Boss. Delay - am I the only one?

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2023

Can of worms officially opened.

chrisj1602 · June 2023

Springywheel said:

My opinion on these kind of advanced time based FX units...when you're playing live It's hard to tell the difference between a Moog and a cheap behringer delay for example. And if you're using something like this in the studio, they don't sound much better than plugins, at least not to the point where it's worth the hassle of routing the audio out from your daw and printing it back in again. Same with reverb and any modulation FX. I only find it's worth paying extra ££s for drives, fuzz, distortion etc. Just my opinion.

Yet on another thread everyone is praising the Caline Blue Sky overdrive pedal that is £26 on Amazon.

Keefy · June 2023

I’m convinced now:

EricTheWeary · June 2023

Springywheel said:

My opinion on these kind of advanced time based FX units...when you're playing live It's hard to tell the difference between a Moog and a cheap behringer delay for example. And if you're using something like this in the studio, they don't sound much better than plugins, at least not to the point where it's worth the hassle of routing the audio out from your daw and printing it back in again. Same with reverb and any modulation FX. I only find it's worth paying extra ££s for drives, fuzz, distortion etc. Just my opinion.

The sounds in my head are much more delays than they are overdrives (there’s just a bit of overdrive, quite a bit of overdrive and possibly too much overdrive isn’t there?)so I do like the look of the Boss. Yes, £450 for a bit of slapback buried in the mix is probably daft but if delay is a lot of your sound it’s cheap compared to buying, let’s say, a Les Paul.

Anyway, I hardly play these days and when I do should probably make do with the four delay pedals I’ve already got but I do think Boss have come up with a nice product here.

Keefy · June 2023

https://youtu.be/MxapIxkDmAs

allen · July 2023

I was totally underwhelmed by the Anderton's video.

theatreanchor · July 2023

Was thinking about this. Then I watched TPS and thought, ‘I don’t need that at all!’

EricTheWeary · July 2023

I might watch the JHS video later. I thought the TPS one was interesting but they are so conservative in how they use delay (ooh not too much level; what? You are demoing the delay FFS!) that it was hard to get much idea of what the Boss actually has to offer.

Keefy · July 2023

theatreanchor said:

Was thinking about this. Then I watched TPS and thought, ‘I don’t need that at all!’

I'm very pleased to hear that - more chance that they'll be in stock when I get paid for my recent gigs and order one!

Musicman20 · July 2023

Keefy said:

theatreanchor said:

Was thinking about this. Then I watched TPS and thought, ‘I don’t need that at all!’

I'm very pleased to hear that - more chance that they'll be in stock when I get paid for my recent gigs and order one!

There are LOADS in stock. The price will drop.

Musicman20 · July 2023

EricTheWeary said:

I might watch the JHS video later. I thought the TPS one was interesting but they are so conservative in how they use delay (ooh not too much level; what? You are demoing the delay FFS!) that it was hard to get much idea of what the Boss actually has to offer.

I wouldn’t watch the JHS one. I got very quickly bored and turned it off!

mburekenge · July 2023

It looks great. I'm currently running a delay llama extreme with the control box, so roughly similar size

CFH · July 2023

I bought one. I love BBD delays and have tried most of the well knowns and so have a solid base of reference to compare the DM-101 to (including the Moog MF-104M/Z, EchoCzar, Asheville ADG1, Bondi Art Van, DMMs, Thermae, RKM, Rubberneck etc).

I was initially slightly underwhelmed by the 101. It is quite a “clean” sounding unit for a BBD delay, whereas my preference is gritty and murky. Perhaps a gain knob like on the ADG1 would be a nice addition but I can live without a tone knob.

However, having played it a lot over the last few days it has REALLY grown on me. In particular:

- The pattern delays are really nice. Definitely different to a Volante which has that binson-y slightly metallic sound. The repeats are soft, rhythmic and smeary.

- The modulation is really good. Probably the best I’ve had although the Art Van modulation is probably as good but not as flexible. In classic mode the waveform is changeable also. Dialling in a subtle bit of “movement” is a great sound.

- Nice presence and long delay times. Although my personal preference would be that the repeats are a bit grittier, they do balance really nicely and are well voiced.

- Memory, stereo out, and tap tempo. Fairly “basic” features for a lot of delay pedals but somewhat rare for a BBD delay. Some TGPers have criticised the lack of stereo in but as far as I’m aware that would be hugely prohibitive cost wise as it would essentially require two distinct delay circuits. I’m happy with stereo out although I haven’t put that feature to the test.

I haven’t really deep dived into the other algorithms yet but having twelve distinct modes is unique for a BBD delay. This thing is super fully featured and I’d definitely recommend!

I will update once I’ve spent more time with it, but initial impressions are great and it’s well worth the cost in my view.

Supportact · July 2023

@CFH thanks for the review. Sounds very useful. I'm also a bit surprised more analogue delays don't have a knob to add a bit of distortion to the repeats. Can't imagine it would be very complicated to do, and I'd certainly find it useful.

londondan · July 2023

Nice review @CFH. I picked mine up yesterday and have only had time to spend maybe a couple of hours with it so far, but my first impressions are very positive. Have played both a Les Paul and a Tele through it, with a Wampler Moxie and Strymon Deco before for varying levels of OD, and a Strymon Flint afterwards for a little reverb.

