Carl Martin DeLayla

The basic delay functions are pretty straight forward; however, the manual is rather generic. It doesn't really explain the function of the tap switch, which is apparently intended to simulate a second head on a tape delay. It is easy to get basic delay sounds, though.

I found the tone of this delay pedal to be a little on the thin side. It sounds better than digital, but not quite as good as the Maxon delays, which are the best in my opinion. I have owned/used a Boss DM-2, Boss DD-3, Boss DD-5, Line 6 DL-4, Korg SDD-1000, Maxon AD80 and AD900, H & K Replex, and SIB digital Echodrive. I did notice that this pedal emits a high-pitched whining sound on longer delay settings. It was very distracting...so much so that I got rid of it. This pedal is NOT true-bypass.

It is well-built and seems rugged. I wouldn't think you would need a backup.

I've never dealt with them.

I play acoustic instruments in tour bands and recording studios in Nashville. The sound of the pedal was pretty good for the most part, except for the high-pitched whine on longer delay settings. If they could fix that problem, then it would be a much better pedal. But until then, it's not worth the money. I did not notice any bleed-through when bypassed. Tone is everything.

Using DeLayla is easy. There are the basic controls for delay(echo volume, time and repeat) and volume control for "tap", which emulates dual head tape echo. Manual was ok, but there wasn't info about few quite strange things I found out..

Amplifiers I use with DeLayla are Fender Vibrolux(6L6 tubes), Fender Deluxe(6V6) and Leksis(great finnish amplifier with EL84). My main guitars are Fender tele- and stratocaster. Most of the people on this page say that DeLayla isn't noisy, but I can't agree. I found out few "special features" 1) If you use longer delays(300ms-500ms), and little bit brighter sound, sound quality gets worse and very high whining noise will appear(So high, that in studio only 3 of 5 could hear it). 2) There's always some low frequency noise in the delay sound, not typical for the analog delays or tape echoes 3) There's some problems with true bypass. If the echo control is on higher levels you'll get quiet delay sound although the pedal is off. And if you put lot of repeats to your sound to get nice feedback effect to play with, the bypass doesn't work like it should. In spite of those problems, I like the sound of the pedal. The problems are not that bad, and in live situation you have no problems. The slapback sound is very good, and you can get nice big sounds with tap feature. Of course, time control for the tap would be more usable than volume, then you would get all the possibilities of dual head echo. Edge-style delays work fine, so does the feedback effect(lots of repeats, and then turn the time knob). I wouldn't say DeLayla sounds just like tape echo(tape echoes I've been using are Pearl Echo Orbit and Dynacord super-62), but I wouldn't say it's worse, it's just analog delay sound. And like I said before, it's great in live situation. Small box, and you can get many things out of it. I play in many bands and do studio work, and styles vary from rockabilly to house, or from pop to jazz. DeLayla works very well in most of the situations.

I can depend on it. It's lots of more reliable than tape echo to work with.

When I noticed the problems I mentioned before, I E-mailed to company, and they answered almost immediately. That was great. They knew about the high noise on longer delay times and true bypass problem, but couldn't solve them. That wasn't that great. Has anyone of you found out same kind of problems?

I play different styles of music, and DeLayla is in my live setup. In studio I sometimes use tape echo or digital delay instead of it, but not always. It has it's own great sound. Other delays I have are Boss DD-5, H&K Replex and Dynacord super -62 tape echo. All of them have good and bad sides, but DeLayla has moved H&K and Dynacord away from my pedalboard.

Plug it in, set the knobs, use the footswitches. So far no problem...

Ass! Now I know analog delays are suppose to be noisy, in fact that's why I like them, but this was ridiculous. Nasty, distorted, unmusical sound. And no matter where I put it in my chain it sounded horrible and had a HUGE amount of bleed through when bypassed. Maybe it was the pedal I played but I hated it and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Maybe it was a lemon, but recently I tried a Trem'o'vibe. I wanted to love it but once again the bypass was noisy.

I returned it and would not rely on it for anything except for it to sound like ass. Instead I bought the Maxon AD-900. Some people love it, some people hate it. I like it a lot but the price is too high. The shop I bought the Delayla from didn't have a refund policy, only store credit. So I ponied up the extra cash and bought the Maxon.

I have had no dealings with them nor do I plan to.

I just can't understand the rave reviews. If it works for the other users then more power to them. For me, I hated it. I even tried to justify that I liked it, I mean it has great features, it's a great idea and Carl Martin seems highly respected. The one I had still makes me cringe. Based on this pedal and my 'test drives' of other Carl Martin pedals, I will never own one. If they are good, their quality control has a huge curve.

