Boss DD-7 Digital Delay

This pedal is easy to use. Everyone who is familiar with the Boss DD series pedals shouldn't have any problems with it.

This was a real let down. I had high expectations but the DD-7 was a disapointment. It's not as musical as the old and trusty DD-3. What makes thngs worse is the amount of hiss that it produces. The DD-7 makes more noise than my Fuzz and Distortion pedals! I use a Voodoo Lab Power Plus with isolated outputs, so the noise is not a problem of the signal chain. The DD-7 makes this hiss not matter how you power it up (batterie or power supply) or if you use it as a stand alone unit or in a signal chain with other pedals. A friend of mine didn't experience this hiss at first until he put it in his Lehle True Bypass looper: He was shocked! Thins is, that the signal runs through the AD/DA converters all the time, no matter if the pedal is on or off! This ruins your tone and makes it hard to detect the noise, because it's there all the time which fools you into thinking it's the usual background hiss of the amp.
This pedal has clever features in a compact size. It could have been a no brainer, but it's a dog, really. I'm very disappointed from Boss. I really tried to like this pedal, because it has all the features I want in a delay pedal. I had to give it back, cause I could't stand the noise.

I did't have it long enough, but it made a reliable impression on me, as all Boss pedals do.

I play since more than 15 years and use high quality equipment. The DD-7 is a toy for beginners and not a serious musical product. I would never use a thing like that in a recording session. Shame on Boss, because the know how to o it better (DD-3).

I upgraded from the dd-6, so I'm loving the external FS pedal. No more holding the thing down to access the patch. This saves a lot of time when setting up songs or needing to turn the delay off to end a song etc.

I do a lot of looping with my Boss RC-20xl so I didnt think i needed another looper. The great thing about the looping patch is that you don't have to wait for the cycle to repeat once before recording the second layer. It just keeps sucking in layers of sound like the LIne 6 Echo does. I could see how I might replace my Line 6 with another DD-7 for vocal looping cause' it's more compact for my pedal board.

The manual is short and sweet.

I use an Ibanez acoustic/electric with a Fender Acoustasonic amp. When I perform in the subways I use a the Crate Limo rechareable amp. There is a slight difference between the dd-6 and dd- 7 sound. I think the dd-7 is much more rich and less digital sounding. It seems to capture a warmer analog sound.

If you use the Modulate mode and time the delay to triplets you can get that U2 Unforgettable Fire sound happening. If you dial in too much I've noticed a slight feedback issue so ride the settings till' you find the safe zone.

I always trust boss. I gig about 4 times a week. That said, their toys last about a year before they need maintenance. The weakest link in the Boss world is the crappy wiring for the batteries. I always use batteries. I use rechargeable battery to save money. Every night after a show I remove and then replace the 9 volt. the stress of this seems to cause tremendous wear and tear on two 2 cent wiring they use to connect the battery jack. Why cant they just make the battery lock in to a groove or something?

I have sent my pedals to be fixed at Roland. They make Boss. It takes about six to 8 weeks to get them back but they do a good job. Never go to the local repairman they recommend. They will always destroy your stuff. Over and Out and check out my band. Http://www.hethandjed.com

After several shows I can say that this thing is quite fun and reliable.

Its a stomp box with four knobs so its quite easy to just dive in and fiddle. The manual should be consulted to find out the differnt modes jack placement allows. All quite easy though.
The manual is the typical minimal informative Boss manual. It contains lots of pictures and added setting details stickers to stick if you please. The stickers have the importantish parts of the manual on them so they may be of use.
8 +1 for stickers.

Its kinda noisy but not a ruining noisy however it can creep in. Has fairly sweet delay sounds across the board if your looking for delay you shall find it here in spades. 6400ms of delay is available if you please.
If you want to get delay like your favorite performer you quite likely be able to find it. You can use it to bust out drone, Ian Williams style cascades, post-rock de da da da delays and shoegaze walls of sound.
So apart from the noise its quite good.

I guess its the typical solid nugget Boss pedal metal, rugged action and knobs. Dont know about electronics faults but haven't ran into any issues.

