EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

[Lewguitar]

Sold the Line 6 DL4 - it's on its way to Switzerland, the land of precision and Cuckoo Clocks!
Perfect!

Had a chance to spend a couple of hours with the EH Deluxe Memory Man yesterday and I like everything about it.

It's so simple and easy and intuitive to dial in sounds and the sounds are warm and just what I was looking for.

It really fattens up the sound of my guitars and I can even use it as a boost to push my amp a little harder.

I like the chorus effects too - and they are so easily blended into the mix. I can adjust the chorus so it just fattens up the tone in a subtle way or adjust for full on chorus.

This is a keeper - just like so many of you guys told me a year or so ago just before I bought the DL4. I should have listened. :banghead:

Only two things:

1. Longer delays would be nice - I understand that mods are available to change this.

2. It comes with its own power supply, which is nice, but the Voodoo Lab connectors that came with my PedalTrain pedalboard don't fit the Memory Man and if I want to put it on my PedalTrain I'll have to send to Voodoo for a connector that does fit. That's OK - I need to order one each for my Rat and '69 Pedal too. (Those also take a non-standard 9 volt connector)

I don't know I want this on my pedal board anyway though, because if it was sitting on a stool or something I could adjust it on the fly a little more easily without having to bend over.

Anyways, I'm loving it. I really think my search for the ultimate Delay Pedal for Edge/U2, Eric Johnson, etc. echo sounds is over.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

So funny! I switched from the DMM to the DL4. Mine was a vintage DMM, so I'm not sure if that makes the difference. LukeDuke has it now.

Glad you're having fun with yours, Lew.

- Keith

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

So funny! I switched from the DMM to the DL4. Mine was a vintage DMM, so I'm not sure if that makes the difference. LukeDuke has it now.

Glad you're having fun with yours, Lew.

- Keith

That is interesting. Mine's brand new.

The DL4 has a great clean tone, cleaner than the DMM, but it's so complicated to use.

I'm Old School. The really fancy stuff like the DL4 is just over my head.

And the DMM has a much warmer tone. More organic sounding than the DL4.

The DL4 can do a lot more than the DMM, but all those advanced settings that the DL4 offers were for dialing in tones and loops and super long delays and other effects I wasn't looking for.

Lew

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Lew I'm glad to hear you're loving it!

It's funny that the DMM fit my bill better than a DL4 as well. I am still glad I started with it because it gave me the ability to try simulations of delays so I could kind of zero in on what I wanted. I found myself using the DMM model and the Boss model the most.

The DMM has become my replace at all costs pedal since I'm like you and like the ability to run the gain up a little to push an amp. Like Keith said this is an old one so it's not true bypass and has some bleed-over but I kind of like it that way.

Have you used the runaway trick to amaze anyone yet? All my friends, and especially my drummer, love hearing the old analog runaway. I've yet to figure out how to incorporate it into a song, but if Satch, I can at least make a noble effort!

Luke

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Have you used the runaway trick to amaze anyone yet? All my friends, and especially my drummer, love hearing the old analog runaway. I've yet to figure out how to incorporate it into a song, but if Satch, I can at least make a noble effort!

Luke

Not yet. Reminds me of the way my Echoplex (which I sold to Christian, the Guy Who Invented Fire a couple of years ago) used to runaway when I wanted it to. It's a fun effect. The DMM has the warmth of the Echoplex but it's much quieter - and it has a nice chorus effect too!

Lew

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Not yet. Reminds me of the way my Echoplex (which I sold to Christian, the Guy Who Invented Fire a couple of years ago) used to runaway when I wanted it to. It's a fun effect. The DMM has the warmth of the Echoplex but it's much quieter - and it has a nice chorus effect too!

Lew

I didn't know you could get an echoplex to DO runaway! Wow, that's cool. Fortunately with the DMM you don't have to buy new tapes too, so that's certainly a plus.

Oh, and I understand the table thing as well, it would be a lot easier to send it into runaway or tone down the effect etc.

BTW are you using the chorus all the time? I like the Vib. too.

