Maxon AD80 Analog Delay Reissue

Standard three knob delay. It's not easy to oscillate the delay, so a beginner isn't going to accidentaly blow up their amp, which makes it easier I guess.

I haven't used many analogue delays, but the delay tone is similar to a Keeley modded Ibanez AD9, maybe a little darker, but I'm just going from memory. It's got a smooth, natural decay and generally sounds great, but the only thing that I'm dissapointed by is that the delay level doesn't go very high, so it's a little too quiet for my taste. Also, it's very difficult to get it to oscillate, though I'm not really bothered about that, it's worth a mention since it's assumed all analogue delays do this.

Mine was a refurbished model, and apparently the only thing that was originally wrong with it was a bit of soldering was loose. Since that's been fixed who knows, but it's physically very sturdy.

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It's a nice little delay pedal with a great tone, but since the max delay time is only 300ms and the level isn't very loud it's difficult to reccommend if you're really into delay since it doesn't offer that much. You'll get more versatility from modern analogue delays such as the MXR Carbon Copy for about the same price, so it's difficult to really praise it highly, given the fact that you'll pay alot since it's a discontinued pedal, but if you find one at a decent price you won't be dissapointed.

Not much to this sucker. Three knobs; Delay, Repeat and Blend.

Two outputs, one dry, one wet. Excellent for running this pedal in stereo!

EXCELLENT!

I use a Gibson 61 Reissue SG staight into a Laney GH50L/Avatar 2x12. This is the only pedal in my effects loop at the moment. My amplifier lacks reverb so this pedal really helps add a lot of depth to my sound and can produce some awesome reberb-like effects.

Like many others have said in previous reviews, I hate to use the word 'organic' to describe this delay, but I honestly can't think of a better word to use! The echos are just so warm and natural sounding. Completely blows every digital delay I've ever owned/tried out of the water.

I have had this pedal for quite a while and it hasn't let me down yet!

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No surprise here that this is another excellent pedal from Maxon. If someone stole mine, I'd hunt em down and make em pay dearly.

Easy to use when it works- the pots have a reasonable sweep (unlike, say, the old Ibanez AD-80 I had which was very extreme past 1/3 range on all three controls).

Great sound when it works- it's got the sound and has a high enough gain ceiling that it won't clip out the way some older Boss DMs and Deluxe Memory Mans will.

Here's the problem: I went through two of these as intended replacements for my 20-yr old DM-2 which was lifted on NYE. The first I bought used through the HC classifieds, and the switch went bad after a couple of gigs. I contacted Maxon, they quoted me an outrageous repair+shipping price, so I went in myself and replaced the switch with a brand new Switchcraft, which solved the immediate problem but added a nasty crackling noise. Solder joints were ok, the board appeared to be ok as well. So I asked the repairman at one of my favorite shops to check it out, he offered to lend me his for a gig- and it had a dodgy regen pot! Noise and a dead spot (which made the signal jump into siren mode, though it didn't run away), neither of which the owner had noticed before. So now we've got two crap AD-80s, and we're both out over $100 apiece.

1. Took two weeks to get a human being to provide a response.
2. The repair quote was absurd.
3. They've apparently discontinued this turkey, and "helpfully suggested" that I look into the 9-series repro they're now selling for $275.

These people need to get in touch with reality- I'm a guitar player and music teacher, not a hedgefund manager.

Funny, with the exception of the cheap switches, most of the pedals these folks made for Ibanez back in the day still hold up.
The sound was there, no question, but what's the use if it doesn't work?

3 knobs, delay time, # repeats, and a blend. You can't get a bad sound out of this.

Top knotch sound, I hate to use the oft repeated "organic" but that's what it is compared to the sterile digital bunch. You only get about half the delay out of this compared to digital units,however, the sound quality more than makes up for this shortcoming.

I can't judge this seeing as I've only had it less than a year, yet I own several Maxons and have had 0 problems

I e-mailed Maxon once regarding another pedal and got a quick courteous response, gotta give 'em at least an 8.

Pricey, but well worth it. I hear thy've been discontinued. I'd pick one up if lost or stolen, these are collector items in the making. Great value.

