help with delay settings

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 13 Jun 2010 10:14 am

ok I hope I ask this question right. I have a boss se-70 I am trying to get a nice delay sound but well to tell you the truth I am clueless with parameters dont know what any of them means so thats a big fall right off the bat. I dont know what makes it say only repeat once, whats the filters are for, pre delay, post and so on I think you see I dont know jack at what I am trying to do. I know how to get into the parameters but knowing how to set them is another thing HELP HELP PLEASE

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 13 Jun 2010 10:19 am

JB,
I just plugged "boss se-70" into my search engine, and a lot of pages came up. You might try that. Maybe some of them talk about how it functions, and settings, etc..
JB

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 13 Jun 2010 10:21 am

ok I will try that. oh I have the books on it and I have went though everything on it but always too much effects to many repeats, and I dont have a clue what the feedback means as well. about ready to give it wings and tell it to fly away but its hard to give up the tuner lol

Jason Hull · Post by **Jason Hull** » 14 Jun 2010 5:13 am

The feedback control determines how much of the signal is "fed back" to the circuit, effectively increasing the number of repeats heard.

Forget the books; just play with the knobs!

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 14 Jun 2010 5:15 am

Jason thats about what I turned to yesterday I am getting closer.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 14 Jun 2010 6:50 am

Joe,
On most any delay unit there will be THREE KEY CONTROLS:
* EFFECT LEVEL (How much delay, compared to the un-delayed signal)
* FEEDBACK (Number of repeats)
* DELAY TIME (Smaller the number shorter the time before you hear the delayed signal)

All the other stuff is less important. I usually set the Effect Level to my taste, then use 1-2 repeats (feedback) and about 350ms for the delay time. 1000ms is one second so 350 is about 3 delays per second.

That works for me on fast songs. For slow songs I use a slightly longer delay (maybe 400ms or more) and a bit more effect level and feedback (3 or 4 repeats).

Hope this helps.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 14 Jun 2010 7:32 am

Years ago, Paul Franklin had a post on the Forum, where he mentioned he liked to use one very subtle repeat of about 200ms.

The problem with most stompbox delay units is, they usually don't have marks that indicate how many milliseconds of delay is being dialed in. You just have to use your ears.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 14 Jun 2010 8:52 am

guys yes you all have been helping me a lot. I know this se-70 is a good unit but the operator is poor lol

Jay Seibert · Post by **Jay Seibert** » 14 Jun 2010 9:10 am

The previous posts have some excellent suggestions for you. I learned some time ago, that the delay settings most used by world-renowned sound engineers, is a delay that "works" with the tempo of the song, not a setting at an arbitrary millisecond interval. The idea is to have the delay pump with the tempo, giving the repeat a place to sit in the mix that doesn't fight with the other elements in the song and acts to reinforce the "groove".

This becomes more crucial when there are more instruments in the mix and we become concerned about our ability to clearly place sounds in particular places in the stereo field and have them be clearly defined.

Usually when I am playing with one or two other players, I am pretty free with my delay settings as there is lots of sound space available... really long tails are a lot of fun! But when I play with more folks, I like to have my delays slap maybe once to match tempo and get out of the way of the overall mix.

There is a book titled "Mixing with your mind" which covers this concept quite well and is a "go to" reference for me for mic techniques and mixing.

Above all... nothing you do is wrong as there are wonderful things to be found when we experiment. Good luck!

Ransom Beers · Post by **Ransom Beers** » 15 Jun 2010 1:35 am

Mr. Barcus,I use a Boss DD-3 stompbox,it is very easy to set the paramaters as they are labeled right on the face of the unit but as these guys have said just play with the knobs until you get the sound you want.Write them down so if things get bumped you'll have a reference to go to .Good luck.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 15 Jun 2010 3:25 am

thanks ransom I have came up with one I think I like going to have to take it out and give it a test drive lol. Joe

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 15 Jun 2010 4:35 am

The nice thing about short, subtle delays (such as 200ms) is the fact that it can "fatten" your sound, without getting in the way of the music. You can get away with less reverb, too. You can just set the delay and leave it alone.

