Post by guitarman1 on Jul 24, 2006 7:19:31 GMT -7
For the past couple of months, I've been checking out a bunch of delay pedals and I thought I'd pass on my findings to you guys on the forum. I'm not going into the details on all of the different functions of each pedal, but will comment on the "sounds" of the ones I had the opportunity to audition. In the end, and VERY surprising to me, I bought a Boss DD-20 "Giga Delay". I mailed ordered some of them, and checked out some at Rudy's Music (Rudy Pensa of Pensa/Suhr guitars) in NYC.
1) Carl Martin Delayla $330.00 - nice overall delay sound, but there was some tone suckage with the pedal on or off. I didn't spend much time with this because of the overall coloration.
2) HBE Mimic $240.00 - IMHO, this is one of the worst sounding delays I've ever tried. It sounded fine when turned off, but when on, the delays sounded really colored and cheesy!
3) Maxon AD-999 $330.00 - sounded pretty neutral when off and the delays were very nice. If you like analog warmth and slight degradation of the repeats, this may be for you. I prefer a "cleaner" repeat, so I passed on this one. It is a very musical delay.
4) DLS Echo Tap $290.00 - No tone change at all when turned off, but slight thickening of the lower mids when on. This is a very musical pedal, even with the coloration, although there is a bit of annoying hiss. The delays are on the warm side and can be adjusted by a tone control. One thing that I found quite odd is the delay levels were very loud with the tone control set to the brightest settings (which isn't that bright). I couldn't turn the repeats down low enough for certain situations. DLS did say they would do a mod to lower the repeat levels, but I had to send it to them and pay an additional $23.00. I sent it back to the retailer.
5) Line 6 Echo Park $150.00 - Some mild tone suckage on or off and some hiss when on. Nice sounding repeats, but the overall feel & tone left me cold.
6) Visual Sound H20 Delay/Chorus $165.00 - Nice sounding repeats, but the overall pedal on or off sucked to much tone for my tastes.
7) Boss DD-20 $180.00 - Very, very little tone suckage when on or off, but barely perceptible. Excellent sounding delays that you can adjust with a tone control. Nice digital repeats, as well as simulated analog and tape repeats and other variations. Great sound, great features and reasonable price. I've never been a huge fan of Boss pedals, but they hit a home run with the DD-20. It also has 4 memory locations for your favorite presets and tap tempo. I set this up with a true bypass looper pedal and was able to do instantaneous comparisons with the DD-20 in line and completely bypassed. The tone differences were barely audible. Very impressive for a non-boutique pedal.
I hope this helps anyone looking for a delay pedal. I really wanted to try a T-Rex Replica, but couldn't find one in stock anywhere in NYC. The Replica goes for $400.00 or more and for that kind of money, I don't know how much better it could possibly sound compared to the Boss.
NOTE: I forgot that I also auditioned the Visual Sound H20 Delay/Chorus pedal and have added it in the above section.
1) Carl Martin Delayla $330.00 - nice overall delay sound, but there was some tone suckage with the pedal on or off. I didn't spend much time with this because of the overall coloration.
2) HBE Mimic $240.00 - IMHO, this is one of the worst sounding delays I've ever tried. It sounded fine when turned off, but when on, the delays sounded really colored and cheesy!
3) Maxon AD-999 $330.00 - sounded pretty neutral when off and the delays were very nice. If you like analog warmth and slight degradation of the repeats, this may be for you. I prefer a "cleaner" repeat, so I passed on this one. It is a very musical delay.
4) DLS Echo Tap $290.00 - No tone change at all when turned off, but slight thickening of the lower mids when on. This is a very musical pedal, even with the coloration, although there is a bit of annoying hiss. The delays are on the warm side and can be adjusted by a tone control. One thing that I found quite odd is the delay levels were very loud with the tone control set to the brightest settings (which isn't that bright). I couldn't turn the repeats down low enough for certain situations. DLS did say they would do a mod to lower the repeat levels, but I had to send it to them and pay an additional $23.00. I sent it back to the retailer.
5) Line 6 Echo Park $150.00 - Some mild tone suckage on or off and some hiss when on. Nice sounding repeats, but the overall feel & tone left me cold.
6) Visual Sound H20 Delay/Chorus $165.00 - Nice sounding repeats, but the overall pedal on or off sucked to much tone for my tastes.
7) Boss DD-20 $180.00 - Very, very little tone suckage when on or off, but barely perceptible. Excellent sounding delays that you can adjust with a tone control. Nice digital repeats, as well as simulated analog and tape repeats and other variations. Great sound, great features and reasonable price. I've never been a huge fan of Boss pedals, but they hit a home run with the DD-20. It also has 4 memory locations for your favorite presets and tap tempo. I set this up with a true bypass looper pedal and was able to do instantaneous comparisons with the DD-20 in line and completely bypassed. The tone differences were barely audible. Very impressive for a non-boutique pedal.
I hope this helps anyone looking for a delay pedal. I really wanted to try a T-Rex Replica, but couldn't find one in stock anywhere in NYC. The Replica goes for $400.00 or more and for that kind of money, I don't know how much better it could possibly sound compared to the Boss.
NOTE: I forgot that I also auditioned the Visual Sound H20 Delay/Chorus pedal and have added it in the above section.