Boss DD-20

The Boss DD-20 Giga Delay is a digital delay pedal in Boss's larger Twin Pedal format, released in 2003. It offers up to 23 seconds of delay time, four user presets, tap tempo, and a sound-on-sound looping feature, all controlled from two onboard footswitches¹²³. At the time of its release it was a flagship product for Boss, and Premier Guitar notes that it continues to appear on stages everywhere even after the DD-500 arrived⁴.

The DD-20 followed a trend kickstarted by Line 6's DL4: twin-footswitched delay pedals with presets and multiple delay models in one box⁵. Its Mode control lets you select from a range of delay settings, and Pedal of the Day described it as "a delay marvel, exploiting the digital and analog aspects of delay throughout, and adding in some fun tricks along the way"⁶.

What it does and how it is controlled

The DD-20's two onboard pedal switches provide easy access to tap tempo, memory selection, and other delay operations, and an external footswitch input allows additional control³. The Mode knob selects from a multitude of delay settings, and the pedal stores four user-defined presets you can recall from the footswitches²⁶. A handy LED display shows your settings, alongside memories for storing four delay settings³.

The pedal includes a sound-on-sound looper among its advanced features⁷. The DIY Fever reviewer found 23 seconds enough for delay use but wanted more time for the sound-on-sound feature².

One thing to know about the footswitches: they are Boss pad-style switches, and JHS Pedals points out you have to hit the bottom 20% area of the pad, which can be awkward to stomp. JHS offers a Soft Touch Mod that installs standard high-quality soft-touch footswitches on both pads to fix this⁸.

Power and connections

The DD-20 runs on six AA 1.5V batteries, but the DIY Fever reviewer reports it goes through batteries very fast². With a 200mA current draw¹, a power supply is the practical choice for regular use.

Connections are stereo: stereo input and output, plus a headphone output². There is no MIDI implementation, no USB connectivity, and no expression pedal input⁴, so players who need external control are limited to the external footswitch input.

Where the DD-20 sits among Boss delays

Released in 2003 as a flagship product⁴, the DD-20 was Boss's answer to the preset-and-models format the Line 6 DL4 popularized in the early 2000s⁵. It sat above compact Boss delays like the DD-3 and DD-7 in features, packing 23 seconds of delay, presets and a looper into a Twin Pedal enclosure¹²⁷.

When the DD-500 arrived as Boss's new flagship delay, the DD-20 was not simply retired: Premier Guitar notes that "the DD-20 continues to appear on stages everywhere"⁴. Drew Goddard of Karnivool is one player who keeps it in his rig, telling BOSS: "You look at something like the DD-20 and it's still got a place in my rig. It's still sitting there on stage after all these years"⁹.

What reviewers said

The DIY Fever reviewer found the DD-20 very well built inside a metal enclosure, with 23 seconds of delay plenty for the job². A commenter on that review, who had owned one for at least two years, found it decently transparent in his rig, with a volume cut².

One criticism from the DIY Fever review concerns modulation: on the DD-20, modulation is a delay mode rather than an effect you can add to any mode. Comparing it with the TC Nova Repeater, where modulation can be mixed with any delay type including tape delay, the reviewer called that "much better configuration in my opinion because you can mix modulation with tape delay"⁷.

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