Echoplex Tape delay

[sergiomunoz74]

So a friend gave me an Echoplex to repair and possibly keep because he actually never used it, he found it in a clear out at his old school. So I've been trying to search on information of the differences ie tube/ss versions etc. It's emitting sound but not very loudly gonna tweak the record level trimpot when I get home but possibly change the pots since they are old and creaky. Lastly where does one find tape for these things?

I'm honestly excited to try it out but if my friend tries to charge me for it at a price close to rates online I wouldn't keep it. Seems super basic compared to my dream tape delay the roland Space echo. I can't imagine the looping being any good either although this thing passes some sound has probably been through some shit in it's lifetime.

let me know what you guys think of the Maestro Echoplex and other tape delays!

[SoaringTortoise]

Is your echoplex tube or solid state? If it is tube then a worn out or bad tube could be the cause of your low sound output. If it is SS then diagnosing could be a little trickier. Clean all the jacks and pots, tape heads, and rollers and give it a try again. Tape cartridges can be found pretty easily online. I bought an NOS tape for my EP-3 on eBay a while back. The Echoplex is pretty basic but you really won't find a better sounding tape delay for electric guitar thanks in part to its sweet preamp.

[sergiomunoz74]

I need to look at the service manual so I can open it up and give it a good once through cleaning wise, I'm at work so I was hoping to figure out once I get home whether this is a solid state or tube driving it. Since I guess I need to fix and clean everything first, I don't know how the preamp sounds just yet but it would be nice for home recording I guess.

[Uncle Grandfather]

Tubed ep-2 is the best sounding delay I own, it's just incredible. Check out

http://www.regiscoyne.com/echoplex/
For info on repairs etc.

And ive had great luck using the replacement carts for the ep-2 and getting tape for my space echos from Tony at
http://www.orbitelectronix.com/

[rfurtkamp]

Before you touch or adjust anything, clean the heads. Clean the transport. Replace the tape.

Sound on sound is primitive and limited to whatever the length of tape is - it's an art form to use, and even then, only in the most basic of situations.

Replacement carts are out there.

I learned to wind them by hand in the early 90s when there were none to be had. Any 1/4" tape will generally do in a pinch.

Keep in mind these are mechanical devices with motors (and tubes on the early models) - voltages are higher than you think. Make sure you know which variant it is, and what you're touching before you poke around inside.

When I used to do repairs on them back in the day, the biggest thing I saw on units like you're describing (school/band surplus that nobody cared about or for) was fried heads of one sort of another.

Erase heads seemed to be the most common point of failure on the Maestro ones that hit my bench.

I'm a Space Echo guy myself, still have one up and flying (as well as the digital version) after all these years.

They are what they are, you'll love them or hate them, and if you want a Space Echo, a 'plex is a stepping stone at most to getting to one.

[sergiomunoz74]

Before you touch or adjust anything, clean the heads. Clean the transport. Replace the tape.

Sound on sound is primitive and limited to whatever the length of tape is - it's an art form to use, and even then, only in the most basic of situations.

Replacement carts are out there.

I learned to wind them by hand in the early 90s when there were none to be had. Any 1/4" tape will generally do in a pinch.

Keep in mind these are mechanical devices with motors (and tubes on the early models) - voltages are higher than you think. Make sure you know which variant it is, and what you're touching before you poke around inside.

When I used to do repairs on them back in the day, the biggest thing I saw on units like you're describing (school/band surplus that nobody cared about or for) was fried heads of one sort of another.

Erase heads seemed to be the most common point of failure on the Maestro ones that hit my bench.

I'm a Space Echo guy myself, still have one up and flying (as well as the digital version) after all these years.

They are what they are, you'll love them or hate them, and if you want a Space Echo, a 'plex is a stepping stone at most to getting to one.

This is pretty great explanation. I didn't get a chance to look at it because I got busy with other woodworking projects. Either way I'll get to it so I can check which version and change the tape and clean the heads and shit. If I fix it, I'll probably give it back though as I definitely want the space echo as a tape delay but this will give me an idea on how to splice tape and what to expect of cleaning and repair of these things.

[rfurtkamp]

Space Echo is a ton easier to splice tape for - you're not dealing with a cartridge so it's pure and simple tape loop.

It's also fairly forgiving of you being a bad splicer - I had to emergency fix mine when the loop imploded mid-show once, cut the angles with a pocketknife and used a cassette tape label (we still recorded the shows to a Tascam back then) to hold it together. Worked until I replaced the tape weeks later.

SE is also a lot more forgiving on tape - you can go quite some time between replacing it.

Mechanism/transport on the SE is more involved time-wise to clean but it's again more tolerant to abuse. Even in days of smoke-filled bars day in and day out, I only cleaned the heads on set break because it let me dodge the meet+greet (I hate that) most of the time.

SE was also a lot more tolerant of abuse - when they were cheap and abundant, I'd leave mine on for days or weeks at a time.