Mostly sticking to the Classic, Vintage and Ambience modes so far, and there's a huge amount you can do with those three alone. There are months worth of sounds in here, from very simple slapback to completely out of control self-oscillation. Given the cost, the challenge is going to be forcing myself to actually use the various modes and get to know them properly, to try and get the best out of it.

dindude · July 2023

Really though I’d need to find space on my board for this, but the demos (Andertons and TPS) make it sound really bland,

Keefy · July 2023

Mine arrived today and I’ve spent an hour with it so far. Lots of great sounds on tap (pun intended). The Modern mode produces some of the clearest analog delay sounds that I’ve heard. The Multi Head mode is my current favourite, perfect for Shadows emulations. I’ve also had a quick go at programming it for an expression pedal, which you can set up to morph between two sets of control settings. I’ve saved a couple of sounds in the memory slots but I reckon my next purchase might be some kind of MIDI pedal to fully exploit the memory facility.

I realise I’ve barely scratched the surface, there are so many possibilities here - I haven’t tried any stereo stuff yet.

rze99 · July 2023

I’m the mix no one will notice. May as well use your ME-50

Keefy · July 2023

rze99 said:

I’m the mix no one will notice. May as well use your ME-50

Yep, you crack on and do that

tomajoha · July 2023

CFH said:

I bought one. I love BBD delays and have tried most of the well knowns and so have a solid base of reference to compare the DM-101 to (including the Moog MF-104M/Z, EchoCzar, Asheville ADG1, Bondi Art Van, DMMs, Thermae, RKM, Rubberneck etc).

I was initially slightly underwhelmed by the 101. It is quite a “clean” sounding unit for a BBD delay, whereas my preference is gritty and murky. Perhaps a gain knob like on the ADG1 would be a nice addition but I can live without a tone knob.

However, having played it a lot over the last few days it has REALLY grown on me. In particular:

- The pattern delays are really nice. Definitely different to a Volante which has that binson-y slightly metallic sound. The repeats are soft, rhythmic and smeary.

- The modulation is really good. Probably the best I’ve had although the Art Van modulation is probably as good but not as flexible. In classic mode the waveform is changeable also. Dialling in a subtle bit of “movement” is a great sound.

- Nice presence and long delay times. Although my personal preference would be that the repeats are a bit grittier, they do balance really nicely and are well voiced.

- Memory, stereo out, and tap tempo. Fairly “basic” features for a lot of delay pedals but somewhat rare for a BBD delay. Some TGPers have criticised the lack of stereo in but as far as I’m aware that would be hugely prohibitive cost wise as it would essentially require two distinct delay circuits. I’m happy with stereo out although I haven’t put that feature to the test.

I haven’t really deep dived into the other algorithms yet but having twelve distinct modes is unique for a BBD delay. This thing is super fully featured and I’d definitely recommend!

I will update once I’ve spent more time with it, but initial impressions are great and it’s well worth the cost in my view.

Interested to hear your update Cas?

CFH · July 2023

@tomajoha my amp has been in for a repair for a few weeks so not much of an update other than I’m still very happy with it. It just covers so much ground. Hopefully I’ll have my amp back this week and can dig a bit deeper into it!

Keefy · July 2023

I’ve played with mine some more. On the minus side I’m not loving the modulation, which I’m finding a bit metallic except when the Variation knob is fully clockwise for custom wibbliness. To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

Otherwise still loving it, so much so that two other echo pedals (TC Flashback Mini and Nu-X Tape Core) will be going to new homes. I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard, and store some song-specific echoes in the memory slots.

Still haven’t tried it in stereo though…

Keefy · July 2023

Well I've found the answer to a nice modulation (for me) is higher rate, low depth. Also just lost half an hour in the Non-linear mode. It doesn't sound like reverse delay to me, but it does sound very reverby - which is great, because I always wondered about implementing reverb using multiple analog delays.

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Keefy · July 2023

Omigod the stereo modes!

Give me a minute to change my kecks...

Jonathanthomas83 · July 2023

Keefy said:

To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

I agree, how does it compare?

Keefy said:

I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard

Keefy said:

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Let's see your maples board, I'm intrigued!!

Keefy · July 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Keefy said:

To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

I agree, how does it compare?

Keefy said:

I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard

Keefy said:

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Let's see your maples board, I'm intrigued!!

As per this thread:

Musicman20 · August 2023

Keefy · September 2023

I've just done 2 gigs on rhythm guitar with Dire Streets (ahem!) through the pedalboard shown in the last-but-one post. I used the first 3 memory slots on the DM-101 to store sounds for specific songs, and in that application it worked brilliantly well, especially with carry-over engaged.

If you just need a delay with memories there are cheaper options, but I wouldn't say the unit's capabilities are being wasted, I've just used a few of its many functions for a particular job. It's coming off the board again so that I can enjoy more self-indulgent stereo fun...

noisepolluter · October 2023

Reading this thread with interest - thinking of putting together a small board around one of these and the Boss RV-6 which arrived yesterday. I do love my DM-2W but there is certainly room for something equally great sounding but fuller featured.

Anyone else got one and want to share their thoughts?

Lestratcaster · October 2023

I'm happy with my DD-6 although I don't really use pedals anymore being a Kemper user. Some have used the DD-3 for over 20 years. Must be a reason why.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Boss. Delay - am I the only one?

Comments