We’ve all had a pedal, effects or vintage sound-making machine that has peaked our curiosity for years, but have never had the ways or means to acquire said piece of gear. One of the most famous of these is undoubtedly the Echoplex EP-3 from Maestro, a warm echo machine full of tasty modulated delays, and one responsible for many of the classic and iconic recorded tones ever put down on tape. These units, however, are...
Read More
It has been a hot minute since we’ve had any gear from our friends at Anasounds in the shop, and we’re excited to jump back in today with an amazing pedal creation from them. The Utopia Deluxe Echo Delay features loads of echo tones, some warm vintage preamp oomph and exploration beyond your wildest dreams. Come along as we check out this amazing machine, won’t you?? The Anasounds Utopia Deluxe was designed for the...
Read More
We’re always excited to test out new gear from our friends at Universal Audio, and they’ve just sent us their four newest UAFX creations! We’re going to start this run off with the Orion Tape Echo, which takes a vintage sonic dive into the Echoplex EP-III musical pool. Three modes, a ton of control and beautiful echoes surround this pedal, just as it will engulf your sound and your entire rig… Thanks to the...
Read More
James Santiago Los Angeles, California Universal Audio https://www.uaudio.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar around 5 years old, and at around 15, I began working in professional working bands as musicians around town started asking me to play with them. I didn’t have a driver’s license back then, so I had to have my mom or other band members take me to band...
Read More
(This article comes from our friends at GuitarTricks.com – check out their site for tons of guitar-related tips and tricks!!) The History of the Space Echo Echo Echo… By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer, the original platform for online guitar lessons. History of the Space Echo Echo Echo… Before the electric guitar was invented, guitarists were limited on using reverb and delay in their music. The...
Read More
Andrew and the crew at Mozztronics just keep putting out incredible pedal after incredible pedal, and we’re so glad we get to keep on reviewing and demoing these wonderful creations. For the last pedal in the latest batch they sent us, we’re taking a look at the JD-2 Thunder Drive, an amp/drive/preamp/distortion all wrapped into one undefinable and glorious effect. Strap in and hold on, this one’s a crusher (as...
Read More
(This article comes from our friends at GuitarTricks.com – check out their site for tons of guitar-related tips and tricks!!) Message in a Pedal: How to Get Andy Summers’ Signature Sound By Steven Kendzorski for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer, the original platform for online guitar lessons. Andy Summers joined The Police in 1977, and quickly catapulted the group to international superstardom. With hits like “Every Breath You...
Read More
The looks and sounds produced by vintage Maestro effects units have wowed musicians for decades – the Fuzz-Tone, Phase Shifter, Echoplex and more set the sonic bar high long ago. With those older effects being rare, expensive and full of maintenance, Gibson and Maestro have teamed up to release the ‘Original Collection’ of pedals, 5 different effects that lay the foundation for any rig or recording setup. Today, we’re going to look at...
Read More
The looks and sounds produced by vintage Maestro effects units have wowed musicians for decades – the Fuzz-Tone, Phase Shifter, Echoplex and more set the sonic bar high long ago. With those older effects being rare, expensive and full of maintenance, Gibson and Maestro have teamed up to release the ‘Original Collection’ of pedals, 5 different effects that lay the foundation for any rig or recording setup. Today,...
Read More
Greg Loiacono & Tim Bluhm Marin County, CA / Fairfax, CA The Mother Hips motherhips.com Greg Loiacono Band gregloiacono.com Green Leaf Rustlers Tim Bluhm w/ The Coffis Brothers timbluhm.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Greg Loiacono: I started playing guitar at age 11. I wanted to learn as soon as I heard “Purple Haze” for the first time. I stopped for a bit and got back...
Read More
Ethan Miller Humboldt County Howlin’ Rain, Heron Oblivion, Feral Ohms howlinrain.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing music since about 7 years old when I started piano lessons. I took up acoustic guitar at around age 12. Electric guitar at age 14. I first got into playing non-classical music at a California State Summer School for the Arts that they used to...
