Jacques Stompboxes Prisoner Analog Delay

Prior to having this unit i had never used a delay pedal with modulation in it. The Instructions could have been a bit more user friendly. It could explained that modulation in this pedal is really chorus to make the repeats warble but it didn't. It just said [Modulation]- yeah it's modulation... to that effect anyway. The rest wasn't hard to figure out... time, repeats and level. The manual is literally one page on his pedals. It wasn't to hard to use this pedal but the maker sure didn't help make it easier, that's for sure.

Overall, the sound of this delay is pretty good. nice and spacey and good for ethereal stuff as well as the classic rock stuff. I use mostly strats with a 50 watt ampeg reverberocket as well as a Mesa Triple Rectifier. The sound is pretty consistent being that they're two completely different amps. Some effects sound completely different with different guitars amps and other effects with it but this one, again is pretty consistent. It does NOT sound good if used before a fuzz or distortion. It sounds very unnatural so it sounds a lot better with a distortion box before this effect and if you're using the dirty channel on your amp, with certain gain settings it doesn't sound very good. But overall The effect itself is pretty good.

This pedal is not very dependable. The switch is quite fragile and the pedal has no play in the pedal when turning on or off. Most pedals that don't use a mechanical switch like boss pedals and the like have a spring on the pedal to provide a cushion to keep from accidentally turning the effect on or off. This is also to protect the switch itself. Jacques pedals use what is called a tactile switch. It is a very tiny push button switch. If you've ever taken the buttons off a calculator and seen what's behind-yup... most of the time it's one of those. There's no play in the pedal and no cushion between your foot and the button. Which makes the switch easily breakable. Let me put it this way... YOU WILL WEAR OUT THE SWITCH. Eventually you will have to replace it. Needless to say, it's not true bypass.

The customer service absolutely positively SUCKS!!! Jacques is based out of France and services who he wants and ignores who he doesn't. When my pedal needed service because it became noisy, it took a solid month of constant emailing, he emailed me back asking where i bought it and continued to ignore me when i emailed back. I said i got it from Musicians Friend. When he finally replied again- after more than a month of frustrating emails back and forth he concluded that he doesn't deal through musicians friend and as such refuses to help me. This person does not stand by his products, is completely arrogant and will only help you if he so desires. Because of the fact that he's in France you can't really go any further than to hope he'll want to help you. If not then you're stuck. There's no shops here in the states that will service his units and he has no staff where he's based out of. If you buy a Jacques stompbox, then you're at his mercy.

Genuinely. i think it's a pretty good product. it's a warm analog delay pedal with a good sound and a very small footprint. That said, the cons do not outweigh the pros. Do not buy his pedals or you just might get stiffed the way i did. The design definitely has its flaws and will need servicing at some point. At which time it does, Jacques is not the kind of manufacturer you can depend on. There are far better products out there and even better customer service because they know that as consumers we can go where the products and service are better anytime we choose. Good customer service is the key to keeping customers even when there are other products that can compete. That said, my general consensus is: DO NOT BUY JACQUES EFFECTS. The lack of customer service is enough to overshadow any benefits to his products. I replaced my prisoner pedal with a malekko echo 600. nuff said

Read the users manual and set the combinations suggested, to hear the several delay modes.

I use all guitar types and vintage tube amp.
The quality of the effect is rich, professional and you can go from studio to live, always sounding with character and consistency.
I play from funk-fusion to country.

Yes it is well built, even if the on-off seems kind of fragile, but its not, the idea is clear the "clank", when to turn it on during recording in studio for example and also to be easy switched by hand if you like.

I never needed any assistance on this unit, but yes Jacques answered supportive when i mail him.

This pedal really adds a tasteful character and is a versatile tool, excellent to any experimental incursions, it will respond real time knobing motion and it can even work as a chorus, fab unit.

Tone is just superb and Jacques works are creative, as a fine art and craft state.

Quality never left any doubts to anyone.

Pretty straight forward, even though the mod knobs are highly interactive, and when you find a good setting on the rate, it's probably going to change the depth and viceversa.

