All user reviews for the Boss DD-5 Digital Delay

Delay + digital external tap tempo (better in my opinion than the integrated tap). Subdivisions and useful function "looper" for 2 seconds or less (at the time, it was a blast Time passes ...)

UTILIZATION

The config could not be easier, since you took the trouble to learn what are the positions on the rotary switch. Then, it's childish, and perfect to tweak its settings live situation.

External tap tempo is a very good thing. The DD7 is not provided, and many are complaining. The DD5 is really easy to use in all circumstances.

SOUND QUALITY

Delay very transparent, very clean, and warm enough for digital. Despite the rumors, this pedal is not cold since we have a good guitar and a good amp. It makes what you give, that's all. I've never had to complain, and when I went to the Nova Delay TC, I had a little trouble finding the finesse of some settings DD5. On electric or acoustic, the DD5 is perfect for those seeking a delay clean. Lovers of vintage sounds, go your way.

OVERALL OPINION

I kept a dozen years, then sold recently because I needed presets. So I went to the IB Modified Nova Delay TC well in another genre. In fact, sometimes I miss the DD5: I have not found the discretion of the Boss in the TC Electronics, and sometimes I wish I had kept the DD5. I play strat Hiwatt all-tube and upscale, and DD5 has never seemed weaker than the rest. A good little pedal.

This pedal is a killer delay pedal. Does anything you could want! Digital delay at it's best! 8 different delays and a tap tempo external feature.

UTILIZATION

A little harder to get a delay sound because of the lot of functions on here but in time you will be fine and dig what you come up with! trust me!

SOUND QUALITY

SOund quality is superb. I've used it on all my pedal boards. Day in and day out this pedal is great

OVERALL OPINION

This pedal has blown me away. I've only begun to scratch the surface of what this pedal can do, and i've made funky/weird loops of sound, bizarre cricket noises, long delays that instead of fading out actually get LOUDER with time. I dont know how else to say it, If you are looking for a delay pedal, you just found it. This thing can do anything.

Also with the price range of 130-160 dollars its a huge bargin compared to other BOSS pedals that might pull off a similar effect such as the RC-2($180-200), or RC-20XL($240-300). Granted i know very little about the FULL capabilities of those pedals, but the DD-7 has up to 40 seconds worth of loop play in "Hold" mode. And the hold mode is so much more sophisticated that what I am familiar with... since previous to this pedal i have only tampered with the DD-3.

Has about every delay time you could imagine. Also has reverse delays and a sort of looping ability that I personally never use. Tap tempo. Hold effect. Reverse mode. Stereo outputs. It's actually pretty fully featured when you look at it. Of course you can attach a tempo switch.

UTILIZATION

I use mine with the tempo attachment pedal. Works simply enough. I used to have a giga delay and got tired of the menus and such. I decided if I was going to use a pedal for delay I wanted to be able to turn the knobs at least. A disclaimer: I normally use analog delays and rack delays only. This is pretty much the only digital delay I own besides an Eventide Timefactor. This is a really easy to use pedal if you know anything at all about delay times. I rarely use the oddball reverse/hold features so I can't really comment on how usable they are. I most often set it to 1/8 dot or 1/4 delay and use the tap tempo. Simple enough. No complaints about the switch failing. Mine has survived a few years of tours and stomping and all that. Pretty reliable pedal unlike some other delays I could mention.

SOUND QUALITY

I use the dd5 with my small travel/small gig rig which includes Dr. Z Maz 18 and a small pedal board. The thing about the DD5 is that it doesn't sound analog and it doesn't sound like a rack delay. It sounds like a digital delay. But it also sounds very very good. Why is that? I really don't know. This was one of my first delays. And after years of trying the best delays money can buy I still like it a lot. It's reliable, easy to dial in, functional, and it simply just sounds right. I don't know what else to say. Maybe my ears have just gotten that used to it. If you want tape delay or organic vintage analog sounds look away. Not to take anything away from the DD5 though.

OVERALL OPINION

I think for a budget delay this might be one of the best of all time. If you find one for a good priced used it's worth a pick up just because. They are super reliable and I know people who have had them for years and beat the sin out of them with no issues.

