Belcat DLY-303 Delay

Easy to use, only 3 dials

The delay effect is alright considering how cheap the pedal is, I wasn't expecting anything mind blowing, just something to colour my distorted tone and add a bit of something to my clean tone, only oversight I had was how distortion works where the effect is a lot more present at lower sets than it is on clean but that was my oversight.

seems reliable enuff, only got it 2day....

Haven't had to deal with Belcat but I imagine it being a Chinese company there won't be much, but again I haven't dealt with them

Its pretty good for what I bought it for, give it a go it was cheap enuff

3 knobs. Easy.

WARNING - THIS IS NOT AN ANALOG DELAY! There is no BBD inside this pedal. This is a digital delay, and a cheap one at that. There is noticeable bleed and tone sucking in bypass, and when enabled, it is noisy and buzzy as well. Do yourself a favor and save another $30 and get a MXR Carbon Copy or something.

Cheap crap.

It gets a two, in that there are even worst imposters than this pedal that claim to be analog.

Bottom line, Bucket Brigade chips aren't cheap. Even the clones will run around $4.50 a piece in high volume. Add the other components, a silkscreened PCB, labor, and the parts/jacks/case, and even a commercial company is looking at $35-40 a pop to build one. And they sure as hell aren't going to sell it for less than $60 if that's the case.

there was no manual but this pedal is pretty straight forward with 3 knobs, rate, repeat and level, i think you could figure it out even if you didnt speak english just by listening to the effects of moving the knobs.

i play through a cheap les paul copy with a bareknuckle nailbomb pickup to a laney lx65r which is a small solid state amp but it aint so bad and the delay sounds good through it i usually set it with low rate and repeat for reggae and a little more crazy for my alt rock band and it sound great for both

the pedal seems pretty well made although its made of quite thin metal. the on/off switch seems pretty sound and the knobs seem sturdy. i use it without a backup at gigs and i know i can rely on it.

ive never spoken to them and as i dont speak chinese i doubt i will

i play mainly alternative rock and reggae and this pedal is great for both. obviously it is far from perfect in many ways but this pedal cost me ??25 so i dont think anyone can have any complaints if it was lost or stolen i would probably upgrade to a boss as they are also great but if i were strapped for cash i'd definately repurchase. things to consider are that it is extremely cheap less than 1/4 of the price of a boss, it is not true bypass but it doesnt suck tone too bad, it is made of metal unlike many other cheap pedals, there is limited delay time 130ms~350ms and lastly if you get a chance try it for yourself as only you can decide if it is right for you

Easy as, 3 knob delay pedal, pretty standard affair - rate, level, repeats, in/out, on/off, 9V battery or adapter. Its simplicity is what really makes it work so well. Less is more. Sold as 'Crossfire' in Australia

This is great for basic echo/delay type applications. It does not offer big delay times (350ms max) and has limited repeats, no self oscilation madness. It does great slap back and very usuable short delays giving you a more open tone. It has a character all of its own and it the most conveniant little delay I have every used. It just hits the spot all the time without to much fuss. Alot of people overuse their delay's especially when they have so many possibilities and settings to adjust. This limits you to a few options and in the end you sound so much better. It doesnt colour your tone and your guitar stays 'your guitar' and really sounds as good as any basic delay pedal for much much less. I see too many dudes shoegazing with these $1000 dollar pedals they think are 'essential' to their tone. Last time I checked I play guitar not an effects box - If you want to add a bit of space to your sound and not get bogged down in settings and gimmics this is for you.

Rock solid I have had three units over a few years now (friends keep stealing them from me!) good on battery life and never let me down.

I buy these from a shop in Melbourne AUS (Fretted Instruments in Fitzroy) and they take care of me so its all good, otherwise they are cheap so you dont have much to lose.

