Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo

Pretty simple. 3 knobs, delay time, repeat, and delay level. two switches, one for delay time range (short, med, long) and one for delay/echo.

My setup Epi Les Paul > Dunlop Cry Baby > Boss OC2 Octave > Tech 21 XXL Overdrive > Green Russian Big Muff > Ibanez DE7 > Fender Deville 410.

This pedal is decent. Gets the job done. Probably not as clean sounding as a Boss delay. I can't really find any use for the echo setting; it gets too distorted and starts to feedback to easily which just ruins everything. But the Delay setting works for me.

I set the milisecond switch to the middle setting, Delay time @ 12 o' clock, Repeat and Delay level both around 2 o' clock most of the time. It's also fun to set the time switch to long and crank repeat and level all the way up while twisting the time knob for crazy theremin-like sounds.

My issue is that the pedal doesn't always engage when I step on it, which is really frustrating for the parts where you need it right away. It always clicks off easily, but has trouble coming on every once in a while.

Other than that I haven't had problems with it, and I got mine used off of eBay.

I used a One Spot adapter with a daisy chain ($30 on musicians friend) and it powers this pedal fine. Which has saved me loads on battery costs. If you use a lot of effects, I recommend getting this adapter, it'll add a bit of hum, if you can live with it, it'll pay for itself in no time, especially with this pedal. If you don't have an adapter, be prepared to switch batteries after a few practices.

never dealt with them. Got it used, so it's not warrantied.

I use delay quite a bit. I play in a band that plays a good amount of ambient parts, and delay is a big part of my sound as a guitarist. I just wish the pedal would engage easier for me.

For the price, you can't beat it. $70 for a new delay is a steal. Got mine off of ebay for around $45.

Read the original site, really. It can't be put any better.

Handling is easy, 3 knobs and 2 switches. In about 15 minutes,
you will know all there is to know.

This is a strong effects pedal, which is really surprising for me.
I didn't expect much quality, just thought of it as a toy, but now
I think it's gig-worthy.

Echo is lo-fi and warm, very faithful but kind of restricting
(stylewise) though it's just my opinion. I rarely play it.
Worth mentioning, though, some folks will go crazy over it -
it has an infinite feedback option, and accessing the control
knobs while the sound is looping will produce far-out effects.

Delay is delay-icious! I flipped when I saw how easy it is
to get a nice rockabilly garage sound, a smooth trailing note
effect especially suited for jazz, or a full-on double track.

I'm keeping the best for the end. Both sound types are WARM
and PLAYABLE. No hiss, no tone suck, no shrill sounds, no volume
drop, no bad worth mentioning. It is, 'course, a digital pedal,
and it will always sound CHEAP, but the QUALITY you're getting
for the price can't be beat. So not lush, not analog dreamland,
but a fine horsie for the working man with sensitive ears.
Would give an 8.5 were it an option.

Durable as hell, yeah. Flimsy buttons but guess what - you can
hide them inside the metal shell so you'll have to try really
hard, plus be a jackass to actually hurt this baby.

Now my one gripe with this sexy pedal is...
EATS. BATTERIES. LIKE. POPCORN. Plus, it ain't compatible
with most adapters, so the best thing is probably to order
an Ibanez original. No big deal, but kind of unpleasant.

Seriously, batteries won't last longer than an hour and a half,
and in cold weather they're gone in like 20 minutes.

Will gig with power adapter, no worries. Trusty thing.

If it wasn't for the adapter problems, I'd give it a solid 8.

As far as I know, these guys understand the meaning
of warranty. Also, so far, I have not witnessed their
products crapping out. No opinion.

Jam-style jazz with rock roots and funk tendencies. Very good match.

Playing and hearing music long enough to know what makes ears
bleed, and what makes them feel fuzzy and nice.

If it were stolen, I woulda save up some more cash for their
analog pedal, AD9. Cause if this little sugarcup rocks so hard,
the higher-end stuff must be REALLY worth the price.

Curious point - the pedal is a flaming purple/pink colour.
Didn't really expect that, I thought they was all metallic-like.
But the striking kitsch colour has somehow worked its way right
into my heart. :)

Very easy to get a good sound in my opinion. I had a Boss DD-3 pedal that I wasn't too happy with. I play with gain and I didn't like the sound I was getting with the Boss pedal. The manual was O.K. but not very useful. You're better off just "Monkeying" around with the pedal.

