SORTED Delay Llama Xtreme question

BintyTwanger77

I sent my DLX off to Athens (via GuitarGuitar) for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when I first sold it to someone, there was absolutely no wet signal coming through at all. Bought it back from the buyer and then took it in to GG to get it sent off. Even though it worked with my power supply, there was another… well I think it’s a fault but not entirely sure. The pedal had a tap hold function so you can have lovely, crunchy analogue oscillation of the repeats. However, this only worked when the Time was set to 12 noon- 1 o’clock (about 400-450ms at most). Anything beyond that, and there was absolutely no oscillating repeats. Cranking the repeats dial to max on 800ms as well (without using the hold function), the hold function didn’t work. I don’t know if this is just how this pedal behaves, but I’m sure the repeats dial was more sensitive on other units I’ve tried and the hold function worked. So it went off to Greece for a few weeks, and I got it back on Monday. It’s a warranty replacement, whole new pedal… and the same issue. 

Other users, is this a common issue with these pedals? 

soma1975

I have a soft spot for Jam Pedals but there is something about them that doesn't always inspire confidence. 

Asking them about how they bias their retrovibe bulb on the trimmer so I can set my new (used) one back to stock they just said 'by ear' as opposed to actually having written down any kind of 'stock' setting for them to leave the factory with, 

I got a very early Xtreme and adored the tone of it, if not the size. But it did occasionally have a tiny freakout with it's funky modes that a power cycle would fix. 

All their stuff that's more complex than a dirt box seems to have an element of this 'wiggle everything until it works then stop wiggling' feel to them and their construction. Which is sort of charming and also sort of annoying. No help at all I know. Sorry. 

BintyTwanger77

soma1975 said:

I have a soft spot for Jam Pedals but there is something about them that doesn't always inspire confidence. 

Asking them about how they bias their retrovibe bulb on the trimmer so I can set my new (used) one back to stock they just said 'by ear' as opposed to actually having written down any kind of 'stock' setting for them to leave the factory with, 

I got a very early Xtreme and adored the tone of it, if not the size. But it did occasionally have a tiny freakout with it's funky modes that a power cycle would fix. 

All their stuff that's more complex than a dirt box seems to have an element of this 'wiggle everything until it works then stop wiggling' feel to them and their construction. Which is sort of charming and also sort of annoying. No help at all I know. Sorry. 

No, it’s definitely helpful to get your perspective. I’ve also got their Harmonius Monk and adore it, no issues so far.

It’s just a bit annoying, thought it might be a feature of analogue circuitry sometimes. I’ve heard comments about Jam’s build quality, which is a shame because the DLX really is a lovely delay, beautiful core delay tone.

Cookiemonster

I have heard about build issues, but on the pedals I've owned by them, they have been very good, no problems at all.

pedalo

I have several Jam pedals and would say they are up there with the best I own. Very reliable and they sound and look amazing. 

Iron_Robin

I used to have one and couldn’t get the hold function to work as well as I wanted, I don’t think it’s as good on this pedal as on some others like CBA if you are used to those. If you look at the instructions there is a blue internal trimmer inside that adjusts maximum number of repeats, (apparently clockwise for more), this might help  as I think the hold function just maxes out the feedback/number of repeats. To be honest I was really impressed with the build quality and sound of this pedal.

BintyTwanger77

Iron_Robin said:

I used to have one and couldn’t get the hold function to work as well as I wanted, I don’t think it’s as good on this pedal as on some others like CBA if you are used to those. If you look at the instructions there is a blue internal trimmer inside that adjusts maximum number of repeats, (apparently clockwise for more), this might help  as I think the hold function just maxes out the feedback/number of repeats. To be honest I was really impressed with the build quality and sound of this pedal.

Really helpful, thank you.

Moe_Zambeek

Do Jam have anything to say about it? They must have thought something was wrong to replace it…maybe this one is randomly also faulty?

BintyTwanger77

I might drop them an email, they just sent the warranty replacement to GG, I don’t know if they found anything wrong.

BintyTwanger77

Thinking about it, I think the whole thing is likely to be down to this internal trim pot: according to reviews, it's a blue trim pot and I wasn't aware of this feature until @Iron_Robin said. I should've read up on this pedal more! I'll have a look inside the pedal, and hopefully that will be the matter sorted.

BintyTwanger77

EDIT: it was the internal trimpot, works absolutely fine. Now I can sell it without any stress. Thanks for your help everyone.