Best Delay Pedal For Lead Guitar (2024 Update)

This is a fantastic delay. I always had a bad impression of digital delays from years of dealing with cheap ones… but this thing sounds great. The repeats are clean without harsh artifacts. The tap tempo is easy to use and a great tool to have. And the ratio knob makes this a Swiss army knife of delay styles. This kicked my carbon copy to the curb.joefordish

I’m not the type to dig too deeply into the technical side of things. All I know is that I gig often, and I love how easy this pedal is to use live. Love the tap tempo and the sounds I can get from this from subtle to spacey. Ease of use is very important to me when I’m on stage, and this one delivers. I also love the slight volume boost I get when the pedal is engaged….I use it for solos quite a bit.Joey

Most problems that people report on this are due to insufficient power supply. It draws 175ma so many daisy chain and power blocks many not be enough. Voodoo Labs Pedal Power have designated outputs (5 and 6 on Pedal Power 2 Plus) to supply 250ma for larger pedals which works perfect. Giving it too little power will result in swooshy clock noise, clipping at low levels and overall poor sound. When given enough juice, its dead silent and has no noticeable tone suck (that I can hear through reference headphones straight into clean amp). Sharing because I wish I'd figured this out earlier myself!TBIRD

Sound: Being my first delay pedal I can't compare it to others however it doesn't suck any of my tone. It doesn't even sound digital, cold, or sterile to me. Doesn't color my amps tone either. Make sure you use this in the effects loop however it does sound okay through the front end up my gain channel. Features: From what I can tell this has all the features of the original RE201 but in a compact stompbox. Ease of Use: This is the first pedal I've bought that the manufacturer actually provided sample settings in the manual.On the underside of the pedal has a diagram of how the different modes include which tape head sound. I found my favorite delay sound in a few minutes and now I feel like David Gilmour with this thing on. Quality: It's a Boss pedal. I'll never have reliability issues. Feels nice and heavy too. Value: This pedal is just like it's analog predecessor and those units are very costly on the used market. My friends RE501 tape echo/chorus unit is worth a pretty penny but my pedal does something his unit can't do and that is my pedal actually works. Boss could charge up to twice the price and still sell these. Manufacturer Support: Being a Boss pedal I'm sure the manufacturer support is great too. The Wow Factor: It does have a cool name "space echo". Sounds like something a martian left behind on our planet. It even smiles and winks at you. In fact maybe it's a space robot from another galaxy! Overall: I finally broke down and decided to buy a delay pedal. At first I just wanted an MXR Carbon Copy but after selling my second amp and having extra money I decided without hesitation to buy the RE20. I'm not going to say this is the best delay pedal on the market but it does an excellent tape delay sound for what it's worth. I really like the layout and the ability to mix tape heads and reverb. It doesn't take long at all to find a good setting either. I can't wait to use this with two amps either. I'll probably pick up the MXR someday but I won't need to.Joshua

Musicians who are looking for a great "all in one" delay pedal should seriously consider the SMMH. I won't tout it as the end-all-be-all delay pedal, but what sold me was the organic tone, vast array of features, and relatively compact design. This is a digital pedal, yes, but it has that legendary Memory Man tone, complete with warm repeats and world class modulation. It has all the capabilities of a digital pedal, but with the feel of an analog pedal, proving that you can have the best of both worlds. The layout for the delay modes is a bit misleading at first glance. On the surface, it appears as though it has considerably less delay types than its competition. This is far from the truth, however, as virtually any delay tone can be emulated with this beast. It's a design that truly seems to reward creativity. The modulation is another great selling point, as it seems to be an amalgam of several of EHX's finest and most revered products. The reverb is comparable to the Holy Grail, the flange and chorus to that of the Electric Mistress, and the ring modulation isn't too far off from the mark of the Frequency Analyzer. There's so many specs to write about, the multi-tap, the stereo ins and outs, being able to store/create up to 8 presets, 30 seconds of looping (60 if 30 seconds of blank space is recorded first and the Delay knob is set to 0), but my favorite aspect is easily the reverse echo. The SMMH by far has the best and most customizable reverse echo that I've heard. It's not without its blemishes, however. Some will find the control layout difficult to use. Buyers will definitely want to hold onto the manuel. It's not expression pedal accessible, either. This is not a dedicated looper as it will not store loops. Also, the looper can be accessed while in any mode, but it requires that users hold down the tap button to record for the duration of the loop. (Also, make sure to set the Delay knob all the way up in order to have each loop be at equal volume.) These minor problems didn't bother me, as it's still a great pedal at a great value, and for the price, I still don't think it can be beat.Matt W.

