Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

[jgcable]

Which do you prefer? I borrowed a Boss DD-3 and although it sounds really good, it lacks the coolness and the warmth of the old analog delay pedals. Which do you guys prefer?

[Ace]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

The analog pedals are much easier to control, and offer ridicilous dealy times(up to 23 seconds for the BOSS DD20). However, your right, the old analog delays do have a certain warmth to them. My advice would be to look at what you are trying to do with it. If your trying to use a delay and you want it set reliably to a certain time, so that you can write your music around it, I'd go with the delay. It's much more consistent and easier to dial in the exact time you want. If you are just rockin' out and you want some cool echo type effects to add texture to leads, then I'd pick the analog delay.

[bluebullet]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

analog sounds much better in my opinion but analog delay prices are gettin crazy if your wanting to do loops than digital gives you more time but for slap backs and ambiance its too sterile in my opinion

[Genebaby]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I prefer digital. I got a Maxon analog delay and it seems I like the digital delay I had in my old Digitech GFX1. I don't use delay anyway so it's a bit of a moot point but I'd pick up a digital boss pedal if it was a great price.

Use both and pick which you like better. The analog did do a really cool space echo type thing when I turned one of the knobs on it. Put it in a wah case to control that would be really cool.

[hippietim]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I generally prefer analog delays myself particularly if you're running into the front end of the amp. Digital delays are particularly harsh if you don't run them after the preamp stage. I have two Maxon analog delays - an AD900 (600 msecs) and an AD999 (900 msecs) - they sound awesome.

Having said that, I've also got a Line 6 Echo Pro which is the rack version of their delay modeler. It sounds amazing. I am thinking of picking up the stomp box version of it so I can have it on my board.

[jgcable]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

Tim, that is exactly what I think. The main problem with Digital delay is that it sounds like ass unless it is in the loop. The old analog delays sounded great in front of the amp.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I have a Boss DM-3 Delay and honestly I don't use it as it sounds harsh and I don't have an effects loop on my JCM. Its still in my pedal board but I only use it for the space invader effect [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[hippietim]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

[ QUOTE ]
Tim, that is exactly what I think. The main problem with Digital delay is that it sounds like ass unless it is in the loop. The old analog delays sounded great in front of the amp.

[/ QUOTE ]

The exception is really that Line 6 box. It is an amazing box. Aside from some great basic delays it has two models I find particularly compelling.

One is the dynamic delay - this is a brilliant effect - in a nutshell, the more you play, the less you here the delay and the less you play, the more delay you get. IOW, you can leave it on and play some tight and fast muted runs without the delay muddying up your tone but if you just hit a nice bend and hold it or play slow you get some nice echo. This is very cool.

The other model that I really like is the low bit rate digital delay. This one basically is modeling the first generation of digital delays - it sounds just like my old 8-bit DeltaLab Effectron. For those that don't remember, those original digital delays were very lo-fi and had their own unique grit that was very cool. The Line 6 model lets you pick odd stuff like 11-bits. This is way too cool.

[toejam]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I had the Line 6 DM4 pedal, bought it here from Ralph a few months back. It was very cool, but I really don't use delay much so I wound up selling it on ebay last week. I also have the MM4 pedal and use that a little bit more, especially the tremolo and chorus.

[zeegler]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I like the DD3, but then, I haven't really tried out many others.

[horns666]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

Digitals are easy and dependable ...

there are several digtal pedals that emulate a analog signal by incorparating a "high cut" switch ,,,which is a high end roll off...for a warm analog vibe ...

I had a Chandler digital echo ...they were the first one to incorpate this into a delay unit (of my knowledge) ...Eric Johnson / Steve Stevens / and satch uses them..

recently a tried a cheap Dan Electro delay ...it had a high cut switch on it ...and sounded pretty damed close to the Chandler ...which does goes for much more money..and it didn't seem any noisier than a dd3.

My very favorite Digital delay unit that I have ever heard is a old rack mount BELL unit ....very very very warm ....I believe Brian May has a bunch of them I guess.

Not many of those floating around ...I might check the bay to score one myself..

The G major is pretty damn tweakable for delays as well ...but it's a pain (for me) to program it ...too lazy to read the book

Boss DD3 and 5s are not a bad unit although they are a bit noisy...IMO

[Inazone]

Re: Analog or Digital delay stompboxes

I bought a used DD-2 back when I first started playing in `90 or so. It was beat to hell, but it still works great and sounds perfect for my purposes. At one point, I thought I'd finally killed it and ended up buying a brand new DD-3, even though Boss had already released the DD-5. I tried some analog pedals and just couldn't get what I wanted out of them.

I run my delay as the last device going into the amp input, as I have no effects loop on my old Peavey tube combos. It could sound a little better, but since I'm running a distortion pedal before it, it's not bad by any means.