Hyphen Nation wrote:Anyone have any experience with the Echosex? I keep checking it out. Curious as to how different it really is.
Yeah like LG said I've got one, along with the infanem small echo array, and a Model 2 to compare them with. In the end, the echosex is probably the best sounding pt2399 based digital delay I've played. As far as how it compares to the real deal binson, well it doesn't have any multitap settings and that's a pretty big omission I think. Instead it does have some pretty nice sounding modulation that is supposed to give the sound of varying degrees of a tape machine in disrepair...unfortunately I keep all of my tape machines well maintained and have never heard these modulations other than from digital emulation pedals. Sooo, the modulations actually sound pretty cool and are useful in a musical way. I think I'd rather have the multitap to play with than the modulations, and for that I have the Infanem small echo array.
So then what makes the echosex so special? It pretty much nails the sonic character of the binson, along with that sort of 3d echo halo rich in reverb that the machine has. The infanem also gives a degree of the halo/reverb characteristic...and Really that and the multitap are all it has to offer, and i LOVE it its great. But aside from "sounding" like the binson, the echosex excels at sounding round and almost alive, or however you describe when you play a tubed tape delay for the first time and realize how bland your life has been and all the time you've wasted....well, ok not quite that extreme as nothing beats real deal tubed tape delay, but the echosex almost gets there or at least gives a bigger mouthful than any other digital delay that's been trying. Anyways, I assume the tube must account for some of this, breathing life into the presentation. Compared to the Catalinbread Belle Epoch which is another digital delay trying to emulate a tape delay, the echosex sounds like a musical instrument full of energy whereas the belle epoch sounds like some pedal thats empty...like some flat shadow on the wall. That's not to say the echosex sounds like actual tape, it doesn't. But like I said its the best sounding digital delay pedal I've heard, that it's voiced like the binson echorec is just icing on the cake.