BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Whats the best delay pedal out there? I have about 600 to spend on one.

What do you want it to do? Always on ambient delay, The Edge style, shoegaze, etc? I dont know of a one size fits all, but I am happy with my Deep Blue Delay to use as an ambient/slap black delay. I also really like my Nova Delay for Ducking, reverse, tap tempo + kitchen sink stuff. But, I am sure a delay expert will be by shortly to assist you

well depending on what your looking for sound wise,

the short list

Digital Delay:
Empress Vintage Modified Superdelay or even the original Superdelay (I love this delay looks complicated but it sounds unreal the vintage modified has a better tape emulation sound)
Eventide Timefactor (close to rack mount delays that is a little more complicated to use)
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay (darker more Analog based sounding delay that is great with distortion that uses digital technology)
Skreddy Echo (emulates vintage Tape delays sounds incredible and has that classic warble tape sound a la Pink floyd Shine on you crazy diamonds)

Analog delay:
ehx deluxe memory man (the legendary delay... think the edge from early U2 streets, Bad, With or without)
Diamond Memory Lane 2
Malekko echo 660 (amazing low priced analog delay with modulation)
Dr. Scientist sunny day delay
toneczar Echozar (most expensive delay on the market and from all accounts sounds phenomenal

hope that helps

For me the best delay is an old tape unit. But that's not what you're asking about, is it? And they're often not practical on the gig.

As the other guys have said, can't really answer to "best" without narrowing the parameters significantly. $600 can buy you a lot of delay. Some of the ones already cited are amazing, but a significant consideration for me is do I need exotic features and can I afford to give up pedalboard space to a large box.

I still often use an old DM2 or the very similar Analogman AR20DL. A Deep Blue would be a nice one to cover that basic territory and more. The difference between analog and digital is less stark than it used to be and some digitals like the Deep Blue offer analog tone coupled to the more articulate response of digital. Nice! I really like the Skreddy, another of that sort.

I've tried the empress vintage modified and really liked the tone. The Deep Blue was also very very nice and extremely simple to use. I hope to get to try the echoczar one of these days as well. I don't think you can go wrong using either the DBD or the EVMS.

I use both the AD-900 and the Rocket Ride First Echo on the Moon.
I got the AD-900 after hearing Geoff Wells use it:

Strat-o-lux wrote:For me the best delay is an old tape unit. But that's not what you're asking about, is it? And they're often not practical on the gig.

Strat-o-lux is right about tape delay units.
For convenience on a board,
without maintenance issues, for live and as a cheaper alternative,
i prefer to have the First Echo on the Moon.
I AB'd it with a Roland Space Echo 201 with a guy from The Gear Page.
(need to do it again now my camera is repaired).
The guy that owned the Space Echo was able to tweak the Rocket Ride VERY close to the Roland 201.
Nothing will do a Tape Delay better than a Tape delay and there is always the white noise issue....
Having said that, Bjorn who has owned many tape delays and modded the First Echo on the Moon
based on what he loved about them, says "a tape delay is like a motorcycle.
Always in need of maintainence."
Some guys don't find the periodic head cleaning tape buying a hassle.

Here are some tape delay/ ambient settings:

Well jordan i don't think you can get higher quality answers than that. I personally always wanted to try the original Way Huge pedal and think I may give that "That's Echo Folks With Pig's Tail" a try Thanks steve! Good luck in your quest and let us know how it goes.

Yeah maybe i would try to pick up 2 delays.
Current list in favorite order
diamond memory lane 2
empress super modified
skreddy
echoplex ep 3
mxr carbon copy
mad professor
Is the diamond memory lane the second best to the toneczar? I would maybe consider waiting for the tone czar but the 3 year wait. I am probably going to spend around 1100 on my new pedaltrain mini.

another one to consider is the retrosonic analog delay, it's a version of the BOSS Dm-2, but with 800ms of delay time, long/short time switch, and a very nice sound and build quality.

If you're going to be putting the delay on a pedaltrain mini, you might want to stick with the DM2 or similar. The echoczar is a beast . Too big. From what i've read many use it for studio or home use. You've got plenty of great boxes there though, good luck in finding the right one!