Anxiously Awaiting On Everything Eternal…

Quest Completed!

It's taken me quite a while to get here, but I have completed my search for what I consider to be the best Delay Pedal on the market based on the criteria set forth by this post. I have been through many, many options ranging from large preset style units to small, one trick pony boxes. In particular, I reviewed the Boss DD-7, the Line6 EchoPark, and the T-Rex Replica here on my website. Of those three units, I have since sold my EchoPark because the DD-7 and the Replica's are much better for my applications (despite it's higher ranking).

Before I crown the winner, of which I'm sure most of you can guess if you have read the other posts, I wanted to build some context. There are hundreds of delay pedals on the market--analog units, tape based units, digital units, bucket brigade units, units with analog chips controlled by digital microprocessors, digital modelers, and everything in between. I don't think anyone can perceivably argue that digital delay units sound as warm or magical as their analog counterparts--just as analog units are incapable of getting an exact sonic clone of the note you just played. Despite the advances in modeling technology, a keen ear can tell the difference between a DD-7 and a MXR Carbon Copy relatively easily, but how much this matters to the aurally blind masses is summed up as, well, not very much. Most of the American Idol corrupted population probably think autotune is a Good Thing. Guitar pundits like myself, however, may notice the slight nuances in each delay type and drool over a warm decaying analog repeat or a pristinely clear digital copy of a blazing riff.

Chasing the perfect delay tone is much like chasing an electron. Right when you think you know where it is Heisenburg throws you a curve ball and suddenly it's disappeared. For me and thousands of other guitarists with some extra cash to burn, the thrill is in the chase. I have discovered that it's not the end result, but the journey that's the fun part. As anyone can see while reading the three other posts in this series reviewing each of the delay pedals posed a unique problem to a musically analytical mind. Although I approached this scientifically, there really is no science here. It's all opinion. Sure I like the large chicken head knobs of the Replica better than the teensy knobs on the EchoPark--but if you are a set it and forget it guitarist you'll never change them anyway.

This post is a manifestation of experimentation and driven solely by opinion and what I believe to be the best delay unit for my buck by my own musical applications. The winner, as can be determined from reading the original three Echo Quest posts, is obviously the T-Rex Replica. These little guys sell for over $499 a piece new, so it's not for the weak of pocketbook, but my picky ear has never been unhappy with them since they were shipped back to me from Denmark with the input-gain mod. It sounds warm and natural even though it's a digital delay, it's very easy to use, and has an acceptably small form factor. I have a pair of them on my gigging board, which opens up plenty of options for my simple tone. Although presets are great for dialing in quick tone settings and BPM meters are great for the studio, in my gigging experience it's not really justified to have all these bells and whistles. Drummers drift and bassists lose the pocket, just as lead singers change the song and Axel Rose trashes microphone stands.

I have loads of respect for the guys over in Denmark. They build a wonderful product that I am very excited to endorse and record with. The feature set is solid, the construction bulletproof, and the tone matchless. The Replica is definitely the best delay unit out there as of 2008-2010.

Crowning the King of Chorus

Previously I spent a couple of posts reviewing two dynamite chorus units with the intention of deciding which one I wanted to put on my board. Each of the units was so wonderful that it dramatically increased my overall opinion of the chorus concept after being staunchly against it for much of my early music career. After spending plenty of face time with each unit, comparing recordings, placing them at different points in my pedal chain, and tweaking settings from maximum to minimum and everything in between I have finally come to a conclusion. So who is the king of chorus? Is it Analogman's wonderfully engineered Bi-Chorus or is it Retro-Sonic's classic chorus CE-1 throwback?

Well, it's both.

I love each of these stopboxes so much they are both making it on my board, each in a different position and with different settings. The versatility of the Bi-Chorus is unmatched while I like the vintage tone of the Retro-Sonic chorus slightly better for some applications. Every guitarist likes options, and these two units will cover every possible chorus tone you will ever want and need.

Given the price of the Bi-Chorus, I recommend that budget guitarists stick with the Retro-Sonic unit unless you need the large feature set that the Analogman unit brings to the table. You won't be disappointed with the tones you can evoke--from subtle crawl to leslie warble. However if you have some extra cash and you perform a diverse selection of music that requires chorus the Analogman unit is worth it's weight in gold sonically.

So, there you have it. We have a tie .

Jduv’s Echo Quest IV: The T-Rex Replica

Welcome the final installement of the echo quest. I like going out with a bang, and the T-Rex Replica does just that. Here are the three delay feature categories that I will be examining today:

1. Sound Quality
2. Ease of use
3. Range of Application

Just like in the previous posts, each category will be ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, and the rating will appear beside the section heading

T-Rex Replica

The Replica has been touted as the best digital delay pedal of all time by several artists and review shops. After owning a pair of these wonderful little devices, I must admit that claim is not unfounded. There's some extra juicy details surrounding the two Replicas that I own that should be visited before I actually get into the review.

