Echoplex
Encyclopedia
The Echoplex is a tape
delay
effect
, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s and was used by some of the most notable guitar players of the era; original Echoplexes are highly sought after.
and Carl Perkins
. Tape echos 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.
In the 1950s, Maestro was a leader in vacuum tube
technology. It had close ties with Gibson
, and often manufactured amplifiers for Gibson. The first Echoplex, which utilized vacuum tubes, was designed by electronics technician Mike Battle and guitarist Don Dixon and 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. The first tube Echoplex had no number designation but was retro-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." The Echoplex effect 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; this is how Andy Summers
uses it, for instance. A later model was called the EP-2.
While Echoplexes were used mainly by guitar players (and the occasional bass player, such as Chuck Rainey
, or trumpeter, such as Don Ellis
), many recording studio
s also used the Echoplex.
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 little convenience tweaks. Having been produced from 1970 to 1991, this unit enjoyed the longest production run of all the Echoplex models. Right 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.
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. In the mid-'70s Maestro also created the ES-1 Sireko , a simplified, echo-only unit with a bin-loop cartridge system.
brand as the Echoplex Digital Pro.
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s and was used by some of the most notable guitar players of the era; original Echoplexes are highly sought after.
The original tube Echoplex
The predecessor of the Echoplex was a tape echo designed by Ray Butts in the 1950s, who built it into guitar amplifiers, including those of Chet AtkinsChet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
and Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
. Tape echos 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.
In the 1950s, Maestro was a leader in vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
technology. It had close ties with Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
, and often manufactured amplifiers for Gibson. The first Echoplex, which utilized vacuum tubes, was designed by electronics technician Mike Battle and guitarist Don Dixon and 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. The first tube Echoplex had no number designation but was retro-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." The Echoplex effect 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; this is how Andy Summers
Andy Summers
Andy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
uses it, for instance. A later model was called the EP-2.
While Echoplexes were used mainly by guitar players (and the occasional bass player, such as Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey, is an American bass guitar session musician, known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Donald Byrd, Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, and Aretha Franklin.-Biography:Rainey's youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet...
, or trumpeter, such as Don Ellis
Don Ellis
Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...
), many recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s also used the Echoplex.
EP-3
Market Electronics held off on using transistors while other companies made the transition. Nevertheless, in the late '60s 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 solid-stateSolid state (electronics)
Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...
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 little convenience tweaks. Having been produced from 1970 to 1991, this unit enjoyed the longest production run of all the Echoplex models. Right 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.
EP-4
In 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 interfacing with other equipment. A compressor board based on the CA3080 Transconductance AmplifierOperational transconductance amplifier
The operational transconductance amplifier is an amplifier whose differential input voltage produces an output current. Thus, it is a voltage controlled current source . There is usually an additional input for a current to control the amplifier's transconductance...
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. In the mid-'70s Maestro also created the ES-1 Sireko , a simplified, echo-only unit with a bin-loop cartridge system.
End of the brand
At the end of the '70s, 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 all the back 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 OberheimOberheim
Oberheim Electronics is an American company, founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim , which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments.-Oberheim Electronics:...
brand as the Echoplex Digital Pro.
Notable users
- Duane AllmanDuane AllmanHoward Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
- Chet AtkinsChet AtkinsChester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
- Tommy BolinTommy BolinThomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin was an American-born guitarist who played with Zephyr , The James Gang , and Deep Purple , in addition to doing solo work...
, especially for the "ray-gun" effect heard on Billy CobhamBilly CobhamWilliam C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
's Spectrum - Wes BorlandWes BorlandWesley Louden Borland is an American musician and artist, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit. He has been in several other bands as well including: Black Light Burns, The Damning Well, Goatslayer, Big Dumb Face, and Combichrist...
- Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Don EllisDon EllisDon Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...
- Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
- Eric JohnsonEric JohnsonEric Johnson is an American guitarist. Though he is best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, gospel and country and western music into his recordings...
- Esteban JordanEsteban JordanEsteban "Steve" Jordan was a jazz, rock, blues, conjunto and Tejano musician from the United States. He was also known as "El Parche", "The Jimi Hendrix of the accordion", and "the accordion wizard"...
- John Martyn
- Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
- Steve MillerSteve Miller (musician)Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...
- Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
- Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
- Chuck RaineyChuck RaineyChuck Rainey, is an American bass guitar session musician, known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Donald Byrd, Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, and Aretha Franklin.-Biography:Rainey's youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet...
- Randy RhoadsRandy RhoadsRandall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would seek out...
- Joe SatrianiJoe SatrianiJoseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
- Neal SchonNeal SchonNeal George Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist best known for his work with the band Journey. He is the only member to have recorded on all of Journey's albums...
- Sonny SharrockSonny SharrockWarren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
- Andy SummersAndy SummersAndy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
- Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
- Eddie Van HalenEddie Van HalenEdward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
- Joe WalshJoe WalshJoseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...