Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

ease of use huh ?? well, i guess its as easy as something this great sounding could possibly be. in my humble opinion - EVEN IF THE BOSS DD-3 WAS 10-TIMES HARDER TO USE THAN IT ACTUALLY IS, IT WOULD STILL BE WELL WORTH THE EFFORT !! i got a used one on ebay, went to the Boss website then downloaded and printed the owners manual (thats very convenient actually). i only had to take a few minutes of looking at the owners manual and the front of the pedal itself with its little "roadmap" of " S - .50ms , M - 200ms and L - 800ms " so, after playing with it a few minutes i pretty much thought i had it all figured out, but then, i saw the little "direct out" 1/4 inch jack and it was like "hmmm, i wonder what that thing does??" ........thats when it got interesting.........

let me first say that i bought this thing because recently i have been seeing some live guitarists with incredible tone and i knew they all were using some type of delay. so, i wanted to expiriment. i went to harmony central (like i alsways do before buying gear) and read alot of info about the delay effects that are available. now, i have an older, MIJ, Boss CE-2 that i love, so i went with the older, MIJ, DD-3 (mine is the very first generation, this was mentioned specifically by some of the previous reviews). so..........

i first set it up like this, 1998 PRS CE24 > Boss DD-3 > Mesa Roadster head > Mesa 4x12 cab W/ V30s and let it rip. WOW !! WOW!! is all i can say. there was a guy who said it best in a prior review, this pedal LOVES you, it loves you, your cable, your pick, your guitar, your amp, your tone, your ears, your fans ears, i can not say enough about this thing ! when i get the Roadster really cooking all by itself, guitar stright-in, on the heavy rectifier crunch of channel 4 its an incredible thing, but when i add just a slight amount of the DD-3, like maybe 40ms, with the effect level and feedback at about halfway, it is flat-out rediculous. the chunky thickness it adds to the sound is addictive, i could not stop smiling, then i moved up the neck and started to hit single notes and bends, it is truly spectacular. i also have a line 6 pod XT live i use to direct record with my band, i have used the different delay effects on it and honestly i did not know that the right delay could do what the DD-3 does. ..........now for that "direct out" i mentioned, this thing will let you (if you have 2 separate amps) run the guitar into the DD-3, the "output" will be the "effects only" signal (no dry signal) and the "direct out" will be "dry only" guitar signal so i went like this :
1985 les paul standard>
Boss DD-3> "effects-only" signal to the Mesa roadster, channel 4, all gained out>Mesa 4x12
then i sent the other "dry only" signal from the DD-3 through an entire regular live rig amp/effects chain :
Boss NS-2>
Keeley modded MT-2>
Boss CE-2>
EHX small stone nano>
MXR phase 90>
Mesa Express 5:50 head
Avatar 4x12 cab (2 greenbacks, 2 V30s
set up like above the sonic possibilities were endless.

also, the DD-3 has a "hold" feature, so if your set it right and chop a fast "chug-chug" then press down the pedal (and hold it down) the "chug-chug" will continue forever (or until you let your foot up) and you can play like crazy with the reapeating CHUG-CHUG in the background, fun as hell to play with, i just haven't got it incorporated into a live performance yet.
also, my pedal is not noisy at all.

my pedal is 20 years old, so who knows. i think if it was a weak product it would have died by now. i would gig without a backup because it's just a delay, it's not like i can't play if i don't have it. but, if this thing breaks i will find another exact replacement for it ASAP.

once i ordered some of those funny little round rubber grommets for the battery access screw holes that all boss pedals have, boss had those things in stock, they were expensive, so boss expensive but helpful.

i spent alot of time and money to get to this point, there are many facets that make up my whole guitar sound (amps, guitars, effects, experience, technique) i am amazed by the fact that one single product seems to have helped all of the separate things that make my sound. a hundred bucks for a product like this is basically free.
i don't let this thing go to far so i probably won't lose it and please don't steal it.

I'm reviewing this pedal on the grounds I knew exactly what it was capable of before I bought it.

All mentioned before, four simple controls - effect level, Feedback, Delay Time and delay time mode.

A huge reason I wanted to check out one of these is that I want something simple to use live, no messing around - and I think it does that really well.

The 'Hold' function is pretty useless, if it could loop sound a bit longer it would be cool, but I didn't have any plans of using this pedal as a looper anyway.

I use a 50w valve amp, running the delay in the FX loop with a rocktron Tremolo.

I've been looking at delays for months, analogue and digital. I was really close to ordering an EHX Memory Boy but after listening to a heap of sound clips - it's just too dark.
Analogue pedals sound AMAZING when you are playing by yourself, or recording - but they disappear when you are playing live, completely.
I know of a few people who bought Analogue pedals to later sell them a buy a digital pedal for live use.

Now the sound of the DD-3 is very simple and clean, it really does just what it should - create repeats of varying time and feedback, without introducing ANYTHING.

I play mainly classic rock and blues, so I wanted a no-frills delay to do classic delays - slapback short and medium length delays - and it's perfect.
The clean repeats will also be heard live easily.

One thing I was worried about was the bypass, some Boss pedals kill your signal when bypassed - but this pedal is quite transparent, it sounds fine in the FX loop.

I'm going to give this a 9 too, if you know what you want and what this pedal does - its great.
If you want thick muddy analogue echos - you're going to hate it.

Don't get me wrong, I want a good analogue echo - but for live use, this pedals sound and simplicity can't be beat.

Bought 2nd hand and its working fine.

As I said I play Classic Rock and Blues mainly, we do throw some psychedelic sorta parts in there too for contrast.

I play a G&L Legacy, A Modded Squier, through a modded Vox V847 - EHX Double Muff - then Rocktron Tremolo and DD3 in the FX loop of my 50w Ashton valve amp.

All I wanted was a pedal to create simple delays, I want Slapback, medium and longish echos for Pink Floyd kinda lead.
I don't need looping, over 1 second delay, reverse, modulation etc etc.
This pedal is great because it has no gimmicks, it just creates nice clean delays.

I'm thinking I might throw a switchable Low Pass Filter on the feedback so I can darken the repeats.
I kinda wish the Hold function was in some way useful, even then I don't think I'd use it.

In Conclusion -

Buy this delay if you want something which will cut through in a band situation, is cheap, is really versatile in classic style delays, and is simple to use.

Dont buy this delay if you actually want something that sounds different than the signal you're putting in it. It will NOT sound like a vintage delay, EVER.
Don't buy it if you want it to be able to do 100 different types of delays and other crap. It only does simple delays.

compared to rebote/mimic man analog delay which i already had, this is perfect! copies the reproduced sound exactly it was played, unlike analog delay, which the sound decays fast, this one lingers like a nostalgic memory, also it is warm enough to be mistaken as analog.

I was skeptic before purchasing one but I was wrong.

This unit is very easy to use. 4 knobs, volume of delay unit, feedback
and last 2 knobs for the lenght of repeats.

Sound quality on this is amazing. Pristine quality, this is digital, but
its so warm. This unit loves you and your guitars signal. It can make you cry, thats how it sounds.

never had problems with boss units. totally dependable, would use without backup in any gig.

Out of all my equipment, guitars, amps, effect units, cables..
this is the first unit, I knew from the beginning, I will never give up.
Its important to have that little edge, little something added to your guitar sound that doesnt leave it dry, especially, when you play
pop/rock music, coldplay, etc.

Very easy to use

Everything said here positive is true. straight out of the box I started having orgasms. For now this thing is just sweet for me, it sometimes makes me cry, It loves you that much, you and your guitar
this is just warm.. digital, but warm

just bought it

just plain simple digital delay, nothing more nothing less..
but it does it nicely.

the features are already described in the past reviews. this was my first delay and as a newbie i didn't had any problems getting out the sounds i was looking for, it's pretty simple to use.

it's a digital delay, not analog... but still it doesn't sounds that cold or something. i use it with a gretsch 6120-59, a marshall super lead + the boss od-3 (as a booster) and this setup is not noisy. also, didn't notice any significant colouring of the sound.

for now this is my only delay. might get a re-20 in the near future, but not for replacing this unit. i use it at gigs, no backup. it's a boss, it's solid as a rock.

never had any kind of problems with boss pedals... so i have no idea about that.

i use it for slapback or for fattening up chorus's of some songs and it does the job really good. i have it for years now, i would miss it if it was stolen, i'd probably get another one. the other boss dd delays doesn't really interest me as i don't need longer delay times or other options that those are offering. i like the simplicity of it.

Simple enough to play with and figure out in a short time.

The DD-3 definitely sounds better than most other contempoary Boss digital delay models. It definitely sounds many times better than the DD-6 I have which sounds far too cold and digital for me.

The DD-3 has a lot more warmth than most digital delay pedals I've owned or tried at stores. Now, it isn't as warm as the vintage older analog delays or expensive boutique models that can be bought, but for around $110.00 it is unlikely you will find a better sounding pedal.

