The Fender Hammertone Space Delay is a delay pedal from the company's Hammertone series. Among delay pedals that offer many delay types, it is more narrowly aimed at tape-echo sounds. Reviewers have found it holds its own in company: "I think the fender stands up unbelievably well" against the others, with multiple heads and busy playing sound, according to one published reviewer1.
What it does
The pedal's controls are Time, Feedback and Level, plus a pair of dedicated toggle switches for Pattern and Mod5. Where other Hammertone delays use a type switch, the Space Delay instead has a pattern control that moves between a quarter-note delay and two pre-programmed rhythmic patterns, labeled pattern 1 and pattern 24. The Mod toggle adds modulation to the repeats, in the territory of tape warble and "tape-style fog"45.
The name and the intent point at a famous ancestor. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick described it as "obviously harking to the Space Echo type tones," referring to the Roland Space Echo tape machines6. On the same show, they noted it is a tape delay pedal "which also has a multi head option," at a much lower price point than the vintage-style units it sits beside1.
What reviewers said
Premier Guitar's review was positive on value and character: "The Space Delay is a great gateway to the world of tape-echo ambience at a exceptional price," with the reviewer crediting it as "a killer way to add warble, tape-style fog, and rhythmic drive overall"4.
That Pedal Show put it up against established tape-echo pedals, including the Roland RE-201 and the Strymon El Capistan, and Mick concluded: "I think the fender stands up unbelievably well" against the others when playing with multiple heads and busy material1.
Where it sits in Fender's delay range
The Space Delay is one of several delay pedals Fender has released in recent years, alongside the Fender Mirror Image Delay, the Fender Delay and the Reflecting Pool Delay and Reverb. Its distinguishing feature within that range is the tape-echo focus and the rhythmic pattern control43. For a broader look at what else is available, see the site's Delay Pedals page.
Videos
Fender
Brett Kingman
EytschPi42
Sources (6)
- Strymon El Capistan dTape V2 vs V1 vs Roland RE-201 & Fender Space Delay, That Pedal Show (YouTube), 2023-01-13
- Fender Hammertone Space Delay, Delicious Audio, 2023-04-18
- Fender Hammertone Effects Pedals Review, GuitarPlayer (www.guitarplayer.com), 2022-09-28
- Fender Hammertone Space Delay Guitar Pedal Review, Premier Guitar, 2022-09-27
- Fender Hammertone series effects: 9 new affordable stompboxes!, gearnews.com, 2022-01-26
- New Pedal Day Victory V1, EQD Special Cranker, Fender Space Delay, Empress Comp MkII, That Pedal Show (YouTube), 2022-11-01
