintage Rat soon!). It sounds great. The overdrive on the amp is plenty for what I'm doing right now, I only want a Rat to have a little more control over the tone and volume. The sound is perfect for what I want.

I've had the pedal for a year and a half with no problems at all.

I've never really had to deal with the company, but my only complaint about the pedal is that you have to buy the power adapter separatly, and it's kind of pricey.

I love the Coldplay, Jon Buckland sound of guitar, and this is perfect. If it were stolen or lost, I would probably go on a crazy rampage and destroy things with tears in my eyes (or something similar to that basic description). I've played around with a friend's Boss DD4 (which I hope to have one day), but the line 6 kicks its tail. With a good distortion pedal, the line 6 can make some of the most pure, full-bodied sounds come from any guitar or amp. It really helps me with creativity, because it fills out even the simplist single notes or chords such that there is a much greater aray of things I can do with less work.

I just spent some time experimenting without the manual, then read the manual, experimented again. Seems easy enough, this is probably where people are all over the place in difference. I have used other delays that are more complicated.

Seems to be fairly worthy of a 7. Some tone loss, but for the most part I like the sound I get out of it.

Still new, Ill be back if it breaks like all these horror stories on here. I have seen stacks of people use this pedal, and never heard a face to face story bashing this pedal. Only recommendations.

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I bought this to replace my Boss RC20XL loop station, as well as to get a new delay. The whole thing takes some time to get use to. Although its not perfect for what I want, the delays, and the looper are solid.
The delays have been modelled well. And the looper is 14 seconds with a tap tempo, works fine for me.

I was unhappy with the audio loop in the RC20xl because it was half the sample rate and resolution. The DL4 seems to sound stronger.

very easy to use but presetings are really annoying because u cant change them. the manual great

Its not noisy at all, in fact the noise gate means u have a better sound than b4. I use a marshall 100dfx amp and a 1962 fender jaguar u can sound excactly like JOHN FRUSCIANTE and OMAR RODRIGUEZ.

absolutely shite it broke after 2 hours, just woudnt turn on again
i hope the replacement wont break as easy, luck of the draw me say.

brilliant when working, they lie about battery life in manual. WHY WOULD U DO THIS 2 ME LINE 6
I SPENT MANY HOURS WORKING IN THE MEAT FACTORY IN IOWA. FUCK I HAD TO SELL MY LITLE WIG AND PANTIES TOO THE LOAN SHARK. ILL NEVER LOVE AGAIN.

It's very easy to use if you read the manual and remember that you can always return to factory settings

The sound quality is excellent. I play tons of jobs both private and bar & nightclub stuff. I'm constantly amazed at some of the comments from from people that must be analyzing equipment in a lab or a bedroom. The noise floor in a night club is such that I don't think any of these noise comments are relavent to live playing, in different rooms every night. This pedal is the pedal boards of Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Brad Whitford,Keith Urban and tons of others, seems like it works for them, so some of these comments seem a little silly

Seems like alot of these people have alot of breakdowns. I guess I'm lucky because everything always works if I take care of it, no mattter how much I use it other than old tube and tube amps. But that's just routine maint.

Deal with who you bought it from. Who has time to contact the factory when you are supposed to contact your dealer anyway. Deal with your local store and keep you reciept, any Guitar center or decent dealer will always work with you if you have your reciept and follow the return or repair rules of the dealer. Why would any one contact line 6 for a local repair problem?

Excellent, 20 years ago all we had were boss dd-2's and dm-1's, and they were great as well, it's all in the hands and these things just make playing more fun. I remember when you got laughed at for buying a seventies Strat new, and now they are "vintage instuments". Well there is more to good equipment than chat room misinformation. Try keeping an echoplex in good working order and than tell me how bad this pedal is. Most of these people have no idea how good some of this stuff is, or how bad some of the older "but not really good then" stuff is.

The control knobs make it easy to use and control the various make-up of each type of delay. It is a little tricky configuring the pedal at first, but easy once you figure it out.