This pedal is QUIET, too !!! There is no line noise, no pop or click when it is engaged, no volume increase or decrease, just a wonderful pedal in this respect.

I wish I would have found this DD-3 before I bought the DD-6, I could have saved $120.00 !!!

For a digital delay pedal, this DD-3 sounds REAL good, and has a surprising amount of warmth to it, not much of that digital coldness that most other digital's have.

I play a 1977 Les Paul Custom thru a Fender Bandmaster or my Fender Twin. The DD-3 sits at the very end of the line in a pedals board with 9 analog pedals ahead of it. This pedal does not change the tone I have grown to love from my Fenders, either.

Boss has a hit with this one, I don't know why they need to make other delay pedals. They really didn't improve on the DD-3 with subsequent models.

No Opinion.

N/A

This is a pretty decent digital delay pedal, and I am NOT a big fan of digital pedals, or Boss pedals for that matter either. Every other pedal I have is either old world Ross pedals or boutique analog pedals. I started with all Boss pedals because of reviews I read on this site and hated every one of them. Digital just isn't the sound I am looking for. That is what surprised me the most about this DD-3. It DOES sound as good as everyone here has stated. I wish Boss made their other pedals as good as this one.

Buy one, you probably won't be sorry. They are good sounding pedals !!!!

For all of you that never had a delay pedal, and are thinking about getting one, they are easy as pie. you have 3 basic knobs on most of them, delay time(range), feedback(repeats), level(delay output) with adition on the mode knob on the DD series, that alows you to choose the differen ranges of delay available to make things easy. just play around two minutes with this one and thats it, every single setting on this box is good for a different purpose, everything its on your fingertips.

i always found it stupid buying a DD-3 instead of a DD-6 and now the DD-7, cause of the price difference and features, now that im more experienced i think that the DD-3 its maybe all you need, depending on the style you play of course, dont spend money in something you dont need. also the quality of sound is not the same with more components in most of the cases.

ok i have a dd-3 that has a blue sticker on the bottom that says MADE IN JAPAN that is really old... dont know about the new ones, but this pedal is awsome!!! alot of components are analog in my box. sounds WAY BETTER than any digital delay found on multi effects, sounds metallic but not ear piercing on slap backs like other digital delays (digitech digidelay). i wasnt a fan of delay until i got this one, i cant stop playing it now!!! i traded it for a ts-9 reissue (i just got a maxon od-9, needed to get rid of the ibanez) i glad i made that move. sounds perfect for what it is, no strange noises or nothing, just good quality delay. i cant explain it, lo-fi but pristine maybe?

im sure is more than 20 years old, no problems at all so far, as i said, no hiss or nothing like that, and previuos owner didnt had problems either, the pedal never got repaired, the only thing is that the knobs are a little bit loose now, no big deal HAHAHA

the best customer support is the one you dont need to contact, all i needed on the past from BOSS i found it on their web site. i think they are great. i work on a call center as customer service and tech support for a dsl and telecomunications company, i know how things work... i dont expect alot, like having my cloth washed and dinner cooked by BOSS. now days this pedal is kind of cheap, if you think about it, you get more than what you pay on customer support thats a 10!!

im not a veteran, i've only been playing for 9 years, i have alot of pedals on my studio, but only 7 on my pedalboard, i dont think i'll remove this one in a while, sounds great!!!

this pedal is extremely easy to use. 4 knobs, all pretty simple.. if you don't understand how to use it, just use your ears. i bought it used so i don't have the original manual, figured it out no problem

I am using a new orleans custom guitar, fender fm 100h amp, boss me-50, carl's custom tonebender/fuzzface, dunlop vintage crybaby, and this pedal. the pedal is very quiet, no white noise or anything, it seems to work well with my other pedals. i'm trying to phase out my me-50 and use just single effects boxes and i chose this for my delay. it does everything i need it to at the moment. i mainly use the delay for solos. it can achieve pink floyd type sounds, but i only really use it for soloing really. it sounds good, not as good as the carbon copy, but i got this for half the price and money's tight right now

this pedal is build pretty solid. i got it used and you can tell it got smacked around a bit, but it's still in overall good working condition. i assume years from now it'll still work just fine even with regular gigging. however, i don't know how well i'd depend on it if i used batteries. when i first bought the pedal, i didn't have an adapter and this thing uses up batteries in a matter of hours. to keep the battery life lasting longer, you should unplug the input cable when it's not being used as with most all pedals like this. i put brand new batteries in it when i got it and left everything plugged in (the pedal was bypassed) and left it like that all night, and the next morning the batteries were dead. i made a mental note not to leave the input cable in again, but a couple of days later the same thing happened.. so.. i invested in a 9v adapter for it, you should too if you expect to do any gigs with it, i wouldn't trust using it live with just batteries.

never needed to deal with them

this pedal is definitely about as good as it gets for the buck.. i wish the battery thing wasn't so bad, but other than that, it sounds good, pretty versatile.. get's the job done. if it were lost or stolen, i don't know that i'd run out to replace it, i'd probably save up and get a nicer analog pedal like the carbon copy or the deeelay (mcats?) pedal.

DD3. Easy, intuitive and efficient. Instant gratification

I love this pedal, specifically because it doesn't contain the fidelity of more modern delay units. It samples @ 8 Bits, which is why it sounds the way it does. Also it contains a unique QUANTIZING component that rounds off delay time to a small ratio in relation to input material.



I give it a 9, because if it was pristine, it would have no character and suck.

After a nuclear war only three things will be left on the face of the planet:

1. Cockroaches,
2. Keith Richards
3. The Boss DD3.

LOL!

You'll never need it. EVER.

Unique application: 2xDD3's in series:

Not even EVENTIDE, Lexicon, TC can even approximate the amazing configuration of two Boss DD3's in SERIES, in mono.

In this configuration, setting the first delay shorter and the second longer (2-3 ratio and effect level slightly louder), the DD3
performs a remarkable SELF OSCILLATION, slightly quantizing the summed output to a profoundly beautiful and unique and dynamic poly-rhythmic tapping that to this day, no other device on god's green earth can replicate... Seriously, no one has ever managed to come even close to this effect, and for that alone, it's worth every cent.


I challenge any company to attempt replication of this application.

Very easy to use, it's simple, my favourie delay. Mine is an original blue label 1980s MIJ (made in Japan) version.

Amazing, the MIJ is noticably much much better sounding than a normal DD3, it's basically more analogue sounding, and a lot warmer, you can get much nicer sounds with the feedback controll, best delay I've ever owned, even over a WEM copycat tape delay from the early 70s. The MIJ version is the one you should be going for though, it's much nicer. I'd give it 12 if that were possible!

It's never let me down, the only slight thing wrong with it, is the circuit has to kind of 'warm up' so it takes about 10 seconds to first come on, but after that it works flawlessly. The MIJ versions were even better made than any new one, and they are bigger, and more rugged around the edges, even the screw and rim has a much better design, and is made form better quality rubber, it's basically indestructable!

I've never delt with the company, but these MIJ version, don't need it, you won't find a better delay than this one!

I paid more than a new one would cost, and I used to own a new one, and the MIJ version really is so much better, mainly in the way it sounds, it's apparently completley different internally, but this pedal is the pedal I was searching for many a year to find. I got mine off ebay, from Canada, one of the finest purchases I've ever bought! It's just so warm, so full, and unlike the normal DD3, the delay fades in tone with each echo, like an analogue one, yet it's still clear and defined.

It's not a difficult effects box to figure out and you can get some great sounds out of this with minimal effort.

Sounds good (warm) with the extended delay times to tinny with the shorter times. Overall great sound, although I'm no David Gilmore at least I can pretend with this one. Also great for shoe-gazer type rhythms (my bloody valentine & slowdive type stuff) that what I used it used it for until it broke.

It broke when I stomped it during a live performance. Started making terrible cracking and popping noises. Really upset at this because of the high price I paid for this and the fact that I only had it for about a year or so. I don't get all this talk about boss boxes being indestructible; I've had two and they both inexplicably broke.

I don't know, I guess I could have called them when it broke but I hate talking on the phone.

sounded good for the short period of time it functioned properly but it is a really expensive paper weight now.

Bought 2nd hand, worked it out pretty quickly.

This pedal is just excellent.
I've used it for vocals, bass and guitar, sucks the batteries, but with the powerpack, never stops bringing the love.

I have had it for I guess 9 years and how old it was before I got it, no idea.
I have thrashed this thing. It's been gigged heaps, recorded in studios for vocals and bass, never had a box, just kept in a bag with leads and other pedals.
The jacks have never even crackled.

Asked the company for a manual via the net and they emailed me it the next day. Only got the manual because I had a needed a manual for my ME-50 which was all in Japanese and thought 2 birds with one stone.

This pedal is just the best.
If you don't have one, you're missing out.
Delay decay on this is one of the underrated and most important features on these pedals.
If I have to replace it, it'll be because it was stolen. It will probably outlive me.
Hopefully not, in hindsight...

