Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo

All stomp boxes are really hard to use.

Main setup is Aria Pro II LP copy --> Marshall VS265 Valvestate --> (effects loop) Korg AX1000G Processor --> This --> return. The processor has some very very nice digital delays that I wouldn't trade for much short of a set of 4 vintage analog pedals. This being said, I bought this thing for echo, not for delay. I heard through the grapevine that this has some real nice analog-sounding echos, and I think i agree. The only thing I wish was that Ibanez put out two different pedals, one delay with reverse option, and one echo with reverse option. This being said, the straight-up echo is one of the best boxes on the market. The delay is a bit too digital and square for my tastes, but I did buy this for the echo, so I'm throughly satisfied. And, 2.6 seconds of delay time is more than enough for anyone, if you need more, get something that loops, and spend a whole lot more.

I personally have had no problems with this, and it's metal. The switch, though plastic, is protected by the chassis, so unless you go slipknot on your box, it'll last you, and probably your kids. The first time I used this, I bought 2 Energizer 9 volts, so i could use it for a while befoer having to go to the corner store to get new batteries. Needless to say, when my batteries wore out in 3 days, I bought the adapter. Do yourself a favor. Buy the adapter, a decent powerstrip, then go to a gig. And then have no problems.

I've never dealt with them, though I've heard they are as bad as Korg, and I know personally that Korg is horrible. However, I can't give a rating.

I play a weird metalish/psychadelic/ambience music, and this little box is really a good fit. The only gripe I have is that when you switch the box off, the echo cuts, and doesn't trail, showing that this is definitely a digital box(and so do the solid-state parts inside the chassis...), even though the tape echo sound is very convincing. Oh yeah, hook this baby up through a Rhodes Piano...fun times for all. Last thing, I don't give 10's for overall rating, so a 9 is very respectable, in case you had any inquiries.

excellent easy to use would be nice to have a foot-actuated switch to change from echo to delay.

Very quiet, nice sounds. Goes from slight delay to full echo. Pretty warm sounding. I don't think you could do better for this price range.

Yes.

Never had a reason to call.

The main reason for posting this review was to try to offset some bonehead reviews. Some guys bitch and moan that that this pedal is unreliable, that the switch failed. Well wake up wankers, this pedal sucks juice, and at 800 mA, it will eat a new battery - post haste. So you need to use an adapter, or it will die on you at the worst possible time.
I have not had a bit of problem with any of my Tone-Lok pedals, and would recommend them to anyone.

took me about 10 minutes to get a good sound out of it and figure out what the knobs and switches do - pretty simple. instruction manual is worthless, however, and doesn't really tell you anything about the pedal. the example settings don't really sound nice to me, so i'd recommend just making your own up. not giving it a 10 coz of the manual.

i use a yamaha pacifica 112MX through a boss SD-1 overdrive, nobels DXTN disrotion and into a peavey 15W amp (practice amp). it seems to give off some sort of fuzz but i don't know whether that will be less in a bigger amp. the pedal sounds great and you can get just about any delay-type sound out of it you want. the echo/vintage switch is great. i prefer using this most of the time since it gives a really warm tonal quality. it seems to lower the tone on every echo and mess about with it a little - making it sound more natural.

i listen mostly to punk, ska and reggae and it's really nice at getting some really trippy ska delay sounds. there's also this nice "feature" where if you turn the repeat and delay level up while it's on echo then you get feedback but it sounds really nice. you can get some crazy sounds out of it especially if you move the delay time knob - sounds like a tape slowing down or speeding up. pwnage.

one thing i've noticed, which is a lot more prominent at very high delay times, is that the sound out of it is kinda fuzzy and not very clear. it must be only 16 bit so the sound just sounds kinda dull and fuzzy when you use the long delay times. but that's nothing to worry about really since most of the time you won't use that high a setting.

another thing about long delays is that if you set it to max (with repeat and delay level max) and play some 4 chord riff pretty fast then you can play over yourself. it seems to have infinite number of delays (although they do trail off after a while) so you can play a bass line, then chords, then some little licks on top. very nice. you wouldn't be able to do this on the more expensive boss DD-3 (as it has a third of the delay time).

gets a 9 becasuse of the kind of fuzz you get off it (might just be me...)

from the pictures i saw of this, i thought it looked plastic. until i read some reviews stating otherwise. when i got it i was really surprised to find it's actually a better build quality than boss pedals. it's entirely metal (except the knobs). the tone-lock knobs are a great idea - stop the knobs breaking or turning in your gig bag. it feels really chunky. dunno how reliable the electronics are but i don't forsee them breaking down... i'd gig without a backup only coz i can't afford another one :P

not had to deal with them

great pedal. can't really comment on how it'll last over time, but you can get just about any sound out of it that you want. push-lock knobs are a great idea... lots of delay (2.6 seconds). gets a 9 coz of the fuzz.