I have played for 20 years recording and live. I have used just about every delay out there as I love them! Visual Sound, Boss, Eventide, EHX, DOD, Roland Tape Echos, TC Electronics, Ibanez etc. This is the only delay I will use at this point in time. The other delays sound fantasic but it the simplicity of this unit that works - Compared to the Eventide units I used this is a breath of fresh air, as you get on with actually playing your instruments and not fiddling with knobs all day.

very easy to use! you can get good tones out of almost any setting... plus you can mod it for longer delay time ive read from other reviews down there

first of all this... this pedal is a hybrid of analog and digital.. it has an analog circuitry combined with just ONE chip, that explains why there is no oscillation, why it it makes a sweeping sound when you move the rate knob, and also why it has a long delay time for an analog delay that is... i did not buy it yet but i tested it in a shop, oh b4 i 4get, this is a review for the 503, anyway its almost exactly the same with the 303 i guess, i just want to make sure b4 i buy it,,,, btw is belcat the EXACTLY the same as modtone? ive seen pics of their boards and they do look the same, but why such a big price difference?? does modtone just have higher quality components??? anyway.. you can really get that sound you would want from an analog delay.. and don't ever worry about that single chip in its board, it does not effect its good sounding analog delay.... i might buy it cuz there ain't any other competition for this pedal's price range, i'm not even gonna give behringer a try.. no way

it LOOKS sturdy i cant tell if its made of a thin metal or if its made of die cast or whatever,,, my first impression was of course it really looked liked an MXR pedal, but when i held the thing it was so light.. and it already had a battery in it..... but still sturdy enough for gigs and stuff, why the hell would you jump on the thing anyway all it needs is a soft press

dont think they would give a crap

this is NOT A DIGITAL PEDAL, its a HYBRID! so its not just trying to emulate anlg dly sounds it really has... probably it has that chip in replacement of bucket brigade... which makes it a lot cheaper.. i would probably use it like an echo, cuz it i really liked how it sounded that way... but what really makes me want to buy it is its sound for its price! mxr carbon copy is better but this pedal can really compare

Can't get any easier. No manual necessary. (there isn't one for that matter)

Downsides first:
1) This is not an analog pedal, whatever anyone says or whatever the salesman says. No Bucket Brigade to be found! It is as digital as can be, and it 'reproduces' the analog sound by using crappy components 'around' the digital chip. The max delay time is 350 ms, but it is possible to mod tit to 700 ms, which would be impossible with a single analog delay.
2) When using more extreme settings, there is a bubble of noise that is almost as loud as the repeats. Therefore it is not possible to use the pedal for "Cathedral" or U2 kinda stuff.
3) The footswitch is not real, and is likely to get broken when used intensely.
4) It looks like the solder joints inside are done by hand, and not a very experienced hand.
Upsides:
1) CHEAP!! I got this for 26 euro's from a shop in Singapore, shipping included. I don't know how anyone can raise a profit out of that.. Even a battery is included.
2) It works! In spite of the crappy soldering etc. it works like it it supposed to.
3) Metal housing looks sturdy, unlike Behringer crap.
4) When used only to add some room to the guitar sound, to make the sound a bit livelier, it sounds great! Almost analog-like. It is only half a preset in a Boss DD7, but that is OK.

I believe this pedal is also sold by German brand Excalibur. (Excalibur AD350) They say it is analog but it is not. Excalibur charges 85 euros for it.

Steel metal housing will protect the (small) PCB. When it craps out, don't try to fix it, just import a new one, these are cheap throwaway pedals.

I do not speak Chinese..

Great for the money. Absolute steal. Do not expect to get a boutique delay pedal, just a simple delay.

Very easy to use, easy to find the echo you want

This is my problem with this pedal, i am still getting a small bit of echo when the pedal is off! Its very annoying.

Its metal but i would say the footswitch could go easily enough.

?

It alright but my main problem with it is above

The belcat delay is really easy to use. Has three knobs, and with minimal fiddling a good sound can be created.

Did not come with a manual.

I use a 2006 Mexican Telecaster -> Ernie Ball VP Junior -> Korg DT10 Chromatic tuner-> Dextermods run-off true bypass pedal -> Cry Baby Wah -> Belcat OD -> Marshall Jackhammer -> Electro Harmonix Poly Chorus -> Belcat Delay -> Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger -> 1965 Jansen Bassman 50 (New Zealand Made Fender Bassman copy)

Both the overdrive and the delay add excess noise to my rig (but I'm running a vintage tube amp which is somewhat noisy anyway). When the hum debugger is engaged a good portion of the noise is reduced.

