Lukather Modern Delays

guitarnerdswe

Fractal Fanatic
Edit 2023-08-23: Updated to v3.
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On the theme of "stuff I haven't shared", here is Steve Lukather's current delay setup.

THE GEAR
He is running a Gurus Echosex 2 for a dark ambient thing, which is always on. It's an analog delay, meant to replicate the old Binson Echorec. I started with @simeon 's amazing Binson Echorec emulation for this, and matched the EQ against an Echosex pedal. It's set to about 450 ms.

For wet rhythm stuff, he kicks in his short Hardwire DL-8 digital delay. It's not really short though, it's actually 713 ms. His "long" delay though (another DL-8), he kicks in for most leads (and sometimes for really wet rhythms). It's incredible long (around 1200 ms), and louder than both the other delays. It will be somewhat distracting if you play very dynamic things, but that's how Luke rolls nowadays.

The TC Flashback is only used for the middle and end part of "Home of the Brave", stacked on top of the other 3 delays. He uses the Flashback for a simple slap when touring with Ringo.

STEREO?
His delay setup is actually not really stereo. The Echosex is mono in/out, and even though the DL-8s are stereo in/out, the effect itself isn't stereo. It just preserves whatever stereo image you feed into it. In Luke's case, the only stereo effect he has on his board is the Strymon Big Sky coming before the DL-8s. So the reverb is stereo throughout the rest of the signal chain, but all of his delays are dead center in the stereo image.

BONUS!
As a bonus, I've included stereoized versions of the scenes, which give a nice spread. Channel B of all delay blocks are the stereo versions. I've also included the TC SCF chorus he uses now, setup like he uses it.

WHERE DID I GET THE DELAY TIMES FROM?
By hunting down every live clip and sound check clip I could find, until I found the ones where you could clearly make out the times, the amount of feedback etc.

Forgive my sloppy playing.

 

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  • Lukather Modern Delays v3.syx
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Thank you! I've learned a lot about delays over the last week and I appreciate everything you've shared. I was never a delay guy because I couldn't get the sound I was looking for for and now I've got one on all the time.
 
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