Best Delay Around?

[solarplexus]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a digital delay to replace my BOSS RDD-20 (I'm keeping it, but need something more compact).  I'd like your opinion on what would be the best digital delay around, the best BANG for the bucks.  I was looking at a BOSS DD-3, which is an old classic, but ÃŒ'm still not sure yet.  Anyway, put your post, any suggestion would help!

Thanks!

[Mark Hammer]

If compact is a priority, the Line 6 Echo Park pedal has a very nice feature set for the price tag and is only a smidgen bigger than the standard Boss pedal.  It is stereo and has tap tempo as well, if that means anything to you.  There are certainly better delays, but in the realm of bang for buck in a small package this is a sweet deal.

[bwanasonic]

I'm not sure it will be the *best* for your needs, but in terms of quality, the T Rex Replica is widely considered to be the best delay pedal on the market:

http://www.t-rex-engineering.com/default.asp?show=page&id=2325

Kerry M

[putrefusion]

good god, that t-tex pedal is 600+ dollars MSRP.

[pi22seven]

I've been nothing but happy with the Danelectro PB & J.

[mrsage]

the T Rex Replica is widely considered to be the best delay pedal on the market:

Careful when using absolutes! I think "best delay" depends on your audience!

I know a lot of people who think that the Tone Czar Echoczar is the best delay pedal on the market...and the new Diamond Memory Lane is looking to be a fierce competitor. Then there are a ton of people who think that the Line6 DL-4 is the best just because of its versatility.


Myself, I just built a delay from www.buildyourownclone.com/delay

I added an effects loop to it, per the PT80 project from Moosapotamus ( http://www.moosapotamus.com/pt80delay/pt80delay.htm )

It's a very cool delay. Analog-voiced digital delay. I highly recommend it...buy the board for $15 and build it yourself. The boards are high-quality, with solder mask and eyelet through-holes...easy soldering.

[Satch12879]

TC 2290, hands down.

:mrgreen:

[Mark Hammer]

In terms of smaller floor pedals, the Boss DD-6, Line 6 Tonecore Echo Park, and T-Rex Replica would seem to be the current kings.

The T-Rex may well have the highest quality tone, given its concentration on a/d, d/a conversion.  The package is 1590BB sized, comes with separate tap tempo switch, mimicking of analog treble filtering, and 2000msec of delay time.  For its $600 tag, it also has limited MIDI implementation for performance control.  The Boss comes with up to 5200msec of sampling time, tap tempo, reverse delay, stereo ins/outs, and one stock "tone" for a street price around $160.  The Echo Park comes with up to 2500msec of delay/sample time, stereo ins/outs, reverse delay, tap tempo, limited modulation capability, 3 filter settings, some nifty studio tricks and a street price around $150-160.  Unlike the Boss, it permits full wet/dry blending for a wet-only output, which adds a little more versatility for the special effects.  

I can't speak to the sonic quality of the latter two compared to the T-Rex, but the verdict would be that if you want studio quality, don't need special effects, and have the purse to back it up, then go with T-Rex.  If you want simple and small, and have a need for longer phrase samples, then go with Boss.  If you want to experiment, then go with Line 6.  Note that the EP contains most of the functions of the DL-4 for a smaller package and street price.

If your needs are more basic, then the PT2399-based pedals like the Dano PBJ and the DIY clone porject linked to are perfectly acceptable.  Just bear in mind you will likely be limited to nder 350msec of delay time.  That's still quite a bit but not enough to do certain types of things.

On the other hand, if you CAN tolerate a slightly bigger floor package and have the bucks, and need a serious arse-kicking of your creative juices, consider the E-H 16-Second Delay, which now has a whole lot more than 16 sec in it.

[moisho]

On the other hand, if you CAN tolerate a slightly bigger floor package and have the bucks, and need a serious arse-kicking of your creative juices, consider the E-H 16-Second Delay, which now has a whole lot more than 16 sec in it.

THIS IS THE ONE I NEED!!!! I have just built the GGG AD delay and the Rebote2 (Tonepad). Two of them have their bests (I prefer the analog one althought the smaller repeat time), but I think I'm going to buy this one.
Consider also the Line6 DL-4.

[LoudGreg]

I can say that the Dano PBJ is suprisingly a Fantastic BANG !!! for the buck.  On e-bay for under $40.  It has two stomp buttons - One for on/off and the other to switch between slap-back echo to long delay. (Great)  and .......hey,  it sounds real good to me.  And extreamly compact.

If you need very long delays then you might want to look at the Boss stuff.

Later,

LG