Review : Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe
Hey folks, Ross here, the pedal geek at TheGuitarGuy. I love the sound of tape based echo systems. I grew up around (but could never afford to buy) Echoplexes and Space Echoes. I did get to play through Echoplexes a fair bit and back in the day, it was magical. As often happens, we look to the past through happy lenses and it looks like I'm not the only one of us always seeking the sound of the great tape echo machines, without having to find, purchase, repair and maintain the originals.
The Echoplex EP-3
What do I remember about the original Echoplex? It had great sound. It's internal preamp was also a great little overdrive. It was big and cumbersome and needed regular maintenance. Sometimes it had a mind of its own and just did what it wanted.
The folks at Catalinbread are well known for their enthusiasm and diligence when they try to reproduce classic effects built with high end components. They make a point about the type of components that they use, that the design is true to the original as much as possible and their commitment to delivering the sounds that the buyer expects.
I don't have an original Echoplex of any version around here. But, I will say that the Belle Epoch Deluxe gives me that bit of hair raising tingle that the memories I have recall. The documentation is good and easy to follow, and as is found on some of their other products, they offer multiple program options. Program select 1 is the classic EP-3 Echoplex. Before I get into that, here's the list of the different program selections in the device
Belle Epoch Deluxe Program Choices
- Echoplex EP-3 - slightly bright repeats with classic tape echo voicing
- Bucket Brigade Analog voicing - darker tone, where the repeats sit under the dry signal
- Rotary Speaker - a Leslie effect, that really benefits from an optional expression pedal
- Resonant Filter - like pushing the repeats through a Wah pedal. Needs an optional expression pedal to make magic
- DMM Chorus- a clone of the Deluxe Memory Man chorus effect
- DMM Vibrato - a clone of the Deluxe Memory Man vibrato effect
External connections for the pedal are mono in and out, an input for an external expression pedal and the power connector. The pedal only needs 9 volts but also needs at least 200mA to drive the pedal properly. Get a decent pedal power supply. I am using a Donner unit for my evaluations and have provided an Amazon link below.
Other Controls
Depth controls the modulation depth. Fully counter-clockwise is off, except for the Leslie style program. Record level sets the gain of the input signal hitting the record preamplifier. It only effects the initial repeat. Echo Volume is really your wet/dry mix control. Echo Sustain controls your delay feedback. It runs into self-oscillation pretty quickly and gets very loud, very fast. Just a like a real EP-3. Echo delay provides a delay range of between 80ms and 800ms, just like a vintage EP-3. Echo oscillation is a latching footswitch that when pressed immediately throws the repeats into oscillation. There is an internal trimpot that allows customization of the number of repeats in oscillation. The Bypass footswitch can be configured in either of True Bypass or Trails mode via an internal microswitch. Trails mode is the default setting. The expression pedal input takes a standard expression pedal which controls volume except in the Rotary and Filter program selects. There is a switch on top that can have the expression pedal control the delay time instead of volume if you wish.
The Belle Epoch Deluxe is easy to use once you know what the knobs do. I find the sounds very pleasant and as noted, seem to match my recall of a vintage Echoplex from the days of my youth.
As happens very often, I want to thank Archy Hachey at The Arts Music Store in Newmarket Ontario, for making it possible for me to obtain a unit to do this evaluation. If you'd like to support the store, here is the link to the product at their online store.