Ibanez DL-5 Delay

This is a pretty simple digital delay pedal. It has 3 knobs on it (delay level, repeats, and delay time). It was really easy to figure this one out, even without the manual.

In signal order I use a Fender Cyclone, into a Korg GT3, Boss Chorus Ensemble, Arion Tubu-lator, Marshall Drive Master, Sound Tank Digital Delay, Laney Line-backer head and 4*12 cabinet. The Dl5 has only 400ms of delay, but was perfect for the type of short delay sounds I need in my group. It is really warm sounding for a digital delay and produces a wonderfuly clean and crisp sound, with albsolutely no hum or hiss, even at stage volumes. Because of its simplicity, it is not the most versatile of pedals in the world, but if you want a short digital delay, then this is great!

Even though this is housed in a plastic case, the pedal is really resilliant to the abuse that it recieves when in use. I dont feel that I need a back-up for this pedal because Im not about to hit it with a sledge-hammer on stage! It takes all the knocks that your average boss pedal does, and looks a whole lot better too!

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I play in an alternative three piece called One Day I Stopped Breathing, some-where in-between Soundgarden, Tool, Shellac, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and as a three piece we often need that little something extra to fill in the empty spaces, especially when we drift of into meandering passages of music that could sound any-where between Miles Davis, to Roni Size and Reprezent, or Alice in Chains, to Led Zepplin. With the Dl5, I have found an excellent delay at one quater the price of the Boss DD3, which I personally find dull and character-less. This pedal on the other hand produses a lovely delay which re-produces what you play when you want it to.
In the five years I have been playing I have used hundreds of different pedals, of which this the only delay (other than the Line 6 delay modler) that I have ever liked.
It would of been nice if this pedal had some form of reverse delay, but I didnt buy this pedal for its frills! It is a straight up, simple pedal withthe basic functions that you need, and if you can find one then get one, even if it is for back-up, because you will not be dissapointed! If it was stolen, I would definetley try to find another one.
This pedal really helps you to create music, it advances your ideas and leads you into uncharted territory! By using a delay, you can find all kinds of sounds that you thought never existed, and fill that space often left in one guitar bands when playing simple mellowed out riffs or passages of music.
Great investment all round!

Easy to use.. Pedal for repeat volume, no. of repeats, length of repeat. These knobs are NOT consitent, and depending on the life of your battery, the settings will come out completely different. Nearly dead battery produces fewer repeats at a lower volume but a much longer delay.

Bad. Using it with a Ibanez JS10th Chromeboy, a Tele, and a 50th Anniversary Strat Plus through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV. I'm proud to have great tone, and when I use this thing, it sucks it right up. All my treble gets bled off, and the tone becomes very muddy. Repeats sound very "sterile" and digital. When used through the effects loop in my amp, the volume of the repeats with the knob cranked, a fresh battery/or a power supply, and the repeats arent nearly as loud as the "live" note.

Eats batteries like nothing. Knobs are inconsistent and unreliable. Very VERY sensitive to moisture. Once performed outside with it the day after it rained and the moisture made it stop working until it dried up again.

Ibanez makes some great high end guitars, but everything else they make is crap. Never dealt with them personally, but have heard nothing but bad stories.

I've been playing for 6 years and I've had this for several years now. I thought it was an amazing pedal at the time, but I've really changed my mind about that after coming this far in my playing. It's cheap, so if you're on a budget I would reccomend it. I'm going to sell this thing and get a real delay unit.

Easy to use....three knobs and thats about it. It is hard to get a certain speed speed set because there is no time settings on it but for general use it is fine.

This is one area I could not believe when I plugged this unit in. I think it sounds really good. I play in live situations and use all professional equipment and I have been around many different products and this one amazed me. The delay time is short but who needs a real long delay time unless your hanging around just playing(screwing off). I use a Hughes and Kettner triamp half stack and run the dl5 last in the chain in the effects loop. I also use Boss flanger and phaser and the tuner made by Boss(TU-2 I think) along with a WH-1 and Crybaby. I am happy with the price of this unit and it's sound.

Seems strong....thick plastic and I have owned pedals of this type before.....they sounded really bad but only one ever broke.

Never had to deal with them

I play all covers in a local band and as I mention I do play a lot of different equipment and have been exposed to many different rigs in my life. I do feel that this pedal will work out for me for what I need it for(just mostly leads). I would tell recommend it to someone if they needed a good short delay pedal at a cheap price. Also the pedal does work with the Boss power adapters and the daisy chains.

