Hardware Tape Delay

I love my Echoplex so much, I'd have to say that you can't go wrong with one. 

However, the newer Fulltone units I have heard and they sounded like tape delays, however I think the EP3 has some magic to it. 

The Strymon Deco is a unit that I have heard some favorable reports on as well there's a $1900 unit that uses old school floppy disks to be the tape replicator circuit.

Because of my fetishm for tape delays, its a project I've been sketching up for the last year or so, somehow I'll incorporate some of the passive Zulu technology into it.

Have you used an Echoplex EP3 before? Earth shattering how deep that thing is. 

Thanks
-L.

I recently got an ep-2 echoplex and yes it is very special. my other delays are el capistan and the 500 series moog delay. while I like the bbd and digital pedal the echoplex is just so much more in your face. the word 'uncompromising' comes to mind. I hope to come across a space echo one day. ive heard good things about the multivox and the dynacord tape echoes as well.

I haven't tried out an echoplex in person, though I've heard them live a few times. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a deal.

Thank you all for the input!

I understand the popularity of the Echoplex, but my vote still goes to the muti-head, variable motor Japanese tape echos, specifically the Space Echo family and the oft-overlooked Korg Stage Echos. You can do a lot more with the multi-head machines and the free-streaming cartridge has much less tape wear and much lower wow and flutter that the Maestro style cartridge on which the tape is constantly rubbing over itself under tension. The Echoplex design also suffers from less stable head alignment due to the sliding playback head.

The two top of the line Roland units (RE-501 and RE-555) have low impedance XLR inputs and at least the 555 has noise reduction of some sort (not sure about the 501). The 555 is the rack mount studio version. All the Space Echos from the RE-201 up have built-in spring reverb (not the best, but not totally horrible) and the models from the RE-301 up have chorus.

The Korg units are somewhat simpler, being without  chorus.  One has reverb . one fewer playback head ( I believe), and HiZ connections, the other has no reverb, a full complement of playback heads (4), Sound-On-Sound, and both Hiz and LowZ connctions. What sets these machines apart, however, it the head switching - while Roland gives you a rotary switch with preset head combinations Korg gives you one pushbutton per head, permitting any possible combination. The Korgs are also built like tanks ( which is not to say that the Rolands are not well made by any means.

The Korgs are fairly rare, as they had the misfortune of being introduced only two years before the flood of affordably priced, decent sounding digital delays hit the market.

The variable motor speed allows the same sort of effects as those you can get by sliding the head on the fixed speed Echoplex, and the multiple heads allow syncopated echo patterns (like those of various European tape echos) that a single playback head just can't do.

Tone-wise, those old Roland Space Echos are something special. I remember an engineer telling me "you didn't need to bring yours, I have the plug-in". A week later he was asking me if I wouldn't mind leaving it there just a bit longer.

However, after years of maintenance and it seeming to find a new way to go wrong every year, I let mine go. If I used it enough I'd have kept it. But, for as little as I was using it, I couldn't justify keeping it with today's insane prices. If "that" tone is your ultimate goal, and you don't mind the noise and (potential) maintenance, go for it. That tone is so mysterious and satisfying.

oh my this video is worth a million hours in the studio.

thank you.

That's the way a Space Echo is - if it's been maintained properly - they're inherently better designs than Echoplexes. Problem is that a lot of Space Echos have not. They're like any 40 year old tape machine.

The thing is, it IS possible to maintain a Space Echo properly, but a lot of people aren't aware of it and a great many of the sellers are only interested in gouging the most amount of money possible for the least amount invested. Roland no longer stocks replacement motors, but there's at least on place on the internet that rebuilds them.

The Fulltone is essentially an Echoplex that's brand new and also built a bit better.