Boss DD20 Giga Delay

Very simple. Dial in a sound in manual then write it to one of the four slots. Probably one of the selling points for me. This is great for different delay times between different songs playing live.

I first want to give a heads up to the other folks complaining about noise. YOU HAVE TO SUPPLY POWER INDEPENDENTLY FROM YOUR OTHER PEDALS. That means buy a seperate ps and only use it for your dd20.

I use the tape selection the most. While in the tape selection you can also select between one or two heads. No harsh repeats.
The analog selection is cool and usable. It is close but by no means the same as an actual analog delay. You can get a slight space lift off with the feedback 3/4 or more. I nails some rockabilly with the short delay times in the analog setting. I also use the standard setting to get a typical dd-(fill in the blank) sound (u2/pinkfloyd).

Pretty easy to get a simple echo going on this unit, one does need to read the manual to really understand the features, such as how to turn on the line level +4db for use on loops. You have 11 mode types of delay effects here, some for special effects like the warp, and twist, all others provide a landscape of color for creating and inspiring music.

Great sound quality on this unit. I liked it more than everyone I tried and returned to the store. The DL-20 won hands down against all others. I had a Boss little typical delay box, worked OK, but limited echo time and special features. Got the HardWire DL-8, did not like the tonal quality of the echos and it had huge volume variance between modes, an OK echo, but not for an experienced player who needs experimental headroom. Took that back, got the promising VOX JS-DL Satriani unit, great echo, no reverse though, great tape and lo-fi cut switch, big problem this unit is NOT line level and does not work through line level amp loops! Back to the store, regretfully because I did like the unti just do not want an echo in my amp in before tube distortion, the compression kills the quality. Got the DL-20, pure sonic heaven, no shortcomings. 23 secs, 11 modes, special effects, a real winner here, much better than being taken for a typical Boss effect. I liked all the echo modes and foudn them all very musical and laid in the mix really well, it also has a tone for hi boost or cut to warm it up even more. really nothing about this unit I did not like, being able to actually see the milisec value is tremendous, tap and loop are excellent as well.

In many years the only problem I had with a Boss pedal was a switch went bad and it seemed to be intermitant from the start, that was on my old DS-1. The DL-20 is a heavy constructed unit, all Boss are made well, this is a Boss on steroids.

No idea, I ordered my replacement switch on-line and fixed my old DS-1 myself, I had that Keelley mod'ed but traded it in a while back.
The DL-20 GigaDelay is a keeper.

The DL-20 Gigadelay is one of those pedals that exceeds your expectations. Dual delay mode, a short and a long delay at the same time, tape mode delay, modulation delay, old analog warm delay, standard digital hi-fi delay, reverse, warp (infinite repeat mode), twist mode (acellerates the speed timing and feedback to critical mass, a nice way to end a tune or special effect), no other delay can do a lot of these features and the tonal quality of all of them is as good as it gets. ALSO ITS LINE LEVEL ADJUSTABLE FOR LOOPS!

Lots of features - 4 programmable memories + a manual setting (WYSIWYG). Output mono/stereo or delay only and direct only. Can be set to run at -20dB which is usual for guitar stuff, either before the amp or, depending on the amp, in the fx loop (if it has one), or +4dB (usual for line-level equipment - e.g. rack fx, mixer inserts, aux bus sends).

Clear manual that covers everything pretty well.

11(!) different delay settings, covering digital through tape, analogue, simple looping, modulation delay, multi-tap, reverse and a couple of oddities as well.

Very straightforward to use (if you know anything about delays there are few surprises).

Has one pedal for on/off and a second used for switching between stored programs and tap-tempo. Can also use an extra momentary footswitch (a good idea, as it makes using the DD20 much simpler on stage, and they're dirt cheap).

Controls are what you'd expect - delay level, tone (of the delay signal), time and feedback.

The display is nice and large, easily read while standing and has switchabel illumination which is very useful. The display gives you your current delay time either in milliseconds or beats-per-minute, plus the set delay interval as a note length, which is very useful and there are far more options than you get with Line6.

Basically, it's got all the controls you're likely to need. On the down side, the modulation rate and depth require several buttton presses to get at and are adjusted on a 1-100 scale which isn't very meaningful. The multi-tap is adjusted the same way, but is measured in milliseconds (bpm would be far more useful), and is just a slap followed by the normal delay. It's very difficult to program it for say a quaver+dotted quaver pattern. It would be nice if you could use the modulation with all the delay settings, but you can't - only with digital.

