With a Cheapness (Delays & such) Inexpensive Time-based FX for the Budget-Minded Slut

[DanV]

i haven't really figured out what the price bracket is of this new annex to gearslutz -- but symetrix 606 is worth a mention.

[mdbeh]

Ibanez rackmount analog delays. I got one (AD202? Not sure about the model #) for $80, and I use it all the time.

Effectron II. Very early digital delay. Dark and mechanical sounding in a really interested way.

PSP42 plugin. Not the same as a real PCM42, but pretty damn cool nonetheless.

[DanV]

if were getting into plugins,

MjRotoDelay

by magnus of smartelectronix

free

and just peechy

[Albert]

Really cheap delays in the under $100 category that I've used are things like the Alesis Wedge and Nanoverb. The Nanoverb is great for quicky no-fuss echos. Sometimes the fully featured multidelay boxes are actually too fancy when all you want is a quick delay or echo.

A *great* delay box that is hard to find is the Korg DL8000R. I used to have one and sold it, one of my few "seller remorse" experiences.

[jpaudio]

how cheap we talkin? I like the Line6 Echo pro and TC D-2 a lot.


Gotta get one of those Ibanez analog units...

[tINY]

Effectron II - whoo-ha! that was a great industrial sounding unit. The Effectron 1 was a little too ringy (if memory serves)

Can you still find those?


-tINY

[oudplayer]

I have 2 effectrons and an echotron - a very rare 4 second Deltalab delay. All were had for less than $100 and all of them looked like poo-poo and all sound just great. I mean, not that great, but great, if you know what I mean.

Got a Vestax 1-second delay unit - a cheap knock off of that Ibanez unit - for about $40, and it provides some nice 8-bit delay sounds. In combination with a Biamp spring reverb, that used to be my reverb system of choice...

Then there's the REALLY cheap method that involves a microphone, a speaker, and a room. You blast the sound you want reverb on into a room, and record with with a mic placed somewhere interesting. Voila- reverbed sound, sans reverb unit. Stairwells work great. Elevator shafts (assuming the elevator's not in use), etc.

[hodad]

An oddball piece that might be found cheap is the Audio Digital TC2. 1.1 second digital delay with modulation--nothing fancy but I like it quite a bit.

Yamaha E1010's can be pretty cheap. They're a bit blah for a BBD delay, but some times this is good.

Tom

[Drumsound]

What's a PCM41 goin' for these days? I love mine!

[scotty-o]

Some fave cheap delays of mine are the already mentioned Effectron II and my current fave, the Digitech RDS 1900 delay (the one with the 4 push buttons on the front)
Lo fi and cool as hell.

-Scotty

[entropy]

Bel Bd80 is my rack fav but... cheap and seriously funky is the new Digtech delay pedal, I can't remember the model but it's their newest one.

[flame Linear]

Love my deltalab effectron II 1024
mxr flanger/doubler rack unit
old yamaha spx 90

[alphajerk]

delays? man my multiplay almost gets swiped every session.

and my moogerfooger analog delay is the shit when you use the CV I/O

[bigalw1414]

Yamaha UD Stomp. Has 8 fully programmable delays with modulation that can be configured in any combination of series and/or parallel or combine two or more delays to make a longer delay.

[moinho]

Lexicon Vortex. Anyone still remembers this? It's a rack-mount delay/mod effect with envelope follower and a morph feature to seamlessly blend two different effects...and a slightly lo-fi, but very "musical" sound - great on drum machines!

Boss DD-20. This is for the stompbox people here. The great thing is that you can have two patches going at once - like one endless loop and another slpaback you use while soloing over the loop...

Rainer

[covert]

Originally Posted by moinho

Lexicon Vortex. Anyone still remembers this? It's a rack-mount delay/mod effect with envelope follower and a morph feature to seamlessly blend two different effects...and a slightly lo-fi, but very "musical" sound - great on drum machines!

That's one taht usually sits in my racks unused. Does so much strange stuff that I've never really had time to learn it. Mostly have run synth tracks through it, found a preset that gave them some life and away it went.

Other than that, Ibanez delays from the 70's, with the champagne gold finish. Not too much bandwidth, and some have funky pitch shift as well.

[cgarges]

Man, no one's talked about the Effectron III yet (the ADM 1030). That's a really great box. It's similar to the 1024 in function, but includes an internal memory bank for storing the knob settings in four different positions. This is great for doing mix recalls like a week later or something. I've got two IIIs and a II and love them all. I really want to find an Echotron.

Delta Lab also made a series of really interesting boxes for delaying PA speakers that had XLR I/Os and a much cleaner-sounding signal path then the Effectrons. They're also dark grey. The two versions I've seen were the single-tap ADM 310 (I think) and the one-in, three-out ADM 465. The 465 has push-button selectors of something like 2ms, 5ms, 10ms and 20ms. The selectors become additive, so if you push in 2ms, 5ms, and 20ms, you get 27ms of delay on output #1. The same pushbutton selectors occur on the other two outputs and are also additive, so if you've got 27ms of delay at output #1 and you select 5ms for output #2 and 2ms and 10ms for output #3, you'll get 32ms of delay at output #2 and 44ms of delay at output #3. These boxes are cool for single-tap, slap-type delays or for messing with the stereo image.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[eeldip]

effectron dl-4. for the triangle to sine to square wave knob alone, its worth the extra effort to find one.

dod rackmount analog delays are great values... i got my r-895 for $25 on ebay.

and i have an older ibanez ad190 "time machine". lower fi than a typical analog delay. good for making the feedback signal run into the analog delay black hole.

