WHAT WAS COOL ABOUT THE ECHOPLEX?
2.) The quality and decay of the repeats. The Echoplex was not necessarily “hi-”. As the echoes repeated, the
signal got progressively degraded, losing low end and gaining a shiny, percussive top end with a bit of grit. The
rst repeat is strong and then it gets more and more diused as it repeats. And it a well-tuned unit, you could
dial in the repeats “Echo Sustain” so that it would oat almost indenitely, without going into self-oscillation.
3.) Self-oscillation! The Echoplex was more than just a delay box, it was an instrument unto itself. Almost all the
famous Echoplex players used the delay slider and self-oscillating repeats as part of their musical vocabulary. In
fact, you could play the Echoplex without even plugging in a guitar, just by turning the Echo Sustain up until it
self-oscillated and then play it by manipulating the “Echo Delay” slider. This is where many other attempts at a
“tape echo pedal” fall short. Not only does the unit not self-oscillate, but turning the delay time knob results
in.... nothing. The sound stops till you park the delay time control. No space ships?! Fail!
When we set out to develop a delay pedal that captured the essence of the
mighty EP-3 we had to rst understand what exactly it was that made the
Echoplex special. Surely it was more than just EQing the repeats to make it
sound “tape-y”.
1.) First o, the EP-3 is famous for making your guitar sound better. Even
when the echo is turned o! The Echoplex was denitely not “true-bypass”.
Your guitar signal went through it’s audio path whether the echo was on or
not. The dry guitar signal went through a relatively simple path of discrete
pre-amp and on to a passive mixer stage and then out. But guitarists loved
its slight boost and subtle tone-shaping eect.
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