Electro-Harmonix Memory Man

The Memory Man is Electro-Harmonix's analog delay pedal, and the one that started the whole category: when it came out in 1976 it was the first delay effect in a pedal format¹. Instead of tape, it passes your guitar signal through bucket-brigade chips, which move the signal along a chain of capacitors in small steps to create the echo. By the mid-1970s, bucket-brigade chips had become the answer for tape-like analog delay in a compact format², and the Memory Man was the pedal that brought that sound to players.

The original model was a pure echo effect with three controls and a maximum delay time of 300 ms¹. Its Blend, Feedback and Delay controls became, in MusicRadar's words, "the de-facto standard" for how delay pedals are labeled to this day³. The line grew into a family of pedals, including streamlined versions that replaced the word "Man" with "Boy" or "Toy"⁴.

What the Memory Man does: bucket-brigade analog delay

Analog delay pedals appeared using bucket-brigade chips instead of tape, and the Deluxe Memory Man is one of the classics of that approach⁸. Guitar Player describes the Memory Man's bucket-brigade sound as having "secured its place in tone history"⁵. In a bucket-brigade device, the signal is sampled and handed down a line of transistor-capacitor stages, which is what gives analog delay its darker, degraded repeats compared to a digital copy.

The 300 ms ceiling of the original was short by modern standards, but it was pushing the bucket-brigade chips inside the unit to their limit at the time³. Later versions stretched that: the 550-TT versions reach 550 ms⁹¹⁰, and the 1100-TT reaches 1100 ms, which its maker called the most powerful analog delay ever designed¹¹¹⁰¹².

The controls: Blend, Feedback and Delay

The three controls of the original Memory Man set the pattern that delay pedals still follow³. On the current Deluxe Memory Man, Electro-Harmonix describes them this way¹³:

The Level and Chorus/Vibrato knobs are the additions that make a Deluxe Memory Man a Deluxe rather than a plain Memory Man. The tap-tempo versions add expression control over Blend, Rate, Depth, Feedback and Delay through an expression pedal input¹⁴.

History and versions

The Memory Man dates back to 1976¹⁴. The Deluxe Memory Man followed in 1978¹⁵, designed by electronics engineer Howard Davis after he joined the New York City-based Electro-Harmonix; he described it as "the first commercial product I worked on"¹⁶. The 1980 Deluxe version is remembered for its rather cumbersome size¹⁷.

A 2009 revision put the circuit in a new die-cast chassis, and for a time both it and the classic original were available, with the maker promising "the exact same sound!"¹⁵. Later tap-tempo versions added tap tempo, expression control and an effects loop to the Memory Man formula¹⁰.

The versions side by side:

The Nano, released in 2021, is a compact version of the classic Deluxe Memory Man with bucket-brigade delay and modulation²², taking its inspiration from the original 1980 Deluxe version¹⁷. It carries blend, feedback, delay, level, rate and depth controls²³, but has no tap tempo facility²⁴. It lists at $213.30 from the maker²², against $250.90 for the full-size Deluxe Memory Man¹³.

What reviewers said

Reviewers have consistently placed the Memory Man family at the top of the analog delay category. Delicious Audio calls the Deluxe Memory Man "acknowledged as among the best if not THE best analog delay pedal"²⁵. Pedal of the Day writes that in all its forms and models, it "has always been regarded as one of the, if not the very, best delay ever produced"²⁶. Premier Guitar, reviewing a later EHX pedal, called the Memory Man "superb"²⁷.

Of the Nano, Guitar World's reviewer found it "great value"²⁴, and Pedal of the Day said of the Deluxe Memory Man Echo Chorus Vibrato that "the sounds are incredible"²⁸.

Who uses it

The Memory Man family has a long player roster:

• The Edge, who famously used the Deluxe Memory Man on U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday"²¹
• Robert Smith and Ed O'Brien, named by Guitar World as users of the 1980 Deluxe version¹⁷
• Chris Cornell, named by MusicRadar alongside Robert Smith and the Edge²¹
• Eric Johnson, cited in a 2006 review alongside the Edge as an artist who used the unit to great effect on many songs²⁹
• Dean Ween, who said in a Stompbox Book interview: "I had the Memory Man, the PolyChorus, the PolyPhase, and we used them all the time"³⁰

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions