Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

This is a 70's Deluxe Memory Man. Simple 4-knob setup. No manual required. Be careful not to set the level up too high. Use that to match the volume of the guitar with the device disengaged. Feedback doesn't need to be set much past half-way unless you want to create wild, flying saucer sounds. The only drawback is that you have to twiddle knobs to change the sound, but that's how analog things work, so I don't really have expectations of presets and all that stuff.

This is an analog delay, which means the sound is nice and warm--sort of like tape without the hassles. It isn't really noisy when the level isn't set too high. When you max the level, it isn't quite as clean.

It coexists nicely with other devices and the sound is exceptionally sweet through a Fender amp (my preference).

NOTE: if you have one of these, and the echo has any sort of high-pitched whine in it, the trim-pot for the clock needs to be adjusted. It's best done with an ocilliscope. Some people think this is a defect, when really it's just a matter of internal adjustment. See Customer Support below. If tape has a sound quality of 10, this has a 9.

Built like a tank. Simple design. Reliable components. It might not work if you ran over it with your car or immersed it in beer, but apart from extreme abuse, it should last for longer than the average career.

Superior if you get in touch with Howard Davis, the original designer. He's on the web. Absolutely first rate to deal with. You will not be disappointed. He knows more about these creatures than anyone. Howard gets a 10. EH, I don't know.

The best for the price. If it were stolen or lost, I'd have to get another because it's about the best vintage device around for the price. I don't know about the new ones, but the original DMM is a classic.

same as all the rest. I bought mine back in 1979.

Mine sounded great and I used to have a lot of fun with it. One night, at a party, I was just making a bunch of wild and spacey echos with it and it was so outrages that my friend got sick and threw up. He thought all the wierd sounds were in his head! LOL! He never drank again!
So, if this thing can stop people from ever drinking again...well just think what it can do for you!

I abused the heck out of it but finally fried it by placing it between a Marshall 100 watt head and a 4x12 Marshall cabinet. (weell I never stopped drinking). Just fried the input circuitry i guess and I eventually just threw the damned thing away.

Now i use a Boss DD-2 Digital Delay and am quite happy with that. Oh, and my Marshalls now have effects loops! LOL!

You know, in 1979 $200 was a helluva lot of money!!! I was making $3.45 an hour back then!

The Deluxe Memory Man is fairly easy to use but be careful... the smallest move of the knob changes the sound a lot. Manual is basically useless, mine was only one sheet of paper with very little info, but trial and error is the best manual anyway. I just bought it yesterday (brand new)and so far it's been very different than I was expecting.

I play and 80's Japanese Strat with G&L stock pickups in the neck and middle positions and a jb jr. minihumbucker in the bridge. I use the "real deal" vintage Rat, MXR Dyna-comp, all ran into my 65' Fender Bassman head thru a Marshall 2x12 cabinet. I'm getting an amazingly warm and sparkly sound all at the same time. I haven't had any noise problems yet and I played for a couple of hours straight. I've even noticed that if you turn down the delay, chorus and feedback and turn the level to about 10 o'clock you can get an amazing boost that seems to enhance the already great tone I'm getting through my bassman/Rat combo. But I didn't buy it for a boost I bought it for those U2, Radiohead, Coldplay, Phil Keaggy delay sounds, all of them easily attainable with this unit. My only beef with it is that the intial pick attack on your string that you hear is very quiet, sometimes you can't hear it at all. So if your looking to use the delay to establish a rhytmic sound (where the streets have no name)you have to adjust to the initial pause or quiet first stroke of the string. I'm used to my Dan-Echo pedal which basically just repeats the first note so I'm still adjusting myself, but the tone is worth it and the Chorus/Vibrato thing is awesome, Not to mention the great slapback you get if you turn the delay knob low, man it's blues heaven if there ever was one. Beware if the feedback knob though if you turn it too high like around 12 or 1 o'clock,... watch out!!!

So far so good. Only had it for 2 days though. I'll keep the Dan-echo until I get the hang of the little pause but then it's gone.

Haven't needed any yet.

I've been playing for 8 years and this pedal is way more than I was expecting. So far it has exceeded my expectations. You can really get lost in the CHorus effect it has... warning don't play it after eating any greasy food or gorging yourself, it can make your head swim and that's not a good combo. But it can be great to watch others feel it at a show and blow chunks everywhere! I Love it!

Hey, it takes a little time getting it right, but this thing has REAL sound capability, not digital bullshit machine-noise like boss delays or thoses danelecto pedals that are absolute dog crap. And, YES, I bought the EH Deluxe to get that specific U2 sound and I GOT IT! so all you heavey-metal marylin manson goth grunge motherfckers can all go to hell. I even throw my Yami ES7 and my Roland X6 synths through it and I get all-kids of original and warm tones. The only thing I use the manual for is to slap the shit out of my dog when he interupts my musical creativity. One time, I knocked 'em clean out for about 20 minutes... all the while I played a continous riff of "where the streets have no name." and..I was high on pain-killers which was a moment of pure bliss. Eventually, the dog came to and my narc buzz wore off...

