Trex Reptile & Roommate coming in for review!

[jzucker]

Look for videos this weekend.

[drod2045]

sweet. my retile is on a truck somewhere. cant wait!

[drod2045]

i went looking! no videos yet!! :BITCH:AOK

excited to both see your upcoming video and the arrival of my reptile delay :banana

[jzucker]

i went looking! no videos yet!! :BITCH:AOK

excited to both see your upcoming video and the arrival of my reptile delay :banana

Should be soon. I just got notification that the reptile has shipped! :D

[jzucker]

got 'em today!

[drod2045]

awesome! be sure to give inital review, post initial review/getting acclamated review, friendship review, falling in love review, honeymoon review, and post honeymoon review

;)

[jzucker]

These are fantastic. The roommate is an incredible reverb. While it doesn't have a spring emulation, it really has a '60s spring vibe to it and sounds great with overdrive. The delay is also VERY good. The modulation sounds incredible. At low mix ratios, the pedal has a very analog/tape vibe to it.

Here's a BB+ demo in which I used these 2 pedals. I'll do a feature on these later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5qw9C6Fi4

[Clorox]

How do you like the Roommate vs. the RRR?

[drod2045]

is the delay very clean in repeats like a replica?

[jzucker]

is the delay very clean in repeats like a replica?

Yes but when you add the wow/flutter it sounds more analog and tape like. I like it better than the timefactor or DD-20. It doesn't have the "brown" switch but it doesn't need it. The modulation/wow/flutter sounds amazing.

In case folks aren't clear on hos this pedal works, it has an on/off switch which controls the effect and then an on/off switch which controls the modulation. With the mix level set to just a slight bit of echo, the modulation has a very tape like sound (ala fulltone TLE's layla demo but more subtle). Increasing the delay mix gives more of the police type of echo chorus but I find myself not using that as much. There is not a separate mix control for thei chorus.

[drod2045]

jzucker, have you tried the subdecay echobox? or a DMM? any other comparisons?

im super gased for mine to arrive!!

[jzucker]

jzucker, have you tried the subdecay echobox? or a DMM? any other comparisons?

im super gased for mine to arrive!!

No, I have tried:



Diamond Memory Lane
Goudie
DD-20
T-Rex Replica
Timefactor
DD-3
DD-5
Digidelay
DLS Echotap
probably some others I can't think of...

[Loud Librarian]

How do you like the Roommate vs. the RRR?

+1 on this, I would love to know your thoughts as you raved (rightly so) about the RRR. Thanks for all your demos, very helpful!

[Isaiah4Autumn]

reptile does not have a tap tempo...:puh and for $299 it should...I don't think that t-rex got this one right...I mean don't get me wrong I think it sounds amazing but I need my delays to exact so I'm sad because I got excited about this one...

[jzucker]

+1 on this, I would love to know your thoughts as you raved (rightly so) about the RRR. Thanks for all your demos, very helpful!

Hard to compare them because they are very different. The roommate has 3 reverbs + a reverb/chorus. I have not used the reverb/chorus combination much but the other 3 programs sound amazing and lush, partially because the 12AX7 seems to impart a really sweet vintagy tube-vibe to the mix.

OTOH, the RRR has about a dozen programs including rotating speaker, a really nice clean boost and razor sharp performance. It's the more modern sounding of the two (which ain't necessarily a bad thing). The RRR also has 2 different decay settings which is a nice feature as well.

You really can't go wrong with either one. One notable on the roommate is that with the tube, it requires a 12v power supply with a more hefty current draw.

[jzucker]

reptile does not have a tap tempo...:puh and for $299 it should...I don't think that t-rex got this one right...I mean don't get me wrong I think it sounds amazing but I need my delays to exact so I'm sad because I got excited about this one...

Yes, tap-tempo would be nice but personally, i'd rather dial it in. But, that's because I use only a few different delay settings and don't use it for U2 kinds of things. If you do, I can see where it'd obviously make it useful. However, the pedal sounds great and as far as I know, tape echos had no tap setting and folks still love them. ;)

[Loud Librarian]

Hard to compare them because they are very different. The roommate has 3 reverbs + a reverb/chorus. I have not used the reverb/chorus combination much but the other 3 programs sound amazing and lush, partially because the 12AX7 seems to impart a really sweet vintagy tube-vibe to the mix.

OTOH, the RRR has about a dozen programs including rotating speaker, a really nice clean boost and razor sharp performance. It's the more modern sounding of the two (which ain't necessarily a bad thing). The RRR also has 2 different decay settings which is a nice feature as well.

You really can't go wrong with either one. One notable on the roommate is that with the tube, it requires a 12v power supply with a more hefty current draw.

Awesome, thank you!!!!

[AnthonyL]

How does the Roomate compare to the Lee Jackson verb?

[zenfreud]

Yes but when you add the wow/flutter it sounds more analog and tape like. I like it better than the timefactor or DD-20. It doesn't have the "brown" switch but it doesn't need it. The modulation/wow/flutter sounds amazing.

