General
Analogue delays aren't exactly new, but this Hofner Time and Again is something special, as this limited-edition pedal features the tried-and-true 'bucket brigade' tech for that great analogue sound. The Time and Again delay is not your average effects pedal. It's handmade in Germany and features vintage bucket brigade chips that give it a distinctly analogue sound. To emphasise its exclusive character, it features a stylish print and a raised, gold-plated Hofner logo. With this pedal, Hofner successfully harkens back to the early years of analogue delays, a time when Bucket Brigade chips rose in popularity.
Bucket Brigade
In the '70s, the Bucket Brigade chips caused somewhat of a revolution in the guitar industry. Where delay effects used to require bulky tape units, these chips made it possible to create compact pedals instead. Named after the bucket brigade method of firefighting, where people form a human chain and pass buckets of water, the Bucket Brigade chips pass the signal from one pin to the next. However, like the buckets of water, some of the signal will inevitably be 'spilled' as it gets passed on. While that may seem like a downside, this actually results in a characteristically warm and musical sound—something that was sorely missed in the ultra-clean delays that followed in the '80s. Luckily, Hofner succeeded in recapturing the magic of the analogue units in this exclusive limited edition Time and Again delay.