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A delay pedal repeats what you play a moment later, and those repeats can be a quick slap, a rhythmic echo or a long wash. When you shop for one, the first choice you hit is analog or digital. The two can sound very different, and they come with very different features. This guide explains how each works, what you gain and give up, and how modern pedals blur the line.
How a delay pedal works
Every delay pedal does three basic things. It takes a copy of your signal, holds it for a set time and plays it back mixed with your dry sound. Most pedals give you three core controls for this:
- Time: how long the pedal waits before each repeat
- Feedback, Repeats or Regen: how much of each repeat is fed back in to make more repeats
- Mix or Level: how loud the repeats are against your dry signal
The difference between analog and digital lies in how that copy is held.
Analog delay and bucket brigade chips
Analog delay pedals store the signal in a bucket brigade device (BBD), a chip that passes the signal along a chain of stages, much like a line of people passing buckets of water. The signal never becomes numbers. It stays an electrical voltage the whole way through. Makers describe the result in warm terms. MXR calls the Carbon Copy rich and warm, and Boss calls the DM-2 sound warm and lush.
The MXR Carbon Copy is a well known example. Dunlop describes it as a bucket brigade delay with up to 600 milliseconds of delay time, three knobs for Delay, Mix and Regen, and optional modulation adjusted with two internal trim pots. MXR points out that the audio path is completely analog. Boss made the same point when it brought back its DM-2 as the Waza Craft DM-2W. Boss says the original DM-2 was discontinued in 1984, and that the new version uses an all analog circuit with a BBD delay line. Its Standard mode gives 20 to 300 milliseconds of delay, and its Custom mode extends that to a maximum of 800 milliseconds with a cleaner tone.
Those numbers show the main tradeoff of analog delay: time. Both of these classic designs top out under one second, which is plenty for slapback and rhythmic echo but short for long ambient trails.
Digital delay
A digital delay converts your signal into numbers, stores it in memory and turns it back into sound. Memory can hold far more than a BBD chip, so digital delays can offer much longer delay times and very clean repeats. Boss says its DD-8, for example, offers up to 10 seconds of delay time with tap tempo, eleven modes and a looper with up to 40 seconds of recording.
Digital delays also make it easy to add features that would be impractical in analog form:
- Presets you can save and recall
- Tap tempo to match the delay to a song
- True stereo inputs and outputs
- Specialty sounds like reverse, shimmer and pitch shifted repeats
- Built in loopers
- Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) control
Digital pedals that sound analog
The line between the two gets blurry with modern digital pedals that model older designs. The Strymon TimeLine is a good example. According to Strymon, it runs on a SHARC digital signal processor (DSP) and includes twelve delay machines. Two of them recreate older types: dBucket recreates analog bucket brigade delays, with a Bucket Loss control and two delay time ranges for single or multiple BBD chips, while dTape recreates sliding head tape echo machines with control over tape age, wow and flutter and tape crinkle.
Strymon also keeps your dry signal on an analog path that is never converted to digital, so the notes you play have zero latency even though the repeats are digital. The Boss DD-8 includes analog and tape modes as well. So when you buy digital, you are often getting a sound that mimics analog along with everything else.
Where tape fits
Tape echo is a third family, and it is the one digital pedals most often try to recreate. The controls on Strymon's dTape machine tell you what players value in that sound: Tape Age, Wow and Flutter, Tape Crinkle, Tape Bias, Low End Contour and Tape Speed. In other words, the appeal of tape is movement and a little instability, with repeats that drift in pitch and change in tone. The Boss DD-8 also lists a Tape mode for a vintage tape based delay sound. If you love that character but do not want to maintain an old machine, a pedal with a tape mode is the practical route.
Which should you choose?
- Choose analog if you want simple controls, warm repeats that sit behind your playing and short to medium delay times for slapback and classic echo
- Choose digital if you want long delays, clean repeats, presets, stereo or MIDI
- Choose a modeling digital pedal if you want analog and tape flavors along with modern features in one box
There is no wrong answer. Plenty of players keep a small analog pedal for everyday echo and a larger digital unit for ambient work. If you are just starting, our list of the best guitar pedals for beginners is a good place to begin.
Pairing delay with reverb
Delay and reverb are often used together. Delay creates distinct repeats, while reverb creates a wash that sounds like a room or hall. Running a delay into a reverb such as the Strymon BigSky or the Walrus Audio Slo can turn simple repeats into an ambient bed. Keep the delay mix lower than you think when you add reverb, or the two will crowd your playing.
Where to buy
Strymon TimeLine at Strymon
MXR Carbon Copy at Dunlop
Strymon TimeLine delay pedal
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
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