chrisr0712
Member
- Messages
- 1,014
Does the DMM overload too easily with overdrives and boosts before it? I'm not using high gain, just slight to medium gain. I'm thinking of trading in my echopark for one.
Originally posted by Pappy
While the Deluxe Memory Man is my favorite analog delay, it has a serious problem with overloading IMHO. ... I ended up replacing it in my live rig with a Boss DD-20 which gets *very* close to the DMM sound without the overload problems (and I'm very picky).
Originally posted by tfire
Pappy: what settings do you use on the DD-20 to get the DMM sound?
Originally posted by analogmike
Memory Man IC chip upgrades
There are a few web sites and posts about improving the sound of an EH deluxe memory man, by replacing the normal 4558 op amps with some high tech chips. The noise and tone in a memory man comes from the BBD chips, not the op amps. The BBD chips have about 10,000 times more noise, and very low fidelity. That is normal in an analog delay and nothing can be done about that, it's why people love their sounds. So replacing the op amps will have little benefit, or so I thought.
After writing the above I got some new DMM pedals, they are now using ST electronics MC4558CN dual op amp chips. I replaced all five of these chips while I was in there (those knobs are a pain to remove) with new Texas Instruments TL072 chips.
Dry sound when playing clean - it is improved. Put the mix to pure DRY (no echo) and the tone when playing clean is a little purer. I was surprised.
ECHO SOUND: also clearer when you listen to 100% delayed sound, much clearer and closer to a digital delay sort of tone. Seems to be more difference at lower delay times.
When I turn up the MIX for about 50% delay I tested for noise by playing a low string gently. The modified pedal is a bit noisier, may be a unit to unit discrepancy or could be the TL072 chips allow more high end through which contains the noise.
OVERDRIVEN sound : running a good OD pedal into the DMMs, with the gain knob set for unity gain (LED just glowing) the sound of the stock one seems a little warmer to me, both dry and echo sounds. But the modified one is clearer again.
DISTORTION : Running a good distortion pedal into the units, the modified one is clearer, the repeats are almost too clear. The stock one has repeats which are darker and more in the background. At this point in the test I brought out a '59 reissue Les Paul with burstbuckers 1 and 2 and played through the Maxon SD9/808/silver, into the DMM into a '66 blackface Deluxe Reverb plugged into a '73 Marshall 4x12 cabinet and just played for 45 minutes as it was a MAGIC combination! Gilmour, Hackett, Page sounds were flowing... best tones I ever got for leads.
Anyway, the difference with changing the op amps is more than I thought it would be. But not sure whether I like it enough to go through the hassle of pulling the board out... depends on what you want, clarity or a warm background echo. Most people will prefer the upgraded op amps I think. Also the new pedals may not be using sockets so the chips might need to be desoldered.
Originally posted by Pappy
I use the modulate setting which I believe is supposed to emulate a DMM. You have to change the rate & depth, though, because the stock setting sounds a bit weird to me. This is easy to do, though, via the manual. I have a/b'd the DD-20 with my DMM many times and find that it sounds *very* close. The DMM has a little more mojo, though, and a bit more murkiness in the repeats. The DD-20 has more headroom and less noise, though, so it's a fair tradeoff (plus, it has 4 presets, a manual mode, and many other cool sounds).
In the past, I tried out the LIne 6 version of the DD-20 and found the DMM setting to sound NOTHING like a DMM. Mostly, the modulation sounds all wrong IMO.
As I mentioned, I still love the sound of my DMM so I use it for recordings. Mine is from the very first batch of re-issues with a hard-wired power cord. I tried one of the newer re-issues and found it to sound significantly different than mine. While I can't remember what those differences were, they were enough to make me sell it immediately.
Originally posted by tfire
Thanks for replying, but could you please be a bit more specific? Where exactly are the DD20's knobs when you think, "that's close"?
Originally posted by Pappy
Actually, every setting using the "modulate" model sounds like the DMM. I personally use 390 milliseconds for most things and set the echo level and feedback to taste. All that I needed to do is to reduce the speed and intensity of the modulation a bit. The general tone of this model is very similar to the DMM no matter how you set it.
Originally posted by tfire
OK, go it, thanks for the info.