That Dunlop Echoplex Delay

[Alamo]

Sounds just so good to my ears and would be really up my alley ...




(he starts playing at 5:30)

but why oh why does it have to cost half an arm & leg?
it's so freaking expensive, I guess I can't justify getting one.
next, I'd probably GAS for the Echoplex Preamp and the Tap Tempo pedal. even more dough to spend.arrrgh.

Has anyone here jumped on it?
are there any good but cheaper alternatives?
do you recon the clone market will catch up?

Darn GAS!

 

[FenderLover]

Very interested....

Jim Dunlop owns the Echoplex name, and now they can finally give the Belle Epoch a run for their money.

The Dunlop EP-3 preamp is more true to how the modern guitarist uses a boost. That is, they do not attenuate the output. Clinch Effects totally missed the boat on that one. And the Maestro Boost is a complete joke.

Since the new Dunlop Delay is designed to work with their EP-3 Preamp, I think it's a clear winner. The traditional EP-3 was a tape delay before the amplifier, so it's high headroom with their new delay at the end of a signal chain seems like a logical fit and a no-brainer if this is what you're after.

$199 ?? C'mon man. That's what the Belle Epoch goes for. They both have an analog dry path, and that's the price for digital processing.

Kudos to Dunlop on this one. It's about time.

 

[Alamo]

Well over here the price of the Delay is €250, the EP-3 Preamp another €155 -- so 405 €uros for both, which translates to $450 US at the moment.
that's insane.
but I do like the sound I've heared.

Belle Epoch goes for € 240.

 

[FenderLover]

Yikes - I'm not familiar with exchange rates, when X=Y or whatever, but I think I'm sold. Thanks for the post.

 

[bottlenecker]

$450? That's an ok price for a real EP-3.

With the preamp and delay it's still about $300 USD here in the US, and takes up 2 pedal spaces. Not sure why I'd want that over the BE, unless I just need to hear it.

Well over here the price of the Delay is €250, the EP-3 Preamp another €155 -- so 405 €uros for both, which translates to $450 US at the moment.
that's insane.
but I do like the sound I've heared.

Belle Epoch goes for € 240.

 

[omahaaudio]

They want you to buy the Delay AND the Pre-Amp to get the full Echoplex sound? For the $320 you could get a Strymon El Capistan and have a lot more control and many more options.

 

[BBill64]

I love it when the US members post all over threads like "get such-and-such, it's only x dollars" when the OP lives somewhere where everything costs about a third more than it does in the US.

 

[Mart the Hat]

Why on earth do they not just build the preamp into the delay? The original echoplex input stage is such a simple circuit that it seems ridiculous not to, and it would put pennies on the cost. Still, I guess selling you an extra box makes good commercial sense.

 

[milocj]

I love it when the US members post all over threads like "get such-and-such, it's only <i>x </i>dollars" when the OP lives somewhere where everything costs about a third more than it does in the US.

I think some people simply don't pay attention because they want to get their answer out there or don't think about the multi-nationality of the forum.

The big problem for me, though, is that I've gotten so used to using the app if I'm not already at my PC and the app doesn't show a poster's location. I don't always remember to look for their location when replying unless there seems to be a specific reason stated I'm the post, or if I recognize Canadian and UK spelling of words. Living 20 minutes from Windsor makes those extra "U's" stand right out. [emoji4]

 

[Lef T]

I'm interested in this pedal,but waiting till my music shop gets one in.
I like the fact that you can have tap tempo and this pedal has a lot of headroom
to run in my amp loop.
I need to try it in person.

 

[Alamo]

I wonder if you can skip the EP-3 Preamp. isn't it just a linear booster? like a EHX LPB 1
one could save some serious $$, if it's so.

 

[chemobrainkid]

Why on earth do they not just build the preamp into the delay? The original echoplex input stage is such a simple circuit that it seems ridiculous not to, and it would put pennies on the cost. Still, I guess selling you an extra box makes good commercial sense.

BINGO!

 

[Iago]

I love it when the US members post all over threads like "get such-and-such, it's only x dollars" when the OP lives somewhere where everything costs about a third more than it does in the US.

Or twice as much!

Anyway, I think Dunlop failed in not including the boost/preamp circuit into the delay. I'd probably go for the Belle Epoch if had the cash.

