The Origin of Delay

Let’s do a little psychological experiment here. I’m going to say a word, and I want you to say the first band that pops into your head. Ready? Delay.

I’m guessing a pretty solid percentage of you guys said, “U2,” since these guys are the indisputable masters of this specific effect. I would even dare to say that U2 wouldn’t be the iconic band we know and love, would've never really been as popular, and would've never really been as interesting if not for the effect called delay. Is that a controversial statement to make? Maybe, but I stand by it (I say as I hold up a shield to guard myself from flaming darts). 

It's pretty unarguable that the first ever audible experiment with delay was probably some guy or gal on a mountainside or in a canyon yelling to another guy or gal saying, "Hey, I'm over here," and they hear, "Hey, I'm over here," and that probably lasted for at least two to three hours. Especially if this was a Bugs Bunny cartoon, then it may have gone on ad infinitum**.

**Who says you don’t learn new words on the JHS blog?  

But what I really want to talk about is how do we, as guitar players, have these boxes at our feet that create space that is not actually there? How do we have all these tools called echo delay and even reverb? How do we have this? Where did it come from, and how did the technology grow through the years? Let me break it down for you. 

So, I grew up with an older brother, and he was always listening to U2 October, U2 War, U2 Unforgettable Fire, U2 Joshua Tree, and U2 Achtung Baby. I had no clue what I was really hearing. I just remember going, "This music sounds really different from other things that my parents are listening to." Now in hindsight, I know what it was. The more that I played, and wanted to sound like my heroes, like Jimi Hendrix. I would listen to Red House. I tried to learn that solo. What was the thing his guitar was doing?

Well, I learned it was tape delay. I could look back over U2, Hendrix, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, all of them. I could look at all my guitar heroes and sum it into one effect that I didn't have and that I finally got. My high school girlfriend bought it for me: the Danelectro Dan Echo. 

I broke up with her a week after she gave me this pedal, which I’ll be the first to admit was not great timing. Then she ripped up tickets to see Pearl Jam at the Pyramid in Memphis, right in front of my face. Threw them on the ground. That's another story for another time.**

**Susan, if you’re reading this, I get that you were mad. I do. But Pearl Jam didn’t break up with you. I did. You didn’t need to do them dirty like that.

At the end of the day, I think I got the good end of the deal, because we broke up, but I got a delay pedal and now I have a pedal company and I like to think that even though I didn't get to see Pearl Jam, and I haven't still, which is sad, I ended up with a delay pedal. 

I’m also married to Alice, the greatest woman who has graced our fair planet since Joan of Arc, so there’s that, so I think we can agree that this was a happy ending all around, except for those Pearl Jam tickets. 

Okay. Let's talk about delay.

Tape Delay

So when did delay become a thing electronically? I think it was telephone lines, but this presents two problems: 1.) Delay on a telephone line is not useful and they didn't want it. 2.)  Even though phone lines are connected by copper wire and copper wire is super-fast conducting, it still took 300 million meters of wire for one second of delay time. In an alternate universe where Thanos is still our evil overlord and delay pedals are powered by copper wire, these would be some flippin’ huge pedals. 

So when did delay become a musically useful thing? It goes back to a little effect called tape delay in the 1920s. Basically, people were recording with tape machines and then they learned that they could make a copy of the track, splice it in, and play the original recording over the first recording. You just splice the tape, place it in the track exactly where you want it, and that is tape delay. 

Sun Records, Memphis is where this really takes off. You have Sam Phillips, this iconic guy at Sun. You have Scottie Moore on guitar, and you're tracking Elvis, and you hear “It's All Right, Mama.” What would that track be without slapback echo? That is the creation of guitar delay, and that's where it really started to matter.

Some of my favorite vintage tape delay machines include the original Echoplex, the Space Echo, the Multi Echo, Maestro EP-3, and Korg Stage Echo. If you can't afford one of those vintage, expensive, or really weird tape machines, there's some really good pedal options that simulate this tone digitally. One is the Danelectro Reel Echo (Real echo? You get it?). The JHS Pink Panther has a tape simulation mode on it, but Robert Keeley's Mag Echo is probably my favorite small pedal tape simulation. 

Oil Can

The oil-can delay is what you call a very niche. I don't have an oil-can delay, but I do have a small oil can? It's not really useful for guitar, but people pedal-makers like Nick Greer have a really great oil-can delay. Look up a demo on YouTube if you’re curious. 

Analog / Bucket Brigade

So, where does delay go from tape? In 1969, Philips Research invented the BBD chipset, the bucket brigade device, which were basically little charge packets from transistors and capacitors. They delay the signal from one part to the other, and this is a milestone for guitar effects. You see this is the MN3005, in old Memory Man pedals, and in old DM-2s. 

It's an awesome chip. And what's awesome about it is tape delay has this high-end roll-off, sort of flat sound, but then bucket brigade comes along and it has a severe high-end loss. It's super-warm, and you can do these crazy things like turn the feedback up, max out the mix, and it runs away and it's like this endless, flowing sound. 

We had the Big Panther delay analog with tap tempo, then we added the Cub and the Cub V2 analog with tap. Some classic bucket brigade units include the DOD 585, Diamond Memory Lane 2 (probably the first-ever analog with tap tempo), the KMD analog, an Ibanez AD-80, and the BOSS DM-2. 

I have basically an entire drawer full of DM-2s, because why not? They’re good for you. Part of a balanced breakfast.

Digital Delay

So far we have tape delay, then we go to solid-state bucket brigade delay, then analog, and then? Then we go to digital. Digital delays. 

Yeah, I know that there are musicians who feel that digital is not as “legit” as analog. I would refer those musicians to watch my episode on the Top 6 Pedal Myths, where we break this down in more detail. For now, let me assure you that digital is just as good as analog. Just trust me on this. The DDL is a great digital delay, along with the BOSS DSD-2, the DD-2 (the first ever digital compact pedal), the Power Series DPL10 Pan Delay by Ibanez, and the Empress Effects Delay (which is a killer digital delay). 

I have to give a shout-out here to the John Cusack Tap-A-Delay. John doesn't get enough credit, because he's a mad genius. His pedals are really amazing. 

Multi-Faceted 

Then you have this other bracket, which is like pedals that do a bunch of stuff with tons of presets, pedals like the H9, the DD-20, and the DL-4. Where would we be without that?

Now we live in this world where we have access to pretty much any kind of delay you could want to use. You’ve got all of that, and we have digital emulating analog backwards and tape backwards. 

There are loads of guitar pedals to check out. So get in your car, drive to the nearest Guitar Center, and get started. Tell them Josh sent you.