Ibanez DL-5 Delay

I bought two of these, because of one particularity:
You can customize it to your taste, since there are two trimpots inside!
One for the delay time amount (the more time the more quality loss) and the other one for the signal quality (interacts closely with the other trimpot).

I find it great to choose what I want.
So stock it has 400ms delay time at hand, but you can have twice that if you want.

Note that the effected sound is at 50 p.cent wet at max, so not good for a parallel fx loop (like most delay pedals sadly).

With the two trimpots inside it's like you decide it to be.
I made it to approx.650ms with a pleasing tone, not that clean, hairy but not too noisy.
And it suits the overall tone quite well, to my surprise.
So one more time, what is good to hifi doesn't apply to guitar period.

Stock, the tone of this pedal pleases me a lot since it's deep and rich, better than most delay I have.
A pleasing tone, and remember its sister the em5 blasted the guitar player staff away at the time.

Okay, the switch on all Ibanez except the nobles ones is worthless.
If like me you use the pedal in a loop (passive in front of amp, or serial in amp) it shouldn't be a big issue. Otherwise it is!
Other than that, all soundtank I have are still going strong, that tells me something...

So after buying several delay pedals (big overall cost mind you) I end up using only these two dl5 I had for 50bucks on ebay...
Simply because they do sound very guitar-spirit if I may say so.
Clean or distorted, they deliver a sexy tone, something quite rare in delay pedals.
And the two trimpots inside are its best feature!

Easy to use until the pedal won't toggle on and off consistently with each press of the foot switch. I already replaced this pedal once after the 1st one started having problems toggling on and off after about 5 years of moderate use. Sometimes one press of the switch would toggle it but most times I would have to press it 3-9 times to get it to toggle. Thought it must have just been a fluke until I purchased a 2nd identical unit only to have it do the same thing after only 2 years of moderate use. I tried replacing the .01 micro farad capacitor next to the micro switch with a .005 as another reviewer suggested but that was only a temporary fix lasting about a week until it started having the problem again.

good sounding delay

Not anymore. I've got to have my effects turn on & off when I press the pedal switch the 1ST time. I toggle my delay on and off frequently in the middle of a song.

Took it back to the store I where I bought it and they tried to get a replacement micro switch for it but Ibanez does not make them available.

I had to replace it again but this time I bought a boss dd3. Hope it lasts longer.

This is a very easy pedal to use, I was given this by my brother so I didn't have a manual, but wouldn't need one, I haven't been playing long (Especially when I got it.) But found it easy to use three simply knobs, Delay level, (How loud the repeats are) Repeat, (How many times it repeats)and Delay time (How fast or slow the repeats are). That's all you will ever need.

I am playing a Peavey\Fender Telecaster through a Marshall JTM-30 i give's a nice but rough tone not exactly the same as the original but close enough. I would say that it is a excellent delay especially for the price. One of the best value pedals out there.

I play in church a bit, and the occasional show, I trust it fully but always use an AC adapter. Battery runs out quick, and can act up a tiny bit. It is made out of plastic so wouldn't jump on it but seems strong enough.

Never had deal with them.

I play mostly soft rock type stuff, so this pedal does great things for my music. Nice sound for backing chords, and for the little riff's.
I've been playing for three years, this is the first delay I have owned but have played many, it isn't the best out there, but for the price it probably is. If I lost it I probably wouldn't buy it again because I am always expanding and trying to improve. But I love it.

I spent about a couple of mins to get acquainted with this pedal effect. It has 3 knobs, level, repeat, time..any combination setting is good.

very nice sound decay like reverb, with the echo(reverb+delay), unlike behringer delays that has prominent layered echo only. Best thing is that it behaves like an analog type delay, vary the time knob while playing and you will hear a "warp-ing" sound, and you won't hear a popping sound like the behringers, very cool warp effect!

plastic casing but i think its tough!i got this used maybe a decade old but still the casing is rigid, the knobs are flimsy though

this is like delay+reverb. very nice!

This is the delay effect. Very simple to use, doesn't need any manual. Made in Japan.

It's NOT the Boss DD2 or DD3. It's more analogue, although on the case they said it's digital. only 400ms of delay, but that's enough for me.

used that unit with a vocal, with the guitar (Strat type) and with the bass guitar (Precision type) and with the various drumming machines. works very well, I like it's sound. that's not the best delay unit in the world, but I like it.

be carefull - it doesn't have a true bypass! works very well with Ibanez CS5 Chorus and SansAmp GT2 guitar amp simulator.