The sound quality of the pedal is okay. I can get some pretty good sounds out of it ranging from U2 kind of echos to crazy psychedelic delays. The pedal adds an unpleasant slap back echo sometimes which is unacceptable. I regularly gig with this pedal. I purchased it for $52 NZ. For the price it's pretty good.

I have had this pedal about 7 months. I gig weekly sometimes more. The footswitch has recently come loose or broken. It is still useable but the switch is definitely not very sturdy.

I use it without backup because I can't really afford a better one at the moment. If money was not an issue I would use something else.

Have not contacted Belcat, nor needed to.

I play and help direct the youth band at a fairly large church. I also play in the main worship team. The styles of music we play include rock, pop, gospel, mellow worship etc.

In my own time I play a lot of rock, blues, indie and pyschedelic rock. This delay pedal is fine for all the things I use it for.

I have been playing guitar seriously for five years. If this pedal were lost or stolen I would not really be too bothered. It is pretty mediocre, but for the price it is an adequate pedal I suppose. When I purchased this pedal it was always with the intention of upgrading to something better. I am currently considering which delay I will save for in the future. I would probably go with something like a line6 dl4 or a boss dd7, or maybe a tc electronics nova delay or even a biyang analog delay.

The reason I bought this pedal was because it was cheap.

I just got my Belcat dly303 from ebay for ??25 and trust me i was'nt disapointed, this pedal was perfect for exactly what i wanted to have for rehearsals and gigs. I put the battery in, plugged in and started playing. Ive read some reviews on here and ive heard that the knobs are very easy to turn, and thier right they are, but...the settings that i want are so simple its not hard to redial in the delays i want. There was no manual with the Belcat but to be fair you dont need one its that simple.

I have an ibanez RG321MHMOL (Mahogany Oil) a Korg tuner and a Marshall MG100DFX, instead of using a delay on my amp i can now use the Belcat for delay and then use the chorus on my amp instead.
The pedal is clear as crystal, its fantastic. I was so amazed with the clearness that i even spent time trying to find a noise that i could find from it so i could put it down but i couldnt. I love the fact that you can get a very nice short delay for rock and rolls, or a pink floyd "another brick in the wall" delay. its also so easy to dial in the delay for Dave Weiners "Dave's party piece"...i look forward to playing that a few times lol.
all in all i cant find nothing wrong with the sound of this ??25 pedal what so ever.

ive only had it this morning so i cant realy comment, but in the hand its very sturdy and i know it will take alot of gig'n to break this....(not that id want to)
i would deff gig this pedal, id be a fool not to.

to be honest the pedals so cheap there would be no need to deal with Belcats customer support, id just buy another one....if IF....it ever goes wrong/breaks.

I play in a covers band with alot of rock and roll, blues, country, rock/classic rock, and metal (when called for) and i cant wait to try this pedal in a practice. I have been playing almost 25years, ive owned all sorts of gear after having this pedal i realy do feel like a kid in a sweet shop lol.
If this pedal was ever lost/stolen/or broken i would deff buy another...i am considering buying another one just so i know ive got another, not because of the reliability, but just because its so good for what i want it for i just realy want another before everyone gets one and they become rare lol. Ive tried loads of pedals over the years and all diff prices, i can honestly say that this pedal is deff just as good as a boss or digitech delay....ok it wont do as much, but for me and what i want it to do its perfect.
I realy like the simplicity of this pedal, theres nothing that id change about it. It has made me what to play that little bit longer each time i turn it on....how this pedal hasnt made ebay i dont know.....as soon as i can i deff will put some demos of this pedal on there.

Typical delay/echo pedal with 3 knobs to control amount of repeats, time between repeats, and volume. complete with input jack, output jack, 9V adapter input, battery compartment and on/off footswitch. an LED tells you if pedal is engaged or not.

