# Delays, delays...



## Reese (May 6, 2012)

You guys have been incredibly helpful in assisting me in my decision process in purchasing a smaller (lower powered) rig for gigs that I just had to ask the next question.

Im thinking of purchasing a new dely pedal. I have the DD3 and have been using it for eons. I have heard a few other pedals in other rigs lately and I have been considering updating/upgrading. I have been checking out the Empress Superdelay and Vox Time Machine.

Im sure there is an infinite number of pedals to choose from... What are you guys using and what do you have to say about them. It will be helpful if you also comment on the style(s) of music you are playing. I am playing rocked up blues, southern and classic rock in the vein of Hendrix, Gov't Mule, Black Crows n' such.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Check out the Line6 Echo Park, it's probably one of the most underated delay out there. I love it and I've tried most delay pedals out there, including the Strymon Timeline.



Reese said:


> You guys have been incredibly helpful in assisting me in my decision process in purchasing a smaller (lower powered) rig for gigs that I just had to ask the next question.
> 
> Im thinking of purchasing a new dely pedal. I have the DD3 and have been using it for eons. I have heard a few other pedals in other rigs lately and I have been considering updating/upgrading. I have been checking out the Empress Superdelay and Vox Time Machine.
> 
> Im sure there is an infinite number of pedals to choose from... What are you guys using and what do you have to say about them. It will be helpful if you also comment on the style(s) of music you are playing. I am playing rocked up blues, southern and classic rock in the vein of Hendrix, Gov't Mule, Black Crows n' such.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I have an EP as well, and it's a nice pedal. Most of the features it has are built into the current production Line 6 M5 modeller pedal.

I should note that Line 6 is currently selling off all their modules from the Tone core series for $20 a pop. ( https://www.globalfulfillment.net/gfsnet/(S(tsrqiw55dyj0ucmipp5lsu45))/line6/10Browse.aspx?cid=227 ) The modules are completely interchangeable on any dock. So if you see someone selling off, say, a Crunchtone for $50, you can just pop the Crunchtone module out and stick the EP module in...or any of the other modules. Unfortunately, L6 will not sell them outside the US, but if you have some way of getting a package in Buffalo.....


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

Have a look at Diamond's Memory Lane Jr and the Way Huge Supa-Puss should be available soon.


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

I have an Empress Superdelay and like it a lot. I play Country, Southern Rock and Classic Rock, and the Superdelay gets a lot of great useable sounds for those genres. I set mine up for a 1/4 note delay, a slapback, an analogue type delay (think Aquapuss) and a tape delay. You can have up to eight presets and set it up for other sounds, but the ones I use cover everything I need it for. One added bonus is the pedal is tall enough that I can set it up in the back row of my pedalboard and still access it without tripping over the front row of pedals. 

My only (small) complaint is I would have preferred having stereo outputs instead of the expression pedal out. It's always nice to have the option to use your delay pedal to split the signal to two amps. Wasn't a deal breaker since I hardly ever go stereo, but it would have been nice to have that option.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Too bad you can't get those in Canada, I would grab a couple...



mhammer said:


> I have an EP as well, and it's a nice pedal. Most of the features it has are built into the current production Line 6 M5 modeller pedal.
> 
> I should note that Line 6 is currently selling off all their modules from the Tone core series for $20 a pop. ( https://www.globalfulfillment.net/gfsnet/(S(tsrqiw55dyj0ucmipp5lsu45))/line6/10Browse.aspx?cid=227 ) The modules are completely interchangeable on any dock. So if you see someone selling off, say, a Crunchtone for $50, you can just pop the Crunchtone module out and stick the EP module in...or any of the other modules. Unfortunately, L6 will not sell them outside the US, but if you have some way of getting a package in Buffalo.....


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## ElectricMojo (May 19, 2011)

I've tried a lot of delays before discovering the Maxon AD-999.
It is, in my opinion, the best delay out there.
It's not the cheapest option out there, but my quest for the perfect delay ended with the AD-999.
Maxon AD-999 Analog Delay Pedal - YouTube


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I've gone through a bunch of delays over the last fews years and right now I'm back to the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man. It just sounds incredible and I can't get enough of it's awesome modulated delay. Sure, it's HUGE. Sure, it requires 24v of power. Sure, it's only got one setting. Who cares? Hearing it is enough for me.

Others I really enjoyed were the Boss DM-2 and DM-3, and the MXR Carbon Copy. I had the Carbon Copy as a back-up to my DMM, but eventually sold it since it just sat there collecting dust.

If you don't need super long delay-times, tap tempo or multiple settings, you can't go wrong with a DMM.

*caveat* - for live use, I pretty much set mine to a modulated slap-back and almost never change it.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

About 6-8 years ago or so, I asked the folks on the diystompbox forum to help differentiate different broad categories of delay time. The idea was that one does different things with different amounts of delay, and plans their playing around delay-use differently.