I've owned the SMMH(Stereo Memory Man w/Hazarai) for about 3 months now. It is a very nice delay with some cool extreme functions. Pros: 1) The looping function fits my style well. Press and hold to record. Lift your foot to stop. Very intuitive. I LOVE how you can loop in any mode. More delay/loopers could benefit from this idea. 2)Reverse is wonderful! 3) The modulation is very nice on the 300+mod mode. I can get some really nice analog DMM sounds. Cons: 1)I wish the presets were easier to access while standing up. 2) Some of the reverb/delay settings can sound a little brittle and digital when extreme. 3) wish it had an external tap tempo jack so I could sync with other pedals. All my cons are more nitpicking than any real complaint about the quality of the device.hackedtelecaster

I have wanted a Memory Man for a long time, and this variety is a great and versatile variation. Finally found one that wasn't close to $300 with fees, and I ain't getting any younger. It's got a great loop feature, and the delays and echos are vast and wondrous to the ear. I'm still giddy just thinking about it. Thanks eversomuch.smirkbot

Legacy but legendary. Great for live performance. I have a Line 6 POD HD400 will all DL4 functions inside, however limited capability for live twicking. POD's looper is basic and useless, DL4's looper allows reverse and 1/5 speed. Very creative instrument.menzib

you can get a nux delay force for 50 bux shipped here on ebay that does pretty much everything this does at an off the hook 250. even USED these are overpriced. the stock unit is nothing particularly special. the fun factor comes with modification, at which point it becomes both useful AND kinda cool…. provided you can obtain one cheap enough to be worth modifying. i know this is sacrilege, but for the money a line 6 costs, you can find a plethora of other pedals with the same or better features for significantly less. these are cool i guess, but not THAT cool for what they ask for them. seriously, the dang nux is a better deal. more models, better sampler with more time etc… do your homework and research. line 6 stuff sounds like line 6. you'll love it or hate it. stock, my vote is "meh". modded so you can access the looper via footswitch, and so you can access both heel down and toe down of the 3 presets and it becomes a bit more palatable. me? i'd buy something else. seriously. don't fall for internet hype written by 12 year olds with daddy's credit card. i've been playing electronic guitar for 48 years. i have played almost every piece of gear out there. this one is good, but not as great as you usually hear.phatjbp

The worst piece of equipment I've ever paid for. Worked for a just a few weeks (sitting on my floor untouched, no gigs) then dropped dead for no reason. Pulled the "chip" out of it, reinserted it, and it worked again for a while (shouldn't have to do that with a brand new piece of equipment anyway). Then it died again, this time for good. Chucked it in the trash where it belongs. This thing is more stress than it's worth. Will NEVER buy another Line6 product again.zjpaul

Legacy but legendary. Great for live performance. I have a Line 6 POD HD400 will all DL4 functions inside, however limited capability for live twicking. POD's looper is basic and useless, DL4's looper allows reverse and 1/5 speed. Very creative instrument.menzib

you can get a nux delay force for 50 bux shipped here on ebay that does pretty much everything this does at an off the hook 250. even USED these are overpriced. the stock unit is nothing particularly special. the fun factor comes with modification, at which point it becomes both useful AND kinda cool…. provided you can obtain one cheap enough to be worth modifying. i know this is sacrilege, but for the money a line 6 costs, you can find a plethora of other pedals with the same or better features for significantly less. these are cool i guess, but not THAT cool for what they ask for them. seriously, the dang nux is a better deal. more models, better sampler with more time etc… do your homework and research. line 6 stuff sounds like line 6. you'll love it or hate it. stock, my vote is "meh". modded so you can access the looper via footswitch, and so you can access both heel down and toe down of the 3 presets and it becomes a bit more palatable. me? i'd buy something else. seriously. don't fall for internet hype written by 12 year olds with daddy's credit card. i've been playing electronic guitar for 48 years. i have played almost every piece of gear out there. this one is good, but not as great as you usually hear.phatjbp