The settings suggested in the "manual" give good default sounds that you can then tweak--as you wish. These settings are good because they acquaint you very quickly with the controls and tonal ranges of this angel. it's very easy to operate...just use your ears.

The sound is truly superb. I don't mean to gush and all, but to my ears no other high end analog delay comes close to this thing. I play a Custom Strat w/Texas Specials and a Tele w/Fralins through a Nick Greer Sonic Boom (CLEAN signal boost--very nice) into the Delayla--both through either a Mesa Boogie (through the effects loop--try it!), Black Face Twin or Bluesbreaker Reissue (TUBE AMPS!). Sometimes compression (Ross), sometimes not. The Delayla is remarkebly quiet--as other reviewers have noted as well. This is a high end analog unit and you are paying for noise-free and you get it! This thing can nail any recorded delay sound I've ever heard--if copying someone else's sound is your gig (not mine). It works great with the clean boost, just as I expected. The Greer gooses the sweet midrange harmonics (I EQ the front end) and delivers them like caviar to this truly incredible delay unit which them serves up a tonal banquet through the output stage.

Too new to tell. No back-up. It appears to be quite solid and well made.

Have not dealt with Carl Martin directly, so no opinion re CS.

I play an eclectic (but groovy, man) mix of Dead/Allmans (cira Skydog)/phish//Stones/STI/SRV/Miles Davis/W. Panic and Jimi, inter alia (told ya!). Been playing since 1968 (I learned Stairway off the radio for chrisakes...). In my opinion, effects of whatever type, are only useful if they work in organic complement with your amplifier, picking dynamics/touch and overall tone to help free your spirit to create the music you hear WITHIN. The Delayla is one of the very few effects I've tried over the years (and I've tried a great many) that accomplishes this. It is transparent and adds beautifully to your tone--like fine wine. I cannot stress too much the fact that it is a transparent effect that does not sabotage your tone--wet or dry (or pre-delay tone). Again, you expect this in a high end analog unit and the Delaya delivers wonderfully. I AB'd against it the Maxon AD-80 and the Delayla was superior in terms of overall tone and transparency. The AD-80 was darker and simply not as musical. I find myself leaving the Delayla on in my signal path almost all the time because it truly enhances my sound--whether I'm playing clean, medium gain or with a fairly high amount of power tube saturation. AND, most importantly: it leaves picking dynamics fully intact--this is why we play expensive high end tube amps, right?; again, none of the coloration or synthetic tone-robbing you get from digital units (they should be banned!) Finally, the second tap works well and gives you great slapback--very interesting feature, but I am not using it much yet. The red on/off lights are quite nice (pretty actually), and the built-in power supply and AC cord are, well, soooo nice after all the 9v batteries I've gone through over the years. I really feel like I've stumbled upon one of those effects units that will become a collector's item once they're no longer made. Carl Martin: you did a helluva job--THANKS!

Mine shipped from MusicToyz without a manual. I really didn't understand the "tap" part of this delay. Names like repeat, delay, time, tap... are a little confusing at the beginning. I still don't know too much about the tap, just that it sounds half as long as without the tap.

I'm using a 1957 Fender, a minimoog, a Elektron SidStation and a Sequential Prophet 2000. The sound quality is a bit on the quiet side compared to my Echoplex. Also, it's kinda lo-fi sounding. I try to saturate it as much as I can to give a dark sound, but it sounds too clean to be dark. In one word, "pretty". That's what it sounds like, but I'm used to "dark". I bought this so that I wouldn't have to use my Echoplex when I'm practising on my guitars and synths. It sounds killer on synths, but guitars make it sound too "dainty". I don't care if an effect sounds clean. I want it to have character. It's not very juicy in that department. I do like the way that it sounds lo-fi. It has an edge to it, but it's still quiet. You can crank up the repeats to make it overload into oblivion. Pretty cool for sound interesting sounds. I wish that it could have a more tape saturated dark tone, but that's a different technology altogether. Sounds more Eric Johnson like than my Echoplex. I play darker stuff, however.

It seems at first glance to be well built, but on closer inspection it looks pretty fragile. I treat it with care like everything else that I work for.

It's wierd that it didn't come with a manual, and the "tap" thing is pretty vague, even from the website: carlmartin.com. I guess I should e-mail them.

I like to have a thick, dark tone with my guitar. I think I will have to play with it some more, but for now, it's fine. I can use my Echoplex when I record in my home studio. I usually like only using one or two effects in a chain at the most, so that the guitar tone can stay as pure as possible. I also have a TS808, RMC wah, Victoria Reverberato, Echoplex, and, hopefully soon, an AnalogMan SUN FACE. It's great with synths and drum machines and it's at a very reasonable price compared to Big Briar and other bucket brigade delays. It's a good alternative to my Echoplex.

