Delay, analog vs digital

[Roger Crawford]

My delay pedal just bit the dust. In a quest to find a replacement, there seems to be a lot of discussion about analog vs digital. From those of you in the know, what differences do you hear, or do you hear any difference at all? A suggestion as to your favorite pedal will be appreciated.

[Brandon Mills]

Hi Roger, here is the little bit that I know about delay pedals.

Digital delays will give you the most pristine repeats. This can be good or bad depending on your personal taste. Also it takes much less effect volume to hear the repeats because they are more clear. Basically a digital copy of the notes you play. Digital will also offer longer repeat times, which I don’t think is necessarily a benefit on steel but it’s all preference.

Anything else, be it analog, tape machine replication, or oil can replication, will introduce a degrading tone on repeats. This is not good or bad either depending on taste and how you use your delay effect personally. Typically, each echoed note will be darker with less treble and clarity until the repeat stops. These usually have a shorter available delay time and fade off quicker. I think it takes a little more effect volume to hear the delay note prominently.

There are tons of delay pedals these days that add additional artifacts like modulation or some pitch shifting to replicate older devices and some have reverb as well.

The stand-alone delay pedal that I have is a Boss DD-8. This is a fairly straightforward pedal compared to some units out there but still has the option of straight digital, analog type, modulated, and reverb added. I came from using an original Boss DM-2 analog delay and so I use that mode or the digital delay plus reverb mode.

[Zeke Cory]

My experience is that the analog pedal is a bit softer, more "forgiving" if you will. I use DOD pedals and that could make a difference. Opinions are individual and the best advice is to try both and see which sounds best to YOUR ear. I did find the digital a bit too "sharp" for me. But there are those who prefer that sound. My best always.

[Tucker Jackson]

I agree with Brandon and Zeke.

If you're using the delay to fatten your tone and get a natural sound, digital is the worst option.

The goal for me is recreating the natural sound of the best-sounding music hall on Earth.... and laying that down in some grimy hell hole of a venue. Because the people have suffered enough.

When you play in a great acoustic space like a large music hall, your sound will bounce off the back wall and come back to you. That echo or repeat is not a perfect copy of what came out of your amp. For one thing it's way darker, but it's also a little garbled as certain aspects of the sound are altered by the reflections in the space.

A digital delay doesn't sound like that -- it's an exact copy, and it's just as bright as the original tone (but it may not seem like it since the repeat is a little softer). Since it's so bright and perfect, it's really easy to quickly turn up the unit to the point where it doesn't sound integrated and natural. It sticks out and calls attention to itself and sounds like you have slapped "An Obvious Effect" on your sound. It's artificial sounding enough that you have no choice but to run its volume pretty low in the mix.

But with an analog delay (or maybe a unit that's technically digital in nature, but emulates the warmer sound of an old tape echo machine or a bucket brigade), you get a much darker and slightly altered repeat. This means you can turn that unit up far higher than a digital delay before it starts calling attention to itself and starts interfering with what your playing. I've found I can really crank the delay if I turn the tone knob really dark, and it still can seem invisible and natural.

And in that natural, great sounding acoustic space we're trying to simulate, in addition to maybe one or two echos, there are also a zillion smaller echos (reverb). So, if you add in a light reverb, it can make the echo sound even more realistic. Just don't go overboard on either one or it will sound fake. If you're going for 'natural,' the reverb and delay should be more felt than heard -- keeping in mind you can't accurately assess whether those levels are 'natural' until you're in the mix, playing with the band, where your subtle home settings suddenly gets lost in the chaos.

[Ronald Sikes]

I use a Wampler Faux Analog Delay and I really like it. I also have a Carbon Copy that sounds good but I prefer the Wampler

[Lee Baucum]

Here is a similar discussion from a number of years ago. I'm still using the Rogue that is mentioned.

viewtopic.php?t=332041

~Lee

[Stew Crookes]

Many (if not most?) digital delays in current production do some colouring of the sound to emulate an analog delay so the once cut'n'dry assumption that a digital delay is sterile no longer holds...

I have a few of both kinds that I like, and the one that gets the most use is an EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai (as my vintage analog delays have become quite valuable and don't leave the studio) and it sounds really good.

It can can store presets in a limited way and does a bunch of things (from slapback to loooong delays, dreamy modulation, long chorus, multitap delays, looping, reverse echoes and it even has a so-so reverb which makes it useful for casual scenarios where I might not otherwise have reverb).

[Richard Sinkler]

I like analog, tape, and digital, in that order. I could live without the digital if needed. I use a Nu-X Atlantic for delay using analog setting (added plus for plus reverb), and have it in the effects loop of my NV112 or NV400. I have a UAFX Orion tape delay that I have after my volume pedal then to my amp input. I like having this delay in that position. It really cranks when using distortion for some great rock & roll stuff.

[Dennis Detweiler]

All of the above. I have experimented with several Delay and Reverb pedals and still have them in my toy box. I've narrowed it down to an Ibanez Analog Mini and a Nux Damp reverb mini, but I also like the TC Electronic Hall Of Fame reverb with a downloaded tone print. I like the TC Electronic Analog Echo Brain delay, but it only goes to 300ms delay repeats and I like 350ms. I set my delays with 3 repeats, the first one at half the volume of my initial note, the second repeat half the voume of my first repeat and the last repeat half the volume of the second repeat. Then, use the reverb for a subtle fading tail. It's all a matter of taste and speed of the song. I got my delay settings from watching BE set his echoplex in the mid 1970's. I also have a Nux Atlantic which sounds pretty good with delay and reverb in one unit (all digital). I prefer the warmth and natural tone of the Analogs.