TAPE ECHOS..anyone know about these myaterious creatures?

[el duderino]

Hey i started to take an interest in tape echos and i was hopeing some of you more experienced people gould guide me in the right direction :lol:

i know they arent exactly stomp boxes but they are still effects right?

so i dont think i wILL  be building one any time soon unless they are alot
easier than i think :shock:  

but if anyone could give me some advice i.e links on how they work....
schematics...... whats on the inside  .......... tutorials or just personal experience :wink:

the whloe idea of the effect, to me, is pretty cool and i dont really hear alot about them so if anyone knows
pass it on.......

thanks
eamonn :?

[BIGROCKSHOW]

Hiwatt just released an interesting model...VERY PRICEY (@ least I think so) ...not sure what it sounds like.

http://www.hiwatt.com/data/HiwattFX.html

[el duderino]

oh yeah and pedals like the danelectro reel tape echo seem interesting
i as wondering how can these sounds be simulated in such a small pedal or in any stompbox???

[Rodgre]

oh yeah and pedals like the danelectro reel tape echo seem interesting
i as wondering how can these sounds be simulated in such a small pedal or in any stompbox???

take a digital delay and put a lpf filter.  Cut out all the highs, add a tiny bit of distortion, maybe, and TADA! You have what Danelectro wants you to THINK a tape echo sounds like.

Roger

[nosamiam]

Moosapotamus has a tape echo project called the Echo-matic on his site.

http://www.moosapotamus.com/othercoolstuff.htm

It's one of the simpler projects out there.  Cheap too, at least for the components.

I ordered all the parts from Mouser (except for the pots, which I got from allelectronics.com), and started populating the board.  Then I went out looking for a 3-head cassette deck (which is a requirement for the project).  Not easy to find locally since nobody really makes them anymore.  They have them on ebay for $50-100, which was more than I wanted to spend.

So I changed my mind and decided to do a compressor, since I already had the components I needed.  But then the guitarist I play with offered me his reel-to-reel deck which would work just fine.  So I don't know which one I'm gonna do.

The Echo-matic is still WAAAAAY cheaper than current-manufacture tape echos.  Only drawback is you can't control the delay time.  I think you can with the pro versions.

[petemoore]

I had a Univox. Just amazing sounding. And needed amazing amounts of attention. The wear on the heads, the electronics, and it was done...don't remember it's exact demise, it was sort of a long eventful [many times repaired sometimes good, other times...?],
 If there's a point in all this...tape echoes are really nice sounding when they're new or rebuilt, and have a fresh tape in them.
 We had a tube Sony recorder that would do echo. something like 1/2, tho it had three speeds, so shorter echoes could be had also.
 The Teac Reel to Reel would be a prime suspect for this, all the pre-amp is in a separate box underneath the tape advance mechanisms etc.
 With a tension motor, and a drive that is speed controlled [all you'd need is one direction, how hard can that be..well connecting the drive to the reel...], plus regeneration circuitry, with the speed controlled by electronic pedal...then you'd be talkin' "werth the tote". Just buy a fresh Reel of tape [should be good for more than one show ], and you're all set for super clean echoes...I forget the prices on reel to reel vynil, but it's pretty inexpensive...at least when I compared the Factory Univox loop, to a home mead spliced loop made from extra heavy duty magnetic tape...something like 4000 to 1 price difference.
 What I liked about the Univox was the tape corral, you could watch the tape snake through it, kept 'upright by it's own tensile strength, and the new loop [which it Always needed] could be made from any 1/4 magnetic tape.
 I've got this urethane, can put a flex drive on about anything, including my little RC racecar rear end...good stuff maynard. Melts to any shape, and bonds to itself stronger than itself with heat. Pure urethane. Has properties I can use, Very durable.

[SnooP_Wiggles]

if you got loads of cash ($1000) try a brand new fulltone tape echo
http://www.fulltone.com/C_S_TubeTapeEcho.asp

just released a week ago or so.

[Nasse]

These analog tape echos are nice thingies and can sound killer, if you find a good one echo AND have time money and knowledge how to keep it in working order... sooner or later (not very later  :wink:  :lol: ) they need fixing.

Here is some less or not very useful links I remeber just drawn from my memory

nice gallery of old and some new tape echo machines

http://www.the-legends.org/echo.htm

schemo and building instructions for diy tape echo, published in Shadowmania year 1963. Text is finnish heh heh :mrgreen:
http://www.the-legends.org/tm-63.htm

diy parts
http://www.phi-magnetronics.co.uk/index.html

vintage Italian echos page
//www.meazzi.com

Among other products, digital ZOOM RFX-2000 has been reported to be very good value for tape echo simulation

[keninverse]

I have an re201 space echo...
nothing like it in the world.  You get some really beautiful distortion from the reverb circuit that sounds unbelievable.  The only problem I have is the lack of sound on sound.  Does anybody know if you can just switch the erase heads out so I can achieve this?  My space echo is pretty rough looking so I'm not worried about modification ethics.

[Ansil]

have you tried a cassette oplex..

pretty simple little build

[Paul Marossy]

Can you say "Frippertronics"?  
Always loved the sound of tape delay/loops done the old-fashioned way.
Seems like the biggest obstacle for any DIY version of this would be getting the tape head.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Seems like the biggest obstacle for any DIY version of this would be getting the tape head.

..not if you are in the UK :?
http://www.mainlinegroup.co.uk/mless/main.php?act=Card&id_element=306

seriously, the surplus stores are full of old tape mechanisms, old casette walkpersons etc.

[Paul Marossy]

Hmm.... that's interesting. I know finding anything with three tape heads here is not an easy task, unless maybe you find an old reel-to-reel or something. I have seen one here and there in thrift stores.