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Recently got myself an Alexander History Lesson V3. Very nice delay pedal IMO, an update of their Quadrant Audio Mirror which I've used for some time.
This is a commentary about both of them.
The Quadrant felt like a big step up from old school delay pedals. First of all, there are four modes with different flavors - crisp digital, warm analog, sweet magnetic, and a dirty lo-fi mode. Tap tempo was handy to have of course. Each of its four knobs has two functions, giving you eight control parameters. Expression pedal can sweep all eight of them between different settings of your choice. In two of the modes it also offers feedback/flyaway capability (still one of my favorite sounds, ever since I got my first tape Echoplex back in the 70s). All this in a pedalboard friendly single-size footprint.
But for me the biggest plus was having four presets (twelve, if you're using MIDI). Preset memory in these stores all control settings including trails and expression pedal assignments. As mentioned, the expression pedal will alter as many parameters as you like for each preset (but it can't switch to a different delay mode).
I hate redialing between songs - always strove to avoid it, and since the 90s I've been spoiled using presets in my rack rig.
I don't lug the touring rack around without a road crew, though. These days I'm mostly using a single amp with stomp boxes.
A couple of different drives give enough flexibility in terms of tone & texture, but I didn't want multiple delay pedals.
Having a handful of delay sounds on tap in a single box made my pedalboard more flexible and a lot more user friendly.
My biggest issue with modern flexible/complex gear is the learning curve: getting it to do what you want.
I've had my H9 for years and barely scratched the surface of its capabilities.
These Alexander delays weren't too confusing though, even for a throwback like me. User guide is simple, just a couple pages.
History Lesson has a handful of minor tweaks that make it a bit more usable, but it's the same basic setup as the Quadrant. Biggest difference is, the HL offers two more delay modes:
a multi-head delay for more complex Space Echo type patterns, plus a 12-bit DDL mode with a resonant filter and more extreme pitch mod effects.
So the History Lesson now has taken the Quadrant's place on my big board.
The Quadrant is replacing the old Echophonic on my small board
My main preset is still pristine digital with a few repeats; the expression pedal reduces regen a bit and adds slow modulation giving 3-D lushness to sustained parts. Preset 2 is a single echo for behind leads; expression pedal brightens the delay tone and adds more repeats. Third preset is slapback, but if I back off the expression - shortening delay time and adding a bit of subtle modulation - it serves as a doubler. And the fourth is set for the dirty flyaway sound; I use the pedal to sweep the delay/pitch up & down and at the longest end of the sweep, regen is slightly reduced so it fades out naturally.
This is a commentary about both of them.
The Quadrant felt like a big step up from old school delay pedals. First of all, there are four modes with different flavors - crisp digital, warm analog, sweet magnetic, and a dirty lo-fi mode. Tap tempo was handy to have of course. Each of its four knobs has two functions, giving you eight control parameters. Expression pedal can sweep all eight of them between different settings of your choice. In two of the modes it also offers feedback/flyaway capability (still one of my favorite sounds, ever since I got my first tape Echoplex back in the 70s). All this in a pedalboard friendly single-size footprint.
But for me the biggest plus was having four presets (twelve, if you're using MIDI). Preset memory in these stores all control settings including trails and expression pedal assignments. As mentioned, the expression pedal will alter as many parameters as you like for each preset (but it can't switch to a different delay mode).
I hate redialing between songs - always strove to avoid it, and since the 90s I've been spoiled using presets in my rack rig.
I don't lug the touring rack around without a road crew, though. These days I'm mostly using a single amp with stomp boxes.
A couple of different drives give enough flexibility in terms of tone & texture, but I didn't want multiple delay pedals.
Having a handful of delay sounds on tap in a single box made my pedalboard more flexible and a lot more user friendly.
My biggest issue with modern flexible/complex gear is the learning curve: getting it to do what you want.
I've had my H9 for years and barely scratched the surface of its capabilities.
These Alexander delays weren't too confusing though, even for a throwback like me. User guide is simple, just a couple pages.
History Lesson has a handful of minor tweaks that make it a bit more usable, but it's the same basic setup as the Quadrant. Biggest difference is, the HL offers two more delay modes:
a multi-head delay for more complex Space Echo type patterns, plus a 12-bit DDL mode with a resonant filter and more extreme pitch mod effects.
So the History Lesson now has taken the Quadrant's place on my big board.
The Quadrant is replacing the old Echophonic on my small board
My main preset is still pristine digital with a few repeats; the expression pedal reduces regen a bit and adds slow modulation giving 3-D lushness to sustained parts. Preset 2 is a single echo for behind leads; expression pedal brightens the delay tone and adds more repeats. Third preset is slapback, but if I back off the expression - shortening delay time and adding a bit of subtle modulation - it serves as a doubler. And the fourth is set for the dirty flyaway sound; I use the pedal to sweep the delay/pitch up & down and at the longest end of the sweep, regen is slightly reduced so it fades out naturally.
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