Delay on the steel

Henrik Nielsen · From: Sj. Odde, Denmark

I was wandering what kind and how much delay you guys use on the steel? I've been experimenting for the last couple of years and I just don't seem to get it right and I allways end up going back to just reverb and straight through the amp. Does it add something to the sound or isn't it really necessary?
any thoughts and ideas are welcome.

regards
Henrik

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

Try a tap tempo delay and time the delay to the song.
I turn it up to where I can just hear it. Sometimes crank it up more for effect on some thing like sleepwalk or slower songs.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Henrik, I've had the same thing. I also don't like hearing it on anybody else's recordings.
Just ick.
I've bought an analog delay that I sold after a month, and once my Tele player gave me a DD3. After two months I gave it back.
I put my effects like this: distortion first, phase and chorus before the volume pedal, reverb after the volume pedal, and the delay on Craigslist.
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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I like delay but just a little slap back effect. If I'm not mistaken, Buddy Emmons always had a delay effect sitting on a chair beside him when he played. It could have been either a Boss DD2 or a DD3.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I do not at present use any delay. For practice I don't need the confusion and so far I've only performed with a more or less acoustic band where it would be out of place.

I would like to be able to introduce a slight amount of delay (maybe 20mS or so) into the reverb on the amp, but it's not accessible. This is a good trick for making an analogue reverb device (spring or plate) sound much more realistic.

What Ken says about tailoring the length of delay to the music should be noted. Long delay in a quick song is muddy and short in a slow one distracting. And like he says, it should be just audible to the player; the audience should hear it as part of the sound, not a separate effect.

In due course I want to get a digital reverb that does all the above but I haven't done any research yet, so I shall keep an eye on this thread for suggestions.
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Jack Hargraves · From: Missouri, USA

I use a Peavey Deltafex for a little delay. I have it set so that you actually don't notice a slap back, but it sure enhances the reverb in my amp. I have record with it and you don't notice it on the recordings. I like it, but, as noted here, not everybody does. I think it's great that we have diversity among pickers, otherwise we would all sound about the same. I wish a happy and prosperous New Year to all of you. Jack
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Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Love delay. Wouldn't play without it. The trick, as with all effects, is knowing how to use it. Setting the repeats, duration and blend with the original note so that it enhances but doesn't wash out anything. All my multi-fx units have several delay programs of different strength and duration.

For bare bones delay with just a NV400, I use the old pink Ibanez AD-80 lightly mixed with subtle amp spring reverb.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I usually hate delay, but I have been dabbling in it recently. I have 3 programs, one is a short almost un-noticeable delay, one is set to give me a "doubling" sound, the last is a long delay with 1 repeat at about the same level as the original signal. I use that one in that Little Big Town song, "Girl Crush". Timed the repeat to the same tempo as the song. Really sounds good.

I am usually just a reverb guy.
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Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Delay such as slap-echo was one of the most effective sounds of rockabilly, and the best artists used it so that the tape loop was running at the right speed that the echo bounce was timed into the rhythm of the recording. That having been said, the steel guitar is not really a rhythm instrument, so you have to use it carefully.
Most Hawaiian players use some sort of reverberation and/or echo, and some use a lot. I'm talking now of modern, commercial Hawaiian sound, not the sort of thing that Sol Hoopii was playing. Reverberation in his day was partly the natural acoustics of the recording booth, and partly due to inaccuracies in the recording equipment.

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Permanently added delay-effect on a PSG rarely ever sounds good to me - it is either too little or too much on any tune no matter how it is set.

Back in time when I regularly used delay (and other effects) on steel, I liked it best when I could control the level of the delay inversely with the VP - dampen the delay-effect when I pushed VP fully on or off so it could only really be heard as an effect when I played low (backing others) with the VP in around mid position.

Easiest to achieve by letting the entire effect-chain bypass the (passive) VP and mix the signal back in after the VP via a variable series resistor (pot), and let the VP gradually shorten the effect-chain off as the VP either went to full off or full on.