This unit is very easy to use, BUT it's a petty there's no indication on the knobs what the actual value of the parametre is. Therefor it becomes difficult to accurately set the delay time, repeat time and level to the needs of the modern song. But going on your intuition works pretty well. A good sound is rapidly achieved.
But it's a limited unit, it's not a BOSS DD5. just three knobs, input & output.

I'm using an Epiphone Gibson with a Fender Blues Deville Amp and and Ibanez FUZZ 7. It's not noisy at all, the sound remains clean and very warm. The sound remains good when using the fuzz with it, you can get this spacy early 'the Verve' sound or just a fat lead tone. Playing chords with the fuzz and the delay adds little to the effect though.
The delay is 400ms but that's enough for general use, 400ms is a lot when playing normal songs on guitar.
I play mostly indiepop, Built to Spill, Pavement and stuff. the Halo Benders song Virginia Around the Fountain is my goal when using the delay, but that's not easy to do.

It's plastic. but I take care of my equipment so there's no problem there.. I would certainly use it on a gig. it's pretty sturdy.
the switch is good as well, it's not like some DOD pedals which don't
seem to switch on right and lights up the led even when off.
Seems to eat batteries though.

I haven't dealt with them.

I play mostly indiepop. I'ts just plain fun to use it for clean, fat, spacy, anything. I've been playing a few years. I own an Epiphone guitar, Fender Blues Deville Amp, an Ibanez Fuzz and a Dod Envelope FIlter. I'd rather own a boss, but hey, for 37 bucks you can't find a better delay than this. I love the warm tone, but it's limited in its settings. I wish everyone in my band had one of these, because it's easy to use, you can't do much wrong.

A good sound is all that is possible. The manual is a single sheet with a few languages. It just says thankyou for purchasing... the three controls are level, repeat and delay time.

You can see the LED on a soundtank unlike a BOSS which can be obscured in a three nob device when looking from anything but overhead.

The input, output and power jacks are at the rear. You dont open the pedal to change the battery like a BOSS.

The pedal has a strong feel, and a rubber base so as not to slip around.

The controls have a white line so you can see your settings from a distance.

Dead simple to use.

Marshall ValveState 8080 in the effects loop. Samick Valley Arts Strat - Alder body, maple neck, wilkinson tremolo, roller nut, USA standard single coils, DiMarzio megadrive.

Also Samick Blues Saraceno with Floyd Rose and two humbuckers, Fender "The Twin" 100Watt all tube, Epiphone Sheraton II (ES335).

Has some hum with a high gain setting and high volume, but nothing like the noise that say a phaser makes. Considering the hum at rehersal levels is not to bad compared to the volume, and on stage miked up its relay not a problem. This is mainly due to my cheap AC adapter which has no earth and has extra plugs I've connected and the fact I have an earth loop between my delay and boss chorus. If I used two adapters it would disappear.

The delay is on the warm side, and is slightly analog in quality realy. It doesn't sap the original tone but the repeats are not clinical or hollow sounding.

Very strong, very thick plasic case. The jacks are solidly mounted. It isn't going to break unless you choose to break it.

It always switches on and off without fault or noise. The pots make no noise.

The constuction is strong and durable. Bits wont fall off after time.

never needed them.

If you want a long delay then this wont do it (400ms). If you want a great sound then this is it.

Mine gives fantasic results and I've owned or own a Zoom 2020 which has two seperate digiital delays, a Zoom Choir 5050 which gives upto 2 seconds of delay.

The DL5 sounds much better than other delays but in this delay time range you could relay use an analog delay so to use this is a bit silly if you want some warmth - although a new or vintage Analog is a totally expensive proposition - this is really great sounding, has enough delay for what I want and is nice and warm yet clean sounding.

A good balance of sound, price, ease of use and reliabiliy.

Although there was no manual at all when I bought this unit, it was pretty easy to produce the sounds that I want without messing around with the knobs for long. Actually you have to be a moron to fuck up the settings on this effect.

I use a Gibson Epiphone through a Peavey amp and with the right settings the DL5 is ideal for non-distorted dreamy/spacey sound which the Smashing Pumpkins use on Siamese Dream as well as Mellon Collie etc... When using the DL5 with distortion it sounds extremely mushy and messy (in short:it sucks), but then again it is very hard to do backwards playing and stuff like that. Overall a good warm sound, I LIKE IT!!

It has a plastic shell which definetly does not seem very solid, and it eats batteries like Homer drinks beer. Mmmm Beer!!

Never dealt with them.

