Delay pedal shoot-out?

[Arpangel]

This OBNE Minim is a strange thing, I thought I’d made a mistake on buying this, but every time I add it to a synth it just sounds amazing, just right, really right on the money for that lovely spacey 70’s style delay.
I decided to compare it with my EHX 16 sec, and the EHX in comparison sounds a bit lifeless, and I thought it was my best delay for these types of sounds.
The only other delay I have is a Boss DD7, which is great for straight clean, long delays, but it hasn’t got anywhere near the depth and character of the other two here.
The Minim is a bit of a one trick pony, but it’s particular trick it does stunningly well, it’s got a well defined sweet spot, and you have to experiment a bit to get it right.
The only downside of the Minim is that it’s mono, that really is almost a deal breaker for me, but for retro style delays it’s fine.
I’m sort of addicted to delays, and reverbs, and I’ll continue to collect them, but you have to wary of too many pedals that are basically covering the same bases.

[nathanscribe]

I love a good delay. Or a bad one. As long as it's good.

Current stack includes a set of Boss Microracks (RDD, RSS, RPD, and RPS), a couple of Digitech RDS1900 (old school 8 bit units made of lots of logic chips, no CPU), Boss DM-2w, WEM Copicat, and a newly acquired Yamaha E1005 that's still quarantined in its box.

I've had a bunch of old BBD units ranging from very cheap to very not cheap, and honestly I prefer them grungy and wonky overall. Similar for reverb. Got a few 80s units, my only later model is Lexicon MPX-1 which is probably late 90s? And a new Vermona spring. I don't use plugins unless I have to. They generally do my head in.

Strymon are good too. I had the El Cap for while, but ditched it for the real thing and am happier tbh. The Volante looks great though.

[BillB]

I have a Digitech Hardwire DL-8, which I like for its 4 knobs and consequently simple setup. It emulates tape and analogue BBD, maybe not fantastically accurately, but the sounds in themselves are good and useable. The only annoyance for me was that when a second input is plugged in for stereo use, the ping-pong effect cut out. So I installed a switch to prevent that and can now have ping-pong on mono or stereo input. I love ping-pong....

Also have a a Vox Delay Lab, very nice with a huge range of FX, but, given that range, it is hampered by having a 4-digit display which will always be cryptic. Still, nice sounds can be dialled in quite easily. I have always fancied TC Electronics Flashback X4 - simple knobbiness plus MIDI might go to interesting places.

I have a couple of old digital racks (Digitech similar to Nathan's, and a Phonic) which are good fun to mess with as they can introduce LFO modulation from subtle to crazy. I have a few BBD delays (EHX and Behringer) but a lot of the time I find the delay range is just too short. Also have to say that various floor multi-fx (Boss ME-50/GT-6 and Korg AX3000B), all picked up sub-£70, do a great job and are a doddle to use.

Nathan: "newly acquired Yamaha E1005 that's still quarantined in its box" - Nice, that is one of the ultimate BBD devices if I remember correctly.

[zenguitar]

In a delay pedal shootout, is the winner the one who shoots last?

Andy

[nathanscribe]

... "newly acquired Yamaha E1005 that's still quarantined in its box" - Nice, that is one of the ultimate BBD devices if I remember correctly.

It's the model below the E1010. The 1005 had two MN3005 BBDs, the 1010 had four maybe? Something like that. Plus EQ. Still sensible prices as well, unlike the Moogerfoogers, which are getting *quite* high second-hand. The delays are pushing not far off a grand, I think, unless you're lucky. Which EHX have you got? I've had the Memory Boy and Deluxe Memory Man TT1100, and I preferred the small one!

[ManFromGlass]

In a delay pedal shootout, is the winner the one who shoots last?

Andy

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[BillB]

Which EHX have you got? I've had the Memory Boy and Deluxe Memory Man TT1100, and I preferred the small one!

Memory Boy. Didn’t get on with it initially. I was mucking about with rate and feedback to get all the silly self-oscillating effects, but found the feedback control, erm, hard to control. Maybe it’s something about the size and position of the knobs. However I really should give it another try, at very least in modulation / chorus mode.

Actually, I forgot a little favourite, the Behringer EM-600 Echo Machine, which seems to be a clone of the Line 6 Echo Park - the controls certainly look very similar. Anyway, it has a great sound, or sounds, and is again stereo in, which ALL fx pedals should be, unless they are only intended for pathetic monophonic-only instruments like, oh, electric guitars....
(Ducks and runs for cover).

What’s really annoying is that I had a Ken Multi Echo unit like this

and I GAVE IT AWAY at some odd point in my life where I thought I had lost interest in hardware... really stoopid. It was noisy and had a limited delay time, but those big knobs made it really easy to control and muck about with feedback and pitch. I had even modded it for modulation input with a little 555 LFO.
I don’t give nothing away no more!

[Stratman57]

Aside from built in delays from multiFX pedals, I have a Roland SDE 1000, and and a Boss RE-20, which is a digital emulation of the Space Echo. And I can highly recommend it, sounds great and there's the facility to hold one of the two pedals down to get the speeding up pitch effect, sounds fantastic.

Regards, Simon.

[10K-DB Music]

In a delay pedal shootout, is the winner the one who shoots last?

Andy

[Arpangel]

That Yamaha is great, I had a 1010.
Be careful of the TC flashback 4, I had one and sold it, it’s very underwhelming, and way too dark IMO.
Also a big fan of the EHX Memory Toy, it’s the cheapest, and best of their delays, for basic applications.
My delay list right now is as follows, Boss DD7, OBNE Minim, EHX 16 Sec, Zoom CDR70.
Memory Toy is on the shopping list.

