Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler

Easy to Use, the manual is pretty straight forward.

Its Not noisy, and the variety of Delays are great. I really like the analog delay w mod.

No You CANNOT Depend on It, It worked alright for a few months. once i started giggin with it, it expired, The Delay wouldn't go on or off. then all the lights would start flashing and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. I took it apart and stretched out the springs which made the buttons work for a few more hours, but its back to nothing again. Its very annoying.

They answer the phone and all, but deny that any one has every had a problem like I'm experiencing. Furthermore, to have it fixed you have to send it to some local tech, most of whom charge a minimum of $65 to open it up and determine whether or not there is anything they can do, excluding shipping. So essentially its not worth it, once it breaks - its done .

It was great for everything I play, classic rock, blues, especially Garcia stuff ...But the reliability Blows. I can't justify spending $250 for another one, when I've seen the inside of it, and know the build quality is so weak. Besides the fact that its huge and heavy and take sup a lot of pedal board space. If they made a stronger one w/ better foot switches, I'd buy another. Until then - I'm a seller.

Super easy and monkey and can figue it out, if you can't you shouldn't be playing.

Absolutely suprised how good it sounds! I give the highest praise to the guys at Line 6. The secrete is using pro quality amp and guitar and most importanly you have know how to play not just be able to afford nice equpment!!!!!!All you idiots who are judgemental as to how this is not this and that are buch of a amatures and wouldn't matter what you bought, you still would sounds like shit!!

Built like a tank!!!!!

Totally happy and sounds unbelieveable with the right setup and a little editing!

Took less than 20 minutes to wrap my head around it. Bought it on Saturday, practiced with it on Sunday, gigged with the loop sampler on Monday.

Quite pristine. I use it as the last piece in my setup before the poweramp and the sound quality is really good.

Aarggh! I bought it on Saturday, and for the gig on Monday the darn thing went down in the middle of the gig. There is something seriously wrong with the loop sampler chip. It loops fine for about 20-30 seconds then starts warbling, slowing down and speeding up. It totally screwed an otherwise fine guitar solo. Took it back to the rehearsal space and used different batteries and the power adapter from from my MM4. No luck. It's toast. I'll be taking it back to guitar center this weekend and getting a replacement.

Haven't talked to them

Sounds great and functions real nice when it works. Really bummed that it died so quick.

Well, I bought this pedal like two years ago as a recommendation from a fellow experimental artist.
Since then I've trying to try to completely figure it out so I can use the effect to its 100% capability.
It is my sad duty to inform all of you that I haven't done it yet.
I thought it was me ('cause I am from the analog generation and don't assimilate Digital too much), but after reading all of these reviews I finally realized that it is this darn pedal.
First the manual doesn't take you through the matter like it is supposed to do. It is just a scrap of info about the pedal.
Secondly, it is almost impossible to replicate a sound you have found (after hours of tweaking) after you turn the effect off or change it.
It has three custom presets but that is definitely not enough.

I use it for guitar (epiphone dot, fender strat), bass (jazz bass), synth (Yamaha Cs150 analog synth) and even vocals through different kind of guitar and bass amps (mostly Marshalls for guitar and Ashdown for bass). The sounds are nice (not great). The auto volume is really cool but (again) somewhat difficult to manipulate. The Reverse is fair and the other types of delay can get the job done (sometimes). The Loops is the most useful tool for me from this unit. But it gets to the same issue again and again.
How in the world you are going to use this pedal on a live performance if you can save more than three presets of almost 15 different kinds of delay?
I agree with this people that are totally pissed off about it. I mean, it cost me $250.00 and man, it is way too expensive for what it does.
I mean, it works for studio recording if you are overdubbing guitars and stuff but as a live tool I barely use it.

It a tough unit although the switch buttons are kinda fragile.
No compalints yet.

I have never use it

I play mostly experimental music (ambient, noise, space rock, rock in opposition, etc.)It works for me but mostly on the studio. Kind of difficult to perform with it.If it were stolen I pitty the fool who did it and if lost I would not ever look for it. Definitely will NOT BUY IT AGAIN. I wish I could have my old ibanez analog delay I got from an old hippie friend of mine.
In overall; it has nice effects (specially the auto-volume, reverse and the loop)but FOR THE PRICE I BELIEVE IT IS NOT WORTH THE BUY.
I totally believe this is not a VERSATILE unit. It is probably good for a person with tones of cash to blow away. But surely not for me.

FACTORY PRESETS ARE A HORRIBLE IDEA.

When you move the model selector knob to a new delay model, the settings for delay time, repeats, tweak, and tweez all default to factory presets, REGARDLESS OF WHERE THE KNOBS APPEAR TO BE SET ON THE PEDAL. Why why why why why? It is by far the stupidest and most arrogant aspect of all the Line 6 stuff that the knob settings are irrelevant until you move them. Again, I ask - WHY?

Furthermore (and this has already been covered, but is so incredibly annoying, I need to mention it again), if you set your knobs the way you like and then want to have that sound turn on and off during a song, you need to use up one of only THREE personal saved preset spots. And what if you want to tweak that sound a little while you are playing live? Well, you are screwed. I can't overstate how horrible this is, ESPECIALLY considering that this pedal was apparently developed for use in a live setting.

Why do people accept this? It is ridiculous. Imagine if your amp were set up the same way. Let's say your amp head is designed so that each time you put it on standby and turn it on again, the volume defaults to maximum, even if the knob is set to "zero." It sounds totally ridiculous, which it is. But that's how the Line 6 stuff is designed. Totally senseless.

Even with these concerns aside, this pedal is not nearly as easy to use as most of the reviews seem to suggest. I would rate something like the RAT (with LED) as a 10 - you plug it in, set the volume and distortion, then fiddle with the tone knob. There's an on/off switch with a light to tell you when the thing is on or off, in case you are running two distortion pedals or are drunk or stupid or whatever...

