Totally. That intro was great. I almost stopped watching the video after the intro. What else was needed? I wad sold on the volante! Rhett great point on focusing on one's preferred sounds. In a time and age of do it all pedals its great to find one which does one thing great and without a clutter of switches and settings.
@@markdavidofficial4274 You can't convince everyone but this is the best demo I've heard out there and this is my dream delay (other than a real tape echo)
A $400 free pedal is still a payment. Not that is matters but perspective can get lost by many who's complete pedal board is about that value. It is nice that RU-vidr's are now required to release information about compensation however, and i am not singling out anyone for any reason. It is just a pedal that i would never consider due to cost, no matter how good it is. I can still dream and watch the high end reviews and know who bought the item and who was gifted it.
Yes budget should factor but... Who the fuck buys a pedal just because it's expensive? The two pedals I bought that were between 300-400 CAD were both because they did a sound I couldn't get with any other pedal... Strymom deco, steel string supreme... Yes you could say they are just expensive pedals but cost wasn't the driving factor of my purchase, I don't mention the cost when I mention what they do at jam sessions... Buy the gear that gets you the sounds you want. If a cheap set up can do it for you, great! But bashing something for the sake of cost is stupid. There's a lot of expensive components, design, and building required to make these pedals, it's not like it's a 30$ unit upcharged...
This is probably the best straight out review of the Volante. Well done, Rhett. I've been using Strymon for years as well but have always found the Timeline to be overkill for what I need. I have the Deco on my board currently but have been on the fence between getting the Volante or something like the T-Rex Replicator Jr.(prices have gotten very reasonable lately). I'm pretty sure that this video has pushed me to buy a Volante now. Damn, RU-vid is expensive.
@@copheart I doubt he has to return it.. Strymon is out how much money for giving this pedal away? $100ish, maybe? And this video already has 65,000+ views.... As far as marketing goes, that's one hell of a deal for Strymon. And Strymon already knew this guy liked the Timeline and BigSky, and given that the Volante is a really nice product, it was an easy call to assume that he'd say mostly good things about it. So Strymon is out maybe $100ish and in return they have a video mostly praising their product, with tens of thousand of views.... Again, one hell of a deal for Strymon. All they have to do is sell a couple of pedals and their investment is made up for, and then anything past that is just icing on the cake and free marketing.
Yes, getting something "for free" is the same as getting paid, and even if you think you are trying to be unbiased, you will want to give it a better review because you want to get more free stuff in the future. The bias may be entirely subconscious, but it is definitely there. It takes a bit of experience knowing how to interpret a review from someone getting free things, but if it is a good review, they will show you all aspects of something leaving it up to you to make up your own mind, and it will point out whatever might be shortcomings according to the reviewer.
I have the Volante and the Catlinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe. Volante iis definitely more versatile. The buttons for the four playback/feedback heads combined with the spacing knob on the Volante can give you endless variations on delay patterns, and the wear, low cut and record level knobs allow you to shape the tone of the repeats in myriad ways. The three different settings all add a different character, my favorite is the drum (echorec) setting, it's the most gritty and lo fi. So Volante is great. But I still can't bring myself to take the Belle Epoch Deluxe off my board, the EP preamp sound in it is just too good, and with it's other delay type settings and an expression pedal you can do some pretty awesome stuff. I know you can use an expression pedal with the Volante too, but the Catlinbread is just vibey-er and a little more unpredictable (like sweeping the resonant filter delay setting, which is always just on the edge of going into runaway self-oscillation). So for now, they're both still on my board, which is kind of a lot of space for two delay pedals, but I like them both too much.
Sounds really great, but it seems a little bit late to the party. How many great drum and tape type echo's are there in the market already? I just don't see this thing making everyone trade the box that they've been using in for one. But then again, guitarists aren't always known as the most rational of people. Just my thoughts. YMMV.
I'm so torn about swapping my Timeline out for the Volante! Like you, I'm on the Tape setting 95% of the time, but the screen does make it handy to see when I change presets on my ES-8, what delay I've switched to.
@@GuitarsAndSynths I ended up getting a Volante, and kept the Timeline too 😅 I love them both for different things, but I think the Volante has an edge in sound over the Timeline.
Such a great and useful take on this pedal. Honestly I found it to be more informative, committed and to the point than most of the other reviews out there. Thanks. -Seal.
Shoot man, All are great but I would either get Volonte or Timeline and save a few bucks. I know the Volonte would get more use from me than all the crazy features of the Timeline. If you got the money might as well get both tho.
