Carl Martin Red Repeat

Just a hint that Soren, from Carl Martin, gave me... For shorter delays, either jump r18 or put another 10k resistor in parallel with it:)

It gives a bit shorter delays than the stock minimum setting, so that some picky people might admit that it gives a very good slapback too:)

Will post a full review later.

Love this pedal!

4 knobs and one foot switch.
if you know how to tweak/use a delay theres a good load of tones to be had from this.
chicken head knobs are easy to turn with you feet as well to get that oscillation going withoug having to take hands of guitar

ive owned heaps of delay pedals (Boss DD6,DD20,Line 6 echopark, DL4,BYOC digital delay and Ping pong delay, Eventide Timefactor and danelectro Echo reel) and i rate the red repeat in my top 3.

not noisy if you have a decent power adaptor (for daisy chaining and single running)

apparently these pedals vary from pedal to pedal (some of the workers post regurly on HC) so i must be lucky to have a good one
no issues with the switch at all and ive had it for over a year with regular use.

great delay for the price.

Knobs:
Echo
Tone
Time
Repeat

As others mentioned i'ts not super sensitive, so it's easy to dial in sounds.

The settings on the CM website are ok, but it's a joy to fiddle with the knobs yourself, cause it's easy and the delay time range makes it very easy to get usable sounds at most settings.

Setup:
Ibanez am103>
Korg Pitchblack Tuner>
Rat>
Tubescreamer>
Red Repeat>
Holy Grail>
Vox ac50

It can get a bit dirty at max settings, but apart from that I love everything about it.

It's clean on bypass.
When on it's clean, but not boring.
It's digital without the sterile sharp sound.
The tone knob gives you some extra control, that you really miss on many other delays.

Haven't gigged with it, but it seems to be as sturdy as most other pedals.

If however a problem should occur, I have two years of warranty and some super helpful people at CM

I've communicated quite a bit with the people at CM.

They're super polite and helpful.

They respond very fast.

They sent me a new pot for my ancient Hot drive 'n' Boost free of charge.

They answered all my questions about the curcuits of the Red Repeat and even offered me the choice modded version without extra charge if I ordered a new, or modding my used one pretty cheap.

I've played for about 10 years.

I've compared it to other delays and I fell in love with it pretty quick.

I'm sure there are better delays out there, but the price is more than fair compared to what you're getting.

easy to use until the switch goes out.

nice sound especially with the tone knob for the repeats. Once the switch goes, which it will, then there is either no sound our a swirling sound. Soon after the swirling starts the entire unit cuts out.

This is the second in two years to have the switch go out.
The first lasted about 10 months, then I got the address of a place in New York to send it and they sent another back. However, the switch on the replacement went out about 10 months in- again. The first one I bought at the Dallas international Guitar festival. The next year at the festival (2008) I went to the guy I bought it from the year before and he gave me an e-mail address and a physical address and sent it in. Within 2 weeks I received the new one, promptly put it on my board and played. I play every week and have never had a switch go on any effect, including the many vintage effects I use. But February came around and the same telltale signs popped up. The swirling, having to repeatedly hit the switch to get it set back on the rocker and then the cutting out in the middle of a song. I imagine all of the "vintage line" effects use the same sub-standard switch so I will forever avoid the Carl Martin line. I have an older Carl Martin Compressor that has had no difficulties, but its one of the higher end models, so I suspect it uses a higher end switch. If there was a zero for this category, I would select that for this red repeat. I guess the "repeat means repeatedly send the thing back.

Once I was able to chase down an address, They had a replacement in 2 weeks. However, I now have to find that slip of paper with the address again so I can send this one back.
I guess it wasn't the deal I thought. I was a fan of Carl Martin until this episode.

I perform every week as a part of my job. Never had difficulties with equipment because I am neurotic about my stuff. The pedals are all on a Furmann board with conditioned power and no one else ever takes down or sets up my rig but me. I play everything from Rock, country, jazz, pop. Its a drag when you equipment doesnt work.

