Roland SDE-1000 - Classic Rack Delay

[@thechannelforeverything2170]

Clicked for the delay, stayed for the shirt. 10/10.

[@sixslinger9951]

This delay got me through the 80s gigging. still have it today.

[@WayneHoldenMusic]

Much love for the dedication you have to exploring these old glorious units...

[@LeonTodd]

They are indeed GLORIOUS

[@erictripton]

I use this in my rack. Great sounding unit, and the modulation is brilliant. To get nice airy chorus type delays. To set the MS very short and tweak modulation is a joy. No need to have a chorus pedal.

[@johnsurace2330]

The SDE-2500 has slightly shorter delay times, but full MIDI control, which makes it a mainstay in my rack. It also remembers the pot positions even if the knobs have moved prior to choosing that preset.

[@LeonTodd]

Now THAT I like

[@johnsurace2330]

@@LeonTodd pick yourself up a Roland SRV-2000, also, MIDI, the reverb Slash used on Appetite.

[@LeonTodd]

@@johnsurace2330 I liked this so much I got one :) I've done a few vids with it

[@lu4enp]

A little tip!!! To change the delay time quicker, let´s say you need to go from 20ms to 700, press + and hold while you press - and the scroll will be faster, you can do it both ways. I hope it helps somebody. I love this delay!!!

[@LeonTodd]

Yep, that works wonders :)

[@officialpoa3171]

*2 of those SDE-1000 were used for all the reverb and delay on the entire GUNS n' ROSES APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION ALBUM*

[@AnodyneHipsterInfluencer]

Love this delay,just scored one today dirt cheap. I must say though, you can really play. You're also very adept at playing to the delay/knowing how to use the effect. Great stuff.

[@LeonTodd]

Congrats, these are fantastic units that have strood the test of time!

[@guitarsnake368]

Got my SDE-1000 in early 1986 then a couple of years later got the SDE-3000. Both are great delays for their time and still are. The SDE-3000 has a good bit better bandwidth at higher delay times and a number of other good features. I hate I sold those delays years ago but I just found an SDE-3000 in excellent shape that is in perfect working order (got it for $350!).

[@saren6538]

Love your content mate guitar playing is off the scales too

[@LeonTodd]

Thanks mate!

[@johnpierson8398]

Yes, this was the first digital delay I owned! I bought it when it came out in 1984. I already had a Boss DM-2 Analog Delay pedal. But when I started using the SDE-1000, I really learned to love delays with electric guitars! Once I got an Eventide H3000 D/SE, these did not seem so magical anymore and I gave them away :( Have to admit the DM-2 and especially the SDE-1000 have a place in my heart. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@LeonTodd]

Pretty classic trio right there!

[@wofesc]

4:46 entre dos tierras by Heroes del Silencio! That's the sound!!

[@Eventual420]

Can’t beat that with a stick. Love those warm delays, so accurate. These predate me, I was a teenager and would see these in large racks with early Roland synth gear at our local shop.

[@LeonTodd]

Them we got Eventide and Lexicon!

[@Eventual420]

@@LeonTodd Boss was the working musicians brand, and those guys could depend on Roland gear for their live shows. Line level gear was often studio use, and I actually never saw a Lexicon item in person. I am so excited for you to get a PCM81. It’s Italo that demonstrated the R2R sounds from them which I would gladly pay money for. Eclipse units are known for their fast load times and live use. Cant wait to see more. 👍LT!

[@armandopedaux9669]

My favorite delay for live sound! On vocals, saxes, etc

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Well done LT! Always enjoy delay and love the Strat! Thanks for sharing brother and Be Well All!

[@LeonTodd]

Thanks! You too!

[@johnstitt2615]

Leon has done it again(Bubba Zanetti Voice....movie reference). Yes because Leon is an Aussi. Another groovy video. This channel and big hairy studios are my current favourites.

[@Yupppi]

Thanks again Leon! These videos are a really valuable library. Just saw SDE-1000 locally, a couple of years after I missed SDE-3000 and this reassured me that it's worth a shot. Already thinking of ways to set SDE-2000 and SDE-1000 parallel for a double delay (the classic ~300 and ~500 type of ratio). What I really like about the SDE series is definitely that low-fi quality of theirs, the warmth and grit if you want to run it like that. And I gotta state that the ones with the Roland rainbow knobs are more delightful to look at and possibly adjust, even though the classic VCR look of SDE-3000 is also nice.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah they're really voiced perfectly for guitar IMO

[@kylecoffey6010]

Hell Yes Todd! Another great video! Love the old Roland rack stuff!