I would rate a memory man as a 9 for ease of use, simply because there is no LED. If you are playing extremely loud and are using a somewhat subtle delay effect that only comes on periodically during a song, it is nice to have that LED.

Anyway, the Line 6 takes a little more getting used to, and there is way more to remember than "LED on = on, LED off = off." For example, the Loop Sampler for some reason is designed so that instead of just using one footswitch to start and stop recording, you need to start with one switch and stop with another. That's fine, but it seems like the convention for all other looping pedals I have used is that you have one switch for start/stop recording, one for start/stop playback, one for overdubbing, and one for reversing. If you want another example of un-ease of use, refer to the manual's description of the 1/2 speed/reverse switch.

Again, reviews seem to suggest that this thing is a miracle. It is very nice in that it is a cheap way to have access to a relatively wide array of pedals for a fraction of the cost. However, to suggest that the modeled effects capture all the subtleties of the originals is ridiculous. The memory man in particular seems fairly weak.

I think someone else brought this up, but the fact that Line 6 decided to "improve" upon many of the older pedals' maximum delay time by increasing it to 2.5 seconds (who the hell needs that?) is actually a detriment. How could increased options be a detriment? Well, because it means you have much less fine control over the delay times. A tiny move of the knob changes the delay time a great deal.

Built like a tank.

You can get the manual at www.line6.com. I haven't needed any other customer support yet.

I think I covered it in the ease of use. The presets are a HUGE mistake. Solve that simple problem, and this is a GREAT pedal for the price. I still consider it a very good pedal for the price, but kind of annoying.

UPDATE:
come on, is that the best line 6 can do?

no really, i'm serious. this pedal is ridiculous in terms of using it in a practical situation. i know i was beside myself in my review below but some time has passed and i've collected myself but i still can't believe how stupidly this pedal was designed.

THERE IS NO MANUAL MODE! it's not possible to dial in a delay sound, turn the effect on and then back on again!

let me try to explain this again for people who haven't tried it yet. you can program 3 patches. if you want to play with settings other than the patches you can twiddle the knobs and get the setting you want but, unless you save it, it's gone. GONE! you're back to whatever patch you started in!
basically, when i write music, i turn effect pedals on and off and twiddle with them constantly, making this pedal unusable as THERE IS NO MANUAL MODE!
you know how sometimes a multi-fx unit seems appealing if you know exactly what songs you want to play and with which effects? but on the other hand you have to have stompboxes for real-time twiddling, right? well, that's why they came out with the BOSS DD-20.
that's right, i switched from the DL4 to the DD-20, which everyone else who tries the DD-20 also does.
the DD-20 has FOUR programmable patches, MANUAL MODE, a display showing your delay time (EITHER in millisecs OR bpm!) AND a countdown while your loop is playing (not to mention a whole lotta other stuff!), 23 sec. loop + delay time, great sounding delays, etc!
and, no, i'm not a boss representative. just to prove it, i'll mention some things the DD-20 DOESN'T have: expression pedal jack, reverse looping (although it DOES have reverse delay and if you turn up your feedback level and play a phrase and turn the effect off, it's pretty much the same as a loop), looping of delayed signals (this can be handled in the same way as the reverse loop--in any case i have 2 other delays in front of the DD-20--besides the delay time possible while looping on the DL4 was too short anyhow), ugly green casing.
basically all of the things that the dl4 has that the dd-20 doesn't are things i don't really need anyhow.

not as good as the DD-20

i can't rely on it to have a manual mode.

line 6 supports its customers by convincing them that really high-tech, expensive gear that simulates real gear is better than real actual gear. amp modulator? come on! digital guitars? it's high-tech so it must be good. digital amp distortion? wow.

don't hate me if i just insulted your favorite pedal. just try the DD-20 and see what i'm talking about. i admit, it's not perfect. it doesn't have the some features that you'll find on the DL4. but it offers others not on the DL4 or headrush or anyother delay/looper. and basically the features it does offer are ones i need and the ones it lacks are mere bells and whistles to me.

Its got 6 knobs and 4 stomp switches, and its simple enough to get the basic idea, and the manual is great in helping dial in the perfect sound.

Hot rodded strat (2HB's 1SC) or semi-hollow ibanez artcore->Teese RMC2(Wah)->DL-4->Traynor YCV80 (2x12 all tube combo). The first thing I should mention is its a modeler, so it will not sound EXACTLY like an original tube ecoplex or what have you. That said, it does a great job of emulating some of the best delay units ever, and with true bypass, what more could you ask for for $250?. The loop sampler is incredibly cool! Its not true bypass in this mode but it hardly sucks the tone like some other effects. It may sound stupid but one of the coolest things I stubled upon when fooling around with the delay time and decay rate while playing. You can do some great pitch-bending type stuff, and acutally make the box self-oscillate, making some great synth sounding noises that I love. I give a 9 only because it's important to understand that this wont sound exactly what its emulating, but thats obvious, it has MODELER in its name, but all 16 modes sound cool and you can't beat that for this price.

The switches seem to be pretty solid, and the box is plasic, but not crappy plastic and it seems like it will hold up well. Im certainly not going to go out and buy another one, if it busts during a gig its true bypass so I'll just switch it off, no problem. For a 10 it would need an entirely metal box.

Never had deal with them, doubt they're any good though, nothing im sure compared to Geoffry Teese.

Over all its great save the power adapter. I have a pedal board with power supplies on it, and when I read the box it said 9volt power supply sold seperately, but I figured it was just a standard 9volt supply like the ones on my board, so I opted not to by the adapter. When I got home I discovered line 6 was nice enough to make their power jack a different size than everything else in the world. This could be because it needs a special adapter and they want to prevent ignorant people like me from plugging in the wrong thing, but it more likely is because line 6 wants you to buy their power supply. The icing on the cake is that this thing SUCKS batteries like that's its job. I wouldn't have a problem if it used batteries like my RMC2, but it seems like I only get a few hours of playing out of it before the stupid LED's start flashing. And it uses 4 C cells not one standard 9volt like most effects.