4 knobs, pretty easy, since no setting gives you a bad sound. Some complain that the footprint is too big. To me, the large size and spread out knobs make it easier to make adjustments. In comparison, the Boss DD series is "standard" stompbox size, but everything is very close. I suppose if you had to, you could change the outside knobs (echo or repeat) with your foot, which you definitely can't do with Boss. So it's a trade-off, do you want small footprint, or easy twiddling?

Let me explain how I "test" an effect. I plug it into the amp by itself, not as part of an effect chain. I plug in a guitar, but don't have it in my hands, I'm concerned with noise at this point. I engage the effect and start turning knobs to see if any setting yields noise. then I put it in a true bypass loop to see if there is noise even if the effect is off. At that point, I pick up the guitar to see if the effect alters my tone. Then I start getting into trying different sounds, etc, if it passes the above tests.

The Red Repeat is dead quiet when off and only adds noise when the echo starts approaching 3:00, which is pretty much the same on all delay units. The actual tones coming out of it are some of the best I've heard. For comparison, I have owned: Replica, DD7, Dan Echo, Keeley AD9, Korg stage echo, Headrush. I still have the Korg, the Dano broke (as Danos tend to do), I sold everything else. The Replica was nice but I wanted the option of more pronounced delays. Switching off the brown switch on the Replica didn't solve that. Also, as you increase the echo on the Replica, the direct signal level would decrease, which is the reason for the level knob, but then if you decrease the echo, you need to mess with the level again. The echo knob on the Red Repeat only adds echo, it doesn't effect the dry signal, so there's no volume loss and no need for a level knob.

Well build. You have to push hard when plugging into the jacks. Somebody used good parts and some care when assembling this.

First of all, it's dead silent, on or off. After that, it's a great sounding delay. I don't know what else you could want. Maybe if this was on Brad Paisley's or John Mayer's pedalboard it would caost $300 and it would be very popular, but I'll take it just like it is.

/

Coming back to my review below ..
Turning down the time knob away from the max setting gets the distortion out of the way. I spoke with the customer support about this and they told me that it distorts on the long settings and gets dirty.

Yes, I can. It seems to be sturdy and seeing as the 'problem' is solved I can't imagine this thing breaking.

They replied quickly [within a day] and told me what was wrong and even though I had the international support via E-mail I didn't encounter any unfriendliness.

I give this delay. I can't imagine this ever leaving my rig. To me this delay is all I've ever wanted. It's musical, it's thick, it's warm and it does the job well. I absolutely adore it, one of my best buys ever.

It's extremely easy since it's just a delay pedal with no menu's etc. I don't really think these units actually need a manual.

My setup through which the Carl Martin Red Repeat goes is as following:
Fender '94 Golden ltd. CiJ Jazzmaster with matching headstock / XP Telecaster ->
Behringer Slow Motion -> BOSS OC-2 -> Ibanez TS-9 -> Small Clone Chorus -> CARL MARTIN RED REPEAT -> Ibanez DE7 -> Rocktron Tsunami -> Line 6 Verbzilla -> BOSS RV-3 [stereo out] -> Line 6 DL4 [stereo out] ->
pedals are powered with an Artec Power Brick:

Phonic Firely 302 soundcard -> Ableton Live 6.01 -> Guitar Rig 2 ->

Fender '69 Silverface Twin Reverb channel 1 + 2

- - -

I love this delay, it's thick, it's gorgeous, it's warm. Turning the echo down almost makes it usable as a warm small reverb en turning up the repeat and dialing the time knob makes for some great oscillation. The trick with this delay is that it's 80% analogue and 20% digital.
The only problem I have with this delay is that after 3 days it started getting this distorted tone and it has never left the pedal in various different setups. I now use the delay with the tone knob on 9 O' clock to keep the distortion to the minimum. In bypass it doesn't color or distort my signal so I keep it in my rig.
It doesn't function like it should and STILL I'm keeping it in my rig, this says a lot. I really think this delay is gorgeous.
Also, clicking on the delay gives me a pop, sometimes, not always. I often see those 'clicking buttons' and think to myself; "Why didn't they make these more solid ??"