Extremely easy to use

I went on a looking to find the "perfect" delay pedal. There is no such thing as perfection. I have owned the folowing in the last year. Electro Harmonix Memory Man, Line6 DL4 Delay modler, DOD FX96, Ibanez AD99, Ibanez AD9,Ibanex DE7, Boss DM2, Vintage Echo Plex tape unit, and this Maxon. Echo Plex was super except it is impractical to use all the time. The worst was the memory man a noisy big bulky box. The line 6 was ok, big bulky box without any real BIG sound to go with it. The DOD well it was DOD cheap. This pedal for sound gets a real 9.5+ I am now through with the quest this is the keeper.

Rockabilly, blues, classic rock

I'm a big fan of Maxon pedals because they do their job without excessively coloring the tone of your guitar. This pedal is very easy to use. Tweak to your needs.

Very clean sound. I prefer the "bucket brigade" analog pedals to the new digital pedals. However, as good as this pedal sounds it's still not as good as my Ibanez AD-9. I think the delay time is slightly shorter than the AD-9 and the AD-80 won't go into self-oscillation like the AD-9. For the most part that is a good idea, but sometimes you may want the self-oscillation for noise effects. Anyway, other than these minor points it is still a great pedal.

Never had a problem with this pedal.

Never needed to contact support.

A very nice sounding pedal, but EXPENSIVE. If you want one get one. Otherwise, save a few dollars and get a used Ibanez AD-9 off of Ebay.

This pedal is pretty simple to operate, as others have noted. The only area that I have a problem with is the battery: You have to use a screwdriver to access/change the battery. Not the end of the world, mind you, but a bit inconvenient compared to other pedals I've owned.

The user manual is helpful and available on Maxon's Web site, should you ever lose yours. It gives a few starting points for those who have never used a delay or are looking for quick access to common sounds.

First... I give nothing a ten unless it really knocks my socks off. This pedal sounds really good. It provides a very mellow sounding delay that is great for my purposes: mainly Stax-style "slapback" delay and the occassional Dire Straits, Pink Floyd sound. It doesn't have that metallic "chink" sound that you get with digital delays.

Compared to the Boss DM-2 (which I've borrowed from a friend), I'd say that this one is a little quieter and perhaps a bit warmer. I love the tone. I haven't spent much time with the Ibanez AD-9 (which I was considering when I bought this pedal), but I've read mixed (mostly good) reviews of it. I think I made the right choice, thank you very much.

I play a Gibson ES-335 and a '57 Reissue Stratocaster through a '68 Fender Deluxe and the sound is nice and "organic" with both combinations.

As others have noted, if you're looking for long delay times (>300ms), this pedal is not for you. You'll probably want to check out the Maxon AD-900 or a digital unit to fit the bill.

The pedal is in a sturdy metal case with a nice, responsive footswitch. So no worries about it breaking on you. I bought mine second-hand and the knobs were all loose, but an allen wrench fixed that problem and I've had no recurring issues.

The only knock against this (and all analog delays that I've tried) is that the battery life is meager at best. I never travel without at least one extra 9-volt in my guitar case.

No opinion, as I bought this pedal second-hand, and have never dealt with Maxon.

The Web site offers a PDF copy of the user manual, which is handy.

As far as "value" is concerned, you really can't get these kinds of pedals cheap anymore. Still, it sounds great and fits the bill perfectly if you're looking to fatten up your sound, or wanting to mimic the sound that the studio guys got back in the 60's. For classic Detroit or Stax-style R&B, this pedal is a must, IMO. It will also please anyone looking to ape some of David Gilmour's or Mark Knopfler's stuff. For the guitarist/musician looking to add depth and space to their sound, I'd say this pedal definitely won't leave you disappointed.

In spite of the few inconveniences this pedal offers (battery access and life), I'd say that this is a great pedal. I don't regret dropping a couple of Benjamins on it and would likely replace it with another if it were lost or stolen (although, if a Boss or Ibanez model were available at the right price, I'd probably "settle").

So.... Go get one.

Very easy to use, but see small caveat in reliability section. It's very simple to use--although I haven't opened it up to do any extra tweaking--haven't felt the need.

Awesome sound--IF ANALOG IS WHAT YOU WANT. Analog warmth is what I love in my current rig. I use a Fender AmSe "Fat" Texas Special or Fender AmSe Natural Ash Tele (w/Kinmans) into a Vox Wah, Fulltone FD2, AD-80 and Maxon stereo chorus--then stereo to two Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amps.

I feel its warm echo is the perfect compliment to my rig. I find the digital delays like the Boss stuff a little too sterile, and before this I had the Line6 Delay modeler. I enjoyed the Line6's versatility, but found it's AD/DA converters to be sort of lame.