Read More
We really loved the Echosex Baby Delay from FoxGear we reviewed a couple months back, and thought we should probably test out its sibling as well. The Echoes Delay provides a bucket brigade of analog delay tones that will enrich your sound instantly. Three-dimensional, ambient, lush echo tones mixed with precise repeats make this simple -looking device on you’re gonna want to stick on your board permanently… The Echoes...
Read More
Binson Echorec. Space Echo. Echoplex. These are a few of the incredible tape delay machines that came out of the 1960’s and 70’s, to create some of the most unique and fantastic sounds we’ve ever heard. Today’s pedal combines aspects of many of these machines into one glorious, options-laden unit, fit for modern use and harkening back to vintage sounds. The Gecko Pedals Geckoplex EP-5 Tape Delay is...
Read More
Although we’ve never had the pleasure of testing out an old Binson Echorec, Roland Space Echo or Maestro Echoplex, we sure love a good tape delay sound. Those machines, while classic and heard on thousands of incredible recordings, are now decades and decades old. This leads to a ton of maintenance, know-how and upkeep, and that’s if you actually KNOW what you’re doing. They can fail at any moment, usually requiring...
Read More
John Lee Shannon (www.johnleeshannon.com) Brooklyn, NY In addition to my own solo project, I regularly work in collaboration with: Zephaniah Ohora Cliff Westfall Bonehart Flannigan Brother Roy How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar when I was 15 or 16. My mom is a huge music lover, we were always listening to the radio in the car and going to concerts growing up. My dad...
Read More
Preamp and buffer pedals seem to get swept under the rug these days a bit, in part due to the incredible modulation, delay and drive pedals seemingly coming out every other week. However, these pedals are an absolutely essential part of any rig, and today’s pedal harkens back to a classic circuit and tone that has yet to be almost exactly replicated – until now. The Epoch Pre EP3 Preamp Buffer from Catalinbread emulates...
Read More
Robert Walter Los Angeles, CA Robert Walter’s 20th Congress https://robertwalter.com Greyboy Allstars https://greyboyallstars.com Mike Gordon https://mike-gordon.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing music when I was 8 or 9. My father plays drums so I have been around music all my life. My parents also had a great record collection so I spent a lot of time listening to...
Read More
Chris Traynor Topanga, California Bush bushofficial.com www.instagram.com/ct3guitar/ twitter.com/CT3GUITAR How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I feel like I’ve been a musician since birth. My parents took me to Suzuki method when I was a toddler, and although I don’t remember much from those days I feel like it really gave me an interest in communicating through music from a very young age. I...
Read More
Continuing our recent trend of some amazing tape delay echo machines, we’ve got another brilliant pedal for you today. The Deluxe Tape Machine Delay from LongAmp not only re-creates some fantastic sounds from the delay-filled 70’s, but does so while offering THREE distinct options, emulating the best tones from three of the most revered and classic delays ever made. Influenced by the Binson Echorec, Roland RE-201 Space...
Read More
There’s a decent chance you’ve heard of the famous Echoplex EP-3 Tape Delay from Maestro, made popular in the 70’s and 80’s by Andy Summers, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, and Brian May, among others. You may also know that these older units are finicky, tricky to repair, costly at times and not always the most road-worthy for the touring musician. That’s where today’s pedal comes in: the Belle Epoch...
Read More
Ben Bloom Seattle, WA Polyrhythmics www.polyrhythmics.com We had the honor of chatting with Ben in person when the Polyrythmics played here in Boise during Treefort Music Fest last month – here’s our conversation: [Pedal of the Day] Where are you guys from? [Ben Bloom] Seattle. I grew up in New York, but we all met and live in Seattle. I’ve been there since 2001. [POTD] What got you into music in the first place?...
