A few years ago I purchased my first delay pedal – a used Ibanez DE-7. Whilst the transaction was taking place, the shop owner was insistent that a delay pedal is the secret weapon to a guitarist’s arsenal and no guitarist should be without one.
I’ve been using delay, in various guises ever since. The Visual Sound H20 was my weapon of choice for a long time, but I’ve been stomping on a MXR Carbon Copy for the past year.
For this article, I’m looking to fellow guitarists to help me choose potential delay pedal candidates for my pedalboard. For quite sometime I’ve been pondering over the idea of purchasing a new delay pedal, but with so many great options available these days, I’m curious to know what the guitar playing community can recommend.
I’m ideally looking for a delay pedal that includes the following specs:
If there’s a delay pedal that you can recommend that would suit my needs, please share your thoughts by adding a comment below. I’m open minded to brand, boutique/mainstream etc. Any pedal that I may end up purchasing will also be reviewed at some point on Guitar Jar.
Have your say and help me decide…
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Sam is passionate about talking all things guitar related and started GuitarJar.co.uk to help encourage all guitarists in their guitar playing journey.
9:43:22 pm
True bypass may be one of the places where you WANT to sacrifice, if you would like training delays. Check these out:
Eventide Timefactor
TC Electronics Nova Delay
Strymon El Capistan
Strymon Brigadier
The Gigadelay in your picture!
8:55:04 am
With regards to a delay pedal with all the above desired requirements and stereo in and out please consider my latest purchase…….. the electro harmonix memory man with hazarai.
My main reasons for recomending this unit is it is :-
an extremely creative instrument in its own right (a big creative curve,this one)
analogue and digital working together in perfect harmony
stereo ins and outs
still made in NY USA
very well priced for a USA pedal
6:28:28 pm
Interesting post and very timely for me as I’m in the exactly predicament. I’m after a delay pedal with similar specs as the author and I’m none the wiser. Many people say the Line 6 DL4 is the “go to” delay pedal, but I’m open to seek alternatives.
The suggestions above are good, and the BOSS Giga Dely looks ideal. There’s also the soon to be released Dual Tap Delay from Visual Sound – that’s looks really interesting!
So many delay pedals to research. Good post, I’ll be watching like a hawk to see what other guitarists recommend. Thanks.
4:01:21 pm
I use a T Rex Replica Delay on my board. To my ears this is the best sounding delay in that it does not alter your original or repeated tone at all. It has a simple control layout and two very cool features. 1.) Echo Volume: you can control the volume of your delayed notes. This is very useful in building texture and space. 2.) Brown: This control allows you to use a warm analog tone or a modern bright snapback.
9:35:16 pm
Boss DD-3. Had one as a youngster growing up and foolishly got rid of it. Have subsequently been through a myriad of pedals/rack units as esoteric as Lexicon and Alesis and as cheap as Behringer. Eventually went on ebay and bought an original japanese DD-3 for a (relative) snip and immediately it was as if 15 years had not passed! It does everything that a delay should and is better, in my opinion than a Lexicon/TC Electronics unit at four or 5 times more money.
11:06:16 am
Hi Simon, we must both be from the 80’s as I bought my very own DD3 in hong kong in 85. A great pedal. I regret getting rid of it. I keep meaning to pick one up on that ebay site. I recently bought the EH memory man with hazari because of the 30 sec looper.
I have since demoed the new TC electronics tone print series delay with a 40 sec looper for £125.
I may even buy this unit although I have just bought the memory man.
This unit also allows down loads from famous players thru a usb connector located in the battery bay on the pedal. A brilliant peice of kit for small money. check it out. cheers!
2:02:05 am
the TC Nova Repeater is a great little pedal. no presets, but it’s incredibly intuitive to use and sounds lovely.
3:09:25 pm
Boss DD3. Bought in the early 80’s. I got a DD7 too but it’s too much too much. The DD3 is controllable at the very edges on crazy feedback. The DD7’s too hard to get at the edge without it suddenly flipping over.
For Portishead’s “Machine gun” the DD3 is perfect.
Worst pedal : Boss Chorus. Makes you sound like Mark Knopfler or the guy from Duran Duran.