Ibanez DL10 Digital Delay

It's the standard knobs you get on a delay pedal - very easy to get a good sound, no hissing or scratchy pots despite being over 20 years old. Simple and effective

Most people here say it's very analog sounding. Totally agree - it's very natural and not mushy like a bad analog unit. Superb!

Well it's lasted this long (over 20 years ) and mine still looks as new and works as new. Got to be a 10 too. I love these Ibanez pedals, they are overlooked by the 808 hysteria but these are superb in their own right.

Never had the need to phone

Superb - great value for money and a great pedal

Basic stuff here.
Not worth mentioning!
Easy

Ok... here we go.
I've had this for over ten years and I've been playing for well over twenty. No boy-racer gee-my-mom-just-bought-it-for-me opinions here, but hey, this is HC so take it as you will, but this is the first time I have bothered reviewing a piece of gear. I love this one. Talk about a sleeper!
I have and have had, plethora of delays and have used many a latest-thing, but this little gem from the 80's is such a sweet piece.
It is the only "analogue sounding" digital delay I have found. Let me qualify, it is the only digital delay, with all the advantages of digital, that does not offend my analogue-loving ears.
Not sure how this was done, but the darn thing is sweet, it's quiet, and is the closest thing to a usable hybrid I have found.
Mostly when I listen to a new digital delay, i think I kinda scrunch up my ears, anticipating...what did Niel Young call it?..A bucket of ice cubes being tipped on my head. Not this. I fired it up a couple of days ago and went into scrunch mode. Damn. lovely. I played for a couple of hours.
Most of the "warmth" we associate with BBD delays is pleasant malfunction, as the signal is bastardised in a way pleasant to the human ear. The DL 10 is closest to what I imagine an analogue delay would sound like if it did not decay the signal.

Get the idea? Buy one if you can. Mine is not for sale.

Gig yes.
10 years, no probs.
10 series effects can need the switch replaced after some time.

Blerk

Great value and the sleeper of all sleepers.
Buy one. I have no doubt it will please you.

Very easy to use!! A very straightforward delay, no tricks (unless you want to tweak it to self oscillation, which is easy) involved.

Not quite digital (no metallic ping), and not quite analog (not too dark). Perfect balance, and no noise! It's self oscillation is GREAT, I love turning the repeats max, and then reducing the delay time while keeping an eye and adjusting the level knob so it won't get earsplitting. Bring it back down and get some crunchy lo-fi goodness.

So far it hasn't broken. At one point though, the repeat would not work, only giving me one repeat back. I think this was just due to a power supply problem though, as it hasn't happenned in a looong time. The 10 series is known for its sticky plastic switch, I have a an ibanez fat cat (proco rat clone) that has a sticky switch, but this delay doesn't.

A very basic, straightforward delay. Works great for any style of music. I happen to play a mix of indie, post-rock, ambient, psychedelic, and f*cked up pop. Works great for long spacey swells, echoes, pseudo reverb, noise washes, and even slap back. The only thing I wish it had was delay-after-bypass, but most delay units even today don't have this function.

The most straight forward pedal i have!!!!!!!!

My setup includes,a 2004 fender custom strat and a 1986 fender telecaster,into a crybaby, an electro-harmonix muff pie,a boss sd-1 overdrive, a vintage electro-harmonix small stones, a Mxr dyna-comp, then this(the dl 10 delay) and an ibanez lf7 lo fi filter, into a peavey delta blues. There is no noise that i can hear. coming from this pedal.

But when comes to sound, this pedal Does NOT sound like a digital delay. where normal digital delays are crip and sharp this is warm and soft and very pleasent as a vintage sounding delay. this thing sounds like gold.
Its great to set all the controls to the middle to give a sort or reverb sound, or with the D-time on 9 th repeats at 6 and the d-level at 8 for a U 2 like delay sound......It is pretty versitile.

Seeing this was my first pedal and i got it second hand and have had it for almost 8 years I would call it "indestructable". I has flown down a few stair cases.