DOWN WITH LINE 6! SUPPORT THE REVOLUTION!
i just want to inform people who are considering buying this pedal how stupid the interface of this pedal is.
aside from having no display, this unit features none of the positive attributes of a digital delay pedal. but to be balanced, it has none of the positive attributes of an analog delay either.
briefly, analog pedals (and several digital units) are manually operated. you turn knobs and hear the effect of the knob-turning in real time. if you turn the unit off and back on again, the effect sounds the way you left it. digital multi-fx pedals are designed to be programmed and can usually store 10-20 programmed patches.

THE DL4 DOES NEITHER!

"THE WORST OF BOTH WORLDS!"

the dl4 can store only 3 (yes, 3!) programmed patches!

THERE IS NO MEMORY hardly!

compare this to any boss, zoom, or digitech ulti-fx unit! see what i'm saying?!

if you turn on a patch and twiddle a knob this puts you in what i will call manual mode for the time being. you can fiddle with the sound, switch on your favorite emulator, delay time, etc. then if you stomp on the switch to bypass and then once again to go back to the delay that the unit is set at, it's no longer there. it has returned automatically to the programmed patch!

THERE IS NO MANUAL MODE!

for me, the entire point of a good pedal is a versatility that encourages experimentation. this thing, because of its useless interface, simply gets in the way.

sure, it sounds okay. i'll give it an 8. what the hell. what do i care?
i will say, though, that it is overrated in terms of how well it emulates vintage effects.

if you had an o.d. stompbox that you set to sound like, say, b.b. king, and you turned it off and back on only to find youself playing a tone like pantera, would you consider it reliable? would you consider yr multi-unit reliable if you woke up to find out it could only store 3 patches?
see what i mean?
exactly!

i try not to be in contact with companies that produce all-in-one digital guitars.

"Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?"
gets in the way.
dude.
"Anything you wish it had?"
um, let's see... maybe usability.
after reading all of the rave reviews, hearing various musicians play it, and generally picking up on the whole dl4 vibe, i just knew it was for me. well, it's not for anyone who is looking for a usefull, practical, or versatile pedal.
i've sold it already. next week i plan to get the boss dd-20, which was what i originally convinced myself to buy before being sidelined by the dl4. i should have paid more attention to myself.

This is a very complex unit, and takes some reading to really get the sounds you want out of it. The manual is very comprehensive (probably the best I've seen).

Excellent sounds for being digital. It probably wouldn't fool me on the analog models in a blindfold test, but it gets damned close, and your audience surely won't know the difference. Use a Voodoo Labs pedal power with it. This thing will eat batteries like crazy and really needs full power to work correctly and effeciently. I had one die at a show last week because of batteries (my own fault for not replacing batteries/not buying an adapter for pedal power).

I use two-three amps in my setup with a DL4 in going to each; 66' twin reverb and/or bad cat black cat for clean into a a/b/y box (with loops in which the dl-4's lie) to a Bogner Ecstasy and/or Orange ad-140tc for overdrive/distortion. I can pretty much nail most delay models, except for tape delays, such as Jimmy Page on Led Zep's "I can't quite you baby." Now that is an incredible delay/echo sound, and can only be copped with a real tape delay. That being said, the DL4 does an amazing job of getting close and only discriminating musicians will know the difference. ALl of the models sound very good. I was using a Guyatone Md-3 (a very good delay) previously on my distortion amp and like the DL-4 a lot more, not only for its versatility but the sound quality as well. I especially like the multi-head delay and use it the most. It seems to be the most accurate copy on the unit.

I've never had any problems, but have heard horror stories. I've been using one constantly for about a year with no problems. I would bring a backup if I used batteries.

I have been playing roughly 12 years. I own an Sg Standard, Sg 61' reissue, Les Paul Special Doublecut w/ P-90s, 66' twin, Bad Cat Black Cat, Orange Ad-140tc, Marshall 4x12, Orange 4x12, Blah Blah Blah.
If it were stolen or lost, I'd get mad, get over it, and buy another. I love its ease of use, versatility, and the ability to have 3 different delays readily at hand (or foot). I also like using the expression pedal; it makes it an even more fun unit to use. The only thing I dislike is that there is a slight delay when switching between models. The only other dig are the Tape models, but I understand that it is probably nearly impossible to model digital fatness. To summarize, the DL-4 is an excellent and incredibly versatile unit with superlative sound quality. Perfect for the working guitarist.

Very easy to use. I thought it would take me time to get used to the loop sampler but I understood it without opening the manual once, I understood most of the pedal without the help of the manual. But the problem is, of course, adjusting the specific delay effect you use. It takes time, because there are so many, and the tweez and tweak in each effect offers a totally different purpose.

Amazing sound quality, I have to admit. The main reason why I bought this was because of the loop sampler which is amazing, but its problem is that right after u record the loop, when it playsback, the volume seems to decrease big time. Im not talking about the loop fading away or anything, im talking about the first time its played back. Maybe its got to do with the settings but I don't really now. The effects sound good though

Now this is where I have to complain. I've had this thing for 3 months, and yes, I did use it alot, but not in more than 15 jam sessions/gigs put together. This is what happend, I was playing at my college's talent show (in front of 3,000 people), and when it was time for me to loop, the loop didnt work. I just had to stop the song and i stared at the pedal. I tried looping again, but it still wouldnt work (and the lights were on normally) so i tried other delay effects and everyone of them worked well. So it was only the loop sampler that had the problem. I finished the show with one more song with the Sweep Delay effect and then i went home to try it out. Now all the lights were working, but neither the loop sampler or ANY effect wanted to work! The whole thing couldnt the guitar signals at all...

