Page 1 of 2

i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:21 pm
by misterstomach
the only delay pedal i've had for a long time has been a dd7, which i like, but i'm ready for something a bit more in the delay department. el cap demos sound great. so many people love them. on paper, it seems like such a perfect pedal: all these features and options and the new ones are stereo in and out, which i really wish more delays had. i really wanted to be blown away by it and feel good about dropping three hundred fucking dollars on the perfect delay. but i was not blown away. i was trying it in a guitar store, playing quietly and it was awkward and not my gear and all, so there's that. it did sound really good. maybe i should spend more time with it. but i just didn't find myself feeling inspired by it, if you know what i mean. i was just playing stuff and turning knobs but nothing special and tingly was happening. it felt a little sterile. i'm kind of bummed about that. i really liked some of the weird warbly kind of modulated sounds you could dial in. i would really need to get to know the pedal better, but for straight delay without modulation, i actually maybe like the analog emulation setting on my dd7 better. weird to say that and i'm sure someone's going to be mad at me for it. i'm sure i'd like it if i brought it home and had time to get to know it, but the magic just wasn't happening in the store and that's that.

the disaster transport though. holy shit. that blew me away big time. the modulation sounds fucking amazing and i just love that it's foot switchable. and it's so tweakable. the delay sounded great too. it was very inspiring to play. a very creative pedal there. i would say that everything about that pedal was perfect for me except that i really wish it was stereo. i really really wish that. but, it was so amazing that i'm inclined to just not worry about stereo. i've often been playing with one amp recently. and, sometimes it sounds pretty good to just have delay and reverb on one amp and the other without. the ghost echo solved all my reverb problems and convinced me to forego stereo with reverb, and i think the DT is going to do the same with delay. i felt like a jerk in the store for not just having the money on me to buy it. but i plan to redeem myself in a few days and just go back and buy it.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:04 am
by Quiet Things
These are two pedals that I've been looking at pretty hard the last couple months, so I actually really appreciate this comparison, haha. I think when my tax return hits in a few days I'm gonna bite the bullet and get the Disaster Transport SR...

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:06 am
by synthezatory
Yeah, I've owned el cap then replaced with timeline and sold it eventually.. somehow strymons sounded sterile and cold to me, sounded like every other guitarists which is boring and very common. Tried numerous delay pedals after that, and long story short.. I'm on the DTSr now and I'm happy as a clown on drugs

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:29 am
by zRobertez
misterstomach wrote:the only delay pedal i've had for a long time has been a dd7, which i like, but i'm ready for something a bit more in the delay department. el cap demos sound great. so many people love them. on paper, it seems like such a perfect pedal: all these features and options and the new ones are stereo in and out, which i really wish more delays had. i really wanted to be blown away by it and feel good about dropping three hundred fucking dollars on the perfect delay. but i was not blown away. i was trying it in a guitar store, playing quietly and it was awkward and not my gear and all, so there's that. it did sound really good. maybe i should spend more time with it. but i just didn't find myself feeling inspired by it, if you know what i mean. i was just playing stuff and turning knobs but nothing special and tingly was happening. it felt a little sterile. i'm kind of bummed about that. i really liked some of the weird warbly kind of modulated sounds you could dial in. i would really need to get to know the pedal better, but for straight delay without modulation, i actually maybe like the analog emulation setting on my dd7 better. weird to say that and i'm sure someone's going to be mad at me for it. i'm sure i'd like it if i brought it home and had time to get to know it, but the magic just wasn't happening in the store and that's that.


Just double checking... you know about the secondary knob functions?
I've said it before - TAPE CRINKLE guhhhhhh...... so tasty :snax:

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:01 pm
by Holy Schnikes
Try the Disaster Transport SR, dual delays, one 600ms and one 300ms, one with mod and one with verb, and ability to run 'em individually, side by side (parallel), Delay A into Delay B via Bleed control (series), or side by side PLUS Delay A into Delay B (parallel + series). Oh, and trails can be accessed thru simple footswitch and you get Exp control over repeats and Bleed control.

