The Electro-Harmonix Canyon Delay Pedal is a trip, with tons of musical options at your fingertips.
It’s hard to get excited for another single button, mono delay pedal. There are a TON of delay pedals that are slightly larger, yet do so much more than just delay. Electro-Harmonix has provided a new delay pedal to covet, and has a lot more under the hood in their latest Canyon stompbox.
The standard delay controls are there, like effect level, delay and feedback. Like a lot of single button delay pedals, the switch also acts as the tap tempo control, but the division of the delayed notes, quarters, eighths, and dotted eights, can be set as well by the tap divide button, and the LED changes colors depending on this setting. The delay time starts at 5ms, and goes up to 3 seconds, which should give more than enough echo for anyone’s needs. There is a jack for an external tap tempo, as well, should you require it.
Now there are 11 modes to choose from:
ECHO: This is probably the purest mode, just a nice simple delay.
MOD: A delay with soft modulation added to the repeats.
MULTI: Multi Tap delay with the delay signal at the same volume level.
REVRS: A reverse delay, where the echoes fade in backwards.
DMM: Deluxe Memory Man Delay mode. This is the delay EHX has been known for, an analog feeling delay, with a lush modulation added in on the repeats that morph on the way out.
TAPE: The delays degrade and warble, like a tape would over the rollers on an Echoplex.
VERB: Reverb added on the delay.
OCT: Each echo gets shipped up an octave, cascading upwards. EHX added in some of their POG technology here, where SUB octaves can be added in.
SHIM: This Shimmer effect adds in a wash of harmonies, adding a string-like effect that feels like a synth and atmospheric addition to the echoes.
S/H: This is the sample and hold effect. It senses a note, holds and repeats them until the next note is played.
LOOP: A loop mode – with 62 seconds of audio that can be looped, multi-layering can be accomplished simply. The loop can also be retained, even when the pedal is turned off.
Internally, a tails switch is available to engage a function where the delay is turned off – the tails keep going for ambience, or shut off when the switch is turned off. Now where a secondary effect is on top of the delay, holding down the tap/divide button, like a shift key, turns the feedback and delay knobs into the controls for this secondary effect.
EHX has certainly added in some great secondary effects like the octave and shim modes, and the ability to tailor these modes makes it way more than a one trick pony. Scrolling through each mode, there’s plenty of musical applications, regardless of the player’s style. It’s certainly inspiring, being able to use an effect that sounds like an extension of the music, and not just something tacked that has to be adapted to, or worked around.
The only real downside to this has nothing to do with functionality or sound quality, but would be a welcome change: the graphics. The font for the varying modes is a bit tiny, and hard to see even under normal light. While the image on the pedal is certainly pretty, a graphic that showed how to access the “hidden” knob function, and which knob did what would be a lot more useful.
The street price is $139, and for a player looking for a simple delay, this will certainly fit the bill. For those who want to explore more options that would probably mean getting a much more expensive, larger, and more complicated delay pedal, this is definitely the way to go. It allows you to explore these new territories without having to re-think things or get bogged down in menus or unmusical options.
PROS:
Great delay with plenty of musical options in a small package.
CONS:
Control graphics slightly small, and hard to read.
PRICE:
