# Analog delay pedals



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Right now I'm considering the Diamond memory lane. Are there other analog delay pedals I should be considering. I'd like to hear other's opinions.


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

Sneaky has a Diamond ML for a really good price right here on this board.

Another one to consider is the MXR Carbon Copy. Only $150. 

I had one for awhile but returned it. I didn't like it as much as my Boss DM-2, but it's certainly close.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Retro-Sonic analogue delay is great ... it's not as space shuttle flight centre as the Memory Lane, real old-school, but very tasty.
Scott has them at axeandyoushallreceive too for less than on Tim Larwill's site. Its modelled after the old Boss delay machine but with TB and better parts.


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## Teleplucker (Feb 5, 2006)

guitarman2 said:


> Right now I'm considering the Diamond memory lane. Are there other analog delay pedals I should be considering. I'd like to hear other's opinions.


Whoa...that question could open a can or worms :smile:. I think everyone has a different opinion on analog delays.

I think the ML is a brilliant pedal...best AD I've ever used. Revenue Canada got the proceeds from mine since I already had a DM-2 (they also got the proceeds from my DM-3 ). I think the DM-2 is voiced better than any AD, although you can mimic in on the ML with the tone knob backed off.

The main thing to consider is how much delay time you need and whether you want things like modulation and tap tempo. If 300ms and no fancy stuff is the key, there are some bargains if you look around (i.e. DOD and some Ibanez pedals from around the 10 series). If you need more features, you are looking at the ML, the Carbon Copy, Deluxe Memory Man, or the Retro-sonic.

Of course, true tape delay is better than anything (Sneaky has one of those for sale too, IIRC).


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

Taking off my gear pimp hat, the other day, I couldn't stop playing with this pedal:

http://www.moogaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=532

MG That's Echo Folks from a madman in Brazil!!!!!!

I'm thinking of getting some MG PIO caps for my next amp build too

Andy


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Arion SAD-1. I keep saying this but most won't listen. An amazing analog delay for less than $100. There are always a couple on the bay.

TG


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

devnulljp said:


> Retro-Sonic analogue delay is great ... it's not as space shuttle flight centre as the Memory Lane, real old-school, but very tasty.
> Scott has them at axeandyoushallreceive too for less than on Tim Larwill's site. Its modelled after the old Boss delay machine but with TB and better parts.



This one I will be checking out for sure. It seems to do exactly what I want. A switch to go from short delay to long delay. Which is about all I need.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

guitarman2 said:


> This one I will be checking out for sure. It seems to do exactly what I want. A switch to go from short delay to long delay. Which is about all I need.


yes, it's a fantastic straight-up delay. The tone knob for the repeats is a great way to shape your sound, and I run the delay channel into a TC chorus set to modulation to pretend it's an echoplex...

My other delay is a Boss DSD-2, which is the same 12bit digital delay as the DD-2 & 3.


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

I have gone through and still own a lot of analog delay pedals. 

I like the Maxon AD9 and AD999 pedals the most (the new AD9 is good but sounds a little less organic) followed by my old Memory Man (Love it but it doesnt fit on a pedal board very well) and my vintage Ibanez AD9 (which is wearing out big time)

I used to have an HBE Mimic Mock II but it squealed like a stuck pig and that squeal would not stop regardless of how you set the pedal or tuned the interior trim pot.....sad cause it sounded great.

Right now I am also using an old Ibanez DL10 Delay. While it is a Digital Delay it has a more organic and analog sound and feel than pretty much anything out there. 

I tried the MXR Carbon Copy and thought it was dull and cheap sounding. It is only 150 bucks for a reason.....


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Tim Larwill and I had many discussions during the development of the Retro-Sonic Delay. He purchased and studied the Maxon AD999 very closely. We discussed what he could implement in his 1590BB/4-knob/2-stopswitch form-factor. I was encouraging him to go with an input-kill switch*** and he seemed interested at first, but I think in the end, it was simply easier and more problem-free to implement a full/half delay that would tap the signal after 1 or 2 BBDs. Tim's largest client base seem to like their effects more or less plain vanilla with the teeniest fudge ripple running through them. My tastes tend to run more like "Chunky Monkey".:smile: I'm the guy sitting at home with interesting ideas. He's the guy selling lots of pedals. I'll let you figure out who made the right decision.

In many respects, there isn't a helluva lot of difference in the basic design of analog delays, simply because there are some tasks that EVERY BBD-based pedal has to attend to. You HAVE to have a clock circuit, some anti-aliasing filtering and low-pass filtering before and after the BBD, a regen path, a mixer stage, and some means to keep the summing of input and regen signal under control (usually an NE570 compander chip). Beyond that, differences tend to be things like how much filtering is applied and the tradeoff between delay-time and sample rate. That's why an inexpensive pedal like the Arion can sound every bit as good to many ears as the higher-priced units.