Holy moly that pedal rules, tuly incredible! :thumb:

I've can't compare to the standard Disaster Transport or Ghost Disaster but the SR seems to have combined it all with improved switching/operating capabilities.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:01 pm
by misterstomach
took about two hours to sell my dd7 on craigslist, so i went back and bought the DT yesterday. haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, but i have practice tonight. so i'm pretty stoked. they actually had a DT SR in there when i went back, but i didn't have time to try it. and honestly, even though it sounds so awesome, i just wouldn't really use it to it's potential. i don't do a lot of knob tweaking in a set and i don't use delay to do all that much crazy shit. most of it's features would be wasted on me. i mostly want a really good sounding delay that i can set and forget and i really wanted really good sounding foot switchable modulation. so the DT is perfect. and, if i were goin to be paying any more, i'd rather pay for stereo capabilities than the features of the DT SR. cool pedal for someone who would use it though. for me, i'm just really excited about my new DT.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:34 pm
by Ancient Astronaught
Congrats dude! DT is a sweet pedal!

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:23 am
by DarkAxel
Holy Schnikes wrote:Try the Disaster Transport SR, dual delays, one 600ms and one 300ms, one with mod and one with verb, and ability to run 'em individually, side by side (parallel), Delay A into Delay B via Bleed control (series), or side by side PLUS Delay A into Delay B (parallel + series). Oh, and trails can be accessed thru simple footswitch and you get Exp control over repeats and Bleed control.

Holy moly that pedal rules, tuly incredible! :thumb:

I've can't compare to the standard Disaster Transport or Ghost Disaster but the SR seems to have combined it all with improved switching/operating capabilities.


am i the only one not convinced by the 600ms/300ms combo?

i mean... i've never tried it, but i know that when I cascade delays, I usually go for longer times... Kind of more like the Catalinbread Echorec in multihead mode. The shorter about 400ms etc.

I very sparsely go under 300ms with my delays, so that's kind of a turnoff for me :( I'd be much happier with double 600ms version, i might even buy that eventually :) too bad for me

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:13 pm
by univalve
I feel you. Same here.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:43 pm
by Holy Schnikes
Yeah, it's my first experience with short plus long delays in on pedal but it's killer. Like a long modulated whacked out delay into the biggest verb'd out delay you can imagine. They really compliment one another very nicely.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:18 pm
by misterstomach
i got to play the DT last night at practice. that fucking thing sounds so great. i can't wait to have a little more time to try to get it really dialed in, but it sounded awesome. i'm really happy with it. it's very analog sounding. the tone knob is really cool for tweaking those chewy repeats. and the modulation is really cool. and it does fantastically with dirt. i need a little more time with it, but it's definitely a keeper.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:28 pm
by veteransdaypoppy
misterstomach wrote:i would really need to get to know the pedal better, but for straight delay without modulation, i actually maybe like the analog emulation setting on my dd7 better. weird to say that and i'm sure someone's going to be mad at me for it. i'm sure i'd like it if i brought it home and had time to get to know it, but the magic just wasn't happening in the store and that's that.


I wouldn't say I'm mad at you for it, but the analog setting on your DD-7 was supposed to model an analog delay, not a tape delay. Two different beasts, my dude. The Disaster Transport and the El Cap do two completely different things. It's like comparing a Wolf Computer to a Musket Fuzz. Apples and oranges, dawg. I hope ya dig your DT, though! :thumb:

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 6:33 pm
by misterstomach
veteransdaypoppy wrote:
misterstomach wrote:i would really need to get to know the pedal better, but for straight delay without modulation, i actually maybe like the analog emulation setting on my dd7 better. weird to say that and i'm sure someone's going to be mad at me for it. i'm sure i'd like it if i brought it home and had time to get to know it, but the magic just wasn't happening in the store and that's that.


