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Best Delay Pedal

Boss DD-3 is of course a quintessential Delay pedal.

I have enjoyed the TC Flashback, which sounds nice and has something no other does - "toneprint" which enables you to change the settings using your smartphone through your pickups. Great extended functionality if you have a smartphone, otherwise it has knobs as usual.

Also if interest to me of late are the Mooer pedals, which include digital and analogue delays. I so far only own the bass chorus of theirs and it is very good, and their other pedals (clones of well known options) sound very good on YouTube.....
 
hey guys, in your experience what is the best delay pedal?


Thanks
There's a lot of different kinds of delay. Personally I'd recommend you start with something like the line 6 m5 or tc flashback that has a lot of different types of delays. Then once you figure out the types of delay you like you may or may not want to buy a delay specifically for that sound. For example if you liked the analog delay on the flashback then check out the mxr carbon copy. If you want digital delay maybe a boss dd-3 but if you're also a fan of modulated delay (I am) the dd-3 doesn't do it. What the dd-3 does do that's pretty cool is the glitch trick. Some people like tap tempo. I suck at using tap tempo switches so I'm more into delays with presets which is why I'm gonna order the flashback x4 soon.
 
I'm assuming you're looking for a reasonably priced delay. The Strymon/Eventide stuff is amazing, but $$$ and also has a huge footprint.
I've not heard much from the Canyon yet, but it intrigues me.
Digitech Digidelay sounds great and has a lot of useable options. Cheap used.
MXR Carbon Copy for warm, dark, analogue sounds. ~$100 used
I'm currently using a boss DD-6 on my board. I forget what I paid but it was well under $100 used. I'm surprised it doesn't get more love around here over the DD3/5/7. It's "swell" feature is awesome and the "hold" can create quick stutter repeats more easily than the other boss models.
 
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TC Triple delay is the nicest I have tried by far. It has mainly standard controls on the pedal with the exception of a few really unique and cool features like the serial/ parallel switch which lets you choose how you want the 3 delay engines interacting. You can have 3 separate delays stacked or 3 delays going into eachother and anything in between!

But it also has a great editor and 4 Toneprint slots where you can save various delay patches made by many famous musicians.

It can do it all from simple to insanely complex... Ever wanted 3 unique slapback delays stacked? No problem. 3 Reverse delays running into eachother? Super simple.
 
If you want the very best and most flexible, moogerfooger analog delay. The control voltage functionality makes it infinitely deep. I actually figured out a way to play it with a keyboard. Not as an audio source, but as a cv source. Then you can use things like sample and hold (a type of random cv) along with slew to make the coolest chorus effects. Not the normal kind of generic phasey chorus, but more random time varied chorus.
2 more of the best delays are the space echo tape delay (or korg stage echo that is also cv controllable) and also just a plain reel to reel tape machine with varispeed.
Oh yeah and one more, actually the coolest one: a piano harp setup with a speaker and piezo. I got one for free off craigslist. Huge and heavy but insanely cool and sounds like a cross between delay and hall verb.
 
I'm still using my Akai Headrush 2 which imo is one of the best delays ever made, but I am planning on replacing it with a Source Audio Nemesis sooner or later.
 
MXR Carbon Copy Bright.
I have the regular but I am half considering going with the Bright. I love the regular one but I think it may work out better for bass to go with the Bright. But then again, every time I think I can use delay on bass, I listen to recordings and think I'm trying to shoehorn it in where it doesn't belong, so I'll probably leave it for my guitar work, and the regular works fine for guitar. Best analog delay ever made if you ask me. Love the way the repeats degrade!
 
I have the regular but I am half considering going with the Bright. I love the regular one but I think it may work out better for bass to go with the Bright. But then again, every time I think I can use delay on bass, I listen to recordings and think I'm trying to shoehorn it in where it doesn't belong, so I'll probably leave it for my guitar work, and the regular works fine for guitar. Best analog delay ever made if you ask me. Love the way the repeats degrade!

I used to have the original one which I also love. I agree that although it is a great effect, you can't have it on all the times. We have certain songs that have bass intros where I play arpeggio, and those sections sound much better with the delay. So much that the parts don't sound right when played clean anymore. I found that the original having darker repeats muddying the sound in a mix. The bright version is just so perfect.
 
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