What is it?
Ibanez DL5 Digital Delay from later Soundtank series. Made in taiwan in mid 90’s.
More from the better side of the palsticky soundtank series. These units are well used by almost everyone. It’s rare to see of these in mint condition and mine isn’t exception. Some wear and nicks, but otherwise clean look. Taking the bottom plate off shows a board layout with one big chip in there. Could it be…
Yes. The Ibanez’ weapon of choice for digital delay circuitry. Mitsubishi M50195 with 4164 DRAM chip as an companion. It may be more complex by the design than most current PT2399 based delays, but to my ears, it’s not any worse. On the contrary. Check the schematic and see for yourself. One is online and can be found via google. There are couple 5218A opamps that take care of the mixing and buffering.
Board features standard Ibanez JFET swicthing with 74HCU04 logic chip and a trimmer to handle delay time range. The board is in good use with not much free space. Neat. Indeed.
How does it sound?
Warmer than most competitors with a hit status. Nice analog feel to it, but with a lot less noise and sharper sounding control to repeats than BBD-clocked analog counterparts. It does wide range of delay timing and can be mixed all the way up to being almost 100% wet. No wonder it’s still a popular and widely used pedal. Good delay with simple controls. Max the repeats and you’re off to noise land with neverending feedback.
I have this pedal. The adaptor jack does work, so it’s otherwise 100% functional. Awaiting a set of heavy duty 9v clips from radio shack. Anyhow, this is one of the best delays in a box I’ve heard for its price. It’s a clean sounding unit, so it’s great to use in front of a heavy distortion tone for those nasty, ringing delays that gradually clean up as the signal fades. Also good for the usual stuff, like slapback, Queen style harmonies and whatever. :)
hallo great side you have here. i have a soundtank DL5 serie number is 7 digit an this is made in Japan. Can tou explain that ??
Thanks Lars
What is the difference with the EL5 ? . the price hahah i have a dead end fx clone of the EL5 but im in the trouble with it