Analog Delay. There’s something special about it, you’re never quite sure what it is, but it makes you feel warm and comforted right down to your core. While there are a lot of digital delays still in production, analog has made a bit of a resurgence in the last decade or so, with new and better options arriving on the market year after year. One of those happens to be the AD4096 from Endangered Audio Research.

Where to begin: let’s start with the four basic, giant red control knobs, shall we? Time adjusts the overall delay time, which goes from 40ms to 400ms. While that may not seem like too much delay time, once you hear how this things sounds and what it can do, you’ll realize that you don’t need any more delay time than that. Depth is essentially a feedback controls, controlling the number of delay echo repeats, from one to an infinite self-oscillation that sounds wicked bonkers. Delay is a wet/dry signal blend, and adjusts how much of the affected signal is present in your chain, and Echo is a beast all on its own. The Echo knob adds sort of a second delay layer, just enough to thicken up the delay sound as much or as little as needed for your sound. Using this alongside the other 3 knobs will yield some exciting and unpredictable results, which is kind of a staple of analog delay anyway, right?

There are a couple more features on the AD4096 as well. A small mode switch near the top selects between Normal and Infinity modes, the latter of which throws this pedal into an awesome tape delay-inspired loop, adding another sonic layer onto the delay and opening up a ton of further experimental possibilities. Another, even smaller toggle switch located on the top that’s a Wet/Dry selector, which works with the Aux output can throw you into an entirely new realm of sonic possibilities. From this output, you can get a Wet only delayed signal, or switch to Dry, which allows only the unaffected signal to pass through this output, giving you more control over how this pedal works for you.

There’s also a second momentary footswitch on the pedal called Expand, which lets you shift into oscillating mode on-the-fly, great for further noodling in the lab or on stage. The delayed signals coming from the AD4096 are everything you’d expect from an great analog pedal: warm, dark and brooding but beautiful, not to mention the quality of its build and use of great internal components. A bit on the pricey side, yes, but once you hear it, you’ll understand why. This is one of only 2 pedals currently in production for Endangered Audio Research, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Specs:
True Bypass
All Analog Circuitry
40-400ms Delay Time
Normal/Infinity Modes
Aux Output
Expand Footswitch
Standard -9VDC Operation

Submitted by Mike B, Website

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