I give it an 8 because of the distortion issue and the pop. I'm having it checked out soon by a guy I know.

I've had it for a half year now, it's still there but seeing as it took 3 days to let the distortion set in gets me to the conclusion this unit isn't really reliable.

Haven't dealt with them.

I give an 8 for the overall rating, it's probably my most-used effect in my rig because, to me, it's a very musical pedal and I've actually kinda started loving the small break-up the delays give at maximum picking power.

I personally play Ambient / Post-Rock / Shoegaze / Classical-influenced material and to me this delay really makes the whole ordeal a lot more warmer. I can't imagine this delay ever leaving my rig.

Right, having had a while to get settled with the RR I thought I'd simplify some points on my ridiculously long review below:

The pedal does actually self-oscillate!!! (and in a way that feels purely organic rather than a tacked on digital 'effect')

It's a very solid, high quality delay if you're looking for short-short/mid delays with vintage sounding analogue tones. It's part of the 'Vintage' range for a reason. It's simple to use once you're familiar with what the time and repeat dials do in relation to each other, and the added tone and self-oscillating Echo make it near-perfect.

Plus it looks gorgeous!

The only real down side is that it really needs a power supply instead of a battery.

Apologies for my rambling review below.

This is my first delay pedal, so my understanding of what each dial actually effects was a little lacking at first. It doesn't come with a manual, but the leaflet that comes with it advertising the current Vintage series gives a little info. So anyway for those of you in the same boat...

Echo
Essentially this is the 'volume' of the delay effect. Up to 12 o'clock it's at max volume, i.e. the delayed signal is the same volume as your guitar signal. Past 12 it apparently (according to the info) "'self-oscillates' like old analogue delays".

Tone
This additional dial ('additional' beacuse I haven't seen a Tone dial on other delays) effects the tone of the delay seperate to your original signal. At 12 o' clock the delay is the same tone as your guitar. Push it left and it cuts away from treble, and pushed right it adds more treble.


Time
This sets the time between your signal and the delay and works in conjunction with the time you've set. Set fully left, it repeats immediately after your signal, obtaining a nice slap-back (doubling) effect. (This is one of the reason's why I went for this pedal). Pushed all the way right your delay/s kick in about two-thirds of a seconds later (600 milliseconds apparantly).


Repeat
This sets the number of reapeats you get within the time that you've set. For example, if your Time and Repeat are both set fully left you get slap-back. Turn the Repeat right you get the slap-back repeating and fading out (you can get some nice echo effects this way). With both dials pushed right, your 600 millisecond delay keeps repeating for about 8 seconds, gradually fading until it's fully gone. (With the Echo set past 12 the volume of the fade is louder for longer.)

It's hard for me to explain, but after playing with Time and Repeat it only took a few minutes to figure out how they work together. The key to getting a variety of delay effects lies with these last two dials. Once set you augment the volume and tone and that's all there is too it.

I'm not sure how the Echo dial and it's 'self oscillating' effect compares to the actual sound of analogue delays, but to my ear it basically boosts the volume in a short burst with a rapid return to mid volume. (So if you push it to max it boosts and returns to max 12 o' clock volume). This does add a nice thick sound to the overall effect, and since the reviews I've read of digital delays often have a complaint of being 'thin' sounding, this is a nice addition, adding an organic edge to the sound; though this delay pedal doesn't sound thin at all even in the 'standard' Echo setting.
HOWEVER I've got to say that it crossed my mind that this may be a bit of a cheap circuit, because it reminded me of the Electro Harmonix 'Stereo Pulsar' Tremolo where the Depth dial/circuit has a similar effect in that when it's pushed past a certain point it 'modulates between positive and negative'...So anyway... I thought that this 'self oscillation' might be a bit of a gimmick. It would be up to someone more experienced to say for sure, but thankfully it really does sound and feel like it's happening naturally (well, as naturally as digital can do) and actually adds a thickness to the sound when it's towards full and adds kick to longer delays, keeping them louder for longer, so maybe I'm just being paranoid.