Traditionally, most analog pedals would use a 4096-stage delay chip (SAD-4096 or MN3005 or MN3205) that would get you about 300-350msec of delay time without sacrificing too much bandwidth or noise immunity. In some respects, that was because the chips were costly, but it was also because the support circuitry to run more than 1 delay chip would ramp up the price even more. A delay of <350msec is quite enough for some players, chiefly those who use a delay to mimic big spaces but don't necessarily plan around being able to hear an entire multi-note phrase, repeated intact. You can sort of approach that latter use with delay time up to about 600-800msec, and we've seen a number of analog units that incorporate a pair of MN3205 (or equivalent) chips to achieve 600msec or mroe of analog delay. That lets you go beyond mere spaciousness into other territory, though not all the way to Loop-ville. It still leaves you outside the municipal boundaries of Loop-ville. Entering Loop-ville requires about a second or more of delay time, which generally demands going digital. Once you go digital, other things become more feasible, such as time divisions, reverse, and other things.

So, to add the discussion, a lot of folks are very happy with their Stereo Memory Man w/Hazarai***, while others like their Memory Boy and Memory Toy. If you don't need all the extra tricks, there are a gazillion pedals that use the PT2399 chips (currently available to hobbyists for 51 cents each), that can provide A/D, D/A and as much as 700msec delay time if you play your cards right. In fact many of the small (1590A/1590B-size) boutique pedals use it, since it requires so little additional support circuitry.

Do you need analog to sound good? Nah. A great deal of the alleged "warmth" of analog really comes from the filtering it is obliged to use to keep the clock noise and aliasing (resulting from low sample frequency) to a minimum. Add that filtering to a digital delay, and nobody on stage will be able to hear the difference.

**Hazarai being a transliteration of the yiddish term for "crap", more or less. A "chazer" is a pig, and "chazerai" is all the crap one would feed a pig. In colloquial use it would be used to refer to either something of much lesser quality (e.g., "I bought one of those folding chairs. Absolute chazerai."), or alternatively to a bunch of undifferentiated things (e.g., "When I turned the purse upside down and emptied, you should have seen all the chazerai that fell out"). I gather the good folk at EHX intended the use to refer to the second one, in that the Stereo Memory Man does a whole bunch of extra tricks, with no particular theme or intent.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

The MXR Carbon Copy is simple to use, inexpensive, and sounds great. I also like the modulation feature. Of course I had the occasion to play through a tape echo, and_* that*_ is the $hit right there. Lol


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## Reese (May 6, 2012)

georgemg said:


> I have an Empress Superdelay and like it a lot. I play Country, Southern Rock and Classic Rock, and the Superdelay gets a lot of great useable sounds for those genres. I set mine up for a 1/4 note delay, a slapback, an analogue type delay (think Aquapuss) and a tape delay. You can have up to eight presets and set it up for other sounds, but the ones I use cover everything I need it for. One added bonus is the pedal is tall enough that I can set it up in the back row of my pedalboard and still access it without tripping over the front row of pedals.
> 
> My only (small) complaint is I would have preferred having stereo outputs instead of the expression pedal out. It's always nice to have the option to use your delay pedal to split the signal to two amps. Wasn't a deal breaker since I hardly ever go stereo, but it would have been nice to have that option.



Thanks for this input on the Superdelay. Do you use it in front of your amp or in the loop?


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## Reese (May 6, 2012)

Rugburn said:


> The MXR Carbon Copy is simple to use, inexpensive, and sounds great. I also like the modulation feature. Of course I had the occasion to play through a tape echo, and_* that*_ is the $hit right there. Lol



Thanks for this. I have looked at the MXR Carbon Copy as I have many other Dunlop pedals and I am very pleased with them. Do you have yours in front of your amp or in the f/x loop?


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

hollowbody said:


> Sure, it's only got one setting. Who cares? Hearing it is enough for me.


If you want more than one delay setting on your DMM, you could always do what Andy Timmons does - attach a stick to the delay knob and work it with your foot. Not quite as nice (or pretty) as tap tempo but it seems to work for him.


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

Reese said:


> Thanks for this input on the Superdelay. Do you use it in front of your amp or in the loop?


I use it in front of my amp - a Fender Twin - since there is no loop on the amp.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Reese said:


> Thanks for this. I have looked at the MXR Carbon Copy as I have many other Dunlop pedals and I am very pleased with them. Do you have yours in front of your amp or in the f/x loop?


I only have old tube amps and a small modelling amp, so in front. They're easy to find used at very good prices. Cheers


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

georgemg said:


> If you want more than one delay setting on your DMM, you could always do what Andy Timmons does - attach a stick to the delay knob and work it with your foot. Not quite as nice (or pretty) as tap tempo but it seems to work for him.


Holy crud! Thanks for this, my mind is officially blown!


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

hollowbody said:


> Holy crud! Thanks for this, my mind is officially blown!