@@shawnlaizure Ha ha. I understand that. I'm from the midwest too and have 3 delay pedals on my board at the moment.🤣 I preordered one of these from sweetwater when they get their next shipement. Lol
it is all mostly the same with different features yes but its all delay hahaha just another place in life that's smells of brand wars, its just delay done by different companies, americans are particularly obsessed with brands and having new shit to take ur mind off boredom, get to work ya fuckers stop shopping n thinking about shopping and make music))
TheLeon1032 it’s more feature set no? I think the reason someone would buy the Volante so they could have the features of a drum echo and tape delay. Can you make them sound similarly? Sure but you can’t replicate their rhythmic differences and idiosyncratic feature set. That’s why I believe someone would get one or ought to above all
It's just repeats and EQ, mate. Analog dry-through can make a small difference. Any good delay with an effects loop will get you most tones, EQ in the loop, mod pedals, another delay, etc (EHX Deluxe Memory Boy/Man are good). Want multi-head? You can stack a couple delays (or use the FX loop as I mentioned) and, if they have tap-in, use a global tap. I got one from Loopi FX for $30 - it has polarity reversal on one output, so it's perfect for my MXR EP-103.
Nope, Overpriced. I got a Source Audio Nemesis for under $300AUD shipped with Neuro Hub for $95 (I use the SA Nemesis, Gemini Chorus and Vertigo Tremolo, all controlled via MIDI, Disaster Area DMC-3XL Gen3), an MXR Echoplex Ep-103 (amazing, best tape delay pedal around imo) for $150AUD shipped, and a Maxon AD-9 Pro Analog BBD delay for $180. All the delays I could ever want, and if I need Binson Echorec delays, well - I use a Keeley Darkside (mostly for mods and Fuzz, I don't use the delays often but they are there if I need them). If I want a clean, perfect digital delay I use my old T-Rex Replica. Got one cheap a few years ago. Best simple delay ever made, period. This new Strymon pedal is almost $800 bucks here in Australia. I sold my El Cap and got the MXR with some change in my pocket. I'm not a fan of Strymon. All their delays have this "sheen" or "gloss" sound over everything. Makes me sound like I'm in a P&W band, and I am a firm believer in separation of Church and Rock. Timeline is the one exception. That's a great pedal. Mobius sounds tinny and digital, and the Reverbs? All I can say is: GFI Specular Reverb V3.
Thinking of selling my memory man and going down the volante road... I've got the big sky by strymon and I've got to say the sound and build quality is top of the class.
I know this is an old video, but I have a question. I have a Boss RE-20 on my board and it's definitely my favorite one on it. I was wondering if the Volante would be a worthy upgrade from the RE-20...
as a drummie, doing jamaican stuff, i need a delay that can double in a flick or half, or triplet. volante and do it as well as DIG. dig doesn't sound as good. i'd have to run it thru a tube screamer or the walrus 385...
I watched a video with Rick Beato.. he asked you (who I've never seen before) your favorite delay. You said this one. So I searched it. Clicked the first video - And hey look - it's you again!
For tape echo sound, I really like my Keely Magnetic Echo. It does one thing really well. Only down side is I have to manually dial in dotted eighth note delay.
Just picked one up today. I’ve got the DD-500 and the tape sounds on there are good especially after the update. But tonight I’ve found myself getting some really really really cool (but still musical) tones by playing with the spacing knob. Combine that with spot on tone, and I call that $400 well spent. I might find myself missing my analog sounds though. We’ll see. I’ve been able to tweak the wear knob to trim the highs and get in the ball park
Late to this video but have to say I’m interested in the Volante because, like you, I live mainly on tape type delays. And I love your to-the-point, straight ahead reviews 👍
Well I can't afford it, but I bought it anyway. I use a Specular Tempus also, but this just fills that "niche". It's a beautiful sounding pedal and more versatile than you might think. Thanks Rhett!
I agree with the Bella Epoch Deluxe but this also does the binson thing... and it has built-in Reverb but the Belle epoch how's that preamp she kind of stuck mine both then you're going to need to get a bigger pedalboard just whatever you do don't watch that pedal show I person could go broke
@@hoover728 lunch sounds good but honestly I have no interest in tap Tempo I've got three or four other to lay is it do that I think it sounds great the Belle Epoch and the snooze driving pedal boat sound amazing and they're different from one another anyhow you can never have too many delay pedals but that's good info thanks for sharing
I have this pedal and it sounds great, however its usabilty without the addition of a separate midi device is not good, there is no way to select presets when using it live
So, receiving the pedal for free is not getting paid? Not sure if I would have gone there. But good and fair review and I like what you do here on RU-vid.
