fusion or jazz echo sound

[Bigtophalloween]

I sometimes I like a Sanntana sound with a little echo and the Hendrix echoplex sound and maybe think I could get these sounds from a processor with presets but I suspect the echo sound isn't that good and I don't need all those other effects.

IMHO, you will NEVER get close to those sounds with most digital pedals, analog is the way to go. Ken is spot on as per usual, a Memory Man is a great option, I really like the new Malekko Ekko 616 pedal http://tinyurl.com/y9ulxvk (the first shipment is shipping from proguitarshop.com, it's 150 bucks and it's WAAAAAAAY better than anything else in it's class that I've seen). If you're willing to spend the dough, a good DIGITAL option is the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, it's probably my favorite delay of all time because it sounds fantastic and doesn't take up much space. I haven't messed with the TC Nova, but it looks cool and again, Ken has never steered me wrong. But the tones you initially described are produced with analog technology, so it would make sense that analog technology would give you the most reasonable recreation, no?

[senorblues]

You 2 are really giving me some good advise on echo. I like the idea of presets and which echo pedals have these presets? so I don't have to dial in and loose the sound. The line 6 is pretty good and has a unique wah type echo amoung other sounds and I don't really get the delay I really want but its closer than the other pedals. Bigtop , you don't think I can get that real good jazz type trace echo or hendrix or Santana sound on digital? and you Klasine? how about the Gatton Rockabilly sound, echoplex only? thanks.

[klasaine]

With the digital gear you can get some really good sounds.
The caveat ... you have to take some time to find and create those sounds. The presets are almost always too 'wet'. And, you should find your sounds at gig volume level and preferably in a rehearsal. With the TC, Eventide and also the Line 6 (DL-4) there are multi-function knobs and buttons that can be a bit of a pain to adjust on a gig in mid song (not impossible, just a little difficult until you really get used to the pedal). Another thing with the digital gear is that most don't love to see an overdriven signal - they clip 'digitally', as in not the nice type of distortion - digital distortion. The Nova and the Eventide though have input gain attenuators that are user definable. Putting your delay in the amps fx loop can help this sometimes depending on the loop and the delay.

Analog delays on the other hand are really easy to adjust on the fly and even if 'headroom' is an issue, the clipping is of the smoother variety. Analog almost always sounds more 'natural' with less fuss than digital. they tend to interfere less with your original signal.

Can you get a good slap back from a dig dly? I think so. Does it sound like an echoplex? No, nothing does.

I use both digital and analog delays.

My favorite of the small analog variety is the Maxon AD-80 (I have two).
300 ms and never sounds bad or out of place where ever I have it set. Super easy to tweak on the fly.
(I'm sure that the 'mad professor' delay is fantastic. If I needed a new small analog/digital dly that would be on my list.)

My digital of choice right now is the TC Nova.
8 presets plus a 'manual' mode (so really 9 presets), tap tempo, 1 ms to 2290 ms, modulated repeats, backwards effect, rhythmic dlys, tone adjust for the repeats.
Great for ambient stuff. Doesn't sound 'digital' to me, at least in comparison to Line 6 delays and some others. I have a DL-4 that I keep around but I don't use it live anymore unless I have to loop something.

There are many other boutique 'combination dig/anlg' delays out there. I will say this though - you do generally get what you pay for. So if delay is important to you(?) - don't cheap out.

[NJlo]

Some great stuff in this thread! Someone should move it to Guitars Amps 'n Pedals!

[NJlo]

Oh and how do you guys like that new little Lovepedal delay?

[2_ninety]

Originally posted by NJlo:
Oh and how do you guys like that new little Lovepedal delay?

Nice little Delay. But the internal Mix and Feedback trimmers should be "outsided"