I didn't have a particular artist I wanted to imitate. I was looking for a "Slap-back", or just a sound playing lead with a slight "Tail" on it. And I can achieve this type of sound on this pedal. I actually liked the "Ping-Pong" effect on my old redface Line 6 Amp, that's EXACTLY the sound I was looking for, and got it using this pedal. I use the Delay effect on this pedal, it also has an Echo setting but I don't use it. I use this pedal with a 100 Watt Marshall TSL 122 Amp, A 1970's Les Paul Deluxe with DiMarzios, and an Epiphone Dot 335 copy stock. I use a power supply, and haven't found this pedal to be noisey. I love the sound quality on this pedal, I've been looking for the Ping-Pong effect for quite awhile and can finally get it using this pedal, I very happy with it.

I just got it, I can't vouch for the reliability of it. I hope it holds together! I'm going to use it at the next gig definitely. I mostly use it playing leads, but I don't rely solely on pedals.

I've never dealt with them

I play Rock, and Blues. It sounds like it's going to be great for me. I've been playing for quite a few years! I play through a Marshall TSL 122, Les Paul Deluxe, and An Epiphone 335 Dot copy. I would buy this peday again, if it got lost or stolen. I love what I call the "Ping-Pong" effect I have set on it right now. I also like the "Tone Lock" where the knobs click down and save your settings. I have a Boss DD-3 and was never crazy about it. I like this pedal a whole lot better!

Oops! Correction! In my review below, I said:

...A block of foam rubber under the pedal presses on this very delicate switch. I wonder how long before the rubber perishes?...

In fact, the rubber block ONLY PRESSES ON THE BATTERY! There is a metal stud in the hinged lid which presses on the switch mounted in the box. This stud can only travel down a distance precisely set when the lid is stomped on to the box, and no further. Good design after all.

Whilst I apologize for the error, I am back to blaming the poor switching in the 7-series on the switches themselves.

Two switch settings: Echo is a digital copy of old bucket brigade echo devices like the AD9, and Delay is a standard digital delay. Plus 4 self-explanatory knobs.

The Echo setting really reminds me of my old analog delay pedal. Very nice for the dub reggae type effect. Even breaks into that distortion if you want it! You can bring it to the point of self-oscillation, but the beauty is the area on the knob where this happens is very wide, so you can easily set it so it take aaaaaages to die out, but it does eventually die out. This was very difficult to set on my old analog delay pedal. The Delay setting is a clean digital delay sound, cannot be brought to self-oscillation. Clean, solid, modern, but not the reason I bought this pedal.

The 9-series Ibanez/Maxon pedals had a sheet of plastic between the circuit board and the metal bottom cover. Boss pedals have the same. This pedal (I got a DE7c, the red color limited edition version) does not. The circuit board has components on BOTH sides of the board and some of the wires soldered through are pretty long and get dangerously close to the metal panel.

Judging by problems other people have reported here, I have, for safety, cut a card of insulating board and put it between the circuit board and the metal cover. Now I sleep easy.

The switch on this one is OK, but I also have the WD7 which has a dodgy switch, same type. A block of foam rubber under the pedal presses on this very delicate switch. I wonder how long before the rubber perishes? - Not the best system.

There are two springs that keep the lid, ie. stomp pedal surface, up. One was mounted skew and scraped when stomping. They are glued in with a very strong hard reddish adhesive. I pulled them out and reglued them.

Delightful sound, and that is what it's all about. I now have my beloved analog bbd back again, but much more predictable to use. And for the price... :)

Negatives are the manufacturing quality, the switch system and the fact that Ibanez have abandoned the Boss footprint form factor, making them incompatible with the Boss BCB series pedal boxes.

doesnt really get any easier to use than this. very easy to switch between short and long delays, really simple to get most sounds you can imagine.

Seems really good, quite clean, very little noise on my unit...(more on that in a bit). Not much volume loss when units on.

Using a framus jamaster/ibanez semi/fender tele with dual humbuckers - effects board (too many to mention...dd3/5, korg ax30g, digitec rp6, ds-1, marshal bluesbreaker, washburn eq, digitec octoplus, coloursound wah swell, etc, etc ) outputs split to peavey renown, marshall stack and leslie speaker.

Well... it worked well for a while then the dreaded buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz everytime it was switched on. no delay no nothing, gutted! I kept trying it for about a month but dead, dead dead.

I shed a tear and left it for about a year, using my dd3 and dd5 instead, but they just cant match the analouge sweeps on this thing, it really does sound natural and its nice to add real time modulation to your sound as you can with this.

i contacted ibanez and they were crap, basically saying Id have to buy a new one.

I play differing styles, but mainly a mix of primal scream (electronica days), my bloody valentine and verve, and this worked a treat for that, and I cant imagine why it wouldnt work for anything really.

