Effects Bay

Yesterday I asked the following community question – If you had to pick one pedal to have for the rest of your life, what pedal would that be? I wanted to see what you all had to say about this. This is a great way to learn about other pedals, and to see what people are passionate about. Clearly, any pedal mentioned, is something worth considering in the future when in search of a new pedal.

I’ve had a few emails asking me what my answer to the question is – since I didn’t answer it in the previous post. Like I mentioned I thought it was pretty easy, but it’s not. One person mentioned his TU-2. Even though it’s not an effect, I would put that on the list, but since that’s not very exciting. I think I would put the Paul Cochrane Tim overdrive as the top. I use to use a Ibanez TS-9 and replaced it with the Tim for the lead overdrive boost and that thing is pretty awesome. #2 would be my T-Rex Replica delay. Lately I’ve been messing around with delay parts so been having lots of fun with that and a Boss DD-3.

So anyway, enough about me, let’s see the responses. This is a collection of Twitter, Facebook and Comments so we can get them all in one place. If you missed the original post and want to contribute, please comment below!

Responses from Facebook

Andrew J. Masterson With my current collection, I’d have to go with my Boss DD-20. It’s not my ideal choice, but I have to say a delay is the single most important effect I have to have.
Justin Vigeant Has to be an overdrive… and the one I have had most luck with is the Fulltone Full Drive 2.
Joshua Dawson HA! As soon as Omar bawked, I got upset. The poor man clearly likes pedals, but he’s never fallen in love. Mine is easy: my Ibanez DDL, the green one, not the blue DL10. It’s a sweet, versatile, durable delay pedal with a great, warm analog feel and an unlatched hold-delay mode that I modded for fast, glitchy stutter delay. I could not live without that pedal.
Jeffrey Bailey I would have to say a carbon copy. It sounds amazing and there is no replacement for a good delay. I run mine at 18v and it is the only pedal I must have.
Ggiiaaxx Seldom DMM organic beauty
Dave N Michele Clinton Fulltone GT500!
Ian Ross Id be really torn between my ol reliable tubescreamer and my airplane flanger….. the flanger is signed by Paul Gilbert so its more of a sentimental thing than a functionality thing.
Paul Dmytrewycz It’s not an effect, but I’ve always said that the one pedal I own that I absolutely cannot function without is my Boss TU-2 tuner.
Andrew Clock DMM or EHX Holiest Grail
Jeremy M Cohen Boss Chorus CE-5
Kelevra Villalobos My Frankenmuff (Big Muff modified)… i really need that fuzz
Brian Mack I’ve got a Keeley modded Sparkle Drive that has become my fave recently. I can’t imagine ever getting rid of it.

Responses from Twitter

will_spicer @effectsbay Morley little alligator & tied 2nd #Fulltone OCD and #DMB Foxy pi-rate. hate to choose amongst my many delays/reverbs.
DosEXmachina29 @effectsbay, big muff
jdstalnaker @effectsbay ts9
senorpuma @effectsbay believe it or not, my Ibanez SuperMetal – I have it dialed in to a very subtle darkness that I love #favoritepedal

Comments from the original post:

Nick my BYOC tri-boost, adds some very nice crunch with very little compression…
Michael Burgess I think I would have to have my Q-balls bass envelope. Bass is just bass without a filter. I need the funk.
Lee I’m going to assume multi effects pedals are out of the question? If so, easy answer for me – Boss FL2 flanger. I can get any range of chorus-ey, tremelo-ey, semi-phaser-ey (and of course flanger-ey) sound I need. If I want crunch, I can just push the amp harder. (I hope we’re not on a desert island.)
Jon Patton My Malekko 616. Hard for me to live without an orange squeezer and volume pedal, but it’s awfully hard to fake delay.
Gary Vogel Cannot live without delay, and the best is my TimeFactor by Eventide. I love dirt, but I get is from my VHT or EVHII amps just fine.
Chris Barrus My Moogerfooger analog delay. I can pretty much get what I want with the right guitar/amp combo, but like the commenter above said – it’s awfully hard to fake delay.
Mike Definitely my Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder, it’s the base of my tone. Plus it’s versatile enough and I love the feedback loop.
Skattabrain Blackout Effectors Twosome Fuzz… you can get usable fuzz, distortion and even a clean boost from it.

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This morning I wanted to do some research on the top best selling delay pedals. For this I thought I would pick three merchants that sell delay pedals and sort by Best Selling to get a list. I was confident that I would see some of the basic names, but I was surprised by some of the results. For each merchant I took their Top 10 Best Selling Delay Pedals and listed them below. I want to stress that these are the top *best selling* not necessarily the top *best* delays. Some of these are probably best selling due to price vs. tone and capability. Either way it’s interesting to see what people are buying.

