Re: [Harp-L] Memphis Mini amp demos with Delay pedal

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rick Davis wrote:
***
In the videos we've published so far of the Memphis Mini harp amp none had
delay - or any effects - in the signal chain.  Lots of you have asked for a
demo with a good delay pedal, so here ya go.

In the first video , official Memphis Mini endorser Ronnie Shellist plays
the amp with his Lone Wolf Harp Delay pedal and a couple of different mics,
one ceramic and one crystal.  His tips on how to set up the delay for best
tone are excellent.
***

Ronnie has a great sound, and it's interesting also to hear the differences in the mics he's using: both authentically blue, one a lot more raucous than the other.

For me it's difficult to really hear what the delay is doing in this video, because it's obvious that the room has a pretty bouncy sound all by itself.  You can hear slapback from the room when Ronnie is talking, and that room sound is present in the recorded signal from the amp too, alongside the signal from the delay pedal.

I appreciate that this was probably recorded with one mic, placed so as to pick up both Ronnie's voice and the amp.  If the mic had been placed directly in front of the Minnie's speaker, it would be easier to hear what the delay pedal is doing to the sound.  Something to keep in mind for next time.

Ronnie's comments on how to use the delay make sense for blues--only a few repeats, short delay time, delay signal balanced with the original signal.  The Lone Wolf Delay is built for that kind of thing, as I recall--the specs say that it will do a maximum of about 300 milliseconds, which is the top of the slapback range.  So when Ronnie sets the delay time at about 9-10 o'clock, he's probably in the 100-150 millisecond range, which is totally slapback territory.  Like I said, great for blues--the psychoacoustic effect is that you're hearing the signal bounce off the back wall of a small room.  

Delays with longer delay times, and with features like tap tempo (which allows you to set delay time to the tempo of a song by tapping out the beat) can be used to create very interesting effects--check out almost anything by U2, whose guitarist just loves those tempo-synced delays--but those effects tend not to work so well with blues, because they chew up an enormous amount of sonic space, and that's not space the harp is supposed to fill in a blues band.

I think delay is the single most important effect for any musician working in any electric style, blues included, and anyone working with an amped band who doesn't have a delay should see what they can do about getting their hands on one.  Fortunately, good delays tend to be relatively inexpensive, and used delays in good condition can be found easily in the neighborhood of $50 and down.  For blues, analog delays are tops.  Most amp modeling/multi-FX devices contain a variety of modeled delays in addition to analog delay sounds that can be very useful for other styles as well, and some of those devices are no more expensive than a decent dedicated delay pedal.

Regards, Richard Hunter  


  

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