No matter what the weather was outside, my grandmother usually kept the heat on. Similarly, no matter what the gig is, I usually keep some sort of a delay pedal on. I don’t know if it’s
No matter what the weather was outside, my grandmother usually kept the heat on. Similarly, no matter what the gig is, I usually keep some sort of a delay pedal on. I don’t know if it’s hereditary, but I do know that stompbox and rackmount delays are by far my favorite guitar toys. As an instructor in NYC Guitar School’s Rock Band program, I’ve realized that delay is perhaps the most misunderstood, misused, and underexplored stompbox on many students’ boards. Hopefully this little treatise will demystify newbs while teaching old dawgs a few tricks.
Like its name suggests, a delay pedal is a device that delays playback of your guitar signal. This delayed sound is often referred to as the “wet” signal while the original guitar tone is known as the “dry” signal. You play a note (dry) and the delay plays back an echo of the note (wet).
Most devices offer control over three main parameters of the wet signal and different manufacturers may call them different things. Understanding these parameters is imperative to understanding how delays work though, so pay close attention:
1. The Time or Rate control sets the amount of time between the sounding of the initial dry signal and the device-generated wet signal. It’s usually measured in milliseconds (ms) and the most commonly used delay settings lie in the 50-600ms range. To keep things simple, let’s quantify delay ranges as short (0-200ms), medium (200-400ms), and long (400ms and beyond).
2. The Mix or Depth knob—sometimes labeled simply Delay—controls the volume of the wet signal in contrast to the dry signal. For example, a Mix knob set halfway would play back the delayed note half as loud as the original note.
3. The Repeat, Feedback, or Regeneration knob governs the number of