The worst piece of equipment I've ever paid for. Worked for a just a few weeks (sitting on my floor untouched, no gigs) then dropped dead for no reason. Pulled the "chip" out of it, reinserted it, and it worked again for a while (shouldn't have to do that with a brand new piece of equipment anyway). Then it died again, this time for good. Chucked it in the trash where it belongs. This thing is more stress than it's worth. Will NEVER buy another Line6 product again.zjpaul

Upfront…..it's a Keeley …and that alone tells anyone who knows pedals that it will be well built , decent sound quality and affordable…..but they missed the boat on this one and I expect a version 2.0 soon enough….the reverb and the delay cannot be stacked , either way , they can only be played independently. This was a big mistake on the design engineers or Robert himself. The gain/overdrive side of this pedal is excellent!!! And unfortunately I am stacking this pedal with an Oceans 11 while using their spring or plate modes. I will be pretty peeved if and when version 2 is released and the stacking in series or parallel is now useable. Otherwise I give this a 3/5 where it could have been a 4.5/5 easily!!!!!…….sorry guys …had to be honest …but I won't buy version 2 unless you take BACK this original version and modify it correctly!!!Chaotic Embrace Inc

I run the pedal in front of my matchless amp sounds great . Very good delays and reverbs. A grab and go pedal for me!!!!Don price music

What an incredible pedal! This is the perfect grab and go for the working musician. A wonderful solid blues breaker style drive and choice of delay or reverb. Both the analog and digital delays are amazing. I can't recommend the pedal enough. It only took 5 minutes for this to become one of my all time favorite Keeley pedals (and I have over 20 different Keeleys).Nnate8

I am happy with this delay. It's sturdily built, has straightforward controls, is free of noise, and has no effect on the tone when switched off. It isn't a loop station, but the delay can be quite long, longer than I need for what I use it for, which is usually a tempo matched delay blended kind of low, so as not to be ping pongy. Sounds good to me! Also made in the USA, which is a plus for me!fnl61

This analog echo box is amazing. It's echo is warm and musical and so un-like the sterile digital delays of the 80's and 90's. It sounds awesome with my big Gretsch guitar. It truly sounds like the tape echo I had back when I was young. Any combination of settings makes good sounds, slap-back, standard echo, strange Pink Floyd sounds and of course, sound-on-sound feedback. The volume level stays the same engaged or disengaged. If I had paid $100 I'd be happy. Having paid about $27 makes me enjoy it all the more. Buy it, you will not regret this purchase.mega-dada

Nothing negative can really be said about this pedal; a great range of effects can be produced in a pretty simple way with only three controls.The VD400 really is an analogue-esque kind of effect; set the intensity to more than 70% and you will get self oscillation provided the echo isn't at full zero. When oscillating, changing the rate leads to some old school sounds like what you'd hear if you varied the playback speed of a cassette.Put the rate between 85-100% and some compressed reverby sounds can be achieved with various echo/intensity settings – reflective small room sounds to muffled kind of bathroom to public address system type verby-delay.The only thing I could possibly complain about is that the rate will only go as slow as 300ms (roughly three repeats a second). I have Roland cube60 so I'm used to being able to have repeats as slow as about 2 repeats per second (which is a huge difference!) for those really chilled semifunk riffs.Still, this pedal is pretty great, and for $25 I'm pretty glad I made the purchase. I've used it mostly with ma bass and found that the tone has to be set kinda bright or it gets muddy, but that's bass for you!I'll probably never use it but the direct out (dry signal output) is a convenient feature that some may find very handy.DrummerKat