Never had to deal with them.

I play guitar music really hard to say what but I`ll say avant-garde and turn up my nose. My setup is Strat copy---->FV-500H->DD-7->RC-2->Cube-60. If it was lost or stolen I would buy a new one. I love the wide range of delay effects and textures that can be made for the price. Perhaps as mentioned in another review spending more on buffers wouldn`t be a bad thing because the noise is a downside in a quality device.
It was what I was looking for and I might even get another for extra fun.

Follow up to my original review.

Playing it at low volumes, at home, I was very pelased. But after taking it to rehearsal, I returned it. It sucked the balls out of my tone, and added a bunch of high end.

It's a shame because the delays and looper are great features. Why can't they make a true bypass pedal that doesn't kill your tone? I'm back to my trust DD-3. That pedal changes the tone slightly too, but in a good way. Sweetwater was great on the return, and processed it quickly. Love those guys!

Very easy to operate. With the built in tap tempo you can adjust the delay time very easily. Hold the pedal down for a few seconds and you're in tap mode. Once there, you can adjust the time as often as you want by tapping three times. If you're using the regular "digital" delay sound, be sure to turn the knob to the maximum "digital" delay setting first or else the taps don't seem accurate.
There is also an extra input on the pedal for those who prefer to use an external tap switch or expression pedal to control the time, level, or feedback.

My setup is usually a Tele --> MXR Phase 90 --> Digitech Bad Monkey --> Durham Electronics Sex Drive --> Boss DD-7 --> Fender Deluxe Reverb RI. I bought the DD-7 for the analog delay mode to replace a Visual Sound H2O that sat at the end of my chain. I always liked the sound of the H2O's delay but whenever it was engaged, it always boosted my volume a little and added a little high frequency that I didn't like. Also the delay was the only thing I liked about the H2O. I HATED the chorus side.
I was skeptical about the DD-7 because of my past experience with the modern made DD-3. However I can honestly say that there is nothing about this pedal that disappoints me. I love the analog mode. The modulate mode is great. It modulates the repeats, giving a nice chorus effect. I don't know if my ears and tastes are changing or what, but I even find myself using the "digital" delay mode. It doesn't sound as sterile to me as some of the DD-7's predecessors. Like I said, I may have different ears than I used to have.
I don't notice any noise in this pedal at all.
As with most pedals, there MIGHT be a LITTLE loss of tone. I want to emphasize MIGHT and LITTLE. I can't say that I've noticed it, but some people have more of an ear than others and it can vary depending on what your setup is. I don't think this pedal is a tone sucker.

So far so good. I've never had reliability problems from Boss in the past.

I've never had to call Boss for anything.

I play primarily country and blues. I've been playing for 13 years and professionally for the past 7 years. This pedal is great for what I do. It's analog mode is a nice substitute for a vintage analog delay and with longer delay times. The reverse delay could be tasteful on the right song.
The loop function is nice for practicing. But looper fans be advised that once you stop the loop you cannot restart it. It's gone and you have to start over.

This pedal ist straightforward and easy tzo use, self explanatory.

This pedal has great features in a small package. It seems as if Boss finally responds to the customers and their demands for an analog sounding delay, a modulated delay, a reverse delay with the possibility to get the reverse only. All things that the new DD-7 performs with ease. Sounds very good, has a tap tempo and the possibility to tap with an external switch.
So everythings fine? - No. The noise this thing makes drives me nuts. This is a rather noisy pedal, the hiss doesn't change, no matter if it's on or off. Seems as if Boss used inferior Buffers inside. I've got an old DD-3 which is dead quiet. The DD-7 is a tiny little bit noisier than the Re-20, which was so noisy that I had to give it back.

It's a Boss. I think it's going to be very reliable.

This pedal sounds great and has a lot of functions and possibilitiers in a small and easy to use package. But I don't like the background noise. Put it in a hardware bypass/looper, turn it in and out of the chain and than decide for yourself. I couldn't stand the noise and gave it back. I'd rather go on using my old DD-3, which has non of the functions I would like to have (analog sound, modulated delay, tap tempo, looper...) but is totally noiseless.
Shame on Boss, I think they did serious cost cutting on the Buffers.

