Strymon has continued its assault on the compact stompbox market with the EC-1 – a tape echo delay pedal that takes inspiration from an iconic vintage unit.
For its past few launches, Strymon has steered away from the larger form factors popularized by its more feature-packed pedals, and directed its attention towards developing a more pedalboard-friendly design.
To that end, Strymon has so far championed this compact approach with the UltraViolet Vintage Vibe, Brig dBucket Delay, and Cloudburst Ambient Reverb. Now, it has further doubled down on its new design ethos with the EC-1.
The main headline here – apart from the fact it’s the firm’s smallest tape echo pedal to date – is that the EC-1 takes inspiration from an actual Echoplex EP-2.
As Strymon explains, the EC-1 was initially intended to be solely based around the dTape algorithm from its El Capistan unit, but that changed after it came into possession of “an immaculate Echoplex EP-2” that had been modded by renowned gear guru, Cesar Diaz.
One of the most sought-after Echoplex builds – which goes for upwards of $1k on the vintage market – the EP-2 was once used by Jimmy Page and Andy Summers, and preceded the EP-3 variant that was championed by Eddie Van Halen, Brian May and more.
Diaz – who worked with names such as Stevie Ray Vaughan during his career – tweaked the tube preamp of the physical EP-2, though, and helped tap into the warmer tone and frequency response of the latter model, resulting in a “special character that is immediately nostalgic”.
“It showed up in pristine condition and sounded amazing, and we found out later that it had been heavily modified by storied guitar tech Cesar Diaz,” recalls Gregg Stock, Strymon CEO.
“His mods created a single unit with the best attributes of both tube and solid state Echoplexes, so we spent a bunch of time figuring out how to recreate its behavior.”
With a modded EP-2 on-hand, the Strymon team worked to channel its tape delay essence into the EC-1, which offers controls for Time, Mix, Repeats and Mechanics, as well as a Tape Age parameter for dialing in tape condition.
Mono-to-mono, mono-to-stereo, and stereo-to-stereo functionality is available via a rear switch, with full MIDI integration for preset control, and a MIDI/Expression jack for greater parameter control, also onboard.
“The result is the most inspiring tape echo ever crammed into a small form factor,” Strymon insists, “positively brimming with the gooey magic that only tape-based manipulations and imperfections can create.”
The EC-1 is available now for $279.
Visit Strymon for more.
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