Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
Pedalboard
Guitar Pedals The ultimate guide to pedal board essentials (and what order to put them in)
Delay pedals
Software & Apps “When you want a boring sound to sound rhythmic and exciting - reach for the delay”: How to understand and use delay effectively in your productions
Polyend Mess
Guitar Pedals “Not another multi-effect for your dentist": Polyend’s Mess looks like an FX sequencing powerhouse
Red Witch Apothecary Series Pedals: these beautifully crafted stompboxes have colour-coded aluminium dials, floral designs and some unique analogue circuits.
Guitars Exquisite stompboxes, built to last a lifetime, meet Red Witch’s new Apothecary Series
native instruments
Music Production Tutorials "As nuanced as the real thing, but only if you know what you're doing": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat
Guitar Pedals “A sandbox for experimentation”: Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat review
Electro-Harmonix Oceans Abyss Advanced Reverb Laboratory: not so much a reverb pedal as a MIDI-enabled workstation.
Guitars EHX promises a “completely unique soundscape building experience” from the Oceans Abyss über-reverb
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Pedals

The Ultimate Guide To FX: Delay

News
By Total Guitar ( Total Guitar ) published 27 October 2012

Everything you ever needed to know about effects pedals

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Delay and reverb

Delay and reverb

DELAY is one of the most versatile guitar effects – and the range of delay pedals is so vast that telling the difference between them can be confusing. You already know what delay sounds like, but you probably refer to it as echo. Confused? Read on to find out more...

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
Delay

Delay

Defined as the distinct repetition of sound, dedicated delay effects were first seen in recording studios in the 1950s in the shape of cumbersome tape-echo units that used actual reels of magnetic tape (just like an old audio cassette) to record and play back sound.

Solid-state technology brought delay to a more practical stompbox format in the 1970s. Although the most common delays these days are digital, many replicate the natural warmth and grain of much-loved early tape echoes and analogue delay pedals.

Common delay sounds in rock and pop music range from short ‘slapback’ echo effects to multiple repeats with a long decay. Slapback sounds are synonymous with 1950s rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly (think Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley or anything by Brian Setzer), while examples of delay with multiple repeats range from the signature chime of The Edge’s dotted eighth-notes in U2, to the epic widescreen guitars of post-rock bands such as Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky.

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
Reverb

Reverb

UNLIKE delay, reverb (or reverberation, to give it its full name) is an indistinct blend of the many reflections that occur when sound bounces off the surfaces around you, decaying gradually as soundwaves are absorbed by the air and surrounding material.

The way your brain is wired means you only tend to notice reverberation at its most dramatic – in a cathedral or a tunnel, for example – but every place has its own unique reverb sound.

Reverb in music is all about capturing or creating a sense of a space. The first reverb effects used in recording studios would be the result of microphone placement in an actual physical space, with chamber reverb, plate reverb (literally a large ‘plate’ of sheet metal with a pickup attached to it to capture vibrations), and spring reverb (a similar concept to plate reverb but cheaper and more compact because of the coiled nature of the spring) all popular analogue solutions during the golden years of the 50s and 60s.

Although most of the reverb you hear in recorded music today is digital in origin, the arresting splash of the spring reverb tanks in 1960s Fender ‘blackface’ amps is still the most desirable reverb sound as far as most guitarists are concerned.

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
Effects Loops Complained

Effects Loops Complained

YOU know those connections on the back of your amp marked ‘send’ and ‘return’? That’s your effects loop, that is, and with a little experimentation, you can use it to unlock new sounds, or if it’s switchable, turn a whole group of pedals on or off with just one stomp. Blow the dust off the sockets and learn how to make the most of it.

Effects loops usually come in two flavours: series or parallel. Both operate at switchable levels, which enables you to place either line-level (rackmount/studio processors, etc) or instrument-level (pedals) devices into your chain and feed them at the correct level.

Series loops work by ‘interrupting’ the signal chain after the preamp stage. Your guitar signal leaves the amp via the send socket, goes through whatever pedals you place in the path, then goes back to the amp via the return socket before continuing

to the power amp. One advantage of using a series effects loop is that it can give you greater control of your effects order – particularly if you’re using your amp’s dirty channel as yourmain source of distortion. By putting your effects in the loop, you can place effects after your distortion. This works well with delays, filters and modulation effects that can sound radically different depending on their position, but you can try using series loops with any effect.

