Is there a delay or reverb that doesn't reduce your punch?

[LooseCannon]

I've tried many delay pedals and I've settled on the Mad Professor Deep Blue as it barely changes your tone.

The problem is that unless you set it to be very very subtle, it will take away the punch and make your tone less solid. The same as with other delay pedals I had.

I've noticed the same happens with reverb pedals and built in spring reverbs as well.

Is there a solution to this issue? Could I enjoy both worlds?

Thanks!

[artdecade]

I haven't noticed anything "lacking punch" with the Eventide Timefactor.

[telefunken]

Great question....................*waiting for answer*

[artdecade]

Are you running things through your effects loop? Does the pedal convert the whole signal over to digital before spitting it back out or does it keep the dry signal and add the delay over top?

[LooseCannon]

I'm running it in front of the amp. I'm pretty sure it just mixes the delay over the top in my pedal, but as I said, i've had this issue with other pedals and with reverb as well.

[artdecade]

Well, a delay would be better off in the loop rather than in front. It can get washed out by everything in front of it. Then, the washed sound hits the preamp. In the loop, everything will stay crisper.

You don't have a loop? Well, no one did back in the day either. Hendrix, Gilmour, etc all had to deal with delays that were not crisp either. Probably explains why Gilmour became so gung-ho with rack systems and pedalboards along the way. By Pulse, everything was super tight.

[LooseCannon]

Thanks artdecade.
But what about all of those Fender amps with spring reverb? Doesn't it go between the preamp and the poweramp? Cause there's a reduction in punch when using the reverb on those as well.

[telepath]

Is it not inevitable that if you 'distance' the sound of something - which is essentially what both delay and certainly 'verb 'do' - then, you incur the impression of 'distance' and so have to compensate?

i.e. one is not going to gain punch by using 'verb IMO.
You have to account for it accordingly - from the outset.
Slapback delay has some apparent punch - and can sound punchy - but in reality is still less than the dry signal.

[combstone]

Try a dynamic (or ducking) delay, one that stays out of your way until it's needed to fill in some space.

[Lance]

My El Capistan seems to be different than any other delay I've used. The delay doesn't seem to interfere with the guitar sound yet, you can set the mix much higher. It's hard to explain...but it just works better with your guitar sound.

I have a Timeline incoming and I'll be comparing the two. Supposedly, the TL has the same sound as the El Cap. If so, I'll sell the El Cap to help cover the cost of the TL.


Regarding reverbs, I have a Flint as well. Many reverb settings can wash you out....but using the "80s" setting seems to minimize this - at least at moderate levels of mix. If you're looking to prevent the loss of punch, I'd stick with delays rather than reverbs regardless.

[bbigd0]

I would think just by nature of the effect you lose "punch" the more you up Decay / Level / Mix . Reverb , being about Time & Size of Space would change your "punch" the farther away you put it.