Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

simple operation, everything is self-explanitory

some funky "vintage" sounds, noisy, massive build quality issues. to be honest any good digital FX processor can duplicate everything but the noise...

as stated before, some of the worst build quality I have ever seen in a "stomp box". if you stomp on this tin pile of junk, it will fail. to make it useable I added a hardwired 325ma powersupply, resoldered EVERY connection, did some point to point wiring on the board, reset and epoxyed every IC on it.(if you have strange noise/crackles/pops/hum, try it), installed rubber shock blocks to supports the flimsy board, replaced the pots and switches with decent quality ones. gig without a back up...NEVER, even after all the mods I still cringe everytime I switch it live. the only cool thing about this pedal is, because I don't really care if it blows up I added a rheostat to the power supply input to "brown out" the power (pulls down to 12v), and the delay quits working, and the pedal makes a great smooth crunch. a rather expensive overdrive pedal. but unique

fixed it myself, BTW for a made in the USA product, everything inside is made in ASIA

don't care if it blows up, would not care if it was stolen, would never buy another. this unit alone has made me stay away from NYC electro harmonix products.

For all the guys who are having trouble with a distortion pedal, put the memory man into ur amp's effects loop. that makes everything INFINITELY better.

Lots of knobs, but very easy to use. Lots of useable sounds, it just takes time to find your settings. The feedback and self oscillating makes the pedal. The chorus vibrato is a sweet extra.

Ok, here is where the controversy begins.I have an original DMM not the reissue. It has 2 delay chips, not 4 like the newer ones. The post date it to 91-92.
I have had my DMM for 5 years or so. Its noisy, not true bypass, and has a strong tendancy to distort at low volumes. Stock i would give it a 5 just because I had to run it in my effects loop or at the very front of my chain just so it wouldnt overload the input buffer. The mild distortion if fine but when it sputters so bad it cuts the signal, thats not good. I now realize that mine is over due for an adjustment. Thats what all of the trim pots are for.
I recently replaced the opamp with a TL072 modern dual opamp. WOW big difference. The overloading is gone, and the beauty of this fickle beast is back and shining. I love this box, alot. I have used a DD-6 since it came out and loved it. I set it for tap mode and use a truebypass loop so it never leaves the tap mode. I will still use it, but only for the tap function. The DMM takes top honors on my board. After the mod i give it a 9, but because of the stock issues i will give it an 8.
Here is my set up. '94-96 G&L ASAT or Fender '72 RI Tele Deluxe/ Ernie Ball Vol/ Heavily Modded Crybaby/ Keeley Blues Driver/ Fulltone FD-2/ Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive/ Heavily modded Vintage Rat/ Modded Phase 90/ Boss OC-3/ BYOC Chorus/ Boss DD-6 w truebypass loop/ Modded Deluxe Memory Man/ Boss TU-2/ Matchless Lightining w tone tubby ceramic

Its not the most reliable box out there. It sat broken on my shelf for almost 2 years, untill I was able to fix it my self. the legs on a voltage regulator or Mosfet looking thingy were left too long and eventually separated from the board. While inside, the wiring was a mess, solder joints werent that great, it looked like a few random parts were used and the switches are cheap.
I will use it without a backup only because i dont have the money for a backup. Although, it would be a good idea to get one. I will be rehousing mine very soon with new switches, and wiring.

I have never dealt with EH.

If it were lost or stolen, i wouldnt immediately run out and buy one. I would be super pissed, but i would use my dd-6 for a while and think about getting one again. As fas as true analog delays go, its and excellent value, and imo the best. But I might replace it with a BYOC delay someday, even though its digital, it will self oscillate, it has a high cut filter,its much more reliable and around $60.

I've waited 15 years to write a review for this pedal. That's how long it has been a staple on my pedal board! It's analog, so it sounds very warm and smooth. It's super-easy to use, the knobs are pretty self-explanatory. I don't think I ever got a "manual" for it. My particular model DMM is from the early 90's (with the built-in three prong power cable).

I never really try to get the sounds of other artists when I incorporate pedals onto my board; what's most important to me is its usability with my own music and sounds. This pedal has its own very distinct sound to it (even when not plugged in). I'm a bass player, so most guitar pedals sound really wonky through a bass rig. This pedal definitely has the balls to cut through anything and works best of all the delay pedals I've tried on my bass.

I use an old solid state Peavey Mark III and Mark IV heads (alternately) through a Mesa/Boogie 4 ohm 15" speaker cabinet. I find the DMM to be surprisingly quiet when off in this set up. I find if you are going to use a buncha pedals on bass, the solid state amps from the 80s are perfect for it. The main thing you have to watch out for on this pedal is the feedback knob. I have seriously blown a 15" speaker right out of it's baffle by keeping the feedback knob up high! I didn't feel bad, it was a crappy Hartke cabinet... heeheehee!

