Back Talk Reverse Delay Pedal Review

A primary color for my tone palatte

I've been looking for a pedal like this for decades. From the Roland Space Echo back in the 70s to the Jam Man in the 90s, I've owned many different delays, and still enjoy them today. But the Danelectro Back Talk scratches an itch I've been feeling since I first picked up a guitar 44 years ago. While the controls are very simple, the difference in filtering by the settings is dramatic.… read more For me, the simplicity of the controls is part of the reason I prefer this pedal to other digital pedals that can achieve a similar sound; to me, I'm not inspired when I have to scroll through many pages of settings. I'm not trying to write code, I just want to play guitar! I found this product inspires creative, new methods of playing, and highly recommend it to any guitarist that loves the sound of reverse guitar.

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It only does one thing and it excels at it.

A lot of delay pedals have several different functions and different types of delay. The result can sometimes be that some setting just aren't all that great. Not so with this one! This does one thing and one thing only, reverse delay. And it absolutely excels at it! It has a very musical quality that's missing from other reverse delays which makes this a winner in my book. If you're… read more after that classic late '60s/early '70s reverse delay sound, this is the pedal for you!

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Delivers the goods

While this isn't going to be permanently zip coded to my 'board I've always had a fascination with gadgets like this and the other delays I have which have a reverse function that can be summoned it always seemed like a sideshow gimmick rather than a real serious effect. On that note, I give you the real serious dedicated reverse delay which delivers just that. No more/no less.

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Always wanted a reverse delay pedal

This sounds and plays as you would expect takes some practice to get it to play well but I like it most with the mix all the way up. I dot really care for the reliced look, but it is a well-finshed pedal. Nice raw leather carrying bag too

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A tiny little mind-bender

I've been curious about the original Back Talk for ages but hadn't wanted to dive into researching it too much because of the price the original units command. According to Danelectro, though, this is the real deal, the same pedal, but (from what I can tell) in a far subtler case, so why not now? Delay is a funky effect for me, sometimes it is tonally inspirational and others all… read more it inspires is navel gazing, which I find true for any unit, my tape delays evoke both as much as anything else, but the Back Talk is a little different. The way it creates delays can produce some really interesting patterns that go from the subtle to the overwhelming, simply by making use of the Dry knob, which controls the blend of the signal between the original one and the very effected wet one. This allows you to either tame the monster or let it loose, so to speak, where on one end, your signal dominates the stage, with the Back Talk adding color underneath, and the other, where your voice is lost and the Back Talk does all of it's, well, back talking. And it does talk back quite well. Sort of makes me want to pair it with a Yer Mom and just be a total brat. The quality of the sound it makes is excellent, though obviously not your standard delay. Setting it to longer speed settings and more repeats allows you to create quite the lush pad for your playing, which still stands clear and proud in most of the positions of the Dry knob, and will be a joy to those interested in using the Back Talk to create atmospherics. Shorter speeds and repeats tighten this up, in someways becoming reminiscent of a more traditional delay, but always somewhat, well, "off," due to the nature of the effect. Which is wonderful. The "Reverse Rockabilly Slap" setting, as offered in the excellent array of suggested settings in the manual, is just that, but somehow richer. Would I use it for a traditional Rockabilly song? No, probably not, but the moment I wanted to take that same track somewhere else, boy would I ever. If there is anything that I could critique in the pedal it is simply that it's not as immediately intuitive as one might think for a three knob delay. The Speed settingsare reversed (continuing the aesthetic but confusing me for a moment in practice), while the repeats aren't. This is just a nitpick, though, as once I figured out where I was going wrong, it became a non-issue. Another thing that may stand out for some is that the repeats can be kind of "clicky," which I attribute to the way sounds cut off when reversed, but I found even that could become useful, particularly when playing small repeated parts, that the pedal would then compress into almost synth-like patterns behind the notes, as it helped add some clarity to a tight, fast setting. If you enjoy 60's style weirdness or something that will help you paint your sonic picture with an unusually colorful palette, the Back Talk might be the pedal for you. It probably won't replace the other delays in your rig, unless you really want to go somewhere a little different, but it will certainly expand your options in some very creative ways. I'm glad I dove in.

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