stereo delays for 80s vibes

[BlackCharvel87]

hey guys!
so i thought i'd get some input..
i've been sort of chasing that 80s studio tone (you know, the one with a lot of compression, and chorus, and delay, usually a W/D/W setup with 3 mesa heads and a fridge of rack effects... ) and i've started to go down the stereo delay rabbit hole. I want to run a stereo delay into my two heads 8)

I am considering any of these 3, and i've listed some of my personal pros and cons for them
would love to hear feedback from anyone that owns any of these, and if you would recommend the pedal for what I am looking for and/or if you'd buy it again if you had the chance today

1. TC ELECTRONIC 2290 P Pedal
Pros: sounds pretty on point for the TC 2290 rack sound. Affordable. Looks the part, I like the displays, and it has that 80s aesthetic of the original, in pedal form
Cons: basically a Behringer product, which I don't necessarily love, no proper manual, app dependent.. oh and some people have said it's a little buggy, or feels like it needed a few more months of development before they actually released it.

2. Boss EVH SDE3000 -
Pros: Boss, they've never let me down. EVH, as he's one of my favorites and I love his wide guitar sound. I'd go for the EVH model due to the extra options on the back for expression pedals etc.
Cons: it's expensive!! very expensive even. looks like there's menus, and it also has an app I believe..

3. Free The Tone FF1Y -
Pros: Made in Japan! I do like my Japanese made products, and again, none of the Japanese made guitars or tools I own have ever let me down. Controls seem to be laid out in an intuitive and easily accessible way. no menus or apps, just what you see. Relatively affordable, on part with the TC on the used market. even new I can get it for under $600 CAD
Cons: I don't know?

Also here's a photo of a 1980s superstrat to make things interesting

 

[StrummerJoe]

I wouldn't mind the BOSS SDE-3000 EVH. Heard a lot of good about it, and grumbling about the price too.


What about Eventide? The Time Factor might be a good option and save you a couple hundred bucks. Eventide make killer sounding stuff, AFAIC, and the delay algorithms they were selling in rack gear back in the 80's that everyone was crazy about is in there. If you want to go crazy with 80's sounds (and more) in one box I'd go for the Eventide H-90. It's a bit more spendy than the BOSS SDE-3000 EVH, but it does so much more.

 

[BlackCharvel87]

I wouldn't mind the BOSS SDE-3000 EVH. Heard a lot of good about it, and grumbling about the price too.


What about Eventide? The Time Factor might be a good option and save you a couple hundred bucks. Eventide make killer sounding stuff, AFAIC, and the delay algorithms they were selling in rack gear back in the 80's that everyone was crazy about is in there. If you want to go crazy with 80's sounds (and more) in one box I'd go for the Eventide H-90. It's a bit more spendy than the BOSS SDE-3000 EVH, but it does so much more.

yeah the SDE is really steep. especially in canadian dollars in my case..
i'll look at some of the eventide boxes as well, i was even considering a used H9 max potentially...

someone recommended the Source Audio Collider as well..

 

[StrummerJoe]

yeah the SDE is really steep. especially in canadian dollars in my case..
i'll look at some of the eventide boxes as well, i was even considering a used H9 max potentially...

someone recommended the Source Audio Collider as well..

That would certainly save a few bucks, but I'm not familiar with it. It gets great reviews on Sweetwater's site - 4.5 stars out of 51 reviews.

Here's a thread by Collider user on TGP that is informative on how it operates : https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/source-audio-collider-owners.2399106/

 

[Frodebro]

I have a Timefactor and two H9s. Eventide dual delays are the shizzle for getting your eighties on. I typically run 390ms on one side and 410ms on the other, which gives you a nice big sound.

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

I have one of these and it is awesome!!

 

[SonVolt]

I've got both the SDE-3000EVH and 2290P. You can't go wrong with either, but I'd give the edge in a W/D/W rig to the SDE-3000EVH which is made exactly for that setup. It's also 2 independent stereo delays in 1 unit. I've settled on using the SDE-3000 for high-gain and the 2290P for ambient cleans. Neither of them do the spatial widening thing as well as a dedicated Eventide Micropitch.

If you're doing W/D/W keep phasing issues in mind if you're planning to run some dry into your wet cabs (which sounds better than 100% wet IMO). The SDE-3000EVH offers true Analogy Dry Through, so it has an internal mixer that leaves the dry signal analog. I'm not 100% positive on the 2290P. Either way, I run Delay, Reverb and Detune into a Parallel Line Mixer which makes life easier (and sounds better).

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Go genuine with the Yamaha SPX90 II: all the FX you can eat, plus Star Wars too.

And if you want to go all-out 80's, get the ADA MP-1 MIDI preamp too.

 

[BlackCharvel87]

I see I’ve opened a Pandora’s box for myself I’m going to do some digging here!

I've got both the SDE-3000EVH and 2290P. You can't go wrong with either, but I'd give the edge in a W/D/W rig to the SDE-3000EVH which is made exactly for that setup. It's also 2 independent stereo delays in 1 unit. I've settled on using the SDE-3000 for high-gain and the 2290P for ambient cleans. Neither of them do the spatial widening thing as well as a dedicated Eventide Micropitch.

If you're doing W/D/W keep phasing issues in mind if you're planning to run some dry into your wet cabs (which sounds better than 100% wet IMO). The SDE-3000EVH offers true Analogy Dry Through, so it has an internal mixer that leaves the dry signal analog. I'm not 100% positive on the 2290P. Either way, I run Delay, Reverb and Detune into a Parallel Line Mixer which makes life easier (and sounds better).

This looks killer. Now I don’t know if I should be doing the SDE, the TC, or the micro pitch. I’ve always loved the EVH wide micro pitch sound, but I also need a proper good delay that can hit some 80s vibes.

