Boss DD-20

It simple you turn the knobs how you want the delay set, what type of delay, then settings..Simple.

Great sound quality never had a problem with it. I have 3 of these little guys in my setup, one with each amp i use. i have them runing through the effets loops in my amps. i run a Carvin V3, Peavey JSX, and a Roland JC-120. I run the jsx and v3 with different distortions and the delays sound so rich through all of them.

Ive been using the DD-20 for some time now and every one i have is very dependable never had a problem them.

never had to deal with the company on this product

I recommend if your searching for a delay get this one cause theres so many different possibilities of delays and sounds, I have 3 of these and love them all.

This is just an extra detail to my review below:

The 'modulate' mode gives one of the sweetest, subtlest chorus chimes I've ever heard. Luscious. And I never even liked chorus! Even back in the '80s I thought it was a cheap, cheesy and synthetic effect. I have tried other Boss choruses, Yamaha, and heard the supposed top of the range TC Electronic, etc. But the sounds in the DD-20 stand up to any of them and it's not even a dedicated chorus pedal.

So I'm selling my old analog Boss CE-3, which I kept for (very) occasional use. There's more room on my board now, and even though I'm still not completely sold on chorus, I can understand why it is such a ubiquitous effect.

After about 3 months of use, if anything I am even happier with this pedal. A very strong 9.5 rating

i am not a techy, but i got the dd20, out it uot of the box and started right away playing with my band. i have NEVER used a delay before, but it took me hardly 5 minutes to get very nice and useful delay effects out of the thing! now that i??ve read the manual, i can handle it much better of course, but it was very easy from the beginning on.

i use the dd20 in chain with a boss chorus. thats my whole setup. i??m having no noise probs.
the sounds are all really good, i first bought the dd20, then checked some other delays like the digitech , ibanez and the line6. none of them sounds as good as the boss (the dd6 is just as good, but has much lesser features). i??m really glad with the sound. i use the crazy effects warp and twist often, too, playing in fusion and pop bands. it really inspired me tu play with these sounds.

i owned several other boss pedals, and just like them, the dd20 is built like a rock. no way to wreck it.

never dealt with them.

this is not the cheapest, but by far the best and most versatile delay unit on the market, i??m very happy i got it and i would buy it again in a heartbeat.

There's a lot going on, so you have to read the manual. Things have moved along quite a bit since my last delay, an ancient Boss DD-2. Still, it is easy to program and the controls are set out very intuitively. The factory presets are all pretty usable, and the manual has some good suggested settings - the slap-back echo for instance, was more or less identical to the rockabilly sound I worked out for myself.

Eleven settings cover most of the bases. Surely nobody uses all of them. Some I use more than others: Twist and Warp I never use and I agree with some other reviewers that the Standard delay mode sounds kind of cold and clunky. I prefer the Tape and Analog settings, or Smooth for a nice even decay. I also agree with those who say it picks up some noise, especially if it is last in your signal chain. Works quietly on its own (with a Diago Powerstation), but put overdrive and compression in front of it and you get tiny hiss and the faint sound of the flashing indicator light. But on the whole, the sounds are fantastic. You can emulate pretty much anything you want, from a shimmering wall of sound to just a subtle thickening up of your lead tone. Even the sampler 'SOS' mode is good fun: some people say 23 seconds of delay is overkill, but it is just long enough to record a medium-tempo 12-bar progression to jam along with... Four programmable presets is plenty: one short, one medium and one long delay, plus the aforementioned slapback Sun-Sessions echo. Then there is the manual mode, which you can adjust on the fly - plenty, plenty. Very good.

Usually, you take Boss's reliability for granted, but this was the specific reason why I chose this unit over the (more expensive) Line 6 DL4. I don't pay much attention to any one single review, but the overwhelming number of people on Harmony Central saying their DL4s were flimsy and temperamental hit home.

Bomb-proof construction, 5-year warranty - the usual hallmarks. A comfortable 9.5.

Btw - My DD-2 was the only Boss pedal that has ever crapped out on me (20+ years old) - the rubber lining around the battery compartment screw wore out, which meant the latch mechanism wouldn't work.