I bought the pedal after watching Howie Day play with it live, and I was astonished with what he does, BUT, then I came across this live video of his at this club called Crocadiles, and his dl4 died on him on stage....I should've seen that before i wasted 250 dollars.

I cant really comment on the customer support coz I live in Egypt. But i'm sure its terrible, coz of all the reviews i've read. So just coz I hate what its done to me, im going to give it a 1.

Very good pedal for acoustic guitarists, not worth $240 at all though. Believe it or not, it should be worth less than $100. First of all, the things life ends in 3-6 months, even if you really take care of it, and secondly, the loop sampler only lasts up to 14 seconds and thats pretty useless. Now after I lost the dl4, I'm going to get the Boomerang. I read it's reviews and i honestly think its a better pedal....you guys should check it out.

But in all honesty, it was good while it lasted, but there are better quality samplers out there, yes theyre more expensive, but im sure theyll last more than 5 years, unlike this piece of junk

Let's face it! it's easy too use, if you're used to stompboxes! the manual is great, easy to understand and nice to look at (pictures and descriptions of the old originals!). editing is easy also! i mean, just get your setting, then stomp on one of the three buttons for three seconds! a really wonderful and very professional feature ist the "always-there"-tab-tempo!
o.k., a display would be very usable. it also would be great if you could store your favorite settings for ALL delay-types! then you could have 16 + 3 delay and echo settings of your choice! would be great and maybe not to difficult to do, coz the factory presets need the space anyway!
so, altogehter easy to use, anyway, it will take some time until you get used to what the knobs will do to your sound (especially tweak and tweeze!) and to get your favorite sounds!

i read all the reviews before i purchased a model via ebay!
i think i had the same problem of choice than others here: boss dd-20 or line6 dl4 (or akai head rush, but that choice soon was out of my head!).
why i choose the dl4?
well:
i tested it first, and i'd recommend, that you should do so as well! it's difficult to describe a delay pedals sound! great or crabby won't do, and everybody's looking for different sounds. so - test it first!

i think it's not that interesting, but my rig is:
(almost) ibanez blazer guitars (like them, because of the many sounds you can get aout of them...and of course, the really beautiful neck!)>>digitech xp-100 whammy wah>>mf-103 12-stage-phaser>>line6 dl4>>korg a1>>hughes&kettner tube 50 top (i go for h+k, they got such a beautiful warm but clean cleansound!!!).
i play all kind of stuff, but my heart is with shoegazing indiepop and psychedelic pop/rock and even ambient (slowdive, pink floyd, flaming lips etc.)!

for my style of playing, the dl4 is an ideal tool! it's got the most beautiful delay and echo sounds (and i am a delay maniac!!!) and loads of it!

so far i can tell, that the sounds are very useful and really goodsounding! no hisses. even in the delay trail remain bypass, there isn't any change of tone or sound. to speak of the alternative baypass mode (effect lingers on and on and on after switchoff!): it's great feature to have! and - despite the boss dd-20 - it's a great feature YOU for yourself can choose whether to have it or not!

the only effects i don't use much or never are dynamic delay (which might be a good thing for heavier type of musics, coz the repeats don't mess up your sound in between heavy riffs. you only hear the delay when your sound gets calmer.) no use for me here yet! the other feature i don't use much is auto volume. if i want to do such violin effects, i use a e-bow or a volume-pedal, which gives you more control!

all of the other echo effects are great or at least great fun to play with! my favorite is multi-head, stereo and ping-pong-delay, reverse (the other reviewer might be right, no hendrix here, but hendrix sadly is dead anyway! there's other stuff you can do with it!!! i'm more for inventing, not copying! and therefor it's a great tool!) tube-echo!

now to the downsides, because there are some!
i'd say, it IS a professional gear, BUT therefore some easy-to-do-features would have been a MUST BE:
1. as mentioned above, it would have been nice (or even must be!), if one could store his favorite settings for ALL of the effects for himself! so you would be able to have 3 delay-effects for stompbox-use and 16 !!!! personal presets (you can restore the factory presets anyway!) (with the expression-pedal, this would've been 32 + 6 presets! more than enough!!!). but so you have to reduce your wishes for livegigs to 3 (with EP 6) presets.
it's almost like the guys from Line6 say:"here you've got about 40 of the best songs ever. you're allowed to listen to 6 only!!!

the only way to mess with this lack of programmability is to write down your favorite settings and change them between songs, which isn't often possible (even for shoegazers :-)!

2. delay trail off: great feature as i said. and great to choose if you want it or not. BUT - the trail off should also work in between the three presets. if you're in one mode and chance to second, the delay is cut off awfully AND there is a crack, which isn't very Pro!!!

3. one last - small thing i don't like is, that you can'T play it with headphones, unless you buy an adaptor for the stereo-outputs (plug in mono-left, and on your headphones it IS mono left!)

no big problem though.

all in all it's great sounding. the digital delay is really a dead-on copy of the original signal!
the loop sampler is great for writing songs alone, or practice or - freak out! very good one. much better than the boss thing! great feature is the reverse, and the play once (so you can use it even to

just got it.
i very much hope it's reliable.
but i must say, that i handle my stuff with care and it looks good built!

N.A.

for my style of music and i must say i think for pretty much every other style as well, i think it's very usable! you can try to copy famous sounds (u2, jimmy page, pink floyd), but the better, you can "invent" your own sounds.

i play for about 14 years now, had a lot of stuff. my first delay (which i still got) was from ibanez (sadly they don't do multi-effects, coz i think their stuff sounds very very great and naturally!). this unit is one of the better things that are out there!

if stolen or lost, i would whether weep or become mr.hyde!!!

still it's not perfect, but most "multi-effect-pedals" aren't. it's clear: if you are looking for a great phaser. there are tons of good phasers to get. they do their work perfectly and you can choose the ONE phaser that fits your sound and money!
multi-effects (like i'd call the DL4) have to fit many peoples sounds, minds and money!

altogether it's a great delay-pedal, although i'd wish, the guys from line6 would have thought over a few features (especially the program storage as mentioned above!)

anyway. i'm glad with it so far. would buy it again!