But unfortunately I wont be buying another one, I cant take the risk of wasting another ?80 on what might become an expensive collection of paper weights, in fact I wont be buying anymore ibanez gear (though Im sure that wont affect their profits!!!). Real shame really cos I loved this pedal when it worked. Like I said I really think this thing had the edge over the dd3+5 (my personal opinion...)

boo hoo

10 minutes with this thing and you'll be an expert. not hard to get a sound you want out of it. mine didn't come with a manual, but i didnt need one, plus its available online, which has a few presets which are retty cool.

Sounds fantasmeriffic. Great sounding repeats, up to 2600 milliseconds i think... sick sounding echo. the repeats on the echo setting can be set to over 100% so the repeats begin to swell and get louder and make some really wicked trippy noises.

never had a problem with it. i use it with a adapter, it eats batteries pretty fast.tough metal casing, tone lok knobs, really realiable.

never dealt.

sick pedal, affordable and one of the best sounding echos thats not an analog delay. great for a digital delay pedal, although a few extra features would have been nice, like tap tempo, infinite repeats and sound over sound, but for the price its a great delay.

easey as 123!!!!!!!, great delay nothing to say about it it works it's easey, what else do you want in a pedal? metal box, tone lock,( you set to your favorite setting push knobs in that's it!)

100% great, better than boss , who knows they just might be made in the same place, who knows?, the echo also is superb, pedal to keep

it's still working, it's built to last!!!!

ibanez there great

great pedal tonelock series there worth buying sound great look good built like a tank, cheap won't drain your wallet!!!!!

Nice and simple, 3 knobs - effect level, repeat, delay and two swtiches - one for delay time with 3 positions and the other isthe key - choose either ECHO for a nice analog-ish or tape sound or Delay for more digital delay sound.

Sound qulaity is excellent; i bought this sight unseen and unheard off ebay for $50 + shipping and I am very impressed - it is exactly what I was looking for. Sold my Boss DD-3 because I was unhappy with several spects of that pedal - dealy time not long enough for wild effects, controls hard to figure out and it has the uselss Hold function that is too short for anything resembling real sound on sound effetcs. This one has everything I could want - AND it sounds remarkably similar to my old Re-201 Space Echo minus the constants sound of the tape loop and motor in the background. Note: This peadal is VERY QUIET. i use it in-line behind my Dunolp 535 Wah, DS-1, SD-1 and CH-1 and it is the quietest of them all. I am using it with the battery since my Daisy Chain AC does seem to add some noise - but that is fine with me. I am recording to DAW so prefer the quiestest possible signal path.

I just got it a few days ago but it seems very well built. Solid and all steel. I've had Ibanez effects in the pst that held up very well. Switch seems solid enough.

No idea. VNever used them but no reason to doubtthe supoort.

Overall I give it a 9 beacue nothing is a 10 - but this comes clsoe. It is exactly what I was looking for in a delay pedal. I compose and play original Alternative Goth punk, think the Cure, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, Chameleons, Echo and Bunnymen etc. If you want a Fintage Echo feel in a solid Delay pedal - this is great. Can even get some of those RadioHead tones with the Wet/Dry Stereo split if you know how to record with it. I am very happy with this pedal so far.

piece of cake. everything works that way you would expect. some weird sounds if you overdo the echo. still sounds good. manual is worthless, but if you can't figure this one out, you shouldn't be using delay or echo to begin with.

I use a 2001 Gibson SG Special into the following effects- boss ns-2, boss tu-2, budda wah, keeley mod ibanez ts9-808+, line 6 DL-4 modeler and the ibanez de-7 last in the line. use a Mesa Tremoverb combo for my lead and "saturated clean" sounds with a second DE-7 in the loop. for my dirty rhythm and main clean I run an Orange AD30TC head.


First, I love this pedal. I owned a Boss DD-3, but it sounded way sterile to me. Didn't dig the delay at all. Sounded way processed. Picked one of these off a friend who was moving to a rack system. The Echo is amazing, just what i was looking for. it's muddy enough to get really saturated with, but depending on the settings it can be cleaned up nicely. The delay is pretty good. nothing to write home about I guess.

Its a low-end Ibanez, so gotta expect some issues. I've never had an issue, but the switch didnt look too sturdy when I dissected one of these things. I've been touring and gigging my first one on my board for over 2 years now. No problems yet.

I don't have any experience with this, but its a low end pedal so I don't know if I'd expect much out of them.

I've been playing guitar for 5 years, which isn't much, but I've been gigging and touring the east coast for the last 3.5 of those years. I play a mix of indie ambient rock with harder stuff. kinda like Thursday but alot more complex and technical and with more music than emo-crap.

I listed my gear already, and I tested this against the Boss DD-3 and I and own a Line 6 DL-4 (which i use for more spaced out and weirder delays). I own two of these little gems and I use them more than anything else. They're cheap little buggers but they have held up to the test of touring so far and they still sound sweeeet.