Q: I see several delay pedals, such as the new Way Huge Supa-Puss, the TC Electronic Flashback and Flashback X4, and others, that can turn “trails” on and off. What does this mean?
A: “Trails” refers to the echo repeats that occur after the dry sound stops feeding a delay effect — the echo part that continues on when you stop playing. When a delay pedal is set up for true bypass, the delay circuit is completely removed from the signal path when the pedal is bypassed; this cuts off the delay trail and stops it from sounding.
But some players enjoy having the trails continue to fade out naturally when the delay is bypassed, so certain delay pedals offer the ability to turn on a buffered bypass mode, which allows the trails to finish fading out naturally.
