Delay for Acoustic Guitar
 

How useful do you folks find a delay for live performance on acoustic guitar? Seems like it would have its' place in some repertoires. More specifically, anyone have experience with the MXR Carbon Copy analog delay with an acoustic guitar live?

Any input appreciated..........

Depends on the kind of music you play. I've used slapback to nice effect on some country songs. Also used delay on some specific contemporary Christian music songs that I've played (the YT video from the original artist even talks about using delay and the settings).

So, yeah sure - useful for specific things. I'd classify my use of delay as "sparing"

Led Kaapana grew up listening to Les Paul and the Ventures (with a long antenna wire connected from the transistor radio to the top of a coconut tree) and developed a taste for echo in his guitar sound. It's part of his signature sound today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FikLX9SN5M - He uses a Boss DD-3 for his delay with classic slapback settings.

Fran

I love delay on acoustic in the right spots, sometimes it's nice to have a light trail on solos and also on some finger picking parts.

I have had a few delays including the Carbon Copy. The CC is a great delay and has its place, but in my opinion, Acoustic is not one of them. Its a great delay for electric and semi-hollow body guitars and it also depends on the pickups and electronics that interface with the CC.

My experience with acoustic work has lead me to the Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail. I play a Taylor with the ES 1.2 system so consider that in your reading of this post. I find the Vapor Trail to be smoother, less dark than the CCopy. Also provides a little more flexibility in tonal control and modulation. I have mine set up so the only dial I ever touch is the delay time. One setting for country oriented songs and another for our rock side. I put a small dot for each setting by the dial.

Ibanez made a delay a while back called the Echo Shifter which I found sounded really good with my Taylor also however took up too much real estate on the small pedal board I use. I still have it because it sounds really good.

I have also tried a few of the Strymon delays. The only one I bonded with was the Brigadier which I still have also.

Have fun in your search for the perfect tone.

Brad

The only delay I've been happy with for acoustic sounds in an old analog Maxon AD-80 and then just a little mixed in.

Delays that aren't as warm sound too jangly to my ear, hard to get the mix right.

Buckaroo, the MXR Carbon has been my go to for it's warm analog tone...I use it lightly just enough to phatten up my sound as a solo working musician.

Here's a recent post/video I made about it: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...90#post5192790

I don't use any regeneration, mix at about 45 to 50% depending on song and delay at about 10 o'clock just to
shadow what I'm playing and not get in the way.
the modulation feature is nice and I use it occasionally, however you have to remove back plate to set the speed/depth. I also like that it is true bypass and noiseless. I highly recommend it, a rugged, proven unit. :up:

Hope this helps & best wishes,

eric

Has anyone tried the Line 6 DL4 with an acoustic?

I'm very interested in this topic as well.

I used its smaller brother, the Echo Park. I liked it but ended up selling it when I found other pedals I liked better. I never really gave it a good effort on acoustic work. Still its a good pedal and the DL4 has been the go to pedal for a lot of professionals.

Brad

My favorite delay for acoustic is my Boss DD-7 ,on the modualate setting, using it for some slap back. When you play a chord, it gives some chorus/modulation.

I've been using a TC Electronic Flashback Delay for quite a while now on my acoustics. Mostly to thicken the lead sound on both steel and nylon strings (and for fingerpicking on the nylon, too). Just a little analog delay, although I've been experimenting in one band lately with heavier effects, and in that context I find myself leaning on the tape delay sound a lot, and a particular "Toneprint" I like with some heavy modulation.

In any case, the Flashback sounds great and offers a lot of options if you're inclined to experiment.

Louis

I also use a Flashback (the Mini, since I only need one setting), and just for thickening.

I set it up so that I can just perceive the delayed sound, then I dial it back slightly so that you can't really hear distinct echoes, but something seems to be missing if you bypass it. I leave it on all the time.


_______________

IMO, digital delays tend to sound better on acoustic than analog. That pristine quality seems to match the warmer tones of an acoustic guitar. Although I am not a huge fan of TC Electronics, their Flashback mini gives you that digital delay option while also including a very easy to use tap tempo mode.

Hi,

if you dive deeply into effects on acoustic guitar, get a Line6 M9. Very simple to use, lots of reverbs, compressors, delays and EQ. Add a tuner and a D.I. and you are ready to go.

cu

erniecaster

A friend once told me effects on acoustic guitars were a crutch for the unskilled.

Sadly that influenced me a little until I started using reverb and then years later another friend gave me a very good demonstration of digital delay.

I play a lot of open airy instrumental music, light Jazz style pieces, among covers of popular music. Delay is an important tool for me to add depth/dimension and separation when I play leads. The TC Electronics Flashback Delay is very clean and transparent.

Postlude: What my friend didn't do was perform and/or play acoustic plugged in. My experience is, plugging-in is giving your guitar another voice, ability to shape that voice, and create a multitude of voices.

Yup. Not a crutch, just another thing you can do.