The Digital Delay DD-5 is a discontinued delay from Boss. This delay has a four knob design like the DD-3, but packs a lot more features into the pedal. The pedal has an Effect Level knob that adjusts the amount of delay that is mixed with the dry tone, a Feedback knob that adjust the number of repeats, a Delay Time knob that adjusts the amount of time between repeats, and a Mode knob that adjusts between the pedal modes. Mode One is a short delay with a range of 1 to 50 ms. Mode Two is a medium delay with a range of 50 ms to 200ms. Mode Three is a longer delay with a range of 200 ms to 800ms. Mode Four is a long delay with a range of 800-2000ms. Mode Five, the Hold mode, is a little different, it allows you to hold a delay (up to 2 seconds) and then play over it like a sampler. Mode Six is Reverse and makes it sound like what you are playing is reversed. Mode Seven ED allows you to output the effected sound and direct sound separately. Mode Eight is quarter notes, Mode Nine is dotted eight notes, Mode Ten is regular eight notes, and Mode Eleven is triplets. The pedal can be powered by 9 volt batter or external AC adapter. Dimensions of the pedal are Boss’s typical 2.4" x 5.1" x 2.9" and it weighs about a pound. This pedal has a single input and stereo outputs as well as a jack for tap tempo.

UTILIZATION

These pedals can take serious abuse from the road and rarely give problems, and the DD-5 is no exception. It is a very reliable pedal and I’ve never heard any complaints in the build of the pedal or quality control. The Mode knob has a solid click feel between settings. It’s a little difficult to remember all the settings, but having only one mode knob makes this easy. All the additional knobs do the same thing no matter what mode you are in, unlike the Line 6 DL-4. The housing and jacks are metal and will deal with life on the road. Including a direct out allows the player to use two amps to get that true full stereo delay and is a great addition from Boss. Tap tempo helps keep the delays in perfect time with the song rhythm.

SOUND QUALITY

This pedal is not true bypass, but the buffers on these Boss delays are very good. Being a digital delay, you are basically getting out what you put into this pedal, and that’s what you expect. Overall though I feel this pedal is a little warmer sounding on the repeats than the DD-3. The delays are very clean and crisp and sound very good. The inclusion of tap tempo really helps if you use your delay for rhythmic playing instead of a basic ambience. Being able to choose between rhythmic delays in Modes 8 through 11 really builds on that. This would be a great sounding and functioning pedal for someone who plays in the style of “The Edge” or contemporary Christian music.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall I really like this pedal a lot better than the standard Boss DD-3. It may be my exact pedal, but when comparing the two, the DD-5 sounds warmer and more natural. The DD-5 boasts a lot more modes and becomes much more useful with its delays and tap tempo option. This pedal has been discontinued for some reason, so you’ll have to pick one up on the used market. When picking between a used DD-5 and a used or new DD-3 I would go ahead and pick up the DD-5. Being a Boss I’d have no worries about the used pedal being reliable, and not only will you get a slightly better sounding delay, there are a few more useful features to boot.

4 switchable delay ranges
11 different delay modes
Compact stereo delay pedal with 1ms to 2000ms delay capabilities
Tap tempo capabilities in real time with optional FS-5U footswitch
Hold mode for sampling passages
Reverse mode for new and unique sounds
AC adaptor or 9V battery operation
BOSS 5-year warranty

UTILIZATION

The DD-5 is my favorite out of the DD series. I got one of these when I was in my first "labyrinth pedalboard" phase, and after selling off most of those pedals, I still kept this one. It is a nice, musical delay, with the right kind of features. It's got a wide range of delay times to select from, and with a footswitch it can do tap tempo. The LED is very easy to see onstage in a dark club. It has a great housing, as always from Boss, and superb stomp switch as well - very durable.

SOUND QUALITY

Here's where the pedal shines. It's not the greatest delay I've ever used, but it is up there. For the price, it is fantastic. I can get great slapback tones, ambient tones, guitar solo tones, and everything in between. The reverse mode is pretty cool - if I remember correctly, it seems like this was the first pedal to offer a reverse delay setting, and it is worlds of fun to play around with. Plugging this pedal into two different amplifiers is another great way to inspire, as the resulting sound is huge!

OVERALL OPINION

Solid 8s across the board from me. There's not a bad sound in the unit, and it's definitely not going to die on you at a gig (unless you run it with a battery - this thing DEMOLISHES 9 volt batteries). I'd recommend finding a tap-tempo footswitch for more versatility. For the price, under a hundred used, I'm not sure if you can find a better delay pedal. Highly recommended.