My first replica was a wonderful experience, but after the novelty wore off I found that the repeats were mildly distorted in the digital delay mode. Given that the manual touts pristine, crystal clear delay tone I was worried that maybe I had damaged the unit because I was powering it with unregulated DC voltage on my pedal power 2. I sent an email to T-Rex, and after about 2-3 months of communication with the designer of the pedal I shipped it off to Denmark for testing. After about a month I was sent my original Replica back along with another free unit to test. Each unit had another knob installed to control the input gain into the main circuit of pedal. With this modification I can control the amount of distortion and warmth on each repeat. In addition to getting one free modified Replica I was also sent a Juicy Lucy 12 volt DC power supply to power them with. In summary for this reason alone, T-Rex is the coolest freaking company ever. Forgive me now for my bias but I think you see where this review is going to go .

Sound Quality: (9.5/10) The claims are true. This is quite possibly the best sounding digital delay I have ever heard. I would put this baby up against any of the famous analog delays out there like the Carbon Copy, Diamond Memory Lane 2, and the Empress Super Delay. The brown switch engages a high pass filter that warms up the repeats giving them a more natural analog tone--which sounds better than any  analog delay model I have heard and/or owned including those from Boss, TC Electronic, and even the famous modeling masters at Line6. The only reason this pedal did not receive a perfect 10 in this category is because there is no such thing as perfect tone . No pedal deserves a perfect 10, but the Replica is about as close as you can get.

Ease of Use: (8/10) The Replica has four knobs--well five in the case of the input gain mod--all of which are well labeled, intuitive, and well spaced. There are two additional switches on the top of the unit--a brown switch and a subdivision switch--which enable additional modes to the dialed in delay settings. It also has your standard on/off DPDT stomp switch and a built in tap tempo (hooray!) switch.

The dip switches on the top of the unit are a little flimsy in construction, but as long as you are careful with them there shouldn't be any issues there. The brown switch engages a high pass filter (as described in the sound quality section) that darkens your tone significantly, and the subdivision switch transforms your taps to triplets. Note that triplets are NOT the same thing as dotted eighth notes, but they get you close enough to that sound if you're lazy.

The tap tempo can be a little wonky sometimes, but it's not a big enough deal to justify a serious dock in points. The biggest issue here is that tapping a new tempo mutes the unit and results in some quirky sounds and bad transitions--so it's really better to switch it off if there is a need to adjust the tempo. Also, this pedal has a midi-in for synchronizing with midi-clocks. Not useful to me, but I'm sure someone out there thinks it's cool.

Finally, I have a fifth knob on the unit that controls the input level of the guitar. This modification was performed as described earlier to control the amount of distortion in the repeats. In addition to doing that, it also allows me to dial down the gain to my amp resulting in cleaner delay settings when I have my overdrives engaged. The downside to the input gain modification is that the Level and Echo knobs will need to be readjusted if you change the setting at all because all three of those parameters are linked to one another inside the pedal. Despite that, this mod is awesome, and should come stock on every Replica as far as I am concerned.

Range of Applications: (9.5/10) Because it sounds so natural, the replica has the ability to transform your favorite guitar riff into a pad of yummy ambient goodness, a 50's slap-back throwback, a group of warm decaying analog repeats, or an arsenal of pristine repeated goodness. The brown switch adds some points to this total, but even though the Replica doesn't have all the modes, bells, bobs, and whistles of the other delays I have reviewed, it's transparency enables it to far outweigh the one-trick pony delays. How you play shapes how this pedal reacts, and that is what makes it so versatile.

Overall: (9/10) This is the best delay I have ever used. I understand that this is subjective, but honestly because of the tonal transparency and simplicity of this unit it's benefits far outweigh it's shortcomings. I would go so far to say that it's shortcomings really aren't of any importance because what it does well it does phenomenally well. These are a little pricey, and they don't offer presets like some of the other delays in their price category, but if you are after an amazing set-it and forget-it delay unit get one of these! Or two!

The King of Chorus? The Analogman Bi-Chorus

After spending time with the Retro-Sonic Stereo Chorus I found that I loved having two chorus tones at my feet, but I really wanted the ability to control the speed and depth of both of them. The Boss CE-1 style controls of the Retro-Sonic unit weren't cutting it considering the range of chorus settings that I tend to favor, and Leslie tones are a one-trick pony--albeit a very nice one. Luckily my chorus feature-lust has already been addressed by Analog Mike, boutique pedal maker extraordinaire and owner of analogman guitar effects. Mike can craft a chorus to match your every whim, but I was only after one--the Analogman Bi-Chorus, stereo flavor. Lets take a look at it shall we?