6 is the average rating between a 9 this pedal deserves with the time knob set till 1 o clock and the 3 it deserves past 1 o clock. The reason is very simple: with the time knob set till 1 o clock (about 170 ms), the delay sounds great, and the mod definitely adds a shimmering 3d effect. But if you set the time any higher than that, the repeats have a weird hiss which make it sound terrible, especially with clean tone, cos the clipping that comes from the repeats is not musical at all, it actually sounds almost like a digital distortion, which is quite awkward from an analog unit! So if you plan on using the prisoner as a slap back or as a short delay in combination with another unit for longer delay times, good. If you plan on using it for longer delay, bad.

Looks pretty strong, even though I've only had it for a few days and cant really tell. The weaker part might be the actual switch, but I have it in a true bypass strip, so I dont step on it that often..

I've been emailing his for a week to ask if it's normal that I get that weird hiss at higher time settings, but never got a reply - and I've sent at least 6 emails in the last 7 days.

I bought it cos I needed a short mod delay to use in conjunction with my BOSS DD20 (set for longer delay time), so it does the job pretty good.
Unfortunately I'm addicted to modulated delay, that's what saves this pedal, otherwise I'd go for the boss dm2 (which I own, and you can set the time all the way up with great analog delay at 300ms). Afterall, what's the point of having a mod delay if you cant set it any higher than 170ms??

This is just an update of an earlier review. I was able to get the Prisoner to sound almost identical to the EHX Deluxe Memory Man. The rate has to be closer to the 'vibrato' speed on the DMM, but it's there. I'm still not giving it a ten because of the odd (clock?) noises on some settings. But for it's size and versatility it's a tremendous unit.

I ordered this from Tone Toys in Germany. if you're anywhere in Europe I strongly recommend them - excellent service and free shipping. Teir website is in German but you can email them in Eglish. Anyway, to the Prisoner. It's a fairly straightforward analogue BBD delay (like it says on the top of the pedal) with the addition of modulation. This set of two controls, MOD and RATE modulates the repeats, but leaves the original signal dry. The pedal follows a sort of BOSS-esque format, but is actually really small. Someone below said 20% smaller but I think it's even less than that. The footprint is even smaller that the standard small hammond enclosure used for most boutique boxes. Very dinky. All th econtrols are responsive and as there's no self oscillation on this to speak of you can set the controls pretty much anywhere and retain control of the effect.

BBD delays are a funny breed in that they don't necessarily sound good just because they're analogue. My main squeeze is a DM-2 which is pretty much the perfect delay pedal - the notes are lush and seem to bloom and boost as the echoes evolve.
The quality of the Prisoner's repeats are very similar in character to the DM-2 but much more refined, controlled and slightly more subtle, without the bloom. This is more of a predictable, "studio" sounding effect. The short delays - the slapback and room sounds are excellent - super clean, natural and very airy sounding. As you wind up the delay time knob it becomes apparent that this is in no way an overbearing effect.
The delays, modulated or not, are happening very much behind what you're playing, but are still very audible. Tastefully done. With everything maxed out, there is some barely noticeable operational and glitching noise, par for the couse with BBD's. The funny thing is that for noise this pedal is directly comparable with my 25 year old DM-2, which shows you how well built those things were. I did notice that they've squeezed a bit more out of the delay chip as the delay on this, when maxed out is slightly longer then the DM-2, so, on balance, it's probably very slightly quieter.
The modulation section on this is really worth a mention, as when the delay is turned off (by setting the "TIME" control to zero) and with the "LEVEL" all the way up, the pedal doubles up as an gorgeous, thick and detuned sounding chorus that actually puts my Small Clone to shame. Two pedals for the price of one. I've found that running a Big Muff through this chorus with the "MOD" turned up and the "RATE" low produces an absolutely spectacular effect - a sort of half chorused, half flanged searing sounding fuzz. Amazing.
Using the modulation with the delay produces anything from an subtle Cocteau Twins chime to crazy detuned effects, vibratoing repeats,and lots of other stuff.