 

[PumpJockey]

Here in the US (he said qualifyingly!) if you are willing to go through the rigamarole of signing up for an Amazon Visa card you can get $70 off the Belle Epoch and pay $129. When the card comes in the mail, cut it up. Or pay $175 used on Reverb. There's one on eBay with no bids starting at $130.

Plenty of options on this side of the pond.

Even if you buy the Dunlop, there are plenty of other boosts to run in front of it. I have a Super Picosa Grande that would do the trick.

Also keep in mind that Andy from PGS makes everything sound terrific.

 

[Del Pickup]

I'm happy with my Belle Epoch - only one pedal with built in subtle OD for "the ultimate EP3 experience" as Andy refers to

 

[ruger9]

Why on earth do they not just build the preamp into the delay? The original echoplex input stage is such a simple circuit that it seems ridiculous not to, and it would put pennies on the cost. Still, I guess selling you an extra box makes good commercial sense.

ok, this gets complicated...

The scuttlebutt over on TGP (which is info reportedly gotten from Dunlop), is that they DID build the preamp into the delay... but the repeats only. So, the repeats ARE preamp-ed, but the dry signal is not. If you use their preamp in front of the delay, your dry signal will of course be preamp-ed, but then the repeats are preamp-ed TWICE.

Again, supposedly that comes from Dunlop themselves. Seems hokey to me. They should have just built the preamp into the delay with an on/off switch.

 

[Pants]

Meh. Not impressed with the sounds in the demo I heard. And the design sounds like cynical corner cutting from Dunlop.

In order to to have a good new pedal offering, I think you need to either 1) bring something new to the table (offer a set of features not offered in another pedal; even something subtly different from other offerings is fine) or 2) make an effect that was previously prohibitively expensive affordable.

Considering that the Belle Epoch exists and is so widely available at virtually the same price as this Echoplex thing, this doesn't seem to do either.

Edit: Come to think of it the one benefit I can see of this pedal would be this: budget cloners like Mooer see that Dunlop is making an Echoplex... therefore there must be a market for Echoplex clones... Mooer, Caline, etc flood the market with budget Echoplex clones. Sign me up for that. Till then, not impressed with Dunlop's shillery.

 

[Alamo]

Meh. Not impressed with the sounds in the demo I heard. And the design sounds like cynical corner cutting from Dunlop.

In order to to have a good new pedal offering, I think you need to either 1) bring something new to the table (offer a set of features not offered in another pedal; even something subtly different from other offerings is fine) or 2) make an effect that was previously prohibitively expensive affordable.

Considering that the Belle Epoch exists and is so widely available at virtually the same price as this Echoplex thing, this doesn't seem to do either.

Edit: Come to think of it the one benefit I can see of this pedal would be this: budget cloners like Mooer see that Dunlop is making an Echoplex... therefore there must be a market for Echoplex clones... Mooer, Caline, etc flood the market with budget Echoplex clones. Sign me up for that. Till then, not impressed with Dunlop's shillery.

But , but hey that's what they're doing.
1.) the new thing is to bring a pedal without the pre-amp. no one offers that.
2) the effect was previously availlable and it was very expensive -- the new one is even more expensive

ok, I'm patiently waiting for the .... ((((-Joyo-Plex-))))

 

[Pants]

Maybe a change.org petition is in order to expedite the process. Joyoplex is just too catchy to not be a thing.

 

[bottlenecker]

You are forgetting that it adds tap tempo. I'm a 100% non tap tempo delay user, and I was and am stoked that catalinbread did not do tap on the BE.
I guess for someone that wants an echoplex without the preamp, that has tap tempo, and they don't already have a strymon... maybe this thing?
Personally I have no interest. They should do an expression pedal input for delay time, like the slider on a real echoplex.

Meh. Not impressed with the sounds in the demo I heard. And the design sounds like cynical corner cutting from Dunlop.

In order to to have a good new pedal offering, I think you need to either 1) bring something new to the table (offer a set of features not offered in another pedal; even something subtly different from other offerings is fine) or 2) make an effect that was previously prohibitively expensive affordable.

Considering that the Belle Epoch exists and is so widely available at virtually the same price as this Echoplex thing, this doesn't seem to do either.

Edit: Come to think of it the one benefit I can see of this pedal would be this: budget cloners like Mooer see that Dunlop is making an Echoplex... therefore there must be a market for Echoplex clones... Mooer, Caline, etc flood the market with budget Echoplex clones. Sign me up for that. Till then, not impressed with Dunlop's shillery.