[x.cerveau]

A friend of mine's dad has the effectron II i borrowed it for a while to fix a fuse and then regretted giving it back, i might buy it from him still..

i found a really neat old Ross Systems Digital Delay, its from the 70's, i can't find anything on it online, its called the Time Machine, for some reason i got it at the music store i frequent like 2 years ago, i go atleast 3 times a month, i never buy anything.. the bar has been raised..

i also like the HD-1500 from ibanez, it has some really crazy sounds, because of the harmonics, i have to get the harmonizer fixed on mine. They go super cheap on ebay and such like $45 and up..

the older ibanez have mxr chips in them which is nice i guess, i forget which one my friend has..its either the DM 1100 or the DM 2000, either way it's very nice, he picked that up for around 120 on ebay..

i tend to like ibanez delays a lot, i bought their tonelok echo/delay stomp box for a trade in of a BOSS V-WAH to Guitar Center.. very good distorted analog delay, in my opinion.

not that this really counts but the digital delay on the Korg Electribe EA-1.. kicks ass..

ooo delay! such oscillating bliss!

keith.

infinite hold button, i worship you!

EDIT:. i was mistaken, Old ibanez delays use MAXON chips, not mxr..

[Metatone]

I've got a pair of vortexes that I haven't fully explored but I wanted to point out Andy Butler's excellent Vortex Database. He's got samples and 'recipes' and lots of info on what a Vortex can do.

It can be found at www.andybutler.com . Scroll way down the page for the link.

Thanks to the previous poster for reminding me of how cool these units are...well described too!

[shangoe]

i love my roland sde2000. 70 euritos on ebay.

[cdog]

Line 6 Echo Park.

Kills.

[Tibbon]

Eventide 910. I got two of them super cheap.

[s00p3rm4n]

Originally Posted by x.cerveau

i tend to like ibanez delays a lot, i bought their tonelok echo/delay stomp box for a trade in of a BOSS V-WAH to Guitar Center.. very good distorted analog delay, in my opinion.

TONE-LOK! What what!

I f00king love this little bastard of a pedal. Best $20 or so I've spent on a pedal since the $15 or so I spent purchasing the Tone-Lok Tubescreamer (which carries the circuitry and sound of the original Tubescreamer). The infinite repeats and delay sound are analog, and funky as hell. I've decided after purchasing this pedal that I can never own a delay that won't self-oscillate.

[truestory]

cycling 74 pluggo

[Synth80s]

It's not completely cheap (~$225) and not usable for everything, but the EH Deluxe Memory Man has loads of analog vibe and character. The BBD-based delay/chorus sounds natural on guitar and it can give a mellow lo-fi effect to signals with ample high-frequency content because it is somewhat bandwidth limited.

Go ahead and tweak the giant dials all day -- it looks simple but you can get a lot of joy out of this oversized stompbox.

-Synth80s

[shikawkee]

Just for the hell of it I checked out some sound clips of different pedals at Musician's Friend. What I heard was illuminating (even though clips can be precarious at times).

The best delay pedal **for my money** was the Line 6 Echo Farm. LOTS of versatility and really great sounds. Great price too. My second fave was the $60. green Rocktron pedal and in close, close third (maybe second if not for the price factor) was the Carl Martin.

I also found, FWIW, that the Ibanez Phase/Mod pedal was the best deal on phasers with again the Carl Martin being a very close second.

I own Maxons but I liked these pedals better actually, at least from the clips.
YMMV.

[code green]

the dd-3 is kind of a desert island delay for me...i have the mf-104z and i still go to the boss plenty.

oh and definitely don't sleep on the boss rv-2 (can't speak for the rv-3 tho can't imagine it's much different)--reverb-delay pedal...it's phenomenal, vibe-wise. my ex-roommate's band tracked half of the vocals on their first studio demo through that thing and they sounded great. it's funny, the engineer thought they were nuts--there were, after all, racked lexicons and so on in the studio...but once he heard the results he dug it. not by any means saying it's "better" than pro units but it does impart a certain vibe without getting significantly in the way of track quality.

[PhaseSchmase]

The older Ibanez delays (80's era with the tannish front panel and greenish brown knobs) are a great way to go-

The Electrix MoFX is a GREAT unit for delay- really fun on vocals and guitars. Plus it's got tappable tempo AND a decent sounding flanger, distortion (which you can use to "grain" up your delay), and tremolo. Can be had for a good price on eBay.

Danelectro DanEcho guitar pedal- you have to be careful with the input level to the unit (needs to be significantly lower than a usual rack mount) and you'll probably need to use a mic pre or a cranked up line trim behind it (also, keep cable runs to/ from as short as possible due to impedance/ noise factors)... sounds like alot of work to use it, but it is VERY worth it. Works on most everything, and also very affordable on eBay.

The Effectron is one of those "when it works, it REALLY works" kind of boxes... the rest of the time, it can range from decently good to "um.... WTF?"