For longer delays, though, I agree with Jay. They sound much better if they can be "tapped" in to the same tempo of the song.

I've never been a big fan of random delays bouncing around, particularly ones that are almost as loud as the original note.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 15 Jun 2010 4:42 am

I seen a thing on this box called tap delay now I know they are boxes out there that you tap your foot to the beat and it sets itself but I know this one dont have that option. and yet it would be something else to drive this one tooth, one shoe boy mad

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 15 Jun 2010 6:42 am

The SE-70 does have tap delay.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 15 Jun 2010 6:47 am

yes its on the box but how do you get it to work. does it require a foot pedal??

Johnny Thomasson · Post by **Johnny Thomasson** » 15 Jun 2010 7:05 am

As far as setting delay time to coincide with the tempo of the song, is this really practical? I can see that being do-able in the studio, but for live performance it seems like you would be fiddling with controls constantly, and then making best guesses at the proper delay time setting.

I have a Boss DD-20, and have experienced the same kind of difficulty as the OP. I've been looking for a "one-size-fits-all" setting, and maybe there isn't such a thing.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 15 Jun 2010 11:00 am

I believe I misspoke. SE-70 has MULTI-Tap delay. This is like several delay units that feed into each other for a complex delay pattern. Sorry.

I use the GT-6 and GT-8 processors from Boss. Both have a tap button right on the unit. I thought the SE series had the same but it does not.

And, Johnny, it is VERY feasible for live performance. You just let the band start the song, tap a few beats on a little button and the delay time is exactly the same as the tempo of the song.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 15 Jun 2010 11:01 am

thanks larry

Johnny Thomasson · Post by **Johnny Thomasson** » 15 Jun 2010 1:26 pm

Wow. I completely misunderstood the function of the tap button. This will give me something to play with. Thank you, Larry.

Stephen Silver · Post by **Stephen Silver** » 17 Jun 2010 6:40 am

The best sounding delay I have heard recently (and no, it's not a recent recording) is Steve Palousek <sp> on the Gary Stewart Live at BillyBobs album. Rich and sweet sounding.

Steve, if you're out there, care to share your settings? Besides, just awesome, flawless playing. I can't stop listening to this cd!!

SS

Joseph Borja · Post by **Joseph Borja** » 27 Mar 2011 8:52 am

Hello everyone, I know this is a wide open question with lots of variables, but I've been struggling with getting the right "tone".

I play a Carter D10, hilton vp, Boss DD6 delay, Hardwire reverb and a Nashville 400. I'm searching for that "nashville top 40" tone. I just can't seem to get close. Been doing a lot of research and various settings, but to no avail.

Does anybody have any suggestions for amp settings, delay setting, etc?

thanks!

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 27 Mar 2011 11:23 am

Joseph,
I've looked at a photo of the front end of a Nashville 400, and can take a stab at the sort of settings that I would provisionally use.

If your Carter has humbucking pickups, they might be too muddy to get a clear tone.

Try the steel without the volume pedal initially, because the volume pedal has its own tone settings, which will adversly affect the tone if not set correctly.

Take a cable from the pedal steel to the low input of the amp.

Take a cable from the 'pre eq patch out' to input 'A' of your delay pedal.

Take a cable from output 'A' of the delay pedal to the 'pre eq patch in'

Forget the reverb unit for the time being, you can add it after the delay pedal and before the 'pre eq patch in' later.

Provisional amp settings:
Pre Gain 3 (with 'pull bright' out)
Post Gain 3
Low 12
Mid -12
Shift 800
High +3
Presence +3
Reverb 3

Delay settings:

E.Level About 50% of the original signal
F.Back About 4 repeats
D.Time About 7 O'Clock
Mode 800 ms

Mike Christensen · Post by **Mike Christensen** » 3 Apr 2011 3:49 am

I am of the firm belief that you can buy and try every box on the market and never find tone. If tone was in a stompbox everyone would have it. Work on your hands instead. Much cheaper and will be much more productive. A good player will have tone with nothing but his guitar, VP,and amp. Happy Trails, Mike C.

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help with delay settings

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