I'm really impressed. I have owned a DOD fx96 echo/delay pedal in the past and that was analog and not particularly cheap to buy. this cheaper belcat pedal doesn't sound any different to it, but comes at a much cheaper price. i tried the delay/echo features built into a zoom G2 pedal also, and although that was digital, sorry but i still thought that sounded pretty good. anyway the belcat is no worse than any of the other delay/echo pedals i have tried. i have read around and people say this belcat pedal stands up to many old classic delay/echo pedals like the old boss japan ones etc but once again, at a much cheaper pricetag. i use a decent valve amp and a decent gibson guitar by the way. ok so how does the belcat sound? well, i like the sound of old tape echo machine units. now obviously im not actually saying this pedal is exactly the same sounding as a real old wem copicat echo unit, but in my opinion it does a great job of giving you that old type of warm, spacey, analog, magical type of vibe thing. some people have complained that with this belcat pedal you cannot get a long amount of delay repeats and not a great deal of time inbetween echoes, but for me it's perfect as the echo settings i want (which are just a few repeats and not too much time inbetween) are within the pedals range as standard (im not interested in infinite repeats, self-oscillation or any of that new age techno bollocks). by the way, i use this pedal both with distortion and without, and think it sounds good in both instances. the pedal is fairly quiet to use, but (like most other pedals) only as long as you dont start cranking all the knobs right up. if i had one complaint, it's that there's a certain point when using the level (volume) knob where i like to set it around, but i really have to move the knob so slightly as it's a bit too sensitive. ie. i go from no echo volume to clear echoing just by moving the knob a very very small fraction. a bit more room for adjustment there would have been nice, but anyway it's not the end of the world. by the way the pedal doesnt seem to colour my sound in any negative way and i tested it by turning it on, off, on ... off.. and seeing how it affected my tone, but to be honest i didnt notice any change at all. by the way i took a look inside the pedal and the components are the modern type of 'surface mount' components (you know, very small little square looking resistors and capacitors like you get on a PC mainboard). I thought that was interesting you can get such a nice analog sound going without using the old traditional type of circuit design and components. purists might moan about that kind of thing, but i simply say.. plug in... close your eyes... play.. and use your ears dammit! ..it sounds great!

for the price i dont think it is built too badly at all (especially after reading some of the other reviews here). i mean, come on, it is actually housed in metal casing as opposed to Behringers plastic casing they use! i admit the footswitch itself isnt the best designed, strongest, most solid thing, but this doesnt affect me personally as in my band i am actually a drummer not a guitarist, so i only use this pedal at home and would never 'step' on it anyway.

Not Applicable..

I love it, and if lost or damaged probably would buy it again because for the price and what it does (a nice analog sounding echo/delay) it's really cool. highly recommended for those who want to add an extra sprinkle of life, magic, space, warmness, presence (or anything else you want to call it!) to a valve amp.

3 Knobs: Rate/Depth/Repeat, no scale. Pots are weak, almost move by themselves.

Amazing. This is a very warm, very analog sounding pedal. Great slapback, nice kind of lo-fi, vintage delays.
Imagine the contrary of a Boss digital delay.
It sucks tone, ok, but less - or different - than my ibanez fl-9 and pt-9. It??s quiet.
I own an TC vintage delay and a MEK PT-80, both fantastic, analog sounding delays. The Belcat is a piece of junk with trashy pots, jacks and switch - but its sound is comparable.
I used it with a JTM-45 clone and my custom-made "Jazzcasters" with Texas Specials and Reverend P90s. I liked it.

I had it on my board and removed it - carefully . If I would have kicked it off, it would be broken now.
If you want to know if you can depend on it, open it. It??s a joke!
Do not step on it.

Ever dealt with China?

If you want I warm sounding, very musical delay for less than a good cable costs - buy the Belcat.
With eyes closed it sounds like 5 times its price.
I??m playing for 18 years starting with metal and ending up with Jazz. I do a lot touring with a pop/rock-coverband. I play without backups so I need stompboxes to stomp on.
If you use it at home and switch it by hand - you??ll like it.

Easy as falling off a bike, though less painful.

It has character, and for $50AUD it really is good value.
Little muddy, little dark

Generally short timed can be pushed by a bit of voltage on the middle pin of the delay time knob to go longer, but then you degenerate into static.

