Digital delay vs analog delay

[arie_st]

Which one do you prefer

analog delay or digital delay...

i acctually using a boss DD-3 digital delay, and i never try any analog delay...

[alexsell187]

The MXR Carbon Copy is one of the best delays I've ever heard, and it's not all that expensive... If your into all the weird delays, and ridiculiously long delay, it's not the pedal for you, but for most people, it's enough.

[metronome_jones]

Recently I took the Pepsi Challenge between the Boss DD-3 & the DD-7 Digital Delay Pedals at a "boutique music shop" (and also, for laughs, a Danelectro "Fab" presumably-analog delay pedal I got for $15 at my trusty used instruments store). The guy at the boutique shop said the DD-3 is a straightforward, stand-up, very what-you-see-is-what-you-get delay pedal; while the DD-7 allows you to do a whole messload of things beyond just a simple delay, like recording loops, setting the delay from the length of time you press down on the pedal, & the like.

While I'm sure the DD-7 has its fans, it didn't do anything for me so I picked the DD-3. For extra input, my current & ex-guitarists said they weren't crazy about the DD-7 either (in fact my current guitarist has opted to set aside her DD-7 & 'borrow' my DD-3 til she gets herself one! )

Compared to the Boss pedals, the Danelectro is definitely lower on the quality scale (i.e its shell is plastic compared to the metallic Boss pedals, & it has 2 non-measured controls that you can't see unless you're looking at it from the front!), but its not completely useless. I got a decent, if rudimentary, delay effect that made my Epi SG sound good thru my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. That said, once I get back my DD-3 I doubt I'll be using the Danelectro much.

[diabolical]

Well, analog delay is the better, more musical sounding of the two animals. It is prohibitively expensive as it requires a tape loop and regular maintenance to operate. Out of that grew the "analog" delay market which is really a digital delay with some eq thrown in afterwards. HK Replex is probably one of the few new ones like that. For all that it is worth I like the more expensive delay units, like the Carl Martin Delayla, TC Nova, Roland RE-20.

[-Matthew Fire-]

I was on a quest to find the best common delay out there. I used a bunch of em. I used the DD3 for 6 months before I tried line6 pedals, MXR, and marshall, exc.

It boiled down to the DD7 vs the Carbon Copy for me. The carbon copy sounded a little better but i found it limiting. The DD7 has a lot more options and has some great sounding FX. If all I needed was a simple delay to guitar solo's i'd do up the carbon copy, but I like the spacey trippy delay stuff too which lends it'self to digital delay.

The dd7 has all the same funtions of the DD3 and more. and best of all, a good sounding analogue mode that I leave it on most of the time. for an extra 25-50 bucks hell yeah, well worth the extra cash IMO.

Edit: if you have a good chunk of cash to spend on a delay, there are some nicer high end delays too, TC electronics smokes, and boss makes some nice twin sized pedals that sound great.

[arie_st]

thanks all for the advice

maybe i should try some analog delay..

i dunno what should i do with my dd-3... so far i'm pretty satisfied with it, but i dunno what will happen after i try the other delay pedal that you guys mentioned before... esspecially the analog one...

thx all

[jeebus]

Well, analog delay is the better, more musical sounding of the two animals.

Highly subjective and debateable...Depends on the style of music, the application etc...U2 has a lot of digital delay in their songs, and those songs would not sound the same with analog delay, as you don't get an exact tonal replica of what you played as you do with digital. Also, digital delays behave much better with high gain than with analog delays...Not saying digital is better...just different.

It is prohibitively expensive as it requires a tape loop and regular maintenance to operate.

ALL analog delays? Not quite! Maybe if you are only talking about tape delays such as an Echoplex, Binson Echorec, or Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. There are plenty of other analog delays out there that don't use tape and aren't high maintenance. Here's just a few: Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, Malekko bright and dark series, MXR Carbon Copy, BYOC Analog Delay, Ibanez AD series, Boss DM-2, Maxon AD series, Retro-Sonic Analog Delay, Analogman Analog Delay etc etc....Not overly expensive for what you get either. Real tube tape echoes are expensive though...

Out of that grew the "analog" delay market which is really a digital delay with some eq thrown in afterwards.

See above. None of the pedals I listed are digital in the slightest. There are digital delays out there that have an analog voicing to them, such as the Skreddy Echo and Wampler Analog Echo, among others, but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between these pedals and the real thing.

[jeebus]

thanks all for the advice

maybe i should try some analog delay..

i dunno what should i do with my dd-3... so far i'm pretty satisfied with it, but i dunno what will happen after i try the other delay pedal that you guys mentioned before... esspecially the analog one...

thx all

If it's a stock Made in Taiwan DD3, then it can sound harsh. You could try getting the hi-cut mod from Keeley effects, or sell it and get a Made in Japan version, which are known to sound warmer. Try a Wampler Analog Echo. It's a GREAT analog voiced delay, and kills the Carbon Copy. It also has a tone contol to control the darkness of the repeats. The Carbon Copy is a pretty dark sounding pedal, and the repeats can get lost in a band mix pretty easily. Sign up for the newsletter at the Wampler site, and you can get an Analog Echo for $139 instead of the regular price. It's like 40 or 50 bucks off :
http://www.wamplerpedals.com/analogecho

[arie_st]

yeah.. mine is taiwan made dd3......

thx for the advice n info bout analogecho... i'll check it on their website...

thx a lot......

[diabolical]

You can also stick an eq pedal after the DD3, that's what I do when recording - I track the delay signal separately and then eq the high signal out of it.

[steambird]

i got a Danelectro PB&J delay awesome little pedal for its price, gets a reasonable long delay time too, also got an old Ibanez DL-10 which sounds real nice and has an extra trimpot that you can axcess through a hole in the battery compartment that adjusts the repeats, cranck it right up and it dont stop repeating

[arie_st]

You can also stick an eq pedal after the DD3, that's what I do when recording - I track the delay signal separately and then eq the high signal out of it.

nice tips bro... thx for the advice...

[arie_st]

i got a Danelectro PB&J delay awesome little pedal for its price, gets a reasonable long delay time too, also got an old Ibanez DL-10 which sounds real nice and has an extra trimpot that you can axcess through a hole in the battery compartment that adjusts the repeats, cranck it right up and it dont stop repeating

thx for the advice...