Home › Forums › Review Your EHX Gear › 90’s Deluxe Memory Man
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June 25, 2009 at 9:22 am #78476echodeluxeMember
ive had an early 90’s DMM reissue for a couple weeks now.
i love it. its a great delay that just sounds amazing.
i ended up adding a 3pdt because i didnt like that it was recording what i was playing before i engaged it, therefore having trails of what i previously played. i also wanted to avoid overloading it when it wasnt on. and finally, when i made it oscillate and disengaged it, some oscillation leaked through, so i wanted to put an end to that.
now its perfect. gorgeous delay with a hint of vibrato on the repeats. excellent. would love to pair it up with a de7.
June 25, 2009 at 11:57 pm #98400brianthewalrusParticipantI like your knobs. I wish my DMM had the pointer knobs!
June 26, 2009 at 12:39 am #98401ghostMemberThis will get you 2/5 the way there…
Or a little more useful: these guys have ’em.
Or try Smallbear.
June 26, 2009 at 4:42 am #98411devnulljpParticipantQuote:I like your knobs. I wish my DMM had the pointer knobs!I got a bag of them from Davies Molding
Are those two on ebay really from the 70s? They’re round shaft, I thought all the 70s daka-ware knobs on EHX pedals were D-shaft. There’s another guy on ebay that sells those knobs in sets of 5 or 6, but his shipping anywhere but in the US is insane.
Word to the wise EHX, buy up a job lot of those knobs and offer them for sale in the online store — they’d sell. Not everyone can jump through the hoops and buy a minimum order of 200 just because they want 5 for a DMM or 3 for a BMP.
June 28, 2009 at 4:26 am #98532devnulljpParticipantQuote:i ended up adding a 3pdt because i didnt like that it was recording what i was playing before i engaged it, therefore having trails of what i previously played. i also wanted to avoid overloading it when it wasnt on. and finally, when i made it oscillate and disengaged it, some oscillation leaked through, so i wanted to put an end to that.Could you pot some details of the mod? I have one of these on the way and I’d like to TB it with a 3PDT. Thanks
July 9, 2009 at 5:39 pm #99133Stoner WizardParticipantI own one of these units, recently bought in eBay. I own three more reissue versions of DMM modded or stock True-Bypassed (90’s-2000, early 2000-2002, 2.003 and after 2.005), but this is the one I was looking for to complete my “DMM team” (although I have no intention of getting rid of any of them of course because they are great too, but each one has its own style). It creates trails when the effect is bypassed and the preamp stage is always active, which allows you to match levels of effect on and off signals. Weird but acceptable to me.
I’m very happy about getting this DMM because is exactly the same I owned seven years ago and this is the one that “caught” me forever. Others are or have modded to TBP or they have it from stock, but I’ll leave this as it came (with its black-pointer knobs and a DPDT Carling-look switch – very silent).
After testing it, in a long signal chain with a mixture of TBP’s and buffers, I have to say that I don’t appreciate tone-loss issues [sorry, but “tone sucking” is an “ethereal” (and sometimes nonsense) concept to me] and/or bad soundings.
The delay time is slightly shorter than later reissues and cleaner.
As I’ve tried (based on years of playing experience with DMM) I think overloading is not a problem once you set the level to an appropriate value, even more, you can take advantage of this to add more punch to the signal chain. This preamp has a very natural drive and enough performance above half values until it begins to get the overdriven sound (I place it at the second row in my pedal board so I can’t kick level knob or move it accidentally). In fact, when pushed level to max you can get a warm but solid overdrive, and most important, very friendly to playing dynamics.
Despite being reissues, are these 90’s DMM still based on the design of Howard Davis?.
Undoubtely, DMM is one of my favorite pedals from the EH catalog, and one of the best sounding analog delays I’ve ever tried.
My recent interest on EH boxes is focused on 90’s-early 2000’s period (until 2002) reissues, and honestly, they sound good without any kind of mod (sorry I’m not very friendly to mods), I’ve noticed they are underrated and sometimes dismissed.
I have found difficult to find some reissues of that period because I wanted them originals without mods but, at last, I’ve managed to get some reissues of Deluxe Memory Man, Q-Tron, Stereo Polychorus and they’re great!.
