Boss DD-5 Digital Delay

The Boss DD-5 Digital Delay is a digital delay pedal released by Boss in 1995¹. It offered up to two seconds of delay time and 11 different delay modes, which Boss describes as making it "the most advanced pedal" the company had built at that point². It has since been discontinued¹, but it stayed on players' boards for decades and remains a common sight on the used market, often in modified form.

The DD-5's place in history is partly down to who used it. Ed O'Brien of Radiohead used the DD-5 almost exclusively for the guitar effects on The Bends and OK Computer¹, and Boss calls it a discontinued classic in his telling¹.

What it does

The DD-5 is a digital delay, meaning the repeats are generated digitally rather than by an analog bucket-brigade circuit like the Boss DM-2. In stock form, Pedal of the Day's Mike B describes it as "a stock, bright and sharp digital delay"⁴, the clean, precise repeat character players associate with Boss's DD line.

Its delay times run from 1ms to 2000ms, two full seconds, across its delay modes³. The mode selection covers the range of delay types Boss offered at the time, plus two unusual ones:

• Reverse: reversed delay, a first for a Boss pedal²
• Hold (Mode 5): a looper-style feature that works as a simple two-second looper²³
• E/D: outputs the dry signal from one channel and the wet signal from the other³

The stereo outputs allowed for panning delay or separate direct/effect splits, depending on the mode².

Reverse mode in detail

Reverse mode gives up to 2 seconds of delay that takes discrete chunks of sound and plays them backwards. One catch worth knowing: you also hear what you are playing forwards along with the reversed chunks⁵. Mike B found "the ability to do Reverse is fun, for sure"³.

The controls and external tap tempo

The DD-5's controls include a mode dial and a tap tempo note selection dial. That last dial offers 4 different tap tempo selections, quarter, dotted eighth, eighth and quarter note triplet, for use with an external tap tempo switch⁴. Tempo-sync delays were available, with the ability to tap in the time via an external footswitch².

Because the stock pedal depends on an external switch, some mod shops have addressed it directly. Loophole Pedals offers a Tap Mod that adds an onboard tap tempo footswitch, giving more intuitive control over tap tempo without needing an external remote⁷.

Modifications and the JHS Analog Tone Mod

The DD-5 is a popular platform for aftermarket mods, and several shops still work on them.

The JHS Analog Tone Mod is one of these conversions. Flip the installed toggle switch and, in Mike B's words, "your delay is transformed from a stock, bright and sharp digital delay" into something with analog flavoring⁴. Reviewing a Loophole-modded unit, Pedal of the Day found "the Analog modes sound great, adding a darker element to the repeats"⁷.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day reviewed the stock pedal in 2016, having previously covered a JHS-modded version³. The verdict:

Pedal of the Day's reviewer called the DD-5 an instant classic that has remained on many boards since its release, describing it as a pretty straightforward delay with a couple of cool options and a ton of useable sounds³.

Where it sits in the Boss delay line

The DD-5 followed earlier Boss digital delays such as the DD-2 and DD-3, and was itself followed by the DD-6 and later models like the DD-7 and DD-8. Its delay times range from 1ms to 2000ms (2 full seconds), and its modes include the E/D setting, which outputs the dry signal from one channel and the wet signal from the other³. An external tap tempo switch can be used with four tap tempo selections: quarter, dotted eighth, eighth and quarter note triplet⁴.

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