It's case has been made of a PLASTIC! it's a very risky thing to jump on it during the gig. you must be carefull, or you can destroy that unit rather easily.

I use it without a backup during the live shows - although I'm VERY carefull about that unit.

Sorry - only 5/10 for that effect's reliability...

never contacted with Ibanez, although I saw their WWW's old version with an advertisement of Soundtanks and... nothing more. no mp3 samples, no on-line manuals, no big photos. a very poor WebSite...

Just a fantastic value for that price. Comparing to Boss DD3 - it's NOT that perfect, but I like the sound that this unit produces. For some folks 400ms isn't enough and they like more hi-fi sound. If you prefer longer and more digital delay - just buy some Boss' effects. but if you like the analogue sound more - try this hybrid made by Ibanez. it's something between digital and analogue...

If it was stolen/damaged or lost - I would like to buy another one.

Just be carefull about it's plastic case - just a shame on Ibanez about that! I've heard that an early Soundtanks' versions had a metal case.

Overall: a fantastic value for a very low price!

3 knobs - Mix, Number of repeats, Time. I have never even looked at the manual because this is so simple to use.

This is a tough one. It really depends on what you want from your delay.

I play mostly Rock based stuff - Humbuckers & Distorsion but usually use this for experimental / feedback purposes.

The pedal has a very 'Analogue' sound which is great for creating an organic, vintage delay effect or spacey experimental stuff. However it is very hard to get precision from it (It's tough to get the delay in time with a specific tempo). It does not sound very digital. Also, if you remove the base, you can tweak a couple of little pots to give a wider range of sounds. This does sacrifice sound quality at some settings but allows for some unique effects. I actually like the way it gets all gritty at long delay times.
I use it as the first effect in my chain (plug my guitar directly into it) because it won't handle a distorted sound going into it very well. There is also a loss of high frequencies in your tone because it has no direct bypass.

Had it for years, used & abused it a lot, took it apart once & put it back together easily, kicked it off stage at a gig, jumped on it with my full weight (15 Stone) a couple of times etc.....
It's very robust & still works like new.

Be warned though! These things eat through batteries quicker than anything I have ever used.

Never had to deal with them.

If I lost this or it broke I would want another because nothing else sounds like the Soundtank. It creates Mars Volta type sounds with extreme ease & I'm considering housing the insides in a Wah Wah style pedal & linking the Time control to the rocker. This will make it a box of madness indeed. They sometimes appear on e-bay for about #15. If you see one & want to make sone bizzare sounds BUY IT. They are overlooked by most people & they don't know what they're missing. However, if you want a super clean, precise unit, this is not for you.

Super easy to use. This Digital Delay pedal doesn't use a microprocessor. Instead there is a custom Mitsubishi Echo Generator that designed for Karaoki machines. The Echo chip has only 100 milliseconds of delay, but Ibanez extends this by slowing down the Echo chip's system clock to 1/4 of the designed speed. The Delay-Time control changes the period of the Echo chip's system clock. At long delays (long being about 350 milliseconds here) there is some gritty noise static distortion.
The short Delay Length can be doubled by 'piggy-backing' another D-RAM chip on top of the one on the circuit board. It's a standard 4164 type 64Kx1 DRAM that sells for a dollar when you can find it, as it's been obsolete for many years. Place the second 4164 DRAM right on top of the first and solder all the pins in parallel except the input and output pins. Connect the out pin from the first DRAM to the input of the second dRAM. Connect the out pin of the second dRAM to where the first DRAM's out pin went. You've doubled the echo Delay Time.
Tweak the pot that is on the circuit board next to the Repeat control to get near-infinite repeat echos when the Repeat knob is set to max.

This pedal is the closest that any Digital Delay gets to the Analog Delay sound. However, it has footswitch problems like all Ibanez soundtanks as the components age. Next to the foot switch there is a .001 uF capacitor to ground. Replace this with a new .005 uF cap and the footswitch will no longer need several presses to toggle.

These pedals are selling for $25 on eBay (April 2005) and are a good deal even without the modifications. They just don't have the long delay period or high repeat level that are currently fashionable.

My band uses headphones, even the drummer with electronic triggered samples. We play for each other in an apartment with thin walls.

Ibanez soundtank pedals are more reliable than they would seem at first.

I have no idea if there really is an Ibanez company. I buy everything musical that I need from eBay or DigiKey.

