The Delay Thread

[Bloody_Inferno]

Some of us like delay pedals, a few more than others.
Inspired by Jeff's Reverb thread, I may as well go through a history of the ones I own.

Boss DD20 Giga Delay

My first delay pedal. Was eyeing the DD3-5s but this unit was recently released. Pretty much a 'best of' compilation the Boss delay line at that point with some cool features like the warp, twist oscillators and a nifty looper. It was so good I bought my sister one for her keyboards. For simplicity, nothing beats it, and the prices used make it still a good contender. I've got mine permanently on my bass rig and since my sister doesn't use hers anymore, I've got that too.

Boss DM2 Delay

My first foray into bucket style delays. Sure the DD20 had an algorithm that emulated it, but it didn't self oscillate (make noise) the way I wanted it. This made me appreciate the sounds a warm analog delay. I actually own 2 of these and unfortunately due to carelessness, I ruined both of them. I've since found other replacement alternatives but I might get the idiot proof Waza version down the line... for old times sake.

Vox Time Machine (Joe Satriani sig delay)

Being a mad Satch fanboy I had to have it. The features are actually very nice, you can adjust to analog/digital styles with a flick of a switch (and they both sound great), the delay times were much wider (for the analog option) and it had a tap temp switch (which the DM2 or Carbon copy didn't have back then). Mine is permanently part of my bass rig, when I need to do the dotted 8th trick.

Malekko Ekko 616 (Red) Analog Delay

On my hunt for DM2 replacements, the boutique pedal store I frequent got me on to these. I was actually blown away with how this sounds, and add all the extra modulation feature where you can mess with the sound some more. I certainly abused the hell out of it. I think there's 4 versions of this pedal and was considering getting some more but I forgot.

Boss RE20 Space Echo

One of my heavily used tools in the studio. A fantastic piece of gear without actually buying the original Roland units. I lent mine to my co-producer during mixing, and he used it on everything and another 2 albums we did together.

Free The Tone Flight Time

Around the time I discovered the joys of sniffing cork. I was already hoarding their pedals and when I saw how cool this looked, I went and got it right away. It's admittedly not an easy pedal to navigate through (it's much better with midi switching) and it's purely digital affair. But it's a pedal that takes digital delay as far as it can go. There's even a freeze option (which I never use) and a BPM analyser that adjusts delay time to the drummer's tempo (which I always use). Sure it's only mono, but the sounds and features more than make up for it. The first batch was only instrument level, but the newer versions can change that option via switch. So naturally, I have both of them, because of course I bloody do.

Eventide Timefactor

At this point I was getting into the most powerful delays known to man so this was bound to have come my way. Basically all the Eventide pedals have the same quality sounds as their rackmounts so this is a no brainer. Still a great sounding pedal in any setting and everything is highly tweakable with every option to spare. Of course like all Eventide units, you need the patience of a saint to fully utilise it (you have to read the long ass manual), and admittedly the looper option is a little lacking for my tastes, but it's still a great unit.

Strymon Timeline

Even owning a Timefactor didn't stop me from getting this. I knew someone who jokingly calling these Eventide Factors for dummies. Obviously a disingenuous remark, but it really is a great delay pedal, and the ease of use has made it the industry standard. It's got all the features and then some and it sounds how a great delay should. I often alternate between this and the Factor, but I'm leaning towards here now just for ease of use. Though this is currently being used by my co-producer.

Strymon Dig

I was looking for another delay pedal strictly for my keyboards and was eying the Boss DD units, but this was on a massive sale and couldn't resist. Price withstanding, when it comes to simple digital delays without rummaging through menus, this is hard to beat. It sounds great on guitar too...

Wampler Ethereal

I was building the smallest pedalboard I can get away with, and saw a Dave Weiner vid doing the same. He was talking about this Wampler unit, which puts both delay and reverb in the same small box. Sonically a lot better than I expected, though at the cost of a lot of features (no tap tempo), which is a downer, but I'm not complaining for a small 2 in 1 unit.

Free The Tone Future Factory

Another obvious addition. The main gimmick is that you have one digital delay sound, but you can tweak that one delay sound to kingdom come and then some more. THEN add some extra modulation and gain clipping options to tweak it some more and more. And you see why I'm constantly shilling for the company. Right now it's my favorite main delay, and unlike the Flight Time, it's stereo. But how often do most gigging guitarists go full stereo anyway? Unless you're in the studio, or in church, or a bedroom snob with a TGP account fishing for 'likes'... Incidentally, I've never signed up for TGP....

