Guyatone MD3 Micro Digital Delay

3 knobs and a switch!

I own the Boss DD-3 and I have always been bugged by the overall sound! so I decided to take a chance with Guyatone. I must say I noticed a very nice difference when comparing the two! the Guyatone was the clear winner on repeated notes, they were clear in a good way! where the DD-3 sounded compressed or something? notes sounded dead compared to the guyatone? if that makes sense?

I have also been bugged that when I set the feedback high on my Boss (not all the way), they would die off abit too quick after several repeats! the Guyatone seems to be alot more nicer! it repeats alot more in a smooth way, the notes will very slowly die off, in no rush, u get the feel that the notes are walking away in their own pace

on another note? I was worried about this sound issue with the pedal some mention? what sound issue?? its a silent as anything! I have it connected in a chain using a boss adaptor, no problems at all. I think some people here might be using an un-regulated adaptor? or maybe an amp loop? I plug in direct at the front of an amp (guitar input)

Forget what some are saying! Guyatone beats Boss!

I look after my pedals and these are built well apart from the rubber ring thing? but I dont use batterys

I had a Digitech but never felt hapy with it! then I swapped for the famous Boss DD-3! then I found was never really that happy! I wanted a Boss DM-2 but have you seen the prices u have to fight for these!! so when I heard about Guyatone, I took a chance and im very happy :) I feel like ive missed out on something better when everyone always goes on about Boss! some think their the best ever but thats not true, they do have some great pedals but there is other company out there that have greater gems waiting to be found :)

My MD3 sits on a choice of two different floorboards I've designed.
The small board holds my :

'Red Witch' Pentavocal Tremolo
'Guyatone' MD3 delay
'Smart People Factory' Greenline Overdrive
amp channel selector

The board is the size of a piece of paper mostly and the small size of the MD3 makes it possible. It sits on the floor and I toggle between a Slapback 75ms to about 500-700ms for a little ambient woosh. This is my Blues board.

Too bad the Guyatone isn't true bypass. It just might get replaced because my other pedals are made with the best componants and have true bypass.

It's the 'sound' that keeps it on my board. Warm and musical not a shrill tone in its body.

I'm a delay nut. I want to own all the best and most unique pedals.

I have the Line6 DD4 delay/looper with Keeley mod,

I have the Digitech Digidelay that has 4 seconds of delay/loop time. use it on a stool or table so you can weave new loop with old loop by hand.

I have the MagicStomp that has eight delays working together. You can
design some cool stuff with that power.

And I have the little MD3. Of all my pedals the MD3 is the only one that maintains the note as you turn the rate knob. No gltching.
(one exception, the Digidelay will do the same thing when in
'delay with mod' mode, but no other modes do it) The Guyatone also excels at spaceship sounds as well as washing machine agatation or how about a washing machine being hurled into space. The MD3 is probobly the easiest pedal to get freakoid sounds out of all the pedals I own.
The Line6 can get real bizarre as well. Delays are like crayons, you choose a color and paint. I like having the choices.

But the Guyatone is the one on my board that I play out playing blues and jazz.

The rest are mostly just sitting waiting for my next summons os them.

Sweet little delay that sounds great
Takes up little real estate
Capable of many sonic tricks

Oh, I use a 1-spot power adapter and daisy chain that to all my pedals.
Totally quiet, I use GeorgeL cables and a Monster Guitar chord.
This really helps RF noizzze.
I have a G&L ASAT as my main ax and a sweet little Jay Turser Les Paul semi hollow body that I've replaced just about all hardware and put in Antiquety pickups. Sounds great and plays great.
This all goes into my Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. By itself this amp sounds great. That's why I want true bypass pedals.

So, will the MD3 stay on my pedalboard? Or will I opt for some real expensive true bypass delay.

Well let me just check it out!!!

Very easy to use. Maybe if you had down syndrome it would be difficult.

the only thing about it is the damn battery cavity was designed by someone with a mental handicap. Criminy. I just use an adapter (Boss - and no, it won't kill the unit).

I use a Fender Telecaster, ESP EC-400 and a Schecter C-1+, all modified heavily. I run these through my MD-3, and Boss TU-2, and sometimes a Line 6 DL4/Digitech Whammy(new) and a Boss TR-2 tremolo unit.

Good Lord! I love the way this thing sounds. I've played a lot of delays, and this beats most of them, except the analog. It is limited in it's options as there are no modes, or tap tempo (UGH!) but it sounds amazing nonetheless. I use it to recreate lead tones from Fall of Troy/Facing New York/As Cities Burn.

very good effect, the repeats are very warm, not tinny at all. inspiring pedal.

I could depend on this thing forever, it's amazing. I am actually going to buy another and use them for two different delay sounds. whee.

never dealt with 'em. Heard they're great though.