Very easy to use and Self explanatory. The only drawback is, that it has no led display, so you can't put in the delay time in ms (e.g. like the tc nova delay).

Sound quality is rather good. I think, with this unit Boss has responded to the criticism on earlier models. People wanted a reverse effect without the dry guitar, an analog simulation with less bright delays, a modulated delay for U2 stuff and so on... To make it short, the DD-7 has got it all. The reverse delay is great, form subte to extreme. At first, I didn't see much use for it, but after a little experimentation, this is one of my favourite. The analog simulation is rather dark, but pronounced in a good way. The modulate setting gives a chorus effect on the delays. By turning Feedback and Delay Time to zero, you can use the DD-7 as a chorus! Then there is the hold function which makes a basic looper with 40 seconds. On the standard settings, you can tap in dotted eights, when the range is set between 200 and 8oo ms. The tap function with the build in switch isn't everyones cup of tee, so there is the possibility to connect an external one.

All in all a great pedal with very much possibilities.

The only criticism is noise! The DD-7 makes much more noise than my beloved DD-3, which is almost dead silent. The DD-3 has an analog circuit, which leaves the original signal intact. Only the delay section is digital. I understand, that with the newer, more complicated devices like DD-5, DD-6 and now DD-7 this isn't possible anymore. To make a reverse guitar, you have to send the whole signal through the A/D D/A converters. But the converters seem to be of poor quality. This pedal is rather noisy, no matter if on or off. I had the same problem with the RE-20, which i gave back for this reason. I'll keep the DD-7, because it's so small and convenient, but I hate that noise. Most people won't bother, but I have high class equipment, so it's a bit annoying.

I never had a problem with Boss.

Great little pedal, It's almost perfect. I miss a LED display to type in delay times in ms and I don't like the noise it makes (on or off). But I'm very sensible on hiss and hum, so I don't think the majority will have a problem with this.

I saw the demo on Boss' site and HAD to have one to replace my DD-3 that has lasted me 6 years. The basics are pretty straight forward...50ms-3.2sec delay modes. Modulated Delays, Analog delay sim, Reverse delays, and a 40second Loop sampler. You can plug it in and go without reading the manual. But when you do read the manual, you find out it does more. It also does ping pong delays and stereo separation delay. You can double the overall delay time to 6.4seconds. All from plugging your input to A or B and outputs to A or B. The manual comes with stickers that tell you how all this works. Nice touch. I did purchase the Boss FS-5U to plug into the tap tempo jack. It works like a champ!

The analog delay sim sound great with a warble as the delays trail off. Speaking of that, when you turn the effect off, the delays finish their trail while you continue playing the next part of the song. Out the gate it has beat my DD-3 that only does delay. But the thing I just can't stop using is the Looper. 40 second of unlimited looping and texturing over and over. I am used to Loop samplers, as I have the Line6 DL-4 and the Boss RC20XL Loop Sampler. The ONLY fault to the DD-7's loop sampler is that when you stop a loop, it's gone forever. You can't just start it back up as you work through a song.

Boss is Boss. Every pedal I have ever had with them has been solid and lasted through many many gigs. No need for a backup.

Never used them.

This pedal was worth the wait. Killer delays, Tap tempo, Looping, all in one Bucket Brigade pedal size. Totally stoked to have it. For cred sake - I play a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall TSL with a Mesa 4x12 cab and a THD Hot Plate. The only effects I use are a Fulltone Clyde - Buildyourownclone Phase90 - the DD-7 and a Korg PitchBlack Tuner. The DD-7 is the only unit that is not true bypass. (But it doesn't suck tone when off like so many other pedals do.) I have been playing for 17 years, the last 8 of them in bands playing live. My rig constantly evolves because I get rid of any crap that breaks or is unreliable. The current setup is solid. Purchased from Sweetwater.com - They ROCK!