Never needed help! but ibanez doesn't have agreat track record in the whole comsummer help department

I play alt-indie,classic rock(floyd, hendrix),progressive stuff,blues,jazz fusion,and new wavey stuff(police or the cure, or U2(this really helps for that)
Ihave been playing 12 year which is a huge chunk of my life which has allready been devoted to music. If this was stolen i would want to by another and i would pay a pretty penny for one.I love every thing about it and will never be with out it ....but i only gave it a nine for the simple fact it has no tap tempo...and in a band setting this can throw of an un-expecting drummer. I have been able to master the contorls of this thing to compensate,but that is the only down side....other than that this is my first and favourite pedal....Look hard to find won .if you do give her a try they are quite rare for the simple fact that everyone who has one wants to keep it.

I found god sounds out of this unit immediately. I bought this pedal used off ebay, so no manual, but one isn't needed since the pedal's knobs are so self-explanitory.

I use this pedal at the end of my chain: Boss TU-2 Tuner, Ernie Ball VP Jr., Crybaby (Keeley Mello-wah), Stigtronics Compressor, Stigtronics Classic Overdrive, Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus, and finally the DL-10. I run these all into a Peavey Classic 30 with Ruby Tubes and a Weber Blue Dog speaker. My guitars are souped up Mexi strats. Okay . . . I don't put ads on Harmony Central, unless I find something noteworthy that the public should know about. This is at the top of my list. I bought this unit used off ebay for $37.00, which is highway robbery considering the sound that this pedal puts out. One of the guys below said this was a professional unit as far as sound, and I could not agree more. I too am a professional musician, but I was looking for a nice-sounding unit that would complement my rig wihtout breaking my bank. I succeeded thoroughly. The sound from this pedal is so quiet, and so warm, you can't tell that it's digital. It smokes the Boss DD-2, and they go for four times the amount used! I put it next to a DD-2 and a friend's DM-2, and it shredded them both. I suggest any person willing to make the effort to find this unit to do so quickly before it becomes another internet "urban legend" pedal like the aforementioned units. The delay time is shorter than a regular digital unit (600 ms max), but the price is well worth the sweet, soft delay that it makes. Truly a gem in the used pedal market.

I have used this pedal on the road for two months and not a problem has arose. I am thinking of geting a backup, because it has become such an importnat part of my sound.

Never delay with Ibanez or Hoshino, so I can't really tell you.

I play rock and roll in a female-fronted band, but the sound I need is more subtle than extreme. This pedal is perfect for solos and shimmering clean sounds. I've played for twenty-one years, and I'm a gear snob. This one makes the cut. I've played through some incredible equipment, but I'm surpised that I didn't hear about this unit sooner. If you aren't put off by the shorter delay time, I suggest you pick this one over an overpriced DD-2 on ebay. Honestly, from the standpoint of a picky ear, this unit surpasses many of the so-called "sought-after" analog units. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing like a nice tape delay, but how many of us working musicians have the ready cash to shell out $900 to Mike Fuller? The DL-10 is spectacular.

Very easy to use, just delay time, number of delays, delay volume. I bought this pedal around 1990 when I was just transitioning from acoustic to electric, was a complete pedal moron, and yet it took about 5 minutes (if that) to get the hang of it.

I have to give this a 5. I find that the wet sound has a lot of noise, and even playing through the pedal ("bypassed", although I doubt it is true bypass) I get a slightly distorted sound. This isn't to say it has an "analog feel" -- it just plain sounds bad. And it's not a problem with the chain, I have used this pedal for 15 years in all configurations. After reading all of the reviews below, I hesitate to give such a poor rating. I figure that either a) my pedal has something wrong with it, or b) I have way too high expectations, or c) everyone else here is wrong and I am the only one who really know what is going on. I severely doubt b) and c), and so I must conclude that there is something wrong with this particular individual pedal. But it has always sounded this way -- until I read the reviews below I thought it was just not a good pedal in general....maybe I got one that was made on Monday morning or Friday afternoon......

Other than the limitations listed above regarding sound, it has always been reliable. I have always had to use it with the adapter, as it eats 9V batteries by the dozen, but the manual is very clear about this so I can hardly fault Ibanez for this.

