Way back in October 2019, I wrote the review below. Since then, with great thanks to That Pedal Show, my collection of pedals has increased substantially to the detriment of my playing room and my bank accounts. Yet again, I feared that I was missing something on my Victory The Viscount board in the form of a true digital delay to offset the analog delays that I have there (a Wampler Tape Echo, and an Old Blood Noise Endeavors Oil Can - more on them later). So I again arranged to get a short term loan of a DD-200 in the hopes that it might deliver what I feared was missing.

I didn’t read what I wrote originally in the hopes that time and perspective would have changed things. Immediately it was apparent that I used to care not for tap tempo had changed completely and that I found the tap tempo very effective on the DD-200 once I engaged it. I also have a better appreciation for the tap division function than I did 2.5 years ago. There is a lot in this pedal that one should spend time with to maximize the value return.

I found that I had to keep coming back to the documentation to remember what the Parameter knob was supposed to be doing as it changes for each delay type. I suppose that I am sufficiently OCD that I want to understand intent before twisting things randomly. With more focus and given the other delays already in place, I spent my time on the things that my existing pedals don’t do and I suppose that I am surprised that in the end, I’m not missing anything. The Standard digital option is to my ear, rather grating and no matter what I did, I just could not get a sound that I liked. I have had this issue with my old Eventide Time Factor as well but have found solutions for it. I just could not get there with this unit. As before, nothing else leaped out so for my use cases, there is nothing here for me, and I still prefer the sounds from other simpler pedals for Tape and Drum emulation. The Analog setting is perfectly accurate, just not something that I want. The pedal is very well built and once you get the software downloaded and the unit connected to your computer, and do the right dance, upgrading the firmware is easy but takes a LONG time. The eval unit I was using still had the original 2019 firmware on it, and I give credit to Boss that their firmware updates do more than just bug fixes, they add more value to the pedal in terms of number of supported presets and the like.

The preset capabilities of the device are significant and recalling them (or at least your four top faves, is quite easy). I think that you could program your preset faves for a set list reasonably easily. That’s one of my challenges, in that I do not play live. I play for my pleasure and to make recordings of my own compositions such as they are. I am more of an effect tweaker than a preset user and I found for my applications, the DD-200 had too many parameters and too many options. I’m a simpler is better pedal user and the DD-200 while very good is not my cup of tea.

The unit can run on batteries but I am puzzled by the choice of AA batteries as the power source. For AC connection, BOSS recommends their own PSA S adapter which is not included. I can confirm that the unit works fine off a OneSpot 9V supply which is how I powered it to do the firmware updates and when it was on the board, I powered it from my CIOKS DC7 so you don’t need to go down a proprietary road for power, which is different from the Boss RC-10R Looper.

The good news for me is that I am not actually missing anything on that board and the good news for the buyer of the DD-200 is that it keeps up very well with newer digital delays that also emulate analog and mechanical delay units in a single pedal. If you have smaller fingers than I, you won’t feel as cluttered as I did, and if presets are your thing, there is a ton of power here. As in many cases, I offer my gratitude to The Arts Music Store for arranging to get me a unit for short time evaluation. You’ll find my original review below.

Has it ever happened to you that you come across a piece of gear that does everything it says it will do, does it well, is pretty intuitive, sounds good and in the end leaves you feeling meh? It’s disappointing to me when that happens.  It indicates that the maker has done their job, but that nothing in the job was particularly exciting or innovative.  That’s how I feel about the Boss DD-200. It offers a dozen delay types.  I personally had no use for Lo-Fi, Tera Echo, Pattern or Pad Echo, but that doesn’t make them bad, I simply would not use them.  The Drum mode is quite good, not the best, but you get more than Drum in this pedal that costs less than a dedicated Drum echo pedal.  The Shimmer is quite nice.  It’s not H9 Max quality shimmer, but it’s nice.  The rest of the delays are good implementations of commonly found delays.  The pedal has a tap tempo function, which is at this point, not really a feature more a base requirement.  The option of creating four distinct and easily loaded presets is terrific.  Lots of pedals allow you to create presets.  I have not found another pedal that makes accessing them quite this easy, so if you have a requirement for rapid switching between multiple delay presets in crap lighting, you might want to give the DD-200 a look.  The pedal is larger than a standard, but isn’t as large as the graphics might make you think it is.  It is mono or stereo and can take an expression pedal if you would like.  There are also MIDI inputs, albeit using ⅛ plugs instead of the more common multipin MIDI connectors.  Firmware is updatable via the built in micro USB2 port. The instrument and expression pedal jacks are all on the back so you lose less space side to side on a pedal board.  Of course, every maker is different, and I cannot recall ever seeing a board where all the pedals came from the same maker.  Certainly none of my boards are like that. The DD-200 does what it says it does.  If you are looking for an easy to operate, very functional delay with manual override while maintaining four user definable presets, this might be the answer for you.