Product: Peavey DDL-3
Price Paid: US $25.00 used
Submitted
04/09/2004
at
09:00am
by
Rich Johnson
Email: bwanakahuna<at>yahoo dot com
Ease of Use
:
6
I got this pedal at a flea market for $25 without a manual. I've managed to figure MOST of it out, but I'm still not sure about one setting.
There are 4 knobs. 3 of them are basic controls- delay time, level and feedback. The 4th one (called "Range") seems to change the range of the time knob. It has 4 settings (S, M, L and XL). The first 3 do exactly what you'd expect. "S" is a short delay, "M" is medium, "L" is long.
But "XL" doesn't seem to do anything. At least I can't get it to work. Maybe there's a trick that I haven't figured out yet.
So I'll give it a 6. It's easy to get basic echoes out of it, but I'm sure it can do more. It's just not very intuitive.
Sound Quality
:
8
I'm using it with a Fender Strat, Epi SG, and silverface Fender amp. It's very quiet. It can sound as strong or subtle as you want. It gets along well with the rest of my pedals (a constantly changing line-up).
It sounds quite good for an old digital delay. I did some research on the web when I first bought it. Someone there stated it has only a 12-bit sampling rate. I can't tell. The repeats are clear and crisp, without any digital artifacts. It does everything from rockabilly slapback to long spacey echoes.
It's not as warm as an analog delay. I've owned both an EH Memory Man and a DOD FX-90. It doesn't have the warm organic sound of those pedals. But I tried it side-to-side with a Dan-Echo, and it sounded about 90% as good. In fact, I wound-up trading in the Dano and keeping the Peavey.
I tried it side-by-side with a DOD DFX delay. And the Peavey sounded much better to me. It had a longer delay time, and seems less "processed".
AT the moment, I'm letting the other guitarist I jam with use it. It sound great with his Aria hollowbody.
Reliability
:
8
I think I can depend on it. The case is a heavy piece of cast metal. I have a Peavey chorus pedal that looks like it will live forever. This one looks like it too.
My only complaint is that the footswitch is underneath a rubber dome. Sometimes I have to apply a little extra pressure to turn it on and off.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
8
A great bargain. It sounds great, it's durable, and only set me back $25. I'd definitely buy another one if I could find one.
So far, both Peavey pedals I've found have been winners. I'm thinking about getting the rest of the series. I've read some good things about the Hotfoot Distrotion.