Can't be modded to self oscillate :(

I'm using it on synth and guitar. Can be modded by CV sources to do some unusual and cool things. Vibrato on pitch dropping echoes for one ;)

I actually broke it when circuit bending but some how it works BETTER than before.

Longer delay than before too!

The case is solid and the foot switch is of a decent design.
Its all surface mounted devices so not really "modder" friendly.

But if you DON'T go poking around it'll last years and years.

Its a good match for anyone who wants to get into delay on the cheap.
I've been playing since 92 but never really got into delay until relatively recently.

I've owned Line6's DM4 and have a Malekko Echo Dark as well as an Electro Harmonix #1echo.

Its pretty nice for the money, I prefer it over digital though it ain't going to beat the Malekko for pure degenerated dirt.

Three knobs.Very easy to use.Provided new with no manual.But do you need one?Bit of a one trick pony when it comes to getting a sound out of it.

As i have said....sound wise a bit of a one trick pony.Some people will say that it sounds warm others will say muddy.But for me it sounds fine.I do feel that Belcat would be onto a real winner tho if this pedal had controlable self oscillation(or infinate feedback).Will somebody respond to these reviews to say if there is a mod that will work to get self oscillation, and one that is user adjustable?

Only owned for one week.But looks like solid unit.

N/A

Good but very basic pedal.Would like to know if any modifications to this pedal would work.

Branded in Australia as "Crossfire", with a little sticker on the front.

Simple to use. Three knobs, RATE, LEVEL, REPEAT.

Up to 350ms which is perfect for me. On prior digital units with several seconds of delay I liked to use 333ms so this unit is perfect for me.

Great sound quality, no background hiss (unlike the chorus, grrr). Repeats are clear and juicy. It is amazing just how harsh and cold digital delay is after using this.

I have had digital delays, a Zoom 2020, Zoom 5050, G2.1u, and an Ibanez CS-5. The CS-5 rocks if you can cope with a short delay. The Belcat stomps over all the above for clarity of sound and fullness of tone.

Never missed a beat yet. Some things about it are that everything is mounted to the pcb, the switch, the plastic jacks, the pots. The case is strong and compact. As long as you don't step on the guitar leads plugged into the jacks which I imagine would break them, it should be fine.

I emailed them about hiss in my chorus. They wouldn't provide a schematic or layout but they did at least reply in a timely and nice fashion. The chorus got put on eBay about 5 seconds after receiving this email.

I really believe in the good sounds this pedal makes. It has good low noise, no hum, clicks, tick, pops or miscellaneous nonsense a bad design can cause.

It is a really fantastic pedal. I liked the chorus heaps to, but it has this hiss which through high gain amp sounded all the worse. This delay has no such shortcommings.

This pedal is simple to use!No instructions to confuse you and the controls are very straight forward.Some time references would be handy but for $45 Australian you can't really go wrong.

Pedal sounds great.I'm using mine between a preamp and power amp on a left(stereo setup) channel to get a doubling effect.
The minimum time is a bit long so if anyone knows how to change this it would be great.Havn't been able to contact jim<dot>com!(Previous reviewer)

Coz I have it rackmounted it's away from danger but I don't think it would have any problems at gigs.The footswitch is similar to those in the Line6 Floorboard so...Make ur own conclusion there...

In terms of customer support my unit is called a Crossfire DLY-303 and so was hard to track down.This is probably the only area that I don't like about this pedal.

Comparing this to a Boss DD3 in terms of sound quality it is gets a thrashing.BUT at $45 it's definately a keeper.If the minimum time was shorter i'd buy another!For my situation it does the job AND without too much noise.

Follow up to my previous review, third one I think- the one that mentions Keith Richards MXR sound. It's funny because one of the guys that reviewed after said the earlier reviews were vague, and IMO his was the most vague! Ok, now I digress... I've been using it for rehearsal several months now.

Why I came back, is one I found the misplaced soundtank echomachine. On an A/B, I'd say they were both equally cool for noodling solo (uh-huh-huh that's pretty funny butt-munch), but the belcat was more musical in a group situation. So this would be a good choice even for a gig pedal if you're on a budget and would leave the pedal on all the time for light echo. (True bypass is a moot point when you're using the effect!).

