Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy

Pretty straight forward and self explanatory. Relatively easy to use and intuitive.

Godin LXXT -> Barber Silver LTD -> HBE Phaser - > Red Witch Empress Chorus -> AC30.

This pedal's sound, for the money, is right on the edge of being acceptable. It has two drawbacks. 1) It boost a grating section of your upper mids even with the mix knob off. This both makes you considerably louder, it also radically changes the sound of your guitar for the worst. 2) Frankly, it seems the EHX has mislead everyone about the actual delay time that you can get from the unit. At maximum, you might be about to get about 360 to 370 ms of delay. THis is a far cry from the 550 their literature states. I'm not sure why they would essentially lie to us, but you will find posts all over the web about this issue. For these two reasons, I find that the Memory Boy does not meet my minmum standards for effects.

I am not sure how to rate the MB in this category since it seems to come from the factory defective. The switch and and other components seem pretty light, but this is a cheap pedal. So, you get what you pay for.

HORRIBLE! Stay away at all costs from EHX. When I contacted them about the delay time descrepency, they wanted me to sent it to them (at my own expense) along with a $12 money order! All together, it would be about $20 to have them fix their own defective product! I have dealt with many, many effects companies, but I have never been treated so poorly in my life. My advice, save a few more dollars and buy a MXR Carbon Copy. Or pick up a used one off eBay. Its better all around at least Dunlop stands behind their product. I had an issue with mine and they just shipped me a new one. This is how you treat people. If you can avoid it, do not buy from EHX. They have no idea how to treat their customers.

This pedal is not for the professional and is especially not for the "tone snob." Along with its design or manufacturing problems, the customer-no-service of EHX means that I will be steering clear of EHX products in the future. And I suggest you do the same

For a pedal that does all this one does there's bound to be a steep learning curve. The negative reviews are probably form folks who have not spent enough time with this pedal

I use vintage guitars and amps and refuse to use pedals that color the sound whether on or off. This one does well in both areas. With some experimentation you can get any thing from a delay to a poly chorus sound. It's as much a modulation pedal as a delay. A faus flange effect is possible in the vibrato mode if you adjust the knobs correctly. It's fabulous.

I have several EH pedals and they keep on truckin'-very sturdy

I received a pedal with a bad power supply. One call to EH and a new one was shipped directly. They're very friendly.

For the price, you can't beat it. It has a unique, pristine sound and it's very can get just about any modulation effect you want-just have to play with it for a while.

Easy.

Modulated delay sounds cool. A bit lofi, but very good for the price.

The bummer is, when the blend knob is lower than say 11 o'clock, the pedal adds a noticeable amount of gain; it adds volume/gain to the dry signal. When the blend knob is at 12 o'clock, there's unity gain, but if you like your repeats to be quieter than the initial signal, you have to deal with a volume increase in the dry signal when you engage the Memory Boy.

Not so good from my perspective. For my taste, when the repeats are as loud as the initial note, they're too loud.

This was a deal-breaker for me.

Didn't keep it long enough to know.

I posted in the EHX forum about the issue I had, and within a week I was corresponding by e-mail with someone in the engineering department. The fellow explained to me that the gain was there by design to prevent a volume drop off when the blend knob was at 12 o'clock, and that it couldn't be corrected because it was hard-wired (not correctable by adjustments to any internal trim pot).

They couldn't solve my problem, but I give EHX credit for responding to me and explaining clearly what was up.

If the pedal had an output level knob, it'd be a keeper. As it is, the volume jump when the pedal is engaged with quieter repeats is unacceptable. I returned mine.

Perhaps they'll address the issue in futures runs of the pedal. I hope they do, because aside from the volume increase issue, I liked the Memory Boy.

This is a follow up review. After having my Memory Boy for a while, I noticed something that escaped me at first, and it's kind of a drag. The issue is this: engaging the effect boosts the signal, pretty noticeably. Even with the blend knob turned full clockwise (eliminating the affected signal and isolating the dry signal) there's a somewhat pronounced volume increase when the Memory Boy is engaged. Bummer if you want to turn on and off the delay in the course of a song. Not a problem at all if it's an "always on effect".

I posted a topic in the EHX forum about this issue, and emailed some staff members who are members of the forum. It took about a week, but I finally got in touch with someone in the engineering dept. at EHX who explained that the gain increase from engaging the pedal is there by design--it's to prevent a volume drop when engaging the pedal.