I play newer music, no hardcore or whatever, but a lot of post-hardcore/indie/experimental along the lines of The Fall of Troy, Thrice, yada yada. I also like Explosions in the Sky, and Sigur Ros. This pedal does good things for me.

PRetty easy, the 3 knobs are basic, and everything kinda goes w/out saying.

SOunds is very high quality, especially considering the price. The delays are not so exact as to be sterile, but not so muddy as to be.. well, muddy. A good in-between for those who cannot decide between an analog delay, or a digital delay

Looks good

never dealt with them

This does exaclty what i want it to do..., it can do crazy delay sounds, or subtle slap-back/reverb sounds. I don't see why you would need soething like a delay modeler pedal at over 200 bucks, when this little guy already does all the types you could ever want.

i've had this pedal for a few weeks now, and am very pleased with my purchase. 3 knobs and a switch, very easy to use. manual's basically just an ad, but the pedal's easy to figure out.

here's my setup (try not to laugh)...epiphone SG special>guyatone md3>M-Audio Mobile Pre>Dell PC running FLStudio and some amp sim software. i'm saving up for an amp (considering a Fender FM65R or a Peavey Classic 30).

i can get the sounds i want from this delay. pseudo reverb, sound on sound, dense textures.

as noted in previous reviews, there seems to be some noise when the delay time is turned all the way up. this is annoying, but doesn't negate the plusses of this pedal.

with a power supply, yes i can depend on it. before i go that, no way. it went through batteries really fast.

never dealt with them.

i've played guitar (acoustic) for a few years, just got an electric in the last couple of months. i'd buy this pedal again. one of the key selling points for me was that it self-oscillates with the feedback at 10.

i call my music experimental ambient soundscapes. shameless plug...head on over to www.soundclick.com/blueonblue to hear some. i haven't yet posted anything using this pedal, but plan to soon.

Very easy to use, couldn't be simpler.

Wow. This is what I always hoped the Boss delays would sound like. By far the best floor unit delay I've ever played. It does exaclty what it claims: reproduces the exact sound that goes in. The delays come back sounding clear and beautiful, not colored in any way (many delays make the repeats sound metalic and cold). It doesn't sound like an analog delay at all though, it just ends up sounding warm because of the fact that it reproduces your notes perfectly and cleanly. Highly recommended.

I knew all couldn't be perfect. Unfortunately there is a flaw in the MD-3's design: the bottom plate is held in place by a piece of rubber!! I know it sound ridiculous, and believe me it is. I can't imagine how they thought this was a good idea. I don't use batteries so there's no need for me to take that piece of rubber off, but it still just seems flimsy. The case is made of metal and the top part of is is built solid.

Haven't needed it.

I play everything from jazz to rock, funk and blues. I play on recording session of all kinds, on my own projects and live. I'm a professional musician in Los Angeles. I've been playing for about 15 years and have owned and played A LOT of effects - I'm very picky about sounds :)

No problems here; just play with it for a few minutes and you'll know the stuff.

Like some other people have mentioned: if you use it with battery or original wal wart ( not included, of course ) you will be happy with the transparent and realistic sounds it produces.
IF you use a non original wal wart like the ibanez daisy chain that I use this thing can get noisy and starts buzzing when switched on.
Also, in extreme feedback settings your echoed loop will get louder and louder as well as the background noise.

Because of the crappy rubber lit design you pretty much have to use external power. Because of this I will give this Category a 7

What can I say: They claim it to be the best digital delay. Bullcrap.
I don't know what kind of shit the R&D guys where smoking when they thought of using a fucking rubberband to hold the bottom lit to the unit. This is really bad. I was aware of this problem, but did not think it would be this bad: I got this stomper, brand new, unpacked it and removed the rubberband- no problem there. Then I took a 9V battery connected it and then tryed to place the battery into the thight spot. Why the fuck do they have to make it so damn small? Can they make it at least big enough to fit the stupid battery in it?
So the battery is not flush with the bottom which means there is no way you can put the lit back on because you can not put the rubber band on. Because of this you pretty much are stuck with the need for external power.

Never will deal with them, because obviouslly they don't think very much of their custumers. I mean, how hard can it be to add a few screws??

Though the sound quality can be quite good, I've decided to never ever buy another guyatone pedal again, regardless of the quality as long as they insist on using this brainless design.

I'm sitting here listening to Nels Cline, the great soundscape jazz guitarist who, like Bill Frisell like to manipulate their delay pedals with their hands while playing. I've been on a hunt for delays that can make sounds like those guys.

The Digidelay by Digitech has a great feature with the feedback knob.
You play a phrase up to 4 seconds then turn the feedback to 10.
This will create a loop you can play over without adding any more to the loop. Turn the feedback to 9 and the loop will slowly fade as you add more licks. The MD3 will do the slow fade thing but it does something else.

