Guyatone MD3 Micro Digital Delay

Relatively simple. However, I don't understand the very unneccessary overlap of delay time:

slow = 20 to 160 m/sec
med = 80 to 650 m/sec
long = 30 to 2600 m/sec

The two biggest problems are: The pedal is WAY too small at 2.5" x 4", and the knobs are also too small t ouse on stage in the dark. It disapears in my pedal board.

The pedal is Dark Blue, and you CANNOT see it on the stage when the lights are down or out.

Even in bright lighting, the lettering on the pedal is too small to read unless you bend down over it. What guitar player can or wants to do this in the middle of a tune?

I don't understand all of the the high points this pedal got in all the reviews below. I find the sound and tone of this pedal to be the most cold and digital sounding I've ever heard. There is no warmth at all to this pedal.

I have a Boss DD6 and the sound of the DD6 pretty much sucks, but sounds better than this Guyatone pedal in comparison.

If you like completely cold, soul-less, ice cold and useless tone, this pedal is for you. Otherwise AVOID THIS PEDAL AT ALL COSTS.

I would not risk gigging with this thing. The stomp switch feels like it could break fairly easily. The bottom is held on with a freaking rubber band sort of gasket. Come on, Guyatone, you have to be able to do better than this mickey mouse job. I mean, really, a rubber band holding the top and bottom together?

What a piece of crap !!!!

N/A

AVOID THIS PEDAL AT ALL COSTS. THERE ARE BETTER BUILT AND BETTER SOUNDING DELAY PEDALS OUT THERE.

SAVE YOUR MONEY !!!

Very easy to use. It has the standard three knobs for a delay pedal, one controlling the level of the effect, one controlling the time of the delay, and the last one controlling the feedback, which is the length of time the repeats continue. In addition to those three knobs there's also a three-position toggle switch that lets you choose between short, medium, or long delays.

OMG . . . . Wow!! I was stunned when I first heard this pedal and I'm still using it every chance I get. Just before buying it I had sold my Moog Analog Delay that I paid $700 for because it just wasn't doing anything for me. It always made my sound slightly darker, even when playing really high notes. I also got annoyed at the ticking noises it leaves you with when you have it set for a fair number of repeats. The notes degenerated into this "tick-tick-tick" sound that wasn't very pleasing to my ears, although from what I understand that sound is very desirable to some and it's known to happen with analog, bucket-brigade delay devices.

I bought this on a whim because I saw it had good reviews here and it was pretty cheap, especially compared to Moog's Analog Delay. When I plugged in and played through it I was blown away. I play a PRS 513 into an all-tube boutique amp and this creates some of the most beautiful delay sounds I've ever heard. The repeats are clear reproductions of what you play and they have just the right amount of sound degradation to make them feel like real echoes. They can be shimmering, bright, and clear, but they can also be dark and muddy. It all depends on what you're playing. The pedal will also self-oscillate at higher feedback settings so you can get those weird spaceship sounds out of it if you want those too.

My only minor gripe is that it's not true bypass but there are plenty of ways around that, and I can't notice any loss of tone when I don't use a bypass box to make it true bypass.

I have to take away a couple of points here because it's not housed in die-hard metal casing. I wouldn't subject it to the same rigor as some of my other more sturdy pedals.

I think it's superb. You can get up to something like 2.7 seconds of delay on this thing and the repeats are the most echo-like I've heard from any delay pedal. I know it's digital so that means it's supposed to be bad but I couldn't be happier with it.

This pedal is very easy to use. It has 3 basic controls: Level, Time, and Feedback. Level controls the strength of the effect, Time controls the speed of the delay, and feedback controls the amount of oscillation. There is also a 3 position switch which extends the range of the Time control.

This is the perfect sounding delay pedal! I use it for bass, but it sounds great on guitar also. I tried several delay pedals and found they all worked decent on a guitar but sounded thin on a bass. This is NOT the case with the Guyatone. It sounds great on bass!

This pedal is very solid. I'm not crazy about the removable bottom that's held in place by the rubber gasket. I think that could've been designed better, but overall it is a solid pedal that sounds great.

I bought mine used so I have no idea.

It's a great pedal. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a dedicated bass delay, or a pedal they can switch between guitar and bass. I love the fact that it is compact because it's easy to squeeze it in on a pedalboard, but it's so small that it can be hard to adjust on the fly.

