The new design offers exhaustive control over delay tone, as well as 127 presets and smart tap tempo
(Image credit: Suhr)
Analog delay fans must be putting something in pedal companies’ water lately. In the past two weeks alone, we’ve seen new Bucket Brigade-based designs from Crazy Tube Circuits and Seymour Duncan, and now Suhr has thrown its hat into the ring with what looks to be one of the most advanced analog delay pedals yet.
Built around a core of four reissued MN3005 Bucket Brigade chips, the Discovery teams this analog circuit with a dizzying array of control more commonly associated with feature-rich digital delays.
Delay times range from 40 to 1,100ms (expandable to 17ms-2000ms), and are adjustable via mix, time, regen, lo cut and hi cut controls, while modulation is tweaked via speed and depth knobs – Suhr is also promising triangle, sine and square waveforms for more radical modulation sounds.
Crucially, these sounds can be stored into 127 preset slots, while delay times can be set using the onboard tap tempo footswitch, and further refined using a division button.
Players can also hook up an expression pedal, which can be mapped to any parameter and stored per preset, while the Discovery can also be controlled via MIDI, and even send program changes to other MIDI-compatible pedals.
(Image credit: Suhr)
There are a host of smart touches under the hood, too, including a soft clipping limiter to prevent overloading your amp when dialing in oscillation sounds, as well as a tap tempo that takes the average of four taps for more precise tempo input.
Other features include a kill dry mode for parallel effects loops, as well as switchable true or buffered bypass. The pedal is powered via an included 18V power supply.
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Currently, the Discovery’s most obvious point of comparison is Seymour Duncan’s recently unveiled Vapor Trail Deluxe, which also features tap tempo and presets, as well as pitch-shifted repeats, while the Discovery offers a more comprehensive suite of tonal-shaping tools and MIDI capabilities.
The Suhr Discovery Analog Delay is available now for $549. See Suhr for more info.
Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.
