Malekko 616 mkII, non-LoFi... Pretty Darn Good?

[CBA]

Hi friends.

I don't know shit about the Malekko delays. I guess there are like a million different versions, and most people here seem to favour the 616 Lo-Fi. However, it looks to me like the 616 mkII is a really solid pedal. I've got my eyes on various over-priced big box Deluxe Memory Mans (Men?), but the 616 mkII standard seems to have all that shit in a tiny little box for a great price.

I'm no delay COIN-ess-sewer, but every time I really get into a digital delay pedal, I find myself mostly/only using "analog" or "tape" echoes, that is echoes that have a dirty, fucky sounding echo to them.

So naturally I'm having a good look at some true analog delays, and the Malekko 616 mkII seems to have all the good shit.

Uhhhh... that's all I've got. I guess I'm just looking for some opinions on that ass.

C

[Ghost Hip]

I had a lot of fun with the Malekko 616. idk what version it was, but fun none the less. If you like dirty repeats, check out the Behringer Vintage Time Machine.

[JuJo]

I miss my 616. I`m not sure which version I had but I`m thinking it was the Mk I. It had a label with it something about an upgrade and date which made me think it was an original that had been modded to the later spec. Anyway...

It is nice. Quite nice. I sold mine and eventually picked up a Lunar Echo. I would rather have the 616 to be honest. I struggled with it somewhat though. It was hard to balance the pedal to have any more than 3.5 repeats without soaring into uncontrollable oscillation. I did eventually get the hang of it, and once you get it down,it really excels at creating a wonderful wash of rhythmic oscillation in the background. The reapeats still sound rather clear for the first couple then blend out in some really awesome overtones. Really adds depth. The repeats are very birght and full sounding too. It has a weird tendency to chirp though, where the repeat will make this weird instantaneous oscillation and just chirp repeatedly on the beat.

In my brief experience with the Memory man line (Memory Boy-obviously no big box DMM) they are very different in theat the Memory Boy was rather dark and swampy where the 616 was very bright and full.

I really wish they would release a version with a tone control though, as it would be nice to roll off some high end and decrease the tendency to oscillate. But I likely wouldn`t buy it anyway... bad experience.

One drawback of the tiny enclosure is the trimpots are near impossible to tweak on the fly. Especially because they have huge range. In fact I found only about 10-15% of the sweep was useful for anything other than making hideous noises. But that 10-15% sounded pretty damn good. Though if you stick to one setting it will stay there because they are tiny and rigid and impossible to knock.

[zRobertez]

I think all the negative stuff jujo mentioned was what they worked on with the updated versions. Not sure though.
I would also recommend the way huge supa puss. I always thought they sounded similar judging by YouTube videos. I've had a supa puss on my board for like 4 months now and I really like it. I don't always use it to it's full extent but if I had something smaller, I feel like I would miss the extra features.
But it's real gritty and textured. Fun oscillation. Other coo stuff

[Holy Schnikes]

Hi friends.

I don't know shit about the Malekko delays. I guess there are like a million different versions, and most people here seem to favour the 616 Lo-Fi.

The most sought after Malekko delays are usually the first ones they released, the Echo 300 and Echo 600 in both bright and dark versions. Both sound amazing, the bright being close to a DMM voicing however there was no modulation involved. That's when they still built 'em by hand and they were pretty pricey, like $250 new I think it was....

Then came the 616, one of the first mass produced, robot populated circuit boards Malekko offered at a really nice price. The updates from mkI to mkII dealt with noise issues mainly. Then they added more noise with the LoFi and people seemed to love that one.

I've used the E600D for years, tried the mkI 616 early on and it was just alright when compared. Was hoping it would get me into brighter modulated DMM territory but it was not to be, nobody has successfully copped that delay in a smaller format, damn it. Never tried the mkII, just flipped the mkI in anticipation of the 919 and here I am today, still with the E600D.

The new Dark 616 could be cool, can't wait to hear some reviews on that one. If you like the DMM tho, I'd stay away from the Malekko "Dark" stuff.

[Ghost Hip]

In my brief experience with the Memory man line (Memory Boy-obviously no big box DMM) they are very different in theat the Memory Boy was rather dark and swampy where the 616 was very bright and full.

The Memory Boys should be considered completely separate from the Memory Men in my opinion. I agree though, the memory boy was way swampy and dark.

