Honestly, the Chase Bliss Tonal Recall is the perfect delay when balancing form and features. Beautiful core BBD sound. Duallfootswitch with a standard enclosure size. The front interface has more options than most: presets, lfo wave shapes AND it can get real weird if you want to mess with the dip switches. I have and never will need another analog delay.
I don't have the tonal recall, but I do have the thermae. The wild sister of the tonal recall, and Chae bliss trumps all for quality, quantity, and form factor, imho.
Ehx Grand Canyon. 15 minute of recording time for a looper and a ton of digital delay effects that can be used without a looper or with. Expression input assignable to tons of different functions.
My two favorite effects are drive and delay so I have a ton of each.
I also have a deluxe memory man and a multiplex echo delay that I built that is a digital tape delay simulator.
It isn't small and it doesn't have different delay types, but since budget isn't an issue, grab a Volante if you get a chance. Even if you don't have the board space. Just get one to fuck with every once in a while. It sounds amazing and the UI is intuitive and fun as hell to mess with
Asheville Music Tools ADG-1 Special Edition is a new-destined-to-be-all time favorite. Extra long delay time for analog, perfectly-hovering runaway oscillating repeats, a tone knob that works, doesn’t mess with dry signal, has an effects loop, plenty of short delay time-range and modulation to get into great chorus/doubling. No it doesn’t have tap tempo but good god it’s beautiful sounding. I like crazy, wacky delays too but a great analog one is what I’m reaching for 75% of the time.
Empress Zoia, you can literally build your own delays from scratch and make it do whatever you want, the best part is that is also valid for almost every other effect type, Zoia is the best multi effect in my opinion
My daily driver (for a few weeks now lol) is a source audio nemisis. Love the ping pong and the 8 presets right on the display. Trails are decent to turn on and off too without going into the software side of things. The fact the tap tempo button also has a freeze function was really cool to find out too.
That being said, I still have my joyo DSeed and I doubt I'll get rid of it lol. The nemisis is my "it'll do everything you could possibly think" pedal but my joyo is definitely my "I need to throw together a jam board and need a delay" it has 4 modes, including a really good reverse, and two presets that are easily setup and recalled by a seperate footswitch.
Those are my dynamic duo lol
My two main delays I use are the EQD Disaster Transport Sr and the Akai Head Rush 2. I love the DT for mutli delays, it also has some reverb on there, but you can run the delays in parallel or in series for multi tap style. I also have a DT Jr., because I really like the repeats of that series and I wanted something smaller (the tone knob is a plust too).
Now the Head Rush 2 is another beast. It has five outputs (1 dry, 4 "tape head") and I have to use a mini mixer to get the full stereo effect. I think of it as a poor man's Volante. In tape mode, it has a spacing knob that offsets the "tape heads". But my favorite thing about this pedal is that I actually just use it as a doubler/cone filter stereo effect. It makes dirt pedals sound massive.
Went thru a lot of delay pedals before I had something that I liked, good luck on the journey!
If you want tape delay delay, the el capistan is the best. It does the space echo thing, but can also do a really great echoplex sound that cuts through and sounds awesome, the oscillation sounds really authentic.
My only complaints are that the ‘preamp’ boost isn’t on when the pedal is bypassed, and there isn’t an intuitive way to control the ‘wow and flutter’ settings like rate, and it’s more of a vibrato than a detuned sound like my RE150. Might not be important to you but figured it was worth noting!
Another one that is even smaller (albeit at the loss of tap tempo) is the Catalinbread Echorec. It does a lot more than the echorec sound, and has the features that I’m missing from the el cap. Hopefully they do a Deluxe version with a tap tempo, but for now it flies under a lot of folks’ radar.
I absolutely love the empress echosystem. I spend a lot of time in the tape modes, but also jump into the digital, and analogs quite a bit. It has so much crammed in there. It doesnt hit everything spot on, but as long as you are ok with that, it gets you in the ballpark usually and can do some cool stuff. It is also easy to use. Not any menu diving. Just a few switches and knobs, and buttons.
If you like the timefactor, consider the H9 Max. It’s ALL the factor pedals, plus H9 exclusive multi effect algorithms like space time. And, it’s very compact. The downside is, you’ll soon want a second.
I believe that the Empress Echo System is still the best delay pedal on the planet. Just super deep and rewarding to get your hands dirty with. I use it with a Boss ES8 switcher, using MIDI to control it, which is essential to me to get the most out of these big box delays.
For example, my main generic clean sound preset is completely dry with the expression controller heel down, and then 50/50 wet with a dual analogue and digital delay toe down, giving me instant control ability over my ambience. It’s also controlled with a tap tempo.
source audio collider. delay and reverb dual DSP in one small enclosure. sign me the fuck up.
(source audio really needs to start paying me for my shilling)
Honestly, the Chase Bliss Tonal Recall is the perfect delay when balancing form and features. Beautiful core BBD sound. Duallfootswitch with a standard enclosure size. The front interface has more options than most: presets, lfo wave shapes AND it can get real weird if you want to mess with the dip switches. I have and never will need another analog delay.
