• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Echoplex Preamp?

Joe Gress

Joe Gress

Dec 22, 2005
11,863
37
Pueblo, CO
#1
So I'm still borrowing my schools echoplex (I think I'm gonna offer them cash and take it. Its just being ruined in storage. They have a set of taurus pedals and a mini moog synth that are now ruined and water damaged cause they just sit there) and I was playing with it again last night. I'm currently doing a transcription of all the parts on a Clutch song (crackerjack), and I was busy trying to see if I could get that old school ampeg grindy honey bass sound. I was using my geminidrive with a p bass through my GK, and with the right setttings I was getting real close. But it wasn't very deep or focused at all. Meh whatever I said, I'm close.

So I decide that it would be pretty neat to have runaway occilations at one point during the song, so I drug out the echoplex. Just bypassing the delay and playing with my same exact settings it was like magic! The sound instantly became what I had been searching for. Round, deep, controlled, yet with a little but of dirt and grind to keep it present and full.

So is there anything out there that uses an old echoplex preamp or something like that without the delay?
 
#4
The old green box tube Echoplexes are magic for guitar players due to the compression and overdrive potential although they have gotten pretty expensive at about $1,000 ea on the used market.
I recently sold an 80's Echoplex that was NOS; I ran it for less than 5 minutes with a bass to make sure it worked OK but don't remember anything special about the electronics.
 
#5
Jim C said:
The old green box tube Echoplexes are magic for guitar players due to the compression and overdrive potential although they have gotten pretty expensive at about $1,000 ea on the used market.
I recently sold an 80's Echoplex that was NOS; I ran it for less than 5 minutes with a bass to make sure it worked OK but don't remember anything special about the electronics.
Click to expand...

The one I have is an EP-1, and it may just be in my head, but the dynamics and finger response of this thing are waaaay different than that of my signal being run straight through. Especially with dirt.
 
#6
There are a few EP-1 preamp clone/variation pedals out there. The Xotic and the ClinchFX are the two biggies but there are others. Their effect is not a lot different from the Submarine and similar "tone tightening" cleanish preamps. They don't do a whole lot to the dynamics, maybe a subtle compression... They do attenuate the lows a tad, which gives them a "tighter" sound, less flabby.

None of the pedal versions do exactly what an EP-1 does; this is partly because of the unusual power supply used in the EP-1, and partly because of other circuit-design compromises that pedal builders have had to make in order to get the preamp circuit to work as a standalone device. Clinch has been very honest and forthcoming about these compromises; Xotic and other makers, not so much. Another factor is the age and deterioration of the components in the original devices, giving some pleasing dirt and coloration that won't come from new components of the same nominal spec.
 
#8
bongomania said:
There are a few EP-1 preamp clone/variation pedals out there. The Xotic and the ClinchFX are the two biggies but there are others. Their effect is not a lot different from the Submarine and similar "tone tightening" cleanish preamps. They don't do a whole lot to the dynamics, maybe a subtle compression... They do attenuate the lows a tad, which gives them a "tighter" sound, less flabby.

None of the pedal versions do exactly what an EP-1 does; this is partly because of the unusual power supply used in the EP-1, and partly because of other circuit-design compromises that pedal builders have had to make in order to get the preamp circuit to work as a standalone device. Clinch has been very honest and forthcoming about these compromises; Xotic and other makers, not so much. Another factor is the age and deterioration of the components in the original devices, giving some pleasing dirt and coloration that won't come from new components of the same nominal spec.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I really like the sound of the delay as well, so I may just keep it. Just have to talk to them.
Dirk Diggler said:
Do they want to sell either of the Moogs?
Dirk
Click to expand...
I don't know actually. They belong to an old retired professor that is still living, but I'm not sure if he even plays anymore. The mini moog has a LOT of water damage to it, I'm not sure it'll be salvageable. The Taurus pedals are actually in really good condition, its just that no one uses them. I'm pretty sure one of these days they are just gonna come through and throw it all out. I told dennis (recital hall manager and my boss) if that happens I've got dibs on the moog and pedals. But I may talk to the dean before that and see if I can't buy them outright on the premise of fixing them back up. My bass professor did this with one of their uprights that was stuck in a closet somewhere. Restored it'll be worth 6-10 grand, she got it for $300.

Well have to wait and see. I might take some pictures and post em on here to see what you guys think.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back