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A would host of convenient delay and looping options in a single box.

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• Review

The latest addition to DigiTech's JamMan series, the JamMan Delay offers both looping and delay, but comes at it from a different angle to delay pedals that offer a rudimentary looping ability: both functions here are fully featured.

You get true stereo looping and a fully-programmable stereo delay with loads of control over both effects including synchronising the delays to be exactly in time with loops.

The looper part features 35 minutes of onboard memory plus 99 internal loop memories. Add an SD card to the expansion slot and you'll get an additional 99 loops and over 16 hours of stereo loop storage. As well as this, you get a USB computer connection that allows synchronisation with the JamManager librarian software, which organises and saves your loops.

"You can record a loop on the fly, setting your own end point, or use tap-tempo for quantised loop points."

The delay part offers three programmable preset memories, each with a dedicated footswitch for instant recall. There are eight delay types to choose from, up to 16 seconds of delay time, a tap tempo footswitch plus useful control over various aspects of the delays.

Powered by a supplied 9V AC adapter, the JamMan Delay is an extremely solidly-built beast, featuring two tiers of four footswitches, the upper tier featuring the switches for the three delay presets and tap tempo while the lower tier offers control over the looping functions.

A panel at the top of the unit houses all the knobs and buttons for setting up and editing, as well as a small numerical display. All the connections are on the back panel, including left and right input and outputs for stereo operation, as well as mono in/out and mono in/stereo out.

Selected via a rotary switch, there are several delay types available - Digital, Reverse, Modulated, Analog, Slapback, LoFi, Tape and Pong - the digital delay occupying four switch positions relating to the delay range (15 to 500ms, 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds, 2 seconds to 4 seconds, 4 seconds to 8 seconds).

Whichever delay type you choose there are knobs to set the delay level, the delay time and the number of repeats, as well as two Modify knobs that have a different function for each type of delay, typically adjusting parameters such as tone, drive, modulation and so on.

A multiplier switch lets you change the time pattern repeat rate by a fixed multiple or submultiple of the delay time for dialling in note divisions other than straight quarter notes and there's also a rear panel Tails switch, which determines whether repeats cut directly to silence or are allowed to decay naturally when you bypass the delay effect.

Dry sound can be cut from the output signal via a top panel button - useful when you use the unit in a parallel effects loop or when using reverse delays.

For looping, you get control over the loop level and another knob to set the level of the onboard guide rhythms that are there if you want them to aid timing when recording a loop. There are nine of these, featuring various drum sounds.

You can record a loop completely freely on the fly, setting your own end point or you can use the looper's tap tempo for quantised accurately-timed loop points. Once a loop is recorded you can record as many overdubs on it as you like or simply play along with it.