I took with me my Hiwatt and 4x12 and drove down to Deluxe Guitars in South Melbourne. They guys there are great and after helping me load my gear into the goods lift, they set me up in a (kind of) sound proof room and gave me all the pedals I wanted to check out.
For distortion I tried a:
Jam Pedals Rattler (http://www.jampedals.com/rattler/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
JHS All American (http://www.jhspedals.com/products/guita ... -american/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
I also wanted to try out the Suhr Riot however they had sold out.
I did try a Suhr Shiba Drive and it was excellent. I am considering adding it to the list of future pedals
Well, after trying the Rattler and All American I found the decision was easy. The Rattler destroyed the AA. Where the AA sounded thin and transistor like when it got cranked, the Rattler just entered cello like fuzz territory. It is a really fantastic distortion.
So, round 1 out of the way, we move on to delays.
Now, I went in with full intentions on buying a Jam Pedals Delay Llama and didn't think I would even bother looking at any other delays...
Wrong.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Delay Llama is an awesome sounding pedal. I just found that the repeats were a little too warm and dark when moving on to low notes and got a little bit muddy. Not too much but definitely not as clean as I had hoped. As I use delay for timed atmospherics, I was worried that a dominant bass heavy repeat could wipe out the sound I was after.
So I went out to the guys at the desk and asked what they recommended...
Here is a list of what I tried over a 2 hour period.
CMATMODS Deeelay (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/cmatmods-deeelay.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
This would be the queickest I have disliked a pedal. The repeats were overly dark, very muddy and it coloured the whole tone of the guitar, pre and post echo. A definite fail in my books.
Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Jnr (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/earthqu ... portjr.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
A nice concept for a pedal with a good amount of variety however it is a noisy delay when activated. It also had a tedency to get a bit buzzy and sterile on harder pick attack.
Jack Deville Dark Echo (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/jackdev ... rkecho.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Little bit noisy when turned on but it's biggest failure is that even after playing it, I couldn't tell you what it was like. Overall, a boring and unremarkable delay.
Keeley Modded Ibanez AD9 (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/keeleymodded-ad9.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Sounded fantastic however limited to 300ms.
Malekko Heavy Industry Ekko 616 (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/malekko-ekko616.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Slightly noisy and dark delay. There was a slight high pitched whine with my power supply that no other pedal had either. I found that by htting the T/B button the darkness went away however the high pitched whine was heavily amplified. Nice sounding delay but wasn't going to work with my set up.
MG That's Echo Folks Classic (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/mg-thatsechofolks.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Now this was a damn nice delay pedal with excellent graphics. In the end though let me just say that this pedal is HUGE. It is more or less two Strymon El Capistans in length. It also, despite sounding great, was an optionless delay in terms of modular repeats, thus I don't think I could justify the cost.
Rockett Pedals Alien Echo (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/rockett-alien.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
This pedal is built like a brick... quite literally A BRICK. It is about the size of an iPhone however stands about an inch or more tall. Built to outlive cockroaches and radioactive scorpions I'd say. Switching this pedal on gave me beautifully warm repeats that can be set to darker and in the background, to more dominant and brighter by moving the tone switch. Hitting the Warble modulation gives nice tape delay sounds to, if moving the Warble knob clockwise, totally spacey acid trip sounds.
TC Electronics Flashback (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/tc-flashback.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Like the Dark Echo, I can't remekmber anything about this pedal. Boring and a little sterile I think.
Wampler Faux Analog Echo (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/wampler-analogecho.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Very nice delay with only a little noise when activated. Perfect for slapback and ambience however no options for modulation.
Wampler Faux Tape Echo (http://www.deluxeguitars.com.au/wampler ... peecho.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Like the Faux Analog, this has really nice warm repeats however the modulation left a lot to be desired.
So, the winner...
Alien Echo!
This seriously is a perfect mixture of Gilmour to Faithless in a box.
Sounds fantastic and gives so much variety. I especially like how the spacey modulation only kicks in based on attack. So I can play very lightly and get tape modulation then just hit a little harder and set off pitch bending brilliance.
This has been my favourite delay I have played and it hopefully will stay on my board for a long time yet.
Now.. the new guitar... I am out of time at the moment so I will update this when I get home
. I love the big headstock and the neck looks to be quite a nice piece of lumber. I'd swap-out that black trem arm for a gold one though 