I'm not sure why this is necessary. I wish the Memory Boy had an output volume control like the Memory Man does, which would eliminate the issue.

Customer Service basically told me there's nothing to do about this issue, which is too bad. But they did get back to me, which is good.

Jury's out for me. I still think the effect sounds pretty good for the price. The repeats could be warmer. The modulation is nice using the triangle waveform mode with lower modulation depth. It's especially cool when controlled with an expression pedal. The Leslie speaker like effects that are possible are way cool. But the volume jump from engaging the pedal is a problem. I can't decide whether to keep or return the pedal based on that issue. Oh well.

It's easy enough to use. Getting a good sound is as simple as turning it on. The manual would be helpful to someone unfamiliar with delay effects in that it defines and describes the perameters. There are no sample settings unfortunately.

The expression pedal alteration of delay time is tricky. Changes in delay time seem to happen mostly in the final stretch of the heel to toe sweep, and they happen very quickly--it's difficult to control with precision. It's also necessary to carefully set the delay time knob on the Memory Boy (which sets the maximum length of delay) and the knob on the expression pedal (which sets the minimum length of delay). At first I thought the unit was malfunctioning because it was making some ugly, really really lowfi sounds with toe forward on the expression pedal. After experimenting for I while, I realized that it's necessary to set the delay time knob on the Memory Boy at a very low setting (before 9:00) to get usable sounds. Otherwise the expression pedal can push the delay time past what the bucket brigade chips can handle and the unit produces ugly, lofi delays, with only 1 or 2 repeats. Once everything is set up properly, it works well enough for treadle operated switching between to "preset" delay times. Smooth, slow transitions are difficult though due to the abruptness of the transition towards the end of the expression pedal sweep.

Using the expression pedal to affect modulation rate is neato. Leslie-speaker like sounds are possible.

I think it sounds quite good. It's a little more lofi than the Memory Man or other, more expensive analog delays, but hey, it's selling for under $100. For the money, it's a great value. It's a very affordable, totally decent sounding analog delay with modulation, and expression pedal capabilities. Sweet.

To my ears, the square wave-form modulation isn't very usable, the pitch-shifting is too atonal to me. Experimental noise freaks will love it though. I use it with very subtle triangle wave-form modulation: chorus or vibrato mode (both are very nice) with the modulation knob lower than 9:00. Anything higher is very extreme warbling indeed, even in triangle wave-form mode.

I use a Strat or a Les Paul with a bunch of effects into 2 Fender Blues Junior amps. The delay signal is routed to just one of the amps, so one is delay affected the other is "dry". I think my setup is bitchin'.

Using the modulation I can get very close approximations of sounds from Early U2, The Police, Adrien Belew et al who used the Memory Man analog delay in the '70s. I can also get good enough approximations of sounds made by Steve Howe of Yes (who used an Echoplex). The Memory Man makes delay sounds that are bit more gooey, but it's 3 times the price and 3 times the size, and doesn't have the expression pedal option.

I have an EP-3 Echoplex tape delay, which is the gold standard for delay sounds. Analog bucket-brigade delays are only an approximation, so I can't give this a 10. Even as far as analog delays go, more expensive ones do sound better. But for the price, this is nice.

I've had it less than a week. Time will tell.

Haven't used it.

It sounds good, has cool options, and was cheap. I'm thinking of getting another one for use in a stereo amp configuration (one for short delays from one amp and one for longer delays from the other amp).

I'm a bluesy, psychedelic player (Hendrix, Eddie Hazel, David Gilmoure are some favorites). This pedal is great for my style.

I used to have an MXR Carbon Copy, which I liked very much. But I had it for about a year and then the switch failed. Since the switch is mounted to the circuit board, it isn't replaceable. This one sounds about as good (a little more lofi), was cheaper, and has the added benefit of the modulation controls being on the outside of the unit (the Carbon Copy needed to be opened up to alter the modulations settings--*** pain), plus expression pedal capabilities. I'm hoping this one has better longevity too.