It takes a while to get the time right for the song.

There is no sound like boss delay it is very metalic and tingy. I have a Line 6 DL-4 which I love but there are times that pull this pedal out to get certain sounds I just can't get with the DL-4.

BOSS

I have 4 delay pedals this one the DL-4, a Boss PS-3 and an old DOD delay(not certain if it is analog or digital). I might not replace it only because I have the PS-3 which gives the same metallic delay, if not for that I would replace it if it were broken or stolen. It is a great pedal but it will not give you any kind of analog or tape warmth it is very digital.

It's relatively easy to use. All the knobs do exactly what they say they do.

This is where I might get a bit nasty. I'm going to subject my overall opionion on (specifically) Korean made boss pedals.
Bottom line is, they are generic sounding comsumer grade pedals meant to satisfy the 'common' consumer. They are good enough, that's it. I have owned this pedal for 3 years and I'm finally ready to get something that will actually make me say 'wow, that sounds REALLY good!' First let me say I own a boss cs-2 compressor (Japanese) and I LOVE it and will play it until one of us dies. I also own a boss ge7 equalizer and it does what it is supposed to do but then again, there is no sound quality involved, only functional value. I recently tried a TC electroncs vintage delay and it made the dd-3 look and sound like a TOY. This is generic delay, period. If gereric, lifeless sound is what your looking for, this will satisfy your pedal board. The first delay I ever owned was a dod dfx-9 and even THAT sounded better to me than this thing. It had more character and a more clear distinct delay sound. I have never been happy with this delay and since delay is my favorite effect, I have to say like many other boss pedals I've owned, this is a big disappointment.

I have to give them credit for this, I've never had a boss pedal break or malfunction on me.

Never had to deal with them, which is a good thing.

I may be a bit of an audiophile snob, probably because I have worked in high end audio stores and I prefer to buy the best once than cycle through several models of the same effect to get what I'm looking for. I'd rather research the best delay for example and pay more than settle for 'boss'. Boss to guitar equipment for me is equivalent to Bose or Denon for a home theatre system. Why would I settle for that if I could put my mind to it and get a Marantz, or better yet a Bryston. If your happy with your dd-3 (and other boss pedals for that matter) take this with a grain of salt and don't attempt to try a REAl delay like a tc electronics. If you own a boss phaser, don't try an EH polyphaser and I could go on for any pedal boss has made in the last 15 years. With everyone loving boss so much, its no wonder that 99.999% of guitarists are always looking for that "Magic" tone but never finding it. To do that you have research and spend a bit extra, not settle for this consumer garbage.

This is extremely easy to use. If you cannot get good sounds out of this, please just put all your guitars away and go back to acoustic.

This can achieve any kind of good quality digital delay, from short repeats to long sounds. It does not colour your signal at all.

Boss!!

N/a

Really good pedal. One of the best for what it does. Very usable (unless you do not like delay)

Very easy to use, manual was written clearly.

My set up is US Strat>BOSS NS2>Cry Baby Wah>DODFX84>MXR phase90>BOSS Ac3>BOSS DS1>BOSS DD3>Marshall 100W 1959 Super Lead head>Marshall 1960A cab. I found the delay quality to be excellent, everything I play is accurately repeated. Great for getting that U2 delay sound. The Hold feature may be useful to som ebut i dont use it.

Its a BOSS pedal ,no more to say!

Never needed to deal with them

Overall this is great pedal for me. I am the only guitarist in my band, we play funk/fusion and I need to cover a lot of ground sonically an this spedal helps me achieve some extra umph when playing lead parts.This pedal really fills out the sound especiallyas we have no second guitarist to play rhthym under the lead parts. If lost I would replace imediately!

maybe 5 minutes and you know whats going on here.
and another 5 to have a practicable setting to use.

Mh, its Ok, its just a digital delay wich exactly repeats the tones you play! without adding there some " warmth " or " noize " or whatever !! Nothing !! Steril repeatings !! But that is what I want !
You know, I play very " warm " sounding equipment, wich has MY Sound
imaginations, perfectly. So I dont need a delay to manipulate my tone, I need it only to repeat my sound as it is, pure !!
Not more not less !
For that its great. I have a " allround setting " at 600 - 700 msc.
and the volumen is set from 11 - 12 oclock !! Notice ; The Delay must be a part of your main sound but not BE youre main sound !!
So, too much delay kills youre tone ( set it at low Volumen ).
I play a Fender std. Strat and a Thinline Tele, a Prs Single Cut and a Music Man Petrucci ( Piezos ) as my new "Baby". These Guitars go to a Korg Dt 10 Tuner and direct in the Input of my Mesa Lonestar or Engl Souvereign 1x12er Combos.
In the effect loops, comes the DD 3, a Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, a Maxon Ts9 ( boost ) and a Cry Baby GCB 95 F. Thats it !! Oh, yes, dont forget the Footswitches for Amp chanels.
With this Rig I play anything from 30`Jazz, 40?? Blues, 50` Rock and Roll, 60?? Rootsrock, 70??Psychedelic, 80`Metal, 90`Grunge or 2000 New Metal....And guess what.... I do play all of it !
Live or in the Studio, the DD 3 works fine for me!
So I think 9 points are enough.

A Good one, Its fixed on my Pedal Board since 3 years and I never had any problems. Locks well build, Feels well build. So maybe it is well build ?!

Never need them....no Points for the unknown

Mh, in my ears, a delay is a " must have ". First comes a great Guitar, second a great Amp and at 3th, a good delay. But the biggest part of making music is youre soul and youre fingers, without that, the biggest Equipment let you sound S*** and nothing can change that, FACT !!!
What can I say ? If you need a " simple " delay and not a tone manipulating - so called " analogue delay " - then Test one of the Boss DD 3`s.
I test it against the DD 5, 6 ( both bad ), the digidelay ( nice toy for only playing home ). Maxon and Ibanez AD 9, AD 900, AD 999 ( good ones but not for my needs ), T REX Replica the same as good ( or better ) as the DD3 but to over priced...And the biggest jokes from Danelectro.
But thats me ! So test your own likings !
Me ? 38 years old, since 16 years Pro ( means I earn enough money to live from music. ), 120 gigs a year, every month working in the Studio, in free times I teache pupils to play....Blabla....

For a delay pedal this is fairly easy: once youve selected the speed range and the effect volume, its just delay time and resonance: if you know what you're after then this is a pretty easy way of getting to it. Delays are a more difficult animal than most effects but this one should be pretty easy to use.

OK, some people are obviously buying this pedal thinking it'll get them that lovely warm tone theyve heard in all those 70s recordings (25 years before digital technology was fast enough to repeat a high quality sound byte within 20 milliseconds) and think that this will do it for them. Theyre thinking of analogue delay pedals (which, in my opinion is a very different effect from digital delay: just coz they both say 'delay' doesnt mean they should be compared).

What this pedal does, what all digital delays do, is repeat exactly what you played at precise intervals whilst degrading at a set gradient. The Boss DD3 is the DADDY of repeating EXACTLY what you played at EXACT time intervals. It doesnt lie and it doesnt cover mistakes and has very different applications from analogue delay pedals, if youre gonna pay #100 for a pedal then you should look into what it does.


My rig goes:
USA Fender Fat Strat/ MIJ Fender Jazzmaster - EHX Big muff-Fulltone fulldrive2-EHX Small clone-EHX Small Stone-EHX Pulsar Tremolo-Boss DM-2 analogue Delay-Boss DD3 Digital Delay-Korg DT10 Tuner-A/B Box with A into a fender hot rod deluxe (clean) and B into a Marshall JCM800 2x12 combo (dirty).

The DD-3 and the DM-2 give me massive variety in delays, where one fails the other can support and both together make the craziest noises ever.The quality of the output has been said to be sterile etc but its just doing what its supposed to, I guess if the 'attack' was lowered it'd sound less mechanical, but for me it does exactly what it says on the tin.If youre rig sounds rubbish this pedal will make it sound worse.

