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(More customer reviews)Although all the rest of my pedals are analog, I thought I would go for this little puppy for the following reasons: 1) I was looking for a delay with tap ability to create a nice shimmering sound that would complement the other guitarist in our band. This has tap functionality and up to 3 seconds of delay time. 2) It comes with the ability to modulate your sound to some extent, creating chorus and flange-like effects. 3) It has a boat load of other functions, like loops, reverse effects, etc. 4) It's programmable. 5) I like Electro Harmonix products in general. 6) It's relatively inexpensive for what it has. 7) It has stereo-ins and outs. 8) It doesn't suck tone and signal strength. 9) It looks great.
I guess you could see this as a list of the pedals "pros." Thus far I've tested in out for only 2 hours or so, but it's lived up to my expectations. It actually has way more functionality than I wanted, but I'm looking forward to exploring and creating new sounds. For about two hundred, this is a great deal.
There are a few "cons" and they are: (1) It takes a while to learn how to use. The manual is _essential_ here. Right off the bat it tells you how to get a simple delay. I demo'd it in the store (Guitar Center) and I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. It was creating all sorts of crazy loops and I couldn't even shut the loops off! It was totally going crazy! So, if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't mess with this pedal. Fortunately, the manual looks very clear and although long (10 pages or more?) I think after I read through all of it I'll be clear on things. Actually, the fact that the pedal was going crazy when I demo'd it was cool, because now I know I can do all that crazy stuff (not that I'd really use that in a gig).
(2) It's only adaptor-powered, no possibility of battery use.
(3) It's digital. If you absolutely must have an analog delay, then you might check out the new MXR Carbon Copy, which is a bit cheapter, is smaller and is analog. Everyone says it's a great pedal. However, it can't do any of the other cool jazz this baby can do, and doesn't have tap tempo. Or for more money -- about three hundred -- you can get the analog Memory Man which everyone raves about. Or a Maxon delay. But the sound on this is close enough for me, and the analog delays don't have the features this one has.
(4) You can't switch presets with your foot. You have to bend down and turn the Hazarai (white) knob. You could raise the pedal to where you could reach it with your hand, but then you can't stomp on it (for the tap tempo). I'm not sure what to do with this conundrum just yet. Probably I'll only have 2-3 presets that I'll use in a gig and I'll just have to reach down and turn it when I have to?
In conclusion, I did a fair amount of research on delay pedals and demo'd a few in stores. For the money, I think this is a good pedal. It has 2 extra knobs more than a usual delay pedal (not counting the Hazarai knob) and that lets you adjust your sound to make it more analog-like or add some reverb-like effect, which is neat. It's functional, wacky if you want it to be, and it looks great!
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Edit: I have now owned this pedal for about three months. It is great, and has loads of possibilities. Only thing I miss about it, is that it lacks an easy way to switch presets (you have to bend down and turn the Hazarai knob and push it, which you can try to do with your feet, but it's pretty hard!). No regrets about buying it though.
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Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai Delay Looper Pedal
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