Options, sound, and price give it an overall value of 10. Great value.

well ive been playing with this thing for 3 hourse straight and i cant get a decent sound out of it at all

ive headr so much about analog and how great it is, i usualy use a boss dd5 but thought id give this a go and and am very dissapointed. it doesnt sound warm to my ears just a warbly uneven racket i cant get any decent delay out of it at all. i play streets have no name in a cover using the dd5, cs3 compressor ce chorus and verbzilla for the shimmer and i cant get this any where even ballparking my exising rig.what exactly is it for, chorus? trem? delay? i cant get any of these sounds out of it. the most annoying feature by far is the efect level, when you turn it up it ups the wet but lowers the dry ??? what fool designed that i can hardly hear the repeats?

only 3 hours old, so cant say looks solid though

never contacted them

i paid ??75 for this junk i wished id got the mxr carbon copy. massively dissapointed in this product and i doubt its true bypass as is claimed coz i can hear a definate change in tone when its engaged then disengaged. i would urge every one intereste to try ot out before you buy. if you dig it buy it. but i hate it, its going on ebay tomorow

I wrote an earlier review. In it I claimed that the Electro Harmonix Memory Boy could do what the Memory Man can do or close to it. That's a stupid statement. And untrue. I've had them both here for a few days and the Boy is nothing like his elder counterpart.

Please remove my review if you can. Thank you very much.

Not the easiest unit to dial in a sound. all of the options are labeled well enough and are easy to figure out. The main thing that bothered me about the unit was the fact that the blend knob was 100% dry to 100% wet. Once the knob was past 12 noon, the dry signal starts to get cut back. As far as getting a good sound, that depends on what you want. your classic delay sounds were few and far between. Your experimental sounds are easier to get...pretty much a 20/80 split between the ranges (useful to experimental)

The sound was good comming out of the unit, the repeats were clear (but not necessarily warm, I've heard digital delays in analog sim sound warmer...see timefactor or even an echohead) As far as lushness, wich is what i'm looking for in an analog unit, it was lacking next to my Carbon copy. They really are 2 different beasts though.

The modulation really get out of hand fast, again could be good if thats what you're into. within the useable ranges, the Mods sounded great though!

My guitar is a sienna (ash) HSS american strat, through a USA Fender Blues Deluxe (also played through a 65 watt music man) and a myriad of pedals (BBE orange squash, Fulltone OCD, EHX holy stain for fuzz, Catalinbread Semaphore, MEMORY BOY, MXR Carbon Copy, Marshall Echohead)

so to reiterate my main point, this was NOT as lush as the Carbon Copy (although I really wanted it to be!)

Well, the first one I had was Dead on arrival, but thankfully the ebay store I bought it from was fantastic with the return. I had the working unit for two weeks and sold it. I've never had a problem with any ehx products though.

Never had to deal with EHX directly, heard they're good

well, I'm into spacy rock from the 60's and 70's as well as some post rock experimental, shoegaze, classic rock, grunge, 80's metal and have even taken up Classical guitar again (2 grades away from my ARCT) I've been playing for 16 years.

Was this a good pedal? yes, as far as budget analog delays are concerned. I did choose to keep the carbon copy though. The layout was better (could be adjusted with my feet) and the delay was more dynamic (especially when its driven with the ocd). If you want something to get crazy sounds out of, albeit not useful musically, this is a great pedal

It's pretty easy to use, it's kinda hard to use the modulations well at the beginning, but the manual explains it all properly. Other than that, it has the normal knobs a delay has: Delay time, feedback, blend so it's pretty intuitive.

Ok, this is the good part of the pedal. The repetions are really warm and defined, but not muddy, unlike other cheap analog delays. So, the normal delay sounds really good, but what's cool is that it can also go over the top with the modulations. The modulations make the delay time oscillate, therefore modulating the pitch of the sound too. There are three settings for the modulation wich are: Vibrato, EXP pedal, Chorus. Vibrato is fast modulation, EXP pedal is medium speed modulation, and chhorus is slow modulation. Then tweek the Depth knob to the desired position. On lower settings, it adds some pitch modulation. On Higher settings though, this where this pedal becomes unique, on vibrato, it does some crazy pitch shifting on each repetions, and on chorus, you hear your delay time going from super slow to super fast, wich sounds pretty effing crazy. Then there's the switch for choosing between triangle wave and square wave. Put it on the square wave position to get even more unique effects. It's imposible to summarize everything you can do with that pedal only by words, you have to hear it.

Only had it for two days, so i cant tell, but it's solid

Never dealt with them

The best thing about this thing is the price, it's only about 100$ and it sounds fantastic, I know I talked alot about the modulations, but seriously this pedal has a fantastic delay sound too. I also own a MXR Carbon Copy, and the MB is way better, really. If you like to experiment with new sound and like unique pedals, then this one is for you, if you just want a straight foward delay, then get the Mermory Toy