best delay pedals

  • Thread starter Thread starter daav
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daav

daav

Flailing up a storm.
Picking up my first one sometime soon, what is the best bang for the buck at, say, under $150. use would primarily be for Johnny Cash, rockabilly and that sort of thing, i imagine.

Modding is an option, i have done a couple of monte allums mods successfully so far.

Daav
 
Is this for performing or recording? If you are looking for a delay for recording and can use a rack unit, the long discontinued Deltalab Effectron III is great and cheap. The Ibanez AD202 is wonderful as well and takes a foot switch, but tends to be pricier.
 
I'm more than a little fond of my DD-20. I've got a FS-5U pedal hooked up as a tap tempo pedal, and I can cycle between five different rhythmic delays. If you're going for the Bob Wootton thing, getting the tempo right is very important.



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Thanks for the intput all, many options here...

Any opinions on the either of the BYOC delay/echo kits? One is less than 100, the other a bit more, but both would be fun projects, will they be worth it, and ultimately be a keeper delay that won't need replacing anytime soon? Any chance they will hold their value for resale later if needed?

Thanks,
Daav
 
The BYOC's are nice but the MXR carbon will still fit the bill better.
 
daav said:
Thanks for the intput all, many options here...

Any opinions on the either of the BYOC delay/echo kits? One is less than 100, the other a bit more, but both would be fun projects, will they be worth it, and ultimately be a keeper delay that won't need replacing anytime soon? Any chance they will hold their value for resale later if needed?

Thanks,
Daav
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A clone that you build yourself will have zero resale value. There is no way to know the quality of work by a DIY'er, so why would anyone want to buy one?

It may, however, be a pedal which would work for you.


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
If you BYOC first, without knowing the other delay pedals, then you will always wonder if you have the right one.

There is an Echo Park Line6 module. Sounds ok, versatile, but reliability has come into question a lot with their Tone Core modules. I sold mine.

I had a Guyatone MD3 that I now regret selling, and it will cost me an arm to replace it. Very nice sound, very versatile.

The Ibanez DE7 is a decent compromise with price and sound, but the AD9 is a better built pedal and costs more.

The Boss delays are nice if modded, as with any Boss pedal. If you can do your own mod, and you want it to last, even if it may not have the best sound and the highest price tag, then Boss is a good alternative.

MXR is great sound, but some of their stuff has a higher noise floor, and you have to pay attention because they have some pedals that use a proprietary power supply adapter.......wont work on a 1 Spot. Of all the used ebay stuff I've bought, I've had the most problems with used MXR gear. It probably gets abused more often because it's tough and more likely to be gigged and kicked around.

For me, the best stock stuff out of the box has been the Ibanez and the MXR. Allums mods are nice, but the Tone Lok pedals are extremely annoying to work on. Boss is easy to mod, MXR mods are usually best left to the pros. They may be deliberately making stuff now to be "mod resistant."
 
not in that price range...but best value for the buck for me has been the akai headrush...greats sounds, plenty of features, built like a tank and amazing recording tool as well as part of my live rig
 
For rockabilly and country kind of stuff, I say Rocktron Short Timer. Respectable sound, solid build, and $59.
 
The most versatile and best sounding delay pedal is the TC Electronics Nova Delay. It's a digital pedal, but has excellent tape and analog modeling. I've had mine for nearly two years. The price (249.00) seemed to be very expensive to me when I first picked it up. But, in the end, all of the crappy pedals I sold (Boss Trem, Boss Metal Zone (eek), Electro Harmoniz Octave Multiplexer (don't miss it), EH Big Muff Russian) to finance it wound up being one of the best decisions of my musical career.

If I was to use an all-analog delay the obvious choice would be the Ibanez AD9. I personally need tap-tempos, but I've considered addding the AD9 to pair with a ring modulator to make some truly bent sounds.

In general, I find if you don't spend more than $150 bucks on a delay pedal the results are shit. I certainly don't feel like this about all guitar pedals, but for me delays are a HUGE part of my sound. I've tried every pedal from the eventide on down to the crappy Ibanez Tone-Lok nonsense. You get what you pay for.

Also, IMHO, I wouldn't ever go near the boss delays. The interface is problematic, and sound quality is dubious at best.
 
Try a DE7, it might do the trick for cheap.

The Carbon Copy is great, first thing that came to mind, and not surprised to see it mentioned. My other guitar player sold his AD9 to get one after I got mine. No comparison.

Same price range, other contenders would be the DD7 and the Hardwire delay. The Hardwire would probably do the echo thing better than the Boss. Unless you want the versatility of the other features (long delays, reverse, et al), I'd stick with the CC.
 
starbuck26 said:
The most versatile and best sounding delay pedal is the TC Electronics Nova Delay. It's a digital pedal, but has excellent tape and analog modeling. I've had mine for nearly two years. The price (249.00) seemed to be very expensive to me when I first picked it up. But, in the end, all of the crappy pedals I sold (Boss Trem, Boss Metal Zone (eek), Electro Harmoniz Octave Multiplexer (don't miss it), EH Big Muff Russian) to finance it wound up being one of the best decisions of my musical career.
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This ended up being the winner, fgound a used one on ebay for about 200 and decided that it looked like i would get what i wanted an be able to get much of that $ back with resale if not. Hate dropping 2 bills on something i haven't tried, but this seems like a keeper, and leaves me not too exposed.

Thanks for all the input everyone.
 
daav said:
This ended up being the winner, fgound a used one on ebay for about 200 and decided that it looked like i would get what i wanted an be able to get much of that $ back with resale if not. Hate dropping 2 bills on something i haven't tried, but this seems like a keeper, and leaves me not too exposed.

Thanks for all the input everyone.
Click to expand...

YES! I WIN! HAHAHAHAHA







seriously... though... that is a great pedal. I didn't even mention that you can hold down the tap button and sync the delay to your picking. that is a brilliant feature.
 
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