How to get Sneaky Pete's Echoplex sound

[John McClung]

Idle curiosity of the day:

Anyone have a view on what modern day tape delay stompbox best emulates Sneaky Pete's lush Echoplex sound from the 60's and 70's?

Also, what model Echoplex did he use mostly?

[Marc Jenkins]

https://www.catalinbread.com/index.php? ... elle-epoch

[Stu Schulman]

I use a tiny "Guyatone" box to ape sneaky's sound...I could never get an echoplex to work right.

[Brad Bechtel]

Sneaky Pete Kleinow's setup is discussed here. No mention of the settings used on the devices, though.

[Steve Hinson]

https://www.catalinbread.com/index.php? ... elle-epoch

I have a gray tube Echoplex and I a/bd the"Belle Epoch"with it...everything is there except the aroma...

Closest thing I've ever heard...

SH

[Thomas Stone]

A lot of the rich Echoplex tone came from the preamp. That has been modeled in several pedals. The one I like is the Xotic EP Booster. It's sold as a boost pedal, but you can set it for zero gain and still get the EQ effect. Then you can mate it with any delay pedal.

[Donny Hinson]

I think Pete's sound and tone was a combination of his 400, the old Fender tank reverb, the Echoplex delay, and his vibrato style.

Here's his first recorded work, on a Ventures tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCr8fZvk_k

`

[K Maul]

I mostly agree, with one detail. He never used amp reverb, just tape. His first one he made himself from a tape recorder, then Echoplex, then Roland Space Echo. He may have used a Fender amp in ‘69, but he used 2 Peavey Session 400s mostly.

[Donny Hinson]

K, just for the record...the song I posted is from 1964, that's before Peavey was in business.

[Jim Sliff]

He didn't use reverb except in the studio. Sometimes mixing engineers threw some on live, but he didn't like amp reverb because it tends to work primarily on the highs. He never used a Fender outboard Reverb Unit.

Early on he used a solid-state Echoplex; later he moved to a Roland Space Echo. All through the 70's, 80's and 90's his amps were normally two Session 500's(later just one) stacked on top of each other, but he didn't use the reverb. Few players I'm aware of use amp reverb in the studio - they record "dry" and the producers and engineers add the reverb.

However, Pete did add almost all of his effects - including delay - while tracking, and layered multiple tracks (up to 6 or 7).

The Ventures track is an anomaly as it was his first session and he had no control. After the Burritos broke in '68 and he started getting more studio than band work artists and producers hired him for *his* sound - not for vanilla pedal steel.

One reason he mounted all his effects except the tape delays into his guitar was so that he could control their use while tracking. They were integral to his playing style and sound. He rarely played typical "country pedal steel" (and consciously tried to avoid doing it) and never considered himself a country player. His goal was to be known as a "pop/rock" pedal steel player - which is what he was if you look at his recorded output.

I use either an Echoplex - when I want to go nostalgic - or an Echoplex emulator. The little Hottone Tape Eko is a great unit for getting Pete's sound.

The disadvantage to the tape units is that the tape wears out quickly, and it runs around $40-50 to have an Echoplex cartridge rewound, and Roland tape loops run about the same

Some recommend mastering tape or other studio tape, but they are the wrong materials and can damage the units. Both types use specialized tape.

[Stephen Cowell]

Two mods to the EP-3 solid-state Echoplex help a lot...

1). Put in a true-bypass switch. Since I never use sound-on-sound, I just used the DPDT switch on the front panel.

2). Add an output balance potentiometer so that the bypassed volume is comparable to the non-bypassed one. I added an internal trimmer and adjusted it to taste. Otherwise the output is really hot! Folks love the FET boost of these units so much that it’s available as a stand-alone effect.

With true bypass, you can turn off the unit when not needed, greatly saving on tape wear. Without TB you get nothing out when it’s off.

I also added an RC network to the solenoid that pulls in the capstan... this allows the motor to come up to speed quickly and prevents eating the tape, something these units are known for.

[Jim Sliff]

Nowadays using an Echoplex or Space Echo the way Pete did - for 2-3 hours a night -is just impractical...and costly. When I was still gigging I used mine sparingly, and used emulators 99% of the time. Most pedal builders ave included variable wow and flutter, "worn tape" noise, tape hiss and so on. Nobody can tell the difference just by listening - you have to point it out!

As Stephen noted, the preamp sound is a big part of it, and the better pedals incorporate some version of it. You can also get close, though, using a good analog delay and the ElectroHarmonix Echoplex Preamp pedal.

Again though - DON'T addd any reverb when playing live. If you're being miked it's best to ask the folks on the board to not add any reverb and run you "dry" as well. That'll get you closest to Pete's live sound.

In the studio there's jjust not much you can do about mixdown and mastering, as uses of effects there are under the producer's and mastering engineer's control[/quote]

[Cartwright Thompson]

I think that all of this obsessive chasing of other player’s tone is really sad, and a total waste of time.

[Fred Treece]

I think that all of this obsessive chasing of other player’s tone is really sad, and a total waste of time.

And the Buzzkill Comment of the Day Award goes to....

I enjoy reading about the intricacies of an iconic player’s tone, and their painstaking process of achieving it. Makes me feel not quite so weird about the obsession I have with my own sound, plus maybe I can glean something from the discussion toward that purpose.

[Cartwright Thompson]

Yeah, that was a little ham fisted,sorry. I guess I just get tired of the endless discussion of minutiae of another player’s rig. But hey, here I am reading it when I could be playing my guitar

[Asa Brosius]

I finally picked up a strymon timeline- there's an echoplex in there, and probably whatever else you're looking for in a delay/echo.

[Robert Herr]

Strymon El Capistan, emulates the old tape echo sound.

[John McClung]

Great info, everyone, thanks!

[Jeremy Threlfall]

https://www.clinchfx.com/ep-pre/

The original (EP3 preamp stompbox) and the best

[Jeremy Threlfall]

https://www.clinchfx.com/ep-pre/

The original (EP3 preamp stompbox) and the best

[John McClung]

Jeremy, do you use the ClinchFX Ep-Pre on your psg? Got any sound demos we could hear?

[Jeremy Threlfall]

No I don’t - I use it only on guitar

heres a Pete Thorn video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LderEFqby4A

[Tommi Toijonen]

If he used Space Echo, a very good emulation of a new, serviced one is Boss RE-20. It got my Space Echo to retire from gigging. (On 6 stringelectric guitar thou)