[HeavyXIII]

I find my 616 (it's a V2) to be pretty bright for an analog delay. I always wanted brighter repeats, so when I picked up a digital delay I thought it was a goner. I'm glad I held onto it; I have tap tempo on the digital delay for standard sounds, and can commit the 616 to more ambient things that rely less on having a particular repeat pattern. Technically, you can get some pretty clean vibrato sounds if you up the pedal's mix and turn the regen and delay time down/off. It's a pretty versatile pedal that fits well on my rig. If you don't need tap tempo, I'd highly recommend it.

[JuJo]

Just checked the Malekko website, I believe mine had a green board which would make it a mk i.

release notes say you can now fine tune the modulation better and the mix pot will go louder. So the modulation will no doubt be better than what I had. I forgot the mix seemed quiet at first, but I adjusted the internal gain pot and everything was swell. Dunno if they did anything about the odd chirping effect, which wasn`t that bad anyway when I got used to setting it.

didn`t mean to sound terribly negative, as I really think it might be my favourite out of the delays I have owned. I`m currently using the disaster transport which is a totally different beast altogether but also very nice.

Also, any of the true analog delays I have tried all come with quirks, which is really the beauty of them.

[CBA]

It all sounds pretty good to me. Seems like there were a few quirks with the mkI, and those have been addressed with the mkII. I don't need tap tempo... no big deal to me.

I do like the looks of the Supa Puss, so I guess it's a fight among the 616 mkII, the Supa Puss, and whatever big box DMM I can get my hands on. The Supa Puss really seems like the ultimate currently obtainable analog delay.

zRobertez... I read somewhere else on ILF, can't remember, that there was some kind of volume issue with the Supa Puss, but it's been addressed to some extent? I feel like I see a few different Supa Pusses with different knob labels... "grit", "wow", "flutter"... as opposed to "tone", "depth", "speed", etc. What's up with that?

C

[Officer Bukowski]

I feel like the 616 has kindof a weird fractal degredation to the repeats which is cool but also kindof annoying to me. Like chunks of the repeats just disappear. The sounds are good but the knobs are finnicky to dial in.

You can find a BOSS DM-2 for like $150 and I think it's about as good as analog delay gets

[kbit]

I have a 616 (green board, so MKI?) but I don't have any noise issues or finicky knobs. Pretty easy to dial in a good delay setting and it sounds really nice. In my experience I have to keep the buffer on because the dry signal goes WAY dark if I turn it on in true bypass mode.

But the modulation is kinda finicky. The depth goes deep quickly, and the mod doesn't go very slow. From a fast chorus to a fast vibrato. You can get some lush stuff on the slowest setting, but I don't use it much that way cuz I'd prefer it to go slower. But as a "standard analog delay" I do think it sounds very nice.

[Holy Schnikes]

The buffer is a must on the E600D as well. It sounds awful in TB mode on every amp I've ever tried.

[zRobertez]

zRobertez... I read somewhere else on ILF, can't remember, that there was some kind of volume issue with the Supa Puss, but it's been addressed to some extent? I feel like I see a few different Supa Pusses with different knob labels... "grit", "wow", "flutter"... as opposed to "tone", "depth", "speed", etc. What's up with that?

C

I've actually had two supas. I got the first one around after they came out. It was pretty horrible... The volume drop was prolly the least of your worries. But like 3 months ago, I read that they had updated and fixed em. So I got anoth! And I love this one! My current one has normal names for the knobs. The small ones are speed, depth, gain, and tone. I guess they changed that too

But really, it's awesome! It's got its own special thing going on. Meaning it sounds unique compared to everything else I've tried but it's the only analog delay I've owned. The modulation is really good, the gain and tone knobs are useful and the oscillation can get pretty wild. It's really easy to set it at sitting between oscillation and normal delay or keeping the oscillation under control. Sometimes, it's hard to tell whether its going to start feeding back in thirty seconds or if it's just going to be pretty background noise for 30 seconds. It does get that "clicky" thing going that someone else mentioned but I've grown to really dig it.

[DADGBD]

Hey CBA, you might want to check out the 616 DARK version, too.

[CBA]

The new Dark 616 could be cool, can't wait to hear some reviews on that one. If you like the DMM tho, I'd stay away from the Malekko "Dark" stuff.

Thanks for that extra tip, bro.

I almost splurged on a Supa Puss, but what I really want is a big box DMM. So I'm going to grab a 616 mkII until I can find a reasonably priced bbDMM. That way I can get a cheaper analog delay with modulation that sounds pretty good whilst I wait for the big dick.


C