And this is my early 2000-2002 reissue, just like the 90’s-2000 but without the AC cord and an external power supply instead.
The unit served as demo in a USA music shop and was almost never used, so it has a mint condition.
Regards
Nacho
July 9, 2009 at 5:51 pm #99134Stoner WizardParticipantAnd this is my 90’s-2000 DMM (with the TBP mod):
[img]http://et1qiw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1prgUPejzF9Ki2VJXkans-dJrpggs92TDu1mc1J3oI68Q_meoRhTthnPJGqIAi0Aq9ivSR5EGYWNqMDmxbU_8xIM6F2vFlmlPs/DMM Pointer Knobs Reissue [True Bypass Mod] (2000-2002).JPG[/img]
Very similar but it came with the AC cord, although I asked my tech to replace it with a socket for the 24 volt/100 mA power supply so I could use with an European standard voltage. It has longer delay time and more gain than the previous one I’ve posted. As a result of the mod, there’s no trails and the preamp stage is only engaged when the delay is off.
Apart from ease of use with standard EH power supplies, I replaced the AC cord and internal transformer to avoid excessive heating and possible sources of noise (as some people complained), but I have a 70’s EH Deluxe Big Muff (Blend On/Off version) all original and there’s no noises (as I’ve tried). Maybe my fear was unfounded but I preferred not to take any risk.
Also, with the 3PDT the power LED is lit only when delay effect is engaged. While the previous DMM posted acts as usual (light always on when power is on).
In my opinion, is not a matter of better and worse, each version has its “style”. As I can’t decide which one is “the best”, I keep them all and use one or another to experiment and tell the differences.
NOTE: I thought that earlier 90’s were only with AC-cord and they moved to power supplies around 2000’s, but I have a 2002 catalog where DMM’s was still pictured with the USA 3-prong power cord.
Does anybody have a clue about this?.
Regards
Nacho
July 10, 2009 at 12:21 am #99152devnulljpParticipantI’d still like details of those mods.
I just got a Made in Taiwan (90s?) reissue. Sunds pretty good, but I’d like to TB and have the LED as an effect indicator (did the same mod on my QTron a while back).This is mine, not as clean as yours:
July 10, 2009 at 1:08 am #99155Stoner WizardParticipantAbout my DMM’s:
* The 90’s-2000 was modded to 3PDT, because it came with a DPDT but the LED was on with the effect engaged or bypassed. Also, I remember some op-amps had been changed by the previous owner (4558’s instead TL072’s if I’m not mistaken – we didn’t took notes when it was being revised, oops). Also the circuit board was one-sided and it contain two delay chips but with more storage than late reissues, so the delay time was slightly longer and preamp gain was higher too.
* The 2000-2002 (the one from the shop) is all original (described at previous message). Shorter delay time (slight difference) and cleaner than 90’s-2000 modded and 2003.
* My 2003 wooden-box version has the modern round knobs, but the switch is a blue 3PDT EH type (as I saw when opened the cover, but I didn’t do anything else). Although the LED is always on. But has no trails and the preamp stage acts only when delay effect is engaged. Delay time is like the first DMM I mention above. The board is still one-sided. This one is as came out from factory.
* The “after 2005” DMM (cardboard box) is original, but is has a 3PDT and TBP using relays. The delay time is shorter. It contains four delay chips but with less storage than earlier reissues. Although, the LED is always on. as I remember, the circuit board is a double sided one.
That’s all I know. I can open a big boxed EH and look inside (nothing else), but DMM’s too complicated to me.
Maybe I’d give more info in the future. The next time I’ll make notes when I head them to my tech.
No matter which one… DMM’s are always great!Enjoy them
Nacho
July 10, 2009 at 3:39 am #99159devnulljpParticipantQuote:Also, I remember some op-amps had been changed by the previous owner (4558’s instead TL072’s if I’m not mistaken – we didn’t took notes when it was being revised, oops).Thanks for the info. Stock op-amp is JRC4558D. It’s pretty grungy, so common to change out at least the U1 op-amp with a TL072. I think that’s analogman’s hi-fi mod.
I’d like some pics of the switch wiring and where does the spliced LED wire go on the board? Anyone have pics to post?
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