[@kimmykimkan]

My favorite delay on my rack, you show its capabilities amazingly and taught me a few things as well. Here is my little tip for those that own one...I love the timesx2 function and the lofi nature. First thing I discovered is if you tap the x2 function with a longer delay time whilst playing you get these amazing pitch shifted delays an octave up-ish. If you are fast enough you can get the same pitched phrase down an octave as well. Add reverb or an ibanez de7 on the edge of feedback before or after the sde-1000...= ambient heaven.

[@thomasfokas]

I had one in the 80s as well as a 3000. Awesome unit.

[@derrick_builds]

Awesome video sir. Just unpacked mine from years of storage. Love the old unit.

[@MofosRealReviews]

Young new racks are amazing but there’s just something about a good ol’ fashioned classic rack.

[@mrdrummond5727]

I need to learn the part with the volume knob action. Goosebumps!

[@bardicdad]

Buttery smooth!

[@desmondtutu7916]

An excellent product review and primer on basic delay functionality and use!

[@JosephBurleson-f4w]

I can easily see long black hair and an ESP, Les Paul, or high-end Carving in the studio! Maybe a set of Vampire teeth in certain situations. That maybe the secret we've been looking for so there's also an SRV-2000 also! Both sound great!

[@italoop7850]

My first DDL was the Roland SD3000! Mind you... all these delays were not cheap at all. The SDE1000 was the kids thing as it can't handle line levels so it wasn't the best choice in a rack. The 2500 and 3000 were better designed, had memories and the first was also a MIDI unit. The 3000 has very long delay getting to over 4 seconds in a time memory was very expensive. Yes, they maybe had 12bit converters but the companding circuitry was definitely 16 bit so not much of a lo-fi thing going on here. That was a time in which every company was trying to get their delays to sound as much as the same as the input source. Pristine. Nobody was concerned about lofi, analog or tape_like things. These were things of the past. Digital was moving on. The fact many people hear a sweet tone is not the quantization. Bit wordlength won't change the frequency bandwidth... that's sampling frequency. These boxes were able to get up to 17KHz so you'd hear anything a guitar spectrum has in it. The sweetness comes from the analog circuitry at the input/output stages, like preamp, filters, output amp... all stuff that in time became digital... when DSPs got very powerful That's ONE of the reason your AXE delays sound shrill and not nice. The second reason why you hear sweetness is the feedback! The audio path of repetition was in analog domain, meaning that your echo was converted to analog and fed back to the analog input stage for remixing, re_converted to digital again and re_processed. Now, when you do that... the signal is definitely degrading because of multiple filtering and conversions and that's THE cool thing of many old DDL. That's another reason why modern echo... sounds not as good. Regarding the chip inside the SDE line and the Boss pedal.... well... that means absolutely nothing. A chip is a computational engine around which you have a lot of analog parts building the tone. In the Boss pedal you can forget about all that analog stuff so you're only left with digital instructions that don't really matter as much in terms of similute with the SDE line. Pretty much like the Lexicon 480 and LXP1... they had the same DSP... but would they sound the same? NOPE! Only common thing would simply be the speed of processing information, unless on one of them it could have been overclocked or even downclocked.Best case scenario... they sharde the same clock but didn't EVER sound the same at all.

[@LeonTodd]

That's REALLY cool about the feedback line and would explain a lot about the time of the repeats. Love it. Did the Eclipse Vintage DDL emulate a similar thing?

