Echo/Delay/Reverb

[WaveForm3]

What's the difference and what do you recommend?

[Scruffie]

Echo is what it sounds like, echo, it's a weaker version of delay that decays more as it repeats, it's usually also shorter I think is how I would define the difference, almost a combination of delay and reverb, Delay is alot stronger.

In the world of guitar pedals.. reverb is just a very, very short delay/echo setting (atleast in analogue) that adds some ambience as you know just by filling the sound up and adding more room to it, I like to have it on alot myself, just polishes off my tone nicely, makes it a bit less sterile.

What i'd reccomend... well what do you need I guess but i'd say a good analogue delay (or do you mean what pedal exactly), even a bad one (mine was £20 and is great) can normally do a reverb type setting, echo settings and delay. 500ms of delay is probably all you need to get some good tones e.g slap back delay, getting the notes to trail your playing, a simple but nice reverb type sound, echo so on... lots of the analogue delays should get you there (seen a lot of mention of the Mallekko 616, looks promising to cover most of this)

The BOSS Digital delays are popular, although I don't reccomend them as I hate the buffers in BOSS pedals
I think some of the best Digital Delays and Reverbs are the new Digitech Hardwire series... well built, lots of features and good tones and a really nice buffer.
Everyone loves a bit of Dr Scientist too, haven't tried them yet but from what I hear they're amazing.
EHX Memory Man, hear alot of good things about it too, analogue, probably one to look at, i'd run it against the Malekko.
Lots of pedals that are based off or simmilar to effects like the 80's BOSS DM-2 The Daphon E20DL, Ibanez AD-9 the Maxon Delays.... lots of them, all analogue delays, probably need some simple modding though.

[less_cunning]

Scuffie pretty much summed it up. all i would add is that things oftentimes can subjectively boil down to personal preference w/ respect to echo and delay, digital versus analog. i prefer the hard repeats of delay to the natural decay that echo brings to the table and i prefer digital to analog.

i really don't think you can go wrong w/ any reverb. personally. i prefer spring reverb over all others. different reverbs offer different spatial ambience textures though IMO.

[kvn]

As far as reverb goes, the Verbzilla from Line 6 looks pretty versatile and from the demos I've heard, sounds really good.

[Scruffie]

As far as reverb goes, the Verbzilla from Line 6 looks pretty versatile and from the demos I've heard, sounds really good.

I've heard alot of good things about this one, but as I said about the Hardwire, i've read alot about it being the more stable version with better build quality and a better buffer than the Line 6, the verbzilla is the cheaper version, both good, but i'd still go hardwire as i've heard of the verbzilla breaking down, alot of people do like it though, suprisingly the Behringer RV600 is kinda cool aswell for a good cheap option, with a couple of good mods here http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.com/2009 ... everb.html

Scuffie pretty much summed it up. all i would add is that things oftentimes can subjectively boil down to personal preference w/ respect to echo and delay, digital versus analog. i prefer the hard repeats of delay to the natural decay that echo brings to the table and i prefer digital to analog.

i really don't think you can go wrong w/ any reverb. personally. i prefer spring reverb over all others. different reverbs offer different spatial ambience textures though IMO.

Yeah I should have given digital more of a chance in my elongated reply, I want to get that hardwire Digital delay myself, think it sounds really good, I think I prefer analogue to have on.. gentley if you will, for a little bit, if I wanted to go all out though yeah digital delay at the end of the chain is good, I normally use it if I need more delay then analogue can deliver and alot of Digital delays are now getting better at reproducing an analogue type sound.

There's only one reverb I can see you going wrong with really and that'd be the Dan Electro one... that claims to be using a spring but just isn't really, most of the reverb pedals are of the more expensive variety anyway and will usually deliver, just have to look at the build quality and the buffer used.

[Ghost Hip]

Well said Scruffie. I personally prefer Echo, very haunting and dark, great for feedback lovers. I usually have the Reverb on my amp cranked, which isn't much reverb on classic 50 but it fills out the sound quite well. A combination of the two is pretty fun.

[hosebeast]

boss dd-20 giga-delay. if yr thinking of picking up something nice, something with looping capabilities, please overlook that line-6 thing and go for one of these. it's actually cheaper, more sturdy, and is wayyyyyyyy more tweakable. it also has more time, and for like $200, you really can't go wrong.

[Nychthemeron]

Empress Superdelay for the delay, all the way. Seriously one of the best delays out on the market. Sure, it's a bit pricey, but nothing comes close to it for smaller pedal delays. You can get those pristine repeats or have some warm sounds of the tape mode. The 8 sub-modes make this a monstrous pedal, and though it seems like a lot of tweaking, it is pretty easy to get some nice sounds out of it.

