Line 6 DL4 Stompbox Delay Modeler

by Line 6

Product Features

• 3 programmable presets and on-board Tap Tempo
• True Bypass switching, so your direct tone is exactly that; direct from your guitar to your amp
• Expression Pedal Input - for real time control of all effect settings
• DL4 runs in discrete stereo, both inputs and outputs, so Left stays left and Right stays right. (Loop Sampler sums signal to mono)
• Runs from batteries or optional power adapter.

Product Details

Product Manual [1.84mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6 x 2.5 inches ; 3.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002CZVKK
• Item model number: 99 DL 4
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,383 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #44 in Musical Instruments > Instrument Accessories > Guitar & Bass Accessories > Effects > Electric Guitar Effects > Single Effects > Delay & Reverb
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

The DL4 Delay Modeler offers you an incredible array of sounds, from a tube driven, tape loop echo (complete with adjustable wow and flutter), through 24 bit squeaky clean digital echo, to real-time reverse delay. Not only that, but you've got complete programmable control over all aspects of the sound in the studio and on the stage. Incredibly simple to use, it's an amazingly powerful tool offering you delay effects never before available in a single box. The DL4's digital modeling based on 15 of those vintage delay and echo effects you've always yearned for, and the Loop Sampler includes 14 seconds of memory + 800ms of Pre-delay (sort of a delay within a delay), and features half speed and/or reverse overdubbing, and more...

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Revelation Of Sound June 25, 2008

By Transfigured Knight

The Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, which debuted in 1999, has been a mainstay in my effects lineup since I bought it, which was in 2003. This pedal sounds beautiful.

I'm not going to get too much into what this pedal can do other than say it will satisfy all of your delay needs. All of the 16 delay settings sound super clean and they should since it's pure 24-bit.

Despite high praise of this product, it still retails for the same price: which is $249. I think this price is way too high considering it has been out for almost 10 years. I bought mine for $235.

What is also great about the DL4 is it can be used as a means to setup a two amplifier/stereo setting, which is one of the best things you can do for your sound I think.

When my pedal dies or if it ever does (my fingers are crossed right now), I'm going to be replacing it, because I can't live without it. I have been playing the guitar for 18 years, so I have many years of experience with effects pedals.

I knew this pedal was the one for me when I walked into a Guitar Center with hopes to try it out and see how I liked it. The salesman hooked me up and showed me a few things about it, which I still can't remember, and he finally talked about the looping function and this was my initial introduction to looping. I played a short melodic chord progression and then I overdubbed and stacked more chords on top of this progression and BAM! There it was, the sound I was looking for my entire life!

This experience has been a revelation to me and has sent me on many sonic adventures. If you do not own it, go down to your local guitar store and try it out and experience the sounds that have made the DL4 a classic.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good... but you can do better April 21, 2011

By Ben

I have owned two of these pedals and have played with them extensively on stage. I really loved the pedal initially, which is why I bought a second one after I had to sell the first one. There are a lot of great things about this pedal, but there are some annoying things about it too which made me decide to switch to a different delay pedal. This stompbox has a lot of different types of delays and you can get some really cool effects with it. I like being able to switch between three readily available presets, and the variety of delay effects is outstanding. The looper is a great bonus, and it's really fun to play around with.

Here are the reasons I'm switching to a different delay pedal: This pedal was not well designed. It has cheap spring switches which stop working when the pedal gets older depending on how much it is used. When professional musicians use this pedal they always replace the switches with better quality ones. Another impractical thing about it is its power requirements. If you only use two or three pedals you would be fine buying the $20 power supply, (it's a huge wall wart, and is still pretty expensive) or running it off of batteries, but this will run you quite a bit of money since it takes 4 C batteries. If you have a pedal board you probably won't power it with batteries, and it's odd power requirements make it a hassle to power with a power supply. It is going to cost you more for a power supply that can handle it, or for an adapter, or both. I've also heard that the power input stops working sometimes, so you can only use batteries. Also, a big selling point of this pedal is that it is true-bypass. Your guitar signal does go through even when the pedal isn't being powered, but for some reason it sucks the tone out of your guitar when you don't have a delay going. This should not be the case with a true-bypass pedal. It's not just my gear either. I'm not the only one who has had this issue with the pedal. There is a noticeable difference. It makes your guitar sound kind of muddy on a clean channel.

As I said before, the looper is a fun bonus but it is not really practical because you can't use any of your presets or other delays. You have to use a basic delay which you have to set up with the knobs. Not to mention, 14 sec. is a pretty short loop. Unless the song is built around your loop, it really isn't too practical in a band setting. Also, one of the main things people look for in delay pedals is the dotted-8th delay effect (made famous by U2's the Edge in songs like "Where the Streets Have No Names"), and this pedal does not have a straightforward way of getting this effect. It can be done with specific settings on the rhythmic delay, but you have to tap the tempo in on the 1st and 4th beat. This is a pretty big oversight on Line 6's part.

This is a great pedal, but you can get comparable, and arguably better, delay pedals for about the same price or less. Some of the things I saw as issues may not be issues for everyone, and this is still a first choice for getting cool and trippy sound effects as well as sonic experimentation. People in the post-rock scene love these for that reason. However, I recommend shopping around a bit more and keeping the issues with this pedal in mind, as you will easily spend another $25-$80 in changing bad switches and finding a means to power it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Delay sounds (4.5 stars) December 29, 2009

By Joseph Rogero

There is a reason why this pedal is on so many pro guitarist pedal board. It is versatile and sounds great. I was torn between this one and DD-20. I liked the fact that the dd-20 was smaller and had a digital read out that gave beats per minute (a great feature for recording) but ultimately I liked the sound of the DL-4 better. To me it sounds less digital than the other digital delays. The tap tempo works great. It is a breeze to record with. I just use Ableton Live's metronome to tap the tempo in then everything is perfectly in sync. I agree with the previous reviewer who stated it's interfering with his personal life. I've been losing sleep since I got this thing. It's just too much fun to play with all the different delay models. My only complaints are that three presets are not enough (this thing has way to many cool sounds), I wish it had a digital read out that gave BPM, it doesn't come with an ac adapter, and I wish it was smaller. I tried out a bunch of different delay pedals and in this price range I think this is the best one.