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anybody have any experience with the Digitech RDS rack delays?


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hello,

I was given a Digitech RDS 1900 rack delay unit from a friend of mine (an ex member of Hum) and just wondered if anybody has experience with using them?

 

I think I want to try to incorporate it into my signal chain (after my pedals, splitting the signal to my 2 amps).

 

anyone know anyting about them?

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i've got an RDS1000 - all i really know about it is that it sounds great!

 

it's my favourite of the many digital delays i've used - pedal or rack - and does an excellent job of chorus, flanging and vibrato too. plus, it has a hold/sampling feature which is loads of fun.

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I've got an RDS 7.6. Awesome sounding delays for stupid cheap usually.

 

I found this via Google regarding your particular unit:

 

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 12:35:00 -0700

From: "Brigman, Corley"

To:
analogue@hyperreal.org

Subject: info: digitech rds-1900 rackmount digital delay


ok, it's not analog, hopefully this one will slide by without anyone

noticing
:)
actually, there IS some analog in there...in a moment...


digitech rds-1900


what it is: It's a digital delay, with some interesting features. Part

of a line of Digitech gear (according to the manual). this is the

lowest end. The rds-1900 has 1900 ms of delay max, with 15Khz

bandwidth. There's also an rds 3.6, with 3.6s=3600ms of delay (but

only 7.5Khz sampling, basically the same box with sampling rate cut in

half?), an RDS2001 (an RDS-1900 that can sample), and an RDS 7.6, a

7.6 second box with sampling (both of those are 15Khz bandwidth).


They all come with pretty much the following: There are 4 delay

ranges, labeled Flange, Chorus, Double, and Echo. There's a delay time

knob (which goes between .25-1.0 of the time labeled for each button),

a mod width and a mod rate. The rate goes high, but not crazily high.

In the echo range, there's a repeat hold button that just repeats

whatever's in the buffer and takes no new input.


Feedback is 0-100% and can be inverted (reversed? can't tell for

sure). Then there are the standard mix out/dry out levels/input level

knobs.


In the back: Input, mix out, dry out (for daisy chaining), phase out

(for pseudo-stereo). There are footswitches for bypass, repeat hold,

and something else (can't remember) and an expression pedal input for

VCO control (modulation). unfortunately no pedal direct for delay

time.


Overview: Clean sounding delay, with a reasonable length of delay. It

IS digital, but that's not all bad in this case....it's "bright" but

not necessarily "cold" to my ears.


Anyway, I've got some mods planned for mine (my first!), I have two

now so I have a guinea pig
:)
Apparently the feedback loop is NOT

digital, at least on the schematic there appears to be a trace for

feedback - I'd like to break this out and allow effects to be inserted

into the feedback loop, either for HF/LF damping (using EQ) or maybe a

slight distortion (so it gets more distorted as it fades into the

background....) hmm who knows. It appears there's a real VCO in there

as well for control of the delay time (CV control?) so I'd like to

yank that out as well and put an expression pedal input there. Could

be lots of possibilities here.... and they are cheap, I got my first

one for $50 (with manual, good shape, 1 knob cap missing) and the

other for $70. not bad for 2 seconds of delay....there's always the

se-70, or a wedge for finer control (with less/no knobs) if you need

it....


corley brigman

intel corp.

corley.brigman@intel.com


speaking for me, not for intel.

 

Chances are you can open yours up and adjust a few trimpots to get more out of it, but be careful and make sure you mark or can remember the original settings or you can really screw it up. Usually just setting the feedback higher so it can repeat endlessly or do self-oscillating type sounds is all you need. Cranking up the delay time will make it really noisy, in a good or bad way depending on your taste.

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i'm not really interested with messing with the parameters (at this time), I just wondered if anyone used one.

 

also, when the unit is in bypass, is it pretty transparent, what i mean is, would it distort if I hit it with a distorion? (in an unwanted way)

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I have an RDS 6500 digital reverb rack unit. Pretty noisy. I replaced some of the opamps, which cleaned it up a ton, but it's still pretty noisy and introduces distortion into the signal chain. I paid $32 on eBay and probably paid too much in retrospect.

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I have one in my rack set-up. I have it in the FX loop of my Marshall TSL-122. It doesn't sound good in front of the amp, but that's just my opinion. I like it because it does not change the tone when switched on or off. It has some good effects in it! :wave:

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Ive got a Korg Rack Delay and i run it in front of my amp.. Sounds much better to me than when its in the FX loop!! Currently i just leave it on and swith it via the switch in my TB loop pedal, but i really want to pick up a midi mouse..

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Mine doesn't change the tone when on or off, I have it in front of my amp and its not noisy at all. It can be REALLY noisy if I don't adjust the input/output section properly and will clip and distort like crazy, but once that is set up right its perfect.

 

I imagine there are plenty of beat up units that are noisy and useless though.

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thanks for the info guys. how are you guys switching them on/off? does the bypass jack use a TS jack, like a single pedal fooswitch?

 

 

mine is in my studio rack at the moment - i use a patchbay to patch it in when needed, but i have made a dual footswitch (bypass and hold/sample). all you need is a simple footswitch like you'd use for an amp channel switch.

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but i have made a dual footswitch (bypass and hold/sample). all you need is a simple footswitch like you'd use for an amp channel switch.

 

 

so, if I have a dual button footswitch, I would need to wire up 2 TS plug on the end, as opposed to the TRS plug that is already on there?

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since i bought mine a year ago, i've only seen one from the RDS series on ebay UK - which was an RDS8000. i was the high bidder with 2 days to go and the seller ended the auction
:mad:

 

Yeah, they're common on the US ebay, but shipping probably erases any price break you would be getting from one, if they'll even do international shipping. :cry:

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