Though some people think it's annoying, a lot of people have liked the RE-20 by BOSS. It's not that bad of a model on the old RE-201 Space Echos by Roland, and it's also pretty decently priced used. I've never used one, but from what I've heard, it isn't all too terrible for a BOSS pedal. It's got tap tempo as well as a long/short option for repeats, which is very useful if you want to have versatility.

Inbetween those is the Skreddy Echo, which has a nice warm delay tone. It works well with other pedals and can really modulate your sounds if you want it to. The straightforward controls make it great for quickly finding the sounds that you want, or if you just want to mess around with it the warble it's a snap. It's $350 to get on the list, but after the few months of waiting it's a great little pedal.

The be all to end all delays out there are probably the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (TTE) and the Toneczar Echoczar + Angelbaby. The Fulltone is a great replica of those old echoplexes, and just sounds incredible. I managed to try one of them used and it seriously is a great tape delay for the money. The Echoczar, however, is probably the greatest delay pedal on the market by far. With a multi-year wait for them, and having three different sounding delays with the additional Angelbaby, it just sounds incredible. If you're prepared to wait 2+ years and pay almost $1200, it's a sound investment both literally and figuratively.

Malekko's upcoming 616 looks to be a real analog delay killer, as it's got modulation, a switchable buffer, and up to 600ms of delay time. For less than $200, it's really shaping up to become one of the new standard delays.

For your basic, inexpensive delay, go with the Ibanez DE-7. Simple, easy on the bank, and sounds pretty good too.

For reverb, the Malekko Spring Chicken is really great sounding, especially when you get the dwell mod added. They're being phased out, so you should get one now before they disappear. If you want to have a more versatile reverb, go with the Dr. Scientist Radical Red Reverberator (usually not red though ). They have nine different reverb modes that all sound great, and they are being revised for a smaller enclosure that will come out soon, so keep an eye out!

This is a strange "pedal," but the Ekdahl Moisturizer by Knas is a really cool looking pedal that has a VCO, a low frequency oscillator, and three springs for the reverb that you can hit and mess with since they are exposed on the top. Not really something if you want basic reverb sounds, but if you want something experimental with your reverb, this is it.

Another good reverb is the Sole-Mate or the Reverbamate by Van Amps. It gets you that classic spring reverb sound that a lot of pedals try to emulate. It is a very simple pedal, but the sound is really desirable.

Huzzah for describing a bunch of pedals that I don't actually own. Feel free to facepalm me if you must, but I liked those pedals.

[WaveForm3]

Wowsers. Thansk everybody!

I was looking more along the line of a Memory Boy / Memory Toy.

[Nychthemeron]

Malekko Ekko 616. More expensive than the Memory Boy, but it looks like it will be much more worthwhile.

However, I recently stumbled on Z.Cat Pedals which have some pretty cool delay pedals, like one with reverb and another with a hold option and chorus. Decent pricepoints too. http://www.zcatpedals.com

[Gunner Recall]

ilovefuzz...more like ilovedelay lately, amirite?

The memory boy is great bang for your buck. Unless space is really an issue I'd avoid the toy. The extra control on the boy is well worth the extra $20.
Their new delays seem to be much darker, especially when stacked against the DMM.

It's got a little over 500ms of delay, which is just right for getting decent slapback and some reverb.
Still, if you're a reverb fiend like me I recommend a dedicated pedal for finer tuning of your verbs.
Josh is "dwelling" my SC as we speak

On a related note...malekko 616 is only $150. Much brighter compared to the memory toy if that's your thing.

[less_cunning]

yes. i need a DEDICATED pedal for reverb. that does reverse. bottom line.

although i still wouldn't mind having the Lexicon reverbs of the Digitech Hardwire Reverb for a decent used price. but spending about hundred more for the Infinite Reverb on the EHX Cathedral? i mean having that feeding into a delay. & then another delay. the swells? the potential for ambient? experimental?

[Jenesis]

The Cathedral kills. I love mine.

[bigchiefbc]

yes. i need a DEDICATED pedal for reverb. that does reverse. bottom line.

although i still wouldn't mind having the Lexicon reverbs of the Digitech Hardwire Reverb for a decent used price. but spending about hundred more for the Infinite Reverb on the EHX Cathedral? i mean having that feeding into a delay. & then another delay. the swells? the potential for ambient? experimental?

Plus, the Cathedral also gives you presets, which the Hardwire doesn't. The infinite switch + presets makes up for the extra money methinks.

[dronemachine]

I sold all my delay/echo pedals...i don't really need them for what i do .Bought Dr.Scientist RRR and never looked back.I need one more reverb pedal, though...for those 'special' moments.I might be getting new RRR when it comes out.When you play it loud, you know where all the extra money went.