Won't go over the top, just make a few comments and return later. It's very easy to get a good sound out of this unit, provided you read and digest the manual - it's friendly, helpful and actually quite easy to follow. Editing patches isn't a problem, haven't encountered any of the difficulties others seem to have had. So far so good.

Again, no complaints here - the models are very authentic...I would challenge anyone to discern this from the real thing. What you amplify it with is also important - before blaming the DL4 for compromising tone, look at your amp & the way you use it. I use Fender Pro Tube amps with a Custom Shop Strat, Gibson Les Paul and PRS Custom 22 Artist. The amp does not alter the sound of the guitars and the DL4 positively sings through it.

So far, so good. It's a very substantial unit and it's built to last, which it will, provided you don't, for example, use it as a hammer or shower it with beer. I will buy a second as a back up, though doubt I'll need it.

Never dealt with them, but they seem friendly and helpful enough.

A superb unit - I initially bought a Boss DD6, but when I heard this, returned & swapped it within a day or so, This does everything the Boss does and much much more - I found the Boss limited, but this is unlimited. The 14-second facility is fabulous and makes the 5.2 offered by the Boss rather puny, by comparison. It's studio/pro quality, yet rugged enough to take on the road and is the best delay pedal other than a rack unit. It also looks the absolute business!

As some other reviewers have pointed out, when you click the switches it goes to the saved patch and the knobs reset. To choose a new sound you will have to turn the knobs DOWN, then up again to your taste. It's a bit of pain and it takes a bit longer to choose a new sound by turning the knobs down then up, and you wouldn't want to do it onstage. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can save three patches by holding down the switch for three seconds. Once it's saved it's there forever, until you overide the setting for a new one by holding the switch down for three seconds. So you can set the pedal up and then go on tour. The fourth knob is for tap tempo, so you can set the speed of your patches to fit the tempo. This is a godsend because you are unlikely to play at exactly the same speed every night, and otherwise you'd have to set up the patches again. A delay slightly mismatched to the tempo sounds awful and can completely ruin a song.

The tweak and tweeze knobs have a different function for each patch so there's lots to explore. You NEED the manual to explain what each knob does for each simulation.
The manual is informative, and has nice pictures and information on the classic pedals it is modelling.

There's more to this than a tubescreamer, but it's still easy to use once you set it up.

I use a tele with various effects.

The patches on this pedal sound exactly like the originals as far as I can tell. I have tried some, but not all of the originals. It is surreal to hear a DM2 sound with 2 seconds of delay time on this pedal. You can even make the sounds even darker and warmer than the analog originals, by using the tweek and tweeze knobs. The simulations do not handle exactly like the original - the knobs have different scales as you turn them, and only the DM2 and tape delay patches will self ossilate. There's lots of nice sounds to explore, from tape delays with adjustable wow and flutter, anaolg delays with chorus, digital delay effects and a reverse delay that turns me into syd barrett. The reverse is impossible to use live because you have to play a second ahead of yourself to get a true 100% wet backwards guitar, but it's still fun. You can set it 50% and use it as a reverse delay. I also like the volume swell delay that sounds similar to a slow gear.

For now I use one patch as the memory man reverb to get a tone simlar to Slowdive on the Souvlaki album, one patch as the reverse delay 100% wet and a tape delay either on the cusp of self ossilation or sometimes to get a Cocteau Twins-esque dark chorus effect using the tape delay at minimum fidelity. You can get psuedo chorus, flanging, reverse and resonating sounds if you experiment. I expect to discover new sounds in the future and change my settings.

The loop sampler is a useful practicing tool, and it's fun to make up multilayered soundscapes. One day I may do a gig with just me, my pedals and the DL4 and built up layers. You record and overdub 14 seconds, or 28 seconds in half speed mode. At any time you can play your loop at half the speed (double speed in half speed mode), or backwards my tapping or double tapping the taptempo knob. Unfotunately the unit forgets the loop when the unit is switched off. There is a simple pre delay so you can use a bit of delay on your loop but unfotunately you cannot use the modelling patches of the wonderful delay classics at the same time as the loop sampler.
None of the patches has a longer delay time than just over two seconds so any longer than that and you you'll need to use the loop sampler.

Seems solid enough but I haven't owned it long enough to comment.

NO opinion

I play a lot of textured soundscapes. I used to use 2 Boss DD3's and a DM2 to build up layers and I bought this pedal with the aim of selling these three and using the DL4 instead. I was disappointed to find that you cannot use more than one patch at once, so there is no way to build up mulitlayered delays. I very often use three cascading delay pedals all on at once in my music and this is not possible with the DL4. I am still keeping this pedal because it's a lovely bit of professional kit, and the loop sampler will be used in the future a great deal. I will still keep my other delays because I need to use more than one delay at once and I also miss the simplicity of a simple stompbox to use onstage when all I want is a slapback echo. I also play all kinds of music in several bands and it seems silly having a huge Dl4 onstage when a DM2 will be easier if I just want a simple reverby slapback delay in a surf band.
The patches do sound great, and this is a lovely pedal, well worth the money. If you wanted even one of the vintage delays it models it would cost you more than this pedal costs. However the DL4 did not fill it's function of never needing another delay pedal again. It does so many lovely sounds you will feel sorry that you can only save three patches and it's hard to choose. You cannot use more than three patches for a gig because of the hassle selecting new ones.

You need to order the PSU seperately because it's not included and it's different adapter tip to standard. This is an annoyence so it's lost another point for that. You can use 4 C batteries, and they last quite a while, but not too long. Not long enough to rely on to record a single or more than a few gigs.

