HardWire DL-8
Remember my post on Delay Pedal decisions from 7 May? Well, the questions are settled.
Today I received my Digitech HardWire DL-8 Delay Looper pedal. My wife ordered it as a Fathers’ Day gift for me. She only ordered it on Saturday, and it’s here on Tuesday. Somebody has some good fulfillment logistics. The timing means I can get used to it tonight, practice tomorrow, and play on Sunday. Good thing, too. Sunday’s set needs some delay.
It came with the double-side (stick-em & velcro) for mounting it in my pedal board, and even has a big rubber block (”stomp lock”) you can put over the knobs to prevent them from being changed in transit or in the course of a show. Finally, there is a glow-in-the-dark sticker you can put on the front face so you can the pedal in the dark. Probably not much use for me, but could be valuable for some people.
Everything feels solid and precise and sturdy. I’m impressed so far.
So when the rain canceled my lawn mowing plans, I took the opportunity to spend the evening with the pedal. I played the hollowbody (SX GG5CUS) because it was handy. Tomorrow I’ll almost certainly use the strat at practice. I’m using my little battery-powered amp, so my impressions of the sound will be relative to the sound coming out of those tiny, tinny speakers without the effects.
The digital side of the delay is just what a digital delay should be. The lo-fi really is lo-fi. The loop and tape settings are just what you would expect. I’m thrilled with the lack of surprises here. The tap and loop functions work just like they said they would. I’m probably going to get used to tap tempo and live by it. I don’t want to twiddle knobs during a worship service. The reverse is pretty good, but I’m not likely to actually use it. I could get a better fidelity without delay using a volume pedal for swells. It’s novel, but I don’t know it’s useful. I’ve not tried the stereo output because I’m a small church guitarist, not The Edge. Not that I wouldn’t like to ping-pong between an AC30 and a Roland JC. That would be far too cool for my venue.
I couldn’t resist the urge to annoy my family with all kinds of ugly sounds, including crazy self-modulation and looping. Everything works. I think that the modulated digital is my favorite. The sound is totally huge when I put the vibe pedal just ahead of the delay. It’s pretty hard to sound huge through a 9v battery-powered amp, but it does. Crazy huge. I can’t wait to hear it through a real amp tomorrow.