Boss are solid, ive got or had a few of them, and though the japanese ones feel more sturdy (like my DM-2 and ive also got an OC-2) the taiwanese ones are much better built than other similar units. This DD-3 is tiawanese (I think there are only a few japanese DD-3s, but the DD2 was made there and its pretty much the same). Ive gigged and will continue to gig without a backup. IM not rich enough to get another one and i dont think i care enough: if it craps out mid gig ill pull it out and use the dm-2 to compensate and vice versa.

never dealt with them

I like it. Others may not. Im into indie, grunge rock and some other stuff and I really like the smashing pumpkins, sonic youth, nirvana, trail of dead, radiohead, manic street preachers, jeff buckley, PJ harvey, Bloc Party etc etc. this pedal is indespensable: if lost id probably gewt a DD-6 for the tap tempo but I really do like this pedal: boss excel in making stright to the point pedals that do what they are told, thats why the pitch shifters and delays are great but the distortions and modulation pedals suck a bit. If you buy it dont think itll make you sound like gilmour in a second, youve just got to learn to use it. After overdrive this is the most used pedal on my board. Worth it, every penny.

the four controls are pretty self explanitory. this pedal comes with a well thought out manual so you shouldn't have any trouble getting the best out of it.

spot on sound wise. another good one from boss. the signal sounds a little metallic the lower you set the repeat rate but who buys a delay pedal and sets it so you can hear little or no delay. a few people have moaned about the sound of the pedal. these are the people who don't realise that with every new pedal you add to your chain you have to tweak your amp and guitar controls a little. nothing just fits straight in

well its made by boss, you could turn it on and off with a tank

never had to deal with boss as i've never had a problem with there gear.

well worth the money, even at brand new prices this is a total bargain

Only 4 knobs, comes with a manual with how to get a good delay sound. Just step on it to turn it on, step on it again to turn it off. It's not brain surgery.

I cannot really compare the delay sound to any other but the DD-6. To my ears, the delay is very good. It does what it is suppose to do, repeat every note the way it was played. However, I did not buy it for the delay. The only thing I wanted this pedal for was the HOLD feature. The sound I wanted to achieve was the kind of effect Eric Johnson uses on the beginning of "Soulful Terrain". I will say that this pedal does it PERFECTLY and I have no complaints as far as that function is concerned. The ONLY problem I have with this pedal is that you have to keep your foot on the pedal as long as you want the HOLD to last, which if you are on stage can tie you up when you want to change channels/pedals.

I have 2 other Boss pedals, a Blues Driver and Flanger, and both are indestructable.

It is a very cheap delay, considering the prices of most boutique analog, rack mount, and echoplex type delays. You may find a better deal with the Danelectro Reel Echo, Ibanez Tone Lok, or something along those lines, but they do not feature the Hold function. I love how this pedal can make someone sound like a one man band, and is also fantastic for practicing. I know it will make me a better player and sound better and that is what it's all about. Probably the coolest thing about it is how you can hit say, an Am chord, and explore all over the entire neck and find complementary scales and notes that you can use over the key of Am. Overall, a great pedal and a great price.

Ok, this baby is easy to use if you can read the lettering on the dials etc... Simple on off thing as well!

NO! Not good here. My main problem is that I play vintage music, so whatever famous sound I dialed in, it wasn't right. To start of with, Apache by the shads... each repeat was too clean and twangy when compared to the original input sound... I need warmth. Next up would have to be some Gilmour tones from through the ages, but first a little bit of Syd Barrett in there. Syd and Gilmours main delay for years was the Binson echorec, either set to wicked slapback (which tis pedal can just about do!) Or big long swells made of repeats all cascading around. Sadly this pedal cannot deliver. Gilmour used an echrec to flesh out solos (Think Cymbaline from the KQED bootleg DVD). Sadly the clean-ness of the repeats buggers this right up.

Ok it might be good for U2 fans or Radiohead, but I am unimpressed with this gadget. I own a Marshall Echohead which gets slated as a bad unreliable pedal. It might well be! Mine hasn't done a nasty on me yet, and it seems bombproof and much more interesting. This delay pedal is for shred guys afraid of putting emotion in their music.

Damn, this is 5/10 more because people THINK that Boss pedals are bombproof... they go wrong like everything else.

Didn't buy it.

Its on ok pedal for delay in the simplest sense of the word.

One last gripe! When you turn the time knob while its repeating the repeats speed up and change pitch, now this is common for all delay pedals and is cool. But speed up the Boss and yes the pitch changes, but bring it back to original tempo and the signal is depleated rather badly. Shame that this isn't an analogue pedal or anything.

It doesn't get much easier than this - very user friendly. There's nothing worse for me than to have some sort of digital screen that you have to scroll through to get different sounds - this one is as simple as it gets - four knobs that easily adjust everything you need to be able to adjust.

I find the sound quality to be excellent. I use this pedal as part of my acoustic and electric set-ups and it responds excellent to both. The sound for this model is excellent.

Seeing as it was made over 10 years ago, and I've owned it for about half of that - with no problems - I'd say that it's fairly reliable! I do not use a backup for this pedal (granted my night wouldn't be ruined without a delay pedal).

Never had the pleasure to deal with BOSS customer support.

Overall, an all around excellent pedal. If this one ever dies, I'll be on the hunt for another. I've been saying that for over four years now and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Bought it used with an included power supply. It's the older Japanese model. Quite easy to use. Set the deleay time, feedback, level and play.

I use this sparingly to reinforce my reverb and add a bit of echo. The repeats do sound a bit sterile. I modified mine with a tone control on the effect sound/feedbacks. Using this new control to get rid of some treble on the delay repeats helps this unit a lot. With the mod it sounds almost as good as a nice long analog delay (without the pricetag) and gives me a new option to tweak my sound. It's not particularly noisy but it isn't true bypass so it dulls the sound when used with more than a couple of effects in the chain. I use an enhancer at the end to clean up the mud on a long chain.

Very reliable. Never had a problem. I fix a lot of pedals and the only broken Boss ones are either abused beyond belief or are broken as a result of botched modifications. If you don't know what you are doing, please don't waste your time by opening up your effects.

I fix and modify my own stuff so I rarely deal with Boss support. Ordering parts from them is another story. Boss can be very difficult at times to get parts, especially for discontinued/older pedals.

Good quality delay for the money. Easy controls and above average tone (excellent tone with the feedback-tone mod). Boss has been making these forever even though they have made newer models. I would definately replace it if it was lost or stolen.

perfect setup - nice arrangement with the delay time ranges.

Unbeatable for its price range ($99) - any other delay at this price would not sound as good. If you are more advanced though - this will leave you wanting more . . . more something. You get what you pay for, this is ok for the bedroom but i want something amazing. Good sound but not amazing.

Looks fairly sturdy but i trust my digitech pedals much more - i wouldn't trust it traveling - kind of sounds like tin if you tap it. A little cheap if you ask me - i would probably buy something better sounding if i had a gig booked . . .

i play rock - i want a huge saturated stereo-chorus sound and this doesn't do it - this is too trasparent - i think i will exchange it for something else.

Takes a little experimentation to learn how to dial in. Very easy once you've got used to it. It's nice being able to snap to different ranges of delay time. Feedback knob is brilliant. You can go for infinate, noisey feedback by cranking it on full. Or be really carefull nd get it to just the point where it doesn't overload....and be in bliss.
Hold function is nice....but SHOULD BE A LOT LONGER!!!! then agin, its hold, not loop.

Ok.
I have a new taiwan made version.

It's stupidly noisy! even at the first rep. Set the volume on full, delay time long, and feedback to wherever and listen out for the first rep. You can instantly notice a hiss.
Crank the feedback on full and you can hear this noise build up. Now i paid for a digital pedal. So no noise please. If i wanted noise I would have bought an analogue pedal. But even then....the noise would sound awesome.

The processed sound is weak and lacks charecter..

because of its sound quality, I use it AS my backup.
But, Boss' sturdy, tank like designes have never failed me...the same cannot be said for other boss users.

Only for novice ears... or students.

It's worth looking into getting an older one...one which is made in Japan I believe. They appear to sound fantastic....and have no noise!

Get a second hand DD-6, or an old japanese made DD-3... don't buy a new one...

ive had this pedal for a while now and ive found it real easy to use. its really simple and just takes a little bit of time to get used to it when you first use it. there is so much you can do with this pedal and so many different sounds you can make. the more you play around with it the more you find out about it.

i use a fender strat with it and you can create some awsome psychadelic sounds with it alone. it ranges from some really creepy spacy sounds to buitifal magical sounds. its real awsome if you love that kind of stuff. its also great for sweetening up solos.

when using try hitting some notes with your finger and turning the rate dial at the same time, depending witch way you can make cool doiyng type noises or diehw type noises.

the sound is perfect. there is nothing special to it every note simply sounds how the played note was repeated. it is great for using other effects with. to me it can sound very white and dark blue, or it can sound very clear and watery/dreamy, or blue or purple with some sweet fuzz or something. great sound.

you can deffinetly depend on this pedal. it is extremely tough. ive kicked mine around a bit and its better than ever. it even lookes better to me the more i use it. the only thing is the black rubber thing has ripped a bit on the back were you screw the pedal in. but it doesnt effect it, it just means i gotta keep it screwed all the way in. but this is nothing to worry about.

you wouldnt need a back up at all. just maybe a spare battery.

i tried to get it repaired just after i bought it but i found out it was the adapter i was using.

its fine, i havent had any problems with it and the support was good.

this is a perfect match for my type of music. our band plays original music, and by that i mean original, not ripping off someone elses style but creating our own. its the way everyone who is serious about music and what its all about should play. i love this pedal for our band because it is just so needed. youl have to listen to find out.

been playing 7 years.
yeah id buy it again.
havent compared, dont need to.
the only thing i wish it had was a reverse option, but ill sus out something else for that.
it only helps, unless i over use it or abuse it.
my band is called luph, we are from adelaide and we are on: http://www.myspace.com

Dirt simple. Could have been even simpler if they didn't have the extra knob to select the range of delay time, but what this does do is allow you to have much finer control over the delay time than if you had one knob that covered the full sweep from 50ms all the way to 800ms. I haven't gotten the hang of the HOLD feature yet, but I really didn't purchase this pedal for fancy tricks, just a simply delay to fatten up the sound.