The sound quality is excellent if you're looking for a raw, authentic effect tone. it's not a clean pedal and you can expect some noise. but why in the hell is everyone switching it on and off during live play? just set the damn thing and leave it alone... or use a quiet DOD a-b pedal to swith your signal path.

Never let me down yet.... probably 'cause I don't stomp on it like a stupidass like you goth satan-worshiping clowns.

If this pedal breaks. I'll make my dog swallow it. Then ship the doggie corpse to PETA (UPS GROUND DELIVERY of course)

I play Rush, Van Halen, Journey, Boston, the Who, Genesis, U2, The Police, Duran Duran, Eric Johnson, TSO, and such. I've been playing 15 years and own a home studio full of top-price gear. Wolfgang guitars, Yami / Roland synths, Steinberger basses, Line 6 amps, Digitech processors, digital recorders, eV PA spaekers, Behringer mixers, hog-tied women...you name it, I got it. My favorite thing about it is that I am now able to closely replicate the U2 tones. The neighbors are probably SO DAMN sick and tired of hearing Pride, in The Name Of Love for hours on end and every day.

Fairly easy pedal to figure out. The one I bought had (still has) some quirks ; sometimes it would work and sometimes not....read about he reliability down below

My setup consists of hollowbody guitars (Epiphone Sorrento w/ P-90'S being the primary guitar) going into a Danelectro Daddy-o, then into the DMM and finally into a Fender Bassman. Noise isn't really all that much of a problem. The Memory Man has some really cool sounds on top of the actual Delay that comes out when you start turning the knobs...Very fun stuff. The delay itself is nice and vintage sounding. Ghost-like echos..which is what you expect with analog. I've been able to get mid-eighties Killing Joke, Eddie Cochran and Duane Eddy out of this thing pretty easy. Just took some time experimenting with the knob settings. The pedal really adds a lot to the overall tone, even when I'm not plugged into the Bassman. With the Drive all the way up, there is a slight bit of distortion that tends to creep throught from time to time. Somewhat unpredictable. Usually that's not a bad thing for me considering that I generally play fairly noisey music anyway. It's suppose to have Vibrato AND Chorus and to be honest, I really can't hear the chorus ...just the delay and vibrato.
If you're looking for a CLEANER , more predictable delay , digital would probably be the direction you'd want to go. However if you love analog delay quirks and such, this is a great pedal.

Like a few people, I'm having some problems with the reliability of this pedal. A bit depressing really. When I bought it on Ebay , I knew it might have some gremlins roaming about. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy the pedal for about 2-3 months without much of a hassle. Then the damn thing wouldn't really work that well. I'd show up to practice and I'd have to tap it a bit to get the delay to kick on (bad ground / loose delay chip) Well, finally the delay chip fell out and so I had it repaired at a local guitar shop which ended up costing me around $35. Not bad, considering I only paid $100 for it and I've seen these go for $200 and up. Well... it's only been about 3 months since the repair and now something has gone terribly wrong....at least it sounds like it. Tonight, the delay function was working, I clicked the footswitch off, clicked it on, no delay......... Tapped it a bit on the bottomside, power light went off and then a very loud BUZZZZZZZZZZZ/ HUM was all I got ....-sigh- Damnit! I opened the bottom cover and couldn't seem to see any noticable damage so I'm guessing the footswitch is bad.....Maybe the shop will know what the hell is going on. Not too sure if I feel like shelling out more money to get this fixed right now so, I may get a NEW Danelectro Dan Echo as a replacement (for backup if nothing else).
Why the hell is this thing in a thin, flexible sheetmetal housing anyway??? I guess I've always been a bit nervous about that aspect of the pedal.

Great sounding pedal. Probably the best delay I've ever played through. Because of the reliability issues though, I don't know if I'd get another one, if I lost it, or it just suddenly blew up on stage....However, I really love how my tone is greatly improved by this pedal.... And now that I type that, sadly, I will probably submit to it's demands and get it repaired ONE MORE TIME, so long as it's no more than the last repair.

It has some knobs. But with little tweaking you can get some good delay sounds.

A little too dark sounding, but the main problem for me is a TV-like high pitch squeal that this pedal has (it seems that most of the people doesn't hear it, but it's really annoying to me). I've talked to some guys in an effects forum and they said it was common in analog delays. Anyway, I think it's still better than most of the digitals out there.

I had to replace the switch that came on it and had a DPDT one installed for true bypass. Besides that, I haven't had another problem.

Here in Brazil it's virtually non-existant. But I e-mailed the company in the US and they answered me the following day and offered me to check it for US$ 15, I guess. The bad part is that the transport would be a lot more than this.

