HERE COMES THE BUCKET BRIGADE: ANALOG DELAY IN WORSHIP

This article is part of The Month Of Delay at the Real World Worship blog. All throughout the month of March we will be looking at different aspects of the delay effect in worship music.

WHAT IS ANALOG DELAY?

I’m not going to bore you with the technical details, but a truly analog delay uses a Bucket Brigade Chip set up (BBD) to create a delayed repeat of the notes you play. An analog delay is way more portable than a tape delay and since it doesn’t have moving parts, far more reliable. It’s easy to see why pro level guitar players made the switch and why the average guitar player embraced the technology.

Analog delay is known for it’s dark and warm tones and repeats. Great for just about any style of music, the only real limitation for a BBD style delay pedal is how long the delays can go for (usually around 400-600 ms).

The delay sounds on early U2 records are just a EHX deluxe Memory Man with a Ross style compression before it, going into a Vox AC30. (see example HERE) Ofcourse in the world of P&W, guitarists like James Duke use analog delays like the Boss DM-2 or EHX DMM all over the place.

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Why Use Delay

This article is part of The Month Of Delay at the Real World Worship blog. All throughout the month of March we will be looking at different aspects of the delay effect in worship music.

 

There has been a lot written about “HOW” to use the delay effect, specifically in worship music, but less said about “WHY”.  The how may not help you at all until you know the why. For example, if someone is asked about how to use your delay pedal, and they tell you “How” to set it up for slapback sounds, would that help you if you want to create ambient swells? Or if you are playing a lead part, do you want to know how to set up your delay pedal for the rhythm guitar? These are of course rhetorical questions, but they make the point, so in this post we will look at 4 reasons “Why” you would want to use a delay pedal in your worship service.

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