OK, I've been on a search for the Holy Grail of delay/echo pedals for about a year now. I was previously using a Line 6 DL4, which is a digital delay pedal that emulates different classic digital, tape, and analog delay effects. The DL4 has some geat sounds, but after a while I found I really didn't want or need a dozen different delay models. What I wanted was ONE good delay sound that was pleasing to the ears and didn't mess with my tone too much. I also wanted something with a much smaller footprint that would allow more room on my pedal board. In my quest I tried many analog and digital delays including the T-Rex Replica, Maxon AD-999 abalog delay, and Line 6 Echo Park. Well, I finally sucked it up and decided to try the common, garden variety Boss DD-3. The verdict: this is the perfect delay for my needs. My search for a delay is now over! I found that many of the (much more expensive) boutique delay pedals have special effects and tricks that I don't want. The Boss DD-3 is just a basic, simple delay that to my ears does not sound cold and sterile like most of us assume a digital delay will sound. If you check out the Analogman.com website, there is an explanation of the technology in the DD-3 and why it sounds "better" than many other modern digital delays. Apparently, the DD-3 uses the same compresser/expander circuit that Boss used in their previous analog delay pedals, which re-samples each repeat and accounts for the fact that it is "warmer" sounding than most other modern digital delays (including the DD-5 and DD-6) which just spit out exact carbon copies of the original bit-stream signal. Do I completely understand this technical talk? No. But what I do understand is that this pedal does not sound cold, shrill, or sterile to my ears. Sure, it doesn't have the warm, fuzzy repeats of a true analog delay, but after much experimentation I've decided that I really didn't want that kind of sound, anyway. Just a few soft repeats to add some spaciousness to my dry signal. For this the Boss DD-3 suits my needs perfectly. I also used to be obsessed with having all of my effects be true bypass, but what I've come to realize is that when I'm after a pure guitar sound I tend to just plu straight into the amp, anyway. So true bypass, buffered output, it doesn't matter to me anymore, just as long as the pedal sounds good. And the Boss DD-3 sounds good!

Have never heard of one breaking.

I currently play several guitars depending on my mood or the specific sounds I'm after: PRS Custom 24, Gibson Custom Shop '58 Les Paul, Fender Custom Shop '60 Strat, and Ibanez Prestige RG2550 (for playing Vai/Satriani type stuff). Amps are all low wattage, vintage style, single-channel, non-master volume types. When I use my pedal board I generally keep them turned low for a cleaner sound. My effects chain is GUITAR > Fulltone Clyde Wah > Fulltone mini-Deja Vibe > Fulltone Fulldrive II > Boss/Keeley DS-1 Ultra Distortion > Boss DD-3 > AMP. Effects are all powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and cabling is George L's. Considering this is the cheapest delay/echo pedal of all the ones I tried, and in my opinion has the best tone with no extraneous features that I don't need, I consider it a fantastic value. If you want an analog sound, get a Maxon. If you want a tape sound, get a Fulltone TTE. If you just want a simple, clean sounding delay and don't need special effects or more than one second of delay time, this is the best route to go and will save you $$ for that next toy you just gotta have. After years of shunning Boss because they weren't a small boutique manufacturer, I've recently come back to them. Some of their pedals need some work to sound their best (the DS-1 is greatly improved with mods from Robert Keeley or Analogman). However, the DD-3 is a real winner right out of the box. My next purchase will be a Boss OD-3 overdrive. Very warm and natural sounding, with enough volume boost to push a slightly dirty Tweed Deluxe into SRV territory!

Easy 4 knob pedal to use, sounds good right out of the box! Little bit of tweaking will get you the sound and speed you want.

This pedal sounds very good to me and the amp I had before had on-board delay and this delay sounds so much better to have a separate pedal going through my Tele and Deville 212. This pedal is very spacy and atmospheric sounding, you can get all kinds of weird sounds from it and experiment with already existing songs you have. The thing about this pedal is that it doesn't take away from the tone of your amp or guitar, it sounds like it should on or off.

It's like any other pedal really as far as being sturdy. It also sucks up battery life so buy an adaptor for it because the sounds do change when the battery is low...

i dunno

I am very happy I bought this pedal over all. I was looking at buying an echo park but heard it was noisy and the boss dd-6 was too much and sounded the same to me anyway. I like playing this thing more than my Distortion pedals! Delay is very fun and this pedal was very simple to use to allow me to enjoy my first Delay pedal. I play alternative indie rock and this pedal would be made for anyone into whatever really, so go get a boss Duh Duh Duh, Delay! Today! (OK that was stupid) I also love the color of this pedal as well somthing about "white" going with what this pedal does...I'd buy another pedal like this one if I lost it, yes sir

Very easy to use.

Only a small noticable change in quality and tone, although this is only 16 bit I believe.
Also it only trails behind the dry louder notes anyway.

Are you joking, its buggered.
You have to turn the volume of the delay full to get just half the volume of the dry sound.
When the volume knob is at half you can't hardly hear any delay.
Boss are absolutly useless in customer support if your pedal is out of the 3 year warranty.
If its under guarantee Boss throw your fautly one away and just send you a new one.
BUT if it not in warrantee they charge #78 AN HOUR to repair it, and thats if after who knows how many hours they find it CAN be repaired.

So as the pedal only costs a bit more to buy, they expect you to just throw it away and buy another one.

Thanks Boss.

I and tired of seeing "Its a boss what can I say" in this section, Boss pedals DO go wrong and I have seen plenty of Boss pedals on ebay which need repairing.

USELESS VOMIT.

Boufgt in 1990, never been gigged, now broken, hardly used because I bought several multi effects machines soon after I bought it.
I have never been happy with the delay length, I need about 1.5 seconds and at the time NO pedal did that.
There are now better pedals than the Boss which do not cut off the delay when you switch it off, like the boss.

Three sweep rotary knobs and one incremental mode knob. All clearly labelled and unambiguous in what they do. And, of course, that great slab of a Boss footswitch plate. This unit is delay made easy.

As it is mounted on my pedalboard it is powered from a mains converter, so failing batteries are not a consideration. HOWEVER when I first acquired it I did notice how willingly it ate PP3 9 volt cells. There is no way I would use this pedal without mains power.

I generally use the DD-3 to colour clean blues solos, so it is used in a fairly subtle way. But when the mood takes me I like nothing better than to crank up the delay and feedback and have a bash at some John Martyn Inside Out-type stuff. Getting the sound? no problem. Hitting the right notes? well that's nothing to do with the DD-3...

The HOLD function I played with at home but would never risk using it in a live situation. Come to think of it, I can't think of any reason why I would need to use the HOLD function in a live situation.

Very transparent sound, with little or no sound colouring as far as I can tell.

The DD-3 is the final processing stage in my pedalboard. Like the other FX units it is powered by a 9 volt 1,000 mA stabilised power supply. Why it took me so long to put a pedalboard together is beyond me! Apart from mains power, secure patch leads, a safe, robust flight case to protect the stompboxes and much reduced setting up/breaking down times, what have the Romans ever done for us?!?

But I digress. Guitars {2x Les Paul, 1x HSS Strat) go into:-

Boss CS-3 >> Morley Power Wah >> Rat II >> Boss DD-3 which then feeds either a Hiwatt Dr103 or a Marshall 30 watt combo, depending on venue size.

When I fitted the DD-3 to my pedalboard I didn't tell the rest of the band. At the first gig when I used used it for the first time on a Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac number, our keyboard player was seen leaning forward over his keys mouthing "what the f*ck was THAT?"

I assume he was taken aback by the fattening and sweetening of a clean out-of-phase Les Paul sound. It really does make a massive difference to clean sounds. I don't tend to use the DD with huge overdrive.

It is a pretty versatile unit, I can easily get a good Shadows approximation to seriously upset our drummer when the Apache lick is thrown into a solo. Mostly I don't want an overly intrusive "daaaang-yaaang" delay. A more subtle, atmospheric quality to simple yet emotive blues lines is all I seek. The DD-3 delivers but I can't always say the same for the guitarist!

Overall I am impressed with the DD-3 and find its quietness and lack of colouring as satisfying as its versatility and ease of use.

This pedal was bought second-hand, albeit only six weeks after it was initially sold. Being a Boss played a big part in my decision to buy second-hand. They are known for being rugged and reliable, and working pretty well. I can't ignore the fact I paid half RRP for it though!