The Retro-Sonic pedal uses a pair of MN3205s for 8192 stages of delay. In theory, that can get you up to 800msec of delay with reasonable bandwidth. Upping the clock rate to aim for only 600msec, however, makes noise-reduction easier and also provides for a higher sampling rate and somewhat better fidelity. Note that there is always the tiniest bit of signal degradation when the signal is passed from one stage to another within a BBD. The faster that handoff occurs, the less leakage and signal degradation. The more stages the signal passes through (and here you have to remember that every repeat through two MN3205s means an additional 8192 stages), the more signal degradation. A higher clock rate can help to offset that potential signal degradation.

*** _Input-kill permits the player to allow the tail of whatever is currently in the delay path to die out naturally, while suppressing any addition to the delay signal. Some pedals include a "trails" function which lets the delay signal continue on in bypass mode. An input-kill switch is really more like a punch-in/punch-out control that can be more easily used on a riff-wise basis. I was trying to get Tim to use a momentary stompswitch with a toggle that would either let you supress new input to the delay path unless you stepped on the switch, OR suppress input when you stepped on the switch. Having that choice permits some nifty effects that one normally only gets to do in post-production._


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Tim Larwill and I had many discussions during the development of the Retro-Sonic Delay.  He purchased and studied the Maxon AD999 very closely. We discussed what he could implement in his 1590BB/4-knob/2-stopswitch form-factor. I was encouraging him to go with an input-kill switch*** ....[/COLOR][/I]


Interesting post. That would have been an interesting effect -- I've seen Eric Johnson kinda do that using his multiple signal paths with A/B boxes, so he plays a clean part, kicks over to the dirty lead setting and plays while the echo is still tailing off on the clean part, then back to the clean again and it sounds like two guitarists. I love my RS delay as it is though. As you said, "plain vanilla" -- just looking at the new empress superdelay gives me a headache


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

devnulljp said:


> Interesting post. That would have been an interesting effect -- I've seen Eric Johnson kinda do that using his multiple signal paths with A/B boxes, so he plays a clean part, kicks over to the dirty lead setting and plays while the echo is still tailing off on the clean part, then back to the clean again and it sounds like two guitarists. I love my RS delay as it is though. As you said, "plain vanilla" -- just looking at the new empress superdelay gives me a headache


I agree with you. I'm looking for Plain Vanilla. Since I've got my Dr Z Stangray I've been embracing the world of simplicity. Pedals have been dropping from my pedal board as I'm getting closer to guitar straight to amp. I don't know if that will ever happen but I'm getting closer. Right now I've got 3 knobs on the amp and 3 pedals on the floor.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well that's the thing. There's what interests me in terms of advancing the craft of pedals, and there's what sustains a business. I try to put in a word for the one, but certainly respect the power of the other.:food-smiley-004:


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## Rhythmeister (May 17, 2006)

If you are into the Maxon AD-9 Pro, check this out:

http://guitarscanada.com/Board/showthread.php?t=14586

I own one of these (got the sale) and an original Carl Martin DeLayla (not XL). Luckily, my DeLayla has not had the reliability problems of some units, and it sounds just killer!

Both of these that I have allow you to choose a "tap" setting that simulates the two-head tape delay sounds. I really like this...very "Edge". Most of the cheapies don't have that, I think.

Cheers,

Blair


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## WildJay (Mar 8, 2009)

I'm picking up a Diamond Memory Lane 2 very soon...
I have been trying out the Retro-Sonic Delay and while it is decent... I find that it adds High end to my tone along with some harshness...So I'm biting the bullet spending the cash and getting the Diamond Mem2 instead


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

AD-900 was the best I've heard.


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## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

For the money, it's worth it to give the Wampler Analog Echo a shot ($139 USD if you sign up for his newsletter). I've got one and although it is an analog- voiced digital delay, it has a lot better analog sound than true analog pedals like the Carbon Copy, and has a tone control to make the repeats brighter or darker. A seriously underrated delay.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I have a Echoczar coming next month, after 4 years on the waiting list. 

I am really happy with the Analog Man delay I bought here on this board recently, much better than my old DM-2. I was going to tell the Echo Czar guy to get lost, but now I see they are selling on E bay for $2500-2900 US I am rethinking...

kkjuw

Edit: The Boss RE-20 is a great pedal too by the way. My only beef with it is that annoying scrolling LED thing they put on it.


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## monty (Feb 9, 2009)

I am loving my carbon copy. I opened the back and adjusted the mod and it is great!


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## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

Wow, not much love for the Carbon Copy in this thread... I for one absolutely love mine :wave:


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I've had at least a dozen different analog delays; Mxr (old and new), Boss Dm-2 (probably 4 of them over the years), Diamond, Ibanez, and Loco Box. 

I've also owned a few tape echo units.

I love my old Boss DM-2, and I won't ever sell it, but lately, the Boss DD-7 is all I use. That is a really good pedal. 

Analog echo is a compromise and an approximation of a tape echo, so before spending $400 plus on an analog pedal, I'd just spend $850 or so and get a used Fulltone TTE. Why go halfway?

Playing through a tape echo is incredible, but all those Pink Floyd/Radiohead incredible tones don't usually cut through with a band. 

So for my needs I'd just be happy with an MXR Carbon Copy or use a digital pedal like the DD-7 (if you want the extra features like I do). I'm usually playing into a semi-dirty amp so the DD-7s echoes are already warmed up by the tubes.


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