Strymon Volante

One of those sales that I just decided I wanted. The Roland Space Echo served me well, so if it ain't broke, mess with it. As per usual Strymon, this is excellent, top tier analog goodness and then some. The extra spring reverb is a nice cherry on top. I remembered doing an emergency acoustic show and had to learn 50+ songs so I set up a pedalboard with this, a Fishman platinum and a Boss OC3. Got away with plenty of sounds. This will probably stay in the studio as a post production tool.

Strymon El Capistan

So another analog delay. Ok this one is purely for my 'real time tweaking' experiments. It hasn't replaced the Malekko for that, but another fine alternative. Plus I can leave it in the studio should I want to use the Volante again.

I've tried a fair amount of others that I don't own or don't own yet for whatever reason.

So yeah, here's a thread to post your favorite delay units. Hopefully it could help someone in the market for one or three, or at the very least add another one to my pile.

[Adam]

So which is like, the best, delay pedal?

[Ryan]

Strymon Volante

One of those sales that I just decided I wanted. The Roland Space Echo served me well, so if it ain't broke, mess with it. As per usual Strymon, this is excellent, top tier analog goodness and then some. The extra spring reverb is a nice cherry on top. I remembered doing an emergency acoustic show and had to learn 50+ songs so I set up a pedalboard with this, a Fishman platinum and a Boss OC3. Got away with plenty of sounds. This will probably stay in the studio as a post production tool.

I want one of these, a lot. But I can't bring myself to spend that kind of bunse on a pedal, maybe once I can try one out in person I might accidentally buy one. But until then I'm perfectly happy with the DD7 and DM2 on my board.

[Bloody_Inferno]

So which is like, the best, delay pedal?

The best delay is the Quad Cortex by far. The delay time and sound degradation is second to none based on all the customer feedback.

[Budda]

My diamond memory lane jr was a good time. I think i kept nudging the controls though, as this was pre tour experience. I also enjoyed my timeline and dd500. Flashback X4 wasnt bad, DL4 still has the expression pedal trick nothing else quite does, and I never got the hang of my empress vintage modified tape delay.

Im having fun with the delays in the axe fx. Using controllers to change the delay time and force harmonies is cool.

[T Gobbs]

Still dig the hell out my Carbon Copy.

[Markus]

I've conciously tried to steer clear of the whole swamp of buying pedals, so I've been happy with a Boss DD7. The delays are nice, but the modulation could use some adjustability - feels a bit overkill for my use as it is.

[Webdood]

I love this weird one. Keely Mesmer Astral Delay. took me forever to find one and I payed too much for it but it is a lot of fun. It will do neat arpeggiated delays in either 5ths or octaves or will act like a reverb delay combo.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=OVdFKJQmZiI

[Leah]

-Line 6 DL4
A classic for a reason, but had a lot of high end tone suck for me.

-Strymon Timeline

Sounds great, lots of presets and functionality. However was ultimately much more pedal than I needed, so I returned it after realizing I only used a few basic sounds.

-TC Electronic Flashback / Flashback X4 / Flashback Triple

Great versatile delays at a reasonable price. Super simple to use with four knobs and toggle switches; no submenus or deep editors unless you go down the Toneprint rabbit hole. Sounds are good and these are extremely versatile with Toneprints, with no tone suck to my ears and a very simple interface. Stereo too, with dedicated switch for dotted eighth and dotted eighth plus quarter note.

Toneprint functionality is great and the ability to import and update toneprints straight from your guitar pickups is not a gimmick and is quite useful since you don't need to futz with a USB cable or remove the pedal from the board. You can even replace one of the Toneprint slots with a Tri-Chorus so this pedal can be a 2-in-1.

The tap tempo on the basic Flashback isn't the most intuitive to use, so I got the X4, which has a dedicated tap switch and also makes a good short time looper with useful extra switches and of course holds three presets.

I ended up using it so much that I also got a Flashback Triple, which loses the looper and in return lets you use all three presets at the same time. Instant soundscapes. Much recommended. Both big Flashbacks are still on my board.

-Carbon Copy Mini

Small, sounds great, and affordable. Very simple to use. Modulation sounds nice. Stays "out of the way" of your playing if you want and can do slapback or some basic, nice sounding repeats. Can self-oscillate (or at least get close) if you're into that, but I'm not.

Plus, the Mini includes both the regular CC and the Bright one thanks to a bright switch on the side. This one is a no brainer if you don't need tap tempo and want some nice sounding delay/echo/slapback sounds.

[RevDrucifer]

I’m a delay nut as well. Gilmour and EJ were my two earliest influences with that.

