Its sight is unmistakable—mostly because it's a humongous piece of green metal that's heavy enough to anchor a small ship. Despite its size, Line 6's renowned DL4 is one of the most widely used delay pedals in the world, taking up residence on the pedalboards of countless guitar players since it was released back in 2000.
It also has the distinction of being one of the most modded stompboxes of all time. If you've ever owned a DL4, there's a good chance that at some point you wished you could make a tweak or two to enhance the functionality of the pedal. Well, here's a list of the top seven mods for the DL4.
Expression Knob Mod
This mod is a great alternative to bulky, space-eating expression pedals. Most builders incorporate a knob on the right side of the DL4 that simulates a smooth heel-to-toe sweep to conveniently adjust parameters of a certain effect.
The knob can be a little tricky to master with one's foot at first, but pedalboard space is at a premium for most players, and this mod definitely helps save you precious real estate.
Footswitch Mod
Let's not kid ourselves: The footswitches on the DL4 are pretty weak sauce. Springs under the actuators, really? Yeah, screw that. If you've ever gigged extensively with the DL4, then you've probably had to fix at least one broken footswitch in your time.
Instead of getting a replacement switch from Line 6, you're better off swapping out all of the switches for self-contained momentary switches to ensure accurate and (more importantly) quiet footswitching.
Feedback Mod
Your basic feedback mod is the equivalent to taking your repeats knob and ramping it up to 10. For all the soundscapeists and noise generators who are tired of bending over to make adjustments and want to eliminate the strain on their lower backs, a lot of builders supply a momentary feedback switch you can hold down that works in conjunction with the repeats knob.
If infinite repeats isn't enough for you, the guys over at Cubist Effects take the feedback mod a step further by including a blend knob to dial in the volume and an intensity knob to control the level of the feedback.
As the website notes: "This modification involves re-routing the output of the Modeler back into the input, and the new output selected by a switch on the top of the chassis. This is a feedback loop, and causes spontaneous bursts of noise, squeals, oscillations, drones – all depending on the setting selected."
Uh, squeals and oscillations? Yes, please.
Double Preset Mod
Three programmable channels really isn't enough space to satisfy the creative muse of most delay pedal enthusiasts, so the double preset mod is a simple solution to doubling your saving power. A single footswitch can be added to the top of the DL4 to allow you to switch between two banks, thus giving you six presets to store your sounds.LED Mod
Because red lights are so boring. Yes, it's simply an aesthetic mod, and one that the casual observer may not even notice. But lights and pedal boards have gone hand in hand since the dawn of time—so why not trick out your DL4 with a little luminous variety?
External Tap Tempo Jack Mod
Nothing too fancy here, but having the ability to use an external tap tempo device is great because 1) it allows you to place your DL4 at the top of your board and your tap controller in a more accessible spot and 2) you can sync your DL4 with any other pedal with a tap/control jack.
Dotted 8th Mod
Thank God, right? Why Line 6 made this pedal without incorporating a dotted-eighth setting is a conundrum that will confound guitarists till the end of time. Sure, you can find a handful of YouTube videos that go through the inexact science of how you can tap in a dotted-eighth delay, but this practice can be tedious and is rendered moot if you are in a live setting and required to play the intro to a song.
Well, fret no more. Schoolcraft Specialties came up with an ingenious mod in the form of a Smart Switch kit, which basically functions as a dotted-eighth converter. Simply tap in quarter notes on the regular tap-tempo switch, then repeat that process on the new Smart Switch and boom—you'll sound like The Edge before you know it.
The best part: The kit will only run you $40. It will require some soldering skills and a little DIY intuition, but it's definitely worth it for arguably the best DL4 mod out there.