9:45 I'm in the exact same boat. I just got a timeline and bigsky a week or so ago, and granted I haven't made a conscious effort to dive deep into every preset and start crazily tweaking. I find myself just sticking to the dtape setting on the timeline because tape delay is my absolute favourite. I won't sell the timeline as some of the settings are really damn cool, but granted having more control and more focus on the tape settings would be good, so I'm definitely gonna pick a volante up. Sigh, I just bought a pedaltrain novo 24 and it looks like I'm going out shopping for a bigger board already. Awesome sounds at the start dude, if I had a kemper I'd be considering picking that pack up.
This demo sold me on the Volante. I have a TimeLine but much like Rhett all I used regularly is the tape setting. I have only had the Volante for a day and it’s already inspiring me to find new sounds and play more. Keeping the TimeLine for now too but the Volante is gonna be my default for the foreseeable future.
Just got a volante today. Love the simplicity. Doing like you said. Putting the timeline away for awhile on my board ( not getting rid of it though!) and running the volante as my main delay. Love the tape sound! Thanks Rhett, love the effort you put into your reviews
Rhett, please please please put out your original music!! I seriously sense you can do Pink Floyd level music (Dark Side Of The Moon era), but please find a good vocalist who will be on par with you. 🙏
Strymon does make killer shit, Ive got a Big Sky and love it... that being said, the new Audio Source Collider can play a tape echo and Binson oil can delay at the same time... and the AS spring reverb sound quality is unsurpassed... all in a smaller pkg with the option of using a phone app or puter to fine edit if one so wishes... these are cool times we live in..
You are such a good player man. Shames me cause I have been playing since about '68. Love your sweepy open chord stylings, hoping to pick up some chops from watching your videos. Some people are just more creative I guess. Love your stuff. And thanks for the Volante recommendation, I just bought one, looking forward to using it. Already have 4 different Strymons and love them all. And its all cause of you and your videos. Just love that huge, open sound!
i didn’t but much stock in them as being a HYPE type effect for most Strymon...because of the underutilization factor. BUT the Volante does seem like all the best features of a few great delays rolled into on unit. still probably more expensive than i would like but stills THIS pedal seems worth the hype
I think the volante is cool, but not worth getting rid of a Timeline for. I’m lucky enough to say that the Timeline was only the second delay I ever owned after a TC Nova Repeater, and I got it around 7 years ago. I’m right there with you as far as the tape setting goes, I basically live there and only veer from it if I absolutely have to. But, I don’t think it’s worth throwing away 7 year’s worth of presets to have to make all new ones. I also have it paired with an El Cap, and I haven’t really heard anything I can’t get between the Timeline and the El Cap. That being said, I think the Volante is such a cool and amazing sounding pedal. And it does a great job at being that mid-range strymon for when you need more than an El Cap but less than a Timeline. I love the way it sounds, but I love the Timeline and El Cap duo too much to justify getting rid of one.
Edwin Alvarez it’s really impressive. I’m going off to college this summer, and I as originally gonna bring my ac15 head+ox box, but honestly I think it takes too much room. Think I’m gonna have to start saving for a kemper.
Any chance when doing reviews you could include using it with keyboards and drums. Or including someone who can highlight using the pedal with other instruments,
My sensible side is telling me to go for the timeline in terms versatility and features but I really like the volante.... definitely cant afford both that's one thing I'm sure about these things are pricey!
Does this still have the Strymon dry signal eq change problem that is apparent in previous models? If you are not familiar with this try an Elcap in the front end of a quality tube combo alone and listen to the dry signal change EQ as soon as the effect is engaged . I know they are supposed to be dry through but it is pretty noticeable . The Eq changes in a similar way as engaging a loudness button on an old HiFi amp, but it adds a digital sounding sheen.
Did you ever try AnalogMan ARDX 20 dual delay with Amazeo controler? I compared it with Strymons and AnalogMan sounded bigger and better. I bought 2 of them and I'm happy. Greetings from the Czech Republic.
Phenomenal Sounding Pedal ( however ) Mike "Analogman" has to make that a Self-Contained Unit. It takes up way too much space with the Amazeo. Id buy one in a minute.
I'd think Echos by Pink Floyd would have been a bit more iconic, but sure! I don't know, it seems a bit overpriced, 400 bucks, for basically a delay pedal with a bunch of stuff, most people won't actually use. There are better Echorec pedals out there, boonar by Dawner prince comes to mind, and when it comes to tape, why not spend the extra 30 or so bucks for the T rex replicator jr? I know both of these pedals are around the same price, if that was all you were looking for! This should be cheaper, in my opinion!
and I got my hands on a used one and I am going to be the first the say I was wrong, this thing is amazing, and sure TRex replicator is nice but this is way more road worthy!
