Guyatone TD-X Tube Echo

You wont get bogged down reading the manual, but it won't give you enough information to throughly know the device before you start messing with it. The controlls are very sensitive and give a wide variety of effect so that when I found a sweet spot then tried something else, it was hard to get it back. I do like the clean and wet out puts. you can run one amp with out it and one with it.

American strat deluxe ('04), American strat plus (mid 90's), Reverend Rocco with Duncan burst buckers, Gibson ES 135 through basically a fulltone line up: clyde wah, dejavide, ultimate octave, FD2, soulbender to a Dr. Z maz 18 jr., or fender blues jr., or traynor yba-1 ('65). Can you tell I like Hendrix, SRV, Gibbons etc? So far I am disappointed with this delay. If you really crank up the tube, the overdrive, or distortion sounds like unusable digital distortion to me. And if you turn it down, the delay sounds just like any other digital delay out there. I want a fulltone tube tape echo but can't cough up the doe right now. I settled for this. Vintage guitar magazine made it sound worth while. The rest of my set up described above inspires me to play, but so far this thing doesn't. I'n not going to give up on it yet though. I've only got about 6 hours of playing time on it. If you set short delay, it sounds like digital reverb. The reverb built into either my Dr.Z or the blues jr. sounds better. The super long delays are not useable for me unless you are going to do some weird Jimmy Page like intermission.

hasn't broken yet.... Although it may end up that way if I can't get it to sound good ;)

I play electric blues. Been playing about 15 years. Not in a band ,but do home studio recording. Wanted a little extra spice for recording. I'm not sure this is what I want. People who use alot of digital effects and have alot of experience with delay, may think this thing is great. I may keep it because I'm a pack rat. May give it as a gift to an inexperienced player. But I will get some kind of a tape echo.

Adds "analog" and "tape" controls to the normal time, repeats, mix. Analog should be called drive because it drives the tube. Tape could be labeled high cut or filter.

would be a ten but i had to adjust an internal trim pot to make it work right and the trim pot was inconvenient to get to.

Sounds nice. Not totally silent but more quiet than my korg tape echo. Doesn't sound like analog or tape delay. It has it's own thing.

You can get a lot of textures with it. It will do the run away thing and the pitch changes when you move the time knob like an analog would. It is the most versatile delay i've used in terms of number sounds, but it could be more transparent. Don't expect it to sound like an a AD-9 or an Echoplex. It has it's own character.

I had my heart set on a hiwatt tape echo or t-rex replica. This came along so tried it. I'm happy with it. I don't feel like I need another delay anytime soon. I think this is as good as the t-rex or better. It may not be as pristine but it is way more trippy and thats what's important to me.

Footswitch makes a pop that gets picked up by the delay so you hear "TICK, TICK, TICk, TIck, Tick, tick..... " Not true bypass because sometimes I can hear the echos faintly when it's in bypass.

It keeps regenerating even after it's bypassed so if it runs away to far you can't just switch it on an off you've got to turn down the repeats to make it stop.

crossing my fingers.

I love this delay. I can imagine a better delay pedal but I don't know who makes one. I've read good and bad about the SIB but haven't tried it. I'd be surprised if it's better than this. I like this better than most other's I own or have owned including: ad-9, Arion SAD-1, MXR big green brick, korg stage echo and dynamic echo, memory man, ect...but it is not as good as the ibanez AD-230 rackmount.

The instruction manual leaves something to be desired. The upside is, the controls are easy and intuitive. After a few minutes, you have this thing mastered.

I use a Carvin dc-400 or a Fernandes AFR-150S and a Rivera amp (Fandango dual 100) with a variety of pedals. Always have a good compressor on the board (Script logo MXR) and a good overdrive (Takky-modeled after the Landgraf) as well as a phase shifter, wah, etc. I have used many digital delays and a few analog delays as well as a good quality echoplex (tube) and I have to say I like this pedal better than all of the above. The echoplex is great-sounding, but the maintenance and then having to schlepp it around in the big box and worry about it at every gig gave me headaches. The analog delays I have used are OK (old Boss DM2 and Maxon AD-900) but the delays are simply too short for some of the stuff I like to do-even the Maxon at 600 ms. There is supposed to be a new Maxon delay coming out this spring (AD-999) that has 900 ms of delay. Even that is too short and there are a million adjustable micro pots inside the thing that will probably need constant adjusting. Another headache. This pedal seemed to offer a good solution-up to 2600 ms. of delay with tube saturation on the delays only, to give old school sound. And it does just that. I couldn't be happier. Guyatone really mated great tube-tape delay tone with echo reproduction that has all of the best qualities of digital. The price is unusually low for a pedal of this quality.

Has great heft and feels very solid. I gig without a backup. I try not to rely too heavily on effects pedals. Too early to tell if it will last. I think it will outlive me, but have to give a no opinion due to new-ness.

Dunno. See above.

I am in a cover band. We play classic rock -mostly blues based. I am an adult over 50 so I have been through lots of equipment in my 38 years of playing. I love this pedal and would definitely get another if it was lost or stolen. The ability to adjust warm, tube-driven delay saturation and analog sound gives a very new dimension to the standard delay pedal. I think I will experiment with different types of tubes ie: 12AT7 and possibly 12AU7 to decrease the amount of saturation on the delays and round out the sound a bit. However, sounds GREAT right out of the box. If you aren't in the mood to plunk down a grand for a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, this is the next best thing.

5 knobs: Level, Feedback, Delay time, analog simulate, tape simulate
1 3-position switch: Short delay (20-160 ms), M (80-650), L (330-2600)

It takes som time to tap into the different combinations, but you can dial in the basics very quickly

I am playing a G&L semi-hallow ASAT>Fulltone Wha>Ross Dist>Analogman Juicer, Diaz Trem> TD-x Echo. It is true by pass!!! No coloration when not turned on. No noise. The echos sound great. The analog and tape simulation allows you top really shape the sound. It cleans up like a good digital delay, but without that steril sound. Alternatively, you can turn the tape sim up and get a more lo-fi sound. Increased levels of analog adds satuation to the echos.
Also has an output for a dry signal.

Seems well built. The stomp switch is heavy duty. I have no alternative but to gog without a back up. I am going to be presumptuous and give this a 9

Never dealt with Guyatone

I enjoy playing modern psychadelic/ambient stuff (Spacemen 3, MBV, The Verve, Mogwai), but I am current playing in a band doing sort of rock with a subtle funky edge. It works well for all aspects of my playing. I have used a MXR analog delay, DD-3, DD-5, Quadraverb, and I like this pedal the best. The only limitation is no tap delay. It is a bit pricey.