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bouncy stuff
Ibanez DL-5 Digital Delay (x2)
When I finished my true bypass loop strip (taking all pedals not in use out of the signal path), the signal loss caused by my DanEcho became all too apparent. It wasn't something I'd noticed much before (when the signal passed through it at all times), but compared to the tone when it was true bypassed, I realized it had to go. A few minutes on eBay later, I'd snagged a near-mind DL-5.
The Soundtank digital delay uses a digital delay chip which was designed for karaoke machines (you know that crappy karaoke echo - this is it!). Its original limit was 100ms, but Ibanez boosted it to produce 400ms with reasonable fidelity. It sounds very warm and musical - not analog as such, but more like a good Boss DD-2. I've also rolled off a little treble from the delay signal, to place it a little more underneath the dry signal. And I've since bought a second DL-5 as a backup.
I'll probably keep looking - the search for the ultimate delay pedal seems never-ending - but I have a feeling this one will be with me for a good while. Yes, it is ugly, like a plastic bug, and the jacks will fail if you aren't very careful. But as this sits on my main pedalboard, run from a true bypass loop strip, it does not see much mechanical stress. It serves as my main basic echo/delay, for anything that doesn't require the specialities of the other two delays on my board. I have also bought a second pedal, which I use on the smaller pedalboard. Yes, I like the DL5...
Ibanez DML10 Modulation Delay II
I got this one for 51 EUR from a guy in Switzerland. Used prices on these seem to be fluctuating a bit - before this one, there was another auction on eBay for an identical pedal, which ended well past 120 EUR... I got turned on to this pedal when a member of the Effects forum at Harmony Central was selling his. It had been up on eBay a couple of times without selling, so I thought "what the heck" and threw in a bid. Of course I got outbid at the last minute... That just wouldn't do, so I started looking more actively for one. I passed on the auction mentioned earlier, as it started to get out of hand (120 EUR - I'll say...), and swooped in on this one instead. Basically, I bought it as a way of redeeming myself for the auction loss, and it wasn't really until I got it home I realized this one might actually be useful to me...
Basically it's a digital delay (up to 900 ms) with modulation capability, which can turn it into a chorus, flanger or just a downright sickly effect. For chorusing, you normally use short delay times (less than 20 ms) and adjust the modulation knobs to taste. To turn it into a flanger, just turn the feedback knob up a notch or two. But it's really... erm... interesting to use a long delay time instead - with the width/speed knobs around 12 o'clock, the delay bounces changes pitch wildly, sometimes as much as an octave up & down... The word "seasick" just doesn't do enough to describe the sensation... I tend to use it in a slightly more moderate fashion - more like a thickener, set at around 350 ms with just a hint of modulation. With the feedback knob up, the repeats can still clearly be heard detuning, but keep the repeats in check, and it just makes the sound "shimmer" a bit. Basically, it makes the guitar sound beautiful. Now, choruses tend to become a bit overbearing as soon as overdrive is involved, but this stays lush and discrete, while just thickening the sound a bit. The "width" knob needs careful setting, for this to work - move it a fraction of a hair, and the modulation will be too much. I ended up securing it in place with a dab of hot glue...
It eats batteries, though. I measured it at a peak of 59mA (fluctuating a bit, as modulation fx often do), but when it's powered up, it actually draws 75mA for a few moments... Thankfully, it works great with a standard regulated 9v supply - no hums or profanity - which helps.
Ibanez EM5 Echomachine
The Soundtank series was originally introduced in 1989, as a replacement for the "10" series, and featured a sturdy metal housing. Sometime in the early '90s the line was expanded, and at the same time redesigned with plastic housings, which wasn't exactly Ibanez's brightest moment. I'd like to meet the genious who came up with the idea of producing a line of pedals which were supposed to remind people of a tank (keywords for the ad copy writers: ruggedness, solid build quality, squashes everything in its path), ony to decide to produce the pedals from flimsy, easy-to-break plastic... How about these gems from Ibanez' own ad copy: "...our affordable Soundtanks are practically bulletproof" and "They're called Soundtanks because their high-tech housing and rugged construction are strong enough to survive the worst abuse." Few things have ever been more far removed from the truth. Instead of becoming known for their tank-like qualities, these pedals were semi-fondly nicknamed "plastic bugs". The pots are pcb-mounted, with plastic axles that protrude through the pedal's shell - which means that they will snap off in a heartbeat if you bump the pedal the wrong way. Tank? I think not.
