The Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Deluxe is an analog delay pedal built around Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) chips, the same circuit family that gives classic analog delays their warm, degraded repeats. Seymour Duncan describes it as offering "100% analog warmth and character," with repeats and modulation generated entirely in the analog domain while digital circuitry handles the control side: tap tempo, presets and mode switching12.
It arrived in June 20213 as an expanded version of the company's original Vapor Trail analog delay from 2014, doubling the maximum delay time to 1.2 seconds and adding tap tempo with rhythmic subdivisions, expression pedal control, three presets and four specialty delay modes24. It is built in the USA in a dual-footswitch enclosure5.
An analog bucket brigade delay with modulation
Like the original Vapor Trail, the Deluxe generates its repeats with Bucket Brigade chips: analog delay lines that pass your signal along a chain of capacitors, losing a little brightness and adding a little character with each pass. The repeats can be set anywhere from a single echo to infinite, pushing into self-oscillating sounds when the Repeats control is turned up far enough5. Modulation, with rate and depth controls, can be added over the repeats for a more moving, chorus-like quality58.
Where the original topped out at 600ms of BBD delay, the Deluxe's chips allow delay times of up to 1.2 seconds25. MusicRadar's review called it "a comprehensively updated, versatile analogue delay" with "some exceptional sounds," while noting that it is not cheap and that the Pitch Sequence mode can take some fiddling to get results from5.
The controls
The control panel carries six knobs and two footswitches5:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mix | Sets the balance of dry and delayed signal |
| Repeats | Sets the number of repeats, from one to infinite self-oscillation5 |
| Time | Sets the delay time, up to 1.2 seconds25 |
| Depth/Multi | Sets modulation depth, and takes on extra functions in the specialty modes5 |
| Rate | Sets the modulation speed5 |
| Mode | Eight-way rotary switch selecting delay modes and tap subdivisions5 |
| Bypass footswitch | Switches the effect in and out5 |
| Tap/Hold footswitch | Sets tap tempo, and triggers held functions such as Runaway feedback5 |
An expression pedal can be connected to control parameters live25.
Specialty modes and tap tempo subdivisions
Four of the eight Mode knob positions are tap tempo subdivisions: quarter note, dotted eighth, eighth note and eighth-note triplet, so you can match your echoes to the tempo of a song by tapping5. The other four positions are specialty delay modes5:
- Micro Delay: the Time knob's maximum becomes 300ms, ideal for slapback and precise short delays5
- Pitch Sequence: stepped pitch-shifted repeats5
- Pitch Bender: repeats that bend in pitch5
- Runaway: hold the tap tempo footswitch for steady, ever-rising feedback that reverts to your Repeats setting when you release it5
Seymour Duncan announced the pedal with "four inspiring new specialty delay modes" that let players "create groundbreaking new tones"2.
In Sweetwater's demo video, Don Carr walks through the controls, the specialty modes, the presets and the TRS insert routing, and demonstrates the modulation with rate and depth controls and the up-to-1200-millisecond delay time8.
Power and connections
The pedal runs on 9V DC, center negative, drawing 150mA1. That current draw is well above the original Vapor Trail's 11mA typical, so it is a pedal to plan power for rather than assume a spare outlet will cover it.
At 150mA, the Vapor Trail Deluxe draws more current than many compact analog pedals. Check your power supply's per-output rating before plugging it in alongside a full board.
Connections are a standard input, a standard output, a Wet/Insert TRS socket and an expression pedal input5. The Wet/Insert socket can be used as a wet-only output for stereo operation, so the pedal can drive a stereo rig57. Guitar World's reviewer, Trevor Curwen, lists the same connection set in his review7.
History and the original Vapor Trail
The Vapor Trail Deluxe builds on the original Vapor Trail Analog Delay, which Seymour Duncan launched in February 2014. That pedal was a true analog delay using BBDs supported by low-noise analog electronics, with no microprocessors or digital signal processors in the signal path, true bypass switching, a delay range of 15ms to 600ms, and Rate and Depth modulation controls mounted on the top panel for live adjustment910. It ran on an internal 9V battery or an external 9V to 18V regulated supply, drawing 11mA typical9.
Guitar World's 2014 review of the original praised it as "a true analog delay pedal that combines the best attributes of genuine BBD" circuits, in a compact enclosure with three full-size knobs for mix, repeats and delay plus two small modulation knobs11.
The Deluxe was announced on 18 June 202112, with Guitar Player crediting Seymour Duncan engineer Wayne Rothermich's "painstaking research and development" behind the updated design12. Guitar World's news coverage described it as delivering "all-analog Bucket Brigade repeats and modulation" like the original, with the additions layered on top13. Seymour Duncan's own announcement framed it as answering players who wanted more from the original: presets, tap tempo and subdivisions, expression pedal control, and delay trails on/off options2.
Videos
Seymour Duncan
Lari Basilio
Questions
Is the Vapor Trail Deluxe true bypass?
Yes. It uses true hard-wire bypass, and there is also a selectable active-bypass mode that lets trailing repeats continue after you switch the effect off, instead of cutting them dead.
Can the Vapor Trail Deluxe run in stereo?
Yes. Alongside the standard output there is a Wet/Insert TRS socket that can serve as a wet-only output, so the pedal can drive a stereo rig with the dry signal from one output and the delay from the other.
How many presets does the Vapor Trail Deluxe have?
Three storable preset locations. You can save your favorite analog delay settings and recall them from the footswitches, which is a feature the original Vapor Trail never had.
What is the max delay time on the Vapor Trail Deluxe?
Up to 1.2 seconds, or 1200 milliseconds, double the 600ms maximum of the original Vapor Trail. In Micro Delay mode the Time knob tops out at 300ms for slapback and other short delay settings.
Sources (13)
- Vapor Trail Deluxe by Seymour Duncan, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- Seymour Duncan The New Vapor Trail Deluxe Analog Delay Pedal, Seymour Duncan, 2021-06-12
- Best New Guitar Pedal Releases, Delicious Audio, 2021-07-06
- Exclusive Demo Video: Seymour Duncan Releases Vapor Trail Analog Delay, Guitar World, 2014-02-26
- Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Deluxe review, MusicRadar, 2022-02-02
- Seymour Duncan Delay & Reverb, Seymour Duncan (www.seymourduncan.com), 2019-12-18
- Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Deluxe review, Guitar World, 2021-11-25
- Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Deluxe Demo, Sweetwater, 2021-07-08
- Seymour Duncan Introduces the Vapor Trail Delay, Premier Guitar, 2014-02-27
- Seymour Duncan Releases Vapor Trail Analog Delay, Vintage Guitar magazine, 2014-02-27
- Review: Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Analog Delay Pedal, Guitar World, 2014-08-15
- Seymour Duncan Launches Vapor Trail Deluxe Analog Delay, GuitarPlayer (www.guitarplayer.com), 2021-06-22
- Seymour Duncan's new Vapor Trail Deluxe teams all-analog delay tone with versatile digital control, Guitar World, 2021-06-18
