All user reviews for the Line 6 DL4

This thing is loaded with a wide variety of analog and digital delay models of famous pedals and devices such as Echoplex, Roland Space Echo and Deluxe Memory Man to name a few and also has basic sampling capabilities which I am not all that familiar with. It is a modeling device. You can use the 5 knobs to tweak each delay to your needs but you can only store three of your settings at once. There is a toe tempo tap button. The pedal has stereo/mono inputs and stereo/mono outputs. The unit requires its own proprietary power adapter. The unit is very solidly built but has a very poor reputation for the reliability of its buttons.

UTILIZATION

The setup of the pedal is kind of ergonomically ideal in some ways but you quickly wish you could store more than 3 user settings because there are lots of cool models. I greatly appreciate that there are user friendly knobs for quick tweaking and not digital menus which are time consuming and nightmarish.
The manual is very cool too with neat information about the original devices that the models are based on.
The unit is supposedly true bypass but I feel it robs tone even when off and bypassed.
A big problem with this devise is the unreliability of its buttons as reported by many many users over the internet. In fact my unit has a button which sometimes and sometimes doesn't work. I also had to pay $25 for a replacement power adapter.

SOUND QUALITY

The unit is very quiet and designed to be used on the front end between your guitar and amp and not in an effects loop where it apparently doesn't work well. The models are good and the pedal is fun fun fun. However it is important to realize that this is a modeling device and like all modeling devices it sounds cold, sterile, and artificial and will interject that sound into your chain. If you are into the virtues of pure, warm, beautiful, analog sound as can be achieved by playing guitar straight into a quality tube amp like a blackface Fender for example then you will find this pedal unusable. These are accurate mostly analog models that do not really sound analog in the slightest because digital modeling is incapable of actually sounding analog. I prefer using an analog delay pedal or an actual tape delay for this very reason.

OVERALL OPINION

It is definitely a cool pedal that has been around for a while and needs to be updated with the capability to hold more user settings and needs to have its reliability issues fixed. (Maybe it has...I don't know because mine is over 5 years old at least.) However I refuse to use this delay as part of my main sound because of the sterile artificial sound that the modeling interjects even for some reason when the guitar is plugged in the unit but the effect is bypassed.

The Line 6 DL4 is delay pedal with 16 different settings, all based on other delay pedals. It also has a 14 second loop sampler. There are 1/4'' mono and stereo inputs and outputs and has 3 spaces for making your own presets and also has a tempo tap feature.

UTILIZATION

The pedal is very easy to use, although it takes some time to master it and to reach its full potential. Each knob has a different use for each setting and I would recommend looking at the manual for the full information on that, just because there is so much information and so much you can do with the pedal. Overall, its really easy to get some great sounds out of this though.

SOUND QUALITY

The effects on this are impeccable. While some are better than others, all of the sounds are very realistic and they don't sound too 'digital' at all. I use this mostly on electric guitar but I have used it on keyboards as well, and it works great with both. My favorite settings are the sweep delay and the reverse delay. I used the looper constantly, most of the time I just lay a chord progression down and make up lead parts over it - its a really great writing tool as well.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had this pedal for about 3 years now and it really suits all of my delay needs. Its convenient to have so many different types of delays in one box, and I love having the option of making my own settings. While it does cost a bit for a single pedal, its worth it for me because I use delay all of the time. Anyone who is looking for a wide variety of delays and echoes without having 5 or 6 different delay pedals needs to try this out. I've used some of the Boss and Electro Harmonix delay pedals and although those are great as well, they don't have as many settings, they don't have the looper and they don't have preset options. Overall, I say this pedal is worth its hype and the price.