Still, there are some gems to be found in this series too. The EM5 was introduced in the summer of 1997, which was rather late in this series' life - the bugs were finally dropped in 1999. It is a digital delay, designed to mimic the sound of a tube tape echo. Many have tried their hand at this feat before, but this is the only delay/echo pedal I know of that actually has a distortion circuit built into the delay circuit, to mimic the distortion generated inside an Echoplex. Does it work? Read on...
The answer is - as usual - both yes and no. The pedal does sound much more "alive" than a regular digital delay, and there is a faint break-up in the signal which somewhat reminds me of an Echoplex. The clipping diodes seem to put the repeats slightly (or not enough) out of phase with the dry signal - if you dial in a long delay with the echo level set fairly high, and then play a note in time with the repeats (so that at the same time you play that note, the delay plays one too), you will hear the bottom end disappear at times. It's almost like the delay repeats are phasing out the direct sound. Granted, this only happens if you deliberately try to make it happen, and in almost all other settings this slight phase effect makes for a cool, alive and vibrant delay.
The EM5 is a great rockabilly/bathroom/slap-back type echo, and it also does an awesome background drone effect. With the feedback knob on (or very close to) max, this particular pedal will keep echoing everything you play indefinitely (adding layer after layer of sounds into the mix, which will get more and more garbled and distorted with each repeat), but it will never run away from you - it does not take off into uncontrolled self-oscillation. It's an awesome sound, especially with the baritone guitar, which creates a very eery background texture to some of the more Daniel Lanois-influenced stuff I play.
Boss DD-2/early DD-3
Yes, they're the same... The first version of the DD-3 was the same as the DD-2, except for the name (obviously) and the dry output, which in the DD-2 was a parallel delay output. But you can read all about it here, so there's no need for me to repeat it. The DD-2 is broken and in bits - one of those never-ending "I'll fix it when I get the time" projects - while the DD-3 is working fine and has been modified with a three-way treble cut switch. I bought the "3" because I... well, I can't exactly say I *needed* it. It was available, and I had the money, so... I planned on using it either on the main pedalboard, or on the smaller board. But the Boss does something to the dry sound which I'm not too happy about - I'm guessing it's the compander/expander circuit that makes its presence a little too known for my taste. Most people probably don't notice this, as they run the signal through the pedal at all times (turning the delay on/off from the pedal itself). As I use a true bypass loop strip to turn my delays on/off independently, the difference was quite apparent. Eventually, the DL5 won out - it just seemed to suit my playing style a litte better, and didn't change my dry tone either. Still, the DD-2 and early DD-3 is one of the best and most natural sounding digital delays out there, and a classic to boot.
The picture is borrowed from bossarea.com, and is obviously not of either of mine. But if you're looking for info on any and all Boss pedals, bossarea is the place to be!
Danelectro DanEcho
I bought this one off eBay in USA. I saw it in the listings with no bids and a $60 Buy-it-Now, so I snapped it up before anyone even had the chance to bid. With shipping costs, I ended up paying $82 - maybe a bit high for the US market, but as it retails for $155 new here in Sweden, it was a good deal for me.
But why the DanEcho? Well... if you've followed these pages, you know I was yearning for the T-Rex Replica, but the price felt a bit steep. And I know I wouldn't be happy with a stock Boss DD3 or DD5 - way too much definition for me. I wanted an echo that was less distinct, and would more or less just give me a texture, rather than bouncy, rythmic repeats. One day when we were rehearsing/recording, I was looking for something to add a little spice to the song. In a corner, I spied a purple box that turned out to be a DanEcho. I plugged it in, and there it was! The repeats were mushy enough that one delay time basically worked for every song - I have been rather picky about my delay pedals having a tap tempo function, but this one don't need it - and it just made everything that much thicker. I loved it! I didn't particularly love what it did to my bypassed sound, though - its input buffer seems to suck all life out of the tone. Whatever you do - don't plug your guitar straight into this one...
After a bit of fiddling, I came to the conclusion that the input impedance is too low. That's what it sounds like at least, and my hunch got stronger when I put a Boss pedal in front of the DanEcho - suddenly, all the tone came back! Most of it, at least. Apparently, the low impedance output of the buffered Boss pedal was a better match for the DanEcho's low-ish input impedance. I'll probably use it like that for a while - keeping a well-buffered pedal somewhere in front of it at all times - and then mod it. I know of one guy who has rebuilt the input buffer using an op-amp, which seems to do the trick. The thing needs an input impedance of at least 1 megohm. The pedal has since been retired from my pedalboard - another pedal in the "not currently in use" box, then...
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