Never attempted to get customer support. I doubt they care to hear from me 15 years after purchase.

I play a variety of music (SRV, U2, Steely Dan, Motown, you name it) and this type of pedal has its place with almost any of these styles. I have been playing for about 25 years, and have a lot of equipment. If this pedal got stolen, I wouldn't be heartbroken -- since it always needs to be plugged in anyway, I would just plug my V-Amp in the chain to replace it. If you're looking for something to buy, you can probably get a used V-Amp for around the same price as the DL-10, and the V-Amp has many other features that the DL-10 doesn't.

10. The three necessary controls for straight up delay.

Fender 62 re-issue strat/Jap strat->George Dennis Overdrive-wah->Boss AW-2 autowah->Ibanez Tubescreamer 10->Boss OD-2 turbo o'drive->Boss BF-2 flanger->George Dennis tremeolo-volume->Boss CH-1 super chorus->Ibanez DL-10->Fender Super 210 all tube combo.

My setup has a great clean tone tone, and all the DL-10 does is to repeat it. It is transparent, warm and accurate. Not cold and clinical as more modern ones tend towards. No unwanted noise. I can get tones from the Edge to Slowdive.

Ah, here's were it falls down a bit. Not a huge deal, but the on/off switch on it sometimes has a problem where it just won't change on/off- it's not a huge problem with delay, because I just tend to have it on the whole time. The 10 series have always had a rep for this. Having said this, I have three of the 10s (this delay, my tubescreamer and a modulation delay which has now gone to a better place) and the other two are fine. Just watch out for this.

Don't expect any support from any big musical company- they're just your run of the mill, exploitative, greedy corporations. Once a pedal goes out of production, you can't get anything worthwhile on it from them, unless you've got a tubescreamer 808 or a Boss CE-1. For current products, Ibanez are great. For old stuff, not so great.

We play indie pop/ ambient stuff and it suits me down to the ground. I've been playing for about 15 years and it's taken a lot of time to gather gear together. I'm not a fantastic player and I don't have the best ear in the world. But this delay is superior to the other 6 or 7 that I've had. I would be very upset if lost/stolen.

Very easy tp use - right out of the box. 3 knobs - d time, level, repeats. TIP: if you take the whole pedal apart...there are dip switches inside and you can make the delay time almost a full 2 second! It's insane! but play with it before you put it back together. This ajustment is NOT the screw you can see when you remove the battery. You have to take the whole thing apart - it's under the knobs.

I use mostly Les Pauls and PRSs through a my bedal board (tuner>vox wah>small clone>delay>eq>boss noise gate)...split to a Marshall 2555 Jubilee / Bradshal modded Marshall Plexi...to an old Marshall 4x12 with greenbacks....and and my other cab is a bogner 4x12 with Vintage 30s.

I have owned 3 different AD-9s, a Maxon AD-99, and I own an old BOSS DM-2 analog delay. It is way better than the boss, longer delay time that both the maxon and the Ibanez Ad-9. Sound quality is better than the boss and maxon. The only thing is that the Ibanez AD-9 sounds a little warmer. NOT MUCH! And the DL-10 is DIGITAL!!! What a suprise. I sold my Ibanez AD-9 and put this baby right on my pedal board for live use!

no problems yet - it's an all metal casing - seems solid

n/a

What a bargain - I thank God I heard about this pedal and was able to find one for a good price. You wait and see - if word of these ever really gets out - the analog market will dry up, these will skyrocket in price, and you'll never be able to get one for under 150 bucks. I stole mine on e-bay for 40 bucks....then I laughed as I sold my AD-9 for almost 200. This IS the best kept secret in delays. So warm - I have fooled ENGINEERS with it's warmth. Not a digital sound!

I play professionally. I'm no hack or bedroom guitar hero. I could use any gear. I won't brag about my endorsements (which I have a couple),,,,or the people and records I've played on (there are some pretty big names)....so needless to say - I could have almost any gear I want. You heard it here first - this thing is just as good and in some cases better - than all those 200 dollar analog delays that all these idiots are buying up and swearing by. this pedal is for real. trust me!

A complete no brainer.

