Are fancy delays worth the effort?

jakeolly

Am down a deep rabbit hole on delays for my home board, playing solo  clean, gentle tunes. Heard Duke Levine playing solo and started off looking at  catalinbread tape delay and have been stuck down the hole for 3 weeks. I own a tc flashback and love some of the presets and templates. But I hear folk on here  and on YT raving about more ‘ desirable’ items  and i feel like I'm missing out on something 
I like dark ‘ melt into the background type warmth so I think tape is my thing but I'm not sure. I think Id like a few preset slots as I’d rather play than tweak  
Should I just ‘ stick’ or will a good  analog / tape emulation delay really open my eyes/ ears ? and if so, what ? 

I know, I know  ‘ another chuffin’ delay question’
I’d just like to hear for and against as well as ‘x is best’ 

theatreanchor

I have had many - still do. The El Cap is magnificent - and my favourite delay. It's simple, but can do quite a lot with the secondary functions. I also have the Delay Llama Extreme which is superb, but perhaps too much delay for me, but I do like its dark tonality. Good to have a couple of options imo. 

pt22

You like what you like, but there is fun in experimentation. 

The MXR Carbon Copy is known to be dark. I love mine for a straightforward analogue delay. 

More to your point, you could look into the HX One. Helix-delays in a small easily tweak-able package with a preset. About the price of one expensive delay with a bunch of them plus more. 

monquixote

I've had loads of fancy delays and I always fart about with them and never quite get a sound I'm happy with whereas my 3 knob DM-2W always sounds great and gets the sound I want. 

It's not magic though you could also go with a Vapour Trail, Carbon Copy or Echo Puss.

Supportact

I think a good delay can be quite inspiring to play, so it's worth looking into in my experience. It's hard to know what to recommend, but it's not always the most expensive option that floats your boat. For example after trying a few currently my gig board had an xvive echoman, which is not a pricey one. 

chrisj1602

I really like the El Cap for a standalone delay, it’s definitely my favourite, but I sold it and bought a HX One to fill its space on my board. The Transistor Tape on that is really good as a replacement for the El Capistan and I get a whole lot more too.

jakeolly

Mmm… i am reassured its not just me frustrated by my own endless farting about !!! Ive got rid of helix and boss multis in the past for this reason. However theses are all great options( including the ‘have several’  idea  
also impressed by number of responses. Am assuming folk are travelling home, or just settling down, or farting about before clocking off !
Interesting nobody has said ‘ nah, just keep the flashback’ 
advice still welcome 

steer

My ancient Boss DD-20 has a tone control so you can dial out the brightness that delays often bring. Not sure if many other delays have a tone dial, even the more modern ones? 

EricTheWeary

I really like delays. I just like the sound, like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. However, what sounds good in isolation and what works in a band context aren’t always the same thing. For the big box delays you either really have to like messing around or have a workflow need for them. 127 presets so I can sit at home and make spaceship noises probably isn’t necessary. 

In a band context (ska, reggae, bluesy stuff) the Carbon Copy worked really well in that melt into the mix kind of thing. But I would have a second delay for when I wanted something more obvious. And then both on for a bit of chaos ever so often (lots of time spent working out pedal order between two pedals - short into long I think, the other way around the short delay would effectively disappear). 

Neilybob

I've been down a similar rabbit hole with delay. 

I bought a TC Bucket Brigade which is great but quite basic. 

Then I went full tilt and bought a Mooer Ocean Machine (delay, delay and reverb) pedal. I love getting lost in this thing. 

Recently I bought a Keeley Halo which feels like a really happy medium between the two pedals above. It can do shoegrazer big long delays but can also do dotted eighth. I pair it with a TC HOF 2. The Halo has a reverb setting too. 

ElectricXII

I've tried a few delays over the years, and I now use a Catalinbread Belle Epoch for all my delay needs. It's almost an always on pedal, and for slapback type delays it's really hard to beat. It can do everything else I need in a live setting, including working as an additional boost. It's a standard pedal size, unlike many of the fancier and more expensive delays, and I really don't miss tap tempo and other features which appear on the fancier pedals.

Sporky

I love the bazillion options on the Helix, but when I had a more traditional pedal board, once I got an RE-20 I was done. Set it and never turned it off. 

merlin

I only use delay for slapback and I also like some reverb at the same time. I use an EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master. Job done. Normal pedal size too. 

pumkin

theatreanchor said:

I have had many - still do. The El Cap is magnificent - and my favourite delay. It's simple, but can do quite a lot with the secondary functions. I also have the Delay Llama Extreme which is superb, but perhaps too much delay for me, but I do like its dark tonality. Good to have a couple of options imo. 

I’d second the El Cap …. I’ve had one on my board for years and have a fav switch which is set for a slap back …and as @merlin said I’ve recently added an Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master which has delay and reverb so loads of options …. The reverb is pretty special and can get very ambient… 

Fiddlesticks_

It would be easy for me to say “if you love some of the sounds from the flashback then keep that”. But that would be boring and delay is a fun rabbit hole to go down. 
For ‘melt into the background’, I like the EHX Deluxe Memory Man, MXR Carbon Copy or any of the iterations of the Boss Space Echo. Having modulation on a delay is a bonus, it adds that extra dimension in the background that I love.

TJT1979

I use a Boss DD-200 for my solo acoustic stuff, and really like it.

I've given up on delay in a loud dirty band situation... a bit of reverb is enough in my current band. 

The DD-200 is great. Presets, sounds good, easy interface, etc. It can get pretty wacky or stay nice and simple. 

The best delay I've tried in a band setting was probably my Jam Delay Llama MK3 (analogue signal path but digitally controlled with tap tempo, trails etc). Super easy to use, but other than the tap it probably doesn't offer much more than your current setup. I'm actually going to list the Llama for sale as soon as I get round to it. I definitely preferred it to the DM2W; aside from the extra features it was also a bit cleaner sounding, but still retaining that analogue thing. 

TheMarlin

Strymon El Capistan is an awesome pedal. 

My favourite delay ever

thomasw88

Dd500.. had a bunch of delays, and multi effects.  The dd500:is by far the best overall imo.  You don’t need to do deep menu diving at all if you don’t want to and having nameable presets/tap tempo is essential for me as I use delay a lot. 

Kebabkid

If you like the Flashback, would you not consider getting the bigger version, the X4, so you have more options and presets or even a Plethora?

EDIT: there's a Plethora x3 for sale on here

soma1975

jakeolly said:

But I hear folk on here  and on YT raving about more ‘ desirable’ items  and i feel like I'm missing out on something 

That's a design of the marketing tbf. Worth trying a few different types but none are inherently better than the others. 

I've done a multi-year delay journey going through tons of them and I'd have probably saved a packet just keeping the DD-200 I started it with as it was certainly good enough. As it stands I ended up with a GFI Orca which is compact, sounds great and has 2 presets. 

slacker

Dmm