I have an Echoplex EP3 with serial no. I can't find any serial number / year guides online, but I know they varied slightly in manufacture and componentry depending on when they were made. Echoplex + Fulltone Tape for DIY Tape Cartridge Reloading EP1 EP2 EP3 EP4. Rated 5.0 out of 5. 1 Review Regular price $75.00AUD. Updated RED Echoplex EP1 EP2 EP3 & EP4 New Rubber Roller. Rated 5.0 out of 5. 1 Review Regular price $79.00AUD. 5 x Echoplex EP3 EP4 Tension Spring Arm Value Pack.

There's no doubt that original Echoplexes are cool, but unless you know how to keep them maintained, they can be dicey to keep running, or so I've heard. Also, buying decent tape cartridges becomes harder, as Fulltone has bought up a lot of the existing mastering tape and he won't sell it to you unless you own a TTE, so Anje, I hope you've memorized your old TTE Serial Number.

Now, I've also heard that Mike Battle (the inventor of the Echoplex) is selling cartridges and that the tape is very good quality, too, so Fulltone isn't necessarily the end-all be-all for this. I would also imagine their might be other sources for the raw tape, leaving it to the end-user to make his own loops and refilling the cartridges. For me, while the TTE may not be the SAME as an original, it is the best echo I've ever owned and much less of a headache than an original would no doubt be for me. Lemme guess, you feel that you may be missing out on hiss, flutter, and background noise?I've had many different tape-type echos tube and solid state Echoeplexes, Akai units, a Pilco unit. I did make a tidy bit on each of them as it seems there are a lot of folks hunting for fools gold.I sacked them all in favor of the Chandler Digital Echo.I had one of those back when they came out. I spoke with Chandler about it and he bragged that all that tone came from only a one-bit chip. I was surprised.

I told him it sounded more like two-bits;-). Lemme guess, you feel that you may be missing out on hiss, flutter, and background noise?I've had many different tape-type echos tube and solid state Echoeplexes, Akai units, a Pilco unit. I did make a tidy bit on each of them as it seems there are a lot of folks hunting for fools gold.I sacked them all in favor of the Chandler Digital Echo.Lemme guess also. He feels he'll get a warmer sound.

This must be a personal thing.I haven't tried the TTE, but I'm yet to hear a pedal that sounds as warm as a tape.I don't know the models of Echoplex, but what you want is a tube Echoplex rather than a solid state.I'll be surprised if the old unit sounds better than the TTE. Jean, I have the Fulltone TTE but it does not get the dreamy warble that my old Echoplexes have. The positive side of the Fulltone is reliabilty and less noise. Still, I rarely use it. I wrote them to see if I could get the TTE to sound like an Echoplex and he told me to put masking tape on the rollers to make them uneven. Still didn't capture the same Echoplex vibe.

If you are going for the vibe of an Echoplex, some may laugh but I get closest to my old EP's with a plain old Deluxe Memory Man. I'd be willing to bet more pro records are still being made using the EH Memory Man than any other analog delay out there.

If you happen to consider one, DO NOT get the stereo version. Deluxe only and the reissues are excellent.

Hi Jean, I love the DMM's so much I keep two on my board for the great Zeppeilin/rockabilly like slap back they do then the surreal, dreamy echoplex warble. When I was young, I thought any echoplex was just an echoplex. Back then I had no idea one was tube and another solid state. As I look at old pics on stage almost all mine were solid state. I had a tube EP a few years ago and it didn't sound too much different than what I remember my old SS's as sounding.

It's funny how our ears change when we learn one is supposed to be better than the other. I would be sure a good tube version would be better but the SS's do the EP thing better than anything new I've tried. A bit cheaper for sure.

I have a close friend that was Daniel Lanois' head of house engineer at Kingsway. They would use the Deluxe Memory Man by the dozens. A lot of huge producers, bands, etc. Rs 16x serial number. Still use the Memory Man as the delay of choice, even over the EP on tons of recordings. You'd be surprised how much of the new 'vibey' stuff is done on the DMM even in world class studios. Good luck with whatever you decide on and let me know what you think about the DMM if you get one.

The reissues are awesome and resale on DMM's is also very good if you ever need to part with one. EP's are extremely cool to have for the whole vintage/collectable thing but the DMM will pretty much get you there on a budget and without the 'issues'.

There are cleaner sounding boutique analog Memory Man clones but the DMM just has the right amount of noise, signal loss, and other imperfections that make it so very close to the overall 'lo-fi' vibe of the EP. I have not tried the DMM because you hear such conflicting reviews on them.

