How much attention do you give to setting your delay pedal?

Yeah, I like the Tone Print app on my mini HoF reverb...when I can get it to work.


My wife: "What are you doing in there?!?!?"


*Chzzzxrrrrssssshhhpppphhhht*

I have a Maxon AD999 and it really depends upon my mood. Some days I like to goof around with my pedals, other times I just wanna play. Maybe a pedal or two. So, I guess all in all, I turn the knobs.

It wasn’t unusual for me to have as many as 4 delays on my board when I was gigging. I always had at least two: a Danecho and a Bods DD-3. Each was set to do their thing and I had tape over the knobs to keep them as I set them.

The thing with the CC (and why I didn't get one) was the delay time was just too bloody short.

I need at LEAST Space Echo length.

Typically, I have a few settings that make me happy - on the things with presets, they're installed.

On the analog and actual tape, I twist the knobs as needed.

I *rarely* use tap tempo, honestly.

For years I gigged my little blue plastic Danelectro PB&J, happily setting it to approx 450ms and leaving it there. Then I upgraded to the first edition TC Flashback with the "audio tap" where you strum the tempo while holding down the button. I found it was not useful on stage but I saw the advantages of tap tempo and my days of "one setting and go" were firmly over. After a couple of years both my Flashback and HoF started malfunctioning, the TonePrint app became a bug-infested disaster, and customer service went from great to atrocious. Not being able to trust the features I bought the darn pedals for I replaced all my TC Electronic pedals, barr the PolyTune.

Next purchase was an Alexander Effects History lesson v3, a nice sounding delay pedal with a ton of features and REAL tap tempo! BUT the delay time wasn't particularly accurate to what you tapped. Turned out it was a consequence of how they implemented the tap tempo and other functions using the same foot switch (tap for tempo vs long tap for time division selections). I worked with their engineers for a few weeks testing firmware upgrades but nothing really helped much before they stopped responding and after a year I moved it on.

But there was no question now that delay time had now become part of my brain process! Everything I play, if I want delay, my brain decides on the tempo it wants, i.e. I hear my parts in my head with the tempo I want. I can tap or dial it in almost equally fast but tap is more convenient and accurate.

Now I have Strymon El Capistan V1 and I LOVE it. Oddly, the first thing I did with it was sit down for a few hours and figure out how to make it sound as close as possible to my old PB&J (which still works, it's just missing a knob). I have zero desire to change the El Cap for anything else. I've found what I always needed and my days down the delay rabbit hole are over.

besides the echoplex i have a old Boss digital delay i rarley use. Its a battery sucker and sounds good but nothing like the anlog of my EP3 echoplex

I've only owned one Strymon pedal, a Flint and it was fantastic.  Stupid mistake letting it go.  I can't remember if it played nice with my VL ISO-5 power supply or if I used the dedicated one.  

I LOVE delay.

I've had a Wampler Faux Tape Echo for years, and while I still like and use it a bit, the Boss DM-2W has become my favorite by far.
So simple.....so awesome sounding.

Sometimes I think about gluing it to my amp.

The reason I had a Danecho to go along with my DD-3s was it had a decent analogue sound about it. Would anyone mistake it for the old tape delays? Absolutely not, but it served my purposes. I all but quit music when I quit gigging 11 years ago so I don't keep up with the stuff, but I bet there are some really cool delays around now days. Then again, I ran DD-3s forever it seems. Tried a DD-5 once and hated it. Took it back and got another DD-3. lol

I like delay when playing clean to add texture and sometimes use it when doing solos. I still use my old Digidelay. It has some pretty good settings like tape delay and modern delay with chorus . I usually tweak it occasionally and will sometimes use tap tempo. Thought about the Flashback 2 with the toneprint , but honestly I’m happy with it in live settings . Doesn’t have dotted eighth setting , but I don’t care.

I pay a lot of attention to the delay. On the 'big board' I run a DD7 and CC Delay together. My theory is if they are slightly out of phase it holds the delay but smooths out the effect. Here is a video I did some time ago on this. The board is a PIA to haul around but it has everything a boy needs.