This is the effect to use when you're not using an effect! In other words, it does the job it's designed for, without impeding on your sound! Absolutely first-rate piece of work! To tell the truth, it doesn't sound quite like anything else currently available, even at twice the price! Word of warning....It's a limited edition model, so buy one while you have the chance! The layout and operation couldn't be simpler, and bringing in the second tap button really does sound make it sound very much like an old tape machine. The information booklet is worthless, but who needs it? It's so simple to operate.

I'm using it mainly with a Suhr Strat Classic and a self-built Warmoth Strat with Kinman p/u's, and it sounds full and lush with both of them. I especially like the way that the gradual modifications can be entered in a very subtle, delicate way, and without any of the grating noises that some of the other top brands suffer from. It is very quiet, perhaps due to it's being AC only, with no 9V battery option. The effects are strong, but not in that over-the-top way we've become accustomed to. I'm using it with a Cornford Harlequin amp (no reverb), and it compliments it perfectly. I'm in tone heaven! (especially with Kinman's pickups!) I mainly wanted it for the retro "Hank Marvin" thing, and also to emulate Mark Knopfler's classic sound. The combination does it almost perfectly!

It seems to be very well made, but I've only had it a couple of months, and it's my first experience with a Carl Martin product, so I guess only time will tell.

As this product was not released in Japan, I contacted Carl Martin, and they gave me a list of US outlets, but also told me that, if I was unable to find one anywhere, they would sell to me directly. Fortunately, I could get one quite easily through Zzounds. Can't complain about the service!

As I said earlier, I'm into the older style of instrumentals, (same vintage!) so my gear suits me very well. I've been playing for 37 years, so I know what I like! I'm just glad that I probably have the only DeLayla in Japan, so I certainly hope that I don't lose it, especially as it's an LTD edition pedal!! There's really nothing about it to dislike. Guitar-wise, apart from the above mentioned Strat bodies, I have a PRS Custom 22"Artist Package", a rare "Snow-White" Parker Fly Deluxe Vibrato, a Rickenbacker 325V63, a Gibson ES335, 2x Steinberger Spirits (very modified!) Martin, Larrivee, Ovation & Takamine acoustics. Buy one if you can find one. There's nothing to touch it on the market. It leaves my Alesis Midiverb III in its wake!

This is a basic pedal, which means that you have the instant gratification of knob, twiddling, no screens or paramaters to scroll through. YAY!

This is about as close to T.C. Electronics quality in a delay pedal as it gets. The sound is very pristine. The echoes are very natural sounding, not a lot of coloration like some units (namely the line6 delay modeller). I've tried this pedal through several amps including a bogner shiva, a bad cat, and my personal fave, a fender vibrosonic (with a 15" speaker) It sounded great through all of them, but the bad cat really let the true beauty of the delayla's transparent and pristine sound come through, more so than the fender.

I'm not sure yet, as I've only had it for a few days. I'm confident that it'll survive, 'cause it's made by the guys who designed the old T.C. electronics pedals. Need I say more?

Like I said, I just got it. I'm not sure what kind of customer service they offer.

I'm very pleased with this unit. I'm an avid effects user/collector, and this is quite easily one of the best sounding pedals in my arsenal. It is certainly a step down from the freakishly wide array of possiblities that the line6 delay unit offers, although it offers more than the L6 in the realm of overall sound quality.

I bought the device couple a months ago and I'm very satisfied with it. It's very easy to use with its four controls, no patches, just set the sound by using the controls. Manuals are not needed. Be careful with the repeat, the sound may begin to oscillate if the repeat control is set over clock 12.

The sound quality is exellent as a vintage sound from a endless tape echo. The output is stereo, the sound comes from the second with a delay . The result is even better if you connect the second channel to another amplifier. The best quality is received when using tube amplifiers.

This is much better than my ZOOM 2100. Today I want to use Dalayla because of its sound. I think the analogue technic is the key factor in this. It's maybe difficult to simulate a vintage sound with a signal processor, the result becomes sterile and cold.

Before I bought the device I asked some technical things from the Danish company. I got the answer (e-mail) very fast. The Finnish dealer said that they have problem with deliveries because of lack of components. Their WEB pages could give more detailed information about this exellent equipment. Delayla is quite expensive, if you compare it with other effects including much more features.

I'm mainly playing instrumental like Shadows. I like a clean guitar sound. I think the best sound is created by using a tube amplifier and equipment like Delayla. Delayla is expensive but it gives value for your money.