A Real simple pedal to use. Has three knobs. Level, Delay Time, and Feedback. Along with a switch to adjust the length from short, medium, and long. Very easy to use. The only thing I wish it had was tap tempo.

Overall its a pretty good delay. It definitely repeats without much tone loss and it comes very close to the original sound. It's not hard to get a nice warm delay out of this tiny thing. It is very adjustable and you can have a lot of fun with it. If you were looking for an affordable delay that sounds great I would for sure go with this.

I have never gigged with it but it has never let me down in my playing. It may be small but it shouldn't break unless its an electrical thing or your just stomping on it. I would say its dependable.

For the price compared with the sound its a steal. If it were stolen or lost I would most likely buy it again, although I would like to give the Line 6 DL4 a try. This pedal definitely fuels inspiration.

It is extremely easy to use. It always delivers what you have in mind if you accept its limits. The manual is simple and puts even monkeys to the right track, but then even monkeys could do without it.

I play Fenders and a Gretsch. The MD3 is last in my boutique pedal effects chain, in front of my Fender Twin Reverb.
The sound quality is absolutely beyond expectation for a $99 pedal. It's digital alright but so warm, lush and inspiring that it doesn't matter, really. And very silent, too.
It can replace a reverb, it can land UFOs on stage, you can lay phrase upon phrase until you run out of ideas, or you can set a moderate speed with humble feedback and just leave it on to sip your overall playing into mysticism.
However. When I tried to pluck it with a battery, yep, the annoying sounds that other users have already told you all about it were there... I gave up the battery idea very soon (dear readers, it is a fact, the battery can not be put in properly or harmlessly, it is clearly a designing fault, full stop) and I used a power supply that eliminated the curious sounds for good.

With a battery, no way. I do use it without a backup all the time actually, but it's mounted. Plus if it dies on stage, I can still get the girls backstage.

Don't even know which continent they are on.

For now, it's a keeper. If it breaks down I'll throw it away and move on to something better, probably 4 to 5 times its price. Or I could buy 4 or 5 MD3s and hope one of them would make me consider it reliable. Don't get me wrong, though. I really like this little blue devil and so does whoever sees and hears it. It's just that it's like those girls you easily fall for them but they manage to somehow make you watch your back.

Very straight forward. It doesn't have that many features anyway.

That's where I have really mixed feelings about this pedal. I liked the character of the delay. A lot of people say it sounds like analog. I don't think it sounds like analog but it definitely has warmth. The repeats are clear and warm. Nice thing that you can twist the delay time on the fly and get your signal pitch sifted and time stretched in a quite musical way, if you're into this type of stuff, BUT...
In my opinion, there is a huge design issue with this pedal. The repeated/delayed signal comes out mixed with some ugly noise. The higher you turn up the knobs the worse the noise gets. That is something that in my opinion makes this pedal unusable. If you have the pedal on a low, discrete setting you might get away with it when playing live. On any other occasion the noise is too much to tolerate. Because of that, any creative musical potential of the pedal (like fiddling with the time knob on the fly) gets lost. Forget about studio use too. The noise was always present whether I was powering it using a FRESH battery or a REGULATED power supply. I ended up swoping it for a Boss dd-6. It was a straight swop with a guy I jammed with who had a brand new dd-6 and didn't like it. I thought the Boss had way more potential than the Guyatone. I got the dd-6 and never looked back.

That bottom holder is a complete joke!

Never had to deal with them.

As I said,...mixed feelings. I'm glad I got rid of it. I want to have one delay on my pedal board which can serve more than one occassions. The mainstays on my pedalboard are: a handmade overdrive with two channels, a volume/wah pedal and the delay (now the dd-6). All powered with regulated dead silent power supply and connected with George L's patch cable. I'm a fun of the "less is more" approach. For studio and recording I have a nice selection of some more toys to throw here and there if I need to.
The only way I could use the Guyatone was at a very subtle, almost reverb-like setting and nothing else. I've read a lot of complaints from various people about the same issue I had with this delay. Some people have come to defence of the MD-3 stating that whoever complaints should blame their power supply or whatever. Forget it! The thing is just noisy. Maybe there are quality control issues and half of the people get good ones and the other half get lemons...who knows? What I know is that although there is a nice voicing on the repeats of the pedal, the noise issue and other design flaws leaves little to be desired.