I play regular gigs with a blues band and the odd pick-up rock'n'roll band with some mates.

I find that four FX units (or five if I opt to use my old Electo Harmonix talkbox) are enough to give me plenty of total variety for the blues band. Compression, wah, distortion and delay provide the principal characteristics. Pickup selection and use of guitar volume and tone pots provide the subtleties.

The DD-3 has added an extra dimension to my sound that is both subtle yet noticeable. When I need a bit of slap-back for some good old Rock'n'Roll I am confident it is easy to set up the sound and the DD will deliver. I would have little hesitation in having another DD-3 if my current one were lost or stolen. The chances of it actually failing are pretty remote. And the fightcased pedalboard means that knobs, switches etc. are far, far less vulnerable to damage.

It's a Boss. It does what it says on the tin. Yeah, I'd have another one! Actually I'm quite happy with the one I have...

easy enough to use 4 knobs . i pulled this one out of the drawer after my 4 month old sib mr echo switch went bad.and after not using this pedal for a while i forgot how weak it was......oh did i mention it is dark and weak?

i use about 6 different guitars through a fender hotrod deluxe and vox ad30vt.this is the 2nd dd3 ive owned.the first one back in 1993 wish i still had that one because i really liked the realtime feedback control it had.......now the new taiwan made one is weak, dark,and just all around crappy sound.it is next to useless. the repeats dont have any umph at all.

it is a boss ive never had any realibabilty problems i will give them that.

n/a

i play psycadellic rock and like to add feedback while changing the delay time in real time this pedal is not up to the task.i also use an sib"mr echo" which is much mor bright and musical and smokes the dd3 by a mile.but this pedal needs a new switch which is a common problem with that model...i also have a ds1 distortion which does not sound like the old ones......in short all their taiwan made stuff is junk. boss has declined from a top notch company to making useless crap...i could go on about the me50 multieffects processor but thats another story.i need a good delay for my pedalboard and may get a digitech digdelay as the line6 is noisy.

It is pretty easy to get the sound you might want out of this pedal. I had no problem getting what I wanted and don't even have the manual ! Pink Floyd/Radiohead sounds are super easy to get.

The sound kicks A$$ for what I have as far as gear, which isn't that much. I play through a 2004 American Deluxe Tele to a Fender Twin Reverb, my pedals in order from left to right are DD-3, PS-5, Mt-2, and BD-2 (Keeley mod), what can i say, i like Boss.

Like i said above, very easy to get Radiohead/Pink Floyd sounds, The BD-2 going through the DD-3 sounds great when playing "Comfortably Numb"

With the PS-5 and DD-3 together you can get somw Bad ass RADiohead sounds, spacey,spacey,weird, great stuff.

Boss has always been reliable, extremely, but i never had to call them or anything.

Never had to call

I play just about everything exept death metal. I've been playing guitar for 6 years. With my gear it sounds awesome BUT it is the only delay pedal i have owned but i dont think i'm missing anything by not getting DD-5 or DD-6, IT suits my just fine with the style i have which i pretty broad.

Not too hard to use. I imagine if you need to sync to midi gear your clocks would wander, but thats the beausty of live sound.

I would play this through any set up. It does sound very good, however keep in mind it is a digital pedal. i took this thing apart and looked at and I was like, WOW this is a serious work of circuitry. It may be digital, but it has all the integrity of a botique shop analog pedal. This is made in Japan.

Made in Japan. Rock solid

No need.

Glad to own a pedal like this!!!!!!1

its real easy to get good sounds out of it. takes a little getting used to how to dial in what you want it to do, but that makes sense since delay pedals are a bit more in depth than your standard 3 knob overdrive pedals. the manual is alright. okay, i never read it. i guess that goes to show how easy it is to use this.

my main setup is as follows: Les Paul > Maxon OD808 > Boss DD3 > Blues Junior. it isn't noisy, so thats a huge plus. the effect sounds great. i got this for a few reasons. one being that i'm a lone guitarist and i wanted to make my sound a bit bigger in some songs. i also wanted to add some atmosphere in a few tunes. also, i just think that delay, when used sparingly, is an awesome effect. i picked this unit because its been around for so many years and there are a few bands that i love that use this pedal. also, it was in my price range. i bought it without trying it and its absolutely a keeper.

seeing as though there are about 120ish reviews for this pedal and only 15 people put down scores for customer support and i'm sure that out of the 15, not even half of them contacted the company because of a defective dd3, i think this is very reliable. also, i've had several boss pedals before. boss doesnt always make the best sounding pedals, but they are among the most reliable.

never had to contact them, which is how i like it

I play brit-rock and the like. Influenced by Oasis, The Beatles, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, BRMC, Interpol, and other bands. I've been playing for almost 6 years and have owned a lot of gear for only playing for <6 years. Aside from multi fx units, i've only had one other delay/echo pedal and that was the Danelectro Dan-echo. It sounded great, but i could never get exactly what i wanted out of it. Not knocking it though. I did have it a few years back, I'm sure if i had it now i'd be more capable of finding use for it. If it were lost, i'd definitely by another one. this pedal has given me a lot of inspiration. I was contemplating either this or the Line 6 Delay (whatever its called...) but went with this for a few reasons. One is that its Boss and I know that it wont break on me (unlike EHX pedals). Another being that there are a few bands whose delay sound i wanted to somewhat emulate use this pedal, and it wouldnt have been smart to get any other delay pedal other than the one i'm trying to emulate.

Very easy to use, simple and straight forward. Didn't even look at the manual, there's pretty much no reason to.

The DD-3 is probably THE most popular digital delay floor pedal of all time. It's easy to use and gives you a good range of delay setting to work with. Not noisy, doesn't color the guitar's sound when off. The repeats on the delays have a specific sound to them though. I can tell the DD-3 apart very easily - the repeats have a hint of coldness to them. It's a digital delay after all, but the point is that digital is supposed to copy the note exactly as it comes in and it doesn't. Some people like the sound of it, I don't. It's a matter of taste I guess, but the point is that it definitely has it's own digital/cold sound.

It's a BOSS. Don't need to say much more :)

Never needed it for BOSS.

I play everything from jazz to rock, funk and blues. I play on recording session of all kinds, on my own projects and live. I'm a professional musician in Los Angeles. I've been playing for about 15 years and have owned and played A LOT of effects - I'm very picky about sounds :)

You kind of have to learn how to use it, but once you do its very easy to get a desired sound out of it.

Use this with my Fender stratocaster and a charvel 15 watt amp. It doesnt create any extra noise. The sounds are always great! I can always get the exact sound I am looking for and its beautiful. It repeats sounds perfectly. I also sometimes plug this in through my microphone and it creates a perfect echo of my voice. Perfect for many uses.

It will never break, but the battery will die after about an hour of playing. But that doesnt mean you'll actually get an hour of playing in, since the quality starts to go down after a half hour and you'll have to re-adjust the knobs to get the desired sound again. Basiclly, if you get this you MUST get the boss power adapter. If you do, this pedal is perfect.

This seems like it would be good for any kind of music that uses effects. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it pretty quickly. I love all the sounds that you can get out of it, you can even make it sound like there are 2 guitars. I use it all the time, it adds a noticeable flare to my music.

Not as easy as most boss effects, but it has a lot of versatility. Minor adjustments with any of the three "main" knobs (EV, Fdbk, delay)produce a wide variety of sounds. I generally keep the right-most knob on 800.

Basic setup: Les Paul Studio or Fernandes Retro Rocket Pro -- Vox wah--TS9--TS9/808 mod (analogman)--Mini Bicomp (analogman)--FX Loop--Dunlop Univibe--Boss Phaser--DD-3--to Fender Hotrod Deville 410.

No new noise when I added the DD-3, and at "band" volume who hears it anyway? After playing around with the DD-3 for an hour, I found several different settings that improve my sound/tone a ton. I'm the lone guitarist in a 3-piece band, and this does a great job "fattening" up your sound. Chords and leads now take up more space musically in a nice subtle--but very noticeable to your ear--kinda way. Band mates commented immediately the first time I ran it. Really amazing what it can do for leads. Again, the versatility of it let's you go from Van Halen to Radiohead pretty quickly/easily. One downside, if you consider it one, will be the constant tweaking during a set. I can already see the need to write down my various settings for certain tunes, so I don't have to dik with it too long. It has quickly become another one of those pedals that may be tough to live without. If I was at gunpoint, I'd take my TS9/808 and Mini Bicomp to the grave, but this wouldn't be too far behind. A good test to see what it does is to play a favorite riff/chord progression with it on...then play the exact same thing with it off....It's tremendous.

I give it a 9 because the fastest modes aren't really applicable to my playing style (kinda tinny and 50's ish) but what I get out of the 800ms setting far outweighs that shortcoming.

Uh, Boss...brick sh!thouse. period. Definitely need the boss adapter (or other power supply). Will suck batteries through a garden hose.