Since I am not trying to play blues and stuff like that I would'nt know whether this pedal is any good for you if you're a blues man. But for the sound I want the DL5 is absolutely perfect, it can produce everything from the spooky Limp Bizkit sounds that Wes Borland uses so often to the dreamworld of The Smashing Pumpkins. Although the DL5 is not as reliable and solid as a Boss it is still a good pedal, definetly worth the resonable amount of money that I spend on it.

This pedal is extremely easy to use. Only three knobs making it simple.... Delay volume, delay repeat and delay time.

I think that this pedal is crap. i bought this pedal with high hopes because i am a fan of ibanez but the the delay really doesnt sound nice. plus the delay time has a max of 400ms which really bites. It has to much of a chorus effect when its on that i dont like. i run it through my peavey ultra 410 connected to various other effects (flange, wah, chorus) and I'm in the market for another brand delay pedal now.

I've used this pedal in 4 or 5 gigs and it doesnt give me any problems as far as reliabilty. Plus I currently use another soundtank and i believe that even with the plastic housing that these pedals can take a beating.

never dealt with an ibanez employee

I would not recommened the DL5 to anyone. The effect is just not up to Ibanez quality. I like the ZOOM digital delay much better. It may be tempting to buy this pedal because its ease of use and good price but it's not worth it. Spend more and get more.

Very easy to use.There are three knobs controlling : delay volume delay repeats and delay time.

I use the dl-5 it in the effect loop of my Hughes&Kettner Tube 20 with a Musicman Luke and it sound great with low noise.
The maximum delay time is quite short (400ms), but ok.
If you need long delays buy a boss or a rack.

The battery cover is broken...cos' it's plastic sh**.
Electronic seems ok.

no deal with.

I play everything from blues to metal. I own several high end gear
like digitech,lexicon racks/Triamp which can't be compared to this.
This pedal works fine for my backup/low tar setup.
A question for Ibanez designers : soundtank pedals sound fine, but why does they look so *#**??!!** ?
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RELATIVELY EASY TO USE. WITH ONLY THREE KNOBS AND A FOOT PEDAL ITS KIND OF HARD TO RUN INTO PROBLEMS.

EPIPHONE LES PAUL THROUGH FENDER PRINCETON AMP. NOT VERY NOISY AT ALL. WITH A SMOOTHE BLUES RIDE THE PEDAL COMES IN VERY HANDY. WHILE NOT ALL THAT VERSATILE, THE PEDAL SERVES ITS PURPOSE AS A DELAY UNIT. NO BELLS AND WHISTLES HERE, JUST THE BASICS.

I BOUGHT IT USED AND IT HASN'T GIVEN ME ANY PROBLEMS THUS FAR. THE PLASTIC HOUSING IS SOMEWHAT SUSPECT BUT THEN AGAIN ITS NOT A SOCCERBALL.

OVERALL, IBANEZ IS A VERY ACCOUNTABLE COMPANY. FOR THE PRICE, IBANEZ HAS THE BEST DEAL GOING.

I PLAY MANY STYLES BUT BASICALLY THE PEDAL IS USED FOR ROCK N ROLL. BEEN PLAYING FOR ABOUT 4 YEARS. I'D BUY IT AGAIN BUT ONLY IF I DIDN'T HAVE THE FUNDS TO GET SOMETHING BETTER, NAMELY A BOSS DELAY/REVERB PEDAL. WHILE ITS NOT THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD, THE PEDAL IS HALF DECENT FOR AN AFFORDABLE PRICE. TRY TO FIND IT USED, IF NOT SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR SOMETHING BETTER.

Very simple unit, just three knobs (mix, delay time and feedback), the manual is poor but if delays units are familiar for you, no problems. It is a mono unit.

It depends about what are you looking for, this is a cheap unit,the maxium delay time is 400 ms. For me this pedal it is ok because i play blues and i need just two basics sounds (clean and smooth drive). Im using a Fender am.std , a Vox valve tone pedal(terrific!!) and a Dunlop cry baby (in that order), so i add just a little bite of delay in the solos to enchance the sound.(all levels about 40%). My amp doesnt have FX loop, and i put the delay unit after the cry baby. For this pourpose this unit is ok. If you need long delays or loops dont buy it. The sound quality its ok at short times of delay, but at 400 ms and feedback the pedal is noisy with any kind of pickups. The Boss DDl-3 is better but it costs more.

It is made of plastic but in my opinion it looks enogh strong for gigs.

I have been playing blues and rock for about 7 years. I will buy this unit again because for me its a good and simple tool at a low price. If you want add a little bite of simple and mono delay to your signal after a good overdrive pedal, buy this unit.( very nice after a Ibanez TS-9 or a Vox valve tone.) . If you like loops or an stereo efect, dont buy this pedal.