4 Great Delay Settings For Solos

Have you ever noticed that some guitarist tend to sound really good when they’re soloing? Then, you start listening to what was going on. It didn’t seem complicated but somehow the solo sounded really big and spacious. After a few moments of head-scratching, you get it: it was the delay effect!

That’s why, on this brief post, we’re going to go through 4 simple settings that you can use for soloing. So you have a better idea, these settings are:

Slapback.
Gilmour Style Delay.
The ’80s Style Guitar Solo.
All-Around Solo Delay.

Enough with the introduction, let’s go.

A Quick Side Note: Why Would You Like To Use Delay For Soloing?

As briefly mentioned in the intro, using a delay effect can uplift your guitar solo parts. It will add more depth and the repetitions will fill the empty spaces. This is really good when for instance, your solos are more melodic and precise.

Delay is also an effect that you can easily combine with some others. The end results are usually very good, and again, with the right effects combo, it will make your lead tones soar.

Setting #1: Slapback

Slapback is probably one of the most common delay settings. It is used a lot in country music and it’s a good place to start. Also, it’s a pretty common occurring effect in your everyday life; is the classic echo sound you get when you enter an empty room. As soon as you start talking, you hear a quick echo coming through.

As you can already imagine, the idea here is to have a short delay (with usually just one repeat). By doing this, the effect will bounce at you almost instantly, and you will get these “doubling” echoes.

In order to get this set-up, you have to dial your delay time around 120-150 milliseconds. Also, set your mix level between 60 and 80% (you want the mix to be noticeable, in order to perceive the doubling echo). Finally, adjust your feedback/repeat knob so you just hear one repeat (around 20% of the knob). Use this image as a quick guide:

Slapbakc settings — **Image 1:** Use this picture as a reference for Slapback settings. NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 550 milliseconds unit.

Setting #2: Gilmour Style Delay

On a recent post, I’ve shared a little bit about David Gilmour and his extensive usage of fuzz and flanger to create his guitar parts. That being said, a delay unit is an important part of his arsenal. I will even go to the extent and say it is essential for some of his most memorable works.

The idea behind this setting is simple: you dial your delay effect, in order for it to not get into what you are playing, but instead, it helps your solos to have more body and depth. There are exceptions to this on his delay tones, but let’s tackle those later.

Classic Gilmour Delay Tones

In order to learn that, let’s consider the intro for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. If you pay attention, you’ll definitely hear there’s something there; just a little bit of delay to help every note to have more presence. This is especially obvious on this version of the song. In essence, you need to have a delay time around 370 milliseconds, the feedback on 4-6 repeats and the mix level in 20%. I think the trick here is to find the perfect mix level, so you can still notice the repeats, but they’re not the main thing.

David Gilmour's Delay Setting 1 — **Image 2:** Use this picture as a reference for this setting.
NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 550 milliseconds unit.

“Comfortably Numb” is also a great piece to consider for this style of delay configuration. The solo section (especially the second one) is legendary. The delay set-up is as follows: the time should be around 480 milliseconds, the feedback with no more than 5 repeats and the mix level around 20%. Again, the secret here is to find the perfect mix level. Experiment with that and you’ll get there.

David Gimour's Delay Setting 2 — **Image 3:** Use this picture as a reference for this setting.
NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 550 milliseconds unit.

A Short Observation About Gilmour’s Delay

People who studied Gilmour’s tone extensively have noticed this: his delay setups tends to sound a lot like reverb.

I thought I had to mention this because I also feel that adding reverb to the mix could help achieving the ethereal sound in some of his works. I’m not a grand connaisseur, but I think he didn’t rely much on reverb and as mentioned before, he achieved a great tone by masterfully using delay units. I’d love for someone to confirm/deny this on the comments section; it will be much appreciated.

I will post some links on the Resources section so you can further read about this topic.

Rythmical Gilmour Delay Tones

Gilmour was also very good adding rhyhm to his parts with delay. As a bonus example, these are the delay settings for “Another Brick In The Wall” (part 1).

On this song, the delay time is set to approximately 440/450 milliseconds. After that is being taken care of, it’s time to adjust the feedback level or the repetitions. People who studied Gilmour extensively arrived at the same conclusion: around 6 to 8 repetitions. Last but not least, the mix level. Here’s where everything shines together. The trick is not to have a high mix; between 30 and 50% will suffice, but I think that depends on your particular delay pedal.

