Pamparo in Toronto

I sold my Brigadier, El Capistan and Fav Switch as soon as I heard the news about this delay. Although, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to get it since it took forever from the time it was publicized to the time it actually got released. But there I was, sitting in front of my computer, waiting for exactly 7:05 PM on July 5th … as soon as it became available on their online store, I bought it. Amazingly, it sold out online in a matter of 1/2 hour (not sure of the actual number of units sold)

Strymon Timeline

So now, after a few hours at home and a few songs live, I can say that it is a very good delay pedal. But is worth the $450 for what I need?

The GOOD

• Sounds very very good … amazingly good!
• Lots of delay options. 12 modes in total to choose from
• MIDI-enabled program changes and other cool controls
• Looper works great, gets a little getting used to cutting in out of the loop
• Soft switch on the tap-tempo … FINALLY!
• Firmware can be updated via MIDI SYSEX. I hope this will come in handy in the future (see below)

The BAD (of course, IMHO)

• No global tempo option. It makes it difficult to switch between presets during the song while playing live. Some people think this is not necessary, but I am not them
• Delay range is not the same on the different delay modes. I just don’t get this and why it’s not possible to make them all the same
• Soft switches on the A or B presets. I can’t see the light while pressing these switches so I don’t know if the unit engaged or not. But maybe this is related to the next one …
• User interface is not user-friendly for live use. Changing banks using 2 footswithces? Really?!
• Some looper functions like reverse & half-speed are only accessible via MIDI

The VERDICT
Like I said, it sounds great. But after using it, I can see myself using 4 or 5 different modes and maybe only a handful of presets to give what I need. The looper is great for practicing or just doing some fun with ambient looping … what a pleasant addition to the unit. It did, however, reminded me why I gotten rid of the Brig & El Cap. So much options and sounds great but the user-interface is lacking.

So is it worth it? For me, time will tell. It really all depends on when Strymon releases a firmware update and what would be included in the update. I will keep it for now until some of these quirks become so annoying

Please take this quick review with a grain of salt, in fact, make it lots of salt. Your needs might be different than mine …

or maybe you think that $450 is ok to overlook some of the unit’s faults