The Catalinbread Echorec is a digital emulation of the Binson Echorec 2 drum tape delay machine, notably used by Syd Barret of Pink Floyd in the 60's and later by David Gilmour. The pedal version produces a wide range of warm, analog like delay trails, with optional modulation, which is controlled from inside the pedal using a small trimpot. The pedal also sports a preamp, with a small internal trimpot for gain adjustment. However these are just the boring facts. What I really love about this pedal and the reason I got it in the first place, is the rhythmic options offered by the different drum head combinations (12 of them!). It is so much more than just a delay pedal... Sure, there are other multi-tap delay pedals, but this one is the closest to the perfect combination of features with ease of use, and it just sounds so good that it's hard to beat. But not everything is perfect...
The preamp can be driven hard and act like a boost or even a crazy fuzzy boost when cranked
The Pre Amp
The preamp circuit could probably be a pedal in its own right. It has a serious range of gain and a lot of character that affects both your dry signal and the delayed signal. In addition, as you can expect from any gain component, the preamp interacts with other pedals in the chain, many times not to my liking due to changes in volume, but also changes in compression characteristics and top end rolloff (when used in true-bypass mode), which I will get more into later. The preamp can be driven hard and act like a boost or even a crazy fuzzy boost when cranked, so you can use it as a boost + delay for solos or parts you want to stand out, for example.
However, to me, for a delay pedal the preamp is a bit too much. Yes, it has character and warmth, but I prefer a delay pedal to focus its character around the delayed repeats and leave the rest to me, especially when I play live and require predictability and consistency. The guys at Calalinbread thought about that and provided an internal switch that allows you to choose between what they call "trails" mode, and true-bypass mode. In trails mode, when you switch off the pedal, the delay trails will still get through, until they finally decay and the preamp will stay engaged. In true-bypass, the entire pedal circuit gets bypassed when the pedal is switched off, so there is no preamp and no delay trails. This way, you can get your pure signal back when you switch off the delay. While that gives you control over your dry signal when the pedal is off, it leaves you with unpredictable changes in volume, compression and EQ, depending on your current signal path. In my case, when I switch the delay on and off when nothing else is engaged, there will be no audible difference in volume. If I add my OCD into the party, there will be an obvious volume drop compared to the OCD alone, and if I add my EHX Electric Mistress there will be a significant bump - very annoying! If the preamp wasn't so dominant, I would probably set the pedal to trails mode and live with the preamp coloration, but the way it is, it simply isn't an option for me.
With all that said, the Echorec preamp can also be used to fatten up fuzzes that are otherwise mid scooped and lack body and muscle. After I got over the preamp coloration and gain staging issues with my OCD, I realized that I can take advantage of it and use it tastefully to harness my fuzz tones. What it does to my muff and germanium fuzz tone cannot be described with words. You need to hear and most of all feel it under the fingers in order to comprehend - it's great.
The different combinations along with the other knobs, allows you to really dial crazy inspiring delay rhythmic patterns
Head Combinations
As expected from an Echorec and unlike most delay effects, the pedal emulates 12 combinations of 4 tape heads, which allows you to dial very unique and interesting delay rhythmic patterns. For me, this is where this pedal really shines! There are so many great sounding delay pedals today, but I find most of them either boring or over complicated. This one has a single head combination select knob and five other knobs, each controlling a single function, which for me is a great thing. This is of course a matter of personal preference, but for me, when it comes to my sound, I like to keep things simple. There is nothing worse than stopping a session in order to tweak gear! It's a f**king nightmare!
Pros
Great sounding analog-like delays
Very versatile
Easy to dial good sounds
Very inspiring rhythmic delay patterns
Good size and overall construction
Good tone range for the repeats using the tone knob
Cons
The preamp gain doesn't always stack well with other gain pedals, which results in drastic volume changes and coloration.
The modulation circuitry introduces some noise in my pedal, so I turned it off, although I really love its sound. Oddly it only makes noise when I dial the head combination knob to position 3, 5 (my favorite), 8 and 9..
The internal modulation and especially the gain pot would be much more useful if they were on the top of the pedal, especially for those who have tightly wired pedalboards. The manual recommends experimenting with the preamp gain and adjusting it to your rig and an internal tiny trim-pot is not exactly the greatest way to make that accessible.
Overall I love the sound, the rhythmic options and simplicity of the Echorec. I use it in true bypass mode in order to avoid the preamp color when I'm not using the delay. It's definitely a vibey pedal and not an everyday delay and that's what I love about it. Would I get it again? Probably not, at least not as a general purpose delay. As much as I'm in love with the sound and vibe of the Echorec running straight to my amp, stacking it with my overdrive pedals simply doesn't work well enough and it's not versatile enough for sessions where I need to cover a wide range of styles. Having said that, it could work great on small mission-specific boards, with one or two dirt pedals you can carefully match to the Echorec preamp, and of course it is really really amazing when plugged straight into an amp. I think the bottom line for me is that the Echorec is an amazing "special effect" type of pedal, but its dominant strong character often makes it a bully to other pedals, so it needs to be handled with extra care.
If you are a vintage delay guy, you probably want to check out the entire range of delays from Catalinbread, because they have quite a few jewels in their lineup.
How I Use The Echorec To Better Control My Tone
As I described earlier in this post, the Echorec preamp can have a great effect on my tone in some cases (any fuzz I tried) and a negative effect on others (OCD and other overdrives I tried). I tried both true bypass and buffered mode, but none of them gave me all the flexibility I wanted, so here is what I did after experimenting with different options. I set the Echorec to buffered mode and run it through one of my switcher's loops alone. Now I have two foot-switches to control my Echorec. The switcher foot-switch allows me to either bypass the pedal, or route my signal through it to get the preamp filter effect - so the switcher loop is my true-bypass. The foot-switch that's on the Echorec itself can now be used to bring the delay in and out of the signal, when the switcher loop is on. This gives me maximum control over my tone, at the price of having to step on two switches to get my big-muff sound in case the Echorec was not already in the signal.
More Useful Facts The Echorec preamp is a great match for a classic Big Muff (actually any muff or fuzz I tried it with). Dialing the preamp gain to a slight boost adds a good amount of midrange muscle to an otherwise scooped midrange of muffs. Although the Echorec does not contain a buffer, its preamp has enough gain to easily drive long cables.
PGS Demo
[2019 Update]
If you are into the Echorec vibe, you should at least be aware of the Strymon Volante. The Strymon Volante is not an Echorec replica, but an Echorec inspired delay pedal, which comes with the Strymon quality, size and price-tag (still drooling as I write these words).