Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai Delay / Looper Pedal Review

Second time i bought this pedal...glad I did!

The DMM Hazarai pedal is very interesting when you compare it to the other analog versions of the DMM. I consider the analog versions of this pedal to be great delay pedals for front of guitar amp, or amp effects loop use...mono. I own two other variations of the DMM, the DMM 550TT and the Memory Boy....both really nice pedals for the classic EHX clean to gritty analog delay sounds.… read more The Hazarai does not sound like the analog DMM's. It has this beautiful almost ethereal sounding tone to it when connected in stereo as i use it. The 300ms + Mod setting is my favorite. The max delay without using tap tempo is about 350ms...if you use tap tempo, you can get more than twice that without any noticeable degradation in the repeats...it actually softens the tone just a bit to make it blend more perfectly behind the original guitar tone. I have a Strymon Timeline, Eventide Time Factor, and Boss DD-500 as alternative delay units in my stereo effects loop with the Hazarai. I can honestly say, none of them sound better for pure modulated delay than the Hazarai...with a clean tone, you can get lost in this pedal appreciating the beauty of it...make sure you connect it in stereo...you are really missing out if you don't....i am very glad i bought this pedal a second time when i could truly appreciate it. The Reverse echo is really special on this unit as well...better than any other i have tried.

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Very Versatile Pedal

I sent a note to my sales engineer, Jason Koons...."Hey Jason, do you know of anything that can get me that reverse guitar effect a la Castles Made of Sand?" He responded right away and recommended this. I watched a few demos online and though it seemed cool, so I went for it. Got it in a few days and immediately started using it for a few songs (e.g. London Calling solo). Nailed… read more it. The more I've played with it the more I've been impressed. Its got multiple different delay and echo modes, plus a looper. You can do some pretty cool stuff with it if you play with the decay and delay.... very easy and intuitive. I'm a huge fan of Electro-Harmonix in general, they put out great products. This is the 3rd EHX pedal on my board. Looking for a delay pedal that can do David Gilmore type delay? - this can do it. Slapback spankin' Tele delay for some chick'n pick'n? - Check. Hendrix or RHCP reverse solo? - check. Looper to lay down some chords and practice a solo or improv? - check. This is like having 3+ pedals in one. I highly recommend it. A case like this is what makes Sweetwater great. You know you need something, but you're not sure what.... they are professional, they know their stuff and they point you right to it.

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All The Good Stuff

The Stereo Memory Man W/Hazarai is a great "all-in-one" delay pedal. Yes, it is digital, but it can produce warm, organic delay tones. It really offers the best that both digital and analog have to offer. There are 8 modes including 3 second delay, 300 mili-second with modulation, reverse echo, 1 Sec + Reverse and Loop amongst others. The selection of tones may seem limited at first,… read more but just about any delay tone can be produced with this pedal. The control layout, while not straightforward, definitely encourages experimentation. The SMMH is billed as a Jack of all trades, but it's also mastered a few, as well. It has the best reverse delay that I've ever heard. The Blend knob controls the amount of wet signal, and can take it from a basic delay with reversed repeats, to a near spot-on recreation of the old reverse solos of Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles etc. One of the cool innovations of this pedal is found in the 1 Sec plus Reverse mode, where you can hold down the Tap button and it will repeat up to six seconds of what you played in reverse. The looper mode can record up to 30 seconds, but loops can be recorded while in any mode, which is really handy. Once a loop is recorded, you can add modulation to it, reverse the loop, or even speed up the tempo and change the pitch of the loops. What you record while the tempo and pitch are turned up will simulate bass lines after the loop is returned to its original pitch and tempo. The modulation is also world class. The reverb is comparable to the Holy Grail, the flange and chorus to the Electric Mistress, and the ring modulation to the Frequency Analyzer. Yes, it even has ring modulation tones! I've also seen demos where the right setting will produce tones that are similar to the Ravish Sitar. It's just a great amalgam of several of EHX's best products. Like the "Bonus Features" for a movie, it's loaded with Easter Eggs. Want more than 300 milliseconds of delay on the 300mS with Modulation mode? Up to 600 milliseconds can be accessed by using the tap tempo. 30 seconds not enough loop time? Just record 30 seconds of blank space in the looper mode, and then set the Delay knob to 0 to obtain 60 seconds of looping. The tap tempo can also be used to change the speed of the loop without changing the pitch of the loop. One of my favorite aspects is that all of these features are housed in a reasonably sized footprint (5.5" x 4.5" x 2") making it more pedalboard friend than the Flashback x4, Delaylab, DL4 or any of its other direct competition. That's not to say that it's without its blemishes. There are a few hinderances that some will find unappealing. First, the SMMH isn't expression pedal accesible. This wasn't a deal-breaker for me, as I wouldn't have likely used one, anyway. Another slight problem is that while the SMMH has a vast palate of tones, only 8 presets (one per mode) can be saved. I've discovered dozens of great tones that I would have loved to have saved, but had to use a pen and paper instead. The looper can record an infinite number of loops, but it doesn't save loops. Also, it requires you to hold down the loop button until your desired loop is complete. Again, this didn't bother me, but it may take players who are used to the DL4's approach a while to get to used it. There's no way to scroll through the different modes by foot, so switching modes has to be done by hand. Perhaps the biggest complaint is that the controls of this pedal aren't straight forward, making it more complicated than other pedals. Because of this, the manual is definitely worth its weight in gold. None of these problems really bothered me, however and for the price it's still a lot of bang for your buck, even if it falls under the category of beautifully flawed. One of the common complaints that I've read is that each loop recorded loses volume after each new loop is recorded, which is true, but only if the Repeats knob (which acts as the volume control for loops) isn't turned up all the way. With the right adjustments, it is possible to maintain the same volume for each loop. Also, this pedal can oscillate while in the 300 mS + MOD Echo mode when the Repeats knob is turned up passed 3 o'clock. This is probably my favorite pedal on my board. It really seems to reward creativity, which I've found to be a staple of EHX products. It was listed in Guitar World's Top Five Programmable Delay pedals, which is impressive considering that some of the other pedals were in the $300-$500 range. For the price, I still don't think this one can can be beat. And for my delay needs, it gets a perfect score all the way.

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Beautiful pedal.

Amazing pedal. So many different ideas to run with. Anywhere from trance inducing loops to subtle and psychedelic delay and echo. Sounds 1000x better with other EHX pedals (I suggest the 'Soul Preacher nano', as well. Just an amazing pedal that has no limits.

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THE digital delay pedal.

This pedal is utterly fantastic. THE digital delay pedal to end all digital delay pedals. What first brought me to this unit was the tap tempo function and the relatively long delay times (3 seconds). What made me fall in love with this pedal was the reverb, the reverse echo, and the flanging (yep, this pedal flanges! I'll get to that in a minute) The reverb is lush and blends… read more masterfully with the delayed signal and is a great bonus for me, as a person who has always preferred digital reverb to spring reverb. The reverse echo is traditional EHX madness, allowing you to play backwards solos in real time. But what really got me is the ability to create some really unique flanger sounds by dialing in really short delay times and then adjusting the modulation, blend, filter, and repeats. This pedal provides a huge amount of control in a relatively small set of parameters and simple controls that keeps this pedal easy and straightforward to use, but still capable of some really mind-bending settings if for the adventurous. Oh, did I mention that it also loops?

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