Gear Review: Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

The Boss DD-3 Digital Delay pedal is probably the most reviewed delay pedal in the world. There are so many YouTube, websites, magazines and people talking about this pedal that there is little to say that has nos been said before.

This review is special because not only I use the DD-3, but it is the base of my sound. When I play heavy metal, I use the DD-3. When I play shredding solos, I use the DD-3. When I play blues or swing, I use my DD-3.

The versatility lets me use it in so many ways and for many purposes. I need to say the fact that my sound has changed a lot scince I begin playing. I was insecure and relied heavily on reverb. This helped me cover my possible mistakes but also reduced the clarity, transforming at some points, my solos into pure noise.

After some time, I decided to replace the reverb with delay. The change in the sound was incredible, now the guitar solos sounded like music instead of noise and notes bouncing agains each other.

At the moment, when playing live, I use two delay pedals. One delay pedal is almost always on and I use it for the rhythmic sections (clean and distorted). I am usually the only guitar in the band so a good quality delay will help fill all the spaces. For an example of this use I recommend listening to Van Halen's Dance the Night Away. There you will hear a very clear, almost excesive delay, that will fill all the gaps that having only one guitar can create.

I use the second DD-3 delay pedal for the guitar solos. I use more delay than I would like but as there is no more rhythm guitar (because I am the only guitar), I need to create a big sound with out losing note clarity.

I would recommend the guitarists that rely heavily on reverb to try to replace it with delay (or 2). It will take time to find the perfect settings for your sound but the clarity of the sound will impress you.