Skreddy Echo

So I owned a skreddy echo for 1 week.. hmm..
$325 for a very versatile Deluxe Memory Man.
I'll take the DMM...

someone needs to put the DMM up against the carbon
copy's modulated echo

The CC is alot darker than the DMM... DMM sounds more like tape to me. I'm with you, I'll take the DMM over the Skreddy anyday...

DMM vs CC:

Thanks guys - useful and interesting info - I can scratch the Skreddy from my "must have" pedals list then!

How about this one



It sounds good to me - as usual not enough of a demo of the slapback settings - but is it "tapey" enough?

That Lunar has been on my radar for a few weeks now, but I think the reason I'm not pulling the trigger is, none of these "tape-like" delays mimic the tape saturation... which, I THINK, is kinda' what TV's Nocturne does (yes/no?) Maybe the Nocturne + a Lunar or some other nice tape-Y delay would be the ticket...?

The Lunar echo is really cool sounding, if you can afford one it would be a great toy to keep on deck..BUT I gotta tell you that is NOT
how a tape "Echoes" or repeats the initial note.. Rather what you are hearing in the Lunar Echo's slap back is a very tailored sound of some
odd characteristics of both bucket brigade chips and low resolution digital chips.

If you want to be daring with your analog delay pedals, you can adjust them to have the psuedo ring modulation smear, that youre hearing from the Lunar. I dont recommend doing it with a good analog delay unless you have an oscilliscope to recallibrate the OEM clock settings.
All to say that in your analog delay pedal there is a delay chip that
is capable of a static length of storing a signal and then repeating
it(actually voltage but lets stick to the layman terms).
The BBD(bucket bridge analog chip) has to be "dialed" in for best intelligability for its "slap back" or repeat.
So... if you change that clock setting by turning the little trim pot
inside the pedal that is meant for its clock, you cause the chip to now
shorten its storage or maximize its storage of the signal.
If you max the clock, your delay slap back time will increase
BUT the quality of the slapback goes to hell and the sonic result
of the slapback is a ringing tone. Ala RING MODULATION..
very cool but only for "lunar" effects..

Like I said once you manually screw with an analog pedal's clock OEM setting, its near impossible to manually return it to the initial setting unless you have an oscilliscope and in some cases the chip just gets F'kd up. So.. find yourself a cheapo 80s DOD
analog delay (the light blue one) and you can play with the clock settings at will... if you need to like I do.

ALSO.. with early digital delay effects, the sample rate of the digi chip was not what we have today and it too was limited to how long
one could have a slap back time. So when you would max your delay time, the integrity of the original note would become almost grainy
and while it wasnt a clear and articulate "echo" of the original note, it resulted in a very nice creamy sort of slap back especially for space rock (think Floyd). ...but it didnt sound like a tape echo's smooth tape smear and saturation with the slight wow and flutter.
(btw.. high end analog tape player/recorders had very little
wow and flutter as this is undesirable in recordings..the aging of
pinch rollers and drive motors are why we like the modulation effect
of tape echoes though)

So... if you have an early digital delay pedal or rack effectbox, you can mess with the internal clock again and get those super grainy, highly NOT articulate slap back sounds too

BUT if you own a line 6 DL4 delay pedal, its actually one of the stock
settings called "low Res".. its awesome for exactly what some of that lunar echo is doing.

btw.. the new EH deluxe memory man is in a nice little compact hammond box and kicks ass.

O guys here is another potentially interesting one - again not the best demo to showcase what the unit can do



This one starts like as a DMM and is then modded by the guy who designs BJF pedals

Is this any closer to that "tape-like" sound?

lets examine some examples of the original units sound (minus the sh$tty recording techniques
of the video made)
The well known Maestro Echoplex tape echo:


EP-2 echoplex:


watkins (doesnt start playing till freakin 2:30ish)


The fulltone TTE (mike sounds pretty good here, remember his is all tube!):


and a good sounding demo of the older style EH DMM's (I've owned them all)


finally the Brian's RE310 (we've all seen this):



...I still like my old Boss DM-3 and a deluxe memory man setting on the DL4 best.

