MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Reviews

Beautiful Delay

This is a great anolog pedal. It does one thing and does it right. The controls are intuitive and it is a well constructed pedal.

Carbon copy

If you are not sure what delay to choose out of the huge offerings you will be happy with this unit. Can’t go wrong!

An amazing Analog Delay

My personal opinion is based after using carbon copy for a while. It sounds great, i like its darkness with or without the mod on. I feel Its analog bucket brigade technology creates a warm and rich delay fading.

I think it is an amazing BBD analog delay for this kind of iso-size pedal.

My favourite delay - imperfectly perfect

This is the second time I bought this pedal, having sold it once. I won't sell it again. I thought I could get by with a Boss DD7 which has a classic analogue setting, but this MXR simply does it better.

It's hard to tell exactly why (maybe the modulation, maybe the slightly less "perfect" (i.e. more natural, less "digital" delay) but it is imperfectly perfect.

And of course being MXR it's extremely good quality with delightfully smooth controls and a silent (in the chain) switch. Highly recommended.

Best Delay for me!

I did not expect it, but this quickly became my most favorite pedal on my pedal board! Not just delay, but as an extra it’s equipped with a modulation switch too.

I highly recommend it.

Not Only Delay

I have tested it on:

Marshall DSL40

Vintage Prestige 100

Kramer Nite V

Delay works regulary with much options of repeating and delay time. There is also small but useful modulator. With different position of 3 knobs you can make difference with your sound.

I love this device

I bought this pedal about a year ago. I don't have much to say except that I like it very much. There is a quality to the sound that I enjoy. It sounds very tactile to me. I totally forget that it is an electronic device. I mainly use this pedal either as a kind of analogue reverb for my tube amp, or as a medium length delay when playing unaccompanied guitar arrangements.

The mod button is also nicely done. I use it to just give my sound a little twist. Sometimes I like to mess around with the delay at maximum to create minimalist type textures. This works well too.

Most of my pedals come on and off my board depending on my mood but this one almost never comes off. I would recommend it.

Isn't this the one every one wants?

To be honest, I have never really fooled around much with delay.

The only comparison I have is a Alesis rack mounted guitar effect processor. But I spent two month researching the net about delay, and if you as me play Country and Blues a lot, this is the go to delay pedal. I have tried it for a couple off weeks and am more than satisfied. It is almost so good that I bring it and let it rest on my night stand while i am sleeping.

This pedal is bringing a whole new dimension to my music, and I love it. I wanted a analog delay, and this have never let me down.

Beautiful analog sound

This is a soft, warm-sounding delay pedal.

From doubling-effect, to slapback, to psychedelic feeds, this thing delivers.

Very good for leads, as the decay is very natural.

Not as feature-packed as its bigger brother, but a great pedal none the less!

I bought this product mainly for playing leads and for that it works perfect. It makes the sound more full, it pops out the mix, so it does perfectly what I wanted.

An analog delay has a natural decay, so it is soft, perfect for leads. If you want a real delay the repeats the signal multiple times over a longer time, then you need a digital delay.

It also easy to tune. Set the number of repeats, the length of the repeat a how much it should be blend in. I have put them all around 10-12 o'clock and just does the trick with overwhelming it. For slow leads you can give it more, but for faster stuff, don't overdo it.

Love the sound, hate that there isn't a tap tempo feature

I'd have nothing bad to say about this pedal if it had a tap tempo feature that is only available on its big brother.

Simple delay, with a lot of personality (dark sounding, get slightly distorted as the repetitions continue) I'll definitely use it in some way, but i'll need something more polyvalent at some point.

The repeats sound warm and musical, I perceive them more like an ambience rather than distinct repeats. I have not tried it in a band context so I can't comment on it cutting through the mix.