Some think they rate right there with a vintage Echoplex and others don't like them at all.I really should have tried one long before now.If you like crystal clear, hi-fi, and precise digital delay, you will not like the DMM. Much like the Echoplex, it is lo-fi thus the negative reviews from those who would rather have a sparkling clear digital delay. Some people just don't get it. But if the surreal, dreamy, lo-fi sound of an echoplex is what you are after you can't go wrong with the Memory Man. The artifacts, which happen to be musical sounding to some, are part of the magic. There are tons of much cleaner, noiseless, boutique analog delays out there but sound nothing like an echoplex. Once again, DO NOT consider the stereo version memory man if the echoplex vibe is what you are after.

Contents.The original tube Echoplex Tape echoes work by recording sound on a magnetic tape, which is then played back; the tape speed or distance between heads determine the delay, while a feedback variable (where the delayed sound is delayed again) allows for a repetitive effect. The predecessor of the Echoplex was a tape echo designed by in the 1950s, who built it into a guitar amplifier called the. He built fewer than seventy of them and could never keep up with the demand; they were used by players like,. Electronics technician Mike Battle copied the design and built it into a portable unit; another version, however, states that Battle, working with a guitar player named Don Dixon from Akron, Ohio, perfected Dixon's original creation.The first Echoplex with vacuum tubes was marketed in 1961. Their big innovation was the moving head, which allowed the operator to change the delay time. In 1962, their patent was bought by a company called Market Electronics in Cleveland, Ohio.

Market Electronics built the units and kept designers Battle and Dixon as consultants; they marketed the units through distributor Maestro, hence the name, Maestro Echoplex. In the 1950s, Maestro was a leader in technology. It had close ties with, and often manufactured amplifiers for Gibson. Later, Harris-Teller of Chicago took over production. The first tube Echoplex had no number designation, but was retroactively designated the EP-1 after the unit received its first upgrade. The upgraded unit was designated the EP-2. These two units set the standard for the delay effect, with their 'warm, round, thick echo.'

Two of Battle's improvements over earlier designs were key — the adjustable tape head, which allowed for variable delay, and a cartridge containing the tape, protecting it to retain sound quality.The Echoplex wasn't notable just for the delay, but also for the sound; it is 'still a classic today, and highly desirable for a range of playing styles. Warm, rich, and full-bodied.' The delay could be turned off and the unit used as a filter, thanks to the sound of the vacuum tubes.While Echoplexes were used mainly by guitar players (and the occasional bass player, such as, or trumpeter, such as or ), many also used the Echoplex. The solid-state Echoplex EP-3 Market Electronics held off on using while other companies made the transition. Nevertheless, in the late 1960s they set Battle and Dixon to the task of creating the first transistor version of their product. Once the two were satisfied, beginning in the 1970s, the Echoplex was offered by Maestro and designated the EP-3, but Mike Battle, unhappy with the sound of the EP-3, sold his interest in the company. This unit offered echo, sound-on-sound, and a number of minor convenience improvements.

Having been produced from 1970 to 1991, this unit enjoyed the longest production run of all the Echoplex models and was used by Tommy Bolin, Andy Summers, Jimmy Page, Brian May, and many other notable guitarists of the 1970s. About the time of the public introduction of the EP-3, Maestro was taken over by Norlin Industries, then the parent company to Gibson Guitars. EP4In the mid-1970s Market created an upgrade to the EP-3, designated the EP-4, adding features such as an LED input meter and tone controls and dropping the sound-on-sound feature. The EP-4 has an added output buffer to help improve impedance matching with other equipment. A compressor board based on the CA3080 was added to the record circuit of both the EP-3 and EP-4 models for a short while after the EP-4 model was introduced and then the compressor board was dropped from both the EP-3 and EP-4 models.

The EP-3 model was also offered for sale alongside the EP-4 model after the EP-4 was introduced.Battle's final consulting with Market yielded the EM-1 Groupmaster, which offered a four-channel input mixer section and a mono output section. Dissatisfied with the transistor-minded direction Maestro was taking, Butts left the company. End of tape echo production and subsequent use of the brand. Gibson Echoplex Digital ProAt the end of the 1970s, Norlin folded and their Maestro brand and Market Electronics was forced to find another distributor for their products. They found that distributor in Harris Teller, a Chicago musical wholesaler. Units built for Harris Teller carried an Echoplex badge that omitted the Maestro name. In 1984, Harris Teller bought out the Echoplex name and the stock of Echoplex parts from Market Electronics.

Harris Teller used the back stock to assemble reissues of the EP-3, EP-4, and tube EP-2, which they designated the EP-6t. In 1991, the thirty-year run of electro-mechanical Echoplex production finally came to an end.

Towards the middle of that decade the Echoplex brand was purchased by Gibson and applied to its line of digital looping units, one of which was sold under the brand as the Echoplex Digital Pro.As of 2019, Echoplex is a trademark of, which uses it for a digital pedal that emulates the sound of tape delay and for a -based based on that of the EP-3.Notable users.