Nice pedal, could be improved slightly by being able to use more than one patch at once. But then that's me.

very easy to use as long as you read what the different models are and what the knobs do for each one. the manual is very well put together and easy to understand.

the models are great-i don't know if they sound exactly like the originals, but they work very well for getting different sounds. slightly noisy only only on setting with distortion, but not enough to notice.
i use it with an SG, a strat, and a tele into a JCM 800, Vox valvetronix, or amplitube.

i've had it for a few months and it works fine all the time. get the ac adapter though. i would deinatly "gig" without a backup.

it works very well for inducing creativity, and gives me flexibility that i find is worth every penny. i would have a hard time buying just one delay pedal when this is so versatile. although the sounds may or may not be 100% authentic, they are all very good and i think would be useful in some situation.
i play mostly rock music a la sunny day real estate, and have been playing for about 10 years.
if it was stolen id get a new one the same day.

This thing takes a little getting used to. Thank God for the stickers that are supplied with this unit. The "Tweak and Tweez" knobs are a little confusing because they do different things for every model on this pedal. Once you get past that, it's not that hard to get a good sounding delay/echo. I tend to stay away from the models of the Digital Delays (they don't tickle my twinkie, too thin and "perfect"). I mainly bought this thing for the Echoplex's, Memory Man, Auto-Volume Delay, Reverse, and looping. The Manual is real informative, otherwise it'd be a real pain in the ass to figure out all the little tricks. I've owned this thing for 5 years, so I don't think it's been upgraded (if they have done this, I don't know).

This is where it gets tricky for me. I've owned a few delay units and I'm glad I have this item but it does have it's downfalls. Hope your eyes aren't tired because here we go.....
1. Setup - LP Std., '64 SG Jr., 60's RI Strat, 50's RI Tele -> Boss TU-2 Tuner -> Fulltone Clyde Wah -> Fulltone Deja-Vibe -> Line 6 DM4 (see review) -> H&K Rotosphere -> Fulltone Supa-Trem -> Line 6 DL4 w/ EX-1 -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
2. Noise - There is no noise on this thing at all on any patch.
3. Effects strength - Here's where is tricky for me. What I really don't like about this item is the volume differences and drastic tone changes between the patches on here. Here's the list of what I've found on here between the different models. I know that the originals MIGHT have sounded like this but the volume issue is a total pain in the ass if you want a different delay for a song and your volume drops by 25% or whatever.
a) Tube Echo (Echoplex EP-1) - I love this old school echo but this is one of the models that drops the volume and makes your tone really thin and chimey. The tone change is a bit drastic and it really makes a guitar sound like a total puss. The wierd thing is when you turn the drive "Tweez" on this model up, the volume drops even more. Go figure. OTHERWISE, it sounds unbelievable.
b) Tape Echo (Echoplex EP-3) - This is the one I use the most because it doesn't drop my volume but it changes your original tone. It takes your tone and adds a lot of bass and makes it REALLY thick, but not to the point of being overbearing. Even if you take the "Tweez" knob (Treble) and crank it, it only adds treble to the delay only.
c) Mutihead (Roland Space Echo) - This one is interesting, because the "Tweak & Tweez" knobs change the "Preset Head delays" and then you kind of fine tune it with the delay time knob.
d) Sweep Echo - If you try to just use the sweep without the delay, it drops in volume, but if you just want to have a trippy background delay, it's really cool.
e) Analog Delay (Boss DM-2) - This one's okay, it changes your tone to a strange mid-range "woofiness". It's usable but I don't care for it personally.
f) Analog w/Mod (Deluxe Memory Man) - I like this one as well, even though they forgot to add the vibrato (Which I don't use anyways). This patch almost nails the original tone with a nice chorus swirl.
g) Lo-Res Delay - This is Line 6's own brew that's similiar to the Boss DM-2 with minor differences.
h) Digital Delay (Boss DD-5) - Sounds like a boss, whoop-tee-do.
i) Digital w/Mod (Boss DD-5 w/chorus) - Still sucks. I'm being bias'd, I know.
j)Rhythmic Delay - This one's pretty cool, bounces a delay with your strumming. Nice tone too.
k) Stereo Delay - Sounds a little to digital for me, and bounces too many notes back at me for my taste.
l) Ping-Pong - Sounds like the Stereo delay to me.
m) Reverse - This one's a trip, to get it to sound some-what-right, you have to set the delay time full bore and the repeats to nill or damn near, and the tweak and tweez to off and the mix to 100% wet. It's cool to throw it in and have people look at you and say " How the fuck did you do that!?!?"
n) Dynamic Delay - To be honest, I can't remember what this one does. I don't use it.
o) Auto-Volume Delay - This one's nice for those soft tunes that you'd normally use your guitar volume or a volume pedal for. DO NOT USE WITH A TREMOLO PEDAL!!!! It will sound like ass.
p) Loop - I really like to use this for having a chord being plucked on the strings individually and then thrown into reverse. AND you can fuzz it up and STILL add a delay on top of it and get stupid.

It's really hard for me to rate this item because some things are bad ass, some are cool, some are okay and some just plain suck for my taste. I'm going to leave this as a No Opinion.

It acted up a little when i first got it, then it started working fine and I haven't had a problem with it since. I do gig with it without a backup beings I don't own any other delay units. I just recommend to buy the "wallwart" plug because the batteries don't last that long. The Expression pedal is cool to have because you will use the shit out of it. Don't know if the EX-1 is really worth the 50 or so dollars. But they know you'll need it with this unit and the MM4 so they'll overcharge you for it.

no comment, see my DM4 review for this catagory.