My first one was a DOD/Digitech PDS-1000 I got at Daddy’s Junky Music for like $65. I LOVED this pedal because it had a Hold feature on it that you could click on with a 2nd switch. Eric Johnson used to use that feature quite a bit, he used it a bunch on his Total Electric Guitar vid, which was just as inspirational to me as any album of his. I had this pedal for a long time, about 8 years until it finally died one day.


My best friend’s dad owned a music store in Maine called Mainely Drumz, we practically lived there in high school and for a couple years after. His dad took in an old, beat up Digitech rack delay/modulation unit on a trade and set it aside for me because he had no clue what it was. I fell in love with it right away because it was fucked up and added some dirt to the delay signal, not in a bad way, but it beefed it up. I also found that no matter what effects loop I plugged this into, I could crank the shit out of the amp and use the output on the rack unit to control the volume. This was the key thing that got my Legacy half stack singing with sustain.


I used that for about 5-6 years until I moved and left it with a friend, supposedly it shit the bed sometime before I came back to pick it up years later.

My next delay was the TC Electronics G-Force, which I used for 15-16 years and still have. In some circles it gets a lot of shit for it’s delays/reverbs, but bottom line, it’s piece of TC equipment that fetched $1000 when they came out, I think maybe $1200, they aren’t shitty delays and reverbs. The routing and grid layout in it was also the precursor for a shitload of modelers that came after, namely the AxeFX. Not a ton of options for delays, but if you learn how to EQ them or tweak them with other effects/modifiers, there’s a shitload you can do with them.

Now everything is from the AxeFX and plug-ins. Funnily enough, one of my all time favorite delays is Logic’s basic ass Stereo Delay. I can program the same thing on my AxeFX and have to a degree, but I still end up using Logic’s delay on a ton of guitar shit. It’s on almost every vocal I’ve done in the last 5 years as well. I like it more than H-Delay. Been playing with the newer Chris Lord Alge delays, Epic and Echosphere. I can’t remember which is which, but one of them lets you feed a bunch of delays into some reverbs and the routing is pretty insane for a delay plug-in. It’s outstanding for huge, layered walls of vocals/harmonies.

And as much as I have available to me in the AxeFX, I still put a basic ping-pong delay on pretty much everything. I’ve been getting more into the 2290 delay lately, especially for clean stuff because of the modulation it’s adding to the delay trails.

And I’m a HUGE reverse delay junkie. I put that shit on everything and when you dial it in with another delay, it doesn’t sound out of place or draw your attention away. If the main delay is set for 1/4’s, I’ll set the reverse delay to 1/2 and it creates this cool sound like it’s ‘sucking up’ the initial delays into a tube or something. If I were to have any signature kind of sound, it’d probably be that.

[Jeff]

So which is like, the best, delay pedal?

Yes.

[Jeff]

I’ve not owned a ton of pedals, but I’ve played a shit ton. I’ll have to do this from a keyboard later, and I’ll mark where it’s “I played it for an hour or so” vs. “I lived with it for months/years”.

[Chris]

I’m a delay nut as well. Gilmour and EJ were my two earliest influences with that.

My first one was a DOD/Digitech PDS-1000 I got at Daddy’s Junky Music for like $65.

I had that same pedal, and I also bought it at Daddy's. I traded it in (again at DJM) for a GSP7 in ~1995/6 or so. Did you happen to get it used? I wonder if you had my old pedal!

[Jeff]

Line 6 Echo Park:
I thought it was the shit. Judging by the fact that it used three of the DL4 sounds, it probably wasn't terrible, but probably not as great as I thought it was.

Boss DD-500:

Jumped all the way to this, after not having anything for a very long time. Sounds are fantastic; the Vintage Digital rivals the Strymon DIG, and all of the sounds (except Tera Echo) are really usable. I really got aggravated with the menu hell though, so I ditched it.

Line 6 M5:

It's got all of the xx-4 sounds in it, including the DL4. So it does sound pretty decent. Bit of a ton suck though, IMO, and not as good as more modern pedals like the Strymon, SA, and larger Boss pedals.

Eventide H9:

One of the best and worst pedals I've ever had. Seriously, the dependency on a smart phone is maddening, and their app is absolute shit. But the delay tones are simply stunning, without a doubt.

Strymon DIG:

if you love the 80's digital rack tones (Korg SDD-3000, Roland SDE-2000/3000 DD-2) this is THE pedal. Very easy to use, and sounds fantastic. Not sure why I sold this.

Source Audio Collider:

Really, really great tones all around. Both the delays and reverbs are Strymon-class easily, and it packs a ton of shit in a single pedal. Unfortunately, because of that the editing is really frustrating because you have to flip back and forth to use the same controls for both Reverb and Delay, which is annoying, IMO. I sold it.

