Line6 Delay Mod Pro clearance

[Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

So, I just wanted to alert ya'll to what might be the end of an 
imperfect but cool tool for looping.  I know that the Studio Mod Pro's 
have been discontinued for a while and selling for $299, which is a 
pretty good deal on it's own.  Well, I was thinking about the DL4 for 
ambient guitar shows where sync isn't an issue, and I found out that 
Guitar Center had the Delay Mod Pro (rack version with extra features 
and a minute of loop time) for $199!  They only had a single one left 
(their computer "said" they had 2 left but you know how that goes) so I 
nabbed it (in the Concord, CA store)  I suggest you look into one of 
these at your local music shop...

Here's my take on it...

At first I thought lack of feedback was going to be a deal breaker, but 
not so.  The feedback is less than 100% when in overdub (loop mode) so 
you get a nice gentle fade out as you're adding.  Since my plan was to 
do soundscape work, this seemed to work perfectly.  Would this be a 
*great* tool if it had feedback control, you bet.  Stupid omission IMO. 
  If it can go from 100% to something like 90%, why can't it be 
variable?  Don't even get me started with the lack of MIDI sync of the 
loop function, but I guess that's hard to do, so for this price I can 
forgive. (but not at it's original price)

Next was the sound quality.  Seemed good to me.  I used my Johnson JT50 
with it in it's effect loop, a KAOSS pad before it and a AirFX behind 
it.  All velcroed  together on a small keyboard stand.  (5-10 min 
setup) I almost sold the JT50 at one point, but I closed the auction 
when it looked like no one was going to bid on it.  I'm glad I did.  
It's direct outs sound a bit brittle, but through it's speaker it was 
really great... but I digress.  As in the DL4, there's a lot to love 
about this box.  I would have liked all the delay times to be a bit 
higher though.  I didn't know that you got a simple 2.5 sec of delay 
AND a minute loop at the same time.  Very sweet.

What it is missing is a jack to put an FS300 pedal to control record, 
play and tap tempo.  Dumb.  It's got an expression pedal jack which I 
can't seem to get to work with my Roland EV7 although I read a review 
that said it worked with an EV5, so I'm not sure what gives.  Maybe I'm 
doing something wrong.  The manual says, "put the pedal heal down set 
up your effect, put it tow down and set it up again then use the pedal 
to go between your two sounds"  Am I missing something?  When I get 
this working it will open it up a lot I bet.

My goal is to use the Delay Pro as a looper until I can scare up enough 
for an Echoplex. (damn that IRS) Then use the Delay pro synced to it's 
MIDI out.  I'm crossing my fingers.  I wish I knew what factor makes 
the sync work or not.  Some say it won't, some say it will.  Wish me 
luck.  Until then, I'm digging it's looper.  It's so simple.  In a way 
that's it's strength.  Not too much to screw with, but you can just 
focus on what you're playing.

Mark Sottilaro