Hey Rhett! I'm currently deciding between the Timeline and the Volante. I use the tape delay also about 80% of the time combined with analog and digital delays. So having more options would be cool. But I'm wondering is there a massive difference in sound between the tape delay in the timeline vs the Volante? Cheers!
Hey Neon! I've ordered the Volante because I already have digital & analog delay in the Boss MS 3, ofcourse it's another quality than Strymons but it will do because I only use those types seldomly. I must say the Volante really is amazing at what it does, so if you want a really good tape delay, reverb & a fun looper go for the Volante 😁 The Midi capability is also really good after you got to set it up correctly
Just subscribed. Normally watching guys doing gear reviews and their Egos makes me want to take hostages.That guy from the Nether region I want to pummel. This guy seems he knows his shiznat and dosent have time for egotistical BS. Yeah I bought the Volante today but keep trippin cause for $50 more I could have bought the timeline but I only like tape echo. David Glimour, Zep, Alternative nonsense from the 90’s but I also like to spend my money wisely. Like when I buy a bag of crack you need to ……………….…… Just Kidding ladies 😈
really cool review 🤘i personnaly have a TCE Alter Ego x4 N ilove it coz i have access to a ton of vintage analog delays on one single board which is really good 🏅it needs some learning curve in order to find the right settings 4 your own taste but yeah it's freakin cheap for what you get n th TC quality of their algorithms has been showing up thru the years ....i use to place an MXR 10 bands EQ just before the delay in my tube head's FX loop in order to adjust the tone N the loop level + an Orange Optical Komp after that to add some really cool flavor N sustain 2 the Delay's lines .....it become much more addictive 👹i have the SA Nemesis too 4 the more experimental things ..... i found the Strymon to be too bright in terms of Tape Delays
100% agree. I had a Timeline and got rid of it. Replaced it with the Volante. There's nothing about the Timeline that I miss. I Volante absolutely beats out the Timeline because of the multiple delay heads and the ability to change the timing between them. For ambient playing which I do alot of, this allows the Volante to replace a cascade of 2-3 delay pedals. I'm using a Kemper as well. In performance mode, the Kemper can call up Volante presets. Perfect!
I just want a simple delay for playing 80s Hard Rock solos for example I like the delay on the Boss katana when I set the level all the way up and the time almost all the way down. When I play a solo and power cords there’s a lot of sustain! What do you recommend? I want a nice pedal that holds its value.
Jesus that intro is fucking insane. I honestly don’t think any gear reviewer has the production talent you do. I’d miss the reviews but I’d love to see you quit this and blow up as an artist (no offense of course) 🙏🏻😂
I LOVE mine! I took it out of the box, plugged it in without changing a thing, and got lost for almost half an hour. The simplicity of it inspires me more than my Timeline.
I sold a Catalinbread Echorec and Catalinbread BE-Deluxe to get the Strymon Volante, and it was a tough choice given how much I love Catalinbread's amazing pedal designs. Volante doesn't disappoint, and the ability to get tape and magnetic echo effects from the same pedal was a huge draw for me. Strymon seems to really nail the modeling of all these classic delay machines, and give you reasonably intuitive control over them. I'm a huge fan.
There’s something magical about the multi head delay sound. This pedal seems like a great pedal and right up my alley? I almost picked up the Catalinbread Echorec as my main delay. However, I went with an Echoplex pedal with tap tempo. With the tap, I can switch between slap and longer delay times, on the fly. I’m not a huge delay user and I generally have it mixed into the background. More felt than heard. This pedal would be overkill at my level and style of playing/recording. If my current setup wasn’t working or if I were a serious working musician, I would definitely be interested. $400 makes this a really expensive toy, and I have a Jones for a better amp that has be be scratched before a new delay comes onto my radar. Really cool sounding pedal, though.
@1:58 "Strymon is not sponsoring this video other than providing me with a free $400 pedal...". How can you not be biased after that ? Nobody will have an El Capistan together with a Volante on their pedal board. This is a way for Strymon to sell you basically the same thing over and over, with small improvements but still annoying downsides. At these prices, there should be ONE Strymon pedal that does ALL of those things.
I’ve been wanting this pedal so bad! To me the Timeline is nice but I don’t want to have a pedal that requires a midi to unlock its functionality. That said I like to turn knobs and this pedal looks like it was made to easily access this tones on the fly! It is definitely on my bucket list of pedals.... but $400 is so pricey!
@@agustinseva6682 I've heard that the presets are just difficult to come up unless you have a midi, which is more money. I just like the idea that this one seems more like a straight up delay with minimal advanced options... because I'm not advanced lol.