At first I thought it was a slight downside technically that the Echo doesn't quite genuinely 'self oscillate', but in retrospect, that would maybe be asking to much, as since it's a natural trait of anlaogue delays, to replicate it in digital for the sake of it would be a veering into the EHX territory of the superfluous, and probably bump the price up. So it's reassuring to see Carl Martin don't over do things just for the sake of it.


The Tone's quality is simple and cearly audible. It gives you more versatility once you've got your delay settings dialled in, and toward full clockwise position it's great for achieving a very welcome reverby twang.

I've read a review or two that say this pedal can't emmulate true slap-back, but for me, the Time dial is absolutely fine on it's lowest settings. If you're an experienced, perfectionist player seeking true slap-back I can't say for sure how good this is but surely the difference is miniscule. For a short to mid range it's fine, and the sound is only a little thin when the battery is starting to drain. (See below in "Reliability")

The sound quality of the repeats is solid, though the fade volume drops a little too quick. However, that's what the Echo dial is used to compensate and add a thickness to the overall sound.


It's worth me nothing that you can also get some warping effects by setting the Repeat to max and your Time to min. Play a single note and quickly crank up the Time dial. If you do it in one quick sweep you get a sound like a car engine ticking over. You can even play and turn Time to say 1/4. Stop. then play over the sound at 1/4 Time. OR turn Time to 1/4. Stop. turn Time to a second position. Play. Stop etc to get some freaky background noises when the signals merge and decay over each other. This is a bit of a trivial use of the pedal but it shows how organic the sound really is. (Though I'm not sure how common this is with delay pedals. And it could be good or bad, depending on what you're going to use it for) Plus it sounds like you're messing with tape-heads like a genuine old delay effect, which helps disguise that it's digital.

The scary thing with this pedal is that if you play then turn it off, (even unplug it!) then turn it back on, your delay is still going through the circuits!

Very solidly built, though the plastic cover on the back (especially the battery panel) is a perhaps a weak point. But's that's only if you're going to be throwing it down flights of stairs. Otherwise it's high quality.

The only downside is that it really does need a 9V power supply, as even using a high quality battery it only lasted about an hour or so.

N/A

The overall sound is clean and fine and not in the least bit 'thin' or 'tinny'. The range of Time and Repeats are ideal if you're just seeking short-mid delay sounds, though a coniseur of delay may feel limited. The added Echo 'oscillation' is a welcome touch, adding an organic boost, and the Tone is a a nice addition to tweak your chosen delay.

These last two touches make up for it perhaps not being as precsision-refined in certain settings as other digital delay pedals. In fact it's those settings that help make the Red Repeat a unique and very well rounded, warm sounding delay with it's own tweakable tricks and a definite individuality.

Anyway, this is an '8' not just due to it's sound quality and medium variety of sounds but -importantly- it's affordabilty. I'd definitely reccommend it for a first delay pedal, and to delay-savvy players not fussed about extensive, eleborate delays, but who are looking for a more 'vintage' sound.

It could have come with a manual, though the Carl Martin website (www.Carlmartin.com) does have some useful info and some examples of settings to give you a starting point.

very easy

I have read all the reviews and I do not understand how so many people can be wrong this pedal takes a away the low mids from my rig at first I thought it may because I was using the effects loop on my amp swithed to the front end of the amp same deal the delays are nice and very analog sounding I beleive the buffering or op amps need attention