EHX SMM w/Hazarai REVIEW

[aen]

Yes! LEt me start out with YES!

Ok, so I thought this thing owuld be a DL4 killer. It is.

Basically we start with a flexible digital delay. The first 3 modes have a filter on them, so if you desire the muddy analog tonez you can have the, or the crackly tape delay tones, you an dial them in. The "Echo" mode also has adjustable reverb effect, cool. Theres a "mod" option in one setting as well, where you can get some kind of chorus or whatever. I'm thinking f using it to sort of simulate that gently rising and falling trem arm shit. This one also Self oscillates, I think.

Then we have "multitap" in which each delay is the same volume. UNLESS you fuck with the decay knob. You can get them to fade in. So you go KLANG! lalalalallalala LANG! It's really awesome, dudes and chicks.

Reverse echo is the BOMB, it's really smart, it has a ot better time working with you, ratehr htan a lot of other revese echos where yo get a bt of your forward sound in the echo "K nnnnnaaAAAAA K!

The looper is pretty cool, but you have to hold the stomper down to record. If you have the repeats knob dialed down, your overdubs start to cancel out the original loop. Ive never had that type of looper, so I'll explore it. Cool thing: Once you are looping, you can still use your delay pedal! HLYSHT! Take that, DL4! The kicker for me is that you can speed up and slow dow your loop, manually. Not tempo shift, actually change the speed of the sample being played, so the pitch raises adn lowers. This is a feature I have been looking for since my first digidelay shit the bed.

Other cool shit- you can make a preset for all 8 modes! 8 PRSTS FTW! Tap tempo, of course, a must for my main delay. Stereo in and out, should be cool for studio work, or if my dad dies and I get his amp.

Downsides: Modes/presets are switched via the white knob on the end. NOt the most practical for improv situations, but the new guy suks at improv, so we'll survive. I can kind of work it with my foot, I imagine in a while I'll be pretty decent. Turning off your loop kind of sucks, you have to bypass the pedal, and then hold down the tap temo button for 1/2 second. (I am not too terribly upset about htis, I use a loopstation for major looping. This will be used for glitchy shorter loops to be pasted on top of the long beds on the loopstation.)

Unknown: I don't have a Power Struggle ATM, so I dont know if I can get ugly distortions out of it by starving the power, but I doubt it. The EHX #1 echo just turns off when it gets shy of 9.5V. ALso, don't know how it osunds through an amp. Only POD so far.

Verdict: 8.5 because I konw Im goign to fuck some shit up with my foot trying to navigate presets in the middle of a song.

[Mike]

As it's digital it will probably just not work below a certain voltage.

Glad you're liking it, I've always thought it's a great pedal.

[aen]

My first Delay was a DOD digital delay, adn it osudned AWESOME with dying batteries. Bu You're probably right, all the new computer controlled stuff has just shut off for me w/power struggle.

[boyecho]

yep. i have one. still not the best looper, but it has more time than my headrush. this is only a good thing.

[analogsystem]

I was skeptical as I don't think it's really a replacement for the original memory man and wished they used a new name.....but after seeing a lot of youtube clips etc (I still need to try one in person!).....I am getting pretty excited about it!

The main reason I like my crappy Digidelay is that it's got long delays, tails, and a lopper that I use for killing dead time on stage if there's an issue with some other member of the band....I have a big ass rack analog delay for studio stuff.....so this EH might just have to be the new live pedal as my Digidelay tends to give me grief if I stomp it too hard.

Thanks for the review!

[fuckoffsetguitars.com]

heres a cool tip:on 300ms+mod if you tap in the delay time you can actually get 600ms+mod with it. the manual doesnt tell you this tho.

its a super cool delay and sounds sick thru my twin reverb.

[SpectralJulian]

I love mine

Here's hoping they come out with a Super Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai that has a 16 second delay/HOG/2880 type thingamabob that you hook up to it and can control everything with your foot with. That would be the bomb.