It seems to be built right. Nice cast metal case, metal jacks, rubber coated footpedal and bottom plate. There doesn't seem to be provision for running it on a battery - mine came with a 9v battery and a clip on the end of a barrel connector - it lasted about an hour! A power supply like a BOSS PSA type is required. It's so compact and solid I can't imagine anything failing mechanically. The footswitch seems delicate but strangely durable. It's travel is so short that I also can't forsee any problems with it. Oh, and it has a blue LED.

Never dealt with them/him.

Never tried the Maxon AD999, the Echoczar or any of those other crazy expensive, super long analogue delays. For a current production BBD delay in a compact size pedal with the standard 300-odd milliseconds, this is pretty much as good as it gets. Add in the excellent modulation/chorus and I think it's a winner.

The modulation adds a small learning curve. If you are used to the EHX Deluxe Memory Man this still applies. Still, everything is labeled in a straighforward manner (a bit dissappointing for Jacques, I suppose) and getting regular delays is as easy as any other analog delay.

I like modulated delay used by people like the Edge or Johnny Buckland. (Even if you hate U2 and/or Coldplay you might like modulated delay). There's nothing that can have such a short trail and yet give such a sense of depth.

I wanted this pedal as a (smaller) alternative to the Deluxe Memory Man. It simply doesn't have 'that' sound. The modulation seems to be either too imperceptable or overpowering, and it can be tough to get that angelic glow that comes rather easily on the EHX unit.

Still, there are some great sounds to be had with the time dial at about noon and high rate and depth settings. And there's a nice shimmery chorus with mix and mod all the way up, no delay time and a single repeat. You can get fairly wobbly if you edge up the repeat and time dials. Longer delay times with heavy modulation can be fun.

I like modulation as much as the next guy, but the sort of endless repeat on this unit can add some nice depth.

The fidelity is marginally better than the DMM and it seems to have no clipping issues. It will not alter the midrange like a DMM either. There is definately some added glitching noise with the mix and repeat set high, although it could be a power supply issue.

Slapback and regular delays are fine, although not my primary concern. If you don't care about modulated delay or chorus, an Ibanez or Maxon would work just as well.

I've used this primarily with a Fender Limited Edition Tele (humbuckers with coil tap, Korean made) into a Vox AC30TB.

Not as sturdy as metal, but robust. No backup necessary.

Never dealt with Jacques. No comment.
If you've never visited the Jacques site and you enjoy the slightly off-kilter English of a non-native speaker (please do not interpret this as a bigoted remark, or an insult to Jacques's intelligence. I'd sound ridiculous speaking Japanese, for example) do yourself a favor and visit.

I use this pedal primarily for vaguely post-punkish worship music. It doesn't do the U2 thing but it's still can cover a lot of ground. Having a delay and chorus in such a small unit could also be a huge advantage to some players.

I wish it did the DMM thing, obviously. I wish it had more delay time and a switch to enable self-oscillation, but that's a lot to ask such a compact unit.

I've been playing about 7 years. I have a lot of gear. As far as delays go, I also own 2 DMMs, an old Ibanez ADL, 2 Arion SAD-3s (worthless as conventional delays but nice secret weapons), and a Korg SDD-2000 rack. I've also owned a couple multieffects (Korg PX3 and Digitech RP100--I can't believe I ever owned these now, but I learned a lot from them) Guyatone MD-3 (nice unit), a Boss DD-6 (briefly--too cold), and a DLS EchoTAP (too dark for my tastes and not spacious enough). If I had to pick a single delay, I'd probably get a Diamond Memory Lane or a Toneczar Echoczar. I'm really banking on the (sadly overdue) Pigtronix Echolution being a smash.

With controls for feedback, delay time, echo volume, modulation rate, and modulation depth, it is slightly more complex than your average delay. Getting a standard echo sound, however, is as easy as leaving the modulation controls all the way down, and setting up your echo to taste.

Adding a modulation section means you can set up anything from a subtle detune to insane vibrato to having the pedal serve as a chorus... and these take a bit more experimenting.

