Is this normal for an analogue delay?? or is my Delay Llama a dud...

brucegill

Got a Delay Llama (normal, 3 knob version) from Andertons. I've noticed, especially on low notes, there's a fair amount of noise once the delayed note comes in. Like a noise gate going off - play a note, no hiss. Repeat comes in and there's a hiss behind the note. I've tried it on its own, through a different power supply too, no difference. its defo the repeats that are noisy and not my setup as it only happens with this pedal.

Am I making a fuss about something all analog delays do? Its been ages since I've had one, and I've even had a Delay Llama before and sure but didn't do it. 

I've just sent a Strymon Volante back, wishing I'd bloody kept/replaced it now. That kept forgetting it was a delay pedal and all its settings. Had to power down and back on to get them back. But that was clean and usable. this Jam one will drive me nuts.

Looking at the pedal I recon its been returned already. looks like its had velcro on the back and a few marks here and there. They did call me to explain the condition saying it had been on the shop floor for a while.... Price reflected this too. Though not if it had issues. 

brucegill

not the best recording, but you can hear it come in after the first note:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vaz53n5ezip5g00/New Recording.m4a?dl=0
Level knob is at noon

JezWynd

No that doesn’t sound right. Analog delays are noisy but not in that fashion. Definitely a fault.

Cookiemonster

I had one and it wasn't like that. Return it

WiresDreamDisasters

Sounds broken to me.

brucegill

Thanks guys! 

Now... what to buy instead?!

Cookiemonster

I had the Llama plus and it was really great. I kind of miss it. Don't rule it out.  
I also like the EHX 550 the fx loop on it is great.

Sassafras

I've tried a few Jam pedals and I've always been extremely underwhelmed by them.

brucegill

Sassafras said:

I've tried a few Jam pedals and I've always been extremely underwhelmed by them.

Funny as I had a delay llama plus ages ago and liked it. And a Big Chill and loved that. Sold both, obviously. 

Got another big chill at the same time as this faulty Delay Llama, and I have to say, I’m not sure I like the big chill anymore. Not sure if they’ve changed maybe. All the cases are mass printed now, rather than hand painted. The packaging has changed a lot too. 

soma1975

Thus far of the ones I have tried/owned I think Jam Pedals are amazing. I have a Delay Llama Extreme arriving today. 

Wazmeister

Bruce,

I've had some analogue pedals that could sound like that...

To be fair, your journey might be mirroring my own. I reckon Ive owned the lot, and there are so many myths about analogue delays. Im not sure how usable many of them are in reality, especially live.


Some examples;

Moog MF104 - superb, but the LFO can be unusable at times

Belle Epoch Deluxe - awesome sounds, but that pre-amp is a bastard to control, and influences your board a lot.

I have searched (and it still continues) for years mate, and Im coming to the conclusion that 

i.) I love analogue warm washy delays pedals at home

ii.) I love clean digital delays live.



The best of the analog/digital copies for me personally are;

- CB RKM Tonal Recall
- Seymour Duncan Vapour Trail
- SIB Echodrive 
- MF104m
- Strymon (any of em)
- Free The Tone (possibly my fave - miss mine incredibly)

As well as the usual suspects;

- Timeline
- DD500
- Empress Echosytem 
- HX Stomp/Helix

Also, and TPS have mentioned this too, we assume that analogue (older) delays are always darker. In my experience, this is not always the case.

There is a reason why more and more of use digital, modern equivalents, such as HX Stomp and Strymon.

They work, are less temperamental, are more consistent, and aren't too noisy.

guitarblaster

I also like all of the jam pedals I’ve played, sound great to my ears - I like the new artwork better than the old artwork! @brucegill have you seen this? It still looks quite labour intensive how they apply their finishes! Might make you feel better/that more care has gone into the product. 

I’d return it if you think it might be faulty and give it another go! 

https://youtu.be/NRA4iMdvJQI

brucegill

guitarblaster said:

I also like all of the jam pedals I’ve played, sound great to my ears - I like the new artwork better than the old artwork! @brucegill have you seen this? It still looks quite labour intensive how they apply their finishes! Might make you feel better/that more care has gone into the product. 