I found the manual really helpful as it gives you the background of each type of delay setting and references popular guitarists that used that particular delay.

The loop setting is very easy to use after a little practice.

I wish there was a digital display to see exactly how many micro-seconds the delay was holding. It's like using a tuner knob on a radio, instead of showing 99.1FM (for example). You have to guess and adjust to make it fit the music.

I would like to have more than 3 user-settings, but it sure beats a single delay pedal.

I've been playing guitar for 10 years and over the past years have primarily played acoustic (Takamine Santa Fe 93-c w/ turqoise inlays). Since purchasing the DL-4, the Takamine has been collecting dust in my closet.

The sound is great. I especially like the way you can set it to keep playing the delayed sound even after you've hit the bypass switch. The echoes trail off and this sounds very professional.

Mine works fine. Although, I have heard others say it arrives broken or buzzes.

For the buzz/hiss problem, you can simply use a noise gate. Line 6's distortion pedal has this built in. But, you would have to run the distortion pedal after the delay pedal which I do not prefer. This makes some difference when changing between distortion and clean, when you want either sound to trail off with the delay.

Again, I have had zero problems with mine. I've found it's usually the guitar cable or amp that has hissing problems.

Haven't had any problems. No opinion here.

I play anything from Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Coldplay to Dave Matthews Band to Pixies to TV Theme Songs (James Bond Theme is awesome). Of course, I would prefer to have each of the original delay pedals that this thing emulates, but, for the price, this thing does everything you need and sounds almost identical.

The loop setting can really be helpful when your trying to put a rhythm and lead section together... or more than 1 guitar track at the same time.

This pedal eliminates the need for multiple delay pedals, a loop pedal, an e-bow, and a reverse pedal. It is wonderful, whether you want some of that new Modest Mouse / Coldplay sound or some old school Hendrix / Clapton / Eddie Van Halen stuff.

Buy one now.

Delay almost always sounds good, but there's a LOT of variables with this pedal before you get everything nailed. The manual is great, the sounds are all good, but with this many options it'll take awhile to find settings that you want to save. That's really not a bad thing, though.

Like I said, delay almost always sounds good and this is no exception. I really don't get the appeal of analog/tape delays with the scratchy repeats, I'd much rather a clean digital delay, but I guess they're fine for some people. I do love the Memory Man model for clean, softer delays, but I use the plain digital delay for everything else. Also, the auto-volume is one of the best effects I've ever used and it was the reason I went with a Line 6 pedal. When this setting is tweaked just right, it makes the pedal worth every(over-charged) penny.

I'm using it with a Tech 21 Trademark 300 amp and a Zinky 2x12 cab, which I love, but it's too bad that the Tech 21's effects loop is so picky because I'd love to have this going through that. Luckily it sounds fantastic going into the front of the amp.

I've heard extremely bad things about this and I've only had it a short while. One show and a bunch of jams, not nearly enough to make a rating. I'll report back if I have any problems, but I really hope this isn't the case.

No experience.

I'm doing spacey hard rock/metal in the vein of Dredg, Cave In, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Cure and some stuff like Misery Signals as well. Obviously delay is a given, but this one is fantastic. I'd buy it again in a second, but I'm definitely wary of the questionable reliability. I've heard stories that the first batch of these were solid as well as the newer ones, but quality dipped a lot during the time between.... hopefully this is the case and I got one of the newer ones, I guess.

No need to review features. Plenty of other people have mentioned in great detail.

Difficult at first, but easy to figure out if you spend some time with it. WRITE DOWN YOUR SETTINGS.

Line 6 has done a great job on developing accurate tones. Can't fault them here.

Tone is not the issue...reliability is. See below.

Okay, here's where I come in. I read the reviews here and should have listened, but I couldn't resist. So I bought one from AMS as a "scratch and dent". Well it was in mint condition. One problem. The Loop Sampler didn't work. I sent it back under their return policy and they kindly sent me a floor model no extra charge. For about one year everything is peachy. Then this past summer one of the footswitch hex bolts comes undone sending the footswitch into the chassis. This didn't make sense, but a friend had a similar experience and fixed it for me. A little weird, but fixable. No big deal.

