MXR Carbon Copy Delay
An industry standard.
£149 at amazon.co.uk | £155 at thomann.de
MXR released the carbon copy in 2008, almost 40 years late to the bucket brigade delay party. It was worth the wait, as the Carbon Copy has become one of the best-selling delay pedals of all time, used by many famous guitarists including John Mayer and Dave Gilmour.
Unlike other modern analog delay pedals that produce brighter, clearer repeats (check out our review of the Boss DM-2W), the Carbon Copy embraces the darker and warmer sound of vintage bucket brigade pedals. This does limit the versatility of the pedal, but MXR have tuned this sound to perfection. The Carbon Copy has a very smooth and musical characteristic that fills in space without cutting through the rest of the mix. It works especially well on guitar solos.
The control layout is very familiar. Regen controls the amount of feedback. Set it to minimum for just a single repetition of the input signal, or turn it past 2 o’clock for a self-oscillating wall of sound. The Mix controls the volume of the delay. Unfortunately, at maximum volume the delay is still noticeably quieter than the input signal. The dark tone combined with the lower volume makes the Carbon Copy unsuitable for playing staccato licks. There is no way to split the wet/dry signals either, so adding an EQ to the delay sound is not an option. The Delay control sets the delay time up to 600ms.
There’s a Mod switch that adds a chorus effect to the wet signal. The Carbon Copy has the best-sounding modulation of any delay pedal I’ve tried. Similar to the Vapor Trail by Seymour Duncan (check out our review), you can control the depth and speed of the modulation, although you do need to remove the back plate to access the controls. It sounds very melodic while playing slower riffs or chords and most players will never need to make adjustments.
It is really hard to fault the Carbon Copy. The build quality is excellent and it is very easy to get a great sound with it. The feature set, however, isn’t really on par with other pedals at this price range. The DM-2W by Boss (our review) can switch between a vintage, dark delay and a longer and crisper, more modern sound. In addition, the DM-2W has the ability to split the wet and dry signals and has expression pedal support for controlling delay time.
There are several variations of the Carbon Copy. The Carbon Copy Bright, while not as atmospheric, produces a much brighter delay sound, more true to the input signal. The Carbon Copy Mini offers a switch between the standard and bright settings, while the Carbon Copy Deluxe (my personal favourite) takes it one step further by adding a tap tempo switch and various other features to the mix.
Bottom Line
If you are looking for a dark, vintage-sounding analog delay, you cannot go wrong with the MXR Carbon Copy. It is not the most versatile delay pedal out there, but It is sure to add some beautiful ambience to your playing and thicken up your guitar solos. If you want more options, consider the Carbon Copy Mini or the Deluxe for not a lot more money.