If you’re a guitarist, you’ve almost certainly heard of Line 6 – the company best known for building equipment such as effects modelers and amps, reproducible digital tools. convincingly create a wide range of classical sounds. One of the company’s most iconic products is undoubtedly the Line 6 DL4, a pedal that digitally simulates over a dozen classical delay and reverb tones and also includes a repeater that allows musicians to quickly record and repeat a phrase quickly. Guitar World speak that the DL4 “marks an important step forward in the world of effects and was one of the first multi-function digital effects processors to be released.”
Line 6 announced today that DL4 will receive a sequel. The DL4 MkII is a complete redesign has the same essence as the original in a smaller package: it combines various types of delay/echo effects and repeaters. This time, however, the Series 6 has added 15 more delays along with 15 options from the original pedal. As before, you choose an effect with the leftmost dial, then adjust its settings with the rest of the dials; Once you’ve set it up the way you want it, you can save three different presets, which are accessible using the left three-pin switch. The fourth switch allows you to tap the tempo for your delay.
Another important part of DL4 is the looper feature and it is getting a big upgrade on the MkII. While the original DL4 could only record 14 seconds of audio, the MkII was able to save up to 120 seconds in stereo or 240 seconds in mono. For players who want more, you can put an SD card in – Line 6 doesn’t say what kind of time limit you’ll encounter when using the SD card, but it goes beyond what you can do with build- in archive. There’s also a new loop mode where you can activate it with the fourth foot switch, rather than turning the pedal into loop mode (traditionally using all four switches to give gives you more granular control over recording and playback). The DL4 MkII also includes a microphone input for the first time, so vocalists can take better advantage of the pedal’s looping features.
There are some other new features on board here, like the ability to add both expression pedals and external footswitches for even more customization, but the biggest highlights here are probably the new delay effects and the improved iteration. For this, Line 6 asks for $50 more than the original; The DL4 MkII costs $299. Chances are a lot of guitarists and other musicians will find the higher price worthwhile, especially if they’ve already exceeded the limits of that old 14-second repeater. The DL4 MkII is up for pre-order now, but there’s no word on exactly how quickly these new pedals will ship.
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