[@italoop7850]

@@LeonTodd Nope! There are things that need to be made, physically built in a specific way. The "emulation" culture has to stop as it sucks at most tasks. If you listen VERY closely... the old delays repetitions has a way to spread as clouds... the spatial imaging is very_very particular as tonal degradation and spatial openness are their main sonic features. Be it a Roland or Korg DDL or a Lexicon Prime Time or PCM4x ot a TC2290... they all share these characters. The other reason why you get this dense spatial cloud is dynamic range! These DDLs have limited dynamic range so the sound is not as strong and "in the face" as 24bit devices and the fact feedback is recirculating in analog>digital realms adds to that in terms of less punch. That makes for a less defined sound, less energy. So in a way... a lesser quality technology has an aural character which is much sought_after. Now... you can't emulate these things BUT you can actually recreate them in quite good approximation IF you use an external analog mixer with AUX Sends. If you feed an Eclipse or PCM80/1 a signal off an Aux send and DO NOT use any internal feedback (set it at 0%) AND use the Aux Send pot to feed the output back to the input you are creating analog feedback. Add to that the fact you now have analog filters on the mixer channel... often in 3 bands with parametric mids.... for extra fine tonal shaping. BANG... that's going to sound as close as possible to old gear... even though the spatial aural quality won't be exactly the same because of higher dynamic range. There some kind of VERY light compression may help but with much attention as compression tends to cut high frequency content... so a good analog compressor would be in order there. The PCM80 in particular (over the 81), being an 18 bit machine, gets VERY good at these classic re_creations as its tone is very fat and modulaton can be very deep. In fact older DDLs have a sweep ratio that is always bigger than DSP effects.. meaning that when you set modulation it takes very little to get out of control... too out of tune and wobbly. All these factors (analog feedback, limited dynamic range, sweep ratio and strong phase shift in analog realm) are what make old DDLs unique!

[@LeonTodd]

@@italoop7850 now THERE is an idea for some sonic experiments. Time to dig an old mixer out.

[@italoop7850]

@@LeonTodd Mixers are NEVER old!

[@italoop7850]

Here's an example where I used a light compression to get rid of transients attacks on this "PCM DELAYS" presets I created on the Lexicon MPX-1. Notice how the delays sound like echoes, diffused, attack_less, like an aura.. almost a reverb. That kind of space is nice but it can be very hard to get from DSP processors. Some are better than others to get there. Compression here helps reducing the dynamic response of the delays, almost like older DDLs do very easily. Also...filters help a lot and that's another issue in most DSP products. Finding well designed filters is not easy in multi-fx as they take processing resources often used for other tasks. Here: www.italodeangelis.com/public/contents/eventide_and_other_stuff/lexicon-mpx-1/PCM-Delays.mp3

[@MidxRange]

I just picked one up today. Thanks .

[@tho-mas83]

Very cool video....great demos always. Sounds good to me...i love rack stuff..Thanks for sharing.

[@ericharbauer]

OMG an 80's rack unit that actually seems like its easy to edit. Now I need one. thanks Leon.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah what you see is what you get with this

[@petelucchini1168]

I have one want to buy it?

[@matthewmckinney9348]

I'm just going to give you my credit card and let you pick out all the cool rack stuff I need for ultimate 80s hair goodness

[@birdmansclambake]

This was my first delay back in the 1980’s. I just picked one of these (off Facebook marketplace) Roland SDE-1000 for $80. Is that a decent deal? You make it sound like a million bucks.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah that's a bargain!

[@PortalToAwakening]

Another great video. That shirt has some decent tone. I would personally raise the highs and the mids a bit on the pattern though. I have an SDE 3000 that I bought new. Still sounds great. Keep up the great videos and sense of humor. 🎸

[@LeonTodd]

Definitely leans towards "green". Does the 3000 save the positions of the feedback and mod knobs?

[@Mujcanal]

Let me know if you ever want to sell your sdd 3000

[@bluesful]

Epic tone in the opening jam.

[@danielpirone8028]

Ibanez had some similar machines- would love to hear your take on them.

[@liantrosretrospectiva4134]

3:31 sounds like the intro of Soda Stereo´s "Signos" (Argentinian band)

[@charlesgreenfield7838]

Had one and loved it. The only problem with buying one today is that the two foot pedals that came with the original seem to be missing.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah I wonder how hard they would be to build

[@james4001]

Got 2 in the studio. Squeeze them through an SSL type compressor or API pres and they sound great .. . Plug a pedal in the Hold socket, twist that knob on the back, and get some nice rhythmic stuff with even sweating.

[@LeonTodd]

That's awesome. Do you use them for delay only or for chorus/flange as well?

[@ianfurqueron5850]

I just missed an ADA delay unit for sale near me. I really wanted it in the loop of my MP-2. Drat. Now I have to go find one...