The Guyatone is the only pedal I've found that can simply sweep smoothly through the pitchshift when turning the delay time knob without degrading the signal. Most other pedals will cause spastic osilations and stepwise pitch when turning the speed knob. Of course that is a good thing also. But the cleansweep of the MD3, that was the missing delay effect in my tone quest.

Both Bill Frisell and Nels Cline get their sweeping pitchshift with an old version Electro Harmonex delays with slider controls. The new ones have stepwise pitchshifting, not smooth and connected like the old ones. But the old ones are all but impossible to get in good shape.

The Guyatone has stayed out of my radar for years but all that has changed.

I own a lot of delay pedals. I have a Digitech Digidelay, a green Line6 delay/looper, a Boss Loopstation, a Podxt Live with all its delays, and none of that can do what the Guyatone can do.

I went to my local hip music store and checked out all these other delay pedals. The T-Rex Replica, the Boss Gigadelay(yuc),the Maxin,
and the Guyatone, the last one I tried, and man, the vibe was so different, I immediatly forgot about all the others pedals. And that was before I discovered the sweeping pitch. In no time I was making monster cricket soundscapes. Too cool.

Here's my most recent floorboard setup

Homebase is my Podxt Live for killer electric guitar

on another board is
MagicStomp > Digiverb > Guyatone > Digidelay > 1 or 2 Tech21 PowerEngine 60 poweramp/cabs.

I use a PedalRacks true bypass strip to switch pedals in/out of sound chain. Reeal cool.

My sound is clean of unwanted tonesucking.

I use the MagicStomp for acoustic playing along with the other delays and it can really get quite amazing.

I'm not going to use a battery. It will have a permenent home on the floorboard that will sit within easy reach of my hand without bending.

Very different

Pretty simple to use and versatile. Three knobs, three delay times (short, medium, long). Eats batteries, and I would recommend that one use a power adaptor.

I play a tele thinline, standard tele, and a rick lap steel through a homemade mosfet boost, md-3, and a double muff (soon to be a Blackstone overdrive) into a modified silverface deluxe. The pedal is quiet, small and sounds generally nice. I play in a country-ish rock band and could describe us sounding a bit like Crazy Horse, but that is only for a starting point. This delay sounds nice and clean and does a good slapback. I jack up the feedback knob on the pedal and the ambient textures/primitive loops I get are really cool. This pedal is supposedly true-bypass (in all honesty, I don't care that much, I don't notice any loss and I don't think anyone else will). Careful what you put in front of it. I had this pedal at the end of my chain and I lost a lot of definition (the slapback just wouldn't slap, but almost sound like reverb). I also wish the level was louder. It is supposed to max out at unity with the dry signal, but I wish I could get the feedback to overcome my dry sound.

Crappy gasket system of enclosing the battery. I use a power adaptor, and I would say do the same and tape up the bottom, you might lose it if you dont.

Otherwise, I wouldn't call this thing rugged, but I don't trash my stuff.

n/a

All in all, pretty nice delay, and way cheaper than most. I would probably buy another, but I also like old Memory Mans. When I bought this I tested it next to a new Stereo Memory Man (not impressed), the Guyatone Tube Echo (way noisy), and the md-3 (small, clean, cheaper, better range of sounds). As far as the digital v. analog debate is concerned, buy what you like, not what gear sluts tell you to buy. This thing surprised me.

Firstoff, I am not an effects guy, firxt time I am gonna put an effects pedal between guitar and amp, and I am kinda surprised it is this kiddo pedal that I like so much, cause I have never been a big fan of delay with respect to my own sound.

The most important feature this pedals gives me is magic, magic in WHY I bought it, and magic in what it does to my sound. A couple of months ago I heard jimi hendrix's voice in my head saying "Buy Guyatone delay pedal". Now you might think this guy is really crazy, I'll even allow that maybe I am a little crazy, but I don't care, this is what happened, it has happened before, I don't know why jimi hendrix would bother with me, I am not a lead guitarist, I play mostly rhythm, but how the heck can I rationalize an irrational act and who am I to argue with Jimi? So I read up on this Guyatone delay pedal at Harmony-Central, and I say to myself "It's not expensive, it's got good reviews, sound is supposed to be clean, pristine" and I find this online dealer guitareffectspedals.com and smooth smooth I receive the pedal with the adapter, yeah I bought the adapter after reading all that criticism on the battery replacement process, don't be a cheapo, buy the adapter. ANyways I open up the carefully packed item, and lookee here ha ha, the l'il fellow is built real small, kinda childlike looking with its soft blue color, and the black elastic band sealing device, and I begin to laugh. "This is a child's toy, and I am happy about that, cause I am thinking it will have innocence and glee and maybe be original...

