Using a Delay to "Thicken" your sound...

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PhloridaMan

PhloridaMan

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So recently I have been playing around with my MXR Carbon Copy on my dirt channels to thicken up my sound since I am the only guitarist in my current project. I came across the idea after watching the Acacia Strain's "The most known unknown" dvd and hearing DL's tone and noticing a slight delay on the recording. As mentioned I am working with the Carbon Copy but am not 100% satisfied with the results so far... I was curious if anyone else is using this technique to thicken their sound and if so, what pedal you are using? I am wondering if a digital delay may be more suited for this application rather than the analog CC.

I appreciate any input!

Thanks!
 
Phil Jacques":26lmf7la said:
So recently I have been playing around with my MXR Carbon Copy on my dirt channels to thicken up my sound since I am the only guitarist in my current project. I came across the idea after watching the Acacia Strain's "The most known unknown" dvd and hearing DL's tone and noticing a slight delay on the recording. As mentioned I am working with the Carbon Copy but am not 100% satisfied with the results so far... I was curious if anyone else is using this technique to thicken their sound and if so, what pedal you are using? I am wondering if a digital delay may be more suited for this application rather than the analog CC.

I appreciate any input!

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yeah, man - I use two Roland SDE-3000 digital delays in a W/D/W setup and it sounds thick as hell. One set at 250ms delay and the other at 500ms with a dry cab in the center and I just adjust the amount of delay I want. I actually also have some dry sound in the wet speakers, so it is really W-D/D/W-D...

Steve
 
I don't have any good experience with racks or w/d/w, but I use a simple delay up front to give it some width sometimes. Its been hard to find a pedal I like that is completely transparent, and has a usable sweep in front. I've used the cc for this, and wasn't completely satisfied either. I've tried most of the usual suspects. I really like the Strymon el capistan for this purpose, but its super overkill for what I'm doing with it. I'd also like a smaller footprint on my board, as real estate is at a premium. I tried the lovepedal echo jr recently, and while it had a great sweep for out front, I wasn't thrilled with the sound. It sounded amazing in the pt video, but not in my rig. The Jack Deville dark echo is another one I really like for this, but like the name implies, the trails do sound darker as they fade, so it gives an overall darker character to the sound. The sweep isn't that great either, at least for this purpose.
 
Erock":28d1o18d said:
I don't have any good experience with racks or w/d/w, but I use a simple delay up front to give it some width sometimes. Its been hard to find a pedal I like that is completely transparent, and has a usable sweep in front. I've used the cc for this, and wasn't completely satisfied either. I've tried most of the usual suspects. I really like the Strymon el capistan for this purpose, but its super overkill for what I'm doing with it. I'd also like a smaller footprint on my board, as real estate is at a premium. I tried the lovepedal echo jr recently, and while it had a great sweep for out front, I wasn't thrilled with the sound. It sounded amazing in the pt video, but not in my rig. The Jack Deville dark echo is another one I really like for this, but like the name implies, the trails do sound darker as they fade, so it gives an overall darker character to the sound. The sweep isn't that great either.
Click to expand...
I have to say, I've never liked delays up front with high gain. For a SRV type thing, sure, but for high gain, I like delays after the amp (W/D or W/D/W) or in the loop. In fact, I really only like delays in the loop if it is a parallel loop...

That said, the El Capistan is killer. I use mine W/D/W in place of the SDE-3000s if I want a more vintage sounding thing... it is always in my rig...

Steve
 
I use a Flashback for this. The slapback setting works well, as does setting the delay very short in the analog or mod setting.

I can tolerate it up front with a JCM 800, but not in front of the Triple Recto, where I have to use it wet/dry (because it doesn't sound great upfront and I really don't like the Recto loop, even with nothing in it).
 
sah5150":1lhakenq said:
Erock":1lhakenq said:
I don't have any good experience with racks or w/d/w, but I use a simple delay up front to give it some width sometimes. Its been hard to find a pedal I like that is completely transparent, and has a usable sweep in front. I've used the cc for this, and wasn't completely satisfied either. I've tried most of the usual suspects. I really like the Strymon el capistan for this purpose, but its super overkill for what I'm doing with it. I'd also like a smaller footprint on my board, as real estate is at a premium. I tried the lovepedal echo jr recently, and while it had a great sweep for out front, I wasn't thrilled with the sound. It sounded amazing in the pt video, but not in my rig. The Jack Deville dark echo is another one I really like for this, but like the name implies, the trails do sound darker as they fade, so it gives an overall darker character to the sound. The sweep isn't that great either.
Click to expand...
I have to say, I've never liked delays up front with high gain. For a SRV type thing, sure, but for high gain, I like delays after the amp (W/D or W/D/W) or in the loop. In fact, I really only like delays in the loop if it is a parallel loop...

