PEDAL 5: LELL CZ DIGITAL DELAY
Lell is one of Russia’s claims to fame
when it comes to purely Russian-made
effects. They were Russia’s ersatz Boss
after the fall of the Soviet Union, and
their effects were found absolutely
everywhere, as opposed to the
Elektronika or Poltava products, which
were much harder to find. This digital
delay has a whole range of controls, with
all of them being written in Cyrillic. It’s
got some of the weirdest sounds I’ve
ever heard a delay produce, and it’s got
a general corny and cheap aesthetic to
it; a budget Russian homage to Boss,
as it were. This pedal has two functions,
“Chorus” and “Reverb.” “Reverb”
is your standard delay setting, while
“Chorus” modulates the pitch on the
repeats, creating a seasick vibrato
effect. The top two knobs from left to
right read “Depth” (which controls the
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TONE TALK //
depth of the modulation) and “Delay”.
The bottom three read “Input” (which
is input gain), “Feedback,” and “Level.”
It’s an odd pedal for sure, but definitely
an interesting choice for those into more
off-the-beaten path sounds.
I hope you enjoyed our excursion into
the strange land of Soviet effects. As you
can see we have some incredibly strange
pedals here that are usually rare and
hard to find, due mostly in part to their
shoddy quality control, strange designs,
and general unavailability throughout
most of the world outside of Russia.
These pedals are far from cult-classic
(yet), but for those of you into strange
and otherworldly sounds and effects,
catch ‘em before some burgeoning
noise rock guitarist does, and the price
shoots through the roof. Happy trails
my friends!
Back in the U.S.S.R.: 5 Pedals from Behind the Iron Curtain