Digitech Obscura Altered Delay

Delays with lots of options, bells and whistles have always intrigued me, and many other players, I’m sure. I like these delays even better when they’re housed in a small enclosure, still offering the tones and sounds of some of the big boxes, but with a smaller pedalboard footprint. One I came across recently that met all of these criteria and more was the Obscura Altered Delay from Digitech.

This pedal looks wicked, right off the bat, but don’t be too frightened by it’s scary imagery or tons of controls to figure out, you’ll be just fine. The Obscura feature four different delay types, each bringing a different feel and sound to the pedal: Analog, Tape, Lo-Fi and Reverse. You’ve probably encountered delay modes like these before, though maybe not in the same, unique, compact pedal, the way they are represented here. Level blends your Wet and Dry signals together, allowing for much control over the delayed output sound.

The next TWO controls are actually FOUR, one outer and one inner dial to control the corresponding feature. Time increases your delay amount, Repeats controls the echoes of the delay, Tone darkens or brightens the delayed signal and Degrade works in conjunction with the 4 different delay modes to control a wide range of sounds and features (grit, “wow and flutter”, saturation, etc.), and can really make things interesting in a hurry.

The footswitch is not only used to bypass the Obscura’s signal, it can also become a Tap Tempo switch, great for on-the-fly musical adjustments, and you can use the Repeats knob to loop a sound infinitely, opening up even more possibilities. Add onto all this the fact that you can run your rig in Stereo using the Obscura, and it’s True Bypass wiring, and you’ve got one hell of a versatile delay. With all these features in one compact pedal, it’s easy to get great tones and unexpected pleasures out of this little tan box. Check out Digitech’s site for more gear as well, they’re lineup of gear is incredible!