Cause I am looking for something to add to ambient ethereal tones, something to shape bluesy tones, and something to play around with fading repeats. I am kinda interested in hearing the Aphex guitar exciter pedal, and maybe I am a little bit zoned on this, thinking a delay pedal will give that cause I have owned Ibanez Analog Delay and tried EH Memory Man, and the sound to me is kinda washed away, and I am looking for something to enhance my natural direct ALIVE sound that I get by plugging the guitar direct into the amp, with no effects. SO yeah I was suspicious, even with Jimi screaming in my ear "PLAY PEDAL"

So I remove the black elastic separating the bottom plate from the unit and I remove the sealed free battery that I got and stick it in the drawer. Maybe I will have to use it if I tour Britain where the 9 volt adapter won't work, and maybe then I will be screeching in agony, but with the Guyatone adapter I bought I get smooth operation. There is a l'il pamphlet describing the toy, its controls, and what they do.

The IN and OUT are clearly marked so older guys like me with reading problems will have no problems, also 8 year old guitar fanatics. I plug the l'il fellow in, and go for minimal settings and I hear MAGIC. The magic is the ENRICHING of the tone, what this blue buddah pedal performs, it is kinda like a hippie flower child era pedal, at least to me. My sound is not washed away which is typical of my past experiences with delay, couple years ago used the feedback on the delay built into the Zoom NRS 1044 entry level multi-tracker, but sound not as clear not as pure nor as ENRICHED as with the Guyatone MD3. The blue buddah spatially rearranges my guitar tone, giving it a 3D sonic perspective kinda like putting on those 3D glasses for movies.

There is a mini 3 way plastic-switch, kinda sized for a 2 year old, which gives 3 different delay time ranges:

1: 20 - 160m/sec
2: 80 - 650m/sec
3: 330 - 2600m/sec

The very nifty level control combines the dry guitar tone with the processed tone, at 0 no processing takes place, at 10 max setting, the resulting signal is split 50/50 dry/wet.

It is mucho easy to get a good sound, the buddah gonna love you

The feedback control has high FUN factor, in that I can use it to make ghostlike orbs, shadow sounds, decaying repeated sounds, verrryyyy FUNNN. At extreme setting you are writing ghost horror

AMaaazZzing! enchriches tone, creates spatial rearrangement, displaces wavelet sound, seduces you, tickles you, makes your girlfriend jealous, but only untll she plays with you after you play with your MD3. THen you are radiating hot love, and she likes you alot.

I plugged my gibson nighthawk into both my Roland jazz chorus 120 amp, and my traynor tube amp. A/B'ing the sound with the MD3 ON/OFF. The bypass is very good, but I am not that crazy to turn it off, cause it makes me sound better, makes soaring chords a treat. The sound out of the Traynor is clearer, more detailed, and I found this sound very amusing to play around with the the Feedback control. I can time my repeats to the tempo and this is much fun. I had great fun modifying the Rolands' woofy sound ,taking the zingy chorused sound and jazzing it up with the MD3, ha ha, great spongy air of tones.

Playing the Traynor through the overdrive channel with lots of gain, and low volume, I could mess around with sustain using the MD3 to project the notes where I wanted them to go. High Fun Factor.


I also tried the pedal with my Larrivee acoustic plugged into the Roland, lotta fun ha!

yes, I rely on it, cause I can bring velco wraps or tape and fasten the pedal onto my amplifer, so it don't move when I get clumsy. At home I have been fiddling with it alot, I put it on its owh chair, it deserves a chair of its own, I now call the chair the Buddah chair, in honor of the MD3 digital delay dream, my smiling blue buddah.

With the adaptor the MD3 performed great in the studio, noiseless, a charming guest, didn't drop ashes on the carpet.

great! Had assistance and some hand holding from Ryan at guitareffectspedals.com, he got the pedal out the door right away, great service. I asked some questions through email to the Godlyke site, and got prompt helpful response

Now I sent an mp3 tune showing off what the pedal did for my guitar tone, and Keven the owner of Godlyke, the distributor of Guyatone, likes the sound and the tune so it will be posted on the Guyatone website, you can hear for yourself the "Buddah effect" ha, but that has nothing to do with this review. I am not being paid by Godlyke. This review is independent and written according to personal taste.

Go check it out, it is a fun toy, don't be a cheapo, and buy the Guyatone adapter, It cost me $17.95 for the adapter, end of battery problems.

I play bluesy stuff, and some ambient ethereal stuff, I am kinda thinking to maybe buy another one, it might be cool to go through 2 amps with different settings, or to put 2 of them in a row into 1 amp, the first one doing the enriching trick, and using the 2nd MD3 to play around with tempo repeats. I dunno, something to think about.

This pedal is "my secret weapon". It doesn't seem to do much sometimes until I turn it off and compare it with the dry sound. I come to my senses quick enough, and turn it back on. For $99 bucks I am glad I obeyed Jimi, ya know, he ain't being wrong with me yet ha!