How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

[JohnnyGuitar]

It took me sometime to learn how to use the delay pedal. So it was stashed away up until a few weeks from now. After watching a Joe Bonamassa youtube clip I've decided to take the pedal out and experiment with it. It's a late honeymoon.

I'm still overwhelmed by how many uses this thing has (and mine is a simple Ibanez DE-7), atmospheric effects, doubling your sound, repeats a-la Run Like Hell, slap back... it's so inspiring.

I am currently using it as a way to add reverb and depth to the sound, kind of what you'll hear from a Gilmour/Eric Johnson/Bonamassa solo, it just gets me that "melting" feeling when I play.

Still at the beginning of the learning curve when it comes to other uses but right now - Yay for delay...


How do you guys use it? any other cool settings I should explore?

 

[GandLMan]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

Delay's are great!

I use three settings:

1) A shorter, quiter delay ... one you feel but dont really hear on all my rhythm parts and playing. I find it just adds a depth and color to everything.
2) A slightly longer more prenounced delay for soloing or single note melodies.
3) A dotted eighth delay for that U2 esque sound. This delay is also great for swelling in notes and colors ... for a more ... Synth pad approach to playing.

 

[tone4days]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i just recently added a delay pedal to my board for the first time ever

i use it with tap tempo quarter note single repeat ... i set the D/A blend at 1:00 (a little more analog than digital ) and the level so that the repeat is about half the volume of the clean signal ...

i am still looking for additional ways to play with it (i want to be able to do the dotted eight too, just cant seem to link up my hands and ears and tap toe)

 

[Hoss]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i set it most of the time on a pretty mellow setting...just to open everything up and add depth and a touch of ambience to my sound!

then i set it longer for some songs that i really want it to stand out in that i play intros to or have slow solos in...too give the song a really deep ebb and flow.

with either setting...it's for complexion of sound and ambience...

btw...i have the DE-7 and LOVE IT!!!

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i use it pretty subtly, mostly to thicken things up. you almost can't tell it's there until i stop playing and you get the trailing repeats, it just fills things in and fattens it up a bit and works well for heavy rhythm along with leads.

-Mike.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

I use mine to crush ice. Sometimes to tenderize meat (if you wack the meat with the knobs).

I'm really a fan of a medium loud multiple repeat for big 80's soloing. Think Ratt/Def Lep/Poison.

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

in many ways...

for an ambient sound i use a long feedback with low level
i use a lot of rhythmic delays (dotted 8th, quarter, 8th note, etc..) because my band plays to a click all the time and my DD-20 can be set to exact tempos (praise the lord)
and then a i'll use it for solos to make everything just bigger sounding... I also use it on rhythms parts, to fatten it up a little bit.

 

[greatbob6]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

So, it sounds like a lot of you guys are using your delay in very subtle ways, not big echos and such. I'm curious, do you use reverb at all or just use the delay?

 

[B2D]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

I'm a delay freak... I love delay. It took me a while to learn how to NOT use it, haha!

I have 4 settings programmed into my DD20

1. A short, 2-repeat setting for making rhythm work more dimensional-sounding.
2. A medium-tempo 3-repeat one that's a little wetter for leads.
3. A VERY wet one with 4 or 5 repeats for spacey-sounding solos and sustained notes.
4. A "Cathedral" type setting.

 

[baritone]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

quiet and short for reverb sounds is fun

I also like setting it to sound like Morello's solo in "I Am the Highway" - single loud repeat, one quarter note behind. This setting acts kind of like a metronome when messing around by myself, but it also makes way for hours of musical masturbation. I actually use this setting as a base for most of my delay settings, but then I set it much quieter.

Also, check out Boss's DD-3 demo at the website, and see if you can simulate the "sitar" setting.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

I step on that shiney thing that comes out of the top.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

Unless I'm going for a special effect I usually set the delay time around 600ms, adjust for 4 - 5 repeats, and turn the wet level down so there's only a feeling of spaciousness (almost a reverb effect) without discernable repeat pulses.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i always set my delays the same... 2 and 1/2 quiet repeats.. i never set it so the volume of teh repeats is screaming loud... just so i can get what sounds like being in a big hall once in a while...

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

If I use delay at all it's more or less set up with a few repeats real close together and back in the mix a bit...just to keep it all from being so dry.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i like the really long ones too- the kind that are 5-10 seconds long, and fade completely after about 10 repeats. i can sit there for hours doing this too!

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

:dunno: i just keep the regen and time knobs on my carbon copy around half-way up for the most part and adjust them a little to taste, with the mix knob usually up around 3/4 to full and the modulation on. it adds just the right amount of thickness and enough time to play around with the repeats with very short harmonies and such.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

i set it most of the time on a pretty mellow setting...just to open everything up and add depth and a touch of ambience to my sound!

then i set it longer for some songs that i really want it to stand out in that i play intros to or have slow solos in...too give the song a really deep ebb and flow.

with either setting...it's for complexion of sound and ambience...

btw...i have the DE-7 and LOVE IT!!!

The DE-7 is just a cool simple box. It took me a long while until I understood how it works, plus I had problems with the power supply with it for a while (it works well only with the Ibanez adaptor for me). Now - I can't get enough... I use the shorter time for faster songs/solos and use the switch fo longer delays when I want to go slower... a tap tempo would be nice though.
I want to get another box for "spcial missions"... or upgrade to a DD 20...

Talking about the DD-20, I really don't know why there are so few delays with patches, I think that having 10 patches to choose from is much more useful then having 10 different delay voicings...

 

[Hoss]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

if the DE-7 had tap...i would never look at another delay!

 

[baritone]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

The DE-7 is an awesome little plug-n-play digital delay. The DigiTech DigiDelay has a few more bells and whistles, including tap.

 

[jeremy]

Re: How Do You Use Your Delay Pedal?

laugh all you want, but the only time i use a delay pedal is when i play a solo when we cover a pink floyd song