I recently decided that taking my Joyo American Sound to jams by itself is not enough. I wanted a battery-powered delay too. My first inclination was to order a used delay pedal. Then I decided instead to try loading one of Digitech’s delay pedal models into a spare iStomp.

Digitech iStomp — low price, high power

The iStomp, in case you didn’t know, is the digital version of a blank slate on which you can write any effect you like from a library of 30 or so iStomp FX. They offer 3 or 4 different delays, one of which is the Tape Echo. I loaded it into the iStomp using my iPhone (lotta “i”s there), put it behind the Joyo and connected it to an amp, and played through it. Great stuff. VERY nice delay. Unfortunately, the iStomp has no battery capability.

Not to worry! Friends on Facebook informed me that there are devices available that will convert little USB phone charger batteries into 9-volt power supplies for guitar pedals. I bought one, hooked it up to the iStomp, and it worked on the first try. So the iStomp is now as portable as the Joyo.

I sent the used delay pedal back to Guitar Center. I bought 2 more used iStomps for $35-40 apiece. I’m going to load one with the Rotator rotating speaker effect. I may put a Spring or Hall reverb on the other. Either way, I have an alternate PA-ready effects chain. I used t othink that the iStomp was just a straight port of the sounds in the Digitech RP devices to a different box, but I am realizing now hat the stuff in the iStomp is actually different stuff, and in some ways deeper than what you get on an RP.