I say space guitar, but really delay is useful in any range of genres. It's simple purpose of repeating your signal can add depth to your sound, and can also be used in creative ways to "simulate" a rhythm guitar player and create some cool layered sounds (ie, U2's The Edge). Here's a few things to consider when you're buying your awesome new delay unit:
1. Delay Time: While it doesn't sound that important and many often forget about it, it's important to make sure your delay pedal has a decent range of delay time. Delay time is the time in between the note you play and its repeated signal from the delay pedal. Most modern analog delays can reach up to 600ms, which is more than enough, and digital delays can get even farther, with delay times reaching up into the realm of seconds.
2. Amount of "Swirliness": There's probably a better name for this than "swirliness", but it's pretty much how much the echo produced by your delay unit blends with the original signal to create a "swirl" of sound and ambience rather than just a straight echo. For certain genres you want more of an organic ambience where others you would want a crisper sound. It's hard to find one pedal that does all of this, but rarely is it that one needs both rather than just one or the other.
3. Muddiness: Make sure that when you turn up the feedback and the mix or wet/dry controls the signal doesn't get too distorted. It's ok if it gets a little distorted from the layering, but if it really starts to muddy up at higher mix levels then you've got a problem. This is not to be confused with a feedback loop that occurs at higher feedback levels on analog delays. That's perfectly ok, and actually really cool.
Now for a history of the delay pedal in as short a form as I can squeeze it into-
Once upon a time, people who wanted "echo-ey" sounds had to record in a cave or other large space with a lot of natural echo (like a bathroom with all the tiles). Then came the fifties, and with it a new device called a tape delay, which recorded your signal to tape and played it back in an echo-ey fashion. People loved it, and so innovation played its part and along came "analog" bucket brigade solid state circuits. Then, soon enough, in the 80's, delays went digital, and wildly long delay times were achieved, with all this new stuff that was über digital. Now we're in the new millenium, and all three types of delay- tape, analog, and digital- are available for purchase new. All three are good for different purposes, which is why they're all still retailed new today. There's not one that stands above the other as being all-around "better".
That being said, here's a quick description of the three controls on a delay:
Time: This is how much time is between the signal you play and each of the repeats produced by the delay pedal. It's good to have a lot of "headroom" on this control, that being a lot of potential time between each of the repeats. Not that you'll necessarily be using second long delays, but it helps to have the option.
Feedback: How many times the signal is repeated. The signal will fade out eventually, so in other words this knob controls how quickly it fades out to silence. With analog delays, cool loops that sound like the screeching of a train's wheels coming to a stop, but that sound sustained so it never ends!
Mix or Wet/Dry: This is pretty self explanatory, it controls how loud your delay signal is in comparison to your normal or "dry" signal. Basically how loud the repeats produced by the delay pedal are.
Those are the basic controls, but doubtless you'll observe many others on the various delay pedals you find. For operational purposes, however, those three are the big ones.
While there are a lot of good delays on the market for purchase today, there are a few I've tried that really stand out from the others in terms of tone, repeat time, ease of use, and what you get for your money. Here's the best of those:
1. The Way Huge Aqua Puss- $150
I do really love Way Huge, even though they are reissue pedals. Dunlop has done a great job recreating the vintage tone and innovation that was associated with the name Way Huge, and it's one of my favorite brands to have on my personal board. That being said, this delay isn't great from a versatility standpoint. It has only 300 milleseconds of delay time, and is rather large to put on your pedal board. There's one thing that makes this one of the best delays on the market, and that's its sound. It makes super organic repeats, and when you play very legato it blends all the delays together into this sort of reverb-esque spacey sound. Plus, it does a great slapback delay, with the ability to fine tune the delay time very exactly with a knob that only has 300ms of range. The Way Hug Aqua-Puss Delay looks cool (while it is a bit big), it's easy to use, it's a tank, and it sounds great.
