Boss. Delay - am I the only one?

Musicman20

EricTheWeary said:

I might watch the JHS video later. I thought the TPS one was interesting but they are so conservative in how they use delay (ooh not too much level; what? You are demoing the delay FFS!) that it was hard to get much idea of what the Boss actually has to offer. 

I wouldn’t watch the JHS one. I got very quickly bored and turned it off! 

mburekenge

It looks great. I'm currently running a delay llama extreme with the control box, so roughly similar size

CFH

I bought one. I love BBD delays and have tried most of the well knowns and so have a solid base of reference to compare the DM-101 to (including the Moog MF-104M/Z, EchoCzar, Asheville ADG1, Bondi Art Van, DMMs, Thermae, RKM, Rubberneck etc). 

I was initially slightly underwhelmed by the 101. It is quite a “clean” sounding unit for a BBD delay, whereas my preference is gritty and murky. Perhaps a gain knob like on the ADG1 would be a nice addition but I can live without a tone knob. 

However, having played it a lot over the last few days it has REALLY grown on me. In particular:

- The pattern delays are really nice. Definitely different to a Volante which has that binson-y slightly metallic sound. The repeats are soft, rhythmic and smeary.  

- The modulation is really good. Probably the best I’ve had although the Art Van modulation is probably as good but not as flexible. In classic mode the waveform is changeable also. Dialling in a subtle bit of “movement” is a great sound. 

- Nice presence and long delay times. Although my personal preference would be that the repeats are a bit grittier, they do balance really nicely and are well voiced. 

- Memory, stereo out, and tap tempo. Fairly “basic” features for a lot of delay pedals but somewhat rare for a BBD delay. Some TGPers have criticised the lack of stereo in but as far as I’m aware that would be hugely prohibitive cost wise as it would essentially require two distinct delay circuits. I’m happy with stereo out although I haven’t put that feature to the test. 

I haven’t really deep dived into the other algorithms yet but having twelve distinct modes is unique for a BBD delay. This thing is super fully featured and I’d definitely recommend! 

I will update once I’ve spent more time with it, but initial impressions are great and it’s well worth the cost in my view. 

Supportact

@CFH thanks for the review. Sounds very useful. I'm also a bit surprised more analogue delays don't have a knob to add a bit of distortion to the repeats. Can't imagine it would be very complicated to do, and I'd certainly find it useful. 

londondan

Nice review @CFH. I picked mine up yesterday and have only had time to spend maybe a couple of hours with it so far, but my first impressions are very positive. Have played both a Les Paul and a Tele through it, with a Wampler Moxie and Strymon Deco before for varying levels of OD, and a Strymon Flint afterwards for a little reverb.

Mostly sticking to the Classic, Vintage and Ambience modes so far, and there's a huge amount you can do with those three alone. There are months worth of sounds in here, from very simple slapback to completely out of control self-oscillation. Given the cost, the challenge is going to be forcing myself to actually use the various modes and get to know them properly, to try and get the best out of it.

dindude

Really though I’d need to find space on my board for this, but the demos (Andertons and TPS) make it sound really bland, 

Keefy

Mine arrived today and I’ve spent an hour with it so far. Lots of great sounds on tap (pun intended). The Modern mode produces some of the clearest analog delay sounds that I’ve heard. The Multi Head mode is my current favourite, perfect for Shadows emulations. I’ve also had a quick go at programming it for an expression pedal, which you can set up to morph between two sets of control settings. I’ve saved a couple of sounds in the memory slots but I reckon my next purchase might be some kind of MIDI pedal to fully exploit the memory facility.

I realise I’ve barely scratched the surface, there are so many possibilities here - I haven’t tried any stereo stuff yet.

rze99

I’m the mix no one will notice. May as well use your ME-50 

Keefy

rze99 said:

I’m the mix no one will notice. May as well use your ME-50 

Yep, you crack on and do that

tomajoha

CFH said:

I bought one. I love BBD delays and have tried most of the well knowns and so have a solid base of reference to compare the DM-101 to (including the Moog MF-104M/Z, EchoCzar, Asheville ADG1, Bondi Art Van, DMMs, Thermae, RKM, Rubberneck etc). 