Musician’s Friend
MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Line 6 DL4 Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Rogue Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
TC Electronic Nova Repeater Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Boss DD-20 Giga Delay
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal
Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy Delay Guitar Effects Pedal

Amazon
Behringer DD400 Guitar Delay Effect Pedal
Jim Dunlop M169 Mxr Carbon Copy Analog Delay
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
Line 6 DL4 Stompbox Delay Modeler
TC Electronic Nova Repeater: Guitar Delay Pedal
Boss DD-20 Giga Delay
Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai Delay Looper Pedal
Boss RE-20 Roland Space Echo Twin Pedal
Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Music123
MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Line 6 DL4 Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
DeltaLab DD1 Digital Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
Akai Professional E2 Headrush Delay/Looper Pedal
Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog Delay
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal
Fulltone TTE Delay Effect Tube Tape Echo
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man XO Analog Delay

I was expecting to see the Boss DD-3 and DD-7 to be in the lists, but I was surprised to not see Electro-Harmonix all over these lists. Likewise, I was surprised to see the Fulltone tape delay in there. Additionally, some of the other pedals (DeltaLab, Behringer and Rogeu) might need a closer look, since they are in these lists. I would say the MXR Carbon Copy is clearly the winner for best selling delay. Why don’t I own one???? Hmmm, I better get on it.

Let me know what you think of these lists!

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Many years ago I was into using delays and I really enjoyed them. Around 1999ish I sorta went on the flip side and ditched all my effects and was really interested in going straight to the amp (with an occasional OD). A couple of years (basically when I started this blog), I’ve started to work my way back to effects… and now have a pedal board again. On my ‘want’ list from the very beginning for delays was the T-Rex Replica delay. It’s widely regarded as one of the best delays you can get.

When I decided to get back into delays, I picked up the Line 6 DL4 delay modeler. Great sounding pedal with a ton of options. For some reason, I’m a “sucker” for options. I’m starting to get wise though.. options sometimes equals a pain in the ass. This is a personality fault of mine. I like tweaking, but I hate remembering procedures. You see, the Line 6 is great sounding, but I get irritated when it comes to tweaking the knobs, re-setting presets.. or hosing presets by accident. Sometime the ‘good’ thing is a ‘bad’ thing.

I really want a simple delay with minimal knobs, no presets and optionally a tap tempo. A couple of months ago I found a great deal on a Boss DD-3 delay, so I jumped on that to give it a try. There is no question that you see the Boss delays (DD-3, DD-6 and DD-7) on a lot of pedal boards.. including a good many pros, so I wanted to give it a shot. This is definitely getting closer to what I’m talking about… 4  knobs and easy to tweak, no memory required on how to work the pedal. The only downside.. was the tone. I felt that it was a little too digital for what I wanted to get out of it. I like the long repeats, but it was too clean.. if that makes any sense. It also had a slight processed tone especially with some gain on the amp.

Here is where the T-Rex Replica Delay comes into the picture. I had super high expectations for this pedal, which can usually lead to a bad thing, but immediately, I was blown away. The first feature I was liking was the ‘Brown’ switch. Here is where you would darken the repeats to give it more of a traditional analog sound. Another feature that I liked was the input level pot (it’s the black nub on the right side of the pedal). This pot knob is recessed after set, and controls the input level signal coming to the pedal. For my board, it’s last in the line up, so I have some ODs in front (including a fuzz) that jack the signal. This signal boost overdrives the pedal (which can be cool in some cases), but I wanted to dial that in. So I set the Level control (top right) all the way, and then dial back input level control till it’s unity without any break up. There is a subdivisions switch where you can get that U2 vibe, but I’ve been having trouble figuring this out. I understand it’s directly related to the Tap Tempo switch (on top of that… I suck at the U2 stuff). The rest of the controls are pretty self-explanatory – Echo is the ‘blend or mix’ control. Repeat is how long the repeats.. repeat. Tempo is dial tempo.. or you can go with the Tap Tempo footswitch.

The toggle switches seem backwards to me. As you look at the photo above the toggle is pushed forward on the Brown switch. But actually, that is turning off the Brown setting. Likewise, the subdivisions looks like it’s ‘off’, but actually it’s on. I’ve seen other versions of the pedals with push switches for this (not sure why mine has toggles).  Regarding the tempo knob, you will not be able to adjust the tempo to get that freaked out delay rate sound. The pedal adjusts by stopping then reassigning tempo value. So if you’re into adjusting the tempo as part of your effect, this pedal is not for you. As for me, I’ll just adjust the tempo pre-song and I ride with it all the way.. so no worries for me.

