problems with delay

[nightwing122087]

I've been having some problems with delay that I need some help with. I can't get a good sound out of it. I'm using a DD-3 for delay, but I don't think its the pedal itself that is the problem, I think I just might be using the effect wrong somehow.

The delay isn't as "clean" as I would like it to sound, and it is very difficult to control. I use a Marshall 800 head and on the floor I've got a tubescreamer, boss tuner, chorus, and delay at the end. I run the delay inline because I'm not exactly sure how to use the effects loop. I've been told that running the delay through the effects loop would make it sound different.

A friend of mine has a similar pedal setup, but he runs the pedals into his clean channel, so all the distortion is coming from his pedals. He also uses one of those MXR carbon copy delays and he has awesome tone and the delay sounds great through his relatively clean sounding rig. The delay has a natural warm sound to it. I plugged his pedalboard into my head and I still got the same effect with the delay, just very noisy, sloppy, and unnatural sounding.

90% of the time if the delay is on, it is coupled with the tubesceamer for solos, but when I step on the tubescreamer the little extra overdrive that I get seems to intensify the sound of the delay and it sounds even more uncontrollable and sloppy.

I never really use the clean channel on my amp because I like to roll down my volume control for cleans, so the dirty channel is always on. What do I do to make the delay sound more natural and clean? Do I run it through the effects loop? If so, how?

Sorry if the post seems awkward to read, I've gotta gig tonight and i'm rushing and hoping i could get an answer soon

 

[Sanford]

Re: problems with delay

Effects loop:

Effects send jack ----->pedal input
Pedal output ------> Effects return jack

I'm not sure if it'll clean up your delay sound, but give it a shot and see if it sounds better in the loop vs. front end.

 

[Ahpook]

Re: problems with delay

I have the same pedal and having issues as well. I run it in the loop chained with a phaser and tremolo pedal only. It sounds pretty good on the clean channel but adding distortion makes for a fizzy sounding repeat. I noticed cutting back on the reverb helped slightly.

Not sure if the chain sequence would matter or not? I have the phaser first, then the delay and finally the tremolo. Going to play with the order tonight and see if it helps.

Glad I found this thread Maybe we can get our similar problem resolved.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: problems with delay

I use a Digitech DigiDelay. When you use an amp and a pedal for overdrive or distortion, the pedal seems to mess up. It becomes very uneven. I use a very light delay for solos every once in a while and if I already have overdrive on the amp and then put the tubescreamer in the mix it becomes very loud, almost as loud as the guitar.

What I did though and I was in a similar situation was take the tubescreamer out of the mix. Find your perfect dirty tone at about 8 on your guitar. Then when you start soloing just turn on the delay and put the guitar up to 10. That's what I did and I am happy with the results.

Hope it helps... Andrew

 

[scottish]

Re: problems with delay

i think when you use an amp for distortion you pretty much need to run the delay in the fx loop. i dont really know jack about the technical aspects of this but i presume its kind of the same reason you always put delay last in the pedal chain, or at least after distortion.

basically, it sounds like your amp is trying to distort the delays one at a time if that makes sense...and that never works. at least not for me.

i have a DD-3 and i run it into a very clean blues jnr. i get all my OD/dist from pedals and they are all before the delay. works beautifully