Uh, Boss...Customer service not their strongsuit...luckily some quality effects are!

I play a wide range of stuff...From the Bob Dylan to Beck. Doors to Phish. Mostly bluesy or rocking jams. The DD-3 performs. Great for spacey solos/jams. Lots of possibilities. If stolen, I'd demand a federal manhunt, but would buy another without thinking twice. The hold feature is OK to practice quick solos, but I don't use it much. And Battery Eater could be a nickname for this box--get another power supply. Would love to take a nice analog delay for a comparison test drive, but I'm an impulse buyer and that could get expensive! This will open up creative doors that you never knew you had! End of story: Just get one, you won't regret it--you'll never know what you were doing without one.

Takes a little learning, but if you have any experience w/ delays it?s nothing too complicated. The Level nob is very responsive, as is the Feedback nob.

I play a 1991 strat plus, mid 70?s Aria II, and a Gibson 1949 BR 9 lap steel. My effects chain runs so: Ernie Ball Volume, Crybaby wah, TS-9, Seymour Duncan Booster, Boss DD-3. I play through a 1971 Super Reverb and Mesa Boogie Subway Blues.

The DD-3 and I have been through a lot together. After I retired my old Crybaby it became the oldest pedal in my arsenal. I have over used it, under used it, abused it, forgotten it, and cherished it. Still, when it?s all said and done, I love this thing. I almost gave up on it to go to Line 6 DL-4. I LOVE the DL-4, but I?ve realized that the DD-3 is a cool little mofo. I really like the sound of it better than the DD-5 or DD-6. It just sounds warmer to me. If you disagree than buy one of the others. As for the DD-2, I?ve never had the privilege of playing one, so I don?t know. The DD-3 is not just a ?delay pedal?, it?s a sound effects unit. Really! Given some time and ingenuity you can get rockabilly sounds, Gilmour sounds, space ships, and sitars. It really I very cool.

The only thing that is pretty useless is the hold function. If you had more time it be great, but you really don?t enough. It fun to play around with though. You can do some interesting loop sort of things. Every time you introduce a new sound it will slightly change the fist sound that is repeating it. As you introduce more sounds all of them start to change. It?s a bit unpredictable thereby making it unreliable for on stage use.

I have the same pedal for close to 10 yrs. It has never given me any problems.

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As a delay unit it serves a specific function. It woks for me b/c all I use a delay for is Gilmour stuff and slap back stuff. You have a broad range of slap-back sounds. Likewise, the Level and the Feedback nobs are very responsive. Through all our trials the DD-3 and I work well together. You just gotta giver time and find the little things you love about her.

I picked the DD-3 due to its simplicity, ease of use and because Boss uses more analog components. I also do not use excesive delay times or any funky sounds, like reverse or space echo, etc. Just a straight-ahead delay the way I like it.

Quite easy to change from one setting to another. Manual is not really necessary unless you don't understand type on the pedal. Mike's website gives you instructions on the high-cut switch, which is helpful. But other than that, it's easy to use and sounds great.

Lots of different guitars and different amps. I use the effects loop on my Rivera, but do not on my Vibro King. The King has a loop, but any Fender sounds better with pedals in front, so there you have it. I also have a deluxe reverb that uses the pedals in front. It all sounds great. I don't have that much modulation. Just delay and a phasor. With the pedals in front, it sounds good too. I have a compressor and a couple of overdrive pedals that don't hamper the tone at all. The wah can sound weird with the delay on with too much level, but wahs sound weird anyway. The high-cut filter really does add an analog deminsion to the pedal. The middle position of the high cut switch leaves the delay in stock digital form. So don't worry if you think the mod makes the digital delay unuseable. Some folk like digital delays. I do not, but after paying out the butt for an analog that could give me only 300 ms. of delay, I had to do something else. Far left the delay is darkened, but still has lots of bounce. Far right the cut is great. You hear the first couple of repeats, but the sound really starts to drop off just like an analog pedal. Perfect! Just great for what I was looking for.

Boss makes reliable stuff. I don't know how well this will last after the mod, but since Mike has been doing this for a long time and there doesn't seem to be many issues related to reliability, I am not worried. He's a good guy and backs up his stuff. So there you have it. I wouldn't kick the switch with your foot or drop the pedal off a tall building, but it seems to be modded with great care and precision.

Mike is great. Follows up and personally signs the receipt. Lots of folks use him, so that's a testament of his commitment to customer service.

I tried different digital delays that claimed to give analog sounds. Well, they really did not. Still metallic sounding and stiff. I didn't see myself paying over $200.00 for a delay pedal that had tons of sounds just so I could get one or two. After all, I could just spend another $150.00 and get an analog with more delay time. Instead I thought I'd try this guy from Analog Man. I'm very happy I did. I feel this pedal sounds great. In fact, I'm so happy with the pedal, I will not hesitate to send more pedals I think could be great if they had one or two things different about it. I owned a DD3 before and sold it because of the boingy and semi-harsh sound. This simple mod changes everything about it. I'm not knocking people who like digital delays. Many have found great use for them. I just like a little bit of slap back or a subtle amount of echo. For the money, I just think this is a great deal for those wanting an analog sound from a digital delay. If you can get a hold of a DD2, I would bet that would even sound better.

I'm sure some people may have trouble with it but I'd mastered everything there was in about a day, and this is my first delay pedal. getting the exact level of feedback or delay time may be a little trouble.

i was looking for the guitar for the verse of dredg's "same ol' road", which gives out that quick clicking sound. i got it. this is great for post-rockers, and i know the guys from explosions in the sky and mogwai use this.

yeah, haven't had a problem.

never needed them.

i play post-rock and 60s stuff. this thing is pretty damn versatile. and i'd buy another if i lost it. i wish the hold feature lasted more than a couple of seconds though. i don't know about any of boss' other delay pedals, so i'd check them out before getting this.

Very easy. 4 nobs to control effect level, feedback (length of delay), downtime (frequency of delay) and delay setting. Its a stomp box tbh how difficult can it be?

With bass and guitar I generally use the long delay setting as it is soooo much fun. In my opinion it adds so much to your sound if ur looking for warm, ambient tones. You have to be careful that it doesn't become a mangled mass of notes though...

The very short delay setting is excellent for making an electric sitar sound (whack the feedback right up and the downtime right down, or the inverse I can't remember actually) and u get a sitar! Wahey!!!

Well hasnt broken yet and I doubt it will

They prob don't need one.

I play a kinda ambient rock and it is a perfect match for the style. It may destroy you creatively however as hours can be wasted without producing anything constructive (although that may be just me). I play bass in the band and write using guitar.

For bass I would say it is pretty unneccessary although unbelievably good fun.

Granted, if you're a delay fiend/fanatic, you're gonna probably gonna have a DD-6, or something along those lines, but if you have a little experience with delay, this thing is rediculously easy to use. Because of the nature of the knobs, it'll take a few moments to get the exact time you want. But is that a problem for normal people? No.

I have a rickenbacker 650 through a fender deville 212 combo. This rig sounds fantastic, and this pedal doesn't take anything away from it. No noise whatsoever (anyone who complains about it should replace their battery). On the first mode, you have extremely fine control over the delay time. I LOVE the digital-ness of this pedal. When you crank the time so it's very short, the echos actually oscillate to produce notes. It'll boost certain notes, and produce interesting harmonics on others. On the second mode is a good range of slap-back effects, which can be almost reverb like, or make it sound like you're playing inside of a metal container. On the third mode are more atmospheric sort of sounds, which can really thicken up your sound. The hold function is a little bit enigmatic to me. I don't quite understand what you would use it for. Also, i don't quite understand the means by which it finds the "last sound you play," which can make it kind of awkward when you try to make it play the middle of a note, but it gets cut off so just sounds like a series of pops. You CAN make some neat sounds using it though, from a short riff to jam over for a few bars to weird pitch bending effects. 800ms is enough to satisfy me, although i'm quite sure that it wouldn't be enough for some people. Overall - very good sounds come from this little thing. It doesn't have the surreal swelling and reverse modes of some pedals, but it's definitely enough get you through the day.

Are you kidding? BOSS.

Never ever had to deal with them. It'll probably stay that way.

I play alternative rock and other styles which don't really have names. Think along the lines of Radiohead. This pedal fits right in.
Needless to say i'd want another if it disappeared. I love pretty much everything about it, that's there. Of course, i had to experiment with it a little to find out how to use it well, but that's a given with any good pedal.
It gets a 9. It's stellar, but it IS a little limited, just by the fact that it's simple to use and compact.

if you're not familiar with delay pedals, it might take several minutes or so to get used to it. but it's really pretty simple. it's not exactly rocket science to get a good sound out of it cause i guess every sound is a good sound in this pedal.

im using an ibanez rg470 >> boss ds-1 >> proco rat2 >> boss dd-3 >> marshall mg15cdr practice amp.
i must say...the dd3 is excellent. i mean it's one of those pedals where after getting, you wonder how you ever lived without it. i know its a digital delay. but it doesn't seem to color my guitar tone at all. so that's a +.

i'd think it's totally dependable on. i got myself an adaptor, so no battery problems for me. (i prefer all my effects to be on an adaptor)
there's no doubt that's it's gig worthy in terms of sound quality and it seems to be built like a tank. i'm pretty sure if i threw it down a flight of stairs it's still be in tact, but i would never try that anyway.

i play anything and everything i can handle from metal to jazz. and this pedal is game for anything i put it through. i love the depth the pedal brings to my sound. i mean although in my opinion i've got a pretty decent sound even without it, with it, it just put's iceing on the cake. if this thing was stolen i'd get a new one for sure. it's just one of those pedals...