I would most likely buy another if something happened to it. Either that or just buy another Deluxe Memory Man.
For the other questions in this catagory see the review I posted on the DM4.

pretty darn challenging. you really have to understand delays to know how to get the sounds you are looking for.

this is a good sounding delay. the variety of sounds seems endless. it can also seem like and endless enigma.

here is where it sucks. this thing goes down all the time, but nothing makes up for when it goes down on tour. worse is when the lights are off (making you think the pedal is off) but you cant shut the delay off (the delay is stuck on). first, it couldnt be shut off by pressing on the foot switches. then, it looked as if it was off (because the lights were off) but the delay was stuck on. this was embarrassing. no excuse. and if you are on tour, there is no way you can trust it. who wants to play a show and be thinking about whether your pedal is going to do this or not? it's back to boss and roland delays.

when your quality control is this bad, they should have a better warranty/customer support. this company has grown too fast. i doubt it will ever come back.

if you are gigging/touring, pass on this pedal unless you can deal with the insecurity factor. i think the more customers that complain about the problems, the better chance they might make this pedal right and help us all make better music.

I love the darn thing, but it has now died for the second time in 3 years. The first time was within the warranty period, and Line6 replaced the circuit board. It has since died again, 18 months after the Line6 repair. My local authorized Line6 repairperson said that it would likely need another circuit board, at a cost of $170 not including his labor. Apparently the power supply circuitry is very complicated, and is prone to failure.

Dialled in three usable patches and saved them in a matter of minutes. as i don't need more than three delay sounds, I am now set for life... haha! Which is good news, because editing patches is this unit's week point, as you edit each control setting, rather than just one, for example, the mix. Tap delay works well for me, as the unit is used in two live bands playing diffrernt tempos etc. No more guess work playing with rotary control knobs!

I Play an Ibanez and Aria Pro 2 Libra through a VOX chrome wah straight into a Trace Elliott Trident. The DL4 goes through the effects loop. and is primarily used to give more spae to my soloing.
For what I want it to do the unit is more than fine. I use a low mix repeter for a more expansive sound, through to a doubling, Pink Floyd delay. I haven't had the sound/volume probs others here have hi-lighted... but then the rest of my gear is superb.

had it two months (15 gigs, 10 rehearsals)... so far so good. Funnily enough, I got a discount when I bought it coz the chrome front cover was lifting!! Seems like I am not the only one to have this happen. As it is only cosmetic, that is not an issue, though. Actual build quality of the housing seems very rugged, and the non-slip base is built to last.

not had the pleasure - yet!

I play in two gigging bands, one a 70's & 80's soul, funk and disco band, the other a middle of the road rock act. The DL4 does exactly what I want it to. I've been playing for 21 years, and used a variety of different delays, and right now would say the DL4 is the most usable unit I have played through. It is the most flexible for what I do, and the tap delay means I can set up some cool grooves in time with the monkey at th back... I mean drummer!!

very easy to use. the manual is great it tells you what does what what and what effect is being modeled and even shows you a picture

In order my 86 Yamaha BB450 (thats a bass for all you guitarists) then the DL4 then a sansamp rbi to an ampeg svt 3 pro. Very low noise level true reproduction of your sound in the delays. the loop sampler works great and doesn't change your tone at all. if you make a good loop people wont even know your not playing.

cant tell yet

haven't dealt with line 6 yet but I hear their pretty good

I bought it mainly for the loop sampler so that I could come up with harmony parts to my guitarists lines without him having to play over and over. I was able to create new lines over what we already had in minutes and after a couple of hours of fine tuning the song was much better. I'm sure if i was going to use delay effects live this is what I would end up buying to its great versatility but the loop sampler alone is worth it for song writing and practice.

response to my response...no batteries were in it-i was using the adaptor

The DL4 is about as easy to work as is possible for a pedal with 16 functions.
Manual is alittle overkill. Mess around with it, its pretty cut and dry.

Tele>tuner>Reverend overdrive>Voodoo Lab Overdrive>arion SCH-1 chorus>Small stone>Whammy>line 6 DL4>(2) fender champs

Sounds very cool. Very little signal degredation.
I play avante guarde rock (radiohead, stereolab) and I find it very easy to get a wide variety in tones.

And, the loop sampler, why I don't use it, is really cool.

Its a tank. I trust it more than my car.

Haven't had to contact.

I like this pedal alot. Does things you'd need 5-6 pedals to do. Good price for what it is. Strong chasis, well wired. Good product. The ONLY Line6 item I like are their pedals.

This is just a reply to the below review...when the pedal starts blinking, the batteries are low. You returned it because of dying batteries...hahaha.

Quite easy after reading the manual-I also bought the contol pedal.

Equipment: Synth strat>GR30>BossComp>DigitechWammy>BossBluesDrvr>SansampTriAC>DL4. I had a blast with the reverse delay, and I used the control pedal to mess with it some more. I was able to get some trippy stuff out of it. The sampler was fun, too. Notice how I'm using the word "was"...

I've been reading this page where people gripe about how this pedal wigs out on them and thought, "THEY must not take care of THEIR pedals the way I do!" I'm quite anal retentive when it comes to taking care of my stuff, and was really enjoying this pedal and what it can do. Then, it happened to me...in the middle of a show, I was about to put on some delay, and the damn thing just started blinking at me! Luckily the guitar sound was still going through, but that was a HUGE buzzkill. I've never had ANYTHING go on the fritz like that before, let alone during a show. After the song ended, I did a quick power-down to see if the pedal would work again, but no luck. Luckily the pedal was on its 29th day of it's 30-day guarantee @ Guitar Ctr, so I was able to get a refund. I ended up trading up to a Boss GT6...not as much fancy delays, but more reliable (so far!). I've had better luck w/ Boss gear, and won't buy Line 6 unless they make a big statement saying something like "Sorry to those guitarists whose delay pedal fried on them in the middle of a performance. We now have a more reliable pedal."

I never called-I just returned the pedal to Guitar Ctr.

It was great while it lasted! Lots of cool features, but if it isn't reliable, what good is it? I'll never buy another one.

Just read the manual...every setting is very useful. Some guitarists get frustrated if they can't figure it out in a few minutes. This box is pretty deep. Lots of options that your audience probably won't notice.