Also, one of the benefits of analog delays over their digital counterparts is a significantly smaller drain on a 9v battery. The Prisoner's battery does last longer than a digital delay, but with anything less than a pristine battery, the headroom diminishes and the repeats distort. I'm using an adaptor with the pedal now, and the unit is pristine... I figure that's more of an "ease of use" issue than a "sound quality" issue.

This is easily the best analog delay I've ever used.

Analog and digital delays are completely different animals (digital repeats are clearer, and I still use them for tight, rhythmic work), so the Prisoner has become my favorite "psychedelic" delay: I use it at shorter repeats and lower feedback for drifty lead work, and cranking the feedback causes the echoes to lock on to held notes and create that echo/feedback effect.

A lot of discussion has taken place about this pedal's feedback not going above the "runaway echo" threshold. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed myself, but the pedal will feed back, hands free, if I control how I play... which is a great boon to me. Honesty, I have very little ability to stop in the middle of a song and twist my "delay time" knob while my echo is feeding back... and when I have done this, it's a bit gimmicky. Cranking the feedback on The Prisoner, on the other hand, will let me put analog delay feedback into a solo just by digging in and sustaining a note-- it's an organic part of the lead line, and never comes off like a gimmick.

The other concern (and I had it, too) was: is 300ms really enough? Actually, it is. I still use a digital delay for longer, tempo sync'd echoes, but these echoes... and they are fairly long echoes... are usually around 300ms (almost exactly-- dotted eighth notes in a relatively uptempo song). Usually, I have The Prisoner set between 125 and 200ms, and it will do the long delays if I need them.

The quality of the delayed signal is magnificent. I thwacked a staccato chord and let the echoes ring to show my bandmates what digital delays *can't* do, and one of them responded with "Oh, I see... echoes that evolve." No digital delay that emulates analog really gets this sound (as far as I know, they all roll off the high frequency and ad a little distortion)... a clumsy oversimplification that is pretty much the same as a Yamaha DX7 emulating a trumpet. There's something ineffable about the way real analog echoes behave, and this box has better fidelity than any analog delay pedal I've ever come across. That's probably why the slapback on this pedal is so enjoyable-- I never really got the point of slapback until I tried it with The Prisoner.

On to modulation... at very low delay times and no feedback, a decent amount of mod depth and speed, The Prisoner doubles as a fine chorus pedal (most chorus pedals over the last few decades have traditionally been simple modulated delay), and cranking the feedback gives more resonance to the sweep. I love this-- I seldom buy a pedal that only does one thing, and an echo box that will serve as a chorus is a boon to my pedalboard. It is not a thin, 80's shimmer either, but a full, rich, rolling chorus.

With longer delays, the modulation can offer hands-free dive bombs and squeals, or just a subtle shimmer to the echoes, chorusing held notes against the delayed signal. Cranking up the rate of the modulation will actually give a solid vibrato to the echoes that can be used very creatively with only a single echo tap. If you wander away from the subtler mods and into lunatic territory, even these sounds can be musically useful if you turn down the level of the effect... so something very bizarre is going on behind you, but not necessarily in your way.

This is my fourth Jacques pedal... none of them have gone south on me so far, and I doubt this pedal will break the trend.

Pretty solid. Though I've never had any trouble with a Jacques pedal, I have sent the occasional email query about my pedals, and always gotten a prompt and helpful response.

Given that it is a smallish, guitar-player oriented delay, it doesn't offer everything. The Level knob is from 0% to equal volume with the clean signal; it doesn't go 100% wet. It doesn't do the runaway echoes. These are both symptoms of being a guitar player's box-- it's not a studio tool, built for sound manipulation. I'd like to have those options, but that's not what Jacques built it for, and that's fine.

I will also not take off points for the lack of the rhythmic clarity and clean repeats that digital delays offer. That's not why we use analog delays, and it's not the sound we expect to get from them.

Usually, my bandmates sort of nod and smile when I talk about my newest pedal... the best "overall rating" I can give this pedal is that it inspires everyone in the room. It's a beautiful sounding analog delay with a life of its own; it's something that can't be emulated. It solves all of the problems I've ever had with the Boss (terrible bypass), DOD (problems with substantial delay times), and Electro-Harmonics (doesn't anyone notice how terrible the clipping on the Memory Man is?) analog delays and has no real drawbacks of its own.