very easy, three knobs and two switches. 5 mins and i mastered it

i play an emg equipped custom sg>ibanez fat cat distortion>boss ph1-r phaser> boss dd3> ibanez de7> marshall superlead 100 watt head> orange 4x12. i bought this pedal because i wanted to use two delay settings (one short and one long) and couldnt afford another boss. this pedal is warmer sounding than the boss, but less versatile. that said, if the boss died, i'd replace it with ine of these instead, it'll cover 95% of my delay needs at half the price. it sounds great in my chain, and doesnt kill my tone. i play heavy metal (sabbath/metallica/ COC/ fu manchu style) and this is such a useful pedal. great!

very robust, i dont see any problems. i've had the less sturdy looking ibanez fat cat for years and it's never caused me any problems, so i dont see why this pedal should.

overall i'd rate this a nine. it's as good a delay as i'll ever need. it has a very wide range of sounds, and sounds less digital than my boss. it's great for spacey single string stuff, but equally useful for riffing. i love my boss, but as i said earlier, if it died i'd buy another de7 instead. the tone-lok knobs are a brilliant idea too, it's never going to either get damaged or interferred with on stage. all in all, probably one of my favourite pedals. it's a nine because i'm sure if you spent hundreds of pounds there's better delay out there, but for the money, this is a 10 no worries!if you like delay, it's a quality buy

Extremely easy to use

Quiet as a church mouse. I went on a quest to find the perfect delay pedal. There is no such thing as perfection. I have owned and played the folowing in the last year. Electro Harmonix Memory Man, Line6 DL4 Delay modler, DOD FX96, Ibanez AD99, Ibanez AD9, Boss DM2, and this Ibanez DE7. The worst was the memory man a noisy big bulky box. The line 6 was ok, big bulky box without any real BIG sound to go with it. The DOD well it was DOD cheap. The AD9, AD99, and Boss DM2 were all fine sounding, however way over-rated and commanding one heck of a price. They also are very limited in the Delay times and versatility. Now unless you have a pair of those "Golden Ears" a lot of reviewers seem to have by their own admission. Then I suggest you buy all the pedals like me and re-sell the ones you don't want on EBUY and make your own call. This pedal for sound gets a real 9.5 I am giving it 10 to help off set the wanker down below who gave it 6 for sound. The only pedal close to a six was the DOD.

So far so good seems to get along ok when I step on it and have dropped it a few times. Been stepping on it everyday for about a year. It is the pedal I kept hanging on to when I bought and tried out the others. I ahve had it long enough that this review is not being done without really playing and using the pedal extensively.

Rockabilly, blues, classic rock, Sunday Contemporary Rockin Christian on the praise team. Gear Music Man HD130 reverb head two Celestion V12-80 Cabinets. Tech 21 Trademark 60 for the Church and Small gigs. 1983 LesPaul Spotlight Special, 1965 3PU Harmony Bigsby Rockabilly ax, 1974 Martin D35, 1959 Martin 0017. THis is really a very nice versatile echo delay pedal. Reqad the other reviews and make your own call. For the money it is I think the best value.

Very easy to use. Four knobs that control the delay/echo, and two switches for changing time and analog or digital. Manual isn't of much use unless you want to know some pre-set settings.

This is one of the best delay pedals I have ever heard. Sounds better than the Boss and is about half the price! Very quiet. The effect always sounds great. The feature where you can switch between analog echo or digital delay is great - its like having two pedals in one. This is really good for a U2 sound if thats what you're looking for.

This thing is built like a tank, but the tone-lok knobs could break if it hard. Thus, I give it a 9 instead. But if you keep them locked in the pedal, nothing should break.

Have not had to deal with them yet, and probably never will.

If you're looking for the best delay/echo at the best price, get the Ibanez DE-7. These things sound great and will last a long time. This pedal has really added to my sound. If it was stolen or broken, I'd have to get another one. Compared to the Boss delays, this is the superior pedal.

extra easy, too bad it does't have an extra switch or two so that i could switch between different presets, since it has a million cool sounding sets, the only solution to this problem is to buy another one, two or three of DE-7 pedals ;)

The manual offers about three or four basic set-ups and explains very well any faqs or have-to-know questions.

Tried it with one of thoese expencive Ibanez (2xHumbacker+floyd,top lock) models on an Fender amp (the sound sucked 'cause cheap 10-50watt Fender amps suck - too much bass & no tone) at the shop.

Then when i got it on an Pevey tube amp it rocked good, i had a chance to try out on an switcher at the same time Boss DD-3 & DD-5 and let me tell you DE 7 kicked the ass out of boss crap delay... so i bought DE-7 and since then i never go to sleep with out it ;)))

I also tried it out on Marshal AVT 20 with an Mexican Fender Stratocaster (one of thoese 2x single coil + DiMartzio hum. + Floyd models) it had a gerat sound.