The effects available are the tap-delay and delay, mainly, but also a sampler and reverse delay of 2 sec (if you can call it that), all the digital effects (as the name suggests), and connections are well described by the picture: in addition to the entry and exit, there is a secondary output for stereo delay and an additional input to through an optional foot-switch to access the tap-delay function.

Otherwise, as with many pedals you have two options to power: 9V battery STENDARDI (which should last 3 to 5 hours depending on usage) or a transformer (highly recommended, then!)

Since there are two optional accessories not so, I will 8.

UTILIZATION

Extremely simple configuration which is summarized on a small sticker provided (for blackouts). If not, well, the knobs is still what is best for tweaking effects, so it's excellent.

I deplore the lack of pitch delay, which is still very nice. This feature has been replaced by a gradual change in tempo (like the pitch delay) it does not change the pitch of the note.
But the first use I was shocked by the change of tempo knob: When the action as sound goes, it was soon sound like "scroutch" just get in the loop, and thus the gradual change in tempo of the delay can not live ...
It seems that this is not due to honest note knob, but a horrible bug in the software, all the more regrettable since it j'exactement the same problem on my multi-effects Boss GT-5 (using as a "knob "expression pedal). It would have been better to keep the pitch-delay rather than the feature unusable!
Blam, it earned him a 6-point!

SOUND QUALITY

Apart from the small dirt in the live edition of the tempo of the delay described above, the sound is impeccable, it does not sound digital, it is very clear.
I never use the tempo of the very short delay which is virtually nothing but realize that a delay gives rise to very near the harmonics that depend on the delay pérdiode. Otherwise, I still made heavy use, whether for the dub (of course) or to create "layers" of substance, and even mini-sampler (OK, so that c 2 sec is short ^ ^).

I never use the reverse-delay effect that does not (unless you branch out into "panning out") to obtain only the sound "reverse" the effect is a normal delay and signal mirror, and repeat until fade out. I do not see much utility, except that it is curiously the only one that allows for the pitch-delay effect (but with the reverse in, not very usable).

OVERALL OPINION

Overall opinion: an excellent effect, the sound impeccable, I use very often and this for over 5 years.

I note that this pedal has taken a lot of bowls, beer, mud, and my soles crados: the sound has not moved, the knobs do not always crachottent even painting is the shock (I must have a small break at any scale) and the rubber does not move: it's really made to last!

Level value, I find that I had paid vraiemnt expensive at the time (900 balls nine, I think), and if I had my choice again, I would have opted for a purpose in the same range with less of unnecessary features and a true pitch delay. But the old analog delay Boss had just been replaced by the superb range of digital delay, and I was seduced ... I think I would have preferred the dinosaur

That said, for his impeccable and the fact that I do not always separate, I'm not going down too much either, this pedal!
<p class="bbcode-offtopic"> Off topic: <span>
[edit] I sold my Boss DD-5 has six months to offer me a DL-4 for Line 6 (a killing, this pedal for that matter). In short, it is vain to contact me to ask me if I sell the DD-5 ...</span>

Boss saw another update to the delay family. The Boss DD-5 came out in 1995 as an update version of the Boss DD-3. They continued to still sell the Boss DD-3 but want ti offer something to the folks who needed to use a few more parameters to their delay tones. On this pedal you got two inputs and two outputs. One input and one output for the instruments sockets, but also another output for stereo panning and also tempo. So you can run the effects in stereo and also hook a footswitch like the FS-5U up to the tempo input and tap in the rhythmic delay time.

UTILIZATION



Specifications

Controls: E.Level, F.Back, D.Time, 11-way Mode switch
Connectors: Input, Output (MONO), Panning Out, Tempo, AC Adaptor
Current Draw: 65 mA (DC 9V)
Weight: 420g / 15 oz (including battery)
A/D Conversion: 16-bit linear, 64 times oversampling, using quad:Delta Sigma modulation, AF Method
D/A Conversion: 16-bit linear
Sampling Frequency: 32kHz
Dynamic Range: 110 dB or greater (Direct)100 dB or greater (Effect)
Nominal Input Level: -20dBu
Input Impedance: 1MOhm
Nominal Output Level: -20dBu
Output Impedance: 1kOhm
Recommended AC Adaptor: PSA Series