About a month later the pedal starts randomly and very sporadically losing my saved settings. It would audibly scramble (speed up then slow down). I tried cleaning out the footswitch connections to the circuit board (a very poor design). Nope...it just got worse in fact. Several live gigs later and what do you know it craps out completely. This time it never recovers. The pedal, even after reseting will not allow delay times to be changed either manually or with the tap tempo. It forgets them almost immediately.

Line 6 nailed tone, but in the process they forgot about quality of the product. Based on other's recommendations on here, I went out and bought a Boss DD-20 GigaDelay. It has been a life saver and honestly a fairly large improvement (great for a ProTools studio where delay tempos need to be right on!).

N/A

I've been playing for over 10 years. My musical style is very British rock in nature. I have been playing live and in bands for 7 out of those 10 years. It is primarily a hobby which spurs on my desire to find the best gear out there. The DL4 is not in that pool anymore.

My rig is currently: Gibson LP Std/Fender 72 Thinline Tele (CIJ)/Fender Am Std Tele into Boss TU-2, TS-9 Tubescreamer, Fulltone FD-2, Boss Bass Flanger, Boss TR-2 Trem, Boss DD-20 all into my new Dr.Z Maz 18 2x12.

The Line 6 DL4 is junk. People are not lying on here when they say what they say. I should have listened. Please don't make the same mistake I made.

It's easy enough to figure out if you have an aptitude for this kind of thing.

my rig:

1964 jazzmaster, mostly stock
1963 franken-jazzmaster, tele deluxe pu in bridge
1963 jaguar, li'l 59 single space humbuckers

into some combination of:

Fulldrive2
Klon centaur
hotcake
big muff
ibanez analog delay AD9
VooDoo Labs trem
Boss dd5 and/or dd6
mrx compressor

into one of these:

1959 (?) Magnatone 213
1965 Deluxe (no reverb, not reissue)
1968 Princeton Reverb


the delays themselves can sound fantastic- i love that you can get these crazy, gritty, lofi, delays with tons of character. It does, however, effect the sound of your guitar- when the unit is on, it adds a fairly significant amount treble to the unporocessed signal. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but if you don't like it, there's nothing you can do about it.

The thing that I love about the pedal is that it really has a much better feel than any other digital delay I've played with. I have a few boss delay pedals, and i like them OK, but they all seem a little sterile. I had my DD5 modified with a high cut switch, and it really wasn't worth it. Plus, the DL4 makes all kinds of crazy blooping sound when you screw around with it, which makes me love it all the more.

as far as I am concerned, Line 6 owes me a new one, and one that works past the warranty.

Bought my first one, used it for a while, liked it, stopped using it, put it up on a shelf, brought it down a year later, fell in love with it.

Then the trouble began. Random resets, digital clipping run away freakouts, just plain not working- no delay, no guitar- nothing.

Stupidly bought another because I love the damned thing so much. Same thing is starting to happen again. The best way to get it to malfunction- try to record with it.


The chassis on this thing could stop a bullet- why go cheap and put the crappiest footswitches manufactured in there? They stick, they break, they make it difficult to tap in the right delay time. Infuriating.

With all of the complaints, I'm hoping they come out with a DM4.2. I would be stupid enough to buy it in a heartbeat.

the people at the support line ignored me for about 3 months, then became very charitable. The place that they sent me to get it fixed took 5 months, and tried to charge me the cost of the unit.

well, it is obvious what Line6 should do. Let's see if they do it. I would love to have it back in my pedalboard, but since i don't like to look like more of a chump than I do all ready, it is not going to happen.

My Boss pedals have never failed me, not once. Too bad they don't sound as cool as the DD4.

So, what is the overall rating for something that sound great when it works, but neverworks reliably when you need it? I give it a 3.