Delay-true bypass pedal suggestions

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I just wanted a simple delay pedal as well but wanted a quality delay. I ended up with the Eventide Timefactor and even though it is a lot more than I thought I needed for delay, I don't regret it for a moment. The ability to run 2 different delay times simultaneously and tap-tempo them together as well as adjusting the mix of the two gives some very sweet possibilities. I could go on and on about the possibilities of this pedal but I will say this: I only tried a couple of other delays and took a chance on the Eventide and I must say that using it in the effects loop of my Lonestar it is dead quiet and I have not noticed any change in my tone using it.
 
I was in the market for a time factory, but decided it didn't ft the "motif" of my setup. It was too much for me, at the time, at least for the amount It would've cost me. Though I know if i had to get THE serious delay pedal, that is it. Eventide is "it". Speaking of effects loops and noise. I wished delays worked in front of the amp, but as it happens they truely belong in the effects loop. I avoided it until it was recommended by the manufacturer of my Deeelay to get rid of the noise. It not only worked and sounded beautiful, but doesn't thin my sound the way the best rack processors did in my effects loop. Luckily, my furman board has a way to patch the delay into my RK's fx loop. I just employed a long double cable-definately worth the extra setup for the tone. I also got the decimator (new for 85) and it works great as well, but not in the loop. I just wanted to recommend that as well. Noise reduction at the end of the front-of-amp chain and delay in the loop. Im almost there...
 
I think people tend to think of true-bypass as some magical tone-saving aid. And it really isn't. It doesn't really matter, for delay pedals especially. Think of it, when it's not bypassed, your tone goes through the input amp/buffer, right? And when most guitarists have they're delay pedal on 99% of the time with lead-tones, they have to depend on that buffer to be very good quality anyway. I mean, who want's a crappy tone-sucking buffer on their main lead tone?

True bypass, in my opinion, is only good for special effects where your dry signal with that effect doesn't really matter that much (say some crazy space vibrato-flange-chorus stuff..), and in case that pedal has a crappy circuit that colors your tone, when you switch it off, it's completely out of the signal chain. But for effects where your dry signal in combination with that effect DOES matter, like reverb, delay, subtle chorus, etc., they essentially have to have a good circuit, otherwise you're beautiful pure tone's gonna suffer each time you turn it on. And this is especially concerning effects that you use a lot/most of the time during your playing. Like reverb for jazz-guitarists or the compressor on your main single-coil funk tone, etc.

I recently purchased a Moogerfooger MF-104Z, which probably is the highest quality unit out there (exept maybe the Memory Lane 2, but I'm told that it's now out of production due to lack of BBD-chip stock). But because it doesn't have true-bypass, I was worried on what effect it might have on my tone, and to be honest, while it maybe affects it extremely minimally (as ANY analog input circuit will do, more or less), the coloration, if any at all, are quite pleasant and don't have any negative effect on my tone at all. The buffer is of extremely high quality and it sounds amazing with the delay circuit on!

Just my 2 cents.
 
My MF-104Z also is phenomenal.
Spendy buggers but oh so worth it!

bedroom_studio9.jpg
 
With the Eventide Timefactor, you can select between true bypass, buffered bypass, or some sort of a combination of both... 8)
 
Back
Top