Couldn't be much easier. It's 5 knobs in front at your feet.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

My Lexicon G2 has not been used since the Pisoner was delivered, and will in future probably be used only if I really need more than 300 ms delaytime which is the max on the Prisoner.

Can't tell.

I trusted the guy and sent him the money in a sealed envelope and he delivered the pedal as promised.

Awesome, really.

Dead easy to use. Just plug in, power up, step on the unit (blue led) and play with the knobs. This isn't rocket science.

Sounds great. Doesn't color tone. What you put into it is what you hear... plus the delay, and the optional modulation, which, I must add, is pretty coooooool. Pedal itself is quiet. It isn't an especially dirty pedal, as far as echoes. Occasionally, I heard a ping in the echoes, depending on how I played the guitar.

To test the pedal I ran a Brian Moore i2.13 into the Prisoner, into a Fender Vibroverb '63 reissue.

My only complaint about the pedal is that there is no way of getting "infinite" feedback, where the echoes keep building. I have a vintage EH Memory Man that does the modulation + the feedback regeneration thing very well, but it has the largest footprint, and isn't the best bet for a compact pedal board. If I could mod the pedal to allow for the regeneration, I would give this unit a 10.

No problems so far, and it seems durable enough.

I mean, I'm just going to step on it, right, and I don't have to put all my weight down on it, or jump up and down on it, right? I don't plan on using it to throw at people, places, or things, so I should be okay.

If it breaks, I'll let y'all know.

I've contacted Jacques regarding a mod to the pedal, and while his reply was prompt, he said he couldn't help me out. Whether it means he can't or won't or feels there is nothing wrong with his pedal that it needs modding, I don't know. He is still a nice guy.

Like I said, the pedal has no way of getting "infinite" feedback, where the echoes keep building. A big bummer, in my book.

Compare it to my vintage EH Memory Man that does the modulation + the feedback regeneration thing very well, but it has the largest footprint, and isn't the best bet for a compact pedal board. The Prisoner is tiny, and has most of the features of the vintage Memory Man.

But no feedback regeneration. Sniff.

I'm going to try to find someone to mod it.

Getting a quality sound out of this unit is a breeze....its an analogue delay. The only reason I'm going to only give this a nine is that the trails abruptly cut out when the unit is disengaged. This would be a great improvement. However, I dont know if this is an analogue delay "thing".

I run it in the effects loop of my 50w point to point custom Morris amp built on the chassis of a 71 Bandmaster (www.morrisamps.com) which in itself turns ears wherever I play. The sound is absolutely amazing. I was searching for a vintage Ibanez AD9 for a long time but they where selling for silly $$$ and the EH Memory Men with modulation sections where ridiculously noisy. The delays are beautifully clear, thick and organic, and the modulation section is such an amazing bonus I cannot believe the price, I would have paid the price I did for this pedal for the delay alone! Although the unit is not "true-bypass" ie. big honking chrome dpdt switch....it uses a buffered bypass, I find the unit is completely silent, it does nothing to my clean tone when disengaged. As far as self-oscillation etc. sorry, I did not buy this baby for those purposes so I dont know if it does or not. Someone else will have to remark on this.

The case is constructed of metal and appears quite solid. The only questionable area I find is the switch plate area is less hefty in its construction, but the funny thing is when you engage the switch it feels extremely durable.

I contacted Jacques twice. Once prior to purchase, and once after purchase regarding the possibility of a mod allowing the trails to continue (see above) and he responded quite positively, helpfully and promptly.

Been playing 11 years now, and I play a very wide variety of styles and use it in conjunction with an extensive array of pedals and it has worked well in every sense of the word. For the price, quality of sound, silence and modulation section, this delay is stellar. As mentioned above the only improvement would be trails cutting off when disengaged.

What I love most about this unit is that it works WITH your tone and never takes over, even if you get silly with it and I love to get silly with the modulation section. Your amp and guitar tones are still front and centre, this unit just works with them.

I would replace this thing as fast as I could!