I'd say if it were plugged on a board and not stomped much it would last a while.

I doubt there is any, they are just private label products made under contract and have different brand names depending where you get it from. Sometimes they say Belcat or they may say Nevada and it's called something else in Australia, but they are the exact same box.

Hi marks based on the price.

Mods: connect 10K resistor in parallel with R4 to for infinite delays/feedback.
R18 controls delay time range swap out for 4.7K resistor for ultra short delays or 47K for super long (600ms maybe)

I bought this pedal from ebay after reading some reviews on this site and they were a bit vague so i bought it anyway and took a risk i mean it was only ??25 so what is there to lose? This pedal is so easy to use nothing too complicated just does what it says on the tin 3 controls, rate level and repeat.
There isnt a manual with it but the thing is so easy to use it would be a waste of paper to be honest.

There is a great delay on this pedal its just as good as some of the more expensive pedals and half the price. As soon as you engage the switch it comes straight on and begins the delay effect. I've not really experimented with too many delay effects pedals but if you are after a simple delay pedal with some slight delay variation speeds then this pedal will fo the job just fine.
I tried the pedal in different positions in my effects chain and found that it works best last in the chain (i.e the last effect before it connects to the amp). I think that it loses some of its sound qaulity if you put it after any other effects but placed last in the chain it doesnt seem to cause a problem.

I havent gigged with the pedal yet but it seems pretty sturdy. Its a metal construction with a rubber bottom and a plastic battery cover similar to the battery covers you get on cry baby wah pedals. I will be using it to gig so yes i think it is dependable.

I havent yet had to deal with the company and don think i will

I play a variation of styles but they mainly rotate around rock music. Ive been playing for 6 years and have experimented with many effects be they friends pedals or pedalss in the shops. If it were lost or stolen i wouldnt be overly upset but i would definately replace it with a similar model or i would upgrade to another brand. I think that some of these delay pedals on the market are a bit overpriced and if all you are after is a simple delay effect then the belcat is definately the pedal you should get. It helps a lot with my new band as in some sections they are after a kind of psychedelic feel and with this on board it really helps.

No manual but nice packaging. A jewelry type box the same size as the pedal to protect it if it's not on a board (and doesn't take up excess room in a gig bag). I bought this almost sight unseen with no H-C reviews i.e. the previous poster just put this in right after I received mine. I found one mention from a fellow in the UK on Usenet (groups.google.com) who also had a myspace link. Since it was posted a few months ago, I contacted him and asked if it's still a keeper and he said yes. Perhaps my email prompted him to review here?? If so, hi E! I'd say at the very least it will serve as a good rehearsal pedal. I'll have to use it in that regard for a while before trusting it.

I wanted to A,B,C this with a Maxon AD-900, the Belcat, and an Ibanez Soundtank "Echomachine." I misplaced the Ibanez however, so I had to settle for A-B. Quite honestly, the Belcat sounds a little better than the Maxon (a $400 pedal at the time). Of course with the Maxon you'll have more piece of mind when gigging as it's a very solid piece of equipment (get to my concerns with the Belcat next section). But the sound of the Belcat is quite cool, for a quick reference refer to Keith Richards' echo on "Undercover of the Night." IMO, the Maxon sounds a bit too clean, not digital clean but there's a sterileness and lack of sci-fi spaceyness to it which the belcat has. It won't feedback forever like a boss or Ibanez when tweaking the controls but it will woosh and swirl when twiddling the delay time.

One minor concern is the level control isn't granular enough at the lower mix (left) end of the spectrum. IOW, it goes from off to a somewhat strong mix a bit quicker than I would like as I prefer more option the left end, YMMV. The Usenet reviewer also observed that on the right side (higher) levels the repeats were too strong on the attack/beginning side of the repeat. I think that is the "Keef" factor of the old MXR echo which I actually like, but with the level lower it's not overbearing.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure that it's analog and the only clue is the 350ish millisecond delay time. If it's not bucket brigade they did one heck of a modeling job, but I'm fairy sure it's not digital.