I can absolutely depend on this pedal. The only things that have broken on it are the on/off switch and the chorus/vibrato switch (they are so crappy compared to the rest of the pedal; I have a Bass MicroSynth that had to have the same type of switches replaced). The only thing I had replaced was that clunky kachunka footswitch. I could hear it click through my amp and that just wasn't going to work. With the new switch, it's been solid as a tank.

Being that I have scoured NY and LA to try to find another one of this same version of the DMM (they all sound different to me) and haven't been successful, I suppose I've been forced to gig without a backup and it's still going strong. It's honestly never let me down.

My experience with EHX has been great. I just recently sent in all of my old EHX pedals for their ten-year tuneups and the guys were super communicative and helpful. I got my pedals back in a timely fashion, too.

I play everything from electronic music to punk to world music and this thing has been on my board for 15 years. It is by far my most important pedal and I've only done one gig without it my entire career.

I use the DMM with the above specified amp(s), along with some other pedals: EHX Bass MicroSynth, Crowther Prunes & Custard, an old Boss CE-2 Chorus, Barker Assmaster, and a host of others that rotate in and out. Of these pedals, the only ones that never leave the board are my trusty EHX pedals. They're great for bass!

Honestly, you just have to plug into it to get a great sound. I was able to get a great sound without touching a single knob when I demo'd it. As far as finding "your sound" it may take some time due to the vast amounts of cool tones you can achieve. EH manuals are pretty vague and usless but if you just twiddle with the knobs for a few minutes you can quickly figure out what they do.

There are 2 things I want to say before commenting on the sound. 1) I hate giving 10's for sound because tone is VERY subjective and 2) When you buy a piece of gear like this PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE play it through a quality setup before bashing it. My rig is a '65 Blackface Bassman Head/Showman 4x12 cab-->BK Butler Tube Driver-->EH Holy Grail Reverb-->Boss DD-3 delay-->ABY with a '65 Fender Twin Reverb RI and the EH Deluxe Memory Man. Okay....I really do not know how you could not get a cool tone from this pedal. If you are a fan of delay, reverb, vibrato, slapback echo, ambient swirls, feedback, and chorus you will love what this pedal can do. I use it in conjunction with the Twin and the clean tone is the very best I have ever heard.

I have bought a few EH pedals including the Small Clone, Holy Grail, and now the Deluxe Memory Man. They seem a bit light and flimsy from the exterior but for some reason I feel very safe with them. The first 2 have NEVER given me a single problem and they work flawlessly. I cannot speak for the DMM yet but I have seen plenty of old ones still kicking from the '70s so I'm guessing that I won't be having a whole lot of trouble. Probably 100X more reliable than the dreaded Line 6 DL-4.

I can't say, their products haven't crapped out and I haven't had to deal with them.

My stylistic influences are Jimi Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and a few others. I like having the diversity to play nice clean passages, loud distorted madness, and everything inbetween. This pedal helped me complete a huge part of my rig that I had been missing. Being that this sucker is freaking expensive and hard to find, I cannot say if I'd get another if I had to. I might try out the Boss DD-20 because of its versatility and footswitchable options but it really doesn't match the DMM in tone. I really wanted to save 100 bucks and lie to myself but I just couldn't. I highly recoment getting this pedal over the Line 6 delays, Boss delays, and probably even some high dollar rack delays. It's just amazing.

It can get out of control but its simple enough once you learn how it reacts. Its analogue so stuff can jump ahead of you, its a sensitive bit of gear.

I've never written a review only read them but had to do it because I got this pedal (old one, no chorus/vibrato with blue on front) for free coz my boss didnt want it. I just love it so much! Everything it does, the preamp sounds great, the echo is lush and you can make it go freakin mental just by messing around with it.

I even have a new song that uses the pedal as a background drone just going woooonnnnnnnnngggggggggg, its unbelievable

I think this one was built in the 70's

Just so so cool a pedal. Its not like its terribly practical like a DD6 or whatever but its just got such a vibe about it and its so much fun to play...its basically an instrument in itself!!!

If you've used a delay before, make that analog delay or sim, this should be fairly self explanatory. Knobs are: Level, Blend (wet/dry signal), Delay time, Feedback, and Chorus/Vibrato amount (I leave it off). There's a switch to switch between Chorus and Vibrato. It's a really simple pedal honestly.

Manual? As usual EHX makes pretty sorry manuals, but they're fine for most people using pedals.

Sound quality. Well it's a beautiful analog delay. The day I got it - I plugged it in and told my girlfriend to listen to this new pedal - her words were - "don't you already have one of those?" and... "wait.. that one sounds REALLY good, like warm melting."

That's my review.

It sounds like "warm melting".

Beautiful!

Not sure yet. It's used. It looks ancient, so I'm guessing it'll stick around awhile longer. Plus as others have said - it feels better built than some of the other EHX pedals. It feels really solid.

Oh actually! Whoever owned this before must have had a problem with the On/Off switch at some point, because they've hard-wired the unit on. So to turn it off I have to turn off my power strip. No biggie.