I was initially slightly underwhelmed by the 101. It is quite a “clean” sounding unit for a BBD delay, whereas my preference is gritty and murky. Perhaps a gain knob like on the ADG1 would be a nice addition but I can live without a tone knob. 

However, having played it a lot over the last few days it has REALLY grown on me. In particular:

- The pattern delays are really nice. Definitely different to a Volante which has that binson-y slightly metallic sound. The repeats are soft, rhythmic and smeary.  

- The modulation is really good. Probably the best I’ve had although the Art Van modulation is probably as good but not as flexible. In classic mode the waveform is changeable also. Dialling in a subtle bit of “movement” is a great sound. 

- Nice presence and long delay times. Although my personal preference would be that the repeats are a bit grittier, they do balance really nicely and are well voiced. 

- Memory, stereo out, and tap tempo. Fairly “basic” features for a lot of delay pedals but somewhat rare for a BBD delay. Some TGPers have criticised the lack of stereo in but as far as I’m aware that would be hugely prohibitive cost wise as it would essentially require two distinct delay circuits. I’m happy with stereo out although I haven’t put that feature to the test. 

I haven’t really deep dived into the other algorithms yet but having twelve distinct modes is unique for a BBD delay. This thing is super fully featured and I’d definitely recommend! 

I will update once I’ve spent more time with it, but initial impressions are great and it’s well worth the cost in my view. 

Interested to hear your update Cas?

CFH

@tomajoha my amp has been in for a repair for a few weeks so not much of an update other than I’m still very happy with it. It just covers so much ground. Hopefully I’ll have my amp back this week and can dig a bit deeper into it! 

Keefy

I’ve played with mine some more. On the minus side I’m not loving the modulation, which I’m finding a bit metallic except when the Variation knob is fully clockwise for custom wibbliness. To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

Otherwise still loving it, so much so that two other echo pedals (TC Flashback Mini and Nu-X Tape Core) will be going to new homes. I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard, and store some song-specific echoes in the memory slots.

Still haven’t tried it in stereo though…

Keefy

Well I've found the answer to a nice modulation (for me) is higher rate, low depth. Also just lost half an hour in the Non-linear mode. It doesn't sound like reverse delay to me, but it does sound very reverby - which is great, because I always wondered about implementing reverb using multiple analog delays.

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Keefy

Omigod the stereo modes!

Give me a minute to change my kecks...

Jonathanthomas83

Keefy said:

To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

I agree, how does it compare?

Keefy said:

I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard

Keefy said:

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Let's see your maples board, I'm intrigued!!

Keefy

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Keefy said:

To me the gold standard of analog delays is the DMM, where the modulation sits somewhere between a warm chorus and the pitch movement of a tape echo.

I agree, how does it compare?

Keefy said:

I’m now looking to install it on my ampless pedalboard

Keefy said:

And it fits on my ampless board - yay!

Let's see your maples board, I'm intrigued!!

As per this thread:

Musicman20

Amazon are even stocking these - down to £429 at the mo.

BOSS DM-101 Delay Machine | Ultimate Analog Delay Pedal with Advanced Technology | 8 BBDs | Warm, Saturated & Highly Musical Tone | 12 Unique Modes | Stereo Operation | 127 User Memories | MIDI I/O : Amazon.co.uk: Musical Instruments & DJ

Keefy

I've just done 2 gigs on rhythm guitar with Dire Streets (ahem!) through the pedalboard shown in the last-but-one post. I used the first 3 memory slots on the DM-101 to store sounds for specific songs, and in that application it worked brilliantly well, especially with carry-over engaged.

If you just need a delay with memories there are cheaper options, but I wouldn't say the unit's capabilities are being wasted, I've just used a few of its many functions for a particular job. It's coming off the board again so that I can enjoy more self-indulgent stereo fun...

noisepolluter

Reading this thread with interest - thinking of putting together a small board around one of these and the Boss RV-6 which arrived yesterday. I do love my DM-2W but there is certainly room for something equally great sounding but fuller featured.

Anyone else got one and want to share their thoughts?

Lestratcaster

I'm happy with my DD-6 although I don't really use pedals anymore being a Kemper user. Some have used the DD-3 for over 20 years. Must be a reason why.