The first echo unit I ever had was a Wem copicat tape echo which worked well but was to some extent a poor mans version of the echoplex which the Fulltone TTE is a sophisticated & more reliable copy of . Despite the wem doing all I needed , & more , in the echo department I was knocked out & seduced by the fact that I could get a similar effect in a compact pedal when the first boss digital echos came out & no longer needed to cart around something that resembled a substantial breif case & needed replacement tapes every so often . Bad move .
While so many of todays digital effects do make a good attempt at replicating the sort of sounds most of us guitarists aspire to & have been influenced by , they do just that , falling short of the mark . When put side to side with the real thing there is something missing & somewhat sterile soundwise with the digital units .
Having gone full circle , returning to analoge stand alone pedals , I have to say that I am more than happy with my present setup & now realise the mistake I made changing in the first place .
A review won't tell you how the thing sounds you'll just have to listen to one but after owning the thing for a month now the difference is very striking : the decay is so much more natural than the digital units & there is a richness to the repeats that you just don't get with a digital echo & then you can also do all the spaceship effects that only a tape echo can do . The controls are so much more intuative & responsive as instead of knobs that change numerical values , as in a digital unit , it's the position of the tape head & a two speed motor ,that controls the length of the repeat coupled with feedback & repeat volume knobs so you can set it up the way you want from zero to every fraction up instead of just 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 .
The unit is well put together & comes with it's own case to protect it during transportation .
Almost a thousand pounds for an echo unit is a lot of money but if you live with the thing for a while I'm sure you will find it money well spent . After all once you've sorted out the right guitar , amp & a booster/distortion pedal to get your sound an echo unit is ( in my opinion ) the next most important thing .
To put the review into context I can play blues , classical & floydy type stuff but mostly play Heavy Rock/Metal . The equipment I use along with the TTE includes a Marshall SLP100 re issue into a 4x12 via a THD hotplate with a Keeley Java Boost pushing the front end .The guitar is a full weight Gibson Les Paul Std. That's the basic sound plus some other analog pedals for occasional effects .
