Many times on a pedalboard, simplicity can be your closest friend. Take, for example, the Mockingbird 3-knob Delay pedal from Backwoods Music. One of the newest additions to their sonic lineup, the Mockingbird will give you a wide range of delay tones, lengths and sounds in a neat-and-tidy, compact, pedalboard-friendly package, without sacrificing any tone, clarity or build quality whatsoever.
Mix, Feedback and Delay make up the basic layout of the Mockingbird, which are no real new controls for any simple reverb out there. There is a little bit of fun in this pedal that’s kind of hidden, though, and isn’t seen all that often in pedals this minimal. When you hit the soft switch (you gotta love that right off the bat) to turn the effects off, the trails continue, BUT you can also still adjust them using the Feedback control. I had a great deal of fun and adventure playing with this option, as you can turn the pedal off, mess around with the Feedback knob as the trails fade into nothingness, then immediately start your next tune, with no worries about whether or not the delay is still active. The bypass is buffered as well, to avoid any signal loss caused by a plethora of effects in your chain, and the delay maxes out around 600ms, which should be more than enough for most of your delay needs.
I also really liked the sounds this little pedal is capable of producing. When you’ve got the Delay knob all the way down, there’s still some echo present, which is another cool feature. The tones at this setting, with a minimal amount of Feedback, too, are really unique and fun to jam with (check the beginning of the video to see what I’m talking about). At multiple settings, the Mockingbird also gives off the illusion of some modulated echoes, which I never have any problem accepting into my sound. At higher Delay levels, the delayed signals seem to lose a bit of power, but in a good way, allowing them to smoothly taper off and fade out, preserving your guitar’s tone and not stepping on any musical toes along the way.
For having only been around since 2013, the guys at Backwoods Music have certainly been working hard to produce an already-expansive line of pedals for you to choose from. There are already as many as 3 version of a couple of their signature pedals, as well as new-to-the-lineup pieces like this Mockingbird Delay (and the Nightcap Reverb, stay tuned for our review up that coming soon!). Thanks so much to all the folks at Backwoods Music for letting us test out this pedal – make sure you head over to their website after you watch the video below, and pick up a couple of rad pedals in the process!
Specs:
The sweet warm voice of this digital delay can echo back even when bypassed with Soft Touch Tails
3 Controls: Mix, Feedback, & Delay
Mix: Controls the volume of the repeats
Feedback: Controls the amount of repeats ranging from a single repeat to the edge of self oscillation
Delay: Controls delay time up to approximately 600ms
Minimal pedalboard foot print: 4.39” L x 2.34” W
Soft Touch Tails Bypass: The repeats continue to echo until they taper off in relation to the Feedback control. Bypass mode is buffered to prevent signal loss.
Power: 9V DC Negative Center
Designed and Hand Crafted in the USA
Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard
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