Empress Effects Superdelay

It does take a bit of messing around with to get the hang of it. But the time is well spent and you will love this thing and all of its features. The diagram printed on the front side if the pedal is very handy!

I run the Empress through the effects loop of my Mesa Lonestar Special. In the front of the amp I use: BB preamp>>MI Audio Crunch Box>>Tortuga Standard Issue Phaser>>MI Boost 'N' Buff. And in the loop have the Empress Trem, Sunny Day Delay, Keely ad-9, and the Empress Superdelay of course.

The superdelay reacts with all of my pedals, guitar, and amp flawlessly.

This is hands-down the best sounding delay unit I have owned or heard.
((I have owned: Deluxe Memory Man, DMM with Hazarai, DL-4, Echo Park, Ibanez ad-9, ad999, Boss Giga Delay, Dr. Scientist Sunny Day))

It is not a complete replacement for a great analog delay, but I really love the sounds it produces and I find it more usable than any analog delay I have owned.

I am more impressed with the sound quality alone in this pedal than any of the others listed. When you add all of the features on top of the sound quality, the Empress just destroys everything else.

MY ONLY COMPAINTS ARE:
It can be hard to recall what your presets were after you saved them because there is no digital display. I would recommend writing them down just in case the memory resets (which I have NEVER had happen).

I wish it had a multi-head delay setting like the dd-20. I love mulit-head delay! And the empress could easily pull it off being digital.

No problems or issues as of yet and I have not heard of anyone having any.

I have owned an unhealthy amount of pedals in the past few years. I can tell you how frustrating it is to have an unreliable pedal. I have had several instances with EHX and Line 6 where the effects don't work straight out of the box.

What a relief with the Superdelay.

Seems very solid and intelligently built.

Haven't contacted, but the 4-year warranty for registering is a big plus!!!

This is the finest delay pedal I have owned or heard to date. I cant imagine that you would be sorry for buying it. It was between this and the T-rex Replica for me and I made the right decision. (Not to say that the replica isn't amazing as well)

The sound quality is incredible, all of the features and delay types make it very flexible and usable, and it seems very well-built and reliable.

Manual is clear.
It is easy to get a good sound but it does take a little tweaking to realise what a KILLER pedal it is.

So crisp, clean, insanely wicked sounds doing backwards effect with so many options. My deluxe memory man is now up for sale.
Seymore Duncan Antiquity pickups----vox real mcoy wah---SD--hughes and kettner duotone.
I never thought that a guitar could make these sounds.
This pedal sings like an angel.

just got it
seems like a tank
looks very well made
I will use without a backup, but who can afford two?

Customer support so far has been phenominal: instant responses to all queries, I trust Empress.

I am so impressed with this pedal, and can't wait to get an exp pedal hooked up and also get a better handle on ALL of the great options-- I just received this pedal today and jammed with it tonight--everyonehas fallen for it. Will send in mro comments as I learn to use it better

Well you will need to read the manual. The unit does a lot with relatively few switches, and no visual display, so this means multi-function and frustration if you don't read in. That said, this unit does not really have a bad sound in it. The manual is well written, delightfully homemade, and there is a tuition video on the website, and an excellent demo on You Tube.
surprisingly there is only one output, so you cannot run this in stereo

Oh my goodness, this thing is just the most angelic effect i have ever used. The echoes are fantastic with subtle to rich modulations and filters. Zero noise, even when used with a strat and valve amp

have not had it too long, but it has an industrial ruggedness about it. Very well made

Not dealt with them, but I think they are going to be something special. Seem to be a lot of boutique pedals around right now, but this stands out. I like the personal touch about the manual, warranty, box, serial number written in felt-tip pen. The fellows who made it put their name on the side, and you can speak to them if there is a problem.
You just don't get that with a Boss.

