New boutique delay: replica or tte?

[jsams3]

I currently have an aqua puss which I love in its own way, but I find it a little bright and to color my tone in an "aqua puss kinda way". So Im now looking for another delay. Right now its between the t-rex replica or the fulltone tube tape echo. I know the nuts and bolts difference btw the two like replica is digital, tte is tape etc... but I was wanting to know what your personal opinions are btw the two. Or a recommendation for another good delay would be welcomed. For example Ive heard fulltone is hard to deal with in customer support, and the tte often needs a lot of repairs, is it worth the risk? Thanks a lot, before I spent all that money on a delay I thought I would as my good friends at tgp

P.S. I typically play blues and have the typical blues rig (strat, fender amp, ts-808, etc.)

[youngupstart]

i personally found the replica "just okay" a little dark and the brown switch made it a return for me. if you like warm.

tte is quite bright even with tone down and while it gives a wide bandwith with the repeats it does impart its own sonic signature.
it like any other tape unit requires regular maintenance to remain in optimal working order. but it is not so daunting, once you learn it it doesnt take much longer than say restringing a guitar or bass. be glad you presumably dont have to splice tapes. that sucks.

i am assuming you want a typical bbd warm slap sound? a replica might suffice for that but for your needs i'd say a garden variety carbon copy would do just fine. ttes are available in many shops now, so go try one to see if you really wanna part with the money.

[cajone5]

I would consider researching the following as well...

Strymon Delays (Brigadier and El Capistan)
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay (DBD)
Skreddy Echo

I personally prefer all these to the T-Rex and they're all cheaper and more reliable than the TTE.

Good luck with your search.

[Less=more]

I love my T-rex. I think it really makes my whole rig sound better. I can't explain how. It just does.

As well, I unfortunately had to get something minor repaired on the pedal. I live in Canada and had to ship it to Denmark. Which was not cheap...(but that does not matter when we are dealing with my replica)However, the astonishing thing is... They got the pedal and only 2 days later I had it back in my hands. UNbelieveable! I WAS SO IMPRESSED with the service I had with THEM.

I am sure the Strymon stuff is good. I have not had experience with it. I love my replica... I bought another delay to put up against it.. and well.. err... the replica embarassed it.

I pretty much exclusively use the replica in the "brown" mode. It sounds fantastic.

Hope that helps,
C

[JUSTJOB]

I too love my Replica, nice simple layout, sweet delay pedal! I tend to play it without the "Brown" switch engaged. I love how the Replica's delays can be heard clearly in such a lush three dimentional way, yet at the same time not get in the way of the notes and chords being played. It does not do modulation, but it sounds so sweet that it makes up for it. I have played a ton of delays, and the only other one of them that can set in the mix almost as well is a well tuned DMM,(my other favorite). I have not played the new Strymon yet, nor the Skreddy, so the jury is still out on those.
As for the TTE, this is an apples and oranges comparison, as it has much shorter delay time, no tap tempo, and has modulation ability, but is also much larger. IMHO I think Fulltone is great to deal with for customer service. Speaking of service, you will have to provide more service natually to a TTE as it has many moving parts and such so will need regular maintennance.
A delay that has recently caught my attention is the Stymon ElCapistan. It claims to be able to do what the tape delay does without the size or maintennance issues. Although, it is brand new, and seems to have a small "learning curve" as every knob has a double function along with extra switches,(I generally prefer very simple to tweaking versatility), so I am waiting a bit to check it out. But I am still interested in pairing it up with my Replica on my pedalboard for my modulated delays, as it sounds quite promising.
So obviously, I would get both the Replica and a TTE, or Replica and the ElCapistan, because I rely on a dedicated quality sounding delay of both the modulated, and non modulated types.

[Treble booster]

Replica hasn't left my board since purchasing it years ago. Never "gassed" for a delay pedal since.

[Dangy1978]

I'm going to throw a nod to the DMBpedals Lunar Echo out there. Its most definitely not bright and is very warm. All analog, sounds good and its a fun pedal.

[traviswalk]

Originally Posted by cajone5

I would consider researching the following as well...

Strymon Delays (Brigadier and El Capistan)
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay (DBD)
Skreddy Echo

I personally prefer all these to the T-Rex and they're all cheaper and more reliable than the TTE.

Good luck with your search.

I would recommend those exact three over the Replica, particularly the DBD if you wanted to have a simple delay that interacts well with the front of your amp.

[jsams3]

Thanks for all the help guys!!! After carefully looking at all of the recommendations on the page I have decided to go with the replica after all. Again Many Thanks!

[cwcashiniv]

If you haven't bought it yet, you definitely should check out Strymon's Brigadier and El Capistan pedals. Amazing boutique quality pedals.

[swampstomper]

I like the Replica, but I do find that it changes your dry signal when the effect is engaged. I like the sound of the echoes, both in standard and "brown" modes. I'm not so sure I like how it affects my guitar tone overall. It seems to roll off some highs and maybe makes the low frequencies a bit more pronounced.

[newswede]

Same boat here, but I sold my Replica because I was looking fore something with that tape warble.

[thankyouMGMT]

If you have the funds, there is nothing better then a TTE for a true analog delay. I have been using one for about 4 years now and I dont know what Id do without it!

[kakev]

I don't think it's fair to compare digital pedal to expensive tube tape echo. There's no comparison between those 2. You can get at least 3 replicas for a price of a TTE, but for me it's no brainer, TTE all the way. Replica has very full sounding repeats, but that's not necessarily always a good thing. As the pedal is already making your dry tone darker those repeats might get in the way in a really annoying way. Tone becomes bass heavy and indistinctive. If you're using delay all the time then it doesn't matter as you can compensate with your amp settings..Definitely not my cup of tea. Whereas TTE can be adjusted to stay in the background but still producing wonderful atmospheric kinda thing. With TTE you can adjust degradation of repeats, and those repeats do sound amazing and if you want it can be very Hi-fi. Some might say tape echo is unreliable and needs service but my replica had also weird problems, sometime repeats were buzzy and distorted.

I almost wish I hadn't wasted a year with replica as I was never happy how it sounded. The guy I sold it to ended up selling it in 2 days..

[JUSTJOB]

Originally Posted by jsams3

Thanks for all the help guys!!! After carefully looking at all of the recommendations on the page I have decided to go with the replica after all. Again Many Thanks!

I am sure you will be pleased with it as it is an excellent delay.
Let us know how you like it after you try it out with your rig.

Originally Posted by swampstomper

I like the Replica, but I do find that it changes your dry signal when the effect is engaged. I like the sound of the echoes, both in standard and "brown" modes. I'm not so sure I like how it affects my guitar tone overall. It seems to roll off some highs and maybe makes the low frequencies a bit more pronounced.

This is odd, because the "dry" signal is analog and unprocessed. Perhaps it was the interaction of something else in your setup?