Echo Units Past and Present

[modrock]

I don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that Duane Eddy recorded in an empty water tank to get the twangy echo on his early recordings in New Mexico. Anyone know about this ? I think he used a Guild Starfire at the time

[admin]

Gary: This is true I believe but not as bad as it sounds. The large tank was moved into the recording studio as an echo chamber with the amplifier placed at one end and a microphone at the other. It must have been tough taking this on the road.

[modrock]

Thanks Peter, but think about it, I saw all those big 18 wheelers taking Paul McCartney's gear to the gig I saw last Saturday night in San Francisco.....You'd think there might possibly be room for a water tank in on of them....
Of course, we've come a long way since the days of Duane Eddy and his 'twangy' 'Rebel Rouser' guitar.....

Gary

[johnhall]

The mother of all studio echo chambers:


http://idolator.com/397752/capitols-fam ... nstruction

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/23 ... -capitol23

http://norimuster.com/history/capitolechochambers.html

[admin]

John: Thanks for posting links associated with this famous series of echo chambers, eight of them reaching 30 feet under ground. I had not heard of this before. It is clear I need to get out more. I hope this famous landmark can be saved.

[scott_s]

Gary: This is true I believe but not as bad as it sounds. The large tank was moved into the recording studio as an echo chamber with the amplifier placed at one end and a microphone at the other. It must have been tough taking this on the road.

The story I heard was that they originally used the tank outside, and had to recut the song whenever a car drove by!

[pippa201]

Hi guys,

Following on from the suggestions for echo devices, many of the great ones are sadly out of production. This includes the Yamaha Magic Stomp, although they occasionally appear on the well-known auction site.

This unit was/is particularly attractive because of its capability to accept pre-programmed patches. This increased its popularity amongst fans of the "Hank Marvin" sound.

I have posted reference to the source of the patches on my own website http://www.gemini3.eu

All is not lost, though, as Zoom have been manufacturing two models of programmable stomp-pedals which similarly accept the desired echo settings - namely the Zoom G2Nu, or G2.1Nu. The latter also incorporates a swell pedal, often used by Hank on his recordings.

Once again, if you contact Charlie Hall (email is on the Gemini III website), he will be pleased to point you in the right direction. Alternatively, for a great deal more, try http://charliehall.proboards.com/index. ... hread=5000

Cheers all, have a great day.

David JM

[ajish4]

I'm not sure if this qualifies, but I thought it interesting....Rickenbacker EK-O-TONE Model A-11

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

[nortega]

The DL4 is a fun little box, just ask Reggie Watts:
http://vimeo.com/177905

[nortega]

Maybe the Aussies here remember this one:


The DL4 is good in a pinch for the price and pretty easy to manipulate live, if it's close to you. If it's on the floor you'll be bending over a lot if you ever need multiple settings for different songs. The loop capabilities as demo'ed from the videos are what make it fun and something cool to add some spice.

[goran]

The discussion about echoes and their different settings, especially concerning The Shadows, is always interesting. As for myself, I'm quite convinced that the different echo types we've heard on the recordings are not the result of careful planning on Hank's part, rather it's the result of the various echo machines avilable at the time. Having had several types of Binsons, Dynacord and Watkins Copycat (marketed in Sweden by Hagstrom as "Kent-eko"), my experience is that you basically went for two types of echoes, one a little shorter for uptempo numbers like The Savage and one longer for more ballad-type numbers like Sleepwalk. Onstage you often did not have the time even for that, so you settled for one type (usually the long echo) the whole set. This is also known to be a fact for The Shadows' live performances. With the development of presets it's another matter, but I still only use not more than 5 different echoes during a gig, sometimes I forget to change and you know what; nobody is the wiser.......

But the 508 is an awsome beast which I actually prefer over the much more sophisticated Magic Stomp. And the Sounds Like The Shadows programming by Geoff Strachan is just perfect!

[admin]

So very nice to hear from you Goran. I too love the Zoom 508 which is very effective in making the Shadows tunes and others come alive.

[somebodyelseuk]

All is not lost, though, as Zoom have been manufacturing two models of programmable stomp-pedals which similarly accept the desired echo settings - namely the Zoom G2Nu, or G2.1Nu. The latter also incorporates a swell pedal, often used by Hank on his recordings.

Once again, if you contact Charlie Hall (email is on the Gemini III website), he will be pleased to point you in the right direction. Alternatively, for a great deal more, try http://charliehall.proboards.com/index. ... hread=5000

Cheers all, have a great day.

David JM

Hiya. I'm looking for a cheap unit for my Dad for home use - he currently uses a Yamaha rack unit, but the internal battery's gone down and it's one of those 'soldered in place' deals. The C2.1Nu could be just what I'm looking for IF those multitaps can be edited/programmed. I read the guff on Zoom's website last week and the impression that I get is that you can only use the preprogrammed settings on the multitap. Also, do you know for sure whether the G2.1Nu can be connected to a PC for editing purposes?
Favourite so far is the Korg AX300G, but I'm slightly put-off by the fact that it only does three multitaps... not exactly 'multi' in my book.
Also, the Charlie Hall program? I heard that when he used to mod the Q20 he used to disable the SYSEX dump, which meant if/when the internal battery went down (again, soldered in place) you had to send the unit back to him to have it reprogrammed. Is this the deal with the software he supplies now, or has he come up witha more convenient way of protecting his work?
Cheers, Julian

[admin]

Julian: I would look seriously at the Zoom 508 This is a great unit which has been trouble free for me and easy to set up. They are often for sale locally for a song but on line are around $150.

[somebodyelseuk]

Peter,
Thanks for the quick reply. There is a 508 on eBay uk, but it's a little more than I want to pay - obviously, these are very sought after. Having dug a little deeper, I'm erring towards the G2.1Nu or G3 at the mo., as it looks like they can be freely edited, I just need to find out whether I can input numbers or whether it's a case of trial and error type twisting virtual knobs!
What I'm finding frustrating is that I use a rack setup with a couple of multi effect units which weren't ridiculously expensive. It's a setup I've used since around '95 and both units have fully programmable multitaps that appear to be more comprehensive than what's actually available today. It almost seems to me that guitar effect technology has gone backwards since then? Sure, they make less noise now, but they seem a lot less versatile than they used to be and to be brutally honest, I'd rather do without effects altogether than go back to those bloody 'stomp boxes'... and have you seen the price of them? There's something wrong with the world when a fuzz pedal costs more than an amp!
The craziest thing is, I can get exactly what my Dad wants, in software form for digital recording, for free on the 'net! I use Amplitube 3 at home and there's a sim of a rack multitap on there that does exactly what he wants as well... I'm beginning to ponder whether he might be better following Adrian Belew's lead - playing through a laptop?
Again, thanks for the input... if you have any more ideas, keep 'em coming.