Been playing for years, have just never got good. i discovered early on nothing makes something simple sound better than a good echo effect. I don't know much about guitar playing, but sadly i know a lot more about delays. I have bought almost all of them, so you don't have to.
Tape echoes, rack units, stomp boxes, both digital and analog, done them all mate. The all time champion has been the Fulltone Tube Tape echo. That is brilliant, reliable, sounds fantastic and looks great. But it is time for the legend to move aside, because we have a new champion. This unit is the best echo unit a guitarist can by. And its a bargain.

I thought for sure with all the switches and knobs that I would be tweaking for days to find good mixes and sounds. I went ahead and ordered one since the website has a bunch of videos that I could reference to. It's been three days and not only did I find that I could find any sound I wanted, I haven't had to watch a single video!
My only wish would be for a display showing the preset value instead of scrolling through how many lights are lit, which to me doesn't affect the score. It's still a breeze to use.

I was immediately impressed with the clarity of this unit. I'm enjoying the use of the low and high pass filters which also give the SuperDelay added dimensions. The difference is remarkable.

Only had it a few days - but it seems very well built. Solid metal box, heavy duty switches, knobs are firm with good tension when turned, durable finish. I peeked inside and everything was tidy, neat, and well packaged giving me the impression that the builders intended for this thing to stay operational despite being tossed around, stepped on, spilled on...

Great communication. When I placed the order I had a question about the shipping and was impressed to get an answer almost immediately.
Having read other reviews on other forums, they take care of business.
I have a feeling that if I called with even a mundane question (like the other reviewer having trouble with his germanium pedals) they would answer the phone and help me with whatever I needed.
They're nice too.

I play blues, rock, some metal, some jazz, the teensiest amount of country, some funk, some soul...
I've been playing for 28 years. I've had a lot of pedals. good ones, bad ones, mediocre ones, and great ones. The SuperDelay is a great one.
I have high quality gear - Heritage guitars, prs, american strat, Traynor amp, Analogman pedals, budda wah, keeley, all boutique stuff. This pedal is a welcome and permanent addition to my board.
As I mentioned before, I wish it had a small led screen with a number for the preset. It's not a big deal.

Pretty easy to use, manual is quite clear
EXCEPT:

the mix knob have to tweak within a mm to get a decent subtle mix
very annoying!

Dissapointing in a few ways:

boosts the upper highs a lot so your sound is altered quite a bit and in my taste not for the better!!!
works bad with germanium treble booster and germanium fuzzes because of raising the highs I have to cut my tone knob at least 3/4 marks down which is quite a bit!!

Can't handle the treble booster being in front gets very ugly distorted

it also boost a lot of noise and generates noise whit the treble booster/fuzz but also with a TS808

all the options are great but the sound quality bothers me a lot

I have good gear, fender EJ/ Gibson goldtop CS/ plexi clone/ keeley/DAMM/BSM pedals

wouldn't really know have it only a few weeks

I'm so dissapointed with the soyund quality which also sounds digital
that I wish I had bought a simple analog delay the only thin great here are the presets but to bad there is no option of switching back to the previous preset.

the you tube clips are all with clean sound but with distorted sound it works not good, for this high price that's a shame

(update on my original review)

Even better in cranked band rehearsal environment! Seems to really sweeten the sound and not clutter it or colour it like a lot of other delays I've used before.

(update on my original review)

All good, except must drop it a point - simply because Steve is right; the power adaptor supplied must be used. My OneSpot just didn't have the grunt to push it. Hope I haven't permanently damaged anything in my chain :/. I was previously playing in low volume study setting, however in cranked band rehearsal setting it was painfully obvious I had the wrong power going into it! Woops... case solved, but means another adaptor to plug in. One point dropped simply for that, even though it's not a biggy. Just makes the unit ALMOST perfect for me...

Well, the photos on the website make it look so feature laden that you'd expect a physics degree would be needed to operate it. ENTIRELY THE OPPOSITE! This thing is extremely easy to use for the amount of features employed and most can be changed on the fly. The only thing that took me a little while to get my head around was the preset access and programming. With a little reading of the manual and some playing around, just the same as the previous reviewer I discovered that it is in fact a very intuitive and ingenious spin on a well used feature. Kudos to Steve Bragg for thinking of a better way of doing it without assigning extra knobs and dials exclusive to preset functionality!

