So tonight I spent a good portion of my evening comparing and contrasting what I liked and didn’t like about (mostly) analog delay pedals and simpler delay pedals that may or may not be digital, but I thought were cool. I work for www.prymaxevintage.com and in the little shop I work at, there are legitimately over 800 different effect pedals available for me to try out. So I brought in my ’70 Fender Silverface Twin, and my DiPinto Galaxie IV guitar and my pedal board, and tossed in different delays at the end of the chain, comparing and contrasting them with my MXR Carbon Copy, which has been in my opinion, the best sounding SIMPLE analog delay pedal I had come across (before I knew that prymaxe existed).
When I got the carbon copy I compared it to an Ibanez delay (of recent I’ve used my friends maxon, and its super similar to the ibanez, I’m not even sure if there’s a difference), what I was really looking for was who could do the nicest slap-back, who had the most natural response, what the tone colour was like, how it reacted with ODs, how the repeats oscillation sounded (harsh or detuned etc.), and the option of modulation vs not and like you know, if it hit me as the delay pedal that I should have.
I didn’t compare any EHX stuff, because I’ve played it all you know? It’s good but it’s not what I’m looking for. A vintage memory man and I had a bit of a love affair, but it’s not something I need.
Anyway, the reason I am doing this is because I dropped my CC right on the footswitch and it blew up the switch. So I got another one in the mail, and Instead of going out to get a new soldering iron (my tip was beyond dead) I chose to use a solder gun. Well, that was a bad decision, I totally killed the PCB. I thought I had the skills, but I don’t. So I have managed to jerry-rig the damn guy into working for the past year, but it’s done now. The switch is fine, the board is just shitting out. I guess that’s an MXR thing though. My antics obviously couldn’t have helped. They make great damn pedals but I’ve gone through 3 Wylde Overdrives in 2 years.
the pedals involved were, MXR Carbon Copy, Malekko 616, Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport JR, Catalinbread Montevillain, Home Brew Electronics Mock II, Kilpatrick Lush Puppy, Kilpatrick Echo Centric, Jack Deville Dark Echo, CMATmods Deeelay, Retro-Sonic Vintage Vibes, Wampler Faux Tape Echo, Wampler Faux Analog Echo, Subdecay Echobox, Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay PCB version, and Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay handwired.
Let’s start the results.
MXR Carbon Copy - I know how this guy sounds, I’ve had it since it came out, and it’s managed to sound great with the various rigs i’ve used it with over the years. It has a really natural sounding colour to it, a bit warmer than my guitar tone usually is, but it has a very nice brilliant sheen in the repeat, it’s not a super clean repeat, as there is a good amount of oscillation, but it’s not harsh. It’s got brilliance and warmth. The thing that does it for me with this guy, is it’s modulation circuit. If you want to, you could use this pedal as a chorus pedal. It has internal trimpots to control the speed and the depth if you so desire to change the already fantastic stock setting. It’s rather thick, and it adds a nice shimmer to your sound, thickening the delay up, making you sound almost underwater. I love the option of the trimpots, and I love how much variability it gives the little guy. All that for 150$.
Malekko 616 - The direct competitor to the Carbon Copy. It features everything the CC has, but boasts a switchable True Bypass on or off option, and the modulation trimpots are top mounted, instead of internal. The 616 is a bit too bright for my liking. Infact when it’s set to true bypass mode on, the repeats are so harsh it’s essentially just noise. The true bypass off is much better, but the oscillations are still a bit harsher than I’d like them too be. They also have a tendency to detune quicker with what I’d consider a light modulation. The modulation itself is super-sensitive (which may not be a bad thing), and not as thick as the carbon copy. It’s not a bad pedal, it has awesome options, it just doesn’t really fit with the sound I’m going for.
Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport JR. – EQD never really let’s me down with their pedals, they’re always so interesting and have cool little features. I chose not to do the 6 knob Disaster Transport because I felt this little guy fit more in with what I was looking for, but I will definitely give it a shot in the future. So this pedal over all was a bit bright for my comfort, it wasn’t overwhelmingly brilliant, but by no means was it shrill like the 616 either. The coolest feature about this guy is the tone knob, which doesn’t really effect the base tone too much at all, and seemed to only drastically effect the repeats. When I had it set all the way to it’s “darker” side, the base sound was brighter than my guitar clean, and the repeats were warmer, but not overwhelmingly dark.
Catalinbread Montevillain - Yet another bright delay pedal, this guy is a bit closer to my base clean tone than the EQD was, but it still got a bit harsh the higher up on the neck I played. It also wasn’t overwhelmingly brilliant, just sort of bright, and it’s character was sort of standard. Definitely a nicer sounding non harsh bright delay, this pedal could use some Jack Deville style modulation to give it the shimmery character it desires to have.