Slightly hard to use, only because you can get so many different awesome sounds out of it. Very hard to make this pedal sound bad. Although if you turn the feedback to 100% it will extend the noise forever, so it will get so loud it will eventually blow your amp. You can get the hang of this easily.

As I said, hard to get a bad sound out of it. It works very well, whether you are playing your guitar or plugging it through your microphone. It won't work as well once the battery starts to run out though.

The battery life on this is about an hour, but it will start to go dead and lose quality after 20 minutes or so. I wouldnt use this in a gig unless you change the battery after each song. Basiclly, you have to get the adapter. This thing is a tank though and you could play trampoline on it and not break it.

Boss makes it so it wont work with any 9v adapter except for theirs, and they design theirs to short out very quickly so you have to keep buying it. The actual pedal however does have a 5 year warrenty.

Once you have an adapter, there is no limit to the fun you'll have, and the awesome sounds you will make. I've found a use for it in all but one of my band's songs. This item, although expensive, definitely has many useful purposes. But you don't really need it.

If you are familliar with delay its simple....if not it will only take a few minutes to suss it out and years to master the art.

Simple controls and layout. Not a complete no brainer but delay is not a complete no brainer effect.

The sound is very good indeed. It gives nice lush textures to a lush guitar sound. The repeats are exact in tone as the original signal and to me thats a good thing. If you have a nice guitar sound then this pedal will echo that nice sound......as much as you want it to.

It is a pro piece of gear with pro sound quality. It is used by alot of top pros who are not restricted by what they can afford so yes this pedal has a professional sound quality.

For my needs the delay time at 800ms is long enough and a nice slap back is acheivable aswell if thats your bag. Rack unit quality in a handy floor ready package.

Well built, durable and strong. I've had mine for 4 years and it is still in perfect nik. Dont abuse your gear and it will always be there for you. A six monthly clean and tightening of the screws and stuff helps to keep these things well in check.

Never needed......touch wood!!!

Great pedal for me....my band is a Pearl Jam/Radiohead type rock band and it suits my style perfectly and works well with my other pedals. I use a '72 thinline telecaster and a Vox AC30TB with overdrives like the TS-9 and the BD-2, sound quality is very important to me and im very happy with the DD-3.

If you've never used a delay pedal before it might take you a bit of time to find the sounds you want, otherwise dead easy.

Les Paul copy with lots of pedals with this one at the end of my chain into an ashdown p60 tube amp. The sound quality is excellent. For a digital delay it has a good warm sound. I mainly use it to get a claer delay between notes with a medium amount of feedback. There are loads of possibilities with it. I have a carl martin analogue delay pedal and inmy opinion this is a better sounding more usefull and cheaper box.

Bought when my carl martin pedal concked out as a back up. The carl martin can't get back in the chain now. Have gigged with it and i leave my other delay pedals at home.

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My chain at the minute is jacques bat fuzz --> jacques fuseblower 2 --> pharoe amps tone engine --> jacques meistersinger --> akai intelliphase --> Vox Wah -> EH mini q tron --> ibanez fl9 --> boss dd3 --> amp.First up, i hate boss pedals. There the mcdonalds of the guitar world. Cheap effective and everywhere. I bought it cuase there was nothing else in the shop and i had a gig that night. I was desperate. I took it out of my chain when my carl martin pedal came back, then put it straight back in. In a word : excellent. I'm still not buying any other boss stuff though.

This is pretty easy to use once you've messed about with it for a few minutes. I couldn't quite see the point of the 'hold function' exept using it as a weird sort of pitch-bender but as soon as you play a new note it doesn't stay at the 'bent' pitch and will return to it's proper pitch.

The manual's not very brilliant. There's a reference to a 'stereo mode' which as far as I can tell doesn't exist. The pedal theoretically is a mono delay and what makes it stereo is that you can have an untreated signal coming from the other channel so the first note you play will come from channel A and the delayed repetitions generated by the pedal will come through channel B rather than swapping between channels like a stereo delay would.

I'm a keyboarder and use this pedal for creating echoey arpeggios and spaced-out chord sequences. It works really well as well in conjunction with a chorus and then you can hold chords down and get the illusion of slow attack pads as the effect builds up over itself. I don't recommend trying this without a chorus though because it sounds metallic, phasey and generally not very nice.

I find that balancing the effect level with the direct out signal while the effect is switched on actually helps to reduce the level of noise. If the effect level is turned up to full, the direct sound gets drowned out so you lose the stereo effect.

I personally don't think much of the really short delay or (echo) because it sounds like everything has been put into a metal box. If you turn the feedback right up it will self oscillate and gradually get louder and louder - and probably blow your amp if you leave it long enough!

The best delay is probably the 800ms one with the delay time somewhere between 12 and 2 O'clock.

It's Boss, it's a stompbox - will last forever except that thin battery wire. Experience teaches me that keeping a soldering iron to hand means this pedal will live longer than you will.

Nope...

I play all sorts of music from Dance/Funk to Progressive Rock. I only just bought this pedal after I realised I could use it in conjunction with a chorus pedal to simulate really washy, slow attack pad sounds with the most basic of equipment (believe me I can make an old Casiotone sound like a million dollars through this pedal and my Super Chorus CH-1!). This set up works well on FM strings as well. They almost sound real with this tratment added.

I think this pedal would be cool if you could detune the delayed signal against the direct out signal so you could do basic chorusing all in one.

My other stuff:

Korg 01/wFD
MicroKORG
Oberheim MC1000
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DJX
Yamaha PSS 470
Casiotone 101
Technics EX 50L
Evolution MK-125
Stylophone(!)
Boss PW-2
Boss CH-1
Boss RV-5
Behringer MX-2004A
Fostex VF08
Peavey KB-100 x2
Marshall MG10CD
Yamaha PAC112
Ibanez GSR200
J&D Brothers 5-String Bass
oh and about three miles of cable!

Very easy in using, especially on stage. Never needed a manual. Best when used with a Ac adaptor (no need to buy the original, but keep regard to a larger current capacity, else you'll get a humming).

State of art sound in the late eighties (when I bought it). Nowadays rather old-fashioned.

absolutely perfect.

never needed

I've been playing lots of styles for 24 years now. In the 80's the DD-3 was perfect for delay dominated Pop music like U2. Nowadays modern equipments offers better opportunities for creating special sounds. i wouldn't buy again if it was stolen.

This pedal is extremely easy to use. the knobs are clearly/logically labelled. If that isn't enough the manual is very helpful as well. 99% of users should find the sound they need in minutes like i did.

I had been using a Zoom GFX 707, and i was impressed with the delay on that initially. I also tried the POD and my Spider amp has delay as well but something about those didn't feel quite right either. Recently i phased out my GFX and made the transition to a pedal board and stompers, so a good delay unit was in order. Within minutes of taking the DD-3 out of the box and sticking it too my board i had the delay sound i needed, and i was very impressed. the sound i needed BTW is The Edge (U2) sound.

Also of note, i am using a Powerall with five pedals and there is no noise.

I gigged with it the first time last week and it worked very well. 2 of my 6 pedals are Boss and they stand out construction wise next to my other pedals. Very heavy, very durable.

I am the guitarist for a rock band (www.revolutionofthevoid.tk) who does a number of different styles. I think everyone should have a delay pedal but that is just me. I am a big fan of the Edge and U2 but my playing is funkier than that as i am also a HUGE fan of Tom Morello and RATM/Audioslave. Both players use delay differently, and i like this pedal because i can do both.

Guitar -> Digitech Synth Wah -> NexFx Fuzzstortion -> Cyrbaby Wah -> Boss DS-1 Disortion -> Ibanez SC-10 Chorus -> Boss DD-3 Delay - Line 6 Spider 210.

Like i said above, i had been using delay on those multi FX jobbies, and even though they aren't bad they don't compare to a dedicated delay unit. When i first started playing i was in love with delay but got bored with it. Now i feel like writing with it again! My band mates are going to kill me lol.

As for the reason i wanted this pedal, it was the last piece i needed to complete my collection and i splurged (yes splurged, not alot of cash in MY pocket) on a brand new Boss. Everything else on my board was used, and used delays aren't that much cheaper than a new one so there ya go.