Don't plan on dealing with them....

I play mostly postrockdronenoisefuzzguitarsolos.

If it was lost or stolen? Yeah I'd try to find another one - or a Boss DM-2 if I came across one cheap.

DMM is a great pedal. If Behringer can even come close with the clone they have coming... I'll be absolutely blown away! Oh and buying 4 of them...

I have never reviewed any other pedals, but felt compelled to review this one. As with most Electro-Harmonix products, it takes a while to find the sweet spot. I have had the Big Muff PI, the 16 Second Delay, the Small Clone, the English Muffin, and now the Deluxe Memory Man. This is by far my favorite pedal of the group. I no longer have the other pedals, but this one remains.

The manual is kind of useless and the website is not helpful. I found that Analog.Man has the best website for understanding this pedal and the components that are used and the histroy of the pedal.

I love the sound of this pedal. I purchased my used. It is an older reissue, it came with the wooden box. To me this is the sound that I have been searching for in a delay pedal, wonderfully musically and mystically warm and rich. This produces the sound that I have in my head. The delays are nice with out the terrible clock noises that some other pedals have, the sound is not sterile like some of the digital pedals I have tried. I play mine with an Asher Lap Steel (or a Bacorn Five String Mandolin) through an Analog.Man Juicer through an Analog.Man Mini Bi-Chorus into the DMM and then into a Swart Space Tone (Champ style) Amp. I also have a Teese Wizard Wah and a Analog.Man Fuzz that I use now and again. I would recommend those too. I was reluctant to purchase because it has a large foot print, but I find that it is not that bad actually. It is not particularly cumbersome and for the sound it is worth it.

This seem more sturdy that some other EHX pedals I have owned or tried. I am not to worried about it frankly.

I had a problem with my 16 second delay and they took care of it without hassle.

Really a nice pedal and well worth the cost.

its very easy to get a good sound out this pedal
id say 8 as there are so many tweaks you can perform with those juicy chunky dials !

the tone of this pedal is amazing , you can get sounds like U2 or brian eno .
It has this tremolo setting that i never heard in another delay pedal which makes your guitar sound like a steel lap guitar , you know a country and western guitar , the exfects always sound great i play it through roland cubes and ive recorded with it straight into my 4 track and i was still happy with the sound .
My favourite artist is the ozric tentacles and they use a lot of dotted 8th delay , you can get these time with this pedal but the tone is just amazing , its kind of noisy but aparently thats due to the rare chips this unit uses , it kind of sounds like a record player hiss very warm .
you can loosed yourself in this pedal , also you can set the delay to be very faint in the background but with lots of feedback and then your clean sigal is loud and you can get a wonderful atmospheric sound !! A++
9 because of the analog hiss , but hey if you want no hiss go buy a digital pedal ?

it big and chunky ,but needs to be treated gently , compared to say the boss dsd2 or dd3 its a gentle giant, playing live i would recommend caressing it barefoot or with socks , not your heavy duty booties !
id have no choice but to use it without backup , if i had a tour and i would have a backup if i had the money .
its probally not a good idea to compare it to other delays just take it as it is a unqiue pedal but quite delicate

ive emailed them and recieved promt helpful repsonses .
its an easy pedal for your locaL guitar shop o service as all the parts are big inside

i play spacey jazz , and it works great , for country twang its got that too,
for spaced out funk , yup it covers that erm , reggae echos yup !
the list goes on
, if it was stolen i would get another one .
i own about 5 other electro harmonix pedals ,i could wish for anything else , its perfect !

This is just some extra info on top of the reviewers who mentioned the use of a loop for the Deluxe Memory Man.
First of all: I am talking about the 4 knob version [the older one] without the vibrato and chorus.
Overal I feel the same as most users here that the pedal works best in the effectloop of your amp [or something like a dedicated loop-pedal like the Boss LS-2]
I use a compressor after the Memory Man, just to boost the repeats a little and to even out the sound, so you get an overal cleaner sound. After the compressor I use an Enhancer, just to brighten up the whole lot a little. The result is a great sounding analogue delay which can repeat fairly long and has its entirely unique sound.
It is true that you need to learn to play with delay, as any delay does dictate your style, so the delay will decide how you play and what kind of sounds you can create. It just takes some time and experimentation, but I guess no beginner will start with a Memory Man, since they can be fairly pricy, even second hand ones.

The sound quality is unique, not as clean as a digital delay or even somethihg like the Boss DM2, but then you get a unique sounding delay so really.................

Well- built pedals with their own unique design. The footswitch may feel a little different from a FET switch like a Boss pedal, but then you are getting an EH pedal eh, with all the vibe and uniqueness.

There is plenty info about EH, and I hear a lot of good words about Howard Davis who used to design the older pedals for EH. Have not dealt with them so far, but I would not hesitate to get in touch if needed.

I regard them highly since the EH have their own vibe and are truely unique sounding pedals.