[ARealGuitarist]

I know this thread is 2 years old and I hate to necro it but just wanted to give my opinion in the OBNE MiniM delay pedal, as there is a bit more experience where I'm coming from.

In retrospective, we originally thought this was a one trick pony but as we spend more time we find that it's very versatile and not only does one thing great but quite a few. I'll lost what those things are.

-Analog Delay
-Reverse Delay
-Reverb
-Harmonic Tremolo
-Chorus

There isn't a delay out there that sounds similar to the Minim, so there's nothing to compare it to. It's circuit makes it too unique to be copied or imitated, it's not like the Boss DM-2, Memory Man, MXR Carbon Copy, etc.

Using this pedal for one single effect from the list I wrote out, sounds just as good as using all of the effects of the pedal at once. That's what has made the pedal so popular in the short time it's come out. If it continues to get this popular, it will be as legedary as the Memory Man or DM-2 in some years.

And while it may not be as diverse and versatile as a Boss DD-7, you gotta take into consideration that it is an analog circuit with a reverse block. You can also choose what order the pedal operates in and what speed. So the options are limitless IF you know what you're doing

[Eddy Deegan]

Welcome to the forum ARealGuitarist

[resistorman]

They certainly hold their price!

[ARealGuitarist]

Welcome to the forum ARealGuitarist

Thank you!

I stumbled across this forum on accident via Google search on the Minim pedal. I am building a pedalboard with different delay and reverb pedals, an ambient effect based pedal board. I saw this post and thought it needed a bit of an update. I have more to say, I wanna shout out to another specific delay pedal I have on the board abd maybe a couple others but I'll do it in another comment

[Arpangel]

Welcome to the forum ARealGuitarist

Thank you!

I stumbled across this forum on accident via Google search on the Minim pedal. I am building a pedalboard with different delay and reverb pedals, an ambient effect based pedal board. I saw this post and thought it needed a bit of an update. I have more to say, I wanna shout out to another specific delay pedal I have on the board abd maybe a couple others but I'll do it in another comment

The Minim has one "major" weakness, it’s not stereo.
It’s the nature of the effects, they really would benefit from being in stereo.
I tried intensely to get into mine, you know, sometimes things can grow, or you discover a nice sweet spot, but not so in this case, it got sold.
I also sold my EHX 16 Sec Reissue, it’s not a 16 second delay like the original, it’s only one second, and sixteen only in the looper, which is so convoluted it was head damaging.
The Memory Toy is the best off their delays IMO, it’s lovely, but I’m up to here with dirty delays, I much prefer clean digital delays now, for my music.

[Bob Bickerton]

I’ve been through many delay units and have settled on the Strymon Dig Delay (which is stereo). I love the sound and tweakability. Wonderful stereo soundscapes, clean, with modulation if you want it, and good manipulation between principal and secondary delays:

https://www.strymon.net/product/dig/

But I recently acquired an Earthquaker Dispatch Master. A gorgeous mix of reverb and delay - instant soup - but sadly mono only:

https://www.earthquakerdevices.com/dispatch-master

Bob

[Ben Asaro]

When it comes to delay pedals, everyone should have some flavor of Space Echo simulation, in my opinion.

[Arpangel]

When it comes to delay pedals, everyone should have some flavor of Space Echo simulation, in my opinion.

I knew a guy that used to gig a tape Space Echo and a Juno 6, that’s all he had, and what he did solo with these two things was amazing.

I’ve been through many delay units and have settled on the Strymon Dig Delay (which is stereo). I love the sound and tweakability. Wonderful stereo soundscapes, clean, with modulation if you want it, and good manipulation between principal and secondary delays:

https://www.strymon.net/product/dig/

But I recently acquired an Earthquaker Dispatch Master. A gorgeous mix of reverb and delay - instant soup - but sadly mono only:

https://www.earthquakerdevices.com/dispatch-master

Bob

Bob, what’s the maximum delay time on the Dig?

[ARealGuitarist]

Welcome to the forum ARealGuitarist

Thank you!

I stumbled across this forum on accident via Google search on the Minim pedal. I am building a pedalboard with different delay and reverb pedals, an ambient effect based pedal board. I saw this post and thought it needed a bit of an update. I have more to say, I wanna shout out to another specific delay pedal I have on the board abd maybe a couple others but I'll do it in another comment

The Minim has one "major" weakness, it’s not stereo.
It’s the nature of the effects, they really would benefit from being in stereo.
I tried intensely to get into mine, you know, sometimes things can grow, or you discover a nice sweet spot, but not so in this case, it got sold.
I also sold my EHX 16 Sec Reissue, it’s not a 16 second delay like the original, it’s only one second, and sixteen only in the looper, which is so convoluted it was head damaging.
The Memory Toy is the best off their delays IMO, it’s lovely, but I’m up to here with dirty delays, I much prefer clean digital delays now, for my music.

That's because it's a true analog circuit. There is no true analog circuit with stereo because it requires the digital output of a signal split, processing to two sides. For me, lack of stereo doesn't bother me, I made sure all my pedals are mono, I'll post a pic sometime. Maybe my next board will be stereo based for further experimentation.

However, if stereo is something you need. I'd check out the Earthquakers Devices' Avalanche Run and Walrus Audio's D1 Mako Delay. I'd say they are the best in that field. Walrus has been knocking it out of the park with their digital effects! I own two reverb pedals by them, the Fathom and the Slotva If you are looking for clean and versatile, I don't think the Walrus sits on top of the chain. There's good reason why it's more expensive than the new Digitech DL4 MKii, for example.

Besides the Minim, I haven't even talked about my other 2 all time favorite delay pedals, one being digital and the other is analog.

[resistorman]

I recently acquired a Line 6 DL4 MK2. Best delay I've ever used.