Tapped Delays and Allan Holdsworth

[Doug B]

Does anyone know what brand of tapped delay Allan Holdsworth used?

Thanks

Doug

[neatomic]

maestro holdsworth used a bunch...always changing and striving for tone


he used digital rack delay units..which were popular in his day

he used ada stereo delays, lexicon and later tc...amongst others

he was always exploring

more important, to dial in the actual tap times, than the actual unit

tapped delays go back to hank marvin and the shadows...he used an italian meazzi tape echo

cheers

[Cunamara]

Towards the end of his career, Holdsworth used six Yamaha MagicStomps which were, I think, daisy chained together. IIRC he also used a TC Electronics distortion pedal.

Prior to that he used UD Stomps, with the parameters noted here:

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/downloa...dstomp_en2.pdf

[Doug B]

maestro holdsworth used a bunch...always changing and striving for tone
he used digital rack delay units..which were popular in his day he used ada stereo delays, lexicon and later tc...amongst others he was always exploring more important, to dial in the actual tap times, than the actual unit tapped delays go back to hank marvin and the shadows...he used an italian meazzi tape echo
cheers

It was ADA delays with six taps that I was thinking of. I remember that now from a guitar mag way back in the 80s-90s.

And-those delays are still available from Universal Audio today as a software plugin:

A/DA STD-1 Stereo Tapped Delay | UAD Audio Plugins | Universal Audio

"A Hit with Guitarists Although it works wonders on all types of signals, in the rack-obsessed late ’80s/early ’90s, guitarists revered the A/DA STD-1’s versatile, ultra-analog delay/modulation tones. Jimmie Vaughan’s used it for faux-Leslie warble, while Allan Holdsworth obsessively tweaked two A/DA STD-1’s for complex modulation that went way beyond traditional chorus. Other STD-1 aficionados included Kirk Hammett, Scott Henderson, Steve Khan, and Bill Connors. "

[icr]

I'm more familiar with AH's early work with UK or Bruford. Do you have a good example of the multi-tap delay on record?

[christianm77]

I always meant to ask - what is a tap delay?

I mean is it just the thing where you press the switch on the pedal with your foot a few times and it sets the delay to that tempo?

[Doug B]

I always meant to ask - what is a tap delay?

Hi Christianm77-this explains it far better than I could:

https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/d...ped-delay.html

Actually, the correct name should be "multi-tap delay"

And finally several references on the internet:

multitap delay guitar at DuckDuckGo

Hope that helps.

Doug

[neatomic]

ada made some great digital delays in their day....great company...i still have a vintage ada delay rack...still holds up


tapped delay is based on the old multi-head tape echo machines...instead of a single head for delay, they'd have a few heads in the tape path...so that various combinations and permutations could be had...creating all sorts of rhythmic effects

as i writ above hank marvin was one of first to use...the shadows tune-apache- is a prime example

early pink floyd also used binson multi head echo machines to great effect


cheers

ps- mutitap delay was the edge/u2 sound...

[neatomic]

ps- a current fave multitap echo in small pedal format...

catalinbread echorec...a pedal tweakers delight



cheers

[Doug B]

Yes, I just saw that Echorec on Youtube today.

[GuyBoden]

Towards the end of his career, Holdsworth used six Yamaha MagicStomps which were, I think, daisy chained together. IIRC he also used a TC Electronics distortion pedal.

Prior to that he used UD Stomps, with the parameters noted here:

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/downloa...dstomp_en2.pdf

Yes, I believe he programmed the Yamaha UDStomp and MagicStomp, so the following parameters could be used to create his sound:

Setting from UDStomp User Manual below.

[gitman]

Yes, I believe he programmed the Yamaha UDStomp and MagicStomp, so the following parameters could be used to create his sound:

Setting from UDStomp User Manual below.

THIS ! Is the correct stuff that he used in the 2000's - these Yamaha units are scarce and highly sought after but I think that today one could approximate this setup with multiple <MODULATED> tap-delays in a modeler unit like the HELIX, the Quad Cortex and AXE FX . For the overdrive in his tone he used all sorts of pedals and often rack-mounted solid state amps from PEARCE and others.

[Cunamara]

Yep, he used 6 MagicStomps instead of the UDStomp for last decade or so of his career- 3 for clean sounds and 3 for drive sounds, plus a TC Electronics boost pedal and 2 volume pedals (controlling separate amps for clean and lead).

[Vihar]

It's a lot of fun to fine tune multiple individual delays, though in the end it does sound like a reverb with an audible pre-delay setting.

[GuyBoden]

It's a lot of fun to fine tune multiple individual delays, though in the end it does sound like a reverb with an audible pre-delay setting.

Yes, I've set up 50 taps in DAW, the excessive taps makes it sound like reverb, multi-tap delays are easier to setup with modern software. Yes, good fun and you can create your own unique sound too.

There have been plenty of Fractal Audio AxeFX Allan Holdsworth parameter settings:
Allan Holdsworth Omnipatch | Page 2 | Fractal Audio Systems Forum