Retro-Sonic Analog Delay

The Retro-Sonic Analog Delay is a compact analog delay pedal built around bucket brigade device (BBD) chips, the same class of circuit used in the classic analog delays of the late 1970s and 1980s. Bucket brigade chips pass your signal along a chain of tiny capacitors step by step, and each step costs a little high end, which is why analog repeats tend to sound warmer, thicker and slightly darker than digital ones, blending into your playing more naturally¹. Retro-Sonic's version uses two 4096-stage BBDs, which is what allows it to reach a maximum delay time of about 800ms, longer than most compact analog delays manage².

The pedal is best understood as a modern take on the Boss DM-2, the first analog delay in Boss's compact lineup, whose BBD circuit produces lush delays that become more saturated with each repeat³. Pedal of the Day's reviewer put it directly: "the folks at Retro-Sonic have managed to create a pedal that has everything we love about the DM-2"².

An analog delay with long, warm repeats

Two things set this pedal apart from the average compact analog delay. The first is delay time. About 800ms is generous for a BBD design: many small analog delays offer around 300ms, and even some well-regarded modern analog pedals stop at 600ms. The second is noise. One of the trade-offs of bucket brigade chips is that long delay lines can get noisy, and Pedal of the Day singled the pedal out for "quiet operation, longer-than-normal analog delay times and lush, warm repeats"²⁵⁶.

The repeats themselves sit in the classic analog territory: warm and full rather than crisp and exact. As GuitarPlayer's buying guide puts it, analog delays "tend to sound warmer, thicker, and slightly darker, with repeats that blend into your playing more naturally"¹. Where a digital delay reproduces your playing faithfully, a BBD delay softens each repeat, which is a large part of the appeal for players chasing vintage echo sounds.

The controls

The control layout follows the vintage formula: four knobs and two switches, all doing familiar delay jobs⁴.

The switches are where the pedal earns its flexibility. The Normal/Effect switch is the bypass, taking the pedal in and out of your signal chain⁴. The Long/Short switch is a footswitch, so you can jump between delay ranges mid-song: Long mode for the full 800ms of space, Short mode for tighter, quicker repeats².

The Tone control deserves its own mention, because it is the knob that shapes the pedal's character. Pedal of the Day called it "what really makes this metallic box stand out from its peers." Turned back, the repeats go dark, ambient and classic-analog; turned up, they become clear and punchy, "a little more digital-sounding without harshness"². In effect it lets you dial the pedal between a vintage echo voice and a more modern, articulate one, which is not something every analog delay offers.

Where it came from

The pedal's lineage is the Boss DM-2, Boss's first compact analog delay, a pedal with a long-standing reputation among players. Boss's own history of the pedal notes its "retro BBD circuit produces lush delays that become more saturated with each repeat"³. The DM-2 was later developed into the DM-3, which kept the DM-2 circuit and added an extra filter and high-speed noise reduction, and which was the last analog delay Boss produced⁷.

Retro-Sonic's contribution was to take that circuit concept and push the delay time further, using two 4096-stage BBDs to reach about 800ms where the original designs were more limited². The result, in the reviewer's words, is a pedal that recreates the DM-2's tones while adding the longer delay times and quiet operation².

What reviewers said

Published coverage of the Retro-Sonic Analog Delay is limited, but the main review is enthusiastic. Pedal of the Day's 2017 review praised the pedal's quiet operation, its longer-than-normal delay times and its lush, warm repeats, and concluded that the Tone control's range was its standout feature².

That verdict points at the pedal's real strength: not just one good echo sound, but a wide spread of them, from dark ambient washes to clear, punchy repeats, all from a single knob. For a player who likes to set a delay differently for different parts, that range is the argument for this circuit over a simpler one-knob vintage clone².

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