The brand new DOD DRAG Analog Delay is launching in mid-to-late August. This can be a bucket brigade delay that DOD has loaded with much more character — and much more tips — than your common slapback-and-ambience field, and after spending time with it on digicam, it is simple to see why this one goes to show heads.

First issues first: it is a gorgeous-looking pedal. DOD’s art work has all the time had a little bit of angle to it, and the DRAG carries that off in fashion — it is the type of stompbox that appears good on a board even earlier than you’ve got switched it on. There is a good tactile contact, too, within the rubberised tread throughout the again panel, which seems like a small element however makes an actual distinction whenever you’re utilizing the reversible StagePlate to mount it flat on a board or set it up for ground use. It is a considerate little bit of design that tells you DOD had been excited about how gamers truly use these items, not simply how they sound.

And sound is absolutely the place the DRAG earns its hold. That is an analog Bucket Brigade Machine delay, and it has all the heat, pure roll-off and delicate compression that BBD circuits are liked for. Delay repeats listed here are wealthy and musical, with not one of the scientific edge you generally get from digital models attempting to emulate the identical factor. Dial it again for a good slapback and it is punchy and vintage-flavoured; open up the Repeats management and you may push the circuit right into a controllable, swirling self-oscillation that is genuinely lovely — the type of texture you may construct complete ambient passages round. Swap on Rubberneck mode and the utmost delay time stretches out to a cavernous 1.5 seconds, which takes you from traditional echo territory into large, cinematic soundscapes with out the tone dropping any of its character.

The place the DRAG will get actually attention-grabbing — and, if we’re sincere, actually so much to absorb on a primary go — is in its footswitch efficiency tips. On high of the core Delay Time, Repeats, Stage and Drift controls, DOD has in-built a patent-pending Friction time-warping operate together with a complete suite of footswitch-driven results: SlideStop for sign freeze, Rubberneck pitch bending, HopStop, and Slide-n-Go Evade. Every of those is triggered by holding or tapping the footswitch in several methods, and there is a real studying curve right here. It took a short time throughout filming to get a correct really feel for precisely how lengthy a maintain produces which impact, and there is clearly lots of depth for gamers keen to spend actual time attending to know the pedal. As soon as it clicks, although, this stops being only a delay pedal and begins feeling like a dwell efficiency device — the type of factor you possibly can use to freeze a word mid-solo, stutter a rhythm half, or bend a swelling repeat into one thing nearly vocal, all with out taking your arms off the guitar.

The Drift modulation part deserves its personal point out too. 4 selectable waveforms — sine, reverse noticed, sq. and random — sit behind the Drift management, and so they allow you to push the character of your repeats from a mild, tape-like wobble proper by way of to uneven, glitchy, nearly broken-sounding modulation. It is a good means so as to add motion and unpredictability to your delay traces, notably in case you’re the type of participant who likes their results to really feel a bit alive reasonably than static.

One sincere caveat from this overview: we did not have entry to DOD’s exterior FS3X footswitch for testing, so we weren’t in a position to exhibit the faucet tempo and prolonged remote-control performance that pedal unlocks. Given how a lot is already accessible from the DRAG’s personal footswitch, it is cheap to anticipate that the FS3X solely deepens the efficiency prospects additional, and it is one thing nicely value exploring as soon as models are out within the wild.

Taken as a complete, the DOD DRAG seems like two pedals in a single. Dial it in merely and it is a top-tier analog delay with beautiful BBD heat. However spend the time to dig into the Friction warping, the footswitch modes and the Drift waveforms, and it turns into one thing significantly weirder and extra artistic, constructed for gamers who need their delay pedal to be an lively a part of their efficiency reasonably than one thing that simply sits there repeating notes. It is so much to absorb at first, however that is the trade-off for a pedal with this a lot depth — and given DOD’s pedigree, the standard on provide right here is strictly what you’d anticipate.

The DOD DRAG Analog Delay launches mid-to-late August.

For extra info, go to DOD/Digitech’s web site