[@89ji76]

I use Boss’ SDE-3000 emulation for my main lead preset. Nothing beats this flavor of delay imo

[@danfuerthgillis4483]

No one came here for the delay, only the Green Magic shirt!

[@RoyChartier]

Nailed it Leon. 2 of these can create some very complex and rich spacial effects... An absolute steal compared to pedal efx costing much more, and offering far less.

[@PFDarkside]

Just picked up two at a bargain, excited to get them in the rack!

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Boss stuff is so reliably good and workhorse tough.

[@jonathanlok643]

@LeonTodd A bit late to the party but do/did you have any problems with gain staging? I got one not knowing that it doesn’t do line level like its bigger brother SDE3000. I have it in an effects loop but have to pad the send/input ALOT to prevent clipping and the return doesn’t get the levels up enough to loop bypass levels

[@PhilipvanderMatten]

I like your playing

[@balinhooofficial]

Always sounds so good! Could you please do an advanced tutorial for FM3 preamp, bias, transformer etc.? Many thanks!

[@LeonTodd]

Yep, got one planned

[@amonster8mymother]

You know I saw 9ne of these in the store the other day I was wondering if it was any good so I thought perhaps to find a video...

[@jfredricks2394]

what sysex editor do you use for backups and restoring?

[@sonicaids]

I recently got a Roland GP-8 and holy shit is it great. am keen to see what the GP-16 is like.

[@LeonTodd]

Basically all the boss pedals of the time in one unit. So good!

[@larslevinberget9558]

I have it :) Not my favorite Digital Delay, as it's not nice to the guitar signal, the Boss DD pedals are much better that way. Never figured out the playmate function? It's actually not the first, oddly enough that was the SDE2000 which had only knobs and no memory...similar to later Boss rack and halfrack versions. Nice sounds !!

[@t.j.fuller9531]

awesome video !! / I bought a mint one off of Reverb 6 mos ago and it took your video to get me to dig it out and jam with it all day !! / I met Eddie Van Halen's guitar tech in 2015, day before red rock's show in Denver / he shared awesome stories at dinner / but, he mentioned Ed having many of the SDE-3000's for Ed and they were modded - I feel stupid for not asking about what about an SDE-3000 needed modded ? as these units are dead silent .......he did say ( for those who are interested...Ed had no amp mods on EVH amps but, bias was adjusted higher often )

[@LeonTodd]

Ooooh that's interesting. I'm sure someone out there knows!

[@t.j.fuller9531]

@@LeonTodd one thing he kept talking up big time was how ridiculously talented Wolfe was , we are all catching up to that now ....lol

[@andymclain2574]

What input is the volume pedal connected to on the back of the unit?

[@Dejoblue]

Epic! I seeee a G Force! Is that a tease? When are you gonna do a full blown G Force video? >.>

[@wulfbak]

I like it. I have a Strymon DIG pedal which is designed to replicate these old delays. My one issue with buying rack gear this old is, how much money do I have to put into it to make it work right? And a lot of techs flat-out refuse to work on this type of stuff. I guess replacement parts are hard to come by, whereas an old hand-wired tube amp is easy to work on.

[@LeonTodd]

Yep exactly, finding units in good shape is getting harder too

[@ZachJohnson1996]

I just bought one of these for $150 and I’m in love with it! My question is how would I control it with foot switches? Is there a specific kind of switch I need to get?

[@spetersonmusic]

How on earth do you even know about this gear? You are a kid! LOL. I love that you are doing this. I used to lie awake at night with headphones on blown away by Pat Travers crazy chorused delay on "New Age Music" and thought that once I could have that sound, that'd be the ULTIMATE. Still sounds great and love watching these videos of yours. But the shirt? Well, lol.

[@LeonTodd]

I think this came out 5 years before I was born :p Man when the Axe-Fx Flangers got upgraded I played nothing but Travers riffs on the ADA model for a week. So good. Love Pat Thrall's album with Glenn Hughes too

[@daveesco1]

nothing wrong with a comfy home shirt.....I'd like to see you demo a Roland GP100

[@Tincad4]

Hi Leon, I enjoy watching your videos, I particularly like you amp reviews... have you thought about doing a review on a Marshall 2550? I would love to hear your thoughts and see how this amp stacks up.