This little box is very simple to operate , much like an analog delay unit...but with up to 2.6 seconds delay..3 knobs,Level,Time, and Feedback theres a switch that allows you to go from more of a slapback range , to more of a common echo, to even a loop-like setting....experiment with the different settings...kinda hard to find a bad one, unless you put the feedback and level to 10!! and even thats kinda cool...

Im using an american fender chambered-ash tele w/stock p/u's and a re-issue fender strat with a bridge dimarzio humbucker into a HotRod Deville 2x12 (w/ JJ Tesla Tubes) ...I have a number of high end pedals I use in different combinations, all of which are true-bypass.This being the only non true bypass ,I usually have it on all the time for just a subtle amount of echo...I notice zero drain on my tone...the switch is also silent..it really is more analog sounding than digital ..it tends to get a little distorted when getting crazy using excessive repeats, so I'll deduct a point , but then again so do vintage echoplexes....

I have been gigging with this thing for almost five years...have not had a single problem...nor used a back-up...

N/A

I play alot of types of music from rock,country,blues,funk,jazz, reggae,jamband fusion,etc.. Ive been playing almost 25 years,I have toured extensively, done many a studio session ..I own alot of higher-end boxes,(fulltone,radial,keeley,etc)..to be honest most effects reviews are overhyped, but this pedal is worth every penny,completely blows away every other delay in its price range,(I have owned most of them)and rivals most of the ones double the price...I would replace this in a heartbeat, the one thing i wish it had was the true-bypass...but really has not been an issue thus far...overall Value Is a 10, but overall product is a 9

Very easy to use.This delay pedal has lots of great sounds.
It is digital but sounds and reacts like an analog pedal.
You can get any sound you want out it with little adjustments.
My model is stock and a small manual comes with the pedal.

Any sound you want is at your finger tips.It is very compatible with all my pedals.I am a Telecaster player and use lots of effects.
This delay pedal has a wonderful small,medium,and large switch that allows you to switch between three different settings quickly.
This is without a doubt the best bang for your buck delay available.

Very nice.I would gig without a backup.

I called them prior to purchase and was treated with respect.
They took lots of time with me and answered all the questions I had.

I play the blues and rock mostly.I would replace this pedal if something happened.I looked at alot of pedals prior to purchase.
This is a great value and all around winner in it's price range.I believe this pedal is under rated big time.It has a small foot print with is also nice for pedalboards.

3 knobs..how hard can it be?

all i can say is that guyatone md3 beats boss dd6 and dd3..or maybe a bit better than the dd3.dd6 is a joke.its not noisy at any of my settings well at least on mine.you can get a good delay sound on any setting.course it doesnt have those warp features and etc like the dd6 have but sound wise it totally beats dd6

for me it is..not too sure with others..

buy one and you wont regret it

it's pretty easey. three simple knobs and a switch to make the delay short, medium or long. there was a guy a few reviews down who apparently didnt like this pedal very much and gave it a 7 on the sound quality because of the difficulty he had replacing the battery. that just didnt make any sense to me. the 7 should have gone up here. but that guy must be a moron because the battery does fit (a tight fit, but it fits). just wiggle it around a little and it'll get in there. and it's really not that hard to put the rubber lining back on. the first time i tried, i had a little difficulty but once you figure out how to do it, it's really quite easy.

the sound quality is amazing. it actually sounds like your own guitar going over and over again. the way it's supposed to. that same guy who complained about the battery thing, also complained about the buzz he got when powering it up with his ibanez ac adapter. well of course it's going to sound bad. if you dont plan to use a battery, you should always use the recommended adaptor with any pedal you buy. if you know anything about electronics, you'll know that there are actual reasons for that. and again, alot of people complain about the "poor design" of the pedal. it's not a poor design, it's a money saving design. if this pedal was designed the same as boss's pedals, it would probably cost 200 dollars. because this thing sounds about a million times better. so the only way to keep the cost down is to make the casing cheaper to manufacture. this was what guyatone had in mind. great sounding effects at lower prices. the electronic components however, are very high quality. i compared this to a brand new boss dd-6 ($160 by the way plus another 20 for the ac adaptor) and the dd-6 sounded harsh. not defined at all. the repeats sounded like digital recreations. and if you tried to mess with the knobs while it was delaying, you'll hear funny pops and buzzes. what a piece of crap. with the MD3 however, you can do whatever you want to achieve the sound you're looking for and it reacts just the way you expect it to. ive never seen that in any other digital delay. and the sounds you can get... amazing. if you trun the level and feedback down, you can get these beautiful reverb sounds that are very unique. (impossible on the dd-6). and by turning the feedback up, that's where the spacey, ray-gun, ufo sounds kick in (that's what they mean when they say self-oscilation). and all the delays in between are simply amazing. and that's pretty much all you have to know to get any sound you could possibly dream up. no messing around with mode settings and all that crap. basically, this 99 dollar pedal is equally on par with reissue analog pedals costing $300 or more! everywhere i play, people ask me what pedal i'm using and where they can get one. the only thing i'm worried about is these things becoming too popular and mine will no longer be unique :( lol. quite simply, this is the best delay pedal out there.

