Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay

This is incredibly easy to use. Typical time, mix, and feedback controls, nothing unusual.

I have heard the reports of various noisy units out there. I experience some noise at longer feedback settings with the mix knob up, certainly more than I would get with a true digital delay.

The DBD is designed to sound like a tape echo, and it does that just beautifully. I use it for atmosphere, sometimes slapback/rockabilly sounding stuff, and just to add a little "air" to my guitar sound.

Having owned echoplexes and space echos in the past, I like that sound, and the Deep Blue Delay will get you a nice analog sounding tape delay in a small enclosure. Mine was worked flawlessly, and is built to last.

It's not pristine sound quality, but that's not the point of this particular delay. If I want sparkling clean delay, I will use a BOSS DD-2 or another high quality digital delay unit.

Yes, these are built very well, and I have not had any problems with any of my Mad Professor products

Harri and Jukka at Custom Sounds are great to deal with, are efficient, ship quickly, and answer emails pretty quick. Two thumbs up!

I like this pedal a LOT -- but maybe I got a good one? But mine DOES have some noise when feedback and mix are cranked up to unuseable levels (at least for stage use)

Certainly, when I am home, and experiment with doing some delay madness, there is some noise that gets induced into the signal. But this is with the delay at levels that would be far too high for onstage use. But as I remember, my Echoplex was noisy too :-)

Tonally, when used properly, this thing sounds amazing, and has a nice, warm ambience that doesn't sound digital at all....that's why I like it!

Nice & Easy

These delay are awesome. I read below of some people having rouble with noise come on guys this is a realy good delay maybe something is wrong with your delay

I have not had any trouble with there products

Harri is a great guy he will take care of you

Very nice delay

Easy enough.

It's one of the better delays out there for basic slapback stuff, but when you start getting into the longer delay times it sucks. I gotta agree with some of the previous reviews here, I experienced all the ticks and noises in longer delay settings.

The bypass is terrible too. I'd have it oscillating and then when I turn the pedal off I could still faintly hear the oscillation. WTF?

You get a volume drop when the pedal is engaged. I know this is common for delay pedals, but come on. $300 pedals shouldn't do this stuff.

Solid. I wouldn't know about the long term though, I got rid of the pedal.

I've owned the best delays out there, like the Moog, TTE, and DMM. The Deep Blue Delay comes nowhere close to these and in my opinion it's insanely overpriced, just like 90% of all BJFE/BJF/MP stuff.

Super easy to use. If you can't figure this one out, you shouldn't be driving a car...

I love this pedal! It sounds great, very musical. It lies in the mix very well, it doesn't get in the way or disappear like some pedals I've owned or used. There have been zero noise issues and it sounds transparent, no increase or decrease in levels.

I've been using it for a while and I don't see any problems developing. The switch and pots operate very solid and the case of course is bullet-proof. I don't expect to have any problems to deal with this pedal or any products from Mad Professor.

Harri (Mad Professor) has always been great about getting back to me with any questions I had.

I play a wide variety of styles and this pedal sounds very musical in every situation I've used it with. I've used just about every major delay device over the last 40 years starting with the Echoplex. The cool thing about the Echoplex was how it worked in the mix, the Deep Blue Delay feels the same way . I'm not saying it sounds like an Echoplex, I'm saying that it compliments my guitar sound in a similar way. The other pedals I've used have either gotten in the way or disappeared once the band kicked in. The Deep Blue just sounds right, easy to use and as I said before, it's musical. Thanks Harri!

This pedal is set up like most analog delays with controls for delay time, repeat, and mix. True bypass switch, blue LED, and runs off a 9v power supply. Pretty simple layout which is very easy to understand.

Unfortunately, I too experienced horrible results with this pedal. The sound was probably the worst I've ever heard in a delay unit. There was a loud "ticking" sound along with digital farting noises with each delay repeat. I couldn't pack it up fast enough! There are obviously some quality control issues going on here. It sounded nothing like the clips on the website. Totally unuseable in a studio or live situation. Very disappointed.

Well, it seemed solid and the switch was smooth. Paint job was fine and I liked that it was compact. But the sound was so awful I couldn't use it.

I emailed them and got a response from the American contact which told me to wait for a response from Europe which never happened. Obviously the unit was defective but I didn't want to wait or have to send it somewhere else to be repaired. Not for a brand new $400 pedal, sorry. I shipped it back to the store in Chicago for a Blackbox Quicksilver instead.

I play professionally in Nashville touring and doing session work. I've used lots of gear over the years and never have I been so disappointed. Make sure you can try it before you buy! It was going for that Echoplex vibe but it was impossible for me to discern the repeats from all the noise. It sounded like a baseball card stuck in the spokes of a bicycle wheel. I think my father used to do that when he was a kid. Said it made a cool sound when you rode your bike down the street. Not so cool with this delay. Hopefully someone else will bave better luck!

The usual controls for a delay pedal...they work and function as the older analog delay pedals. A CINCH!

I don't know what happened with 'Reggie' below but my pedal is excellent. The paint job is a real cool enamel baked on I'm expecting. The pedal runs quiet and sounds lush and beautiful in every setting. This pedal is definitely more of an *ECHO* than a repeating delay pedal. It reminds me of an Echoplex type sound than a pedal because of the way the echoes decay and dissipate causes a really REALLY unique and cool 'atmosphere' more than a repeat box. As advertised, this pedal works GREAT with distorted soloing guitar, much better than most other delays I've used and I have used TONS. I rate this pedal as #2 right behind my Fulltone TTE tape echoplex. I have owned or still own: Maxon AD900, Keeley modded DL4, MemoryLane, T-Rex Replica, DLS Tap-echo, Echoplexes of variety etc....this pedal sounds like a nice musical echo creation in the traditional 'echoplex' type of delay/echo....it is brighter and more vibrant than an analog delay and MUCH more musical than a digital delay and easier to use and maintain than a tape delay.