Never dealt with them. They are prolly alright if you manage to get through, but I always find their website a bit intimidating. That's the problem with huge corporations. Still, reliability's so good, hopefully never need it.

A programmable Delay pedal, with or without tap-tempo, is a must for me. I run up to 8 pedals on my board, but if I could only have one, it would be this one. Throws up all sorts of possibilities, and I am nowere near exploring its whole scope. It scores over the DL4 in its number of presets, price, size, and reliability, plus the delay doesn't cut off abruptly when you stomp it off. Lots of name players use the Line 6, but something about the DD-20 just seems much sturdier and more professional.

I think it is easy to use to color my sound(add space), but to get into some U2 Edge type delay sets or anything like that, it would be hard to do with any delay pedal. They aren't that easy unless you have lots of experience with delay pedals. The manual is OK, nothing spectacular. I believe mine is the latest and greatest as far as firmware goes.

I have tried various delay pedals, and this one is great! It is basically a DD-6 with 5 presets you can program. I've tried it in the effects loop and through the front of my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Blue Junior, and it sounds equally well through both, so I run it in front just for simplicity. Great sound, I believe that there is no better delay pedal than this. It rivals the Line 6 Delay box so closely, it just came down to price.

Um, it's Boss man. Do they get any more reliable?

I've never dealt with them, becayse I haven't had to. Great products, well built.

I play at church in a Praise and Worship band and we do all of the contemporary music, which sometimes requires some complex delay sets. This unit can do it all, and then some. I don't think there is anything missing from this unit, or anything that I would change. It's great!

In general, the controls and settings on this pedal are the easiest to use amongst any pedal I've tried, save for perhaps the Line 6 DL-4.

I would give it a 10, except that there's one problem I have with the unit. When you power it on, it starts in "Manual" mode. Normally for stage and rehearsal use, I have to set it to "Memory" mode to access my 4 presets, and have the right pedal become the tap tempo switch. In order to do this, you must first tap the right switch, then hold it down to "lock" it into memory mode. Not only is this procedure very annoying but is also very unintuitive and hard to discover when you first start out with it. For this reason, my rating goes down to a 7.

I don't normally play covers, but this pedal is completely capable of getting *any* delay or tape echo sound I've ever heard. The analog delay's breakup and decay can do that dub-style reggae (think Rupie Edwards, Yellow Man). The dotted tempo mode makes getting Edge's syncompated delays a cinch. I use the "modulate" delay with typical "doubling" settings to get that Joey Santiago thick lead sound from several Pixies songs, and the "smooth" delay with slapback settings can cop a really cool rockabilly/surf sound. Many awesome sounds are in this box.
The delay that I use most is the single-head tape echo, and what I really appreciate about it is the "tone" knob that allows you to dial in more murkiness to the repeats. I think the tape sim sounds a little cleaner than the DL-4 - but it's not offensively pristine either. I don't think it'd be a hard choice between the DL-4 and the DD-20 if the tape sound is what you're after - it'd just be a matter of taste.
What makes either of these pedals better than a real tape-echo, in my opinion, is the tap-tempo features. Having a tap tempo allows you to adjust the tempo to the natural flow of music, and just plain makes a delay sound better - more musical. Until now, a feature I've never seen on a pedal is the "dotted" tempo settings that allow for those syncopated delays to be controlled from the tap. This ability to control a syncopated delay so that it actually slows down or speeds up with a song - this makes the DD-20 truly unique.
The main reason I wanted to contribute a review is to counter some of the earlier reviews complaining about noise. I also run this pedal through a homemade bypass box, and it passes my acid test, which is this: I put the pedal in bypass and then stomp on my looper pedal enough times that I can't remember whether it's "in" or not - effectively creating a double blind test for myself. My test results are that there is no possible way for me to detect whether the pedal is "in the loop" or not. There is no noise at all from this pedal, and it seems *perfectly* set at unity gain. There are lots of pedals that fail this test, including many boss pedals and even some purported "true bypass" pedals.
I can only imagine that there are variances in quality control or that other reviewers posting here have some ground-loop problems in their rig. I run this on an MKS pedal pad with the PedalPower module.

