December 2 2002

Here’s Some Gear

By Destrudo

Welcome to the last edition
of Here’s Some Gear for this
year. This issue | will be
reviewing the Danelectro Reel
Echo DTE-1. This sweet little
unit features the emulation of
analogue tape echo effects.
Unlike most delay pedals, this
pedal is very simple to use
and refreshingly intuitive.

The Reel Echo has an
archaic control console that
features three knobs, two tog-
gle switches, and a fader. The
pedal also has two buttons on
it to step on and activate differ-
ent features of the pedal.
These two buttons are a
Sound on Sound button, and
an Echo button.
Corresponding to the Echo
button is a little red light,
labeled Tempo, that flashes in
time with the delay time.
Corresponding to the Sound
on Sound button is a little red
light, labeled S.O.S., to show
when you have turned the
effect on.

The control console has the
three knobs that allow you to
control Mix, Repeats, and Lo-
Fi. Mix allows you to fine tune
how much of the direct signal
is mixed in with the effected
signal. The knob turned all the
way to the left is the full direct
sound and the knob turned to
the right is the full effected sig-
nal. The Repeats knob allows
you to determine the number
of repeats, ranging from 1 to

- infinity, from left to right corre-
spondingly. The finishing
touch is the Lo-Fi knob, which
allows you to add vintage fla-

vor and warmth to the signal.

When is the last time you saw
a Lo-Fi knob on anything?
The Lo-Fi knob, essentially,
allows you to cut high frequen-
cies with each successive
repeat.

The toggle
switches give
you the | 4
choices of]
Tone and
Warble. With
the Tone tog-
gle you can
choose
between
Solid State
and Tube
tone emula-
tions. These
settings
change _ the

The Danelectro Real Echo gives you the groovy

“Aye

tape echo sound of the fifties.

Over The Edge Page 12

characteristics of the tone in
the effected sound, such char-
acteristics found in the circuit-
ry of solid state and vacuum
tube technology. The other
toggle switch allows you to
turn on or off the imperfection
of tape echo. In motor driven
tape echo units, motors would
speed up and slow down, and
this feature is meant to cap-
ture the imperfections from
such discrepancies.

The really cool looking con-
trol feature is the fader that
you use to set delay time in
milliseconds. The time range
is from 0 to 1500 milliseconds,
giving you 1.5 seconds of
delay time.

| found this unit quite fun to
use. It was possible to get all
sorts of sounds out of this unit.
| was able to get the chopper
like sound at the beginning of
Audioslave’s single, Cochise,
and the percussive style of the
Edge, as well as some of that
Limp Bizkit style melody lines
and Pink Floyd slide solos. All
in ail,, | would say it was quite
useful and extremely fun to
use. | especially liked the fact
that | did not have to read the
instruction manual (although is
was only one page) to use the
device. | just plugged it in and
started to play, which is
refreshing in a world of high
guitar technology. | would def-
initely check this unit out if
simple, but useful, is what you
are looking for. Keep in mind
that even a professional could
make quite wide range of
effects from just this one
device. Sometimes simple is | |
the best, and this simplicity
only costs $195 at Electron
Sound & Percussion 3658
Massey Drive.

THANKS Fop 7
THE NEWSFLASH )
Ton BROKAW: