Tape Delay units

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, I had several cross my way along with the various other cheapies.

25 years ago, nobody wanted tape delays except the few guys who swooned over tube 'plexes.

I ended up with a bunch of them, good, bad, ugly.

I liked the 'plexes and the Rolands.

The rest just didn't do much for me.

As far as "just my opinion, man", I've at least handled and used them!

Cheap is relative. The Dynacords were $50 or less (I saw a bunch get traded for a quarter ounce of dope in the day), the Space Echos went for $100-200 (less if you knew how to bottom feed).

[rfurtkamp]

Yep. My Fulltone sounds pretty pristine. Beautiful, just not in any kind of fucked up/modulation/warble kind of way. Letting the feedback run away sure is glorious, though.

Yea, in a perfect world I'd have a Plex around here too just for the difference in how it oscillates versus a Space Echo (and the moving head versus the motor speedup/slowdown).

[actual]

Fair enough mate, I can do with that. But as can be derived from your posts, prices fluctuate like a motherfucker, and I'd imagine that gear made by "some German company" wouldn't be as popular in pre-internet days America, and thus cheaper, but I'm not convinced that they're of lesser quality, just cause of what the prices were 25 years ago. Dynacord has a pretty good rep over here. Hopefully I'll get to form my own educated opinion on these units down the road.

[rfurtkamp]

The thing is they've got a much shorter/weaker delay than the Plexes or the Rolands - it's not pronounced or really characterful.

It's generic distortion versus "amp you love cranked to optimum."

They'll both get you through "Smoke on the Water", but...

[actual]

Which models did you try?

[rfurtkamp]

Judging by photos and a couple videos, the Mini and the Super in the Dynacord stuff, and a ton of 8 track and proprietary cartridge Japanese stuff.

[codetocontra]

Are they worth the 500-1000 bucks if you pretty much only use short delay and reverb as effects?

Yes. I had a Timeline once, and I didn't feel like it was worth $450 despite all the features. I felt more lost in trying to utilize every mode well, which drove me to want just one really good sound that I could tweak the basic settings per song. Then I found a good deal on an EP3 and haven't really looked back. The long echoes, oscillations, slapback, and everything in between are all superb. Seriously, every setting sounds good. It became my "go to" device and helped me downsize my pedals without compromising on rich sounds. I do take a backup delay with me when I played shows, but I never needed it.

Had an RE501 for a few years too. It was great in a different way. More like an analog multi effect. The preamp was adjustable enough to turn it into my only gain source at one show. The repeats were a bit duller but it made a better layering of floating feedback, edge of oscilation. I don't like chorus, so my opinion on that is invalid. The reverb was passable, but not drippy. I do not think Space Echoes are worth the normal price they fetch, but they are still awesome.

Tape delays aren't for everyone. There is maintenance involved from time to time, mostly just cleaning with alcohol. A good unit in working order should be fairly easy to maintain. There are a few helpful sites out there for info. Most parts are available for most units too, but not all.

A versatile delay is important to me. If I didn't have my EP3 I would track down another big box DMM and have Howard Davis calibrate it, something about that preamp makes the first repeats strong and rich. I had an El Capistan in the past too, but there is too much focus on the extraneous sounds that you wouldn't want to hear out of your real tape machine that it is comical to me, plus it misses on the preamp front. Fun looper in the El Cap though.

[rfurtkamp]

The chorus on the 501 is different than the 301 as well, FYI. 301 is the standard JC circuit, the 501's was cleaner and just didn't sound as good.

I only ever used two heads on the 301/501 anyway, and have a vintage JC laying around (and a CE-2W now too) so buying another 301 is ...pointless given what they go for now.

[MechaGodzilla]

Any love for the HH echo unit? Sounds mental in demos.

[rfurtkamp]

I've seen one, and couldn't tell you whether it was a sliding head or a multi as I wasn't using it.

A dub/reggae guy had one I was acquainted with in Chicago.

Was fairly dark and he only used it as a one or two trick pony.

I can say this much, it at least ran and he didn't complain about it other than the usual gripes of gigging dudes with tape echoes in the smoking era (and we all had the same ones about cleaning the heads like a mother in the clubs).

[Cisco]

[zoooombiex]

Same experience as the others above. I've had a TTE for a long time and it sounds beautiful, as much due to the tape as the preamp.

But there are also a lot of good tape emulations today for a lot less money and hassle.

If you just need something to do the "tape sound" and don't have a pile of cash laying around, I'd go that route. Skreddy is my personal favorite, but there are several other good ones.

But if you are really, and specifically, into the lush tape sound and have the money, a good tape unit is worth considering.

[repoman]

I've never really been satisfied with any delay unit I've had even though I just like simple slapback and kind of just shortish multiple repeat stuff.

Anyone played a WEM Copicat? The prices on those don't seem as bad as other stuff.

[MechaGodzilla]

I've never really been satisfied with any delay unit I've had even though I just like simple slapback and kind of just shortish multiple repeat stuff.

Anyone played a WEM Copicat? The prices on those don't seem as bad as other stuff.

The guitarist from Wolf People swears by his CC. There's a lot of different versions of them, not all are valve.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I've never really been satisfied with any delay unit I've had even though I just like simple slapback and kind of just shortish multiple repeat stuff.

Anyone played a WEM Copicat? The prices on those don't seem as bad as other stuff.

Yeah, used to have one and I quite liked it. Nice pristine tape sound, multi head, ticks the boxes. Perfect slapback. Sold it because I couldn't deal with the size and I wanted other things but it sounded great.