Analogman Bi-Chorus

You can think of the Bi-Chorus as two choruses (chori?) in a single box with completely individual controls, a switch to swap between each settings group, and another switch to turn the effect on and off. Bingo! With the Bi-Chorus we have the versatility of two completely independently configured chorus effects and the ability to switch between them on the fly--but this is too good to be true right? Surely the tone isn't up to snuff? Wrong. The Bi-Chorus is a very rich and lush analog chorus that shimmers like an ocean sunset. The clips below will prove it.

In addition to any other feature your heart desires, Mike can add a depth switch to the Bi-Chorus, which I highly recommend. This allows for three different settings on the Bi-Chorus: deep, thin, and normal. Each setting has it's own voicing and figuring out the setting that is your favorite requires some experimentation but the general idea is this: deep emphasizes lower frequencies and has a wider depth range, thin is a very subtle and shallow chorusing effect, and normal is standard operation. Tones from all three modes are spot-on and usable depending on the application. Gorgeous leslie tones are easily dialed in and retain a subtle shimmer from the voicing of the chorus circuit.

Check out the following two clips for a demonstration of the stereo Bi-Chorus. For both clips, the Bi-Chorus was set to "normal operation" mode on the depth switch. In the ambient clip, I start out with the bypass signal, move into an ambient low intensity chorus and then into a more shimmery Leslie mode; near the end of the clip I engage the series pickup switch on my Telecaster for a variation in tone. The blues clip has a leslie tone dialed in and is played entirely on the neck pickup. Both clips were recorded on my Telecaster plugged directly into the effect, and then straight into my Orange AD-30R.

Check the ubiquitous Pro/Con table above for a nice summary of the unit. In Summary, based on the ratio of feature set to sound quality the Analogman Bi-Chorus is hands down the best chorus that I have ever encountered. Single coils will sound a little hollow due to the shimmery voicing of the circuit but I don't hold a grudge simply because it's expected behavior and a classic chorus sound. If you can afford it, grab one of these guys. I recommend shelling out the additional money for the depth switch, as it really opens up an incredible number of chorus tonal characteristics on the fly and can help you tame the hollower sounds on single coil guitars by adjusting the depth and frequencies affected at the flip of a switch.

King of Chorus? The Retro-Sonic Stereo Chorus

I never really thought chorus would be my thing until I started playing with a Retro-Sonic Stereo Chorus. The sweet swirly tones I was getting was nothing like the cheesy chorus of the late 70's and all throughout the 80's. I really had thought that hair bands killed chorus--until now. I later purchased an Analogman Bi-Chorus for reasons to be discussed later and I am completely satisfied with my choral aresenal. I even bought a phaser and a vibe because modulation is just so swirly good. Here I'd like to pit two of the best choruses (chori?) on the market--the Analogman and the Retro-Sonic--against one another in an attempt to discover: who is the king of chorus and will thereby ascend to his rightful place on my pedal board? First let's take a gander at Retro-Sonic's contender.

Retro-Sonic Stereo Chorus

The Retro-Sonic chorus is a basic clone of the old Boss CE-1, but with a nice twist. In addition to the single, chorus knob that controls both the speed and depth of the chorusing, the Retro-Sonic model includes a vibrato section for faster, leslie tones. In the vibrato stage you can control both the speed and depth of the chorus--which helps you dial in those perfect leslie tones, and there's a switch to swap between the CE-1 mode and the vibrato mode on the go during a gig. The tone of the Retro-Sonic unit is a superbly dark and ominous analog chorus. This chorus will go from slow skin crawling and pitch bending to spot on leslie warble--all with the stomp of a foot switch. Clean tones sound beautiful, and dirty tones sound great too. One of my favorite tones is a slow pitchy modulation with the gain dimed on my amp. My only complaint is that you cannot control both rate and depth of the first chorus stage--but this is indeed an accurate replica of the CE-1 by that design.

Check out the following two clips for a demonstration of all modes of the Retro-Sonic chorus. In the ambient clip, I start out with the bypass signal, move into the CE-1 mode, and then into the Leslie mode; near the end of the clip I engage the series pickup switch on my Telecaster for a variation in tone. The blues clip has a leslie tone dialed in on the vibrato mode and is played entirely on the neck pickup. Both clips were recorded on my Telecaster plugged directly into the effect, and then straight into my Orange AD-30R.

The above table outlines the good and bad points of this unit. In summary, it's a super good budget CE-1 that sounds like a million bucks. If you're looking for beautiful vintage chorus tone, but you can put up with the CE-1 controls, this is your perfect chorus. It will do absolutely everything you want.