This is my first weekend of using this, but the pedal allows (actually, encourages) me to focus on my playing and not the pedal. It sets the mood like candlelight. To me, ease of use is not just how easy it is to get a good sound of something, but how hard it is to get a bad sound. I found the DeLayla very intuitive to use, easy to get inspired by and difficult to be technically or creatively frustrated by. Before this pedal, I bought and quickly returned a DODFX96 Echo FX, which required a lot of tweaking and had a frustratingly small margin for error with regard to knob settings and even the power suppply. This delay has its own power cord and is truly plug and play. There are no patches to edit -- this is all analog, baby! The Tap footswitch seems useful for when you want twice as many repeats. The Tap level sets the volume of the second (tap) delay. To me, that's the only of four knobs (Echo, Time, Repeat) that requires more than a second thought of decision-making. I'm giving this category a 9, however, because when Repeat is all the way up, the unit will repeat the delays louder and louder until the thing goes into massive Bucket Brigade feedback, which does not end until you switch the delay off. I'm not sure if that was an oversight or cool noise-making allowance. But it's certainly one way of very easily sounding bad. There is no manual in the proper sense, just a dual-purpose Carl Martin catalog / sample settings for all their pedals. This is my fourth Carl Martin pedal, after the Compressor-Limiter, Parametric EQ and Noise Suppressor. I'd say that next to the Noise Suppressor, this one is easiest to use and be confident about your settings and sound.

Sound quality is excellent. The echos are haunting and very warm. It isn't noisy at all - in fact, I put it AFTER my Noise Suppressor, so the noise gate won't trim any of those pretty echos. I've tried it before the noise gate as well, and there is no extra noise this way.

My signal path is:
Guitar - Vox wah (optional) - Morley Little Alligator volume (optional) - Carl Martin compressor - Carl Martin 3-band semi-parmetric eq - Big Briar Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser - Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive - Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner - - Carl Martin Noise Suppressor - DeLayla - MESA/Boogie S.O.B. - THD Hot Plate - Mashall 1960 cabinet.

From the compressor to the DeLayla, all the pedals are Velcro-mounted on a Furman SPB-8 pedalboard, and wired up with George L cable.

As previously mentioned, the DeLayla only gets "noisy" if you have the Repeat knob turned up all the way. The echos are highly consistent in tonal quality and loudness, thanks to the built-in power supply, I believe. That wasn't the case with the DOD FX96 I briefly owned, which could sound great for about 5 minutes and then start to crap out, as its innards started heating up or the power supply started heating up.

I think the Edge would approve of this delay. I'd say he could get his sound with this, as could Scotty Moore. I'm just trying to be me.

The one sound I wish I could get but can't is Van Halen's 800-ms Cathedral delay, which I once applied to one of my own songs. This only does 500 ms. But it's about half as cheap as the Big Brial Moogerfooger delay. It's also less noisy and smaller than the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe, by the way, which also does up to 500 ms.
I would like to try this on vocals, which I haven't gotten around to yet. There is no stereo output, which may be a disappointment for some folks.

It seems solid. I've gigged more often than not plugging straight into an amp, so gigging without a backup delay would not be a problem.

I'll take a point off for that feedback that can crop up if your Repeat knob is all the way up.

I've never dealt with the company, which is in Denmark. Sending this thing out to Denmark to be repaired is something I hope I won't have to do. I would like to e-mail them to pick their brains about using the Semi-Parametric EQ with electric guitar, and I would certainly expect them to respond. They seem to be reputable, have a decent Web site and seem to care about the quality of the products they produce, similar to the Danish T.C. Electronic.

I play bluesy, sometimes jazzy alternative rock and pop. I've been playing about 16 years. This pedal suits me very well.

I've had a love-hate relationship with guitar effects in general over the years. For recording and performing, I had taken a hiatus from them, but the Vox wah and Carl Martin Compressor drew me back little by little, long after I decided thay my Roland GP-16 and Digitech RP-10 compromised my tone more than they were worth, especially the RP-10. I may still use the GP-16, but not in the signal path of my amp and speaker cabinet.

As for analog pedals, I decided to go whole-hog several months back and get a pedal board, since part of the reason why I wasn't using my Carl Martin compressor was that it was a pain to take it out of the box and set it up.

DeLayla completes my all-analog pedal board nicely. This is a fun effect - as much fun and as high in sound quality as my Moogerfooger Phaser - and well worth the price.

You could get a Rockman Stereo Delay for nearly $100 less on EBay, but this is way more portable.

I wish it could do 800 ms of delay, and a stereo output would be nice. But you can't argue with something that sounds great and doesn't require much futzing.