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Electro-Harmonix Hazarai Review

The newest release of the Memory Man saga by Electro-Harmonix has taken a slightly stranger direction. The Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai features all the things we know and love about digital delay but with a twist or two.

On a first impression of the Memory Man with Hazarai there’s a lot to take in and many controls that double up as a different parameter in different modes, so lets take a look at a run down of this crazy little box of tricks.

We’ve got all the stuff you’d expect from a digital delay here. Up to 3 sec-onds of delay time, tap tempo, control over the amount of delay repeats and the blend of the delay in your instru-ment signal. Then we have the ability to run the Hazarai in stereo, for some really massive tones!

Also featured on the Hazarai is a ‘Filter’ control that allows you to run the de-layed notes through either a low-pass or a high-pass filter.

Here’s where it gets a bit different; the EHX Hazarai features Reverb, Modula-tion and Multi-Tap delay, all as adjust-able parameters. Now lets delve a lit-tle deeper and see how this all comes together in one unit.

ECHO | MULTI TAP | DEJA VU

The EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai is divided into 8 different modes and these are sectioned into 3 different areas- Echo, Multi-Tap and Deja Vu.

‘Echo’ mode offers 3 kinds of delay. ‘3 Second’, ‘1 Second’ and ‘300mS with Modulation’. All of these modes are fully adjustable from extreme delay mayhem, to subtle slap-back. These are your straight down the line delay modes. The addition of the ‘Modula-tion’ control to the 3rd setting utilises

the ‘Decay’ dial as a modulation depth control, from subtle rippling to a more “warbling” effect add-ed onto your delayed notes.

‘Multi-Tap’ mode offers 3 kinds of de-lay again, just like the ‘Echo’ mode but with Multi-Tap delay. Multi-Tap delay is a feature that allows you to choose exactly how many repeats you want to hear from the Hazarai, so for exam-ple, you can have fast trill-like effects. This mode takes some playing with to realise it’s capabilities, if you’re re-ally into digital delay but you’re after something a little different, this is a gold mine.

There are also a couple of cool little features within the Multi-Tap settings. The ‘Tap’ footswitch can be pressed whilst a chord or a note is ringing out to “capture” it in reverse delay, this looped reverse delay will repeat until you release the Tap switch. The second neat little feature in this set-ting is fading-in repeats. To make your delayed notes fade in, turn the ‘Decay’ dial to its maximum setting and ad-just the repeats knob from counter-clockwise upwards to find the perfect amount of repeats for your desired effect.

‘Deja Vu’ mode features Reverse Echo and Looping functions, along with your Preset modes. Reverse Echo does exactly what it says on the tin and always makes for great spacious effects. The Looping side of the ped-al can give up to 30 seconds of loop time and as many overdubs as you want to add. You can also speed up and slow down your loops and play them backwards.‘Preset’ is the part of the pedal that al-lows you to save your favorite delay sounds. You can save 1 setting per mode, so that gives you 8 different save slots in total.

So now that we’ve got an idea of the potential of the EHX Hazarai, how does this all come together? If you’re after a big sounding, weird delay ped-al then look no further. As you can im-agine, when you’re combining regular digital delay with multi-tap, reverb and you’re fading the delays in, you’re going to be in for some crazy effects. You really have to sit down and spend some time with this pedal. The user manual guides you through some presets that will help you get to grips with dialing the delay that you want but with this kind of pedal you’ve got play around with it and really get a feel for the controls.

Even though this is a digital delay pedal it is possible to dial some analog style tones. With the use of the ‘Filter’ dial turned anti-clockwise you’re accessing the low-pass filter which gives the delayed notes a feel of warmth. Also if you add a touch of the ‘De-cay’ control to this the delayed notes will ring out into soft, warm tones.

For a pedal of this price, the looping side of the Hazarai is very impressive! You can record a loop any time whilst using the Hazarai except whilst in the

Voltage:9vDC - mains power only

Delay Time:Up to 3 seconds

Loop Time:Up to 30 seconds

Manuctured:USA - New York City

Controls:Bend, Decay, Filter, Re-peats, Delay, Tap/Record, Bypass

Other:8 Save Slots, Stereo In/Out, Modulation, Reverb, Reverse Delay.

FEATURES

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‘Multi-Tap 1 sec with Reverb’ mode. Recording a loop is quick and easy and overdubs can be added by hold-ing down the Tap/Record footswitch. Loops can be switched off and back on again and you can change the tempo of the loop without chang-ing its pitch by using the Tap Tempo footswitch. You cannot save multiple loops into the Hazarai but once you’ve recorded one loop into the unit you can switch it on and off and play with it from there. When the pedal is pow-ered down the loop is erased but you can erase a loop or the last overdub you added at any point whilst the Hazarai is on.

The build quality of the Hazarai is solid and the dials and footswitches feel hard wearing. The die-cast casing will take the knocks and blue print on the front of the pedal is certainly very eye catching!

VERDICT

The Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai will not hog your pedal board space wise and it packs

some huge-sounding delay tones. It’s fair to say that the Hazarai is designed to be the weirdest delay pedal that Electro-Harmonix have produced but if you’re after a good solid, digital delay pedal with looping functions this unit will fit the bill perfectly

too.

For a pedal that houses so many different functions in a surprisingly small casing along with being rela-tively cheap for what it is, partnered with intuitive design and great tone, we think the EHX Hazarai is a great addition to Electro-Harmonix family.

ED SNELLSound Unlimited

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