Okay, the 10 is clearly a value for the buck rating, for the money this thing is the Ace of spades. Yeah, it is not a lexicon rack unit, yeah it is not an AD9....and yeah it is a DIGITAL delay, but it sure is warm sounding and mine is completely transparent. For one of their lower level digital delays this thing has a decent amount of headroom as well even when hit by my pair of TS9s.

Over 15 years old so I imagine its reliable.

Again, I cant say enough about it. I was in dire need of a decent delay and I was sick to death of the clinical sound of the Boss DD series (other than the DD-20 which is KILLER), and I did not have $150US for an AD9 so I grabs meself this little tike and boyo it really does the job. I will eventually go analog, prolly AD9 but till then this is great, and will prolly stay in the arsenal after I get an AD9 as a backup unit!

Very simple. Three knobs: volume, repeat, and level. Not much else.

I have a Fender Highway 1 Strat and I use an Ibanez SM-9 Distortion, a DOD 440 Envelope Filter, and a customized 4800 Small Stone Phaser. The pedal is great for those weird effects and cool sounds at the endings of songs. Hooked into my 40 watt Peavey Envoy 112 it really sounds great and smooth. A clean, warm digital dealy.

I do depend on this pedal because it sounds and works great and is super easy.

Bought this pedal off Ebay with my DOD 440 Envelope Filter. Never needed any support with this pedal becuase its nice and easy.

I have played rock for about 5 years and it is a great fit. I love the warm sound and easy controls which make it so simple. It helps me make music and is a great complement to my other pedals. I also love how it can stand out and make the distinct delay on some songs.

SIMPLE !!! No Degree required

Sounds GREAT!! I have tried many many delay pedals and this thing Is natural , warm and NOT Digital at all. I dont know what the guy below is complainging about. He probably needs a rack effect but is too cheap to buy one.. loser. The delays are a little short but who needs 5 minute delays anyway ? Just gets in the middle of playing. I love the lowering of the volume on this. For a pedal this thing is rates at least an 8.

Perfect never has let me down and I beat it never will

Never Need it

I would have known how good this thing was without buying it. It gives great U2 type delays not digital 24bit clean but not messy. Perfect value. Better then paying $$$ For boss sterile digital.

Easy, indeed, very easy!

No mentionable noise.
Sounds very neutral (not vintage, not digital).
Works between guitar and amp or in the amp's fx-loop.

Only reason for this review:
1) IT HAS A VERY VERY SHORT DELAY-TIME (ca. 500-600ms)
2) THE DELAYS DECREASE IN VOLUME IN A VERY STRANGE FASHION.
Dial in 5 Repeats and listen to the volume between the 3rd and 4th
Repeat - very irritating while playing!

For these two reasons i'll give it a bad rating.
i need longer delay-times and natural-decreasing repeats,
i'll sell this one right now.

Metal housing.
Unit eats up batteries for breakfast.

No need for!

Wouldn't hav bought it, if i've found somewhere in the www
comments on the very short delay-time.
So, be aware of this fact right now!
It's a very cheap delay-unit, which might be ok for single-repeat,
short delay-time slapback echos. I'll sell this and go for the new ibanez de7 delay.

Peachy keen. larger knobs for more accuracy would be appreciated, but oh well. gets the job done.

This was my first pedal. It one of a gift of three- the other two being an Arion flanger and an OLD 18v DOD chorus. Sounds beautiful. I've used it on acoustic for a reverb, used it for a country western "slapback", used it on herculean guitar solos to fill the room with notes... Solid, man, solid.

one of the wires disconnected from the battery connector, but who cares? i always run it with adapters anyway. so other than that, it's money. stomp on it, it turns on. stomp again, she's off.

I'll tell you what, I was lucky to have this gem (and my flanger) fall into my lap. I love it. I've been playing for seven years now, and this always seems to find its way into my effects chain. I do wish it had infinite delays, and I do wish it would allow me to play over the loop without it recording what I'm playing, but hey, we're not looking at Boss here. For what I do, this thing is perfect.