Read More
When it comes to delay in general, one of the names that instantly pops into your head is TC Electronic. From the famed 2290 rack units of the 80’s, to all of their newer models, most of which we’ve had the pleasure to review: Flashback, Triple Delay, Alter Ego, Nova Delay and Repeater and so on. Today’s featured pedal is also a delay, and a massive one at that. The Alter Ego x4 Vintage Echo boasts sounds from...
Read More
Andy Fuchs Fuchs Audio Technology/Plush FX Pedals Div. 407 Getty Ave Second Floor West Clifton NJ 07011 973-772- 4420 www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started messing with a broken old Eminee plastic guitar I found in the basement of my families music store when I was about ten. I guess around 14 or 15 years old I’d been playing flute in the school band...
Read More
One of the most anticipated effects of 2016 has got to be today’s featured piece of gear, and rightly so on all accounts. The Nemesis Delay from Source Audio combines vintage analog and tape sounds with pitch-shifting abilities, modulation, MIDI, tap tempo and more. All crammed into a super pedalboard-friendly enclosure, this delay was three years in the making, and the final results are nothing short of astounding. Let’s...
Read More
With their unique wooden tops and intriguing control layouts, the pedals from Anasounds in France are instantly recognizable, and we love to check ’em out here at Pedal of the Day. Since reviewing the Cerberus and Freq Up last year, we stumbled across a sweet, short-style delay/echo with some modulation for added depth. Producing sounds like the Echoplex, Binson Echorec and the Skreddy Echo, this is the Utopia Tape Echo Delay....
Read More
With so many new effects with so many functions and big learning curves, it’s nice to come across an older pedal that has a couple simple knobs and sounds just fantastic, without having a bunch of bells and whistles. Today’s featured pedal, the FX96 Echo FX Analog Delay from DOD was produced way back in the ancient year of 1997, and was billed as a modern improvement on classic tape echo machines like the Binson Echorec...
Read More
Simplicity can be a powerful weapon in today’s pedal world, where some manuals tend to read like a Tolstoy novel. The ability to be able to sit down with a pedal and GO, without having to read a bunch first, can be key to gear working it’s way into your rig. Not that the big boys don’t have their place, of course they do, but sometime you just want a couple of knobs that make beautiful noise, and that’s all you...
Read More
Don’t you just love to hear the sound of a good tape echo delay coming out of your amplifier, or stereo speakers, or a YouTube video? Of course you do, we all do! Problem is, to be able to get that authentic sound, you have to find AND be able to purchase a big, clunky machine, which may or may not even work properly, then take a short 6 week course on how to use it, switch tapes and keep up the general maintenance of the unit....
Read More
Well, the Kings of Delay are back at it again. Ever since their famed TC2290 Digital Delay was released back in 1985, TC Electronic has continually been on the cutting edge of all things delay, and with their new upgraded version of the Alter Ego Vintage Echo, they steer us in a slightly different delay/echo direction. Combining elements from both of these genres into one compact package, the AE2 is loaded with options, modes, sounds...
Read More
The old tube tape echo machines are responsible for some of the greatest sounds ever put on tape, with works by artists such as Chet Atkins, Miles Davis, Eric Johnson, Randy Rhodes and Andy Summers, to name a few. The Magnetic Echo from Keeley Electronics aims to recreate those classic echo tones, and actually studied an old Echoplex EP-3 and a Roland RE-301 Space Echo to tap into the sounds of those 2 great machines. All housed in a...
Read More
First off, to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure why the TimeBender from Digitech is not on the delay pedal A-list. This thing is super powerful, sounds great and is relatively inexpensive. DigiTech has a prolonged history of making incredibly innovative pedals. The TimeBender combines conventional effects with some nutty, yet still sweet delay effects. The interface is great, and the ability that it gives you to...
Read More
Loopers. I mean, they’re just so much fun to use, and can be extremely beneficial as a learning and practicing tool. The Phrase Sampler + is my favorite – I know, it’s old, and “outdated”, and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the newer loopers do, but it is just perfect for my setup. 5 easy-tap buttons that are labeled telling you exactly what each one does, so there’s no...
Read More