Louis

There's nothing better than a friend voicing his opinion on something he has zero experience with lol. Some players over use chorus but just look at Lindsey buckingham. Brilliant player and he has a good deal of delay, reverb and sometimes chorus going on.

Ive got a few delay settings in my G3 effects unit, but never use it on the material I play, which is quite diverse. Just light reverb which is on the whole time to provide some more fullness to the tone, and sparing use of chorus when i want a 12 string type tone and also if Im playing lead sometimes to get a bit more cut through.

Thanks all for the input!

I took the plunge and bought the MXR Carbon Copy......very nice! With the DELAY and MIX at about 9 o'clock it gets a subtle doubling effect that serves to fatten the tone just enough. I was looking for just this kind of thing to leave on all the time.........perfect. After a days' worth of fiddling around with the rig it seemed the compressor was not adding anything substantial, so the rig shakes out as RED EYE PREAMP, with the TC POLYTUNE and MXR DELAY in the Red Eye loop, into the SCHERTLER DAVID DELUXE. Still want to try sticking the delay output into the second channel of the amp while the Red Eye is in the first......might get an interesting blend that way.

Thanks again!

congratz....the Carbon Copy is the one I also decided to get (next month)

I have no problem with processing the acoustic guitar sound, although many seem to. The key is not to overdo anything.

When I play with my acoustic group, I am the only guitarist and consequently have to cover a lot of ground and strive for a full sound. I accomplish this with fingerpicking, judicious EQ and effects. I use slight reverb, occasional chorus, very occasional delay, and looping on one song. For this I use a multi-processor with patches that I preset for what I want. The quality of the effect is simply not that critical to me in the kind of gigs I play; consequently I cannot justify the expense, or more importantly, the carrying weight and setup time involved with the use of a $300 box that does one thing.

No one has mentioned the Boss DD20 which is a really solid pedal. 4 savable slots and a looper built in. Also allows you to tap your own tempos in with it's own pedal or by remote. I really like the modulation and tape settings for some subtle repeats. Used they're going around $130.

I currently use the Strymon dig. For the right song or part of , man does it sound sweet:)

I am in a similar situation. My duo plays instrumental fingerstyle and cover a lot of styles, sometimes a few in one song; effects and shaping are critical. Even still, my rig is fairly simple, Fishman Tonedeq and TC Delay ( I also use a TC Ditto). The Tonedeq reverb is always on. That unit has a great eq, compression, and boost. Prior to this setup, like you I used a multi-processor, the Digitech 360XP. It is a great unit but I found the Tonedeg provided just what I needed with better tone.

The argument against effects, IMHO, is like the argument between external mic'ing and using internal pickups. Once the sound of an instrument is played through a speaker, the resulting tonal representation/reproduction is arguable and subjective. Everything in those signal chains influences and injects their specific characteristics to the perceived tone.

I agree completely , but would like to add this further comment . Because in reality as you say, there is no amplified acoustic tone that sounds like unamplified acoustic tone . There is only more closely and less closely . So in reality as you say playing through any amplified system is going to have an effect on the tone period.

Even though I played solo acoustic gigs with the only "effects" being the mic pre combo and PA itself, and minimal amount of pretty high quality reverb.
The "argument" against "effects" is a fallacy, there is no argument against effects, there is only totally subjective preference as to amount.

Comments like your friend made are founded in ignorance not reality.

I like the sound of acoustic guitar. I've heard some great acoustic guitar sounds from guitar pick up set ups. I always wondered why someone would use an acoustic guitar if they are going to process the crap out of it with reverb and chorus. Use an electric guitar and save yourself the hassle. Use a pedal to make it sound acoustic. At some point using an acoustic guitar becomes an image thing.

It's not just an image thing, although it can be that, and that's a perfectly legitimate part of performance. The thing is, a processed acoustic guitar sounds different than an electric, just as different electric guitars sound different. So that's the main reason people use pedals with them (those, that is, who use more than just a little reverb or delay to enhance a basic acoustic sound). It sounds different and some people like the sound, so that's why it's worth the hassle (when it is a hassle). I don't see why that's so hard to understand.

Louis

Ischwart beat me to it but, Mr Kelly, you provided your own answer. ;)

I agree that effects can be and are sometimes overdone. Tone is the foundation the player starts with in the signal chain. IMHO, to a point, Delay and Chorus don't change the tone as much as they manipulate it. Kind of like Photoshop to an photo image.

This makes me think about a problem I've found, and experienced myself. The problem, starting with bad dry plugged in tone. This is can originate either from the P/U and/or guitar, amplification, player, sound man, or all of these. Trying to add effects to improve tone, or a lot of something, that is absent usually doesn't sound well. The missing or problem component has to be improved.

Is it just me that the Boss DD3 won't sound any good on my acoustics? the wet signal is just too loud and made of plastic, not musical at all, has anybody here managed to make it sound good on acoustic rigs?

I don't like the DD3 much for acoustic either. I prefer the cheap Behringer VD400 Vintage Delay pedal. For what I do, it's also as good as my Line 6 DL4