2. The Boss DD-3- $110
The Boss DD-3 is one of those pedals that's become a staple for many gigging musicians who want a delay pedal that will suit their needs and won't break down on them. The DD-3 does just that. It's built like a tank, and because of it's a digital delay, it's less prone to breaking just because one component becomes unsoldered. However, you do compromise a lot in tone for what you gain in clarity and convenience. The DD-3 is not necessarily the best sounding delay out there, primarily because it is a digital delay. Rather than providing the warm, darker repeats of an analog delay pedal, it plays your signal back in a very robotic and uncolored way, without really modifying it at all. Some people prefer this more sterile but cleaner sound, while others like the darkness and echoey-ness of analog delays. The Boss DD-3 is also priced right, however, and is a great place to start if you're just beginning to experiment with delay or if you want a pedal that's a workhorse.
3. The MXR Carbon Copy- $130
This is my personal favorite delay pedal, and resides in a nice spot next to a Proco RAT distortion on my board. With 600ms of delay time, you've got plenty of room for U2 ping pong repeats to slapback to spacey solos. The tone of this pedal is a very warm and dark but not too dark shimmeriness; almost like a very good hand hammered china cymbal. It's a very good boost for solos that fills out your sound under a fuzz pedal or a crunchy overdrive. The modulation switch is also very cool, and sounds almost like the natural tape warble of old tape delays like the Binson Echorec and the Echoplex. The only quarrel I have with this pedal is that there are two trimpots inside to adjust the modulation, but they are hard to access and adjust, so you can't play with the modulation sound too much unless you have a lot of time between sets to open up the pedal and adjust it. Overall though, a great alternative to the sterile feel of digital delays, but not so traditional analog that it can't handle longer repeat times.
4. The Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man- $320
This is a great delay, with a lot of options for the sound of the delay. There's an optional chorus/vibrato knob paired with a depth knob that can create some of the old tape delay warbley sounds. Of course, the delay is analog, and it sounds very analog-like. Go try this one out because it's definitely worth playing. In terms of real estate, this thing is a very large hunk of metal, so you'll have to really love it and have some room on your board to use it. However, still a great sound, and worth the high price tag if you have the money to spend. If not, the other analog delays I talked about are great substitutes.
Normally I list other gear in the category I'm talking about that I like but am not going to go into detail on. It's different with delay pedals though, because I haven't really intensely tested many. That being said, a few that I've tried briefly or heard are very good are:
-The AnalogMan ARDX20
-The TC Electronic Flashback
-The Boss DD-20
-The Vintage Way Huge Aquapuss (Uh-mazing piece of metal)
-The Vintage MXR Green Box Delay that really doesn't have much of a name and isn't readily available
There's more, but I don't know whether or not they're good. Try out the ones I listed, and if they don't satisfy you, then by all means check out some other pedals, because there seems to be no limit to the amount of delay pedals that are out there.
Some people find themselves asking the question, "why fuzz?". They feel like it's an unnecessary effect that's too specialized and doesn't have as wide an application as something like distortion. That may be true, but fuzz, in my opinion, is one of the most dynamically responsive and important effects one owns as a guitar player. It goes together perfectly with tube amps, and it can really define your sound. Once you try one of the options I have listed below, you'll fall in love with the sound of fuzz, and never want to part with it.
First off, let's get this straight. Fuzz is NOT distortion, it's FUZZ. Rather than attempting to emulate an almost super overdrive with unimaginable sustain, it adds a softer clipping and almost a more natural sound, especially when blended with the amp's clean signal by means of the volume control. That is all on the subject of clarification, so now here's a few basic guidelines as to the method of selecting your fuzz pedal:
1. Play around with the guitar's volume control: one of the very interesting characteristics of fuzz pedals is that if you turn down your volume control on your guitar while the fuzz unit is engaged, it removes some of the intense fuzz and replaces it with your guitar's clean signal. This is what Jimi Hendrix did on a lot of his signature tracks like "Castles Made of Sand" and "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)".
2. Check out all the controls: more generally, a fuzz will have just a volume and a fuzz control, and sometimes a tone control. This isn't always the case, however, and if it's not, make sure that the controls actually do something good to the sound, and that they have plenty of headroom (range of operation).
3. Play LOUD: but really, play to the point where you feel your face start to melt. The store owners will understand, because they know too that when you try out a fuzz pedal, it needs a strong base of fundamental amp tone to work with before it can really work it's magic. That's why some people hate fuzz, because they've never used it right, and it sounds thin and awful at a low volume.