An expensive and dark sounding unit, but better than the digital ones anyway. If it wasn't that noisy, I would give it an 8.

The five knobs are easy to adjust with your toe while playing and singing on stage. With the edge of your foot you can push the Level knob up to boost the signal to your amp: providing searing tone for leads! I found this out because one time I left my distortion box du jour at home by accident for a gig, but was able to get more breakup and sustain by riding that Level knob with my left foot. It is very easy to get great combinations of echo/chorus with this unit. However the setup to this box is very unique. The modulation effect (chorus or vibrato) is bound up in the delayed repeats themselves. So your initial pick attack is totally dry and the subsequent echo repeats are wet with vibrato or chorus. This is what gives that haunting sound. Because of this feature the delay blooms with lushness. Once you get the hang of this aspect of the pedal you can get a wide array of sounds easily. I have a few memorized combinations of knob settings that I can dial to for each song and I always get the same desired effect. You can nail early Andy Summers sounds with the Delay set fast and the Chorus and Blend set higher. This pedal is a new wave toolbox unto itself. This is the delay the Edge used on the those early/great U2 records. You can get everything from strange Bowie guitar sounds to Jimmy Page slapback (with Chorus-Vibrato low or off). Works on vocals for Lennon slapback as well. Pretty versatile unit.

I have not found this unit to be noisy as others have said. It is actually so transparent that at subtle settings it is hard to tell if the unit is bypassed or not. (I wish it had a indicator light to show that it is engaged though.) Unless you can afford and maintain an Echoplex tape delay this is the best sounding analog delay out there. The repeats are very musical and detailed yet warm and lush. It is almost as if there is wow and flutter present, like a recorded guitar! If you want carbon copy repeats like a digital delay this is not for you. If you turn down the chorus/vibrato the delay will sound more focused however. It can get extremely close sounding spring reverb effects and of course perfect slapback and bathtub reverb (Blend 6 o'clock, Feedback 12 o'clock, Delay 6 o'clock, Vibrato 5 o'clock or off). I have used the Memory Man on vocals in a club that usually used a rack delay and the Memory Man sounded better, especially since the band was doing this sixies garage thing and the rack effects just didn't fit the vibe. Another note: if you have different pickup strengths in your various guitars, you can balance these differences on stage by adjusting the Level knob.

Very reliable effect. I did have to get it repaired once for a worn out part. I would use it on a gig without a backup since this was the only problem I have ever had with it in six or seven years.

After six years, I had to have the unit repaired for a scratchy switch. Shipped it to Electro-Harmonix and the unit came back a few days later fixed for free!

This is the pefect delay unit for my style. It covers the tape echo sounds and the new wave modulation sounds I need for my amalgamation of new wave, country and classic rock ala James Honeyman Scott (The Pretenders) or Elliot Easton (The Cars). Guitars I use are all lefthanded: Gibson Sonex Deluxe, American Telecaster, Japanese 80's Strat, and a DeArmond M-75T. My rig is comprised of a Fulltone '69 fuzz pedal into the Deluxe Memory Man with the echo out to a Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker 2X12 combo. I have used the Memory Man with the following amps and they all sound great with this pedal: Vox AC30, Hiwatt, '66 Fender Twin, Carr Rambler, Carr Hammerhead, Naylor Super Drive 60. Marshall JTM45, Silvertone 1482. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another one.

In my case, my first experiences with delays were with digital delays, in particular the Boss RV-3's (I used to keep two on my board, each with different setting, now I only keep one as a backup or for more precise/exact delays). So when I started phasing out my digital effects in favor of analog effects, there was definitely an adjustment period. When I first picked up my Deluxe Memory Man, it did take me some time to play around with the unit to match the settings I wrote many of my songs on digital to delay over to analog delay. Needless to say, the deluxe memory man really added such an amazing quality to those songs. I don't really like to use manuals because, as a rule of thumb, I like to intuitively figure pedals out so that you don't depend on the formulaic presets the manufacturer gives you, and it is more condusive to creating your own unique sounds.

In my opinion, the Memory Man sounds drastically different than any of the digital delays I have owned. There is a much richer, haunting, almost dreamier sound to this analog delay especially with the Chorus/Vibrato controls. You won't ever get the delay times/length that you get with a digital delay, but with 550 ms, the Memory man does what it does exceptionally well. If you are looking for much longer delays, and a palette of different delay types, I would suggest purchasing a Boss Giga-Delay or a Line 6 DL4 (I played with both, but opted for the lush sounds of the Memory Man. I actually had a bad experiencing with my first Memory Man, but I'll cover that below. Analog Delays are noisy -- well not really NOISY, but sometimes crackle or hiss the way a Digital Delay won't. But that is the beauty of Analog, those amazing crackles and hisses are part of the personality of Analog -- it's much more "organic" sounding and acting than a robotic digital delay that is more precise and "perfect", but not in a good way. Some of my favorite guitarist are Andy Summers, Robert Smith, Johnny Marr, the boys from radiohead, Joey Santiago, Kevin Sheilds -- people who are more texturalist type players rather than more straightforward rock or blues. Though a few of those guys play digital effects, they make up for it in their approach. I don't necessarily aim in getting the same sounds as these guys get, but I do get the type of delay sounds that I've always heard in my head thanks to my Memory Man.