With an expression pedal it gives a lot of sounds for the money and the basic sound of the preamp, a copy of the Echoplex preamp, sounds great. I only wish there was an option to turn the delay down to 30ms. 80ms is just a bit to big for ambience.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Overall: This is purely a review on the quality of the product itself not based on the sound. For the price I am beyond disappointed on the quality of this pedal. The knobs are gritty, and make a noise when you twist them. They are so tall that your toes will hit them every time you turn the pedal on and off. The on/off buttons feel fragile, they won’t last very long. One the most infuriating things about this pedals design is the expression switch. It’s a inch away from the on off switch and like with everything else on this pedal feels fragile and will most likely get stepped on and broken off. The box is grey and the labeling is light blue which makes reading the pedal harder than it should have to be. Over all I’m feeling stupid for spending $400 after tax on this pedal.Nick

Fantastic delay and reverb sounds for a very reasonable price. NUX are making some great pedals these days and this one is up there. The algorithms used for the pedal are crystal clear and not digital sounding meaning you get a very natural rendition of the effects. Definitely worth checking out if you dont want to spend big bucks on the boutique style pedals and punches way above its weight. Highly recommendedpaba_7157

The NUX Atlantic is a surprisingly great pedal! Solid build quality, great sound, and awesome routing options. I personally love the 60’s style tape delay and the fact that it has “smart tap” is great in gig settings, just tap in the tempo no need to hold! I also really love the reverbs on here, they’re done surprisingly well and have freeze/shimmer function. Amazing. Lastly the routing options are stellar. You can run a stereo or mono out in parallel mode or in series (in which you can set the effect that comes first). I mainly play R&B/fusion along with multiple other styles and this thing is very versatile. Will be a mainstay on my board!EZRAKH

I've tried many dual Delay-Reverb pedals and this is certainly among the best and is a better value than any of them. Great tones with just enough options and parameters to quickly dial in the sounds you want. The Smart Tap feature works perfectly – why don't more pedals work that way. Like most NuX pedals, there are tons of features here including the ability to select which effect is first in series, whether they run in parallel or series, line or guitar pedal level switch, USB connection for Firmware upgrades. Using the two effects in the parallel mode is exactly what I needed. This sounds clear and great either in the front of an amp or in the effects loop. A lot of units are either dull or overload when in the effects loop – and the Atlantic has none of those issues. Watch videos of the power users for this to learn all the great features and sounds it creates. Finally: NuX has great firmware support for their pedals. Don't overlook that feature. In a lot of cases, NuX will roll out many additional features over time and it's free to update your pedal. Who else does that for gear in this price range?! I highly recommend the Atlantic pedal.Rob

How well an effect pedal works is so subjective and quite variable. What works well in one set up may not work well in another. All this is very true of distortions and overdrives, and almost as true of delay pedals. I've tried and owned many delay pedals over the years. Each is good and useable in it's own way, but the thing foe me lately is: how well does it sit in the mix with the other pedals in a pedalboard. The Hotone Tape Eko is fitting in great for me. The tones are smooth and rounded, as befits the "Tape Eko" name. The repeats come through clearly, but never in a way that gets in the way of the dry signal (of course you adjust the dry/wet levels to your taste). Also very important: There seems to be plenty of headroom – it doesn't top out and distort the signal. Original guitar tone comes through intact. Of course you'll want to watch some youtubes to see the features, but it's quite a nice, vintage sounding pedal, with plenty of flexibility.electricfishmusic

Hotone has been making high quality affordable guitar FX pedals for years now and the Tape Eko mini stompbox is no exception! WIth 3 different delay types including a reverse, this little pedal packs a deceptive punch you have to hear for yourself! Ideal for home use, studio use, or even on the road! Hotone was even kind enough to include a true bypass switch and a transparent knob with 2 small black knobs on its face. Be sure to plug into one at your local Sam Ash today!nathand

Could not believe this tiny pedal had so many features. It's got 3 delays. The first one is a digital sounding delay, like something you'd get in a recording studio, or using a rack processer. They second is a straight up tape delay, with all the warmth and warble of a great big tape machine. The third one is really useful as an effect. It's a reverse delay which plays your delays backwards, good for weird sounding ambient stuff. I just got it for the tape delay emulation, but it's like I got 2 other delay pedals for free.DJ Jazzy josh