I love this Delay. I usually use it just for solos to thicken things up a bit.

I gig without a backup, and I've used it on countless gigs and daily practice sessions for about 8 months. No problems, except...

3 different times I've stepped on it and the light has come on, but no delay has come out. The first time I was just befuddled and didn't use it for the rest of the set. I unplugged it and plugged it back in, and it was fine. The second time I just bent down and wiggled the delay-time knob and it came to life. Obviously, that's what I did the third time too. That was about 4 months ago, and it hasn't happened since. Weird, but go figure.

Awesome. Kevin at Godlyke answered a couple emails I had pre- and post-purchase of this pedal and my chorus. They seem to be a great company.

I am 100% pleased with this pedal. My band does mostly Funk, R&B, danceable Soul, some Blues and some Classic Rock. It works well in that vein.

I'd definitely replace this pedal with the same model if it were lost.

This pedal is about as easy to use as they get. It's got a repeat knob. a delay knob, and a mix knob. It's got a delay output jack and a dry output jack which is cool or would be if I had roadies to carry around two seperate amps for me to use on stage. The manual had some sample settings which is also nice. The only thing I don't like is the fact that it requires a screw driver to replace the battery. But I suppose that's a small gripe.

Setup: Japanese 62 Reissue Tele or 82 Ibanez Artist - Soulbender-Bud Wah-Fulldrive 2-Ibanez PH99(don't buy these)-AD-80 into a 68 Bandmaster Reverb with a Jenkins 2-10 cabinet. This pedel sounds great. It's got a wonderful lo-fi echo. Warm like a nice down blanket. Not overly defined like some echo's. I use it mostly to add some depth during solo's and for some spacy rhythm parts. I usually have the mix knob set at about 35 to 40%. This gives me a nice trailing echo without much of the pick attack. The interesting thing was that it took some time for the pedal to really to break in. When I first got it the first half of the travel on the Repeat pot provided only about one repeat but after some months of use started to provide more repeats earlier. Now I set it at about 25% to get one full repeat. This almost caused me not to buy the pedel but I went ahead and am very happy I did. I have owned several multi-effects pedals(GT-3 and RP-7) and the Line 6 Delay Modeler. I like the AD-80 by far the best so far. The Line 6 Analog setting had a much more defined sound than the Ibanez. It was fine but not lo-fi like I wanted it plus I'm really not interested in tweaking setting on stage. I want to turn my pedal on when I need it and off when I don't. Oh, one other thing. Mine wouldn't do the Pink Floyd feed back thing when I got it but I opened it up and messed around with the mini pots and now it freaks out with the best of them. Why a 9, well I guess I just don't believe in perfection. It is about as close as it get's though.

So far so good. This pedal is rock solid. I've owned it for about 1 !/2 years and haven't experience a problem yet. My band practices about 3 times a week not including gig's. As for a backup, why in the hell would I spend 200 bones on a backup. Money doesn't grow on trees ya know. If I can't make it through a gig without an echo maybe I should quit playing. Not to offend all the space noise junkies out there. I like it I just don't play it.

I have no clue as to the customer support. Why, because I've never needed to talk to them.

I'll give this thing an 8 because they're getting a little spendy. I bought mine when they first came out and were a little less expensive. They try to justify charging so much for analog delays by saying the old chips are gonna run out some day. Oh, I'm shaking in my boots. It's kind of a one trick pony which is fine because it's the trick I need. With all that said I love this pedal. It's tough, it simple, and it sounds great. The music I play in my band is a wacky mixture of Frank Zappa, Ween, and anything else we feel will get the point of the song across. I really don't try to particularly sound like any other guitarist but I'd say my main influences are David Gilmore and Alex Lifeson simply because I listened to them so much during my formative years as a guitar player. Anyways, if it was broken beyond repair (not likely) or stolen (more likely) I would bitch and moan about the price for a while then go buy another one. If your looking for a great analog delay and are willing to part with the duckets it will set you back go buy the AD-80 and you'll be a happy player. But don't take my word for it go check one out, actually go check several different ones out.
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3 knobs, doesn't get much simpler than that.

Strat going to a original '65 deluxe reverb. This pedal is 7th heaven.
Possibly the best sounding delay out there.

time will tell, seems to be pretty tough.

don't know at this point

A little pricey