After it dies, I'll let you know.

At least Boss has their manuals online now. Not so long ago, Boss/Roland was charging money for their manuals, which was reprehensible in this day and age. Having never had to deal with Boss/Roland, I guess that says something about their product reliablity in general, but doesn't leave me with an inkling of how to rank them for support.

I try to run the gammut of styles, playing original music only. From rudimentary jazz to "alternative" to new age to eighties metal to nu-metal to alt.country. I just love to play. A good pedal is one that doesn't get in the way, and a good delay pedal with lots of flexibility is key to so many music styles. I love this pedal.
As I wrote earlier, I can only use delay pedals with tap-tempo. That said, at the time of purchase, I only compared to the DL-4 and the Wasabi delay pedal. The Wasabi was far more limited in sounds and those cheesy tail-lights were just too embarrasing. The DL-4 has so many issues from the strange power conectors to switch failures to noise issue that I had to steer away, as cool as the true bypass feature seemed to me.
If it were stolen or lost, I'd prolly buy it again - the price is really great for all these features, some of which can't be had elsewhere.

Just an update to my review (which is the one below).

I got my DD20 replaced as I suspected that something was wrong with it, and the new unit works fine. Merest hint of some white noise at higher volume levels, but that's it. No more whine.

Perhaps just an issue for people to be aware of - if your unit is noisy, it is probably faulty, as mine was.

Lots of bits & pieces to find your way around, although OK once you've worked them out. Two nice big stomps that are hard to miss.

Two parts to this...

The first part is that this unit does add a little extra hum when in your signal chain, even when not on. I have had quieter delays - my little Guyatone MD3 was better in terms of no white noise until you turned it on. The DD20 scores there in that there is no discernible increase in hiss when engaged as opposed to when off.

Second thing, if you stick this at the end of your signal chain, and you happen to use other pedals in front - such as overdrives - be prepared to pick up a whole heap of noise. I got a lot of whining sound (like when you have a TV on) and a clicking noise in time with the tempo.

However, when I moved the delay to the front of my chain, this largely disappeared, so I presume that this DD20 doesn't like have its input signal pushed hard. I tried with batteries and cable power - no change.

Like the stereo outs and all the settings - very tweakable. They've all been described already, and i'll add my voice to those praising them. They do their job and do it well.

The hiss is the one thing that lets it down - the fact that I have to have it at the front of my chain removes some flexibility from it as it means my delayed signal is effected by what follows, rather than having the DD20 repeat what has gone before, if that makes sense.

Haven't had it long enough to find out. Boss are usually sturdy enough - and it came with a 3 year guarantee.

NA.

Think it's good if you require a very flexible delay, and it does what it does well. I've used the memory man, guyatone MD3, and the other Boss DD delays, and whilst the Guyatone was quieter and far easier to use, the DD20 definitely tops the others and has far greater potential.

As for me, i've been playing for almost 10 years, use G&L ASATs and a Comanche through an Orange AD30 amp and a heap of other effects such as Banzai, Maxon, Aphex & EHX. I play rock, indie/alternative, gospel music & contemporary church worship. As I said, the damn' thing is so versatile you can use it for whatever you want.

If only it didn't hiss a bit, then it would be great. As it is, i'm going to check out the Line DL4.

Very obvious and easy to use. Anything not obvious is well covered in the mannual, output and pedal modes are detailed on the back of the unit. Good to have delay time readout in both S/MS and BPM, very useful. My previous delay pedal was a Yamaha DDS-20M which had a sound on sound function but was quite fiddly to use. Have also used Zoom multieffects which I have been very unimpressed with. This unit is wonderfully easy by comparison.

All modes except warp & twist,(see below,) sound great. I especially like the modulate setting, not because I'm a big fan of modulation effects but because I don't like modulation effects enough to buy a dedicated unit. This unit gives me the modulation effect for the few times I need it without having yet another box in the signal chain.
The biggest criticism I have of this unit is the twist effect, which works the wrong way for me. It would be wonderful if when you press the pedal it slowed down the delay and dropped the pitch, That would earn it a 10 insted of a 9.

