DUNLOP
ECHOPLEX DELAY
EP-103
REVIEW BY SAM HILL
STREET PRICE $199.99
When I heard Dunlop was
getting into the tape echo
game, I was excited. The
company has owned the
Echoplex name for some
time, first introducing the
EP101 preamp pedal, and
I wondered if it would ever
make a delay. Well, it did,
and it’s freaking awesome.
There are many tape delay
pedals on the market. Some
are simple echo devices with
preset amounts of tape-style
modulation, while others are
complex mechanisms that
offer the ability to adjust
every possible parameter
of a tape machine. The
Echoplex is a brilliant design
that fits perfectly in between
the two.
62
GEAR REVIEW
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The Echoplex looks like a
typical delay pedal. Three
knobs keeps tweaking to
a minimum with Sustain
controlling the repeats,
Volume for mix, and Delay
for delay time. The Volume
knob has a secondary
function that controls Age,
which is the amount of
wow, flutter, grit, and highend rolloff you can add
to the delayed signal. It
also features a jack for an
external tap tempo switch.
Using the external tap
opens up the Echoplex to
delay times of up to four
seconds, compared to 750
milliseconds without it. I
used the excellent new MXR
Tap Tempo switch to explore
Dunlop Echoplex Delay EP-103
the possibilities. The tap
tempo switch can adjust the
time when the pedal is off,
making it extremely friendly
for live use.
The Echoplex sounds
amazing. If you’re like me,
you’ve tried every tape
echo-style pedal you can
get your hands on. I’ve
owned several of them, and
have also had the chance
to play through real tape
echoes. There’s nothing
like the real thing, but
emulations have gotten so
good, it’s almost silly to lug
around a delay the size of a
car battery that might not
work when you need it. In
Normal mode, without any
tape modulation added,