Electro Harmonix

APRIL 2019 TOTAL GUITAR
T
he Grand Canyon is
EHX’s latest and greatest
delay. It takes the
patches from its popular
Canyon multi-delay and
adds additional controls, a
tap-tempo footswitch and the
ability to do sound-on-sound
looping on every setting.
If that makes it sound like a
space cadet’s dream, then you’d be
right. Looping on top of delays is
great for soundscaping, but we
didn’t fi nd much use for it in a
song context. That’s not the case
with the global momentary mode,
however, which can be used for
sound eff ects in solos, punctuation
in riff s, or shoegazey surprises in
chord progressions. In the reverse
mode, with some relatively
extreme settings and a short delay,
using the momentary footswitch
with tails engaged got us
immediately into Kevin Shields-
style ‘liquid guitar’ territory,
although we admit that we also
had a lot of fun with the Mod,
DMM and Tape patches.
The runner-up for most fun
setting has to go to the Echo,
however, as it boasts a fi lter and
bitcrush that can take it toe-to-toe
with weirdo boutique eff ects like
the EarthQuaker Afterneath and
Red Panda Particle.
Although EHX are primarily
known as a brand that competes at
the lower end of the market, the
Grand Canyon is undoubtedly a
demonstration that it’s ready and
prepared to take the fi ght to
Strymon and the Boss DD series,
and the price refl ects that. When
viewed in that light, the core
non-wacky delay sounds are not
as strong as those higher-end
competitors; nevertheless, it has
to be said that the Grand Canyon
has more fl air, and it’s also
ridiculously intuitive.
Alex Lynham
ELECTRO-HARMONIX GRAND CANYON
EHX have grand designs with this monumental delay...
TYPE: Delay pedal
CONT ROLS: Delay level,
loop level, feedback, delay
time and type pots; two
control pots per patch;
exp mode, momentary,
tails and ping pong
buttons; tap footswitch
SOCKETS: Input,
footswitch, expression,
left and right outs
BYPASS: Relay bypass
POWER: 9V DC centre-
negative
CONTACT:
Electro-Harmonix
ehx.com
AT A GLANCE
THE RUNNER-UP FOR MOST FUN
SETTING HAS TO GO TO THE ECHO...
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
USABILITY
£230
QUICK TEST
111
TGR317.gear_quick.indd 111 28/02/2019 18:46