Just Bought a Memory Boy!

[russpurdy]

Hey everyone, My Memory Boy delay just arrived and I thought I would share my initial thoughts. First off, I have never owned an analog delay before. It's always been digital and I never thought an analog could have much of a difference, I think i'm starting to see why guys like the analog delay's so much! To me, going from digital delay to analog is like the difference between a digital tremolo or digital reverb and true amp driven tremolo or a spring verb tank. My digital delay's have always sounded like I kicked on a pedal. When I kick the memory boy on it just sounds "right" it fits in and doesn't alter my fundamental tone. I'm sure this isn't the best analog delay you could find (there is a little bit of white noise that you can hear on the repeats and the delay time isn't as long as some might hope for) but for around a hundred bucks, this thing is awesome. I've already ordered an expression pedal to try out with it. One last thing, i've read some reviews that call the modulation useless. If you want straight up delay then I would probably go with the cheaper and smaller memory toy (i'm guessing it's the same delay circuit) but if you like to mess with sounds a bit or get into experimental stuff (which i do!) then the modulation can produce some very cool effects. I tried chorus in square wave mode with the blend knob maxed and the feedback on the verge of oscillation. It was very cool...... very cool indeed. If you like delay/echo, go try one. In fact, has anyone started a Memory Boy club? I'm thinking that should be on my to do list!

[Bad Chile]

I got one on the big brown truck right now. Used to own a Carbon Copy and wasn't a fan of it due to the limited modulation options and cost.

You're absolutely right that the Memory Toy is the same circut without the user interface for modulation wave, depth, or vib/chorus (just on/off). For $20 more, I figure I might as well have that option.

Looking forward to getting mine and doing crazy stuff with it. Just got a Big Muff Pi w/Tone Wicker in the XO case and I didn't realize how small the XO case is - which will be a problem because that was my one hang up on EH pedals (size).

Glad to hear you enjoy it!

[studio1087]

Thanks guys....looks like I'll be blowing another $99.



Warm!

[studio1087]

Guys,

Will this pedal operate off a 9 volt battery or is this one of the EH pedals that requires a wall plug??

Thanks,

John

[Bad Chile]

Originally Posted by studio1087

Guys,

Will this pedal operate off a 9 volt battery or is this one of the EH pedals that requires a wall plug??

Thanks,

John

It comes with an EHX power supply that feeds 9.6 Volts (200mA). The box itself claims it takes 9 Volts (only one significant digit).

[Kestrel]

I bought both the Memory Boy and the Memory Toy to try out. They sound good, although the modulation on the "Boy" can be a bit too trippy to be used all the time. I actually liked the Memory Toy better, however, I found that they don't like being placed alongside some pedals. I did some pedal swapping the other day and added a Digitech Digidelay and a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus. Got some strange low humming when I turned on the Memory Boy (same thing happened with the Memory Toy), then I got some nasty oscillating siren sounds coming from both units when I switch on the modulation. If I remove the Digitech and Boss pedals the weird noises on the Memory Boy and Toy stop. Can't explain why this happened. I use a 1 Spot adaptor and 8 cable multiplug to power my pedals and I even tried a separate adaptor just for the Memory Boy and got the same results. Never had that problem with the MXR Carbon Copy, so it looks like I'll be sticking with the Carbon Copy.

[studio1087]

Just bought the Boy. $77 on ebay. Thanks again for the heads-up. Neat pedal.

John

[Grandma's Tele]

Originally Posted by Kestrel

I bought both the Memory Boy and the Memory Toy to try out. They sound good, although the modulation on the "Boy" can be a bit too trippy to be used all the time. I actually liked the Memory Toy better, however, I found that they don't like being placed alongside some pedals. I did some pedal swapping the other day and added a Digitech Digidelay and a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus. Got some strange low humming when I turned on the Memory Boy (same thing happened with the Memory Toy), then I got some nasty oscillating siren sounds coming from both units when I switch on the modulation. If I remove the Digitech and Boss pedals the weird noises on the Memory Boy and Toy stop. Can't explain why this happened. I use a 1 Spot adaptor and 8 cable multiplug to power my pedals and I even tried a separate adaptor just for the Memory Boy and got the same results. Never had that problem with the MXR Carbon Copy, so it looks like I'll be sticking with the Carbon Copy.

