Filling a hole (or digging one)—delay-lay-lay-lay suggestions?

[Gavanti]

I have a setup that I like (below), but which I also think I might be able to make a bit more useful. Yesterday, I created a hole on my pedalboard by moving my loop, which I only use for a couple of songs, to the top row. So now, of course, I want to fill it. Ideally, I would throw something in the chain between the Broadcast and the RM-1n so that I have the option, either in that hole or by moving the RM-1n up a row. Currently, I’m thinking this should be another delay, ideally one with sound on sound and maybe modulation. I picked up an Avalanche Run v2, and the delay works well for this, but the reverb is pretty much unnecessary, so I’m wondering if there’s another option that will pull off both more traditional delay sounds, with fun options.

The Red Panda Tensor looks like a possibility if it will pull off more normal delay, but I haven’t had a chance to use one. Other suggestions? I've had a bunch of the Catalinbread delays and Strymon delays but haven't tried many others:

[jthomas]

The hole looks big enough for a Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai. Pedal choice is very individualistic and the Memory Man is not very boutique, so I don't know if it's in your wheelhouse. Still......

[Gavanti]

The hole looks big enough for a Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai. Pedal choice is very individualistic and the Memory Man is not very boutique, so I don't know if it's in your wheelhouse. Still......

Thanks for the suggestion. Less spendy is good if it works and sounds right. I think there’s actually an abandoned SMM in my band’s practice space. I’ll give it a shot to see if that’s a good fit.

[CorporateDisguise]

Don't do it! The SMMH is super addicting. It's been on my board for like 8 years or something. You'll try and try to get rid of it, but it will just keep coming back to you.....

In reality though, it has a great simple looper in it. The standard delay sounds are ok. The more out there sounds are incredible. Make sure you play with the 1sec+rev and hold down the tap tempo button. You are in for a treat.... It's the only pedal that does this wierd reverse swell in such a controlled way, and I'm totallly addicted to it.

Also the looper does this really cool thing where when it starts to run out of space because you've layered to many loops. Instead of just dropping some of the information it starts to fade them out and seemingly lowers the sample rate or something and they start to degrade in a really cool way.

The downside to it for me is that it does something to my dry signal. I think it might have some sort of limiter in it to prevent digital clipping. So it really doesn't like boost pedals.

I would suggest skimming the manual, because for such a seemingly simple pedal, it does a million wierd things you would never expect it to.

[fuzzjunkie]

I would have said El Capistan right off the bat, but if I remember you think the Strymon pedals sound sterile or plastic?

The Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude would fit, and does a swirly modulated echo. It's not sterile, is boutique, but doesn't have sound on sound. There isn't really another delay pedal that sounds like it other than the old, and giant sized, Morley spinning oil drum delay.

[beauzooka]

Check out the DOD Rubberneck - analog delay with tap tempo and lots of weird features for nutz sounds.
Can be gotten for fairly cheap these days.

[Gavanti]

So the SMMH was super fun. I liked the longish delay times available, the tap tempo, and the reverse is really nice. I'm going to keep messing with it. I could see it being useful, and I think I could adapt to its switching quirks with looping. In a smaller box, it might be perfect, but between the box size and the side jacks, I don't think it will fit I suspect not even if I shifted the RM-1n up a row.

The Avalanche Run is still in the mix. The reverb is less redundant than I originally thought, and it offers a lot of usable control. Also it fits.

I had an El Cap for a short while. In the past, when I have run Strymon up against other good pedals, I've tended to prefer the sound of the others, and I've generally been in the camp that hears them as a kind of brightish overlay on the signal (the exception was the Flint—it took some real work to find a reverb/trem pairing I liked as much as that). However, whatever reservations I have had might be negated by intended placement here. Size might be an issue.

The Meet Maude has intrigued me for awhile. It's shorter on features but certainly in line with sounds I tend to like, but I've read that it has problems in a live mix due to the dark repeats. I'll give some Rubberneck demos a listen too. I seem to remember looking at both of these and going for the Kilobyte instead, but again this is a different context.

Alexander has a few delay offerings that look interesting w/o SOS, but I don't know much about them.

Thanks for the suggestions. These are fun ideas. More are welcome.

[somanytoys]

The only delays that I have are Meris Polymoons. Has very controllable cascading phasers and dynamic flanger. Not cheap, but incredibly usable.

I bought one and set it up in mono, and it was very nice, but it took me a while to really understand how to use all of the controls to get things going well with the phasers and the flanger. When I set it up in stereo, I found that it really shines that way, especially once you start understanding the controls. So I bought another one for the other pedalboard, I love them.

The only thing I don't like about it is that I wish that it had individual input jacks, instead of having to use a TRS-Y for stereo input, but it does have a jack for each out. It also can be controlled with their 4 button memory controller (sold separately), an expression pedal or midi, or a single preset.

It's not cheap, and the controls are kind of complicated, but if you spend the time to learn them, even just long enough to get 1 or maybe a few good sounds into memory, it's an incredible pedal. I'm not even using any reverb at the end of the chains the moment with these, and I am a reverb freak.

Edit - Okay, the first sentence is not really true. I also still have a Keeley 30MS that I use with a 5th amp, and I a VFE Yodeler, that I'm keeping because I'm not selling any of my VFE pedals. I'll probably keep both of those, but the Polymoons are what will remain on my boards.

I also have 2 Zoom MS CDR 70s, for my smaller amps and to use when traveling. But the delays that I've gone through and sold include an old Keeley/Boss DD-3, a DD-20, an Akai Headrush 2, and a Keeley Caverns, off the top of my head.

[panoramic]

meris polymoon, put it in there and go to space

[fever606]

meris polymoon, put it in there and go to space

I want a Tensor badly but this might be your winner...

[panoramic]

meris polymoon, put it in there and go to space

I want a Tensor badly but this might be your winner...

the polymoon is disgustingly awesome, that pedal and the meris enzo are just mindblowing

[somanytoys]

I would love to check out the Enzo. I have a friend that has one and says it's awesome, but complicated.

I also have an Ottobit, Jr., that I like a lot. I understand the controls to a pretty decent depth, but the time that I think it would take to think about & figure out how I want to program it & then do it to really dig into it, is more time than I'm really willing to spend right now. It's pretty easy to get some different cool sounds even without having a great understanding. I think with most of their pedals you can luck into some good things, but some of the real gems are below the surface to make the features interface.

Meris makes some really great pedals.

[Gavanti]

Ha! Definitely digging one (a hole, that is). The Avalanche Run is gone, and a DBA RM is about to follow after failing to dislodge either of the other reverbs (it did sound particularly good before the Soothsayer though). I managed to create another hole, moved the Kilobyte to my dirt line, and picked up a Rubberneck and an Obscura on the cheap. Also, just to complicate things, an AE Shepherd too.

I’m still keeping in mind the other reccs. The Polymoon looks super fun.

[somanytoys]

It is nice. There are others that are probably just as nice, at least in different ways/applications, but nobody that I know that's bought one has sold it. It's complicated, though.

Reverbs are almost even more eclectic, but that's good depending on what you're after. Something like the Loomer, or the RM-1N or an Empress Reverb, and many others.

Pedals really seem to be going all over the place, in different directions, it seems like many are tailored to be more specific to certain applications, or if they do a lot, are better at some things than others.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Just found this pedal on Prymaxe, and thought it sounded interesting. Mike Hermann always does the best delay demos. Nice and compact, has a ton of usable features too. I might look into one myself...