There's a lot of fuzz pedals out there, and not all of them sound great, but a lot of them sound pretty good, so it's hard to go wrong. However, if you play a certain fuzz pedal that you heard Jimi Hendrix played (a fuzz face), and then find out that it sounds terrible, try another fuzz face. Each of these units has two transistors, silicon or germanium, that are important in determining the tone. Some companies don't gain test their transistors to make sure they are the right levels, so their fuzz pedals all sound radically different. Jimi actually would have his roadie go pick up six or seven fuzz pedals, daisy chain them together in a flurry of quarter inch cables, and test each unit individually to see which one sounded the best. Chances were at least three or four would get thrown out because they sounded so bad.
On the subject of the fuzz face, let me say this. DON'T BUY ONE. If you google "fuzz face", you'll come up with a list of pretty cool looking round pedals that look like they're smiling at you. Beware, because these aren't real fuzz faces, these are Dunlop reissue fuzz faces. Dunlop is a good company, don't get me wrong. Their reissues of the MXR pedals are some of the best stompboxes around, especially for the right price. When it comes to fuzz faces, though, they aren't nearly as good as some of the other options on the market. The circuit used is much different from that of the original Dallas Arbiter fuzz face used by guitarists such as David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. As for other fuzz reissues, like to Tone Bender MKII, you should be fine purchasing them, because they are made truer to their original designs.
There's not a lot more to say on the subject of fuzzes as a whole, so let's see some of the best fuzz pedals available to buy today.
1. The AnalogMan Sun Face- $220 (various models can cost more or less)
If you like Jimi Hendrix, or David Gilmour, or Eric Clapton, or almost any other guitarist out there, this fuzz is the best. Made by AnalogMan, the quality of the components used is unbeatable, and the whole thing is made almost to exact 1960's specifications. Available for upgrade is a "Sun Dial" knob, pictured above, which allows you to dial in the correct bias for the climate you are in, as germanium transistors can be finicky. It's hard to find a place to try these, because they are so custom tailored to the player who orders them, but if you get a chance, try it out even if you aren't planning on buying a new fuzz. They are expensive, but for old fuzz face sounds, they're the best out there.
2. The Proco Rat- $90
I remember walking into Guitar Center a few years ago, going to the guy at the front desk and asking him this- "Do you have a pedal that will make my guitar sound like a harmonica?" He gave me this strange look, and then handed me a RAT, saying, "I think this is the sound you're going for." Sure enough, it was, and it has been since. This is the pedal that I keep on my board. It's cheap, it's built like a tank, and it sounds something like Jimi Hendrix playing Nirvana songs through a 500 foot tall Marshall stack, whilst descending down from the heavens on a flying saucer. That's to say that it sounds like nothing else, and that's a good thing. It's got three easy controls, and can do anything from crunchy boost sounds to a veering on uncontrollable fuzz. It's a very thick fuzz, and when you hear one you know it's a RAT immediately. This was used by players like Jeff Beck, David Gilmour (On "The Division Bell"), and Kurt Cobain. Because it's one of my favorites, you should go check it out and maybe pick one up for the inexpensive price they go for.
3. The AnalogMan Sunbender MK1.5- $265
I wasn't going to put ANOTHER AnalogMan fuzz up here, but AnalogMan is so cool they had to have TWO of the greatest fuzzes of all time in their lineup! This is a replica with some modern modifications of a Sola Sound Tonebender. If you don't know what that is, it's the fuzz pedal that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used for his signature tones on Led Zeppelin I and II (and potentially others throughout the band's career). It sounds great, like a fuzz face but much brighter and punchier. It's made with the stuff of the gods, hence its not so flattering price-tag, but if you don't own a good fuzz already then this one is a great candidate for your first fuzz, not to mention a great addition to your collection of fuzz pedals. It's uses aren't quite as wide as some of the others listed here, but to be honest it sounds better for what it does than fifty percent of the pedals I'm going to talk about here. It's an AnalogMan though, so that's to be expected. So yeah, great fuzz, super cool, Jimmy Page used it.