Only had it a week but Boss are generally pretty reliable.

never had to deal with them. Website is good for manuals & specs.

I play most styles you can play on the guitar, been playing twenty five years. I chose this unit mainly for the memory function and general wealth of features. I play modified strat with EMG PUPs, home made baritone, Hohner electro-acoustic. Signal chain is,

"guitars->guitar-selector->Award/Session_Overdrive/preamp->DD-20->Dry_into_Valvestate_8080:Dry_&_Effect_DI'd_via_Behringer_ultra-G_into_desk."

The twist effect works the wrong way for me. It would be wonderful if when you press the pedal it slowed down the delay and dropped the pitch.

Another function which would be very useful to have would be the ability to copy patches stored in memory to the current manual setting. This would make it much easier and quicker to set up for each song for live work.

Would certainly replace if lost/broken.

Pretty intuitive to use if you're familiar w/ digital delay. I will say it's easier to program than my ZOOM 508 delay, which is already pretty easy. Editing is simple enough. Easy to store settings. The manual is well written.

I think if you do-do's out there would just read the stinking manual BEFORE you plug it in, you wouldn't be sitting there knocking the features out of ignorance. The twist and warp functions do work, and they're unique. I think they sound pretty cool, you just need to open up your mind a little bit. You're not going to incorporate those effects immediately, but I can see them coming in handy. Still, THEY WORK JUST FINE. Read the manual.

I use a Bespeco (Boss knock off) for the tap function. I use left for on/off, and right to select. Simple. I like having knobs and the LCD screen. SO helpful. What's up with the Line 6 dl4 having "tweak" and "tweez" knobs? Isn't that something you do in your pubic region? Anyway...

Let's talk about noise a little bit. I set this up to A/B in a true bypass loop with nothing else in the chain. I absolutely could not tell any difference. I've read about the signal (meaning the familiar "Boss buffer") being upgraded to some kind of specs for Rolands high-end buffer. Regardless of what they did, they got it right! This thing is 100% quiet and suffers no coloration or volume loss whatsoever. This is why I sold the Line 6 DL4: Bad volume drop and tone coloration.

I'm truly impressed. I bought the RC-20XL a couple of months before that, and experienced the same results on the signal, but I was still skeptical since the DD-20 is, after all, a delay pedal. I have no worries. The pure signal is untainted. They really did get it right.

For the effects, analog sounds really good, and sounds like an old DOD I once had 15 years ago. I'm impressed. Tape won't pass for an echoplex, but it's supposedly modeled after a Roland Space Station or something like that. It may model it very well, but I can't say for sure. I'm mostly just using plain old "standard" which is fine by me. Some guys hate the "digital" part of digital delays, but as long as it doesn't color my tone and I can tame down the tone of the effect w/ the tone knob, I'm happy.

The SOS is like having my old Boomerang back, minus a few seconds recording time and that nasty hiss. Truly a helpful feature. Combine that w/ my RC-20XL and I'm set!

I can't believe I'm giving this a 10, but for the pure signal alone I give it an 8! Top it off with all the selections, and I have to give it high marks. Come on, if there isn't ONE mode you like, then you're not even playing a delay. For the price I paid, it seems like it should have cost twice as much. I'm just really satisfied!

I hope I can depend on this. The RC-20XL I have is reliable so far. It seems to be built as well as their single stomp boxes.

I quickly got rid of my DL4 because of the reliability factor. I made more than enough to purchase the DD-20 w/ those funds. I kept reading about the DL4's crapping out after six months. Who wants a $250.00 door stop?

Couldn't tell ya.

I play so many different styles. I set this pedal to have the presets like this: 1) subtle delay 2) stronger delay 3) multi-tap/wash 4) reverse. Since I can tap the pattern on any one of those, I essentially have a hundred different options in that one pedal.

I LOVE this thing. I was using two pedals to get only half of these features, and it's 10 times quieter. I'm done searching for delays. Period.