the pedal broke down on me after a few months. but that's because i was apparently using the 12-volt power supply used for their Flip series pedals instead of the 9-volt powersupply. this actually ended up being musiciansfriend's fault. you can read below for mor info on that.

after contacting guyatones customer service, they were very helpful and understanding. we discovered that the problem wasnt with the pedal at all. musiciansfriend.com is actually to blame. they recommended the wrong powersupply. they guyatone 9-volt powersupply is the correct adaptor for the micro series pedals. musiciansfriend, however, recommended the guyatone 12-volt powersupply. in my excitement (and seeing guyatone's name on it) i never gave a second thought to the voltage. i have yet to find out if musiciansfriend will replace it for me. but they damn-well better. i'll let you know how that turns out. but guyatone deserves a 10 for being so helpful and quick with their responses.

i play a 2001 Fender USA Ash Telecaster through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10. my other effects include the Tonebone Hot British distortion, Digitech Whammy Wah, and Dunlop Classic Crybaby wah. and ive got to say, this is exactly what my setup was missing. this pedal really inspires me to creat new sounds and melodies. try hooking it up with a wah pedal. some very cool sounds there. or setting the volume on your guitar to 0 and rolling it on while the MD3 delays, some very cool etherial whale kind of sounds. also, the reverb/chorus kind of sounds are beautiful as well. just experiment. the MD3 will help you achieve any sound you can think of. to hell with boss's reverse delay and tap tempo and all that crap. if you want high quality delay, this is all you need.

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!

pretty easy to use...its a pretty basic layout, no fancy extras here though if that is what you are looking for.

my setup is as follows- G&L legacy with 2 stock single coils in the neck and middle position and a seymour duncan p.a.f. in the bridge into a fulltone ultimate octave fuzz, budda wah +, fulltone dejavibe, maxon sd-9, old mxr phase 100, boss tuner (outside loop), boss ce-1 chorus into the guyatone...all this is powered by a voodoo labs pedal power (except the dejavibe) and runs thru a sweet mesa f-50 combo...how does the guyatone sound in the chain? perfect...for me at least. i've always hated cold "digital" sound of the other delay pedals i've had. i would like them for a bout a week after the initial purchase, but then absolutely hate it and just end up taking it out of my effects chain. i havent experienced any noise issues with it, but mind you, i keep it a very low (dry) level most of the time except when i want to get really crazy ambient sounds

ive had it about a month and no problems so far...

havent dealt with them except to ask before i got if the pedal would work with my pedal power power supply- they called me back within 1 hour and answered my question

for the longest time i have struggled with finding a delay pedal that i liked that i could make a permanent part of my effects chain...ive gone thru 3 boss delays and some other piece of doo-doo, but was never really satisfied. the thing that makes this pedal a keeper for me is 2 things; first, my immediate gauge of a pedal being a good one is this- does it MAKE me want to play and inspire me on the spot (yes!)and, 2)does it add to my sound?- yes again...the bonus on the latter is that it immediately adds to my sound, but in a sense, its almost as if it is not there- like i havent added a new pedal to my chain, yet it all sounds better though. cant complain about the battery compartment issue as i use the voodoo labs pedal power...it does look kinda small though....if i lost it i would get another one immediately

Very easy to get a good sound out of this unit...very flexible, rackmount quality that is easy to change on the fly without scrolling thru patches,menus, etc.No one has mentioned this in the "ease of use" section...altho' everyone has mentioned it in one way or another.The dreaded Guyatone battery compartment.This has to be the single stupidest,most flawed design ever on an otherwise great pedal.And let me tell you, you WILL be opening this often unless you get the specific adapter because this thing eats batteries like all git out!The good news is that you get used to it after a while and it becomes easier to open and close quickly.Not rocket science, but annoying.A very sloppy, makeshift, unprofessional design.I will still be getting ready to spring for the Godlyke adapter as it will be cheaper in the long run than all these batteries!

