How do you use delay?

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Ursa Minor
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Sat Oct 13, 2018 7:32 pm

I guess I'm mostly an analog delay player. I shift between an AD-900 or an old 2-prong cord DMM, sometimes I use both.

I like the AD-900 for basic no frills, smooth sounding analog echo. Love that it has a soft switch and that its a slightly larger size with knobs spread out a little further. Makes for tweaking with foot or reaching down to change settings easier in a pinch. But mainly its the sound. It's a dark delay but really buttery and smooth. Probably the smoothest sounding delay I've ever used. Its sits nice in the mix so you don't ever need to sync it up with your playing, although you can. I also like that it can do a great slap but also goes to 600ms which is much more than my DMM. Its a pillow of clouds. Its well behaved and sounds heavenly, so its good for adding ambience and thickening things up without being like "HEY I'M A DELAY!!" Bonus 12v operation so it also hangs in there if you run into a really hot amp.

Now...if my DMM had as much time as the Maxon it would be the end all, be all. This pedal has got to be the best sounding of the two. Its not dark, its more tape-like...probably more like a mix of tape delay and analog actually. The first few repeats are more prominent which can influence your feel but it still sits nice in a mix. Does the rhythmic thing better because of the increased fidelity of the repeats but it can also be dialed back for ambient background, etc. Its both a dreamy delay but can also be aggressive. The oscillation is unparalleled if you dig that kinda thing. And of course the modulation is what gives this its signature sound. I don't use much but I usually have a little of the chorus or vibrato on the repeats. Only drawback for me is that time tops out at 350-400ms, if that. Might be closer to just over 300ms. I know I could have it tuned up by either Analogman or Howard Davis but its too good. I don't want to mess with anything.

Bonus is that the DMM can do a great chorus or vibrato impression with the delay turned off.

My first ever delay was a Danelectro Dan Echo. I still have it! It's a great sounding tape / old school sounding box for what it is. Its budget for sure but I helped me learn how to tailor my repeats since it has a knob to darken the otherwise pristine tape sounding repeats. Best slap back ever, btw. Better than the DMM even. I've been keeping my eyes open for something similar with a higher build quality. For now I'm happy to break that one out every now and then for fun and it still sounds good.

DMM SIDE NOTE: I had an Echoplex for a bit, thinking it would own the DMM and that would HAVE to be my ultimate final delay. I liked the DMM better. Just sounded and felt better to me. Shrug.

But these days I use delay very sparingly when playing in a group. Its mostly at home to be honest.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by popvulture » Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:18 pm

kosmonautmayhem wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 7:32 pm
DMM SIDE NOTE: I had an Echoplex for a bit, thinking it would own the DMM and that would HAVE to be my ultimate final delay. I liked the DMM better. Just sounded and felt better to me. Shrug.
I have a Fulltone TTE and feel the same as you do about "the real thing" vs the DMM. That reminds me: I need to sell the TTE ;D

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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:14 am

Wow, thats interesting! And TTE's are usually so clean sounding and operate as new. Just goes to show how right they got the Memory Man. 8)
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by andy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:07 am

Anone else use a BOSS DM-2? I have the new WAZA version.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:36 am

I've had most of the the well known analogs, including an MN3005 DM-2. I liked it ok but preferred my old AD-80's voicing and preferred my Maxon AD-900 more. I feel like the Waza is more closely related to the AD-900 - especially since it can do 600ms and sounds really smooth. The older DMs sound a little crunchier to me. Cons for me, less than 300ms on mine and I wasn't a fan of the reverse delay time pot but it wasn't a huge deal breaker. Other than that I love the classic Boss enclosure. Just my 2p.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by andy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:40 am

The reverse pots do mess with my mind. I have one setting that seems to work so I leave it there. It’s a pretty fast repeat that trails for a good while.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:04 am

The DM-2w is a really good sounding delay imo. If I didn't have the AD-900 I would very likely own one.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by popvulture » Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:47 am

kosmonautmayhem wrote:
Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:14 am
Wow, thats interesting! And TTE's are usually so clean sounding and operate as new. Just goes to show how right they got the Memory Man. 8)
Yeah it's funny—I think what most people loved about Echoplexes had to do with the fact that they'd not aged well. When the TTE came out, it sounded pristine, which was nice, but definitely not that old decaying unit vibe at all.

