“If you're looking for a no-fuss delay pedal for everyday repeats, this is the one to beat”: Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay review

There’s a refreshing simplicity about an old-school delay pedal with just three knobs. It might be anathema to anyone who relies on a tap tempo footswitch to set their delay times, but it can sit on your ’board and do a variety of bread-and-butter delay tasks with a minimum of fuss. 

That’s exactly where the Deep Blue Delay is pitched. There aren’t the huge long delays you’d get from some pedals, but most (or maybe all) you’d need a delay pedal to do can be found in its range from 25ms to 450ms. 

At the lower end of the scale, there’s some cool doubling if you turn up the Level to sit the repeat with the dry sound, which incidentally remains analogue on its passage through the pedal. Add a bit of the Repeat (feedback knob) and you can conjure up some lo-fi reverb.

Beyond all that, there are some great slapback sounds and practical longer delays. Mad Professor has used filtering to voice the repeats to sound like a tape echo, and the progressive change in the tonal content of the repeats makes them blend superbly with guitar sound.

Specs

• PRICE: £199
• ORIGIN: Finland
• TYPE: Digital delay pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass, 25ms to 450ms delay time
• CONTROLS: Level, Delay, Repeat, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V battery or 9V DC adaptor 25 – 32mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 63 (w) x 111 (d) x 50mm (h)
• CONTACT: Mad Professor Amplification