A parallel loop splits the signal in two at the same point as a series loop – after the preamp but before the power amp – and sends it to the pedals in your loop. Your original guitar signal stays in the amp and continues to the speaker as normal. When the loop signal returns to the amp, it’s blended in with your original signal, rather than interrupting it.

This can give you a lot of flexibility, because your original signal will remain untouched, no matter what’s in the effects loop. You can use this type of routing to create more complex sounds and layers that are then blended with your original signal. Experimentation is key here, and while convention suggests saving your loop for sounds that are typically blended (reverbs, delays, etc), you can try other groups of pedals, too.

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
Total Guitar
Total Guitar
Social Links Navigation

Total Guitar is Europe's best-selling guitar magazine.

Every month we feature interviews with the biggest names and hottest new acts in guitar land, plus Guest Lessons from the stars.

Finally, our Rocked & Rated section is the place to go for reviews, round-ups and help setting up your guitars and gear.

Subscribe: http://bit.ly/totalguitar

Stay up to date with the latest gear and tuition. image
Stay up to date with the latest gear and tuition.
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
Pedalboard
The ultimate guide to pedal board essentials (and what order to put them in)
Delay pedals
“When you want a boring sound to sound rhythmic and exciting - reach for the delay”: How to understand and use delay effectively in your productions
Polyend Mess
“Not another multi-effect for your dentist": Polyend’s Mess looks like an FX sequencing powerhouse
Red Witch Apothecary Series Pedals: these beautifully crafted stompboxes have colour-coded aluminium dials, floral designs and some unique analogue circuits.
Exquisite stompboxes, built to last a lifetime, meet Red Witch’s new Apothecary Series
Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat
“A sandbox for experimentation”: Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat review
native instruments
"As nuanced as the real thing, but only if you know what you're doing": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
Latest in Guitar Pedals
MXR MB301 Bass Synth: the six-knob pedal is pictured in use against a petrol-blue background.
“Thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain”: MXR unveils the MB301 Bass Synth – instant funk for your pedalboard
V863-CA Semi-auto Wah
Vox V863-CA Semi-Auto Wah Pedal review
Crazy Tube Circuits Mirage: the dual reverb features two independent DSP engines each equipped with 16 reverb modes – and there are flexible routing options.
With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal
Behringer BM-15M Murf Box: this vintage-style multi-filter pedal has eight filters, selectable patterns and MIDI control
Behringer unveils the BM-15M Murf Box, a $129 animated filtering pedal based on a ‘00s Moog classic
Catalinbread Proto Club Triton Pitch Echo
“The Tritone was universally loved by the crew but the vibes clashed with the palette of the Soft Focus Deluxe”: Catalinbread is selling off its prototype guitar pedals, and the first is a “B-side” pitch echo from its smash-hit shoegaze stompbox
The KHDK Electronics Digital Bath was co-developed with Deftones frontman Chino Moreno, who is pictured here in a white T-shirt and black trousers, performing at Lollapalooza 2024.
KHDK teams up with Chino Moreno for a “melancholic” delay that promises an iconic Deftones tone
Latest in News
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Ozzy Osbourne
“The greatest day in the history of metal”: Black Sabbath’s final mega-gig raised £140m for charity
David Guetta
David Guetta says he’s never played a pre-recorded DJ set, and can’t understand why anyone would think he has
Blackstar ID:X 50: The new combo from the British amp titan is described as "this is the most natural-sounding" modelling amp on the market.
Blackstar unveils ID-X combos – complete with 6 amp voices, over 35 effects, CabRig and OLED display
The Gibson Les Paul Music City Special – 50th Anniversary is a limited edition hybrid that combines the old Marauder and Music City Junior, and offers them in wine, tobacco sunburst and ebony finishes.
Gibson celebrates 50 years in Nashville with limited run twist on a cult electric played by KISS
PRS SE NF 53: the super-versatile bolt-on electric gets a long-awaited SE release, and here all three finish options – White Dog Hair, Black Dog Hair and Pearl White – are photographed in front of a pair of PRS half-stacks.
PRS remixes its NF 53 for the SE line – and it's a serious workhorse electric for under a grand

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...