To Delay, or not to Delay?

     This one has been in the works for quite some time...haha see what I did there. Anyways, This is a Hamlet Delay board that I purchased from a forum member over at MBP. The board was tested and verified by me when I first got it but I changed a couple things (components) and couldn't get it to work properly after that. It took about 8 months and another pot but I was able to get it going. The delay is nice and crisp sounding. I love the delay length you are able to get out of the pedal. Also the rhythmic delays sound really good too. The tone and overall level are adjustable via trim pots on the board. The circuit was designed for the "Tails" option, which I love. This means when you turn the pedal off it will repeat the last note played for it's set "cycle". The pedal uses a standard DPDT footswitch which means it is not "true bypass" but it also means that there isn't any "tone suck-age" in the guitar signal. These is quite a bit of myth around the "true bypass" movement and it's pretty believable. But that's a discussion for another time.
     One of the issues with most PT2399 delays, which this is, is that the PT2399 delay chip leaves a lot of digital artifacts or distortion in the audio signal. This is very noticeable on a lot of delays if you turn the Mix up with the repeats. It almost sounds like a "bit rate" noise. This pedal uses a charge pump or pre-amp and with proper biasing and delay level the pedal does not seem to have any artifacts or distortion in the repeats. It's really a great design. Hats off to Jon Patton (midwayfair) on this circuit.
     The pedal operates with the standard controls: Delay (this controls the length in between repeats), Mix (this controls the over all volume of the repeated signal), and Repeats (this controls how many repeats you would like for the "note" played). As I said above the overall level of the delay is controlled with an on board trim pot as are the tone and bias as well. The art I used was adapted (like that fancy word I used there) from an actual Hamlet Play flyer. The enclosure was a scratch and dent from Pedal Parts Plus. It was already powder coated the green sparkle color. Her are some pictures of the build. I will post a video later.