Dale Foreman · From: Crowley Louisiana, USA

Anybody ever use the Peavey DEP-16 effects pedal. I used one for many years. Its a stereo effects pedal that I used with to NV 400's. I just bought a Boss DD3 and have not had time to play with it yet. Anyone want to share their DD-3 settings?
Happy New Year
Dale
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Micky Byrne · From: United Kingdom (deceased)

Erv....in the earlier days Buddy "always" used an Echoplex machine Very Happy

...mostly set on a very quick slap back, but used for great effect on tunes like "Witche's Brew...on the Black Album

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Dan Robinson · From: Colorado, USA

Henrik Nielsen · From: Sj. Odde, Denmark

Well I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who's had theese problems. And it's good to hear all your different oppinions on the subject.
I was told once that Lloyd Green allmost allways plays with a slapback delay around 35 Ms I've tried that but I didn't think that sounded right either.
I've listened a lot to Dave Hartley and on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4RpiohriL8
you can clearly hear his slapback it sounds like a lot but you can't really hear it when he's playing, but I think that it makes his sound sound a bit ritcher in some way and it's something like that I would like to do. It just dosn't seem to work for me.
I use an old Roland GP8 guitar effects prosessor. It has some great both analouge an digital effects. The digital delay in it is very similar to the Boss DD3.
I've allways been a fan of the clean sound of a steel guitar. But I think I also has to vary my sound a little bit so I not allways sound the same Smile

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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

i wouldn't play without it. i use an old ibanez digital modulation delay stomp box. DML10. richens and fattens the tone.
before the volume pedal. very short slapback with barely one audible repeat.
just makes the sound fuller.
no reverb necessary.

Clete Ritta · From: San Antonio, Texas

I mostly use just reverb but occasionally add delay on slow ballads. Its usually a long bounce back (timed with tempo roughly) that blends with the reverb so its not very noticeable at all. Long swells produce a nice chorus effect with its own repeat with subtle vibrato.

I put both delay and reverb after the volume pedal (in the post eq efx loop of a NV1000 usually), so that abrupt volume cutoff does not choke the tail of the ambient repeats of any effects.

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

Bobbe liked the delay so much he made a video on how he used it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiCzLhXQWP8
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Stephen Williams · From: from Wales now in Berkeley,Ca, USA

Compressor after delay creates beautiful ethereal effect much like reverb. Much better than the reverbs in amps and footpedals.

I split my signal into stereo....one direct and one to delay + compressor and add just enough of delay side

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Patrick Laffrat · From: Gemenos, France

I use Boss RV3, Behringer DR400 (the same cheaper) or Korg Pandora Px4d.
300 to 350 ms, 2 or 3 repeats, it depends on the tempo and the character of the song.

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I've been using a Boss DM2W Waza, which is a reissue of an older analog delay that they used to make. I set it with a short slap back, one repeat and not too heavy in the mix. I like to use it with reverb. I play in a classic C&W band and I try to use it sparingly. I like it on ballads and slow tunes in general, sometimes on shuffles and 2/4 tunes, but definitely not all the time. I turn it off on fast tunes and I never us it on the C6 neck. I like the way it fattens up the sound on the slow tunes. I think it adds a little variety to your tone as long as you don't overdo it.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

yes perhaps 280 to 300 ms , single slap at maybe 10 or 15% feedback. Too much is TOO much and too little is well, why even bother ! Smile

More often than not we don't pay attention to effects and their use, so we go overboard. If we are going to use effects such as delay, practice with it, make it part of your routine. Make it part of YOUR sound.
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Rich Upright · From: Florida, USA

Don't understand all the delay hate. The way I feel about effects is the ends justify the means. IOW; if the final product sounds good...use them. If not, chuck 'em. And, don't overthink it. I run a stereo delay through 2 separate amps, spaced about a foot apart. The original note + reverb goes through a Peavey Blues Classic (basically a Classic 50 with 1-15" BW) and the delayed note ONLY goes through either a small Hartke or a Fender Sidekick Switcher. The result is that my steel has a very big "wall of sound" effect, and it is absolutely beautiful on slow ballads, like "Farewell Party". Makes the echo prominent without being overpowering, & sounds like a tape echo unit of days past, and sounds great with my old Telecaster, too. Only 2 caveats: You must be careful how far apart you space the amps; too far apart & you just have 2 separate notes. Other thing is it obviously won't work when your stage backline has PA support & the steel is miked. There is one club I play locally that's a "Gilley's" sized dancehall, with full PA support, & I miss the stereo sound there. 'course the chicks there are pretty hot, so it makes up for it!
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Damir Besic · From: Nashville,TN.

I believe the big part of Buddys tone was delay...he knew exactly how much, where and when to use it, he was a "master of delay" and that helped him create that famous Buddy Emmons tone...JMHO
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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Micky,
If you notice on some of the videos of Buddy playing at Scotty's convention, he always has a chair on his right side with a white stomp box on it and he is always fiddling with it. I assume it is a delaly pedal.

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