I Played An MXR Commande Series Time Delay Today (Early 80's delay)

[Ryan84]

And it was pretty fun. Who else has one of these? Didn't pull the trigger on buying it but thinking about it. Was having one of my guitars worked on at a local shop (fret dressing) so was just messing around with it. It was the most fun with both delay/regen set to max. Both at max it oscillates a bit but not overwhelmingly. The trails fade out before getting out of control. Was getting some Floyd esque ambient stuff going on with it.

I did a little research on it and there isn't a whole lot to read about on the internet. Just one overpriced ebay auction and a paragraph long blog excerpt on another site The gist of it was that it wasn't a big hit at the time of it's release. But the chip in it is of some value. Does 800 ms at max. I am really spoiled by my three delays because that 800 ms was like stepping back to the dark ages. So accustomed to using long delay times. But I know, it's analog.

And I found one demo. ONE

 

[AXXA]

Wow, no mix knob? What chip was in it? Sounds decent

 

[Ryan84]

Wow, no mix knob? What chip was in it? Sounds decent

Pulled some info from here about it.

http://effectsfreak.com/effect/mxr/m-166_commande_series_time_delay/

"This one is actually cooler than it looks. This is from the MXR Commande Series of the early 80s. The idea was to produce a less expensive line of pedals using PCB-mounted jacks and a plastic housing. They weren't very popular."

"The effects themselves (circuit-wise) were reasonably good though. The MXR Time Delay is a great example of that. It's a real analog delay that uses the Reticon SAD4096 BBD (same chip used in the DOD 680 Analog Delay). The chip itself is rare and expensive, and they usually cost about as much as the price of this pedal."

"How does it sound? Dark, murky, ambient and definitely lo-fi. But of course, that's what people are often looking for in an analog delay. Because of the plastic housing and cheap hardware, the MXR Time Delay is a great candidate for a rehouse project."

"It's a fun analog delay with great Floydian slapback characteristics as well as very warm decay quality for spacey bits. There is a wet/dry signal mixing pot in the battery compartment. It has the longest available delay time for a BBD chip, about 800ms. The result is the thickest, warmest delay signal imaginable."

 

[Diggs5011]

Those pedals sound great to me. They are cheap but the internals can be moved to a new housing if you end up loving it enough to do that. I use mine ( a stereo flanger that is not true bypass and has a male insert for DC input (center +) so don't daisy chain with typical boss or (center -) style stompers. They are unique sounding effects and REALLY easy to rehouse

 

[ufo~]

I'm always interested in seeing where chips like the 4096 ended up because they are indeed little gold mines. Never knew about this one(mxr).

"The effects themselves (circuit-wise) were reasonably good though. The MXR Time Delay is a great example of that. It's a real analog delay that uses the Reticon SAD4096 BBD (same chip used in the DOD 680 Analog Delay). The chip itself is rare and expensive, and they usually cost about as much as the price of this pedal."

Had that pedal(DOD), sold it. Now regret selling it. It's deliberately lo-fi and nothing that had real staying power. But that chip could be used in a much better application.

 

[Coldacre]

800ms is heaps!! why would you need any more?

also, what's the aliasing noise like at say 600ms?

 

[aaronblues]

i've got the Commande series Phase. I've had it for better part of 17 years (?) or so, my singer has had it on his acoustic board for several years now, and he makes good use of it. I'm often shocked that it still works!

cheers