Re: [Harp-L] Delay boxes or pedals

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

bob piscura wrote:
<Does anyone have recommendations for a delay box to be used with a harpgear or memphis mini amp?

The amps you've listed above are basic Chicago blues style amps, so I'm guessing you want a delay that's consistent with that style. 

Delays that are consistent with that style use either analog circuitry or modeled analog circuitry.  "Modeled" means that the circuit is really built on a chip, not with genuine analog components like capacitors, etc.  However, a delay circuit is really pretty simple as such things go, and modeled circuits have no trouble producing very convincing analog delay sounds.  The characteristic analog (or modeled analog) delay sound is that a little bit of treble comes off the signal with every repeat, i.e. the repeats degrade the original signal over time.  This degradation has a specific character that's very cool, and it's what makes analog delays so good for Chicago blues, where the sound of the amp is pretty degraded (in a good way--who doesn't love distortion?) to start with. 

So AVOID "digital delays"; look for something analog or modeled to sound like analog.  Randy Landry's Lone Wolf Delays work very well with harp.  At a price point about $100 lower, a used Digitech RP150 or 155 will give you a half-dozen modeled delays, including analog, and will cost you between $25-50 from guitarcenter.com.  It's pretty easy to set an RP up to produce nothing more than a delay (see below), and you can use the other FX it contains (like reverb, which is a good alternative to delay in many cases) when you're ready.  (Digitech makes a dedicated delay pedal that essentially contains the modeled delays from the RP series with no added FX; it sounds the same as the RP, and it costs more than a used RP.  So I'd get the used RP.)  For between $50-100 you can get a used RP250 or 255, and those come with an expression pedal that you can used to control things like delay level in real time. (The 255 also has a wider display, which is nice when you want to see something a little more descriptive of the sound the thing is about to make.)
 
Other analog delays that are well-regarded by harp players include the Electro Harmonix memory man and the Boss DM2.  Either of these will set you back more than $100 used, close to twice that new.  Keep in mind that a delay is really a pretty simple circuit, and it's pretty easy to find a decent delay selling new for less than $100 from Maxon and others, if you decide to go that route.  

Whatever delay you get, start with a slapback setting to put you in the ballpark for blues.  Set the delay time to something between 120-200 milliseconds, set the Repeat (or "feedback") to 0 or 1, and set the mix of original (dry) signal to delayed signal somewhere in the neighborhood of   70% original/30% or less delayed.  Give it a try and see if it works for you.  On an RP, push down on the left most knob on every row until all the lights go out, meaning that all FX are turned off.  Then push down on the leftmost knob on the "delay" row until it lights up, and apply the settings described above, choosing an analog delay model by rotating the leftmost knob on the delay row until it says "AN" (for the 150/155) or "ANALOG" (for on of the higher-number RPs).  Don't forget to SAVE the patch when you find the sound you like.

On any delay pedal, delay time controls the amount of time between repeats; lower numbers means less time between repeats, higher numbers mean more time.  Repeat or feedback controls the number of repeats; with an analog delay, these repeats get quieter as they go along, meaning that they fade over time.  Mix controls how much delay you hear in the signal, and ranges generally from "barely any" to "nothing but".

Once you've got the right sound for blues dialed in, try some other stuff too.  Delays are wonderful.  I'm working now on a piece with a couple of guitars playing a simple vamp.  I put a tempo-synced 1/8th note delay on one of them, and it just made everything groove. Love them delays.  LOVE 'em.

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
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