Home Brew Electronics Mock II – One of the most brilliant Delays I got a chance to play over the course of the night, this guy has a brighter sound to him as well, but it’s rather pleasing, though still not quite as smooth as the carbon copy. The repeats are fairly smooth, most certainly not harsh and it definitely has a good range of delay time, and does a good slapback. I especially liked the way it interacted with my OD (I was using a menatone red snapper). I’d consider this guy a pretty nice buy. It’s a great sounding “bright delay” and with optional modulation this guy would be a home run.
Kilpatrick Lush Puppy – So this is a reverb pedal with footswitchable delay. The only thing the delay knob really does is control the time of the delay, and that’s about as versatile as it gets besides a mix knob for the reverb. The reverb was sweet, but this doesn’t technically count as a delay, but it seemed interesting so I wanted to give it a shot.
Kilpatrick Echo Centric – This guy sounds and responds like a digital pedal, it doesn’t colour your tone at all in the slightest, and it has a pretty flat character, so if you’re going for that sort of a sound this guy is for you. Some perks are that it’s stereo out, and it has a switchable option for the repeats to be in thirds, which I have no idea what it means, but it creates a really cool swing to the oscillations and definitely makes whatever it is you’re doing sound considerably more stoned. Not to mention the footswitches are labeled “Syncopate” and “do it!” The syncopate switch functions sort of like a tap tempo. This pedal is way cool and has pretty strange options to fool around with, and if it had a modulation built in, it would be one of the coolest delays out on the market. Even though it doesn’t I’m still a fan.
CMATmods Deeelay: I understand that I played a whole bunch of delay pedals in a row, but this definitely is the most underwhelming delay I have ever played. It’s like a paradox in itself. It’s bright and muddy at the same time and it feels like there’s this weird blanket on top of it’s sound. The blend knob really didn’t do much to the wet/dry signal until it was at 2 o’clock. I would recommend not getting it.
Jack Deville Dark Echo – This echo has what I’d describe to as an almost “angelic” sound to it. The frequencies present in the modulation (the sway knob) are awesome. It’s a lighter modulation, due to both depth and rate being in one knob, so they both go up as you turn it, so as it gets thicker it also goes a bit more wild on the pitch variation, which is really neat. It has a truly brilliant sound and boosts frequencies in about the same range as the Z-vex Super Hard-On, which are exactly the frequencies you’d want boosted in a guitar for playing live. It cuts super nice and has a darker sound, but not overwhelmingly dark like the handwired Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. As far as aesthetics go I love the LED, and I hate the DOD knobs. But this is truly a classy pedal and really lets your guitar sing.
Retrosonic Vintage Vibes – The blend knob on this guy was unnoticeable until about 12 o’clock, as in you could barely hear the repeats at all until that point. The short/long stomp switch option was neat, because it let you have more control over the speed of the delay from super quick to super duper slow. It was comparable to the sound of the echo centric, but had a bit more grit to its oscillations, which was nice. Overall very clear sounding, and didn’t interfere with the tone colour of the original sound.
Wampler Faux Tape Echo – Let’s be serious, I know this is a digital pedal, but who doesn’t want a tape echo? I had to try it out based on that option. It has your standard feedback, mix and time knobs, along with a volume knob and a depth knob to control the modulation (which can be toggled on or off). My first thought “this doesn’t sound like a tape echo at all” because it doesn’t. but it does a damn good analog delay impression. It adds a tiny bit of brightness to your tone, but remains very clear when clean or overdriven. It’s got a smoother sound, and has super clear repeats.
Wampler Faux Analog Echo – See Wampler Faux Tape Echo and subtract modulation.
Subdecay Echobox – Very similar to the Carbon Copy, but slightly brighter. Not in a bad way, just a bit chimier, with a bit airier of a vibe, slightly less brilliant. The modulation knobs are on top, which is awesome. But if you turn the rate up to just under 9 o’clock and the depth up past 11 o’clock the pitch warble already begins at such light modulation. I can almost perfectly simulate the settings I use on the carbon copy with this thing, that’s sort of cool.
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay PCB – Much brighter than the handwired version I guess to the smd parts used to build it, but goddamn, it has the smoothest oscillations that sound much more like your guitar is shimmering than it’s oscillating. The character the pedal adds to your guitar is almost indescribable, it fills it out like you have modulation on, but it has no modulation on it at all. I’ve been using the term brilliance a lot tonight, and this pedal is the definition of it. The only slight issue is that the mix is too subtle until about 1 o’clock, and than it begins to give you a bit more control. But it’s not a big deal, it gets to fully dry at some point.
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay Handwired – the hype behind this pedal is like none other I have ever heard. The damn thing costs 400$ it had better be incredible. It has all of the brilliance and full character and clear repeats the PCB version has, except its much, much darker. Infact, it’s the darkest, warmest delay I played out of the entirety of the entire group. Probably the biggest let down of the night was having the PCB version of this godlike-satused pedal kick its ass.
So in conclusion,
My top 3:
1. Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay PCB
2. MXR Carbon Copy
3. Jack Deville Dark Echo
I would love to eventually own all 3 of those pedals if I could, but the thought of owning 3 analog delays might just be completely unnecessary. I’d love for it to happen though.