To me, this is the best delay I have ever played.. hands down. The sound of the delay is extremely warm and open.. and big. It’s also versatile to be able to  sound like a digital delay or an older analog unit. I’ve heard some people refer to this as a analog delay.. which is not correct. The circuitry is analog but there are 24bit converters (2 Burr Brown 24-bit converters – 1 A/D and 1 D/A) in there, making it digital. I can’t say enough how stellar this delay is. If you’re looking to upgrade or pick up a new delay, I would HIGHLY recommend this delay.  We have a few demos in the queue, but maybe we can get Jimmy to give it a proper demo in the near future.

If you’re interested in picking up the T-Rex Replica delay, they’re available for $399.00 at Musician’s Friend. You might be able to find a deal on a T-Rex Replica via PedalNerd.com

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I’ve been doing Pedal Line Fridays for a bit now, and one pedal I see quite a bit is the Boss DD-3 (or the  Boss DD-7). The Boss DD-3 is a powerful, easy-to-use delay pedal.. with a price that’s pretty hard to beat. I also see this pedal on pro touring musicians as well (Buzzo from Melvins, Yannis and Jimmy from Foals, Robert from the Cure, etc).

Basically, in a nut shell, the Boss DD-3 has three modes and can give you delay times from 12.5 to 800ms with a optional hold function for infinite repeats. If you’re looking for more (ie: tap tempo) you may want to look at the Boss DD-7. As I mentioned, for the price is nice.. at $99.99 for the Boss DD-3.

Here is the official description of the Boss DD-3

With three delay-time modes, the Boss DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal can handle all your performance needs. Features delay times that range from 12-1/2 to 800ms. Produces endless repeats on demand in Hold mode. Comes with a 5-year warranty.

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal Includes:

* 5-year warranty

I found this video by BOSSchannel. They did a good job showing the different modes while playing different styles of music.

As I mentioned earlier, you can pick up the Boss DD-3 Digital Delay for $99.99 at Musician’s Friend.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

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Back in the late 80s and 90s I was a huge Cure fan. Loved the textures that band was able to put together. I started to move on after the Wish album, but recently starting to get back into them again. I just picked up the Disintegration re-issue box set, and that is absolutely amazing. Now all I’m thinking about is buying a Fender Bass VI (if that’s even possible) and working out some fun melodic lead lines. Love that sound.. and especially the mood of Robert’s playing style and tone.

I was curious what exactly he used or uses today, and it’s surprisingly not that well know. I figured there would be tons of sites or photos of his pedal board. I always remembered he used Boss pedals (especially in those 80-90 years). I was able to find some of the older Boss pedals he used. Please, if you know more.. please let me know.

Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss Chorus CE-3
Boss Overdrive OD-1
Boss Flanger BF-2

Apparently he used Boss DM-2, Boss DD-2 and Boss DD-3 for delays at different points.

I found a great page at Guitar Tone Overload which talks about replicating some of Robert Smith’s tone. You can read it here.

I also found a couple of fairly recent photos of Robert with his gear. Let’s see if we can name these pedals in the comments below.

Going down this memory-lane has been fun!

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I think it’s pretty cool that Musician’s Friend is starting to carry Keeley modded pedals. I hope they will continue to carry smaller builders, because the bottom line, they’re building and creating great pedals.

Today, I wanted to talk about the Keeley Modded Boss DD-3 Analog Switch and Effects Loop pedal. This mod is pretty cool, basically he’s added a capacitor to smooth and darken the repeats giving it a simulated  ‘analog’ feel. You can switch between this and the normal digital mode. He’s also added a effects loop to the delay, so you can get effected repeats, which is pretty awesome.

Here is Keeley’s official description of the pedal:

There are two parts to this mod. First, “SWITCHABLE ANALOG FEEL” and then and EFFECTS LOOP! Players can now take the industry standard compact delay and select between 2 different smoothing caps that give it an analog delay feel or set it for the stock sound! All of this via a small three way toggle switch. We transform the Direct Out of the stock BOSS DD-3 and convert it into an effects loop so that you can add any effect to Just the Repeats!!! Imagine adding slight chorus or phase to the signal so that you can simulate tape effects, warble, wobble, or any other vintage/modern effect you can dream up! You’d be hard pressed to find another delay pedal that gives you this amount of creativity.

I also found a video showing both the effects loop and analog/digital style delays by coolpedals:

You can pick up the Keeley Modded Boss DD-3 Analog Switch and Effects Loop pedal for $209.00 at Musician’s Friend. Looks like they’ll be in stock in April.

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

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