Customer Reviews

Line 6 DL4 Stompbox Delay Modeler

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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 switch to a different delay pedal. This pedal 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 mod it, and the first thing they change is putting in good switches. Another impractical thing about it is it's power requirements. If you only use two or three pedals you would be fine buying the $20 power supply (which is still pretty expensive, but it's your only real option) or running it off of batteries (which will run you quite a bit of money since it takes 4 C batteries). If you have a pedal board though, you probably won't power it with batteries, and it's odd power requirements make this thing really difficult to power. It is going to cost you more for a power supply which 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. It does still work without power, but for some reason it sucks the tone out of your guitar when you don't have a delay going, which is not supposed to happen on true-bypass pedals. It's not just my gear either; I'm not the only one with this issue. 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, 12 sec. is a pretty short loop. Unless the song is built around your loop, it really isn't practical in a band setting; only for messing around on your own. Also, one of the main things people look for in delay pedals is the .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 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 and sonic experimentation. People in the post-rock scene love these for that reason. But for most people, 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.

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.

I am still learning how to use this device but so far I get some really interesting sounds out of it.I like being able to get different effects out of one box, it has three memory switches to pre-program for practice or a gig. There are almost too many options with this thing, particularly if you start using the expression pedal.

This delay is great, three banks for three different types of delay and a tap-tempo button is all you need in stage, and very quality digital delays mods. 100% recommended!

I love the sound it has.. this is great! It is the a great added to my band. My friends couldnt believe the sound it has.

When you have a DL4, the idea of having a delay pedal that does one kind of effect seems just silly. If you want to use delay, you want this pedal. It has the standard digital and (modeled) analog delays, but also has unique delays like reverse, ping-pong, delayed swell, rotary horn, etc, plus the loop sampler, which is its most famous feature. Now let me say this . . . if you are after a loop station first and foremost, don't get this--look into one of Boss's stations; but the fact that a loop sampler is included among a long list of other great functions is a great selling point. I play through an multi-effects unit that includes most of the delay options in this pedal, but I use this primarily since its usability is so great.

I link this pedal with my Nova Delay and use the swells and analog delays in juxtaposition with a rhythmic delay on the Nova. It sounds pretty much like The Edge every time I hit a note. You can't go wrong with the DL4 (except that it doesn't come with a power supply).

muy buen pedal es de lo mejor en delay, lo compre para mi hijo y esta muy feliz con el le esta sacando mucho provecho, lo unico es que deberia traer su cargador.

If you are a fan of the delay sound buy this product. 4.5 stars. Ive had it for about 2 weeks and its starting to interfere with my personal life. Any free moment I have all I want to do is go play with my new toy.

I cant say if the dl4 sounds exactly like the products its trying to emulate(never owned an echoplex, space echo, etc) but I can say it sounds GREAT. Super quiet when plugged in thanks to true bypass. Endless sounds . . . dial into the reverse delay and you feel like Jimi!

The only bad reviews Ive read are by people that dont even own it(I think they just bitchy too) My only complaint is that I dont have hours and hours of free time to truly delve into this pedal . . .but thats not Line Sixs' problem.
The construction seems really solid . . .Ive had 0 problems so far.

So in my humble opinion, anyone that likes delay and has 225$ to spend should buy this . . .you will not be dissapointed.