The delay sound for this song is a great example of the rhythmical ideas Gilmour used in some of his works. Up until today day, it is one of the most sought after guitar tone tutorials on the web. Another great one for you to keep learning is “Run Like Hell” (I don’t like the song very much, but the delay in it is really good). Again, in the same way as “Another Brick In The Wall”, this song shines because of its rhythmical approach concerning the delay parts.

With all that being said, let’s move on to the next section.

Setting #3: The ’80s Style Guitar Solo

Glam Rock had its time, but something that will always remain is those big, pompous guitar solos. As expected, this configuration aims to recreate these over the top sounds.

There are two main options here: you can combine two delay units or you can go in stereo with a delay pedal that offers this possibility.

Going stereo is a great first try because it will instantly make your guitar sound bigger. It is a great alternative to experiment with if you have a pedal that offers this feature.

But I think the main dish is trying to combine two delay units. As I shared on a previous post, this has some advantages and can foster your creativity in new ways. That being said, the easiest approach is to have a unit with a shorter delay time than the other.

For instance, one delay (the shorter one) will have the time between 40 or 70 milliseconds. The mix level will be around 45% and the feedback level will add three repeats top. Now, you should add the other unit with a time of around 350 milliseconds (could be less or more, depending on the song, just experiment with it), a similar mix level and the same amount of repeats.

'80s Delay Settings — **Image 4:** Use this picture as a reference for this setting.
NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 550 milliseconds unit.

If done “correctly”, you will hear a “galloping” effect. To corroborate this, hit your strings while being muted so you end up with a percusive sound.

My best advice is to experiment with it so you will also come up with something that reflects your way of playing. By doing this, I suspect that you will find an all-round delay setting that you can pretty much use in most situations. Speaking of that, this thought leads to the next section.

Setting #4: All-Around Solo Delay

On a previous post, I shared some delay set-ups that were good options if you wanted your unit always on. I think you can pretty much use one of those settings and after some tweaks, find something that’s suitable for solo playing.

The idea behind those set-ups was simple: a delay tone that’s noticeable but that doesn’t get that much into the mix. It may sound repetitive, but I think it’s a similar approach to what Gilmour used.

Nonetheless, I would like to offer an idea about how you can achieve this.

Using Analog Delay

First, I would recommend you to use an analog delay. If you only have a digital unit, that’s ok, don’t worry, you can still use this settings. I just like an analog delay because the repeats tend to fade away more naturally, but that’s just me.

What you need to do is to set your delay time around 200/250 milliseconds. Your mix should be around 30%. Finally, you shouldn’t allow the pedal to produce more than 3 or repeats. Again, finding a good mix is crucial here, but you can use those parameters as starting points and go from there.

Around Delay Setting Analog — **Image 5:** Use this picture as a reference for this setting.
NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 550 milliseconds unit.

Using A Digital Delay

What if you have a digital delay? As mentioned before, you can still use this setting, but there’s also someting else you can try :).

Digital delay units offer you more delay time, and that my friend is essential for the next set-up.

Taking Advantage Of Longer Delay Times

This configuration is awesome to get a huge sound. And if you’re going stereo, it’s going to sound even better. What you have to do is to set your delay time around 800/850 milliseconds. Then, you proceed to adjust the mix and feedback levels so they make everything muddy. This can vary from pedal to pedal, but I think you can leave your mix level around 40/45%. Concerning your repeats, try to go for 4 or 5. If it starts to sound muddy, first adjust the mix level and keep fine-tuning everything from there.

All Around Solo Delay Setting Digital — Image 6: Use this picture as a reference for this setting. NOTE: Delay times are shown in reference to a 800 milliseconds unit.

Some Final Thoughts

I’m not a great solo player and often times my lead lines are pretty… boring. That being said, I always keep my delay on. For some reason, it helps to be a little more creative, and also, makes me aware of the overall sound being played so I don’t over do it

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and the info in it. I would really like to know if you were already aware of these tricks. Also, if you have some ideas or preferred delay configurations, share them in the comments section.

One more thing, I put a lot of links in the resources section concerning most the delay configurations shown here. If you would like to further check some specs, I will definetely recommend you browsing those contents.

Until the nex time,

M.M