original signal. From that point on, as you
turn up Feedback you get more repeats.
Some delay units allow infinite repeats
when this control is maxed.
Level controls the volume of the
repeats. When Level is at its minimum
setting, you won’t hear any repeats. When
it’s all the way up, the repeats should be as
loud as the original signal.
Signal-Chain Placement
If you plan to use your delay in conjunction with other stompboxes, it’s important
to consider where to place these effects in
the chain—especially if you’re using an
overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal. The
most common setup is to place dirt before
delay. This is important because it means
you’ll be delaying the distorted signal as
opposed to distorting a delayed signal,
which will sound mushy and indistinct.
Because a distortion pedal has the stron-gest impact on your fundamental tone,
it’s typically placed early in the chain,
whereas delay is usually placed toward the
end of the chain so it can produce repeats
of all of the effects added to your guitar
sound. Of course, you should experiment
for yourself to see what you prefer.
If you’re taking the dirt-before-delay
route and are planning on using delay live
with the distortion from your amp, then
you’ll want to insert your delay into your
amp’s effects loop (if it has one) so that
it comes in the chain after the preamp
gain. For recording, it’s less of an issue
because you can just record the amp without any effects and then add delay during
post-production.
MIX DECAY TIME
TONE
TO
AMP
TRAILS
OFF•ON
REVERB
DELAYTIME REPEAT DELAYLEVEL
NORMAL/EFFECT
EFFECT
MANUAL RANGE SPEED ENHANCE
HARMONICS
THRESHOLD
even odd
OVERDRIVE LEVEL
TONE
Doubling and Modulation
The term “doubling” refers to the process of
using a subtle delay to thicken your sound.
To get a doubling effect, set Time between
50 and 100 ms, Feedback for minimal
repeats (one or two), and Level all the way
up. Because the repeat happens so quickly,
it creates the illusion of another guitar playing in unison with the original signal rather
than sounding like an echo. If you use a
lower delay time ( 20 to 50 ms), you can also
get pseudo chorusing and flanging sounds.
E. LEVEL F. BACK
D. TIME
MIn MAx
100%
MIn MAx
1 Repeat
MIn MAx
50-100 Ms
Slapback Echo
Slapback is a single short repeat similar to a
tape slap (the time delay between the record
and play heads in an analog tape recorder),
and it is most often heard in rockabilly
and country. To achieve a slapback effect,
keep the Time short (between 80–140 ms),
E. LEVEL F. BACK
D. TIME
MIn MAx
50%
MIn MAx
1 Repeat
MIn MAx
80-140 Ms
OUTPUTA INPUT
OUTPUT B
CHECK
E. LEVEL EQ RATE DEPTH
SPEED
MODULATION
DRIVE AMOUNT MIX
LEVEL
BYPASS
LFO FREQUENCY RATE
TO
GUITAR
Feedback at 0 (so you only get one repeat),
and Level at about 50 percent.
Faux Reverb
A reverb-type effect can be achieved by
modifying some of the settings used for
slapback. Set the Time between 100 and
200 ms, Feedback for about 5 repeats, and
Level at about 50 percent.
E. LEVEL F. BACK
D. TIME
MIn MAx
50%
MIn MAx
5 Repeats
MIn MAx
100-200 Ms
Tempo Matching
Most delay pedals do not have precise delay
time readings on their knob panels. This
isn’t a crucial issue when you’re using shorter
delay times or when precise timing of the
repeats is not integral to the performance.
However, if you’re playing to a fixed beat
source (say, a band or rhythm track) with a
delay time of more than 200 ms and a fairly
high Level setting that gives the repeats a
distinct note, it will sound best if you dial in
a precise delay time that matches the tempo
of the band or rhythm track. Otherwise, the
repeats will be out of time against the underlying beat. If your music is delay based, delay
pedals such as the Providence DLY- 4 Chrono
Delay (street $449, reviewed on p. 216),
TC Electronic ND- 1 Nova Delay (street
$259), and Strymon Timeline (street $449,
reviewed on p. 212)—all of which feature
LED readouts of the delay time—are worth
considering.
Many delay pedals from the last decade or
so offer a happy middle ground with tap-tempo functionality (some designs require using
an aftermarket external footswitch to access
this). If you’re familiar with the term but
aren’t quite sure exactly how it works, here’s
the scoop: Though many players don’t know
the exact tempo they need in terms of beats
per minute (bpm), most have an innate sense
of the tempo they wish to play at, so tapping
it out on a delay pedal’s tap-tempo footswitch
is an easy way to get the sort of tempo matching we’ve been talking about. If your delay
doesn’t have tap-tempo functionality, or if you
want a formulaic approach to calculating the
PITCH SHIFTING
OVERDRIVE DISTORTION COMPRESSION
WAH