2:00 Rhett, I am one of your frist subscribers (I think I was here when you were at about 2000 subs) and very very often you happen to remind me why I subscribed. Being very honest and transparent about the origin of the material you review should be the norm, but in reality A LOT of youtubers are very fishy and sneaky about it, even trying to mask paid reviews as a 100% indipendent opinion. Thanks a lot for your videos and your honesty!
agreed. more and more youtubers don't say a word about that even when they are fully paid to make a review. I don't even think that is legal. I've already seen a bunch of youtuber review this very Volante and not mentioning at all its origin. let's support transparent and honest guys like rhett
I like the Volante. I just like Strymon... Their stuff is amazing and it all sounds great! Practicality be damned. I don't need a drum delay but it's cool to have it. Not about the "needing" all about the "wanting"!
I ordered the Volante and Timeline, letting the dealer know I’d be returning one of the two. Spent a good amount of time on both.Timeline is serious but I’m a BIG fan of El Cap and have always wished it had more presets along with MIDI capabilities. So it’s no surprise that I kept the Volante. I just wanted to be sure, though. I’m with you, Rhett: Cool as the effects are on the Timeline; I just knew I wouldn’t be using most of them. Love the Volante. Cool video. Thanks!
I disagree that the Volante is a one trick pony....apart from the three distinct delay modes there's the sound on sound function which is perfect for Frippertronics style music....great playing though...!
Not to disagree...But I just watched an interview with Jimmy Page (Jack White/Edge) special where he talked about the foyer they used for that sound.... Would Jimmy lie? LOL. Love your videos Rhett!
So I’ve seen that video too, and I understand why it could come off as confusing, but Rhett is right here. Jimmy was explaining they put the overheads up the stairs for the whole record. That’s the reverb sound from the record, not the delay from that song. The delay is a benson
It sounds good but there is allot of good sounding stuff for less, that wont be true anymore if people start buying into the one trick pony in the pedal market, just saying.
Great review. I liked the instrumental at the beginning, but the part I most valued was hearing you discuss the pedal at a down to earth level I could understand. Thank you Rhett.
Seems Gilmour and Edge are still the 'yard stick' by which these things are measured. I noticed the intro was had a feel much like the songs on Division Bell and Momentary Lapse in Reason (post Waters Pink Floyd). I noticed some really cool, unintentional sounds when you shifted between speeds. There was this... how do I describe it?... a low end (or high end) bump that had a distinct sound that was kind of cool. As far as midi control, one could also use any of the Helix line like the LT, HXFX, Stomp, or of course the full blown Helix among other such systems. Cool pedal, thanks for the demo!
I just grabbed one. I have the TimeLine and Brigadier as well as Mobius and BigSky. Thats about all I need from Strymon!! Check out my impressions. Nice review, I thought you were gonna say NO you dont need it....LOL What about the Catalinbread Belle and Boonar? Nice vid by The Pedal Show on all three and the old units for comparison.
The great thing about Strymon is zero depreciation. Not only can I get at least what I paid, but it will sell within 48 hours. If I needed a cheap, swiss army knife of a delay pedal, I would probably get a Flashback. Dirt cheap and sound pretty good. As of writing this, the Volante is listed $50 MORE than I paid for it on Reverb. Just saying...you should look at a total long term investment versus getting a $150 delay that is worth $50 the minute you walk out of the store with it.
Had mine for a couple years. I would agree that without MIDI, your gonna be bent over the Volante tweaking knobs. Same thing with Nightsky, but with MIDI control over presets I can program some rather normal reverbs and delays in them and with a footswitch, morph them into preordained cosmic debris and safely back again. I run them in stereo, in parallel, to a mixer back to stereo before hitting the Peavey Classic 50/50, pretty sure my rackmount tube amp was made for keyboards. It sounds breathtakingly good on flute and guitar. Headroom. Yea, I run flute through my guitar rig, mostly just the ambience stuff. I use FET based amp style pedals on guitar to get a nice amp sound from this rig, the Catalinbread circuits are awesome for my clean flat huge tube amp tone, they work perfect for me. Totally different ambient programs for flute and guitar stuff, it's essential to simply hit a footswitch and make it so. Go MIDI. Morningstar Engineering stuff is really nice to work with.
Its worth it when ya get em for free. Other than that, I think they're way overpriced... decent pedals, BUT how many reverbs can one company make? Check out some Beetronics pedals... the royal jelly is probably the best distortion I've ever had.. I really think pedal companies are running out of ideas tbh.. there are a ton of Blue Sky pedals for sale where I live... Want a great delay... Get dirty murals... sweet sweet pedal...