A slightly more elegant solution. KickDisk


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

And a MUCH more elegant solution. Tone in Progress - Home of the Third Hand which gives real time control over your analog guitar effects !

The original on which this was based was the EHX "Hot Foot", that was marketed for players to control their DMM. I had one back in the day. It was unwieldy, required a lot of space between controls to attach, and would flip your pedal right over if the pedal wasn't big-n-heavy enough; i.e., it was designed with a DMM in mind. The Kickdisk and similar things that fit on the pot allow for adjustment, but I wouldn't go so far as to suggest they allow for "control". With the Hot Foot and now the Third Hand, you can "work" controls in real time. Indeed, long before the Digitech Whammy pedal, we would use a Hot Foot and memory Man to do electronic pitch-bending by changing the delay time (i.e., sampling rate) in real time.


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## itf? (May 27, 2009)

TC Nova Delay. Easy to use. Does everything from pristine digital to faux tape grunge and has programmable settings. Been using mine for our Pink Floyd tribute for over 4 years now.


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

Jeff B. said:


> Have a look at Diamond's Memory Lane Jr and the Way Huge Supa-Puss should be available soon.


Once I got an ML Jr, I stopped looking at delays. Simple to use, yet has some nice features, it doesn't take up too much room, and the price is right. The modulation sounds great, not seasick sounding.

The Aqua Puss is my favourite of the cheaper analog delay pedals. The Carbon Copy is too murky sounding for my liking.


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## Cary (May 11, 2011)

zurn said:


> Check out the Line6 Echo Park, it's probably one of the most underated delay out there. I love it and I've tried most delay pedals out there, including the Strymon Timeline.


Thats what i've got on my board. It is a very good pedal, pretty convincing in the analogue mode, though the simulated tape sound leaves something to be desired. digital is usually where i end up though, i like it to have some crispness to it.

The style of tap delay (tap light to set tempo, hard to engage) seems like it would be annoying, but is actually quite clever.

in addition to a number of delay types (tap, slap, ducking, swell ping-pong etc), you can also dial in a reverse delay that is really fun for psychedelic breakdowns. I always break this out in the middle of whole lotta love.

The stereo outputs are nice to have, splits the signal for some 2 amp mayhem and real heavy ping-pong delay.

Low price, small footprint, lots of options, and most importantly, it sounds really good, mine holds its own against some pretty stiff competition.

I give it my vote of confidence.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Here's the base of one of my Tone Core docks. If you look at the bottom, you'll see a little space-ship landing pad thing, and just to its right, nearer the edge is a black microswitch. The shiny disc you see to the left of the board sits right atop the pads you see on the board, and the black plastic armature to its left clips onto the board to hold that disc in place.

The left contact under the microswitch is ground, and the outside pads that the disc sits on are ground. The elevation of the microswitch is a bit higher than the top of the disc (when in place). When you press the treadle down a bit, it presses the microswitch, but does not apply enough pressure to force the disc to bend in. When you press harder, you push the disc inwards, and it makes contact with that center pad, making a clicking sound in the process.

In each case, all you are doing is making a momentary contact with ground. This is not at all unlike what happens with the treadle in Boss pedals. What this means is that a person can drill a hole into the side of one of these, install a stereo jack, and run a 3 conductor wire out to a remote switch box that has TWO, count 'em, two momentary footswitches: one for bypass, and one for tap tempo.

Neat, huh?


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## closetmonster. (Nov 26, 2009)

I would second the Diamond Memory Lane, I don't personally own one but I know the guys in Wintersleep both use them and they get some seriously good tones out of them. Plus they're Canadian made, what's not to love?

[video=youtube;hpKWJMLq-0g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpKWJMLq-0g[/video]


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I have a Dr Scientist Sunny Day Delay, also Canadian.

Cool pedal, I like it.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

NB_Terry said:


> Once I got an ML Jr, I stopped looking at delays. Simple to use, yet has some nice features, it doesn't take up too much room, and the price is right. The modulation sounds great, not seasick sounding.
> 
> The Aqua Puss is my favourite of the cheaper analog delay pedals. The Carbon Copy is too murky sounding for my liking.


I would have bought a ML Jr, if it had stereo outs...


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

I love Wintersleep, I saw them at a small club in Montreal. They had a lot of Diamond pedals on there pedalboards.




closetmonster. said:


> I would second the Diamond Memory Lane, I don't personally own one but I know the guys in Wintersleep both use them and they get some seriously good tones out of them. Plus they're Canadian made, what's not to love?
> 
> [video=youtube;hpKWJMLq-0g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpKWJMLq-0g[/video]


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

After trying countless boutique delays I'm back to a DD-20 and loving it. 5 presets is just icing on the cake.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Eventide Timefactor Delay Pedal Part 2 - YouTube
You can't beat Eventide, and these days, prices are within reach of most tone junkies.Very quiet and transparent. Nice!
Here's a bunch more............ Good A/B comparisons.
TheGigRig Delay Shootout - YouTube


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