Built really well. I expect no issues.

Don't know, havent contacted them.

This pedal is very expensive. I may not be for everyone. It comes in a cardboard box with a small manual. I have found that it functions as advertised, sounds absolutely BEAUTIFUL, looks real cool, takes up a small amount of real estate on my pedalboard. The biggest reason I bought it was because of its ability to remain musical when slammed with a distorted hot signal. I expect to see it on pro pedalboards sitting in the place of T-Rex Replica delays...unless you are chained to the 'tap' function, this Deep Blue pedal simply sounds better, much better.

This is a very simple pedal to use but I defy anyone to give it a 10.
Reasons being: No tap tempo, no power supply and there are no markings around any of the knobs.
This means it is virtually impossible to go back up and set it up to how you wanted it for a particular song (unless you have a photographic memory).

OH.....MY.....GOD! I hated this pedal!
Maybe I was unlucky but I had packed it up ready to go back within 5 minutes.
This was awful. It was SO noisy and there was a very weird, rapid "ticking" sound that came when you played a note.
Sorry I can't describe it any better but that's how it sounded to me.
I have a good quality Strat, Koch Twintone amp and Pete Cornish cables so I don't think my setup was the problem.
I rang the shop and was told that the pedal was "very dirty" whatever that means.
Try before you buy. You have been warned.

Well. My one lasted no time at all before I sent it back.
The paint job on it was very hit and miss and I would have expected something better for my money.
I am going to rate this 1 as it was a disaster for me but maybe it was just a faulty pedal (it can happen).
I would hope to god mine wasn't how they are supposed to sound otherwise most people would send them back.

I made a very stupid mistake in going on 1 solitary review here and the reputation of their amps. You will notice that they very quickly added a link on their website to the review below. Hmmm. Makes you wonder!
I listened to their sound clips again in which they test it alongside a T-REX replica and I think you'll find the Repica is better! (By the way, I have had a replica and wasn't convinced by the hype there either).
Don't buy this on the strength of the previous review but by the same token, don't not buy it because of mine.
Please try it (if you can) and make up your own mind.
Maybe I was unlucky

This thing is a total cake walk. Nothing at all out of the ordinary here, a simple looking, MXR sized box with three knobs to handle the basic parameters. It has an adaptor input that is pretty common and can be run off of a Pedal Power unit and can also be run off of a battery (they don't really talk much about that in the copy on the Mad Prof site, just thought I'd mention it). Deep Blue is intended as more of an "ambient" delay, meaning that synching echo times with playing isn't necessarily crucial to making the unit sound good, which is another plus in my book. Bottom line: If you've ever used a delay (or any other basic effects pedal) you won't be surprised by anything on this one (until it hits your ears, anyway!)

OH.....MY.....GOD! This thing sounds simply amazing. Lower levels reveal a very warm, natural, earthy sounding delay, whereas higher echo levels with more repeats yield thick, almost SWIRLING echoes (make no mistake, this pedal does NOT include any modulation and isn't necessarily a micro Echoplex) that degrade in tone with each successive repeat like the best analog delays, which is hella surprising considering this little guy is 100% digital. Also noteworthy is the fact that when the echo level is turned all the way down an A/B comparison between the pedal on and off reveals that the Deep Blue Delay adds NOTHING to your sound other than the echo, which is really, really nice. The echo itself is extremely lo-fi, so that aspect DOES affect your tone, but in some really kick ass ways! This little blue beauty is going to replace my DLS Echotap (a BRILLIANT pedal that I truly do love... at least I did!) which I've been using for a few years now. While the DLS sounds awesome, it doesn't sound ANYWHERE close to as brilliant as the Mad Prof, and it's not nearly as transparent. I also noticed that the DLS adds a slight darkness to my tone when used in the effects loop (despite it's claim of being true bypass) where as the Mad Prof is seemingly way more transparent, both bypassed and engaged. Sorry, DLS. I love you and all, but, well, we can still be friends. right?

Anyway, long story short, this is TOTALLY worth the 350 bucks I paid for it. Who needs tap tempo, tone knobs, and other bells and whistles when the pedal just sounds AWESOME to begin with? I might buy another for different settings, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be the last delay I need for a while.

Well, it's been a day. All I've been able to determine so far outside of the stellar sound quality is that this thing is CRAZY heavy! No lie, it weighs two to three times more than any other pedal it's size that I've ever seen! The Prof has a reputation for overbuilding his amps, so I'm assuming his effects units are equally stout. I'll refrain from leaving a score because I'm still in "honeymoon" mode, but I have a really good feeling that I'll be using this for a long, long time.

No support so far.

This pedal is so overwhelmingly cool I gotta give it a solid, unquestionably well deserved ten. It works well with my gear (I have a Bogner Shiva which features a rather fickle effects loop, so this is a MAJOR factor in determining what I can/can't use in my set up) it sounds great, better than ANY stinkin' digital/ hybrid/ modelling/ so and so blah blah pedal I've ever personally used, and quite honestly it beats the pants off of some of the more hyped analog pedals (of which I've had many)as well. While I'll always have a soft spot for TRUE ANALOG pedals (again, this is digital) I've long since grown weary of their inherent flaws. The Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay is truly the best of all possible worlds, offering the best tone for under a thousand dollars I've ever come across. Thank you SO MUCH, Mad Professor!