I feel like I have less of an idea now than before I started this thread

 

[BlackCharvel87]

Go genuine with the Yamaha SPX90 II: all the FX you can eat, plus Star Wars too.

And if you want to go all-out 80's, get the ADA MP-1 MIDI preamp too.

I like this idea however after buying an SPX90, and having it blow all of its caps after a few days, and not being able to find anyone to fix it, I’m weary…

 

[Vinsanitizer]

I like this idea however after buying an SPX90, and having it blow all of its caps after a few days, and not being able to find anyone to fix it, I’m weary…

Try again. That was a fluke, I've never heard of any of those breaking down.

 

[SonVolt]

I see I’ve opened a Pandora’s box for myself I’m going to do some digging here!


This looks killer. Now I don’t know if I should be doing the SDE, the TC, or the micro pitch. I’ve always loved the EVH wide micro pitch sound, but I also need a proper good delay that can hit some 80s vibes.

I feel like I have less of an idea now than before I started this thread

I’d go SDE-30000 and MicroPitch and call it a day. The EHV preset on the Eventide nails that Van Hagar era tone. I’ve never even moved a knob on that pedal, just set it to that preset.

 

[nortiks]

I’d go SDE-30000 and MicroPitch and call it a day. The EHV preset on the Eventide nails that Van Hagar era tone. I’ve never even moved a knob on that pedal, just set it to that preset.

Soundtoys has their MicroShift plugin that nails that sound as well with virtually no effort. Apparently the guy who owns Soundtoys was a primary algo developer at Eventide and did the algos for the original. So essentially get the original algos in a different format. Personally I've gotten away from digital hardware boxes and do everything on laptop/ADA and use a foot controller and live DAW to automate patch changes. Certainly not as pretty to look at and fun to twist knobs and punch buttons, but it does get the sounds and the ability to reroute on the fly and automate is great. And you can easily do five refrigerator sized racks of digital hardware FX on a single laptop, lol.

 

[december]

Seriously check out the Source Audio Nemesis ADT. So much control and an extremely wide range of different delay effects. Pitch-shifting types with adjustable pitch intervals, several types of modulation with several adjustable parameters, EQ filters on the repeats, every possible tap division and subdivision. 26 delay engines if you use the app. MIDI control and clock sync. The ADT model has analog dry thru. Because of the HPF/LPF you can use it on anything, like bass and synths, without having a boomy muddy mess of repeats.

 

[prg435]

Try taking a look at the Eventide TriceraChorus. I have one and it may be the ticket to your tone. I get very convincing 80's tones personally.

https://www.eventideaudio.com/pedals/tricerachorus/

 

[JSJ900]

Go genuine with the Yamaha SPX90 II: all the FX you can eat, plus Star Wars too.

And if you want to go all-out 80's, get the ADA MP-1 MIDI preamp too.

Oh, great!! Just what I needed to hear. Was thinking of selling my ADA MP-1 and MC-1 since I hadn’t played them in a while. Was searching CL and saw an SPX90 for sale. So now I have to keep the ADA and get the Yamaha to get some all out spandex glory! Aghhhhh! What to do? Maybe the SPX is sold already & problem solved.

Is $200 ok for an SPX90 with a 2 spot soft case (I’d put the ADA in the other spot and just send the output to the return of an el34 head)?

Also, you mentioned the SPX90 II. Is version I vastly inferior? What would I be missing out on?


Never mind, saw the II just has up to 2 sec delay - otherwise the same.

Didn’t mean to hyjack thread. To the OP’s question, of the the 3 listed I’ve been drooling over the Boss EVH SD3000 - but yeah, it’s pricey!

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Oh, great!! Just what I needed to hear. Was thinking of selling my ADA MP-1 and MC-1 since I hadn’t played them in a while. Was searching CL and saw an SPX90 for sale. So now I have to keep the ADA and get the Yamaha to get some all out spandex glory! Aghhhhh! What to do? Maybe the SPX is sold already & problem solved.

Is $200 ok for an SPX90 with a 2 spot soft case (I’d put the ADA in the other spot and just send the output to the return of an el34 head)?

Also, you mentioned the SPX90 II. Is version I vastly inferior? What would I be missing out on?


Never mind, saw the II just has up to 2 sec delay - otherwise the same.

Didn’t mean to hyjack thread. To the OP’s question, of the the 3 listed I’ve been drooling over the Boss EVH SD3000 - but yeah, it’s pricey!

By the time I was getting into MIDI around '86, the SPX90 II was the current model and "the one to get". I'm sure there were more upgrades than just delay time, but I don't remember. I remember more about why I got away from MIDI than why I got into it.

 

[ElvisNixon]

Oh, great!! Just what I needed to hear. Was thinking of selling my ADA MP-1 and MC-1 since I hadn’t played them in a while. Was searching CL and saw an SPX90 for sale. So now I have to keep the ADA and get the Yamaha to get some all out spandex glory! Aghhhhh! What to do? Maybe the SPX is sold already & problem solved.

Is $200 ok for an SPX90 with a 2 spot soft case (I’d put the ADA in the other spot and just send the output to the return of an el34 head)?

Also, you mentioned the SPX90 II. Is version I vastly inferior? What would I be missing out on?


Never mind, saw the II just has up to 2 sec delay - otherwise the same.

Didn’t mean to hyjack thread. To the OP’s question, of the the 3 listed I’ve been drooling over the Boss EVH SD3000 - but yeah, it’s pricey!

The main difference between a SPX90 and a SPX90II is that the original was WAY noisy. To the point that it was basically unusable in the studio which was the target audience for the unit. The SPX90II solved the noise problem for the most part. It was quieter than the tape hiss of a semi-pro quality reel to reel machine.