Vapor Trail Review

[Revelation Sound]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I am sitting between the Vapor Trails and the TC Electronics flashback triple. It has 3 presets and tap control. It cost more however. It might be good to have one VT for short delay and a second one for longer ones on a pedal board. Wish I could really hear the difference between the VT and Flashback. The sound is the most important thing, the bells though nice are secondary

 

[Revelation Sound]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I am sitting between the Vapor Trails and the TC Electronics flashback triple. It has 3 presets and tap control. It cost more however. It might be good to have one VT for short delay and a second one for longer ones on a pedal board. Wish I could really hear the difference between the VT and Flashback. The sound is the most important thing, the bells though nice are secondary

Update: After lots of reading and youtube videos I much prefer the sound of the Vapor Trails pedal. I like more of the Jeff Beck type of delay and he always uses analog delays.

Question on the side jack, can you have a stereo output where the delay will go though two amps? It seems from the manual one amp would be dry and the second would have delay. Is this true or if you get a y cable you get stereo delay?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

From what I get, there is no stereo option here. Just delay out one jack, and dry out of the other. Not really a limitation to me, as I don't drag 2 amps to a gig, and stereo isn't something I need in an analog delay.

Funny story, a good friend of mine holds the patent on the BBD design. His patent drawings are in the RnR Hall of Fame.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

For the price, the features included in the vapour trail make it a worth while purchase. I can't think of any true analog delay that have a stereo function at this price. It's handy to have an analog delay around anyways, they work great for slapback & short delay times, I still kept my ehx memory boy after getting my flashback delay.

 

[Revelation Sound]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I tried the Wampler Delay pedal today; it's a very nice delay unit but the shade control (which adjusts the brightness) cannot match the tone of the Vapor Trails pedal. Tape wobble effect I would only use for fun at times.

A sales person at Sweetwater told me the Strymon Timeline is the best pedal that provides superior sound for analog and digital. After testing this unit out, I found myself preferring the Vapor Trails over the bucket setting on the Strymon. Emulations are emulations, and there is a tonality difference that I just prefer with the Vapor Trails. I also found many of the additional bells and whistles on the Timeline I would not normally use. I don't want to spend money on such a expensive delay pedal when I will only use about 35% of it Don't get me wrong I think the Timeline is a amazing delay pedal with many options. However I have concluded the Vapor Trails will be my next delay pedal.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I use a Vapor Trail for an 'always on' delay. I use a digital delay for the really long stuff, like loops.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

Just having a port labeled "wet insert" is interesting enough... haha.. Im questing for the right delay, this one sure has my interest.. currently running a CC and a Digitech hardwire.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I like having the mod controls on the outside of the pedal. I also dig putting the echoes through really interesting pedals, or on a different track when recording.

 

[Revelation Sound]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

I received my Vapor Trails pedal today. I tried to be objective on how it sounded and how it compared to two digital emulated analog delay pedals. I won't name them since many love them and will try to defend them. My attitude was if I truthfully liked the digital emulated analog pedals better, the VT was going to be sent back to the store. This would mean I then saved $150 by returning it.

My guitar style is similar to Eric Clapton, Larry Carlton, and Jeff Beck. So I'm not as much into effect sounding delays except for fun.

I first spent some time with it and I found myself really liking the sound I got. I then took the time to get the emulated analog pedals to sound as close as possible to the VT sound with the tone control. Then I got the delay and mix levels as close as possible. The blinking light on the VP helped to do this.

I will admit all delay pedals sounded good. The VT however provides a more pleasing delay sound to me. It is like comparing the sound of a tube amp to a good solid state amp. Or a tube compressor to a solid state compressor. It just has a less clear and edgy sound. It has a more organic sound. I would say there is about a 15 percent difference, maybe 10-12 percent.

I also noticed if you use the delay pedals in front of the amp without using a send/return if you amp has it in the back, the conflicting click sound with the emulated analog delay pedal was more noticeable over the Vapor Trails. So there is another plus with the VT. Don't know why there is less but it is clearly more noticeable and annoying with the digital version.

For my style I just prefer the sound I get with the Vapor Trails over the digital delay pedals. It just blends better with the original note and stays more out of the way even with the mix knob up. Adding the modulation is just another plus. It's not the same as a chorus pedal of course but the modulation is a welcomed feature. I liked it when I added some distortion on the guitar which made me smile. There is still a need for digital delays though as they offer longer delays, tap, and stereo delay including ping pong. I really love this pedal and I highly recommend it. The Catalina Chorus will be my next.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Vapor Trail Review

Great review! Thanks for writing it!