One surprise is the "stereo" operation - it isn't really stereo at all. I.e. using both inputs and outputs in "stereo" mode simply means that both the direct and delay signals are sent from both outputs, which negates anything like stereo chorusing used in front of it.

I use the DD20 (like all my fx) in front of the amp as neither my Fender or Orange have loops. Guitars are Fender and Gibson.

I use the -20dB setting as +4dB levels will seriously overload a guitar amp preamp and I use a fairly clean sound by modern standards.

As for sound, it's not bad, but not great. The digital delays are very clean and the tape setting isn't too bad either, but the analog delay is basically just the digital with treble removed and a rough distortion added and sounds nothing like the "real thing". The multi-tap is virtually unusable due to the hassle involeved in setting it up for different tempos/delay times, as really is the modulation delay (a pity as it sounds quite nice).

The pedals pretty quiet (especially compared to analog stuff), but is a bit sensitive to the choice of power supply. I use an old Zoom 300mA one which works fine. Don't even think of using batteries unless you own a battery factory and don't mind changing batteries in the middle of every gig.

The pedal is buffered in the usual Boss way, and causes a slight loss of touch sensitivity at the amp like much Boss stuff. It sounds like a Boss digital effect, if you know what I mean. On the other hand, the switching is silent and the tap tempo works well.

I use the DD20 for live work because it's features make it very convenient, but the sound isn't as nice as the (original Roland tape) Space Echo, EH Deluxe Memory Man, Ibanez or the ridiculously cheap Artec analog delay. It's not a warm delay sound at all (even using the tone control to roll off some top).

What it does do well is (set to +4dB) act an insert effect in a mixer channel for use on vocals or other instruments that can't drive fx themselves. Not as good a sound as a high quality rack unit, but very easy to control on stage.

Had it quite a long time, gigged with it lots and it's never let me down. Been dropped, walked on, had a guitar dropped on it (ouch) and keeps on going.

For me the DD20 is a compromise. It does sound better than most digital delays (the Echo Park isn't too bad either, and the two kind of cover each other's weak spots). The digital convertor doesn't sound as harsh as most Line6 or Digitech ones, but there's still grain and audible jitter.

On the other hand, it makes it much easier to use different delay settings live when there isn't time to fiddle around with analog units, and the big flashing blue LED showing the DD20's current BPM is very useful as an indicator that when you step on the pedal it will be running at the speed you expect (or not - in which case the tap tempo comes into its own).

I find most Boss pedals to be pretty self explanatory. Some compact pedals can get tricky because they try to cram so many features into such a tiny pedal.

This is nice because even though it IS a bit more involved, it's still rather easy because they were able to spread out all the features given more hardware space and a display screen. (i.e. more knobs and buttons and even an extra foot pedal)

Reading the manual isn't exactly required to know how to get some rad delays out of this, however after doing so I realized just how incredibly versitile this pedal is.

Brilliant. No tone change, no hissing or humming. The delay models sound incredible. Totally legit.

It's Boss.

n/a

I'm in a reggae-rock sort of band with a lot of intricate guitar parts to trip it out. I use a good amount of delay, and now with this thing I'm going to be using a whole lot more.

Honestly, for a while I couldn't decide between this and the Line 6 DL4. Considering that I'm more interested in quality delay as opposed to strange effects or loop features for my music, the DD20 was the way to go. Besides, the loop feature on the Boss is quite sufficient, you just can't do the single play back that the Line 6 offers.

It seems like they really spent some time on this thing and attempted to create the ultimate delay pedal. Mission accomplished.

This is worth being late with the rent.

This thing is pretty easy to get the hang of. Keep the manual handy and you'll be fine. The manual isn't super clear but it does the job for the most part.

I do not place time based effects between my guitar and amp, only distortion devices. I am running an EH Deluxe Memory Man post-mic with my Strat/Marshall rig. I am using two Giga Delays for a completely different kind of thing. Here's my setup: I have a prepared, table-top acoustic guitar, table-top electric guitar/feedback loop, short wave radio, and two CD players running into an old Tascam 4-track that I use as a mixer. I run the stereo outputs of the mixer directly into the first Giga Delay. The stereo outputs of the first delay feed the second delay which outputs directly to either a house sound system or into my hardrive for recording at home.