TC Electronic Flashback 2:

I simply cannot understand why this pedal is so popular. It and the HoF2 are two of the most mediocre pedals I've ever owned or played. Outside of the 2290 delays (which are pretty decent) the rest of the pedal is totally lackluster, compared to recent Boss, Strymon, SA, Eventide, etc.

Boss DD-200:

A distilled and far easier to use version of the DD-500, it's got the same algorithms, but without the deep dive menus. It does add oil can delays, but they foolishly removed the Vintage Digital, which really pisses me off, to the point where I might get a DIG again.

Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral:

This is a fun odd one. It ranges from a single analog flavored delay (though it's definitely digital) to a really weirded out modulated delay, complete with depth, rate, and shape. This through a good reverb will definitely get you some great Space Whale Fucking Sounds™.

Not owned, but played, sometimes a lot:

Boss DD single-sized pedals: good solid delay pedals (which is why you see them on tons of boards), albeit unexciting. The exception to this might be the newest one, the DD-8, which I'm nearly certain uses the same algorithms from the bigger DD pedals, and sounds great.

Boss DM-2w: To me, this is THE analog delay pedal. It sounds really, really good, is very musical, self-oscillates if you want it to, and is super simple. There's a reason tons of "boutique" analog delays use the same chip this one does.

MXR Carbon Copy: eh. Never been big on this one, though the Bright version does fix a little bit of the problem with the darkness of the original. However, I've always found all of them to be just too gritty on the repeats. I know that's a bit of the point of analog, but it was just too much loss on these, IMHO.

Chase Bliss Audio Tonal Recall: Well, it uses the same chip as the original DM-2, so it does sound great. However, it's flexibility up the wazoo, so if you want that, it's a cool pedal. That being said, I have a hard time saying it's worth $400 or whatever it's at. I'd think the Strymon Brigadier is a better buy, even though it's not true analog.

Strymon El Cap and Brigadier: tape and analog, respectively. Really great delays, as most people already know. I'll say these two sound better to me for whatever reason than the Timeline actually does. No idea if it's in my head, or if that's actually the case.

EQD Avalanche Run: really underwhelming, both in terms of delay and reverb. It's an okay-ish pedal if you want to combine delay and reverb, but there's nothing really outstanding here IMO. If you want a combo pedal, I think the Collider is better, even with the frustrating controls.

EHX Canyon: surprisingly good digital delay with a lot of features. For under $200, it's a really solid choice. Definitely better than TC stuff, IMO.

Eventide Time Factor: This basically sounds the same as the H9, however dedicated to delays, with dedicated controls. Still a nice pedal, but expensive.

[Leah]

Jeff - interesting that we have such different opinions on the Flashback.

[JJ Rodriguez]

I opened this expecting it to be another QC thread.

[Jeff]

Jeff - interesting that we have such different opinions on the Flashback.

Yeah, I mean there’s a ton of subjectivity here. It wasn’t awful, I just thought the analog and tape were a letdown. Just lackluster.

[playstopause]

I opened this expecting it to be another QC thread.

[Jeff]

Bloody_Inferno we should post short clips of each delay we have or play, in this thread, and reverbs I’m the other thread. That’d be cool, and potentially useful.

[Bloody_Inferno]

Bloody_Inferno we should post short clips of each delay we have or play, in this thread, and reverbs I’m the other thread. That’d be cool, and potentially useful.

Yeah definitely something to do down the line. ATM I will occasionally do a crappy IG clip whenever I post an NPD but it's a good excuse to get me playing more often.

[Megametal7]

I had Artec dealy since I've been playing guitar. I want to try TC Flashback.

[Jeff]

Yeah definitely something to do down the line. ATM I will occasionally do a crappy IG clip whenever I post an NPD but it's a good excuse to get me playing more often.

I'll do it in both, as I think of it and as I come across pedals. I'll keep it really short, because no one wants to watch me noodle around for 5 minutes.

[Jeff]

I had Artec dealy since I've been playing guitar. I want to try TC Flashback.

You should be able to pick them up pretty cheap now on Reverb. Go for the v.2. Also consider the EHX Canyon as well.

[Bloody_Inferno]

I'll do it in both, as I think of it and as I come across pedals. I'll keep it really short, because no one wants to watch me noodle around for 5 minutes.

Hell, I don't want to watch me noodle around dor 5 minutes.

[Jeff]

Hell, I don't want to watch me noodle around dor 5 minutes.

This is all for the drug hit that is buying gear; I don't actually need to play this stuff, do I?