Luke

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

I didn't know you could get an echoplex to DO runaway! Wow, that's cool. Fortunately with the DMM you don't have to buy new tapes too, so that's certainly a plus.

Oh, and I understand the table thing as well, it would be a lot easier to send it into runaway or tone down the effect etc.

BTW are you using the chorus all the time? I like the Vib. too.

Luke

I've only got a few hours of playing time on it. But I do like leaving the chorus on just a little. I've been using it on my "stripped down to essentials" PedalTrain: Boss TU-2 tuner, Teese Picture Wah, Vintage Rat and the DMM plugged into my modded Princeton Reverb with the Celestion G12-65 speaker. I also have a Line 6 Verbzilla on there for when I play through my 50's Fender tweed amps which don't have reverb.

Lew

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

I've only got a few hours of playing time on it. But I do like leaving the chorus on just a little. I've been using it on my "stripped down to essentials" PedalTrain: Boss TU-2 tuner, Teese Picture Wah, Vintage Rat and the DMM plugged into my modded Princeton Reverb with the Celestion G12-65 speaker. I also have a Line 6 Verbzilla on there for when I play through my 50's Fender tweed amps which don't have reverb.

Lew

Sounds like a bangup board, stripped down or not. When I'm using my Super Reverb I'm running a similiar setup TU-2, Spina wah, Banzai cold fusion or MXR GT-OD for a volume boost, 80s Rat2 (something about them isn't there?) then I go with the small stone nano and Deluxe Electric Mistress for modulation then the DMM.

I switch between the vib and chorus depending on my mood. I really think that's a nice feature.

Luke

 

[Curly]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

I'll have to send to Voodoo for a connector that does fit. That's OK - I need to order one each for my Rat and '69 Pedal too. (Those also take a non-standard 9 volt connector)

Lew,
Does the '69 take a positive ground, positive tip?
(like Fulltone's adapter?)

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Lew,
Does the '69 take a positive ground, positive tip?
(like Fulltone's adapter?)

Here's the quote from the 69 manual: "As always, I recommend that you use only carbon-zinc batteries such as the Eveready Classic or the Heavy Duty. This pedal is, however, fitted with a DC adapter jack for use with a battery eliminator with tip being Positive (+). Most adapters are opposite this and cannot be used without modification."

I was going to order from Voodoo for the right cable.

Lew

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Lew, I finally bought the Line 6 Verbzilla after reading all the great reviews and it makes me love the DMM even more than I already did. Those two pedals belong together!


S P A C E

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Cool deal Lew, Im so glad it worked out for you!

On the delay time issues EH says that the DMM is 550ms but I have never seen one that had that muich time...you can have them tweaked for more time if you need it. AnalogMan does some mods to them and so does Howard Davis, Howard is the man that designed them in the first place so he'd be my first choice!

As for the issues of old vs new DMM pedals all the actual Deluxe Memory Man pedals out there use the same NOS BBD chips and to my ears all sound very,very similar or the same...the advantage of the ones like you have Lew, the ones with the detachable poiwer supply is that because the transformer is not inside the chassis theya re even quitier than the older ones wiht the power cord built it.

When you get ready to order from VooDoo labs just call them up, explain the issue of not having enough of the correct cables and they'll hook you up! They are very quick and quite friendly!

FWIW, I think you'll find that you prefer the sound of that 69 with a battery but it's up to you!

Good luck and have fun with it!

 

[Lu_B]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

DMM is next on my pedal list!

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

On the delay time issues EH says that the DMM is 550ms but I have never seen one that had that muich time...you can have them tweaked for more time if you need it. AnalogMan does some mods to them and so does Howard Davis, Howard is the man that designed them in the first place so he'd be my first choice!

Yep .... mine's about 430ms.

...the advantage of the ones like you have Lew, the ones with the detachable poiwer supply is that because the transformer is not inside the chassis theya re even quitier than the older ones wiht the power cord built it.
Good luck and have fun with it!

I wonder how complicated (or expensive) it would be to remove the transformer from mine.

 

[benji657]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

hey Lew, I know how you feel about the les paul forum, but i'm interested in this pedal as well, and did a research. Came up with this.