4. Electro-Harmonix Big Muff- $80
In all of it's shapes and forms. First off let me say this pedal is a great fuzz. It's also got a history, and was produced in a few different locations with different components. The one I like most of all of these is the "Sovtek" Russian made Big Muff (the green one). If you can get your hands on one of these, go for it, they're really cool and sharp sounding. The vintage ones are great; David Gilmour used these for many of his recordings after Dark Side of the Moon (he used to use a Silicon Fuzz Face). Jack White, of the White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and his solo work under "Jack White" uses one of these as well, but the modern version. The modern version is good (and dirt cheap for how good it sounds), but it's not as good as the older and Sovtek ones. Nonetheless, a great fuzz, especially if you have a tube amp that you can play LOUD.
Here's some others I won't go into detail about, but I do enjoy playing:
-Way Huge Swollen Pickle
-MXR Blue Box (Vintage or Reissue)
-Vintage Fuzz Face/Tonebender/Supa Fuzz/Maestro Fuzz/Foxx Tone Machine
-Keeley Fuzz Head
Well, that's about it for fuzz pedals. Comment with any questions (I'll be glad to answer) or hate (I'll be glad to tell you why you're wrong)!
These are the third most essential part of a rig, right after guitar and amp. Overdrive and boost pedals play such a large part in determining your tone, make sure to choose carefully, or even have multiple options on your pedalboard for different sounds. Keep in mind these fairly obvious but sometimes overlooked things when you're buying your overdrive pedal.
1. Harmonic Sparkle: just about the worst way to describe something so great. There's no words for it, but it has to do with a certain soft clipping sound that won't destroy the beautiful overtones created by the resonating of your guitar. Many overdrive pedals will kill the personal sound of your guitar and amp. You don't want it to destroy your unique tone, but enhance it.
2. Headroom: A fancy word for range of gain. You want the gain knob to have as large a range as possible, from just barely adding any overdrive to your sound to filling up the room with a wild explosion of overdrive bridging on distortion. Of course, boost pedals may not have as much gain potential as true overdrive pedals, but overdrive pedals won't be able to play as clean as boost pedals will.
3. Sustain: Make sure that your overdrive pedal doesn't provide too much sustain at a low gain level. This indicates a lot of compression going on, which some people like, but I personally find artificial sounding and a primary destroyer of tone if used too much. At higher gain levels, this is alright, as the signal is supposed to be slightly sustained due to an increase in volume and overall modulation of the signal.
Other than those three important points, the world of overdrive pedals is wide open and highly subjective! To start off, let's describe the difference between a "boost" and an "overdrive" effect.
Boost: A true boost does one thing, and it's exactly what it sounds like. It takes your signal, and raises or "boosts" it's volume. When used with solid state amplifiers, this is pointless, but when used in combination with a tube amp, can drive the preamp tubes and create an overdrive sound that is very sharp but thick tone characteristic of Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Not as much gain as an overdrive, and a simpler idea, but it's essential in combination with a good tube amp. There are two types of boosts, "clean" boosts, and normal boosts. In truth, the circuitry is very different between the two, but the only thing you need to know is that clean boosts will only modify only the volume of your signal (transparency is the term used for the clean-ness of a boost or other effect), whereas normal boosts will also modify the sound and character of your signal.
Overdrive: Overdrive is described with a lot of different words; fat, chunky, thick, smooth, creamy, and many others make up a long list of nonsense that can't come close to accurately describing what overdrive actually is. Overdrive, in the truest definition, is the effect meant to simulate the sound of the power tubes of a tube amp being "driven" to the point of distortion by means of high volume. Overdrive pedals, despite their wild differences in tone and gain stages and controls, are all essentially trying to emulate the sound of a tube amp. This isn't to say that an overdrive isn't necessary if you have a tube amp. With amplifiers like Fender Twin Reverbs and Vox AC30's it's sometimes good to have an overdrive for that extra punch and sustain needed to create some sounds that otherwise couldn't be achieved. It's a challenge to describe, so if you don't already know what this is, go try it out or listen to any Santana solo.