I wouldn't say I'm mad at you for it, but the analog setting on your DD-7 was supposed to model an analog delay, not a tape delay. Two different beasts, my dude. The Disaster Transport and the El Cap do two completely different things. It's like comparing a Wolf Computer to a Musket Fuzz. Apples and oranges, dawg. I hope ya dig your DT, though! :thumb:


i know that all three pedals are pretty different. and i know that analog delay and tape delay are pretty different beasts. i was just saying that i've had just this one delay for a while and i wanted to explore some other cool delays. i wasn't really attached to a particular type or emulation. i've never played a tape delay and i've never had a tape emulation pedal, so i thought i'd try it out. i'm not really saying there was anything wrong with the strymon. it's a cool pedal and like i said, i really wanted to like it. i just didn't feel the magic of a pedal you just have to bring home. i think what i meant in my babbling here was that i was discovering that i think i prefer imitation of bbd analog delays to imitation of tape delays. i didn't mean to sound like i was expecting the same things from these pedals, although i can kind of see how it may have seemed that way. i was just figuring out what i liked better, and then writing about it on the internet. and the being mad at me statement, i just said that 'cause a lot of people hate boss pedals and it's weird to like it better than a fancy boutique thing. i myself didn't expect that i would have that opinion. i think the dd7 is good pedal and it's a great gateway pedal for delay, but there's a lot of great places to go from there.

anyway, i am digging the DT. may have to go down and play it some more today once i get done driving around to pawn shops to try and find my gazillion tools that got stolen yesterday. it will bring me to a place of peace, hopefully.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:55 pm
by veteransdaypoppy
misterstomach wrote:i know that all three pedals are pretty different. and i know that analog delay and tape delay are pretty different beasts. i was just saying that i've had just this one delay for a while and i wanted to explore some other cool delays. i wasn't really attached to a particular type or emulation. i've never played a tape delay and i've never had a tape emulation pedal, so i thought i'd try it out. i'm not really saying there was anything wrong with the strymon. it's a cool pedal and like i said, i really wanted to like it. i just didn't feel the magic of a pedal you just have to bring home. i think what i meant in my babbling here was that i was discovering that i think i prefer imitation of bbd analog delays to imitation of tape delays. i didn't mean to sound like i was expecting the same things from these pedals, although i can kind of see how it may have seemed that way. i was just figuring out what i liked better, and then writing about it on the internet. and the being mad at me statement, i just said that 'cause a lot of people hate boss pedals and it's weird to like it better than a fancy boutique thing. i myself didn't expect that i would have that opinion. i think the dd7 is good pedal and it's a great gateway pedal for delay, but there's a lot of great places to go from there.

anyway, i am digging the DT. may have to go down and play it some more today once i get done driving around to pawn shops to try and find my gazillion tools that got stolen yesterday. it will bring me to a place of peace, hopefully.

:)* 'Sall good yo! I'm glad to hear you found the delay pedal you like! I'm sorry to hear about your stolen tools. Considering I just spent a bunch of money on specialty guitar/amp repair gear, I can only imagine how frustrating that must be. Best of luck recovering your goods.. :(

I started with a DD-7, worked my way over to a Malekko 616, a Deluxe Memory Boy, a Carbon Copy, a Strymon El Cap, and then finally ended up with the Timeline. In between I worked at a pedal shop and tried every delay pedal I could find there (including the DT, which rules) and realized they all are completely different animals. The DD-7 was my go-to delay for a very long time, even when I had other boutique options. It's super versatile and easy to dial in what you want, and it actually sounds pretty freaking good.

Anyways, I certainly didn't mean to troll, I just wasn't sure if you were aware that they're intended for different sounds. It still boggles my brain how an analog delay and a tape delay can sound so different.

Re: i tried a disaster transport and an el capistan today

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:51 pm
by sonidero
You will have to pry my El Cap outta my... I can get a fuckton of sounds from the El, it's all in the 2nd parameters... The head 1 and 3 mode is what's on most of the time... If I want something different I go with a Flashback print or some cheap delay like my Come Back...