Nice warm (and mushed) sound, but has problems in FX loop

I bought the Carbon Copy for the warm analogue sound and was using it in front of the amp. That worked and sounded fine. Recently I switched to Marshall for my amp and I now use the 410h for my distortion. Having the CC before the amps distortion does not work, the echoes get muffled and distorted. So the solution is to put the CC in the (parallel) FX loop, so the distortion comes before the delay.

That will create a lot of issues depending on the amp and other effects you are using. The CC does not have a Kill Dry switch what you would like to use in this situation. The Mix knob will help somewhat to make it work. Putting the CC between two buffered pedals helped as well in keeping the CC as my favourite analogue delay. Search for it online and you will find many many hits of people having this issue. It could work for you too, but all depends on your other pedals and amp.

A good tip, use 12V it will give you some more headroom and the repaeats are a bit clearer.

Probably the best analog delay

So far I had the chance to use only digital delay. I decided to move to the analog, and I saw the Carbon Copy al most in the 70% of pedalboard, so after several YouTube tutorials, I bought it. Great choice! It is a bucket-brigade device, so the sound is a bit darker, but extremely warm and authentic. I use it at the end of the chain, after a RAT and a Blue-Hippo chorus (after the delay I have the looper), and it is always on. It allows me to have a "fatter" sound, both clean and dirty.

It works perfectly also for more "Gilmoursih" things. And if you like Radiohead, you can do the same strange sounds Jonny Greenwood does, playing a bit with the feedback.

Now, for more complex delays, maybe you need something different (I mean, here you have just 3 knobs), but this delay is unique, 100% recommended!!!

Awesome delay

It's plain to see why the Carbon Copy is so popular. It's a fantastic sounding analog delay, very simple to use but also surprisingly versatile.

When played clean, it can product a gorgeous chorus-like delay effect with modulation to provide width and body to the sound all the way through to short slap-back delay sounds or small-room reverb, and the internal trim pots are a great addition and allow the speed and depth of the modulation to be adjusted.

Using it with overdriven sounds requires more conservative settings to Keep the sound tasteful, but the Carbon Copy can easily give you a great delay for both rhythm and lead playing.

Build-wise, there's nothing to complain about. It's solid, well-built and great-looking and compact, and a great addition to any pedalboard.

MXR

it's a simple old school analog delay and i love it. the sound quality is TOP.the quality of construction is TOP.

in my mind the real analog delay trails must going darker and darker but if you have dark sounding amp or guitar or more moderns views go with carbon copy bright .

Never getting out of my board

I love delays, own a few, tried a lot of them. The carbon copy has a distinct, unique, dreamy sound. I can't leave without it. It darkens the sound a bit if you power it with a 9 volts so if that's not your thing you can try a 12v which will brighten the repeats.

Overall a very good pedal.

This is a really great delay pedal. The controls are mostly simple, the true bypass is a plus (in my opinion), and most importantly the sound is overall great. It also seems to be well made.

A few cons: The control for the "regen" feature is inside the pedal, meaning to turn the knob you have to unscrew the back. I'm sure there is some reason why MXR decided to do this, but I don't know what it could be. It also does not come with a power cable. These are the only reasons I do not rate it perfectly.

I would generally recommend this to anyone looking for a delay.

Thick, dark and simple

The pedal has a dark, thick sound and I use it on a Moog Minitaur. The three dial, two switch layout is uncomplicated and allows me to concentrate on finding a tone more quickly.

The chassis is heavy and the design is a spacey, speckled green and reminds me of a high quality car paint. The dials are resistant, which makes changing settings during recording more smooth.

I was confused about the self oscillation/feedback at first and thought there was an issue with my setup but then learned that it is part of the design and sound. I just keep my delay and regen settings at specific positions if I want to avoid this effect.

If, like me, you want a darker sound, simple design and something from a past age, then I would go with this pedal.

Excellent analog delay!

This pedal is everything I was wishing for, and much more. Very sturdy construction, it was built to last. Very precise adjustment possibilities, and extraordinary sound which fills the room (or space arround you). Works well with overdriven signal also.

I would recomend it to anyone!