Here is where I had a problem. I traded in my Original Mutron III Envelope filter for some cash back and a Memory Man (brand new). Unfortunately after about a week, the thing started crapping out on me. Every time I would engage the pedal, I would hear this ear popping crackle that was further amplified by the delay of the pedal. Then when I would lightly tap on the case of the actual unit it would feed and crackle some more. I brought it into a couple of places and they told me that it was more than likely a bad switch. I was able to contact EH, and despite what others have said about EH, they were extremely quick to respond to me, and offered to fix the pedal for free as long as I shipped it to them. Thankfully, I didn't have to do that and the Store where I got the pedal simply took my old one and gave me a BRAND NEW one. That was about a month ago, and I have not had any problems at all with my new Memory Man, though I do keep a spare delay on my board just in case (Boss RV-3).

Like I said, EH got back to me right away and offered to fix my Memory Man for free as along as I paid for shipping, so NO PROBLEMS>>>

I play more atmospheric/experimental rock in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai, Radiohead stuff with a shade of Brit Pop and Indie stuff like Blur, New Order, Shudder to Think, The Pixies mixed in with Jellyfish and the police. This pedal definitely does my music justice. The Memory Man has such a multi-dimensional sound that is haunting almost meloncholy. With a delay time of 550ms it is super flexible and goes well beyond the sort of slapback delays of other analog delays such as the Ibanez AD-9, Boss DM-2, or the smaller Maxon Delays. When my 1st memory man was crapping out, I was contemplating buying a Maxon AD-900, but those pedals are so friggin expensive that I decided to give the EH another chance, and it was worth it. My only with would be that it had a slightly longer delay time like the Maxon AD-900, otherwise, I think it rocks.

My current rig consists of:
American Jazzmaster (sometimes an Ebow +) --> Boss TU-2 --> Analog Man SD-1 (808) --> Boss HM-2 --> Analogman Clone Chorus --> Digitech Whammy I Reissue --> Boss RV-3 --> Deluxe Memory Man --> Fender HotRod Deluxe.

If someone stole it, I would collapse into fetal position and cry, and then go out and buy a new one and/or give the AD-900 a try (unfortunately, they no longer make this pedal, which makes it all the more expensive).

Hope this helps.

Pretty simple. The level control is very useful in getting the right amount of volume so there's no loss or boost when the effect is engaged. However I could not get my tone I desired becasue they sent me a unit that was not as advertised then refused to correct the problem (see customer service). This defect was very annoying in my experience with this pedal.

Very lush sounds from this pedal. Dreamy is a good word to describe it at more extreme effect levels but also does a nice subtle delay, chorus and vibrato. Another fun thing abotu this is you can "play" the pedal by twisting the knobs to get great, unusual analog sound effects.

Bypass is very colored( in a bad way) so I take two points off for an otherwise great sounding unit. Run it in a loop and your fine but that is an extra expense.

For as expensive as they are, they should be built better. The footswitches are weak and it feels flimsy overll w/ the exception of the knobs. If you play other well built effects such as Fulltone or even rugged effects like Boss boxes, you will notice how sub par these are construction wise.

This is why I won't deal with them anymore. They told me my defective unit was not defective and would take care of it. I was promised a working pedal, gotone that didn't work quite right(but still somewhat useable) and was told that sometimes they are sent out like that. This is my only service experience with them and they basically were zero help to me and treated me very poorly for someone who shelled out big bucks to buy their product.

The DMM sounds great, but suffers from bad quality control issues and a very poor customer service department. I'd recommend going elsewhere for your analog delay needs.

I'm posting this as a FYI for all the DMM users out there. You can very easily swap the opamps in this pedal for a dramatic improvement in tone. Substituting Texas Instruments TL072a chips for the stock JRCs. It takes 5 to change every opamp in the pedal for about 50 cents an opamp, so a good value for the money! DigiKey always has them in stock. You will, of course, void your warranty. The repeats are warmer and cleaner, noise floor drops a little, and the chorus/vibrato functions really come to life. Takes about 10 minutes, and most of that is getting the box apart and back together again. DON'T FORGET TO UNPLUG IT BEFORE DOING THE WORK! They new chips are socket style and require no soldering. Have fun! Keep the DMM alive! Feel free to contact for details.