[@LeonTodd]

The mighty Jubilee! Been looking for one for ages

[@seventhsealhere]

2021 rack gear? Never happen with multi-color knobs. But love Roland gear! 👍

[@phawinphan]

Great video!!! Very curious to know how it compares to the mighty PCM81.

[@LeonTodd]

Oh yeah, definitely have to do it

[@merlyn4life]

Ty used 2 for a few albums

[@amonster8mymother]

Is that post fader?

[@litos_mendes]

you can het those for 150 euros in europe even cheaper .... should i get one or get the 3000 or the korg sdd 1000

[@EuroDJ]

Cool Lo-Fi Character!!!! Thnx

[@amonster8mymother]

I've got two yamaha d1500 s how does 8t compare???

[@retromograph3893]

Thanks for the review .......

[@LeonTodd]

My pleasure

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

27 seconds after you uploaded. Hahaha. Very cool.

[@LeonTodd]

Right in there!

[@ShreddingFinn]

I guess before I complain about a strymon time line price I should remember that this cost $500 in 1984

[@LeonTodd]

Hahaha yep!

[@petelucchini1168]

mtsalmela80:::::::: That's $1,215.53 in 2021!!

[@LeonTodd]

@@petelucchini1168 if that's in USD then that's more than the price of a new FM3!

[@SnappyJCM800]

Can I just say that intro song sounded like it could have been used in Full House hahaha

[@LeonTodd]

Hahaha 1000% the vibe I was going for. BYO nostalgic montage.

[@grawlixes]

@@LeonTodd made me think of 90210... similar vibes. Nice.

[@jamesdavis5096]

Love your demos

[@Swanlord05]

Hi i just picked one of these up ....i have a peavey 6505+.....how do i plug this into the amp

[@LeonTodd]

Put it in the fx loop

[@rodrigoortiz2625]

My gosh what a nice song is it yours? Nice nice nice

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah something I slapped together

[@d-mack7053]

@LeonTodd What is that brown plaque looking thing on rack behind you that has big letters spelling COFFEE? Can we get a close up of it?

[@LeonTodd]

Learn more this Friday!

[@d-mack7053]

Gotcha.

[@toddsullivan7833]

Boston's Scholts would sometimes turn the mod off on the delay. Very clean and toastey//////\\\\

[@killerfascistmodaftermath4475]

1984年にDX7とセットで30万円だったなあ❗ 当時はプリセット4でも凄かった😁

[@ddl508]

Fire 🔥

[@intothelightmm]

Have you demoed a Roland Dep 5?

[@LeonTodd]

Not yet but I hope to soon! Just finished editing a demo of the GP8

[@RyanMaziarz]

Do you still have the Strymon DIG pedal? Just curious if you A-B'ed it to the SDE directly since it's designed to replicate this sound. I love my DIG but I've never actually played through an SDE to know for sure.

[@LeonTodd]

Yes and that side by side is in the works! The DIG cops this so well

[@RyanMaziarz]

@@LeonTodd Awesome - glad to hear it's so close. I wanted it for doing the two separate L & R delay times SDE-3000 thing ala EVH or Vai.

[@LeonTodd]

@@RyanMaziarz yeah it's certainly close enough for rock'n'roll!

[@glaucosouza1971]

What can I say?? I just love greens...

[@shotgunlove5638]

What’s the story with the shirt?

[@LeonTodd]

I went on a volunteering trip to Thailand about 10 years ago and it made it's way into my life around then. Every year I look at it and think to myself "I really should throw this out" and next thing you know I wear it everywhere.

[@shotgunlove5638]

@@LeonTodd we’ve all done that! Or get rid of it then for some unexplained reason you need one. Thanks for all tour clips it’s helped me get through lockdown in Victoria. Appreciate it

[@TheLexluthier]

Larry Carlton still uses a SDE1000

[@JRP3music]

George Lynch has been using two SDE 3000 delays for a while.

[@LeonTodd]

That makes a lot of sense, I kept thinking "play some Lynch!"

[@toddsullivan7833]

Men where did you steel this one?

[@donlee5722]

I have a shirt just like that... Not really, just wanted to make you feel better about it.

[@aaaargl]

*s*exicon

[@LeonTodd]

Someone noticed!!!

[@aaaargl]

@@LeonTodd my kind of humor

[@greatganger2606]

what are the washer settings for your shirt ahhahahah

[@LeonTodd]

🤣