True tape delay

[Chistopher]

What are the options for an analog tape delay? T-Rex Replicator and an Echoplex look like they are about it. I'm not looking to buy one, I just think they are neat

 

[Mincer]

These days not very many. But actual tape delay is a PITA to maintain. I used to use a reel-to-reel. Now, that sound is replicated pretty well with digital, without the noise of the motor and tape spewing out everywhere.

 

[idsnowdog]

The main appeal of a tape delay is that there's always a little modulation from wow/flutter, and the decay is inconsistent. The preamp circuit also adds a bit of clipping, which people like to use as a boost. I had both a Korg Space Echo tape delay and a Korg SDD solid-state unit. The SDD had a setting for modulation that didn't exactly replicate the wow/flutter from a tape unit, but it was still usable. The SDD preamp section didn't exactly replicate the clipping from a tape unit, but it was still usable.

 

[Coma]

These days not very many. But actual tape delay is a PITA to maintain. I used to use a reel-to-reel. Now, that sound is replicated pretty well with digital, without the noise of the motor and tape spewing out everywhere.

I find it kind of funny that even in a community as reluctant to change as guitarists, where guitar designs from the 50's and big heavy tube amps are still in high demand, there's hardly any demand for actual tape delays.

If course, real true guitar heroes all have their own EMT140 at home.

 

[Mincer]

I find it kind of funny that even in a community as reluctant to change as guitarists, where guitar designs from the 50's and big heavy tube amps are still in high demand, there's hardly any demand for actual tape delays.

If course, real true guitar heroes all have their own EMT140 at home.

I think it is because a tape delay needs lots of parts, and the pedals are almost all $500 or more. They are heavy and take up space, and there isn't a compelling reason why someone would choose the real thing over a computer simulation.

 

[Coma]

I think it is because a tape delay needs lots of parts, and the pedals are almost all $500 or more. They are heavy and take up space, and there isn't a compelling reason why someone would choose the real thing over a computer simulation.

I mean, you're not wrong per se, but there are people out there paying that kind of money for a tube screamer clone just because it supposedly contains whatever the transistor equivalent of unicorn farts is, so it can't really be the price. And enough people are still willing to lug around 100w heads that they're not going extinct any day soon.

But maybe those tape delays are just fragile and finicky enough that most manufacturers know well enough to keep away. Not to mention the risk of it coming apart in the middle of a live set.

 

[Mincer]

They are extremely fragile and finicky- and that outweighs almost everything else. To me, the sound has been replicated really well in the digital realm, too.

 

[idsnowdog]

Eric Johnson has a tapeless tape echo that he uses. His guitar tech removed the tape spool and the read/write heads. The signal goes into the preamp section and then out of the write head's wires to an analog delay pedal. It then returns to the tape echo by the wiring for the read head. The majority of the circuit has stayed the same, but the mechanical part has been removed. So, the write/read heads act like an effects loop.

 

[Chistopher]

Also there are an insane number of specialty parts that go into one that it's impossible to make one for cheap. You either have to source them from an oddball manufacturer, or make them in house.

 

[GuitarStv]

Too many of us grew up using tapes in the 80s and 90s. Tapes suck, as anyone who was stuck with them for any length of time knows.