$BANK$: Money is actually pretty important when it comes to buying an overdrive or boost pedal. Most of the great ones are more expensive, sometimes even upwards of $200. However, because these are an integral part of your sound as a guitarist, it's a worthy investment.
Now, I know people are going to hate on me for not mentioning in detail their sexy British Mos-FET gain stage Fulltone or their vintage Coloursound Powerboost, but I am only mentioning options that are my absolute essential favorites (both of those pedals, however, are great, and I encourage you to search them up!). Two pedals that I am NOT including, however, are both very popular and used on several pedal boards around the world. These are the Boss Blues Driver and the Ibanez Tube Screamer. Both of these are good options that aren't too expensive, but let's get this straight, they don't sound that good. Before you buy one, try out a real overdrive or boost pedal and then say that you're still in love with your BD-2 or TS9. With that out of the way then, let's look at my favorite overdrives and boosts!
1. AnalogMan Beano Boost- $175
Based off of the Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster, this boost is the best replication of a legend, with built in improvements that make it the best boost pedal on the market. It's harmonically rich and has one of the sharpest and grittiest sounds of all boost pedals. Just listen to songs like Stray Cat Blues and Midnight Rambler off of the Rolling Stones album "Get Yer Yayas Out". In combination with a Fender Twin, Fender Princeton Reverb, Vox AC30, Marshall JCM800, virtually any amp, this thing sounds amazing! If I could have one boost pedal, it would be this one. The mid/low switch allows for versatility, but when I get the chance to play it I normally keep it in the middle for the vintage Rangemaster treble boost, where it sounds best. For more info visit Analogman's website, and email him and his team with questions, he's not afraid to answer!
2. Way Huge Pork Loin- $170
The Way Huge Pork Loin is one pedal that I really enjoy using on a daily basis. This thing is about the most versatile overdrive out there, with five knobs and three internal trim pots that allow you to tweak your overdrive from a great boost (volume up overdrive down) to a growling overdrive (overdrive up, tone at noon). There's also an included "clean" knob, to balance out the overdrive by blending it with a clean british mic preamp built into the pedal. This allows for the high end clarity of your signal not to be muddied up as normally happens with other overdrive pedals. This one's on my personal board and it's there to stay. The bright blue LED is easy to see and the knobs can be set anywhere and sound good. I use it as a boost most of the time and leave my gnarly tones up to a ProCo Rat (which I review in my fuzz pedals guide). It's great for Rolling Stones tunes, fiery Jimmy Page solos, anything by The Who, and even some Cheap Trick "At Budokan" tones. For those of you who are punk rock distortion heads (one of which I am) this pedal does a great Ramones sound, especially when you dial in the clean preamp to add some sparkle to those powerchords.
3. Keeley Luna Drive- $230
I think this is the best overdrive I've ever used. Other than a Vox AC30 or Fender Twin Reverb or Marshall JCM 800 amp cranked all the way, this is the best overdrive sound out there. While it's expensive, it's got some great potential. For Led Zeppelin tones it kills, and for almost borderline fuzz Jimi Hendrix stuff this overdrive pedal can hang with the Fuzz Face. I played it and I fell in love. I found one used for $139 but unfortunately it was not eligible for the rebate I was planning to purchase it with, so I bought the almost as good Pork Loin instead. If there's one thing about this pedal I don't enjoy, it's that there's five total controls, but the versatility is relatively low. However, this barely matters, because it sounds so good it may just be the only overdrive sound you'll ever need.
A few others that I won't actually talk about but I definitely love are:
-The AnalogMan King of Tone
-The MXR Custom Badass Modified OD
-Fulltone Fulldrive2 and OCD
-Suhr Riot
-Coloursound Powerboost
-Keeley JavaBoost
-others that I'm forgetting now but liked
Like I said, please stay away from Boss overdrive pedals like the Blues Driver, and really the Tube Screamer isn't that wonderful either, so my advice is don't waste your time and buy a good overdrive or better yet an AnalogMan Beano Boost or Vintage Coloursound Powerboost.
Well, that's it for this guide. As always, test out your overdrive or boost with your amp and your guitar, and make sure it's the best for whatever you're doing!