That said, the El Capistan is killer. I use mine W/D/W in place of the SDE-3000s if I want a more vintage sounding thing... it is always in my rig...

Steve
Click to expand...
I hear ya Steve, it's a struggle to get these things where I like them. It's a transparent slap that doesn't mess with the sound. Most of them have this one tiny spot way down on the mix, where a mm down kills all the delay, and a mm up is too much. It's painful, but the w/d/w would be too much, as I'm always putzing around with different heads.
 
Give a Hardwire DL-8 a try it does a lot of great delays including one with modulated repeats. The digital and tape delays are killer
 
My el capistan is always on...not for solos only. Haha. Thickens things up a bit without the wet dry setup.
 
crwnedblasphemy":1u150oak said:
My el capistan is always on...not for solos only. Haha. Thickens things up a bit without the wet dry setup.
Click to expand...

In the loop or in front?
 
I just debuted my new Flashback X4 the other night. I bought it off a buddy of mine and patches A and B I left the same.... patch C I'm still messing with. A is a really quick delay. It's probably a 70/30 mix or somewhere in that region. Just enough to beef it up but not get in the way of any of the woodily woodily. Even our sound guy came up to me after soundcheck and complimented the tone. Definitely recommended. It rips. I'm messing w/ the same thing but w/ modulated delays for that huge John Sykes kinda thing... I might pick up a Hardwire DL-8 just to have that for that, then set the TC for more noticeable repeats.... Yeah, safe to say I'm getting into the world of delay these days... haha
 
I have a flashback and a DL-8 on my board. The flashback is always on, I have it set on the 'slapback' setting to thicken up the sound. The DL-8 I use for more lush delay tones

Simple but effective :yes:
 
I remember having seen one of the Petrucci gear videos from a couple of years back where he explained that he's been running a very short delay something like 8-10ms with only a little feedback on the rhytm channel to simulate having two guitar players.. i guess it makes sense
 
I use a Keeley-modded Ibanez analog delay. I completely agree with Steve in that I keep it in the loop of my high gain amp. I keep it set to a quick single slapback. It's a great sounding delay when engaged, but it really changes the EQ. It smooths out my upper mids and drops the perceived volume. While it is a nice sound, I feel that it makes me disappear in the mix. To compensate, I've put a BBE Boosta Grande set to about 1:00 to bring the volume back up. This allows me to have it on or off in the same song with disappearing. However for such a pricey pedal, I find it very annoying. My guess is that it's the result if the true-bypass aspect if the Keeley mod. When it is disengaged, the full unimpeded signal is considerably stronger and brighter than when engaged. Prior to the mod, i bet that the disengaged bypass circuit dropped the volume roughly the same amount as the engaged circuit. So keep this in mind if you consider an analog delay with true bypass.
 
always put delay in the loop if you have one... Any kind of gain at all will just make it a muddy mess if its in front
 
yngzaklynch":1n1a1ieu said:
Give a Hardwire DL-8 a try it does a lot of great delays including one with modulated repeats. The digital and tape delays are killer
Click to expand...

+1

Best bang for your buck here.. I liked them so much I have two. Ii know longer use a rack delay of any kind thanks to the DL8
 
sah5150":3c62e033 said:
Erock":3c62e033 said:
I don't have any good experience with racks or w/d/w, but I use a simple delay up front to give it some width sometimes. Its been hard to find a pedal I like that is completely transparent, and has a usable sweep in front. I've used the cc for this, and wasn't completely satisfied either. I've tried most of the usual suspects. I really like the Strymon el capistan for this purpose, but its super overkill for what I'm doing with it. I'd also like a smaller footprint on my board, as real estate is at a premium. I tried the lovepedal echo jr recently, and while it had a great sweep for out front, I wasn't thrilled with the sound. It sounded amazing in the pt video, but not in my rig. The Jack Deville dark echo is another one I really like for this, but like the name implies, the trails do sound darker as they fade, so it gives an overall darker character to the sound. The sweep isn't that great either.
Click to expand...
I have to say, I've never liked delays up front with high gain. For a SRV type thing, sure, but for high gain, I like delays after the amp (W/D or W/D/W) or in the loop. In fact, I really only like delays in the loop if it is a parallel loop...

That said, the El Capistan is killer. I use mine W/D/W in place of the SDE-3000s if I want a more vintage sounding thing... it is always in my rig...

Steve
Click to expand...

I agree with Steve, but I only use a W/D set-up with the SDE3000 and it sounds kick ass. I also only like delays in a parallel loop too. I need to try out the W/D/W set-up.
 
I remember seeing an interview and Eric Peterson said he uses/used a tc electronics delay with his rhythm sound. I tried it myself and couldn't like it so I just gave up on the idea and use my delay as a lead effect only. +1 to putting it in the loop though.
 
I use a Carbon Copy always on in the loop, I think all the dials are at noon and the top one rocked back to about 10/11 o clock...
 
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