Which Delay?

josh · 2011-06-17T20:42:55+00:00

Hi all I'm in the process of buying a new digital delay pedal but I don't know which 1 to buy. My choices are: 1.) Ibanez DE7 Delay/Echo (R350)...

Which Delay?

arjunmenon

You could also consider the TC Electronics Nova Delay and the Eventide Time Factor.

IceCreamMan

i am ignoramus , what is this thing they call tap tempo?

FruitarGeek

EHX wrote: I already have the "MEMORY BOY". Plus the "Memory Boy" is an analog delay and i want to try out some digital delays. The only digital delay that EHX make is the "#1 ECHO" and it has a delay time of only 2 seconds and that is a bit too short for such an expensive pedal. I'd rather buy the DigiDelay which has something like 4seconds of delay plus TAP TEMPO Which is a HUGE BONUS!

Oh I see. Well I can assure you 2 seconds is long enough. I doubt you will ever get you use a 4 second delay. But the tap tempo function is cool.

Warren

IceCreamMan wrote: i am ignoramus , what is this thing they call tap tempo?

Tap Tempo equipped delays have a button which you can tap with your finger to set the timing of the delay.

This is very useful if you want to set the timing of the delay to, say, the tempo of the song you're playing over. It's very difficult to match the tempo with a knob, whereas if you tap the button in time to the music it will set the delay at the interval between the taps.

AlanRatcliffe

Arjun Menon wrote: You could also consider the TC Electronics Nova Delay and the Eventide Time Factor.

+1. Those are the top of the range digital units. I had the TC and recently upgraded to the Eventide. A bit more complex than many users want to cope with though.

IceCreamMan wrote: i am ignoramus , what is this thing they call tap tempo?

You can set the delay to a note value (whole, quarter, 8th, 16th etc.) and set the tempo in BPM and the delay automagically sets the correct delay time to get the note value. The "tap" part comes in because you can set the tempo by simply tapping a button a few times to the beat - the delay figures out what tempo it is and adjusts accordingly. Comes in very handy with real drummer - who rarely have perfect time - as you can change the tempo while you are playing simply by tapping to the beat each time the drummer speeds up or slow down.

ZarK

Its hard to beat the TC Electronic Nova Delay for construction quality, quality of tone, functionality and value for money... I've never owned TCE gear that I didn't absolutely love.

IceCreamMan

thanks guys , every day i learn

See the kind of level questions i am gonna have at this guitar week ?

i got tons more just like it too

AlanRatcliffe

ZarK wrote: Its hard to beat the TC Electronic Nova Delay for construction quality, quality of tone, functionality and value for money...

True. The Eventide is the better delay of the two sound-wise and capability-wise (plus you can update the firmware), but that comes at a fairly hefty price bump. Typical for Eventide, the operating system is not very intuitive either and the software is a librarian rather than an editor.

On the other hand, the TC is a bit too pristine sounding (at least for my tastes), but it's more capable than most folk would ever need and so well thought out and easy to use... While it's more expensive than anything other than the Eventide, it's almost a no-brainer if you are serious about your delays.

I've never owned TCE gear that I didn't absolutely love.

It's a love-hate thing for me, because their gear is always some of the best sounding around with often near-perfect feature sets, but usually the one thing that they don't do is a critical one for me (e.g. a loop in the Nova system or the ability to reorder FX in the G-system).

guitarboy2828

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: It's a love-hate thing for me, because their gear is always some of the best sounding around with often near-perfect feature sets, but usually the one thing that they don't do is a critical one for me (e.g. a loop in the Nova system or the ability to reorder FX in the G-system).

Can't figure out why they didn't do this. Would be so much better with it. Also can't figure out why they didn't put a power button on the pedal, would be a lot easier than unplugging it each time. BUT, it sounds good, so, it shall stay ?

AlanRatcliffe

That's pretty common on more pro level stuff - they want to control stage power from a single point without having to send up a trainee to turn on all the pieces of kit that the musos have left turned off. One less thing to worry about. It can be a pain in the butt in a home studio, but a multiplug with switches for each outlet is the simple cure.

tubescreamer63

I recently bought the latest delay pedal from TC electronics called the Flashback delay. It is an awesome pedal and is very reasonably priced at $169 (aboutR1200) from Sweetwaters, an online retail store in the USA. I had a friend post it to me from the USA at a moderate price , however I had to pay VAT and duties which came to about R200. The pedal retails at Coastal music in Durban for R2000, however they will discount it to R1600, if you want to avoid the hassle of importing. It has a setting called 2290 which models the sound of the TC2290 which The Edge used to get a lot of his delay sounds in his early days. It uses a strum tempo setting as opposed to tap tempo, you simply strum your guitar and the pedal picks up the speed. Even cheaper is the TC Nova Repeater, which from my research is very similar to the Nova delay mentioned earlier. It has tap tempo and modulation which is also NB to getting the Edge sound. My one gripe with the Flashback is that while it has a modulation delay setting, you cannot apply modulation to all the other delay settings . I am therefore starting to think that the Nova repeater may have been the better option.
If price is a factor for you I would say get the Nova repeater or Flashback. The digitech does not have nearly the amount of features of these two.
If cost is not a factor then I would go for the Electroharmonix memory man deluxe (also the exact pedal used frequently by the Edge) or Boss dd20. However be prepared to pay at least R2000.
I would strongly suggest looking at the youtube video of the guy demonstrating the flashback delay,he actually plays some U2 and Gilmour stuff in his demo!
Feel free to mail me to discuss, I spent a lot of time researching before buying the TC flashback.
And yes Tap or Strum tempo is an absolute must!!

AlanRatcliffe

The latest and greatest is now the Strymon TimeLine, which was just released the other day and the first batch sold out within minutes. They have already cornered the market on tape sim and analog sim delay units and it looks like they have done it again with a programmable digital. $449, so it's not a cheapy, and is almost as big as the Eventide, but capability-wise it has them all beat.

Check it out:

http://www.strymon.net/tag/timeline/

arjunmenon

That Strymon video made my day...now if could just afford one :'(
I'll never be the same after having seen that...

ZarK

Sho, thats an awesome delay. When my delay fx needs need upgrading and the G-System V2 isn't out yet, this one will definitely be seriously considered...

ActionArnie

Had a good chuckle seeing a couple of Strymon Timeline's on ebay for $700+. There's never a shortage of okes willing to take a chance when supply is low.

tubescreamer63

There is a TC Nova repeater on Gumtreee Durban for R1200.00! Seller is in Pmb. Grab it while you can.