Always happy to see something expensive that I don't really need.
"Big Time is not a practical pedal to make in 2026, but I think that’s what makes it good, and worth it.
This style of digital/analog hybrid delay is extremely rare, and there’s a good reason for that:
- It’s not necessary
- It’s really hard
When the rackmount delays that inspired Big Time were being made in the early 80s, there was no other choice. The digital technology of the time was very basic, so analog parts were used to make up for those shortcomings. The mixture of analog and digital circuitry was strictly functional. But once those units got out into the wild, musicians discovered that something magical would happen when you overworked them and pushed them too far.
So we asked ourselves:
What would happen if we revisited that kind of circuit design but did it on purpose? What can you get by leaning all the way in and pushing that kind of hybrid circuitry to its extremes?"
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Big Time is a digital delay with two distinct stages of analog coloration, all in true stereo. It includes an analog preamp at the very front of the circuit, and a limiter in the feedback path of the delay.
It’s a portable slice of that mythical era of early 80s rack echoes, but Big Time is not a nostalgic pedal. The point is not to recreate a certain vintage vibe (though you can), but to really dive into the unique abilities made possible by this hybrid analog/digital approach.
Imagine taking a long, stable echo, then running it through a misbiased limiter that slowly eats it. With each repeat the echoes change a little (or a lot), taking on a more analog character. You can make a saturated wall of sound that replicates early reverb technology, or build a melting double-tracking chorus, or create Thermae-style echo sequences. It’s like a free-flowing multi-effect that lets you transition from place to place seamlessly, bending time however you please without interruption.
The digital side lets you do whatever you want, and the analog side makes it all sound good and very, very big. All of this is also true stereo, meaning each channel actually has its own dedicated analog preamp and limiter.
It’s a lot of stuff.
It’s a bit hard to explain, but easy to get lost in.