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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:41 am

Definitely a lot of marketing hype around wow and flutter and worn out tape sound. The way it was intended was to be a pristine sound though. But like you said isn't always what folks are looking for.

Re: the Memory Man - I was just impressed that it was in the same ballpark as far as bandwidth and tone a tape delay but a thicker and warmer in a really good way. It also decays very similarly less high roll off right off (which is part of the design) than most other BBD delays.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by garyfanclub » Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:58 pm

This thread made me seek out an AD900, and eventually found one on Reverb for $125.

Stoked to have something that’s a bit more compact and less (somewhat) valuable to replace my DMM on my live/practice board. My DE7 is beat to shit, and frankly sounds a little corny after using the DMM for so long.

Hoping it gets here before the weekend!

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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Danley » Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:11 pm

I do not use it. Never really thought it added much to my sound- Though I have double-tracked guitar and spaced the results out by milliseconds. No pedal does that though (to a convincing degree.)
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:20 pm

garyfanclub wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:58 pm
This thread made me seek out an AD900, and eventually found one on Reverb for $125.

Stoked to have something that’s a bit more compact and less (somewhat) valuable to replace my DMM on my live/practice board. My DE7 is beat to shit, and frankly sounds a little corny after using the DMM for so long.

Hoping it gets here before the weekend!
Phenomenal deal on an AD-900! Well done, sir. I'm a big fan of mine in a live context.
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by garyfanclub » Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:00 pm

kosmonautmayhem wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:20 pm
garyfanclub wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:58 pm
This thread made me seek out an AD900, and eventually found one on Reverb for $125.

Stoked to have something that’s a bit more compact and less (somewhat) valuable to replace my DMM on my live/practice board. My DE7 is beat to shit, and frankly sounds a little corny after using the DMM for so long.

Hoping it gets here before the weekend!
Phenomenal deal on an AD-900! Well done, sir. I'm a big fan of mine in a live context.
Thanks! I’m after warm, subtle, just-barely-there haze behind my tone. Not interested in the dotted eighth note rhythmic stuff, just a bit of depth to blur the edges a bit. Sounds like this is the ticket!

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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:13 pm

Thats pretty much what the AD-900 is all about. Looking forward to hearing how it works for you!
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Re: How do you use delay?

Post by øøøøøøø » Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:13 am

stevejamsecono wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:50 am
So this is something I've always kind of tussled with as a guitar player. I've always enjoyed delayed sounds in recordings (on big guitar solos, slapback on 50s style stuff, rhythmic delay usage) but have struggled with integrating it into my playing in a way that's satisfying. Now generally when this has happened with other effects (flanger, phaser, tremolo, compression, etc.) I've just jettisoned them assuming that they weren't for me. In this case though, I really do want to crack this one because I'd like to take better advantage of delay as a tool in my trio. Right now I have a DOD Rubberneck that I've been using and I mostly use it for genre slapback on one song, and then a tighter one one some of my lead lines to add a bit more clattering around. It sounds great, but something still isn't hitting me right.

So what do you use, and how do you use it?
The most common issue I see with delay is when it makes everything seem cluttered and indistinct. In my experience, this results from two things:

1) having the wet/dry too much toward "wet" and/or the feedback too high. You'd be surprised how the barest trace of echo can make a huge difference. It's totally natural to subconsciously think "I bought this effect, I went to great pains to get the most awesome-sounding one, I want to hear it!" But if the delay is prominent enough to be consciously audible all the time (as opposed to just at ends of phrases, etc), then it's probably distracting.

of course, sometimes vulgar and distracting is what we want, and that that point do whatever!

2) insufficient attention paid to the timing of the repeat. If the repeat isn't in-time with some subdivision at the tempo you're playing at, it will tend to add clutter. The delay time knob is not a "set and forget" item for me. It's different on every song. In live performance, I'll often reach down and tweak it to make sure it's at whatever subdivision I want... whether it's a 32nd or 16th note slapback, or a dotted eighth, or a dotted quarter, or a triplet, or whatever.

If I'm playing single note lines, I want the delay to be timed such that it "hides" behind a subsequent note most of the time, except at the ends of phrases. This also means I want the wet/dry mix to be further toward dry than my instinct might lead me when I'm just trying out the delay pedal to hear what it sounds like.

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