Strymon Deco

136 Guitarist January 2015
QUICK TEST
MISCELLANEOUS
It’s no secret that Strymon
pedals have become a fixture of
pro and well-heeled amateur
pedalboards the world over,
with units such as the BigSky,
Mobius, TimeLine and Flint
delivering the kind of
functionality and sonic
performance required by
demanding effects nuts. Housed
in a smart, brushed metal
enclosure manufactured from
nickel-plated aluminium, the
Deco harks back to the age
when the physical effects
achievable through clever
manipulation of reel-to-reel
tape machines were king.
Best situated at the end of
your effects chain when used
within a traditional electric
setup, the Deco offers a range of
digital approximations of the
kind of effects achieved in the
recording studios of the 50s and
60s by manipulating vintage
tape recorders. Your key control
on the left-hand side of the
pedal is Saturation, which
when engaged, apes the warm
overdrive and dynamic
compression that occurs when
GUITARIST RATING
Guitarist says: The sounds that
were previously limited to high-
maintenance machines and DAW
plug-ins are now available on
your pedalboard
Tape saturation and double-tracking effects housed in a
convenient stompbox format? Yes please!
CONTACT: MusicPsych PHONE: [phone] WEB: www.strymon.net
Strymon Deco £279
tape machine inputs are run hot
and overloading; crank it up and
think Keef’s raunchy ‘acoustic’
guitar on Jumpin’ Jack Flash
and Street Fighting Man.
Over on the right, we’re into
the world of simulated ADT –
automatic double tracking – the
precursor to all of the time-
based effects we take for
granted. The rotation of the lag
time control encompasses
flange – so named because the
engineer had to physically slow
down one of a pair of tape
recorders playing back identical
signals by lightly pressing on the
flange (rim) of the playout reel
to achieve the swooshing filter
effect – chorus, slapback echo
and tape-style echo with a short
maximum delay time of 500mS.
Volume and blend offer
control over output volume and
dry/wet blend respectively,
while wobble dials in random
modulations akin to manually
varying tape speed. The
three-way type toggle switches
the virtual tape decks from
in-phase (sum) to phase-
inverted (invert), to stereo ping-
pong or mono double repeats
(bounce), depending on how
the unit is hooked up. There’s
plenty of stealth functionality;
holding down the doubletracker
bypass footswitch introduces
through-zero flange on the fly,
while high trim, low trim, auto-
flange time, wide stereo mode
and +/- 3dB boost/cut are all
accessible in ‘hidden’ mode.
You can also plug in an
expression pedal, add an
external tap switch or plug in
a ‘favorite’ switch to save and
recall a favoured preset.
Sounds
Whether as part of an everyday
mono guitar rig or hooked up in
stereo (there’s an internal
jumper that facilitates the use of
a TRS stereo input cable) as an
outboard studio effect, using the
Deco is almost like stepping
back in time – witness the pretty
damn authentic Sun Studio-
style slapback echo – yet many
of the sounds are also curiously
contemporary. In a climate
where mainstream guitar
playing has become less strident
and more textural, and bands
such as Tame Impala have
popularised guitar tones that
sound like an overdriven mixing
desk rather than a wall of
Marshalls, the colouration and
tone-shaping options here
make the mundane a whole lot
more interesting and the
already interesting take flight.
Of course, the Deco’s scope isn’t
limited to guitar; watch our
video demo to hear the mind-
bending results when you apply
it to every instrument in a mix.
Verdict
Whether you want to add a
retro flavour to your live sound
or channel the spirit of Abbey
Road in 1967 in the studio,
paradoxically, the Deco’s
emulations of vintage effects
sound fresh and inspiring.
[CV]
Strymon Deco
£279
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VIDEO DEMO
GIT389.rev_quick.indd 136 26/11/2014 17:23