On the outside it appears tank like because of the metal "MXR" type enclosure, and this is a cool thing. It does have a plastic bottom, but it is pretty solid and the batt compartment is a neat design. Inside however, it's just a notch above those little Danoelectro "fast food" pedals that were out a few years ago (Where you can still hear the effect when the pedal is off). None of that crap with the Belcat Delay.

However, you have an approx 2x2" board with the 1/4 jacks mounted on it. The foot switch looks heavy duty on the outside, but on the inside it just depresses a little plunger type stick that pushes a button mounted on the board. Similar to the membrane buttons on a cell phone's board. So replacing with a true bypass switch isn't do-able as a drop and solder job (if do-able at all, I have no experience working with PC boards).

BTW, regarding the foot switch, I urge you to open it and press with your thumb while watching the inside. It will become obvious how to treat the switch; You don't need to pounce on it, and if your switch is a bit sticky when new you'll have no worry when you find out it's only a plunger to push down the real membrane switch, so treat it like a sticky key on a computer keyboard.

For $29 US -> N/A.

How can I give a 10 overall for something with 7's and 9s?? Because it's only 30 bucks/20 quid, that's why! Great deal for the money and not as goofy as a dano pedal.

In general, I think analog delays are a big ripoff (regarding the rest of the market, not the belcat). There can't be anything sacred about analog chips as they can be produced in the thousands for only a few dollars. Hopefully a device like this might bring down the competition. My opinion is that the best analog delays shouldn't be much more than a typical overdrive pedal.

As easy as my old Boss DM-2 Delay. Just rate, depth and repeat controls.

For ??20, very good. I could not build one for this price! It is not as transparent as some but I would use my Akai Headrush if I want prestine delays with a tap tempo. I bought this so I could have a delay when I am using that pedal as a looper.

Tried it with true bypass looper and compared complete bypasss to effect off but guitar going through the pedal. True bypass was slightly brighter but not as much as I expected. At a typical gig you would probably not even notice - unlike the similar price Behringer pedals which seem to kill all tone.

I have not gigged with it yet but pretty good impressions.

The box is a good solid metal one with removable battery compartment. This compartment is hard plastic so could snap if handled roughly (then so did the ones on old Dod pedals). Paint looks like powder coating but the transfers do not look so tough. The "Delay" on mine was chipped before I got it out of the box.

The switching is electronic (ie the switch pushes a micro swith on the circuit board so that would be a problem if it went wrong). If it did I would wire up a 3PDT switch for true mechanical bypass anyway.

I will keep saying this as the last and subseuent reviewers will: it cost me ??24, with packing and postage. I always say you cna never have enough distortion / overdrive pedals and I build my own and own several.

My pedalboard features T-Rex, Dyatone, Voodoo Labs, Boss and MXR pedals so I am pretty fussy about tone. I would use this at a gig.

Really very straightforward - there are 3 knobs: Rate (which controls the delay time), Level, and Repeat (both obvious). There are no instructions with the unit but it is easy enough to just plug and play. Getting a good sound out of it doesn't take much doing. You won't have to spend ages with this to work it out.

I played a gig with it the night after I bought it, and it fitted nicely into my pedalboard chain.

This is where this thing really holds up. It gives a great, warm, analogue delay sound for only ??20. Expands and gives depth to your sound really well.

Downsides, well there are a few. Its only 20 quid after all. The delay time is not huge, only 340ms max. It doesn't sound quite as good with very heavy distortion and tends to muddy the sound alot, losing alot of clarity especially with a high repeat setting.

However, its not particularly noisy and there's no audible hum when its plugged in. And with clean sounds or standard distortion its great, really nice.

Built like a tank. Solid metal casing. Solid footswitch. The knobs are plastic but you'd really have to work hard to damage them.

Have had it for a while now and it shows no sign of unreliability. I suppose because its a very simple, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin-analogue-delay-pedal, there's not too much to go wrong with it.

Not had any dealings

I play in three bands - an original punk/indie crossover; a standard blues/rock cover band; and a backing band for a female soul singer. There isn't any situation where its been out of place and has been a really handy little addition to my sound. It's not trying to be a Boss or anything, its just a simple, nice, effective delay pedal. And that's exactly what it is.

I'd definitely recommend this pedal, especially at such a low price