I have the Memory Toy and with a battery, it made a weird noise. No noise with a power supply though!

[russpurdy]

Hey guys, glad to see people are getting into this pedal. Probably the best hundred dollar analog delay i've ever played. Just a heads up for anyone wanting to try out a memory boy with the expression pedal.....
I bought a Moog exp. pedal on eBay and gave it a try last night. Two things became very clear:

1. So far, I have only been able to use the expression pedal for crazy noises and weird sounds. This is good for me as I like crazy noise and weird sounds but if your more of a traditionalist type then I would borrow an exp. pedal to try before buying one. Probably won't be your cup of tea.

2. IF you are into odd noises and weird oscillations, try to find an expression pedal with a right angle plug. I really liked how small the memory boy was until I plugged this giant expression pedal straight plug into it and now it sits three inches away from the pedal to it's right. The top or left side would have been a much better place (however i'm sure it came down to mass production and budget).

Anyways, just thought i'd give everyone a heads up. Try an expression pedal if you like weird noises but it's not a traditional sound. Still a great pedal though!

[markxander]

Sweet. I just bought a Memory Man this week, but I'm thinking of picking up a Boy or a Toy to supplement it (probably the Toy) - anybody with both a Man and a Toy/Boy have any comparisons? Is the delay time longer?

[Ben Harmless]

The expression pedal for delay time is something that I've always wanted. Heck, I don't even use delay live, but I'd play with that setup for hours and hours in my bedroom.

EDIT: Wow. $80 at Musicians Friend. I may have to buy (yet) another delay that I don't use live...

[russpurdy]

Hey Ben,

I did some experimenting tonight and got the expression pedal working to control delay times without any modulation. I guess reading the manual really does work . With the expression pedal plugged in and the switch set to vibrato or chorus, the pedal controls the delay time and the modulation is set with the modulation knob. You just have to turn the modulation down and you'll have normal delay that can be controlled via pedal. If the switch is set to exp. pedal then the pedal controls the modulation time. Also very cool.

[doombie22]

just got one. not to impressed. sounds ok with my space echo, but the blend nob is a little touchy. too many artifacts if you go to far passed 9 oclock. to each his own. i would have liked longer delay time. but all in all not a bad pedal. it beats my analog man chorus pedal all to hell.

[Bad Chile]

Follow up on my Memory Boy puchase.

It arrived wildly miscallibrated. Self-oscillation at noon on the Feedback dial, no more than 100ms of delay at maximum, and certainly not anything resembling clear repeats as the modulation was always full on. Bummer, right? Not really, here is where the story gets interesting.

I called to get a shipping label to return it; and during the conversation I stated that I read on the EHX forums that some people were having problems with the early units getting miscallibrated, likely in shipping. Because of this I didn't want to exchange it, only return it and I'd wait a few months and purchase one once the bugs got through the system.

No big deal, right? Except the customer service representative told me to simply keep the Memory Boy and they'd refund the purchase price to my card since the pedal was defective. "Just throw it away" I was told.

So I held onto the pedal for a few days to make sure the charges got refunded, then sent an email to EHX - in which I explained the above, gave them a serial number and pointed out that since I got the miscallibrated pedal for free I was wondering how much it would cost to get it recallibrated, because it wasn't right to do this under "warranty work".

EHX disagreed and did it for warranty repair work cost.

So for $17.25 (warranty shipping to EHX and return) I got a Memory Boy.

I love it. Deep, dark and brooding, wonderfully musical delay, and a hoot to boot. Nice pedal. Best $17.25 analog delay pedal I ever got. Certainly beats out my $149.99 Carbon Copy delay at a tenth of the cost.

[jjkrause84]

Heck...where can I get one of these defective pedals!!!

[k tone]

My Boy replaces my CC on my board for now. I like the modulation adjustment on the front.

[k tone]

On another note I measured the mA draw on the Mem Boy and it it uses around 32 mA.

[FMA]

Kestral,
I've run into that noise issue with several pedals and a One Spot. Some pedals just don't play nice with it. You can resolve it by either running a separate power supply for the pedal introducing the noise or by getting a power supply with isolated outputs, such as a Voodoo Labs PedalPower or BBE SupaCharger. I use the BBE and it quieted everything down and makes setup and teardown much easier and quicker.