Easy way to get trails from analog delay w/o modding
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 12:48 am
Analog delays sound great but almost none of them have trails (for noobs, trails = when you bypass the effect, the echoes play out). This for me has been their big drawback, as I hate the click and abrupt cut-off. So I came up with a simple solution. All you need is your favorite delay, any basic switchable effects loop pedal, and a mono Y-cable or adapter plug such as Radio Shack (R.I.P.) used to offer. HOSA will do.
Run the send of the fx loop to the input of the delay. Run the delay's output to one side of the Y-adapter, and the output of the fx loop pedal to the other side of the Y. Then plug the tail of the Y into the next pedal or into the amplifier. Leave the delay pedal always on and at your favorite setting. When you activate the fx loop, the instrument signal will send to the delay and then to the amp, like normal. When you bypass the loop, your amp will get both the clean signal and the rest of what the delay is putting out, since you are only bypassing the feed to the delay and not the delay's output (which is still live and feeding the Y, along with the clean). There you go.
Here's a photo of my version of this, but there's nothing special about these particular pedals. You can do this with any delay and fx loop pedal.
As you can see, nothing needs to to the return jack cuz the delay out remains connected to the amp via the Y cable. Basically this setup selects between feeding the amp and the pedal (which also feeds the amp), but never disconnects the delay so that all your precious analogulous repeats get to live out their relatively short (600 milliseconds or less) lives.
I'm sure someone could build a box that does this without the Y-cable, but haven't seen anything on the market. Get on it, peeps!
Run the send of the fx loop to the input of the delay. Run the delay's output to one side of the Y-adapter, and the output of the fx loop pedal to the other side of the Y. Then plug the tail of the Y into the next pedal or into the amplifier. Leave the delay pedal always on and at your favorite setting. When you activate the fx loop, the instrument signal will send to the delay and then to the amp, like normal. When you bypass the loop, your amp will get both the clean signal and the rest of what the delay is putting out, since you are only bypassing the feed to the delay and not the delay's output (which is still live and feeding the Y, along with the clean). There you go.
Here's a photo of my version of this, but there's nothing special about these particular pedals. You can do this with any delay and fx loop pedal.
As you can see, nothing needs to to the return jack cuz the delay out remains connected to the amp via the Y cable. Basically this setup selects between feeding the amp and the pedal (which also feeds the amp), but never disconnects the delay so that all your precious analogulous repeats get to live out their relatively short (600 milliseconds or less) lives.
I'm sure someone could build a box that does this without the Y-cable, but haven't seen anything on the market. Get on it, peeps!