I use this with a Tube Screamer and a Mesa Blue Angel. Sometimes with an Adamas acoustic for looping. It is quiet. I use it in NON true-bypass mode so the delays trail off after you shut it off. I also use the expression pedal- it is like getting 6 presets. Buy the expression pedal on Ebay, it isn't worth the $60 they charge in the stores. Maybe $25...and only maybe. Cheap piece of plastic. Anyway, the looping itself is worth the price of the pedal. And the delays go from grungy to crystal clean, with very little coloration of the signal. The tap tempo thing rocks- I am so happy they put that on there.

You really need the adapter since batteries will die in a few hours. But of course they charge extra for that. Grrr. My DL4 is zip-tied into my pedalboard..it is pretty safe from harm in there.

Line6 has a frustrating online customer support which essentially dodges direct questions.

People complain that the knob/preset setup makes it so you can't see you knob settings. There are only 3 to remember...how hard is that? Also, if you can't hear the difference in your presets, then your audience can't either. Just remember the 3 different delays, it isn't that hard. Use your ears people...why would you be looking at your feet anyway?
The manual is cool. I appreciate well written, informative, entertaining manuals. Check out Mackie as well. If you want to complain, look at a Roland Manual, or better yet, try to find a PDF of an Roland manual. Line6 puts them all on the website so you can see what they do *before* you buy.
The DL4 can double as a chorus box too..just use a modulation delay, and set the repeats to 0, delay time to 0.
It is a cool auto wah using the sweep delay- repeats at 0, delay time 0, and mix all the way wet.
Also, the looping is awesome for live vocals as well as guitar. Just use it in the aux send of a mixer.

This is definitely easy to use in my opinion. I only use stompboxes and i have a memory sooo setting knobs is easy as hell. ive seen people complaining about it. i am glad the knobs are big too a lot better to mess with then my boss dd6. the save function is pretty good. it really comes in handy, cause if you think of the pedal in sort of an analog way, you jhust bend down and set them real quick in between songs. and you cant mimic you are settings on a pedal like this in a show, you are a complete idiot who shouldnt be using a stompbox anyways. the chart thing helps with the tweak/tweez settings(what the hell is tweez supposed to mean). but just find your favorite delay setting and just get to know them. it takes practice but not more than 5 min unless you are totally helpless and confused. the tap tempo is also pretty useful. i dont like using it a lot but it comes in handy.

I use a Parker Fly Classic plugged directly into my Marshall DSL100, then sent out via the effects loop through a Crybaby Wah, Electro Harmonix Poly-Chorus wired to an expression pedal for a manual chorus/flange, Boss TR-2 tremelo, Electro Harmonix Qtron +, Digitech Whammy, Line 6 DL4, Electro Harmonix Small Stone Phaser, Electro Harmonix Black Finger tube Compressor, Electro Harmonix holier grail reverb pedal, back into the amp. People have said they notice a loss in gain when the turn the Delay on. I havent. I think it sounds amazing in my setup, that may have to do with the compressor. but i dunno. I really like how it sounds. It is really versatile, a lot more so than my boss DD6. I play music thats a cross between hendrix, and portishead, maybe kinda radioheadish, but more on the evil side of tool or something. i dunno its weird. but i do a lot of effects with ambient noise created by delay with various methods of playing. i think the sweep echo is retarded, it sounds really stupid i would rather just but the qtron after the normal echo. i also think the sweep sounds closer to a cheesy digital phaser(i never did understand digital modulation effects, they just plain suck). the lo fi is pretty cool is you set the res in the middle. but my favorite by far is the space echo (multihead) model. It doesnt sound like the real thing, but who really cares, its not the real thing. I also think the analog delays dont sound too reminiscent of analog delay. the tape ones arent too clear. but like i said, its not the real thing, im only 18 and have spent like 5000+ on instruments and effects in one year soo im pretty pleased at how cost effective this pedal is.

I have been reading on here that everyone hates this thing cause of this problem. I do too. I bought mine on wednesday of last week. it is now saturday night of the same week. and its already starting to break. It sounds ok and isnt dying or anything. but i am in the midst of a recording and as i was synching the tempo with the clock and setting up the multihead delay today for a song, i got it right, then saved it. then we ran through the song to the clock. and on the first part i used delay i switched the pedal on, and the setting wasnt what i saved. everything was the same except the delay time sounding like it was down to minimum. I tried to see if i just screwed up and tried to fix it like 15-20 times and it worked a couple. and then it stopped all together. it only seems to do it with the multihead delay. i dont understand i got realy really pissed and wanted to throw it at the wall, but i didnt. soo we didnt ge to finish our song and im really disappointed. im gonna go to guitar center on monday morning and get a new one

dont know i can get a new one without hassle from guitar center.

i never trusted line 6 to begin with. this is the first line 6 thing ive ever bought. i hate their modeling amps, cause they really just sound like shit. and i think the POD is a sorrry excuse for a multieffects unit. but i figured that there couldnt be too much wrong with a modeling delay pedal. it could only be better than a simple digital delay. so i decided to give it a try. its not the real thing, but its cool in its own weird digital way. i hope my next one isnt a piece of crap. ive been playing for like 10 years since i was a little kid, but i really only got into effects after you know experimenting with certain things at the young age of 15. since then ive gotten really into music, and really grown an understanding of music and how work all these weird little boxes. this pedal is definitely a good buy if you are poor, young, or you really just suck, or you are cheap. but dont buy it thinking it will recreate old devices that use 30 year old electronics that you cant really even find anymore. it does come in handy a lot. HOWEVER. ALLL OF THIS IS JUST GREAT IF THE DAMN THING WORKS FOR YOU. make sure you give a good beating for the first week you have it to see if it will be able to withstand the test of time. so that way you can take it back it get a new one without hassle!!!!!