If your a guitarist then there should be no problem using this pedal. You don't even need a manual to set this up. A beginner could make mistakes in the in/out jack and maybe, might try using a wrong power adapter.

This is my first delay pedal. Been planning to buy a boss pedal but this pedal immediately sounds good in my chain so bought it (2nd hand). Im using it with my samick strat copy, 22 frets on rosewood board, maple neck. Pickups are cheap on the middle and neck, but the bridge comes from a very old fender. My signal goes to chrome dunlop crybaby -> mxr flanger -> marshall drivermaster ->arion tubemania -> ibanez soundtank dl5 and finally, to a ROTO amp (locally made here in the Philippines). What does this delay sounds like? Listen to the "manhattan" by eric johnson. Note: dont try to use delay ahead of distortions. It must be the last on the chain (last effect before the amp). Any delay pedal sounds mushy mushy the other way way around.

Its plastic but it has a heavy metal base. That's what really matters. Plastics aren't noisy, what you need to do is ground your amp. This is crazy, but i use my keyboardist's boss dl3 as my backup.

My band gigs in fiestas (festivals) with all types of folks in attendance. We play Classical Music (e.g. samba, tango, waltz, cha cha), standard rock music by Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses, etc., ballads and pops, R & B. I've been playing in a band for 10 years now. I know somethings missing in my sound till i bought my delay. Now my distortion sounds fatter, has more sustain to it, my lead work sounds great too (esp. slow lead work). It has more emotions to it. Of course, I could survive a nite without it. It all in the hands after all. If stolen? I'll buy other one, if it is still available. Finally, good music comes from good gears, good heart, and good mind. "an't play music if you seem want to kill the person next to you"

Very Easy. 3 Knobs Delay Level, Repeats, Delay Time

This thing Sounds Awsome in its own way. Repeats are genaric but sound musical. Delay pedal from the SoundTank series. I got one used and is a great pedal for the money. I have 3 or 4 useable settings that i find amazing. Try Delay level @ 6 Repeats @ 3 Delay Time @ 7-8 then add a chorus with low depth and fast speed. That sounds great!

Well its plastic but i baby my gear.

Never Dealt with them.

Overall A nice pedal for the money, there are better but it does the trick for someone on a buget.

The DL-5 is a very simple and intuitive delay, with three knobs for effect volume, repeats, and delay length. There are a lot more delays out there, with a lot more features, but this delay is very simple to use. Mine never had a manual so I can't comment on its quality, but I would say that no manual is necessary. Nearly everything sounds good, so you just dial the knobs until you get the sound you want. Changing the battery was also ultra simple.

For such an inexpensive, simple delay, the DL-5 has a fairly wide repertoire of sounds. Its tone is unmistakably digital, but entirely pleasant, even warm. One thing which this delay has over some other delays is that at its lowest delay settings, it can make an excellent digital reverb. I ended up selling it to get an Akai Headrush, but at the time my rig was a 1965 Fender Mustang--->Russian Big Muff--->Ibanez DL-5 Delay--->Peavey Classic 30. It was a spectacular entry level delay in terms of its price and quality. I sold it to get the Akai Headrush because I wanted the sampling capabilities and a longer delay time. It was great for me at the time I had it, though, because I was just getting into a lot of effects. Unlike the other reviewers, I found it to be neither tone-sucking nor noisy. Even though this pedal is overall a great little number, I could see where a knob-twiddler, which is what I have become, would start to feel limited. Higher-end delays with more features have a bigger pay-off in terms of sculpting your tone, but for the meat and potatoes player that just wants an echo, this is perfect...just don't pay too much for it.

The beetle-shaped plastic housing is pretty sturdy, but the 3 knobs seemed a little flimsy to me. However, when transporting it, I would never think twice about putting it in a backpack or a bag and throwing it around.

At the time I was using this pedal, I was just beginning to use a lot of effects, and I was really interested in coaxing bizarre and other-worldly noises out of an electric guitar. I loved putting this pedal in the effects loop of my EH Q-tron+. It was great for simple delays too. I owned it for 5 years, and it is the reason that I am now obsessed with delay. Eventually, I moved on to a more advanced delay because I wanted to work with one that had a wider palette of sounds and tonal possibilities. I now have the Headrush and a Roland Space Echo, and for the money, these are better-sounding, more versatile units. However, for what the DL-5 can do, and for the price, its pay-off is pretty huge.