What do I do? Every style you can probably think of I've performed at one time or another. My effects rig has included a Crybaby, Ernie Ball volume, Morley PVW wah, DOD supra distortion (ah to be young and buy stupid things), arion flanger, Boss EQ, Rogue EQ (as a booster), and Ibanez compressor/sustainer. I play an Epi LP Standard and a Cort Strat clone which I've modded into a Fender Power Chorus 2x12 combo. I'm looking for a new distortion to give me a little more flexibility than my Fender allows... let me know if anyone has any ideas or suggestions.

I have found this unit to be very easy to use. The delays are easily set up. The only part I don't like is you have to change the settings manually each time for each song. A rack mount type would improve on it but this unit is great for recording

I am using a Strat into a Crate amp. I find there is very little noise with the delay. The effects is very good overall.

I can certainy depend on it but I don't use it for gigging. A single settings is a bit too limiting. I have never had a problem with reliability but the little bugger eats batteries. Get an adapter.

Never had to worry about it.

Metal and hard rock. This is a pretty good match.

it does sound pretty digitsl, but in most situations live this wont be noticed, in the studio, use something better. very quiet. very versatile

i do rely on it, however i dont use it much these days. the plastic pedal bit looks weak but has lasted really well.

n/a

it has been a godsend in certain situations, esp church and ambient jams, realy is inspiriational and can help to emulate the U2 sound with the right sound from your giutar and amp. it's wild buy for the price, but i don't think they make them anymore. i think all the ibanez stuff now is in that cheap soundtank casing. they just dont make them like they used too..

This pedal is very straight-forward. It's got 3 control knobs.One for delay length, one for repeat time and one for level.

I play my "Jaguar" strat copy (better than a real strat in my opinion) through this pedal and a DOD Classic Fuzz and run it through a Fender Princeton 60 Reverb and then through a Fender 150-watt P.A. and it sounds great. My band's into making cool sounds with our instruments and this really works for that. Just play one quarter note and then start screwing around with the controls. Lots of possibilities fo this pedal.

The only thing wrong with this pedal is that there is no place to plug in a 9 volt battery, so I've gotta use the AC from my wah-wah pedal. I doubt that every pedal is like this though, mine's probably just a defect.

Never dealt with them

My band plays a mix of New Metal/Alternative/Classic Rock/Blues. I've been playing guitar for 6 years, my drummer's been playing drums for about 8 or 9 years and my bassist has been playing for about 3 years. If this pedal got stolen or lost, I would definatly steal another one. (he he he)

I bought it used, so no instruction manual. But it's easy to use. One knob for delay time, one for number of delays and one for echo volume.

Very reliable. I use an AC Adapter so I don't have to worry about batteries.

Never had to.

It's fun to play around with. If you crank the repeat and volume knobs then hit a note and tweak the delay time knob, you can get some crazy ass space age sounds! I like that it has two outputs, a regular and a dry out. I often plug each one in to an input on my amp, with a distortion box or wah after the delay. That way I can get a distorted note with a clean echo, or vice versa. By playing around and doing different things you can come up with some interesting ideas. The only thing I would caution is that you keep the number of delays down, or else you can end up with a jumbled heap of notes clashing all over each other, especially if the repeat volume is high. Also, a long delay can be difficult to play over, especially with solos. But its nice to know you have the capacity for long delays if you ever want it.

3-knobs, no manual because it was a pawnshop gem of a steal

this thing kicks ass! subtle to dramatic degrees of delay... a great feature that I discovered by accident was an amazing "slapback" sound right out of Sun studios------ perfect for country, rockabilly, or slide/lappers

soundtanks are just that!

haven't had to get support, yet

this motherfucker is a straight-up 10

Easy to use, 3 knobs. Suitable for all ages.

Not too noisy at all, the only delay pedal I've owned so I can't compare it to others. I'm wanting to duplicate the delay sound in Neil Young's Mirrorball but can't seem to get it.

I bought it used 3.5 years ago and no problems. I use generic power adapters and even a $3 Radio Shack transistor radio 9V adapter and the box still sounds good.

Never dealt with them

Sounds good, works good, price was right. I am curious as to how old it is and when they stopped production on them.