Colortone's recently updated Lo-Fi Delay is a lush sounding Dynamic Dual-Action, Multi-type Echo Machine
Readers will know that I’m not typically a fan of Mono Delay pedals, so there has to be something really special about one for me to want to feature it on the site.
There’s very much kind of 4 different sides to this pedal. It’s of course principally a Lo-Fi Delay - with 2 different High Pass and Low Pass Filtered Lo-Fi voicings, while you also have a really pristine Hi-Fi voicing too.
You also have 2 different Modes of Action / Playback - the ’Wet’ Mode which is a Latching, always-on conventional delay. But where you can hit the second ’Splash’ footswitch to trigger a different Feedback setting - per Regen+.
For the ’Dry’ Mode - the Delay only comes in / on when you hit the ’Splash’ footswitch - so you can accentuate your playing with more Dub-like Momentary stabs of Delay. Those who forget to read the manual may think there’s something wrong when you’re in Dry Mode - but you just need to know that the Dry Mode Delay is Momentary and needs to be activated by pressing and holding down the secondary ’Splash’ footswitch.
Controls - Delay (Time), Mode : Dry (Momentary) / Wet (Latching), Type : Hi-Fi / Lo-Fi HPF / Lo-Fi LPF, Regen (Default), Regen+ (Wet Splash), Div (Speed Multiplier) : Slower x3 / x2 / x1 / Faster x2 / x3, Volume (Unity is Middle / 9 o'c), Splash Footswitch = Regen+ Wet Splash / Momentary Dry Stabs / Tap Tempo, Bypass Footswitch Engages Pedal / Wet Mode.
Much like with the recent RoundHouse Tremolo / Vibe, this Lo-Fo delay unit is also powered by a Custom Electrosmith chip. Typically PT2399 chips have often been used for Lo-Fi Delays - in fact for many circuit makers they are the go-to-chip for that genre. While the Electrosmith Chip seems to produce a slightly more authentic, warmer, properly analog style of delay.
Note also that the Divisions mini-knob is rather a Speed / Rate Multiplier - where the 1 dot is default / quarter time, and then you can go x2 and x3 faster, as well as x2 and x3 slower.
For me personally the Division knob mostly stays on the 1, and Volume is mostly at unity - which is the middle of that knob's orbit - or noon position.
You need to be slightly careful with the Regen and Regen+ settings as oscillation can come into effect between 1 & 2 o'c depending on what you're inputting into the pedal - more gain means quicker onset of self-oscillation - which for clean signals kicks in at around 1:30 to 1:45 o'c.
I tend to play the pedal mostly in Lo-Fi LPF Mode - while I really enjoy deploying both Wet and Dry Models - with the Wet type being my default. Mix is normally around 12 o'c or below - you need more mix for Lo-Fi and less for Hi-Fi.
My main delay unit is typically some sort of Space Echo type multi-tap Tape style Delay - and so this Lo-Fi Delay offers a really nice counterpoint and contrast to that. As with all of AD Hauser's pedals - this one is really Musical, and mostly stays on the more elegant side of things - while you can get some interesting smears at extremes of Lo-Fi delay and with gain running into the pedal.
All-in-all a really cleverly thought-out and fairly distinct delay unit. I'm delighted to hear also that AD is in the process of developing some stereo pedals too - I really look forward to putting those to the test when they're out - could be a little while until such a time though as AD is such a perfectionist in how he works.
Once more you have an amazing polished and geometric chrome design with inlaid resin - where the inside and outside of the pedal look every bit as good as it sounds. I've said it before - that these Colortone Pedals really are a high watermark of the pedal-making artform - as they are so refined, and there's so much attention to detail. They exude quality every which way. And with the new Cog Series Knobs and Headliner Silicon Caps - AD has raised the standard even higher!
Colortone Pedals has been increasing its dealer roster - where it's strongly established in Australia and Japan already, and the USA expansion is on the way. For most though the best place to get hold of these is still via the Colortone Webstore - where the Lo-Fi Delay can be had for $299 USD. Really amazing value for what you're getting! All the new Colortone Pedals come with a set of Headliner Silicon Caps - so you can choose whether the knobs are high-vis or not.
Demos