There is a little digital hiss but it really hasn't been a problem and I'm near obsessive about noise. If the pedal is set correctly the signal should far out weigh the noise. I was very surprised at the sound quality. The tape delay is lovely and can get that natural phasing effect, very intoxicating. The beauty part is the seemless switching. I was on vacation last week and made hours of recordings with nary a glitch. Even using the Sound On Sound setting, flying sounds into the loop, there was not a click or pop in sight.

It seems built really tough.

I don't know and hope I don't have to.

I'm using two Giga Delays for soundscapes and so far I am really impressed. By mixing and matching the analog settings with the digital settings a wide range of subtle delay textures can be achieved. I haven't tried the unit with my regular guitar rig but that's not what I bought it for. I bought it to make live soundscapes/imaginary soundtracks and it seems to do this very well indeed.

Ease of use is a relative term here. It's easy to plug in and start playing. But getting it right can be a little tricky. You need to ensure a couple of things are done right to get this pedal to be noise free and operating like it should.

First, use a larger power supply than recommended. A 200mA 9VDC won't cut it. It will run OK on that, but you'll notice a light hiss and sometimes a high-pitched ringing that's very faint. The draw of that pedal is +\- 200mA, which is maxxing out the standard Boss PSA-120, or most 200mA power supplies for that matter. So I'd go with a 1spot (which I have done) or maybe one of Boss's new PSA models. I didn't want to put this under the sound quality category because I want to talk about the tones in that section.

Second, it turns on by default with a -20db setting. Change that! Even it you're not running it in an effects loop. You have to power up the pedal with left pedal depressed, then you'll see your LCD has a db setting on it. Select the mode that says "Stereo + 4Db" and press the "write" button to save it. I missed that in the manual, and apparently most other people do too.

I've been playing this for well over a year and I just now discovered those two items, which are probably the most critical when considering buying this!

These need to stand out in the manual, but they're barely noticeable. I'm going to give it low marks there. There's no way you could have figured those things out (and more on this thing) without a well written manual, and it just doesn't do a good job explaining everything.

OK, here's where it does a great job. I love the analog & tape settings, and like that I can change the tone with the knob. I've actually used the Warp & Twist settings live so they're not useless. Never used the SOS (Looping, basically) because I have an RC-20XL. The standard setting sounds just like a plain old DD-3, which I also like. There's multi-head emulators in there too, but I've haven't done the "Edge" thing in a while so I can't comment on those. I was hoping the reverse setting would be more like the old Boss Slow Gear, but it's just really hard to make it sound good. Too bad.

I've also discovered the modulation setting lately, and found I really love it! I don't play with chorus, but having just a little bit of warble added to the repeats only can do some great things. It reminds me of using tremolo arm for vibrato a la SRV Riviera Paradise, but I'm using fixed-bridge guitars. Very nice. I think you can edit the modulation mix and/or waves too. A very useful tool overall!

Now for the bad: I used to swear to everyone that this didn't suck tone. Well, I A/B'd it in 3 scenarios with a True Bypass loop and here's what happened: By itself, with no other pedals in the chain, it hardly changed, but did slightly take off a little top end. With just one other pedal (buffered) before it, it seriously altered the tone. Made everything sound way more sterile. With the DD-20 in the pedalboard, it altered it even worse! I don't think I can recommend this as the greatest digital delay pedal, but still I have to have tap tempo somehow. What to do... If I can find a better digital delay that lets me tap easily and gets a good tape or analog sound out of it, this thing's gone! I'm about to give up on digitals and get a good analog, but I'd miss the tap tempo... sigh.

I think so. It's held up well.

N/A

I use an external footswitch for the tap tempo. I use the 2nd footswitch to switch through the 4 + 1 presets, and I use 'em all! The tap tempo is the BEST one I've used. That Line6 Echo Park is such a pain because it's too easy to accidentally turn the effect on or off when tapping. Other than that the Echo Park gives this thing a run for the money, and I'd actually prefer it due to the smaller footprint. But, like all things Line6, it must have it's own dedicated power supply and other stupidities engineered in. I still like the DD-20 better than the Line6 DL4 too. I like that I can light up the display so I can see what time it's set on at a glance. That's saved me a few times.