In case folks aren't clear on hos this pedal works, it has an on/off switch which controls the effect and then an on/off switch which controls the modulation. With the mix level set to just a slight bit of echo, the modulation has a very tape like sound (ala fulltone TLE's layla demo but more subtle). Increasing the delay mix gives more of the police type of echo chorus but I find myself not using that as much. There is not a separate mix control for the chorus.


Jack, thanks for posting your review, I've been waiting for info on the Reptile.

I can live without tap tempo on the Reptile, but the lack of a modulation mix knob seems like a crucial omission. Sometimes I like to dial in a fairly wet (delayed) mix, but I don't necessarily also want a correspondingly heavy mix of modulation. My EH DMM sounds great with just a touch of modulation, this is a surprising oversight on TRex's part.

How does the tone/vibe of the digital Replica compare to the analog Memory Lane? I loved the trippy analog ambient textures the ML could produce, but didn't love it's touchiness on the onset of oscillation.

And how does the Reptile fare as a straight-ahead, non-modulated delay? Is the fidelity as good as the Replica? I really liked the Replica, probably the best sounding digital delay I've owned.

[jzucker]

How does the Roomate compare to the Lee Jackson verb?

The Lee Jackson Mr. Springy I had was a one trick pony. It got a reasonable copy of a fender reverb sound but with a super short decay that was not adjustable. Additionally, the gold paint was poorly applied and chipped off easily even in studio usages. (hard feet I guess). When opened, it was not impressive in that electrical tape was used in several places to keep things from shorting out. I emailed them several times and didn't hear back from them. Don't get me wrong, it's a good sounding unit but I expected better quality and service for the price.

[jzucker]

Jack, thanks for posting your review, I've been waiting for info on the Reptile.

I can live without tap tempo on the Reptile, but the lack of a modulation mix knob seems like a crucial omission. Sometimes I like to dial in a fairly wet (delayed) mix, but I don't necessarily also want a correspondingly heavy mix of modulation. My EH DMM sounds great with just a touch of modulation, this is a surprising oversight on TRex's part.

I complained to Eventide about this because the timefactor has the same issue. What I was told was that you would need dual delay processors in order to achieve that. Similar issue with the reptile I suspect. I doubt the reptile has the processing power to accomplish that.

How does the tone/vibe of the digital Replica compare to the analog Memory Lane? I loved the trippy analog ambient textures the ML could produce, but didn't love it's touchiness on the onset of oscillation.

I like the vibe on the reptile very much. The ML has more of a grainy, analog sound and sounds great for trippy '60s and clean or semi-clean stuff but on higher gain stuff, the reptile sounds cleaner.


And how does the Reptile fare as a straight-ahead, non-modulated delay? Is the fidelity as good as the Replica? I really liked the Replica, probably the best sounding digital delay I've owned.

I have not A/B'd them but my initial playing with it has me very happy with the straight delay to the point where I moved the replica off the board.

[kekaiakea]

anyone else find that the roommate adds a bit of presence to the dry signal?

I've found that my tone becomes a little harsh sounding with the roommate in my chain, so i roll off the tone knob to warm it up a bit. I thought it sounded great through my little pro junior, but it somewhat altered my tone (not for the better) through my '68 Bassman...

just my opinion. i think the tube actually adds a bit of brilliance to the tone. good if that's what you're looking for...not good if you already dig your tone... it makes my decent sounding amp sound spectacular, but makes my great sounding amp sound screechy lol.

still it's a really nice verb...

[jzucker]

anyone else find that the roommate adds a bit of presence to the dry signal?


Yes, but not in a bad way at all. Listen to the last 2 clips on my product demos page. Through clean and dirty, it sounds beautiful. It sounds like a tube which adds a bit of upper mid sheen but not harsh in any way in my opinion.

[drod2045]

did the reptile alter your tone? I emailed trex and they said it has trails when you turn off the pedal, and thus, is not true bypass. guess im just seeking a confirmation :)

[jzucker]

did the reptile alter your tone? I emailed trex and they said it has trails when you turn off the pedal, and thus, is not true bypass. guess im just seeking a confirmation :)

If it does alter my tone it's in a good way. All I know is that using those pedals my sound is great. Did you listen to the clean and dirty clips I posted with them?

[vinni]

JZ....

I also have the Roommate and I'm thinking about adding the Reptile.
I want to use the reptile in a par. FX-loop....so...
Is it possible to kill the original signal on the reptile and can the inputsignal be
adjusted for use in an FX-loop?

Thanks,

Vinni

[jzucker]

JZ....

I also have the Roommate and I'm thinking about adding the Reptile.
I want to use the reptile in a par. FX-loop....so...
Is it possible to kill the original signal on the reptile and can the inputsignal be
adjusted for use in an FX-loop?

Thanks,

Vinni

There is an input level control on the reptile. It's a very cool feature which I forgot to mention. It works well in a buffered loop in that regard. I haven't tried it in a parallel loop but there is a delay level control which I assume would do the trick.

[vinni]

Don't bother....

I just bought one! :dude

Vinni