Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo

I was looking for a delay pedal, and I have been researching for it for a while. Then I came across the Ibanez DE-7. What intrigues me is that it has an echo sound function, kind of like old 70’s delay sound to it, where the decay sounds darker than the initial sound. I also liked the Marshall Echohead delay unit, it has more feature to it, but it’s a little more expensive than the Ibanez. The DE-7 is not really expensive new on the market, but someone’s selling it second hand (of course a lot cheaper than new), so I figure nothing to lose, if I don’t like it, I can sell it again.

Operation is simple. Three knobs: Delay Time, Repeat, and Delay Level. Also there are two switches: Range (30-160, 120-650, 480-2600 ms) and Mode Echo or Delay between a warm analog type sound, and digital delay). It doesn’t have tap tempo function. it is sort of tricky to set your exact delay times, but it still is relatively simple. the knobs pushes down into the pedal, effectively locking your settings into place.

I think this is a solid pedal. Sound is from good to sometimes excellent. I have played this thing where I must have just set it just right, a few times where it was heavenly. The sound is good. It doesn’t seem to be sucking tone when off, and it sounds a lot better if you use the stereo out to two amps.

Altough I think the delay mode is pretty good, my favorite setting is the echo mode. Think of David Gilmour type delay. I use all three of the time intervals, from slapback to slow repeats. I know this not Echoplex, but I’ve had plenty of people be impressed with the “vintage” Space Echo sounds that can come out of this box. Plus, you can mess with the time knob to make some crazy tape-echo sounds. If you put it on echo and jack up the repeate rate you get the infinite analog “feedback” sounds like the end of Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’. I’m still having fun messing with it.

Combined with my other digital delay effect (from my Adrenalinn) it can create a very interesting space to my guitar sound. The Delay mode is also good, but not very special. What I like about it that it can used as a reverb unit by setting the time short and adjust the rate a little.

I really love this pedal,especially the echo, which to me worth the price alone. The delay mode to me is a nicely added bonus, and surprisingly useful indeed. For the second hand price that I paid it’s a steal, but if you are looking for an echo or analog-ish type of delay, I really recommend this one.

Behringer EQ700 Graphic Equalizer

The unit provides a 7-band equalizer activated by an on/off pedal. The EQ700 has a simple, traditional interface. It’s easy to use and it does the job of equalization well. There is some noise when certain bands were raised and when I’m using distortion, but nothing that causes a tremendous problem for me.

The pedal is housed in a plastic case.Yes, it is breakable. but not that easy. It’s really tough plastic. I never stomp on any of my stomp boxes though, I just tapped them lightly, so to me the casing won’t be a major problem. The upside, however, is that this makes the unit light in weight, which one realizes is an asset after lugging gear around to a few gigs.

The EQ700 a very nice pedal at a very affordable price (really..it’s really cheap). I mainly bought it as a curiosity for its price and having seen technical tests where it was deemed 99% identical to the Boss GE-7. Here is the official short features straight from the Behringer website:

Behringer Graphic Equalizer EQ700 Features

• Shape your sound and eliminate feedback with 7 bands of equalization
• This BEHRINGER product has been designed to compete head to head with leading products on the market (I’m sure by this they mean Boss GE-7, hahaha)
• Wide frequency range from 100 Hz to 6.4 kHz with a powerful 15dB boost/cut per band
• Status LED for effect on/off and battery check
• Runs on 9 V battery or the BEHRINGER PSU-SB DC power supply (not included)
• First-class electronic On/Off switch for noise-free operation
• High-quality components and exceptionally rugged construction ensure long life

Okay, back to my reviews. This pedal is pretty easy to use and its only a matter of minutes until you find a tone that suits you. its a standard 7 band Eq its an easy concept but like any Eq it takes a little while to figure out how to use it usefully but the 15 + or – range gives a lot of versatility. One gripe with the sliders is it’s hard to find where the 0db is (not affecting tone).This unit doesn’t have a center “click” like it’s Boss GE-7 counterpart, so because of the dramatic range what seem like flat can change tone but after fiddling you can get flat although i would like it easier to find this point.

Battery compartment is idiotic. It’s really hard to open it. It was designed to open using the tip of a guitar cable, but the buttons are really too small for guitar cables. You’ll end up needing a pen, or small screwdriver to do it. I like the Boss mechanism more, or better yet, the Ibanez ToneLok Series.

I also didn’t like that the adaptor input position is at the side. I prefer it like Boss effects

For what it does, it does its job really really well. It’s extremely versatile while it can sound awful (with bad settings) most sounds are usable and can improve tone in any setup. Use it after my distortion pedal (Boss OS-2) to increase the highs a little, because if I use the tone on my distortion unit to increase the treble, it sounded harsh..not the case with the Behringer EQ. Also I sometimes use it as a clean booster in front of my tube amp for soloing.

My conclusion for this pedal: buy it. For that price, you can’t get a better (or any at all,for that matter) equalizer pedal. It’s good for bettering your sound for the least of the cost. I’d recommend it to anyone. It does what it Boss counterpart does, and It does really good in term of sound quality, for about 1/3 of the price. You won’t be disappointed, and for the price, you should get one any way!