Using this with a VHT 50-12 combo, Gibson Les Paul Classic, Carvin DC127T and some other mutant guitars.Effects are as strong or subtle as you want via level control...I have an exceptional effects loop with controllable level on my amp, so it certainly adds to the flexibility of the delay. This has a itsy-bitsy amount of signal loss,but the bypass is much better than MANY other brands of pedals.
Now...on to the actual sound quality...very natural, organic and TRUE repeat of the original note.It really gives the benefit of digital precision without harshness or sterility.I would say this is actually as good as the delay in my GSP2101 and that is saying a lot.I don't really try to emulate other artists specifically,but I'm sure this would cover any digital delay duties necessary and some analog as well with no problem.Delay is an integral part of my sound, but I really use it as more of a means to give depth or an ethereal quality to things...not to make spaceship noises or whatever.Great for use clean or distorted (remember...most delays will sound like crap-ola in front of a dirty amp...I run this only in the loop.)I would strongly recommend this unit for pristine sound quality from a floor unit, ease of use and portability (it is tiny!).BUT get the adapter.

Looks a bit on the flimsy side.I baby my stuff, but the battery compartment, aside from being a very cheesy design, has the battery touching the circuit board,it is a bit cramped with the cables...the switch is a non-clicking design which seems like a great idea for silent use.Given the thought they put into making this a great effect,one would think that they would have designed the casing better.Anyway, I do not mean to slam the unit in this department,as I really do love the sound.I would not gig without a backup, as delay is important to me.It has not failed on me in any way, but I can't give it a real high rating because of the flawed design.A goofy rubber gasket holding a tin plate on? Hmmmm... not the ticket for no problems.

Never dealt with Guyatone...I bought this thru Zzounds.They are supposed to be better than Musicians "friend" and all those other companies...we'll see if there is ever a problem.

Been playing 20 years.I play hard rock,metal,fusion,classical, jazz,shred,blues,psychedelic,country... whatever!This is a good match for anything.I have several guitars,Running a/b/y config with a Digitech GSP2101,carvin T100 and 2 celestion vintage 30 1-12" cabs with my 2-12 VHT combo. Killer combination and this fits right in.I love the sound and strongly dislike the design FOR BATTERIES. With an adapter, it is more manageable, because you really won't worry about the battery in the compartment,etc.
As for other delays,I tried the Digitech Digiverb and had an Electro Harmonix Memory Man(true bypass).I did not care for the digitech, and they are making that pedal in China.I will buy Japanese stuff, but the Chinese...well, I have some moral/ethical/nationalistic issues with that...not to mention all our jobs in the States that seem to be evaporating because of our inability to compete.I try to buy American.The Electro Harmonix was good, true bypass, but it was definitely analog and I was looking for something more versatile.
I guess the only thing I would want from this would be True Bypass and a better pedal design...otherwise, it is a solid winner.

This is my first delay pedal. I bought it from Pedalgeek.com and it was delivered in less than a week, shipping prepaid. My decision for this pedal was based on the reviews below. I have only had the pedal for about a week. It seems relatively simple. I did check out the Guyatone website to get some suggested settings since the manual was worthless. As noted by others, the battery compartment is miserably small and the rubber gasket for the bottom is a pain. I have already purchased a wall wart.

I really like the sound. It is very quiet. The pedal was bought to do some 50's slap back sort of stuff and it sounds great. I have a relatively simple set up, Fender Strat or Tele into FD2 or Klon Centaur then into a Clark Beaufort (Tweed Deluxe) with a Celestion Blue speaker. I don't anticipate using the delay alot but we'll see.

Because of the small battery compartment, and I assume me being new to the pedal, it has cut out a couple of times playing. It looked like the battery connector was smashed when I put the bottom on. With the new wall wart so far no problems.

This is my first Guyatone pedal and I sent an email to Godlyke prior to my purchase. I recieved a prompt response.

