DARE delay

D.A.R.E Delay

The DARE delay is an analog/tape voiced digital delay with an all analog dry signal path and true-bypass relay switching. It does not have a lot of noise-reduction or filtering elements which keep the repeats natural and warm sounding. It has about the same bandwidth as the classic tape echo units, and it can be used in front of an amplifier or in amplifier effects loops.

The delay is designed to work well with distortion - which is not always the case with other delays. It's tone has been carefully tuned with a lot of attention to the first repeat - it's not super high in the mix and doesn't get in the way.

REPEAT control goes from one signal repeat all the way through to self oscillation.

TIME goes from about 30ms fully counter clockwise to about 500ms fully clockwise.

MIX control blends in the delayed signal with the dry guitar signal.

FREQ adjusts the tone of the delayed signal from darker warmer analog/tape repeats to a slightly brighter "digital delay" style repeat.

BOOST will increase the overall volume of the combined dry and delayed signal from just below unity gain to about a 7db boost. Perfect for stomping on the delay as a boost/delay for leads!

AGE switch adds a subtle warble to the delayed signal in the up position. This replicates the slight modulation from an old tape head in a vintage tape delay. It's subtle but more noticable when the mix and time knobs are higher. 

SPIRAL is a momentary footswitch that sends the repeats into self-oscillation when you hold it down. It is basically maxing out the repeats knob temporarily. It can add haunting washed-out undertones to your playing or momentary bursts of oscillating noise.

SPIRAL VOL. A cool thing I came up with on this delay which I haven't seen before is add a limiter circuit that is adjustable via a trimpot in the back that lets you set the volume of the oscillations. On other delay pedals, as the repeats oscillate longer, they get louder and louder, way louder than your dialed-in rig levels and can destroy your amp! This lets you set the volume from subtle droney washed-out undertones that you can play over to loud runaway oscillations at the end of a set.

SPIRAL ONSET trimpot can alter how quickly or slowly the oscillations come on when you hold down the SPIRAL footswitch.

Note: Be careful when turning the trimpots with a small screwdriver. They can break if you force it too hard past the cutoff at each end of the rotation.