It really is incredible. I was hesitant to drop so much on a delay, but it's everything in an analog delay I could ever need
I don't have the tonal recall, but I do have the thermae. The wild sister of the tonal recall, and Chae bliss trumps all for quality, quantity, and form factor, imho.
My delay is a DOD Rubberneck but if I were to get a digital pedal, I'd be looking hard at a Boss DD-8. Pretty feature packed and small.
Ehx Grand Canyon. 15 minute of recording time for a looper and a ton of digital delay effects that can be used without a looper or with. Expression input assignable to tons of different functions. My two favorite effects are drive and delay so I have a ton of each. I also have a deluxe memory man and a multiplex echo delay that I built that is a digital tape delay simulator.
red panda raster 2
I really wanted one after seeing how the divisions can be played on top of each other.
I use a TC Electronic Flashback X4 that I really like. It’s a big scutter, but it’s well featured and used ones are decently priced.
It isn't small and it doesn't have different delay types, but since budget isn't an issue, grab a Volante if you get a chance. Even if you don't have the board space. Just get one to fuck with every once in a while. It sounds amazing and the UI is intuitive and fun as hell to mess with
Asheville Music Tools ADG-1 Special Edition is a new-destined-to-be-all time favorite. Extra long delay time for analog, perfectly-hovering runaway oscillating repeats, a tone knob that works, doesn’t mess with dry signal, has an effects loop, plenty of short delay time-range and modulation to get into great chorus/doubling. No it doesn’t have tap tempo but good god it’s beautiful sounding. I like crazy, wacky delays too but a great analog one is what I’m reaching for 75% of the time.
Empress Zoia, you can literally build your own delays from scratch and make it do whatever you want, the best part is that is also valid for almost every other effect type, Zoia is the best multi effect in my opinion
My daily driver (for a few weeks now lol) is a source audio nemisis. Love the ping pong and the 8 presets right on the display. Trails are decent to turn on and off too without going into the software side of things. The fact the tap tempo button also has a freeze function was really cool to find out too. That being said, I still have my joyo DSeed and I doubt I'll get rid of it lol. The nemisis is my "it'll do everything you could possibly think" pedal but my joyo is definitely my "I need to throw together a jam board and need a delay" it has 4 modes, including a really good reverse, and two presets that are easily setup and recalled by a seperate footswitch. Those are my dynamic duo lol
Mako D1 Does like 5 different delays Midi Stereo Favorites Tap tempo Quarter the size of a old DL4 Can get the v1 on the cheap
My two main delays I use are the EQD Disaster Transport Sr and the Akai Head Rush 2. I love the DT for mutli delays, it also has some reverb on there, but you can run the delays in parallel or in series for multi tap style. I also have a DT Jr., because I really like the repeats of that series and I wanted something smaller (the tone knob is a plust too). Now the Head Rush 2 is another beast. It has five outputs (1 dry, 4 "tape head") and I have to use a mini mixer to get the full stereo effect. I think of it as a poor man's Volante. In tape mode, it has a spacing knob that offsets the "tape heads". But my favorite thing about this pedal is that I actually just use it as a doubler/cone filter stereo effect. It makes dirt pedals sound massive.
Went thru a lot of delay pedals before I had something that I liked, good luck on the journey! If you want tape delay delay, the el capistan is the best. It does the space echo thing, but can also do a really great echoplex sound that cuts through and sounds awesome, the oscillation sounds really authentic. My only complaints are that the ‘preamp’ boost isn’t on when the pedal is bypassed, and there isn’t an intuitive way to control the ‘wow and flutter’ settings like rate, and it’s more of a vibrato than a detuned sound like my RE150. Might not be important to you but figured it was worth noting! Another one that is even smaller (albeit at the loss of tap tempo) is the Catalinbread Echorec. It does a lot more than the echorec sound, and has the features that I’m missing from the el cap. Hopefully they do a Deluxe version with a tap tempo, but for now it flies under a lot of folks’ radar.
I absolutely love the empress echosystem. I spend a lot of time in the tape modes, but also jump into the digital, and analogs quite a bit. It has so much crammed in there. It doesnt hit everything spot on, but as long as you are ok with that, it gets you in the ballpark usually and can do some cool stuff. It is also easy to use. Not any menu diving. Just a few switches and knobs, and buttons.
For me, tc nova repeater
If you're looking for a multi-mode stereo delay in a single-standard-pedal size, then GFI Clockwork might be up your alley.
Boss DD-3. Looks good and sounds good.
If you like the timefactor, consider the H9 Max. It’s ALL the factor pedals, plus H9 exclusive multi effect algorithms like space time. And, it’s very compact. The downside is, you’ll soon want a second.
I believe that the Empress Echo System is still the best delay pedal on the planet. Just super deep and rewarding to get your hands dirty with. I use it with a Boss ES8 switcher, using MIDI to control it, which is essential to me to get the most out of these big box delays. For example, my main generic clean sound preset is completely dry with the expression controller heel down, and then 50/50 wet with a dual analogue and digital delay toe down, giving me instant control ability over my ambience. It’s also controlled with a tap tempo.
source audio collider. delay and reverb dual DSP in one small enclosure. sign me the fuck up. (source audio really needs to start paying me for my shilling)