Quote/
"Keep your hands of the new EH Deluxe Memory Man reissue pedals. They have two issues:

First of all they are true bypass but were never ment to be. So you end up with less output if the delay is on on. If you want to get close to the bypass level you will get a distorted signal.

Second: These pedals were designed to deliver up to 450ms of delay time, but they don't even get close. Around 350ms is all you get.
The guy who designed this pedal and many others lives in NY and will mod your pedal to meet the original specs. How crazy is that?

So get a "vintage" if you get a MM. They sound fantastic."
/End quote

Do you see any of these problems?..

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

hey Lew, I know how you feel about the les paul forum, but i'm interested in this pedal as well, and did a research. Came up with this.

Quote/
"Keep your hands of the new EH Deluxe Memory Man reissue pedals. They have two issues:

First of all they are true bypass but were never ment to be. So you end up with less output if the delay is on on. If you want to get close to the bypass level you will get a distorted signal.

Second: These pedals were designed to deliver up to 450ms of delay time, but they don't even get close. Around 350ms is all you get.
The guy who designed this pedal and many others lives in NY and will mod your pedal to meet the original specs. How crazy is that?

So get a "vintage" if you get a MM. They sound fantastic."
/End quote

Do you see any of these problems?..

Well, you know how I feel about the Les Paul Forum - and it isn't good! LOL!

This is my first Memory Man so I don't have any experience with the original to compare to. But I haven't noticed the "less output if the delay is on" thing at all.

The device has a level control and I can set it to actually boost the output and be quite a bit louder with the delay on.

I do notice that the DMM is not as clean as the DL4, but the Line 6 DL4 was to clean. Didn't have enough balls and didn't thicken the tone the way the DMM does. So even if the DMM is a little more distorted than the DL4, it's not overly so and besides: I like the way it sounds. :1:

Bottom line is it sounds good and feels good and gives me tones and sounds that make me feel creative and feel like playing. The cleaner tone of the DL4 just didn't inspire me and didn't trigger creative ideas like the DMM does.

I wouldn't mind if I could set it for just a little longer delay. That would be nice. But for the kind of delay effects I like most of the time, it's just fine.

FWIW, I think you'll find that you prefer the sound of that 69 with a battery but it's up to you!

I do like the tone better with a battery. I'm not sure I'm actually going to put my '69 on my pedal board. But I'd like to have the right power supply cord just in case.

 

[millsart]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Only complaint I had with the DMM (other than the size on the board lol) was that it was so hard to dial in some really short delay times

It sounds awesome for reggae and dub based music tonally, but theres just no fine control in the least for dialing in some quick slapback sounds. Would be nice of have a bit of a nonlinear control on that pot to some degree.



You should check out the Carbon Copy if you like the DMM as well. They dont sound exactly the same but pretty close with the exception of the drive controls and the CC is about 1/10th the size and around half the price.

I sold my DMM for a CC

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

You should check out the Carbon Copy if you like the DMM as well. They dont sound exactly the same but pretty close with the exception of the drive controls and the CC is about 1/10th the size and around half the price.
I sold my DMM for a CC

I hear that here and there but I thought they sounded pretty different...

 

[millsart]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

I hear that here and there but I thought they sounded pretty different...

Guess it depends how big of delay fan you are as to how similar or different they sound.

I pretty much find one analog delay w/ mod sounds the same as another analog delay with mod

The CC is maybe slightly darker, but still quite warm, but when you engage a little mod, I dont think theres really anyone who wouldnt' belive it was a DMM if you told them so in a track.

DMM of course in EHX tradition can be pushed beyond what the CC and other delays can do, which can be fun though, not sure how practical most users find that other than playing around though.

Seeing a guitarist on his knees messing with the feedback knob for 2 minutes after a song is over has gotten a little cliche these days LOL

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: EH Deluxe Memory Man is great!

Seeing a guitarist on his knees messing with the feedback knob for 2 minutes after a song is over has gotten a little cliche these days LOL

Yeah...especially since Steve Miller was doing exactly that 40 years ago! I think he used an Echoplex to get that runaway feedback thing. Lew