Fan-freakin-tastic! I've had various Boss delays, a Line 6 DL-4, and a T-Rex Replica, currently own a Boss RE-20 Space Echo (which I do love, but it's a one trick pony) and also played and recorded through many other different delays. IMHO this unit beats them ALL hands down. I ordered it solely based on the total satisfaction I have with the Tremolo unit by Empress Effects that is also has pride of place on my pedalboard, and was so pleased to find the Superdelay exceeded my high expectations! I honestly cannot fault any of the settings on this pedal!! Every setting does exactly as noted.

My particular favorites are the reverse delays, the tape echo, and the miscellaneous settings. I play a modified Tele with custom Mick Brierley pickups through various boutique pedals, and into a Vox AC15 TVH predominantly. They all sing! The more standard settings such as normal and tap are still fantastic digital delay tones, but they truly get beautiful when adding some modulation and/or the high or low filter. Stunning.

More unconventional settings include the octave reverse setting (amazingly musical and hugely inspiring) and the miscellaneous, which I managed to get a very convincing chorus/flange type effect from.

No problems at all so far. Only issue I found was the manual notes different power polarity to the unit labelling. Had a fitting positive pin fitting to go on my 1spot daisy and it works like a dream.

Faultless. So far Steve Bragg has answered any queries within 48 hours max. He's even sending me a t-shirt for free!!

Lost or stolen? Firstly, the guy should hope I don't find him as I have a black belt in mixed martial arts ;P (not kidding). I'm a generally passive kinda guy, but if someone stole this, it would stir me up a little...

Secondly, absolutely replace it in a snap. Best delay pedal I've ever come across. Period. It covers all the sonic ground I care to imagine, within a solidly musical context, and even outside of that and into some crazy realms! It has been hugely inspiring musically and I can't remember having so much fun just searching a pedal's possibilities.

Lastly, I really can't think of anything else I'd want on it. It really does everything I need and is very intuitive in its use. I play in a covers band that plays a large range of styles and also an original Indie-rock outfit (www.myspace.com/thebrave) and this thing does it all.

On top of all of that, it is in a very compact casing, which although great for a crowded pedalboard, is actually not too small for operation.

I almost gave it a 9 instead of a 10 due to it's cost being more than most, but then when you consider the tone, features, and amount of thought gone into it, it is worth every cent and then some!

Steve Bragg is a genius IMHO. I thought the Empress Tremolo was wonderful. The Superdelay is an instant classic.

Much easier to use than I would have expected, was a bit worried about accessing the presets (there are 8 programmable positions) but it's extremely well thought out and user friendly. Much smaller than I expected not taking up a lot of space on the board.

Sound quality is extremely good (true bypass unit), sounds are extremely clean and you have the option for each setting to add either a high or low pass filter or to add fast or slow modulation. I think lovers of delay will be very pleased, up until now I've been using a Keeley modified Line Six DL4 which sounds quite good (much better than stock) but this has it beat. Great job on the reverse options, unlike other delay units which never really acheive anything useable, there are three options for the way you can trigger the reverse.

Solid, to use an over-used expression this is built like a tank, bullet proof for real. Haven't had it for long but so far so good, does come with a 2 year warranty which you can upgrade free to a four year so there is definately a lot of confindence in the product. Comes with its own power source, it stipulates in the manual that most power-alls won't work with this unit, quite true it needs its own power.

I bet it would be good, after my order which shipped in 3 days, over a weekend no less, I got an email from the owner/designer so they seem very freindly and accessable.

Some of my favorite guitar players are big delay guys so its always been my most used/favorite effect. I've owned several through the years from the stock boss pedals to line 6 stuff to the T-Rex Replica and I have to say that this guy takes the cake. The options combined with the easy of use and just the overall thought that has gone into this unit make it quite amazing. It seemed like each time I got a new delay I had to settle for it not having everything I wanted, this has got it all and then some I hadn't thought of. Great pedal.