I use it at home and gigs with an Marshal amps and Hammer Slammer guit. it's basicly a pity to waste such good equipment if you have a low-to-mid-ragne guitar that thoesn't have a too good sound.

With Marshall tube amps i had an incredable sound on clean so i guess it's best to try it and use it on an amp. that has a good clean tone to see how good the pedal is.

DE-7 is great for practicly anything from U2, Incubus, Pink Floyd stuff to APC, Tool, Metallica to experimenting with stuff like PFM, LTJ Bukem,...

I have DE-7 for almost a year and havn't tried out all of the sets yet, you get stuck with a few you like than you find a new better one, i've just discovered the echno mods sounds so i'm havvving a lot lot of of fun fun fun fun fun with that... ;] :] ;) :)

Well, there is a few metters:

1. Everyone here forgot to mention the ToneLock level knobs, they are great for gigs, you set the settings you like, lock the knobs and do not have to worry 'till the end of the night about some drunk teenager kicking your pedal accidentaly while passing buy.

The bad side about ToneLock is that the level knobs are way too sensible (since they are plastical and go in and out of the pedal) and they could be easily crashed if you do not pay attention all the time and like to kick your equipment when your sting goes off.
*The solution to this is just locking levels all the time.

2. The 'small plastic switch' issue, well i guess Ibanez should think a little more next time they are about to make a great line of effect pedals. The switch can be a lot of trouble, but if you get use to it and 'get to know it', get to know how to step on it, you won't have ever any trouble with it.
Solution number two is useing the pedal with a switcher such as Boss LS-2 where DE-7 would allways be tunrned on.

3. Another overlooked issue is it uses a 9v battery BUT it uses twice more mA power than the everage dist. pedal. So you should consider about buying an Ibanez AC109, AC309 or AC509. The pedal just didn't work with my 1000mA 9v AC that is modified to power up to 7 pedals at the same time so i had to go and buy a special adapter for DE-7, anyway i didn't wanna damage it since it costs 2x then any other pedal indipendently.

I would defenetly use it on stage, but if you just bought it i would advise you to spend some time with it, get use to it and then use it...

Never had any trouble with my Ibanez pedals.

As GuitarNuts said, 20watt amp. that is more than enough for anything unless you want to get deff. Slammer guit. & Takamina acous. G series and a hell of a lot effect pedals with DE-7 as a favourite. ;)

I play guit. for like almost 10 years,..
With band i play ambient, drum 'n' bass and grange,...

>'If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?'

Well, let's say if i would find the person who stole it, it would suffer great pain. (like listening to me while playing on Mesa/Boogi 4 x 4x12 'till he becomes paranoid)

I'd buy DE-7 again or try to find if there is a newer model available. And i'd pay it a lot more if i had too, even though i think it's pretty expencive with 140e|$...

>'Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?'

It sure does help, it helped inspire me, get my playing as a much opened, melodic, rhytmic - when you use a delay or echo pedal you have to be much more in-the-rhytam, on-the-time, so i play way better after useing de-7...

well i have already reviewed this pedal and i think it is an amasing sounding pedal but, nothing is as good as it looks, after about 4-6 months of playing, the thing fucked up and wont even turn on any more, it has to do with the switch inside, under the piece that you stomp on. The thing that really fucking pisses me off is the fact that I never even got to play any gigs with it, imagin if I would have been really stomping on this thing what would have happend.

it's an amasing sounding pedal, while it is still working.

I just bought this pedal today, and after a few hours of playing it stopped working. The Switch doesn't work anymore. In my opinion this pedal is completely crap! The sounds aren't bad, but actually you can't enjoy them if this thing doesn't work. I would never use this pedal for a gig.....I'll get a better quality pedal like the boss DD3 or DD5

It's a delay pedal, so, pretty easy to work with. Never used the manual, in fact, i don't even know if i still have it. The hardest part is tweaking till you find a tone you like. Best when used with a 9volt adapter.

Sound quality is pretty good. there seems to be some reverb in the delay which makes for a better tone all around. Of all the delay pedals i've toyed with, this one is my favorite in terms of natural and delayed sound..my alvarez's tone is not hampered in any way that i've noticed. the only thing i don't like is that the delay cut off is too immediate.

what can i say? its a metal box surrounding a circuit board. the thing hasn't been dented or scratched yet in the nearly 2 years i've had it. the only thing ibanez needs to get right is that infernal plastic switch they use to activate the effects on their pedals. after a year of gigging, the tiny pin has become temperamental.

never dealt with them but their site sucks for information.

I play Phish, Pink Floyd, U2, a little jazz and some industrial stuff and Litmus(my band). I use the pedal along with my TS-5 and a used Crate GX-60 and a used Alavarez Strat Copy that's about 5 years old. The pedal is a godsend and yes I would buy it again. Everyone owns the most expensive BOSS pedals, but, man, for the price of Ibanez pedals, you can't beat the DE-7. As far as out there wishes, only that it had some sort of remote control feature to easily change settings on the fly.