The featured-packed new delay from Kansas City builder Junior Thomason sounds heavenly, but can be a beast to navigate.
Many beautiful delay tones. Nice, subtle modulation. Double-delay algorithms sound incredible. Big-box functionality in a small footprint.
No delay time knob. Requires a lot of time to memorize its color-coded operations. Difficult to quickly navigate settings on the fly without a MIDI controller.
$299
JET Pedals Eternity
jetpedals.com
Maximalist pedal engineering—the kind that finds dozens of functions crammed into small enclosures—isn’t for everyone. The impressive capabilities of these units test conventional thinking about how much tone shaping power you can fit in a single compact housing. But such pedals can also test your patience if you’re the plug-in-and-go type.The JET Pedals Eternity Delay is likely built with patient tinkerers in mind. It's rich with fascinating delay sounds, but to unlock its ample power, you’ll have to keep your wits and do your work with the manual up front.
Bright Lights
There’s a lot going on in the Eternity. It has two soft-click footswitches for bypass and tap tempo, four control knobs, a 3-way toggle switch, a MIDI jack, two input and two output jacks to run it in either mono or stereo, plus a 9V jack on the right side. These are all smartly arranged, so the Eternity doesn’t feel or look crammed. Its capabilities, however, are almost overflowing.
The Eternity’s four knobs are all clear plastic, and when it’s fired up, you’ll notice that the top two knobs—which control mix and repeats—double as LEDs. Along with the two LEDs above the footswitches, these knobs are the Eternity’s navigational signposts. Clicking and holding the bypass footswitch for one second changes the delay algorithm, which is signaled by a change in color in the repeats knob. There are six algorithms to cycle through: tape, digital, analog, dual, ESD, and JRD.
The Eternity’s preset mode, which is engaged by double-tapping the bypass switch, has room for six saved presets. The presets are cycled by tapping both footswitches at the same time. Presets, too, are color-coded, and indicated by the color of the mix knob. But connect a MIDI controller, and the world’s your oyster. That will allow you to program up to 127 presets, and remotely manipulate each of the Eternity’s controls.
Memorizing numerous color codes and varying LED light patterns won’t be easy for everyone. But the functionality goes deeper still. The Cntrl 1 knob functions differently for each algorithm. For example, in the tape and analog algorithms, it adjusts the level of the preset modulation; with digital mode engaged, it adds grit to the repeats; and in the custom delay modes, it sets the level of one of the two delay programs. Curiously, there is no dedicated time knob to quickly dial in or modify the effect.
Heavenly Sounds
JET Pedals boss Junior Thomason builds pedals for worship guitarists, so it’s little surprise that the sounds here are, well, heavenly. And no matter how you set it, it seems to possess a sparkle and three-dimensionality that turns a bedroom into a cathedral. The pedal boots up on its tape delay algorithm, which is thick and musty, and the adjustable modulation is gentle and tasteful. The otherwise pristine and endless digital delay can be dirtied-up via the Cntrl 1 knob. The analog algorithm nails the dark atmospherics of BBD delays, and the ESD, which stands for echo slap doubler, hits the mark for rockabilly echo.
Where the pedal really shines, though, is in the algorithms that feature two delays. The dual algorithm combines a customizable analog delay with a fixed dotted-eighth-note digital delay. The JRD (JET signature rhythm delay) similarly features a tweakable analog delay with a tight slapback. The dual is the most fun of the two, producing zany ping-ponging rhythms and encouraging attention to timing and phrasing. The JRD, meanwhile, is straight-up grand. It lends so much space and body to chording and single notes alike that it feels like a hack to sounding like a better player.
The Verdict
For the patient and invested user, the Eternity will yield a world of possibility. It’s a powerful pedal with a ridiculous swath of features and full stereo capability. Its delay algorithms sound brilliant and rich, and JET’s original double delay programs are engaging and rewarding. But fitting all of that functionality into a pedalboard-friendly package comes with hard-won compromises in operational ease, so it’s probably best to test the Eternity before you commit to exploring its deep well of sounds and functions.
Both the type of delay you're using and whether your amp is equipped with an effects loop can have a huge impact on how good your echoes sound in the final mix.
You might not have given much thought to your delay pedal, other than adjusting the time, mix level, and how long you might want the feedback to be when using it. But there are more things to consider, and where you place it in your signal chain can make a big difference in your tone—especially when recording. This month we’ll cover the main ways to use delay, depending upon your pedal and amp setup.
Let’s begin by dividing types of delay into two categories: analog and digital. Traditional analog delays, like the Echoplex, Roland Space Echo, and Binson Echorec, achieved their delay by using a loop of analog tape and three heads: erase, record, and playback (see Fig. 1). Moving from left to right, the erase head removes any previously recorded audio, then your guitar signal is recorded at the record head before moving to the playback head. The further the playback head is away from the record head, the longer the delay. After leaving the playback head, it’s looped back around to the erase head, and the process starts all over again.
In order to get the signal loud enough to be captured on tape and minimize noise, a discreet preamp was needed to boost the incoming audio. These preamps are a huge part of the analog tape sound. In fact, guitarists liked the tone so much that many companies started making “boost” pedals and leaving the tape delay behind, especially as the digital age arrived. This is where the term boost pedal originates. (Xotic’s EP Booster—with the EP derived from Echoplex—is a great example of this.)
Digital delay usually involves a set sample and bit rate (i.e., 44.1 kHz/16 bit). Audio is sampled (recorded) into the digital domain, and all settings, like time, mix, and feedback are adjusted digitally. Some digital delay pedals like Eventide’s TimeFactor (which has both analog and digital options) will allow you to adjust these parameters (and many more) so you can make your guitar signal sound like it has gone through a bitcrusher.
What’s the difference? In the digital domain, whatever audio is sampled can be recreated exactly without any degradation, no matter how long the feedback. With analog, there are several anomalies that happen as the result of slight glitching of the mechanical gears moving the tape across the heads (flutter), the tape misalignment as it travels across the heads (wow), and the tape itself loosing fidelity as it ages. While this might seem like a drawback, it’s actually the main reason you might want to use analog delay!
Try this: If you’re getting your distortion sound from your amp, see if the amp has an effects loop I/O in the back. If it doesn’t, like old Marshall and Fender amps, then you’ll want to use a delay pedal that has a vintage delay profile instead of a digital delay. Think Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, early Clapton. This is how they got that tone: using an analog tape delay (with those preamps) going into a screaming tweed Fender or Marshall plexi. If you try this with a digital delay, you’ll probably notice that your tone will sound brittle, grainy, less smooth, and it will be harder to tell the difference between the original notes and the delayed notes. The good news is that many contemporary delay pedals, like the Boss DD-8, have both analog and digital options for you to choose from, and you can A/B the difference.
If you’re getting your main distortion sound from your pedals, then a digital delay won’t affect your tone as much, and if you’re looking for that great digital delay sound à la ’80s David Gilmour and The Edge, sprinkle a little chorus into your sound before the delay and you’re “in the stadium,” shall I say.
Finally, if your amp has an effects loop, try isolating your delay (regardless of type) by running it through the amp’s effects loop. You’ll need two more cables, but you might find that your tone has more clarity overall and you can control your delay with more finesse.