I’d return it if you think it might be faulty and give it another go! 

https://youtu.be/NRA4iMdvJQI

bloody hell. I take it back! That does look a lot more labour intensive than I thought. Still prefer the original ones if I'm honest. 

brucegill

soma1975 said:

Thus far of the ones I have tried/owned I think Jam Pedals are amazing. I have a Delay Llama Extreme arriving today. 

I bet that will be great @soma1975 - Look forward to hearing about it. I almost bought one from regent sounds and then held of only to see you'd bought it lol. have fun!

soma1975

It said it's been out for Special Delivery since Monday but royal mail doesn't have it yet. Stupid Covid grr...

nonesuch

brucegill said:

Got a Delay Llama (normal, 3 knob version) from Andertons. I've noticed, especially on low notes, there's a fair amount of noise once the delayed note comes in. Like a noise gate going off - play a note, no hiss. Repeat comes in and there's a hiss behind the note. I've tried it on its own, through a different power supply too, no difference. its defo the repeats that are noisy and not my setup as it only happens with this pedal.

I've just had a listen to my DOD Rubberneck, and to be honest it sounds almost identical to your example. I tend not to notice it once I'm actually playing, and not listening out for it. But maybe it is too hissy, I'm not too sure now.

I bought an EHX Deluxe Memory Man TT a few years ago, which had a much noisier repeat, and I sent that back because I thought there was something wrong with it. Unfortunately the place I bought it from didn't agree it was faulty and refused to pay for any of the courier charges. But that's another story...

mburekenge

soma1975 said:

It said it's been out for Special Delivery since Monday but royal mail doesn't have it yet. Stupid Covid grr...

It will be worth the wait. Combined with the supra-vibe is too good.

Keefy

nonesuch said:

brucegill said:

Got a Delay Llama (normal, 3 knob version) from Andertons. I've noticed, especially on low notes, there's a fair amount of noise once the delayed note comes in. Like a noise gate going off - play a note, no hiss. Repeat comes in and there's a hiss behind the note. I've tried it on its own, through a different power supply too, no difference. its defo the repeats that are noisy and not my setup as it only happens with this pedal.

I've just had a listen to my DOD Rubberneck, and to be honest it sounds almost identical to your example. I tend not to notice it once I'm actually playing, and not listening out for it. But maybe it is too hissy, I'm not too sure now.

I bought an EHX Deluxe Memory Man TT a few years ago, which had a much noisier repeat, and I sent that back because I thought there was something wrong with it. Unfortunately the place I bought it from didn't agree it was faulty and refused to pay for any of the courier charges. But that's another story...

Was that the 550 or the 1100? I have the 1100 and used to have the 550. For a given delay time, the 1100 is definitely quieter, probably because it is running at twice the sample rate.

Having said that, noise is pretty much a fact of life with analog delays. The Boss DM-2w (yes, I have a few analog delays!) exhibits 'gated' noise as described by the OP when in its 'custom' (longer delay) mode.

nonesuch

Keefy said:

Was that the 550 or the 1100? I have the 1100 and used to have the 550. For a given delay time, the 1100 is definitely quieter, probably because it is running at twice the sample rate.

Having said that, noise is pretty much a fact of life with analog delays. The Boss DM-2w (yes, I have a few analog delays!) exhibits 'gated' noise as described by the OP when in its 'custom' (longer delay) mode.

It was the 550 version.

lasermonkey

I rehoused a Jam multi-pedal for someone a few years back and had very mixed feelings about it. The overall build quality was poor. There were components half hanging out of some of the PCBs, the wiring was an utter mess and some of the pedals were disappointing to awful, while some sounded really good. I remember liking the Rattler (even though the circuit board looked like a four year old had assembled it), the Tube Dreamer (it was the posh version), the DynaSsor and the tremolo (Big Chill?).

The Delay Llama Supreme sounded so bad, it had to have been broken. The repeats were so muddy as to be pretty much unrecognisable from the original signal, and there was a lot of "hash" noise, much like the OP mentioned. I can only assume that it was a duff BBD IC and, IIRC, Coolaudio were having a lot of quality issues back then.
I love tape delays and I love old digital delays, but there are very few analogue delays that I like. The best analogue delay I've heard so far is the Yamaha E1010 which sounded glorious. Not cheap, mind!

ChrisCox1994

whats everyone's view on the good old MXR carbon copy? at 18v nice clean-ish repeats and stays out the way well