Empress Superdelay Question - Using it Live

[SeanKangataran]

Hi there,

I've been watching the Empress Superdelay demos online, it looks like a great unit and I'd love to upgrade my DL4 to it but I have a question for anyone that's used it in a live setting.

How quick and seamless are the transitions between the presets? The videos online show it as being like toggling through 8 presets but how quickly do they engage?

I have to play without looking down and I have to be able to engage different settings QUICKLY, e.g. within half a beat to a beat at 120bpm-ish, i.e. 0.25-0.50 seconds.

As far as I can tell the DL4 has a distinct advantage (with the expression pedal) you have 6 presets instantly at hand, well, three and a squeeze of a pedal makes six.

Any user feedback is greatly appreciated, and please, no conjecture, only actual user experience,

Sean

 

[tnt365]

It switches instantly, like super fast. No lag experienced here. I'd imagine that switch presets in the middle of a song takes a little anticipation though, as you have to select your preset, the LED blinks, then you have to engage it with the tap tempo switch. The LED blinks for quite a while though, so if you tap and find it shortly before you want too switch it shouldn't be to hard.

 

[Mr Tickle]

I thought it was gonna be tough when i got it, but it's flawless. love the preset switching. super easy.

 

[dave12]

The switching sure isn't difficult. It switches really well. I couldn't trust myself to switch delays mid-song however, cause you have to scroll the the bank every time. It's kind of tedious. That was a major down for me and why I sold it eventually.

It sounds terrific though.

 

[jjhaller]

I basically have the same 4 presets in both banks. That way I'm never that far away from where I want to be. Even then my presets are fairly similiar. Two tape and two normal delay.

 

[SeanKangataran]

Thanks guys,

Dave12 that was the deal breaker for you? Because yes, as things are I change DL4 settings in the dark without looking down, I just "know" where each button is and that's important to me, no one goes to a show to see a singer stare at his feet/pedals.

 

[lux_interior]

It switches presets instantly, and you can have the ones you need next to each other, for example #1: slapback, #2: leads.

Two drawbacks: you need to press two switches to change from one preset to another, one to choose the preset and the second one to activate it. This can be done very quickly, especially if the desired presets are next to each other, but still it's not just one switch but a combination.

The second drawback is that you can't go back from preset #2 to preset #1 instantly - you will have to cycle through all of them (without activating them) to go back to #1. For example, when using slapback during the verse, a longer delay for the chorus, same slapback for the next verse, same longer delay for the chorus, a lead delay for the solo and back to chorus delay, you are going to have quite a headache and the Empress is not really practical, unless if you arrange all your delays right next to each other (in our case: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6). However, you would have lost 6 of the 8 presets. It is also not possible to use an external footswitch presets board for instant recall.

It all depends on your needs. Personally speaking, I rarely need more than two delays in a song, and if this happens, I am using a big-box DMM for the "sea of repeats" landscape and the delay side of an old Visual Sound H2O for a few leads (and the chorus side for a fantastic semi-chorus-semi-leslie sound). The Vintage Modified is there to provide a list of special sounds when needed.

 

[SeanKangataran]

That's exactly what I was afraid of Lux, yeah you clearly get the problem, and we as a band have songs that have very defined chorus and verse settings of delay and I can't be scrolling around to switch back and forth... It's frustrating and disappointing that even the $500 machines don't seem to address the problem. So much for not being limited by machines!

 

[lux_interior]

Well, I believe the Strymon Timeline is one of these superdelays that can get a midi footswitch for instant recall of presets, as well as the Eventide Timefactor. The great and underrated Digitech Timebender can also work with an external footswitch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HD2jsj-iTE). The brand new Vox Delay Lab seems to be a replacement for the Line 6 DL4, and you can also get a Line 6 M9 and set it up for instant presets recall (I think it's the "scenes" arrangement). There might be other solutions out there (like TC Electronic's Systems), but I can't remember any more right now...

 

[dave12]

Hey Sean,

That was the deal breaker for me. I have the timeline and I feel it does do a lot of the superdelay sounds plus some more.

I will say that the superdelay sounds fantastic. It definitely is it's own thing, but eventually, I just needed a little more tweakability.