Delay Echo Effects

Guitar Toad

Toadily Stratologist
How do you use delay or echo effects? Are they good for more that just psycho weird sounds? Have I understood correctly that well utilized they function as a "presence" or reverb?
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

i use really short delay to thicken up chords. a little bit longer but still short for some solos to give it a fuller sound. i rarely use long delays but sometimes they are fun just to mess around with.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

i use very long delays, for looping of sound- sometimes over 2 minutes, with almost 100% feedback.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

Hmm.. I want an echo/delay badly these days. I already have a DD-3.. but too shrill sounding.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

Guitar Toad said:
How do you do that? or Rather, Is that kind of like pseudo overdubbing?


Not really....it's more like listening to an echo.

I set it to a couple of quick repeats so that when I'm soloing the notes kind of blend together, but not so much that it sounds messy. It takes you're guitar from sounding very dry and small, to sounding very huge.

I like using the tape simulation on my pedal (Boss DD-20) because it has a blunted attack on the repeats, so repeats don't overpower the notes you're actually playing. I use plenty of other settings to, but this one is my favorite.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

(First post BTW...hello everyone :) )

Delay...used correctly it's a VERY powerful tool.

The basic parameters are...level, time and repeat.

Level is the ratio of original sound to the delayed sound

Time is the amount of time between the original signal and the delayed siginal (usually mesured in miliseconds or "ms". 1000ms=1sec)

Repeat is the number of delays you hear before they fade away. (each successive delay usually gets softer)

The delay effect copies your original signal and then plays it back at a certain volume after a certain amount of time for a certain amount of times before it become too quite to hear anymore.

Short delays...say between 20-150 ms can impart a very "metalic" timbre. Ever stick you head into a 50 gallon drum and yell? Short delays sound very much like part of the original signal and not a seperate entity.

Medium delays ...say 150-220 give a good "slap-back" kind of sound as the delayed signal is just starting to be perceived by your brain as comming after the original sound. (Say "one two" as fast as you can.) Where one is the original signal and two is the delay.

Long delays ...say more than 250ms...really start to stand out to your ear as being seprate from the original. This is where you can really come up with some cool stuff. By setting the delay time to a multipul of the song tempo you can create the illusion of many guitars.

Noted examples of long delays. "Cathedral" by Van Halen (Diver Down)

"Run Like Hell" by Pink Floyd (The Wall) David Gilmour is an absolute master of long delay...listen to the intro of the song especially.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2 ...heck...just about everything The Edge plays is filled with syncopated delays...New Year's Day is another good example.

Brian May of Queen used long delays a bit...check out "Now I'm Here" from Live Killers.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

SlyFoxx said:
(First post BTW...hello everyone :) )

Delay...used correctly it's a VERY powerful tool.

The basic parameters are...level, time and repeat.

Level is the ratio of original sound to the delayed sound

Time is the amount of time between the original signal and the delayed siginal (usually mesured in miliseconds or "ms". 1000ms=1sec)

Repeat is the number of delays you hear before they fade away. (each successive delay usually gets softer)

The delay effect copies your original signal and then plays it back at a certain volume after a certain amount of time for a certain amount of times before it become too quite to hear anymore.

Short delays...say between 20-150 ms can impart a very "metalic" timbre. Ever stick you head into a 50 gallon drum and yell? Short delays sound very much like part of the original signal and not a seperate entity.

Medium delays ...say 150-220 give a good "slap-back" kind of sound as the delayed signal is just starting to be perceived by your brain as comming after the original sound. (Say "one two" as fast as you can.) Where one is the original signal and two is the delay.

Long delays ...say more than 250ms...really start to stand out to your ear as being seprate from the original. This is where you can really come up with some cool stuff. By setting the delay time to a multipul of the song tempo you can create the illusion of many guitars.

Noted examples of long delays. "Cathedral" by Van Halen (Diver Down)

"Run Like Hell" by Pink Floyd (The Wall) David Gilmour is an absolute master of long delay...listen to the intro of the song especially.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2 ...heck...just about everything The Edge plays is filled with syncopated delays...New Year's Day is another good example.

Brian May of Queen used long delays a bit...check out "Now I'm Here" from Live Killers.

Great info. Thanks SlyFoxx.
Is there such a thing as a good cheap delay. Lets say <$100?
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

I usually use medium delay applied lightly to give the overall sound a more spatial, 3-dimensional quality. I bump up the level for a more prominent echo-delay effect. I have it on about 70% of the time but I only really bump it up huge for big-sounding solos.
 
Re: Delay Echo Effects

I use varying degrees of delay all the time, mainly because I like to fill a lot of space.
 
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