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

So I owned a skreddy echo for 1 week.. hmm..

Great thread!

Echo/Delay is probably the easiest effect to explain but the most difficult to define!

I've bought and sold around 5 different Delay Pedals this year and I'm still looking!

What was wrong with the Skreddy echo TV?

shaker wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

So I owned a skreddy echo for 1 week.. hmm..

Great thread!

Echo/Delay is probably the easiest effect to explain but the most difficult to define!

I've bought and sold around 5 different Delay Pedals this year and I'm still looking!

What was wrong with the Skreddy echo TV?

absolutely nothing was wrong about the skreddy but when you are wanting it to act
like an echoplex for ROCKABILLY, whats the point in spending $350..its forte' is best served
on the Eric Johnson (cliffs of dover), the Dave Gilmour (run like hell) or Page types..
Really really nice machine with a ton of variables including the effects loop that affects only the repeats.... Very full and organic for being digital..

My work lets me try alot of fun gear, but seriously my family would think I was a selfish
asswipe if I just kept everything I got my paws on. oh well I feel lucky to have a boss DM-3, DL4 and an ol' RE-301space echo(in the shop again after I pulled it apart).

btw.. who's fooled around with the Empress SuperDelay

I was GASsing for that Super Delay since it came out, but frankly, it's just way too much delay for me. I'd never use the whole thing, and $450 is alot to spend on a digital box that I won't utilize totally. I have heard it does a very good tape simulation.

Right now, I'm at the point where I'm just going to stay with my Line6 until I can afford a REAL tape machine of some kind. Altho I might check out that new DMM... hard to resist. Unless somebody comes out with the "ultimate" digital tape sim, where things like tape saturation & amount of wow & flutter can be controlled, like a "pedal version" of the TTE, I'm not interested in a dig sim anymore. I have a pretty good one. It'll do until I get tape.

You could do a DIY tape echo. That would be pretty cool!

Guitarmaniac wrote:

You could do a DIY tape echo. That would be pretty cool!

Go for it! here's an insane recipe to get you started:

Yes, tape echo's can be made cheaply . I built one myself using an old reel to reel and 4 walkmans. Here's how I did it.

1. old portable reel to reel with record function (portables are easier because they lie flat)

2. four walkmans taken out of their cases front and back (just the
motors and electronics) mounted on on L shaped piece of steel I just
screwed them on and then attached to the side of the reel to reel.

3. next I took the spools out from 4 cassette tapes, except the last one has one spool in it to pull the tape.

the tape pulls through the record on the reel to reel and passes
through each walkman. The head phone out on each walkman has been
resoldered to one set of left and right rca's, the volume control on
each walkman acts as the delay time and amount, e.g. no volume on
walkman 1,2,and 3 equals one longer delay time, volume on all 4 equals
4 step delay. Because the motor in the walkman is weak you can pull and
slow down the tape by hand on the reel to reel creating wierd effects.I
have a Roland 201 Space Echo that cost me $350 I can get remarkably
similar sounds with my "Space Walkmans" for a cost of 45$ after
searching garage sales. Only thing is to use long tape, because it
doesn't loop you have to rewind it, my tape lasts for 45 min before I
have to rewind.

WAMPLER analog echo

The NEW version of the Wampler, which has adjustable modulation (which Brian says is NOT just chorus/vibrato, says he's designed a specific circuit to simulate tape flutter), comes out in a month or so. I'm on the waiting list. However, without that simulated tape saturation, not sure how I'll like it.

The new version is called the Faux Tape Echo.

all made in china by crying 8 yr olds behind barbed wire...

ps. I'm a dealer for these guys

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

ps. I'm a dealer for these guys

Cool - any scoop on these delays? - have you had a chance to try them out yet?