Needs a better buffer and more clear instructions. Has great tones at hand. Very friendly to use playing live.

Very easy to use -- I'm a non-techie by choice, and a few years ago got rid of all the silly gadgets, and went back to pedals and a very good quality tube amp.

Editing is easy, setting the memory is easy, setting depth and rate is easy. It's all just turning knobs, which I completely love.

Just one complaint - no way to completely turn it off, other than unplugging it. You can shut off the signal with the left footswitch though, so it's not problem.

Perfect. It sounds exactly as I expected. I have a DD6 one step up in the signal chain, and I expected it to be at least as good. It's better, with more features. Love it.

Oh, and it's TOTALLY QUIET. I've read reviews that it makes noise. No, it doesn't. It's not the Giga Delay making noise. I'll prove it -- here's my rig:

Custom Strat with EMGs
Boss TU-1
Boss DD-6
Boss DD-20 (Giga Delay)
Boss Super Chorus
MXR Stereo Chorus
MXR Flanger
Cry Baby Fasel Wah
Boss FV500 volume pedal
Traynor Custom Valve Blue 50 (all effects in loop, in that order)

...and my signal is totally quiet. Order of effects matters, but amp makes all the difference. Traynor's are notorious for being very quiet.

It's Boss. 'Nough said.

Have never dealt with them.

I have a deep, abiding respect and appreciation for Roland/Boss. For non-boutique gear, they're probably the best.

SO many features but nice and simple if you know about delays. The fact you can save 4 patches on it makes it a 10 for me, i've had some trouble finding a use for some of the settings but the manual does explain applications as well. The SOS feature is awsome as it allows for quick looping and a push of a button deletes it. I use this unit more than my RC-50 looper for live preformace becuase its super easy to get rid of a goofed loop.

I'm using this pedal with a Marshall JCM2000DSL and 4x12 cab, american ash tele, and it sounds fantastic. I use the analog setting the most. Awsome sound. No noise issuses. No signal loss whatsoever. I remember when I first got it getting some noise that i think was caused by a low milliamp power supply. I'd use a 500ma adapter or higher, the boss PSA120T i think might be a little low juice for this thing even though it says to use one.

No problems so far. Used it on many gigs and dropped it several times. Rock Solid.

I manage a music store and deal with Boss/Roland on a daily basis. Rarley does anything break. When it does the always fix or replace it with no problems. Never dealt with as a consumer so cant really say.

If you need delay, this is the pedal. A DD6 on crack per say. The analog tone can only be beat by the EH memory man but if you've used that pedal you know its huge and lacks features. With all of the settings and the 4 patch memory, its a no brainer for me. Push down the big knob and land the spaceship!

The Boss DD20 is an easy pedal to use, despite it having more features than most delays. The types of delays range from subtle to drastic, up to 23 seconds. It even has a "modulation" setting that provides a very good chorus effect, and you can enter four presets. This allows you to have load a reverse effect, the chorus, a slapback, and a long echo, all interchangable with a stomp on the switch. The SOS (sound on sound) feature allows you to stack loops of up to 23 seconds. The manual was helpful, but could be better. Some more experienced users may want more details in the manual.

I've read many reviews that say this unti can be noisy. I've only experienced noise when used with another noisy pedal, like a multi-effect unit. By itself it's quiet as a mouse.

Built very well as all Boss effects are known for

I give this a 7 only because Boss's website was helpful in providing info on the unit before I bought it.

This unit is extremely versatile. I can't think of a type of delay in the mainstream that you wouldn't get from this unit other than reverb sounds. I've been playing over 25 years, mostly rock or new age/atmospheric. I wouldn't choose another delay over this and would like to replace it if lost. I do use it for looping, but there are better pedals specifically for looping. With practice it could be used to loop an 8 measure rythm phrase while soloing over it live in the SOS mode. Add in the other features and this is about the most versatile, high quality delay stomp box on the market.

Very easy to use, nice sound

Very good delay sound, but just had to write this review because although this things has a great sound...it is noisy.

built good

never dealt with

Sounds very nice...great delay...but has a small amount of noise in background. It's not tha bad just there. Very nice overall though