I play blues and classic rock. It sounds great on the James Burton version of Suzie Q. I've been playing electric for about 7-8 year and I also play classical guitar. I have 4 Strats, a 57 RI, 56 CS NOS, an American Standard, and a Lone Star. I have 2 Tele's a 3 pickup American Deluxe and an American Standard. Amps are Clark Beaufort, Carvin Vintage 16, Fender Blues Deluxe, Jr, and Pro Jr. I orginally wanted an analog pedal and seriously considered the Maxon AD9 and the Memory Man Deluxe. As I mentioned above, however, I bought the pedal based on the recommendations here and I don't think that I was lead astray. For now I'll keep the Guyatone. If it were stolen I would probably pop for the Maxon AD9 but it's $300 + as compared to $99.

Very easy to use. Three knobs, clearly marked range selector. Only complaint is the access through the back of the unit to replace batteries, the rubber grommet is a pain. If you?re not accustomed to having to dial in a delay it may take a bit of time to learn the parameters.

Setup~~ >>> Parker Fly / Fender Stratocaster>>>EHX Clone Theory>>> Rotovibe>>>Dunlop 535Q>>>Boss MT2>>>Guyatone MD3>>>JCM900 w/ 4/12.
Sounds awesome. The ability to get the unit to roll over and feedback on itself is great. You can get the whole range of raygun and UFO effects out of it with some artful tweaking. This is simply one of the best digital delay units I?ve used. This replaced my (shelved) Ibanez AD-80 and I have no qualms about the switch.

Sound construction, once again? the only design flaw I can critique is the battery access.
The knobs are sound, the I/O jacks are solid, the switch is hefty, and the case is metal.
It eats batteries a bit, preferably use an adapter and keep a fresh battery in it. If your using an adapter, theres no need for a backup.

Never dealt with them, probably never will.

This thing is a kick ass little unit, the price is right, the sound is right. There?s a lot packed into it. Been playing over 20+ years with many delays ...analogue, digital, and the odd tape unit. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat if I needed to. I shelved my Ibanez AD-80 so it wouldnt get stolen at gigs, and the MD3 covers for it nicely, and is superior in some ways (if you wanna complain about power hogs track down a AD-80).
Theres only one small improvement I would make, and that would be a 100% wet feature as opposed to a 50/50 level mix on the MD3. Its still a GREAT pedal regardless.

Very easy to use, with an insane range of delays to play with. The sounds are very clean and warm and varied. Deciding which sound will work is a bigger problem because it does a wide range of sounds really well. The little tiny switch for short-medium-long settings is just plain hard to switch, but probably okay since once you set it you can probably just leave it there. Sort of small knobs for dialing in such a wide range of delays. The manual is more of a brochure than a how-to. The on-off button is easy to operate and is very quiet.

I play a modified Epi Sheraton II (better pickups)or a modified Tele '72 Custom Reissue (Dimarzio Fast Track T in the bridge) through a FD2 fulldrive, MC-2 chorus, either modified (TS808)SD-1 or a Dano Tunamelt, MD-3 into either a Peavey Classic 30 or a Delta Blues 115. It's not noisy at all. The effect is very strong, maybe a little too strong. I tend to just use a little delay most of the time.

I think Guyatones are very reliable. I would gig without a backup.

I've never dealt with them.

Roots-y sometimes ambient, textural semi-classic rock is my style. Pete Townsend-like maybe. I've been playing 30+ years. I have a Fender 400-8 pedal steel that I just got, plus various other stuff. I got the MD-3 because I liked the chorus pedal a lot and though I had a Boss DD-3 and a Dano PB&J delay pedal, I wanted something that would fit into my pedal board better and heard mostly good things about the sound of this pedal. Most of the negative things seem to be about the rubber gasket which I've never had a problem with. I did have the Guyatone OD-2 overdrive which I thought was too 1-dimensional, and the ST-2 compressor which I thought squashed my sound too much, so I sold them. So I'm not just Guyatone-crazy. The delay on the long setting is way longer than the Boss DD-3, but I don't know if I'll use it much at that setting because is a little too long. You can do some loop-y type stuff that is fun and experimental, but I find this best on a medium setting for a large hall sort of sound with just a touch of the effect level. It's very clean and seems sort of warm. I probably would buy this again, as it's pretty nicely designed and has a lot of versatility. It doesn't get in the way of making music, because if it did I'd just turn it off!