Boss Crams Roland SDE-3000 Delay Into a Stompbox

Los Angeles, CA (September 5, 2024)—Roland had an overnight hit on its hands in 1983 when it introduced the SDE-3000 Digital Delay. Multiple units were used in the FOH tent at Live Aid, and Aerosmith still had one in monitorworld as recently as the mid-2000s, while classic tracks of the era from acts like Oingo Boingo and The Replacements featured the unit’s familiar sounds as well. While there’s numerous plug-in emulations out there, plenty of people still like physical knobs and buttons when they use gear, and with that in mind, Roland’s Boss brand introduced the SDE-3 Dual Delay compact pedal today.

The SDE-3 aims to bring the vintage digital character of the SDE-3000 rackmount delay into a pedal, offering various delay and modulation controls, multiple mono and stereo output options, and an Offset function that draws forth an array of dual-delay textures.

Given the compact pedal’s size, the control panel is decidedly efficient, focusing on the primary controls of the original unit, so there’s direct controls for delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation, along with additional knobs for expanded parameters. The result is that users can call up everything from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures found in modern-day music. Meanwhile, the newly added Offset knob allows one to create tones with two simultaneous delays, allowing users to add a second delay to the primary delay.

A Matter of Trust: How Brad Leigh is Remixing Billy Joel for Dolby Atmos

Output options include two stereo modes—discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs.

Users who love to do tap tempo delays can do a simple press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, pitch effects, and self-oscillation.

Boss reports the SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available in October for $219.99.