I didn't expect a lot from a delay at this price but it actually works really well with a decent vintage sound and very low background noise. Now on my gigging pedalboard.paulwhitesos

It's cheap, I don't notice any coloring of your direct signal but I have heard the echo having some break up to it sometimes when original signal doesn't. I don't even think that's necessarily a bad thingdanielroy2

I've been using this pedal for cutting out the noise that is produced from my other pedals and my amp. It works great for cutting noise that would normally ring through in between notes or chords. It's small, built well, and easy to use. The threshold control allows you to set the volume at which the gate starts the noise reduction, and the toggle switch allows you to dial in your settings. Get one!rowin_usa

Nothing wrong with Positive Grid, only ProAudioStar. Sold as "B-Stock," pedal arrived without any packaging and with velcro on the bottom. Obviously used enough that the silkscreen indicators were worn off. Now on perma-hold for 12 minutes trying to get a "representative." So glad I paid by cc, as it appears there will be a dispute. Horrible experience!sales-52639

Great flexible piece of kit. compliments the Bias software products.App makes patches a breeze. Nice compact multieffect.Anonymous

I bought this kind of on a whim. I had seen one review of it, and decided to take the plunge. It's an absolutely amazing pedal. It's a super solid delay from the get go, and the mod section adds a ton of versatility. The tap tempo switch also acting as an oscillation switch is a super rad feature. I'm a huge fan of the time being set on a slider instead of the standard knob dial. This pedal has been on my board since I bought it, and it's not leaving any time soon.Jonathan

Before purchasing this, I watched a few reviews. They were all pretty informative about the uses and nuances of the pedal. For me, some of the complaints or otherwise pain points of this pedal, are some things I personally like about it. So for me, I find the user interface intuitive, and relatively easy to navigate. It's an analog delay pedal first, and achieves that very well. The nice thing is, you can dial in 11 different delay settings, which makes this highly versatile. Using this with my bass, I do notice a considerable volume drop, with the pedal activated though. Making this something to use for recording purposes, or an effect that you would have "always -on". In all reality, for me, that's the only draw back, but a major one. As I don't need delay active on all songs that I play.Jeff

If you can't take a guitar pedal out of the box, plug it in, and get some decent sounds out of it right away with the turn of a knob, then there is no point in it being a live performance pedal. If you have to read the manual to understand it's banks and presets, then it belongs on a studio rack, not a pedal board. I feel completely ashamed I spend even a hundred bux on this for the stupid deal of the day without reading the reviews. Worst part is that I sold my intuitive delay pedal to help fund this purchase because it was an "affordable" tap delay. Not at ALL what I thought it was. Not to mention the problem with the noticeable volume cut when you turn it on.Tim S

Its build quality is excellent and it's got a decent feature set for the price that includes the ability to save you settings and then call them up either with a foot tap or via MIDI. It'll hold about 10 or 12 of these presets. It also comes with a power supply, so that's nice. It looks really cool too. It's heavy and solid. Now the bad: ergonomics. It's as bad as everybody says. You have to read the manual to use it. Seriously. You can't turn knobs & have it do stuff. All the knobs must be turned to the correct positions, like the tumblers in a padlock, before you can change settings. That's bad ergonomics and it isn't readily apparent or intuitive. In this day and age nobody should have to read a manual. Products should be designed so that function is obvious. It isn't that we're too stupid to read, it's that we're too busy to read. And can you imagine some poor performer that needs an echo pedal for a show and they have to go get one? They don't have time to read the manual. They need to grab, go, and rock.Salvadore

Simply the best delay pedal you could want. (Well, let’s say 12 delay pedals actually!) Sonically superior to anything else I’ve used before. The gain boost function is unique to this pedal, so highly recommend. You really do get what you pay for!Reviewed by guitarguitar custome

I'll make this short and sweet. This thing is packed with sounds and there is a natural delay that seems to be missing with other delay pedals. My only complaint is not the product but Sam Ash the selector knob and mod knob get stuck when I press down. I wish I could take it back but unfortunately I live to far away to take it back and the minor annoyance is not worth my trouble. If I can avoid buying from Sam Ash going forward I probably will.Loco