SOUND QUALITY

Delay Modes

1-50 ms
DELAY 50-200 ms
200-800ms
800-2,000ms
HOLD Max. 2,000ms
REVERSE 1,000-2,000ms
E/D 1-400ms
Quarter Note
TEMPO Dotted QuarterNote
Eighth Note
Quarter Note Triplet
1ms to 2,000ms delay times

One cool feature to this pedal is the use of reverse delay. This allows the repeats to come backwards giving a very cool sound to your guitar. You can also set the delay to endless repeats. IN the Hold mode you can press the pedal and play for a 2000ms and stop it to keep going. Then you have recorded a patch to continue to play over. Almost like a loop pedal but not quite like one.

OVERALL OPINION

These pedals were discontinued back in 2003. You can still find them in the classifieds and always on ebay. I see them on ebay for right around $100. Some people ask more for theirs but they won't get it in this market. $100 is the right price for this pedal in the used market.

The Boss DD-5 is one of the delay pedals that doesn't seem to get as much attention as the DD-3 or DD-6. It's a fairly standard digital delay pedal with up to 2000 ms of delay, the ability to do external tap tempo with a footswitch, has a hold mode for sampling, reverse mode for reverse delay, an effects level knob, feedback level knob, delay time level knob and the rotary mode switch knob.

UTILIZATION

Boss really packed in tons of features with this pedal. It's housed in the famous Boss enclsoure, so it should be able to withstand even the toughest touring conditions. Although it is FET buffered, the buffer isn't too terrible. There's some tone suckage, but it really shouldn't be enough to warranty a true bypass buffer unless you need absolutely pristine tone. The external tap temp feature is very cool, and I actually prefer it to the way the Boss DD-6 does things. Everything is clearly laid out, and if you have any issues, the Boss manuals are great at explaining what everything does.

SOUND QUALITY

The Boss DD-5 has a similar delay sound to the DD-3, in my opinion. It's digital sounding, but it's not quite as harsh as the DD-6 tends to be. It also has a pretty decent reverse delay feature for some of those real cool effects. That alone make this pedal worth checking into. However, it's starting to get a bit dated thanks to the latest delay pedals on the market. The delay length is also starting to become limiting compared to other delay pedals out there.

OVERALL OPINION

If you find a used DD-5 pedal for a cheap price, I recommend checking one out. It's a very good workhorse pedal for delay sounds, and I find it sounds a little bit more natural than the DD-6 does. That said, considering how old it is now, a lot of pedals out there both sound better and offer more features. If you're looking for the ultimate delay pedal, you'll probably want to look into the Eventide Timefactor.

This pedal is just a digital delay pedal. It can only be edited via the 4 knobs on its face. No computer connections. It has one 1/4&quot; audio input and two 1/4&quot; out (mono or panning). It also has a tap tempo pedal input. It is not rackable.

UTILIZATION

The general set up is very simple. There is a level knob for adjusting the delay effect volume, a feedback knob for adjusting the how many times the delay effect repeats, a delay time knob to adjust the time of the delay (pretty obvious I know) and a knob for selecting presets. I never read a manual for this and never will need to. Boss is usually good about putting simple instructions on the pedals themselves.

SOUND QUALITY

For the most part this thing is pretty sweet. The delay itself is nice a clear, and the other options such as reverse delay and short (about 1-2 seconds) sampling is pretty nice. I also really like having the input for a tap tempo pedal. Much nicer in my opinion than the dd-6 where you have to hold the pedal down to trigger the built in tap tempo, causing some disruption sometimes. I use this in the effects chain for my synth/drum sampler/alt. Vocals
Mixer. I love the panning option, I have two amps on either side of me and I love hearing the delay ping pong back in forth. This thing sounds good overall with anything.

OVERALL OPINION

I have had this pedal for over 2 years. Again, my favorite thing is the input for an external tap tempo pedal. Brilliant. I can't really complain about anything, if you want digital delay, this is a good unit. I also have a Akai headrush, which I do think sounds a little better. It also has an analog echo simulator which is pretty sweet and a much longer looping section. It also has tap tempo, but it is built in. The good thing about the headrush is the tap tempo has its own stomp button, so in the end, I would recommend the headrush over the boss dd5. You can find these on ebay for around $80. Its a great value. If I couldn't afford the headrush, I would definitely get one of these again.