Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo

The controls and features have already been covered in previous reviews so I'm not going to go over them again.

If you've ever used a delay before, there isn't much on this pedal that you won't already be familiar with.

I'm not sure what the "tube/solid state" switch does; it makes an audible difference, but it's not clear what it's actually doing to the sound. I prefer the solid state setting.

I'm stumped by the Sound on Sound feature. The manual could've done a better job of explaining it. You're supposed to turn the repeats/feedback knob to the max and turn the lo-fi/hi-cut knob to its lowest setting in order to use this feature, but when I do this and engage the SOS footswitch, I get treated to runaway feedback/self-oscillation.

I've only used the pedal for a total of about two hours since I bought it, so I may yet figure these things out.

Speaking of manuals, they used to be much nicer. The manual that came with this pedal is one page on a piece of plain white letter-sized paper. The manual that came with my Dan-Echo pedal was a nice little square booklet printed on thick beige paper, with a color, glossy cover. Looks like the bean counters over at Danelectro are having their way.

First off, I'd just like to point out that most of the ideas incorporated into this pedal were taken from a review of the Dan-Echo I wrote here on Harmony Central on 03/07/2001. From that review:

BEGIN QUOTE:

"Here's a couple of changes that in my opinion, would've greatly improved the Dan Echo and made it a more 'authentic' re-creation of a tape echo (or atleast, made it a more interesting digital delay - I've yet to hear a truly convincing digital emulation of tape echo in any price range, and even if it can be done, it's in bad taste):

1) The addition of a 'MODULATION' (LFO) control. Among other things, this would allow vibrato/pitch shifting effects and could be used to approximate "wow & flutter". In terms of pedal real estate, I would gladly trade off the HI-CUT or MIX knob for such an LFO.

2) Substituting the REPEATS knob for a *real* FEEDBACK control. With a feedback control, you could get "self-oscillation" (runaway feedback) effects and do sound-on-sound (where echoed phrases keep re-circulating and don't decay). At shorter delays and with a bit of modulation from the LFO, you could do flanging and chorusing - all from the same pedal!

3) A 'DRY' (bypassed) output jack in addition to the EFFECT output. This would be convenient for stereo and for parallel (rather than serial) setups. If Danelectro managed to pack a bonus output in their Cool Cat chorus, I don't see why the Dan Echo should go without one.

4) The MIX knob goes from dry signal only at counter-clockwise position to dry with wet mixed in when fully clockwise. Apart from the fact that it strikes me as counter-intuitive, this pedal would be much more versatile if the dry signal was completely absent when fully clockwise (center position would be an equal mix of wet and dry). For example, in a stereo setup (with a Y-cord and a mixer), you could have the dry signal panned one place and have the echoes coming from a different direction. Or you could split the dry signal, with one end going into a fuzzbox, phaser, or whatever, and the other going into the Dan Echo (wet signal only) - combine the outputs and you're in for some tasty effects!"

END QUOTE:

Not long after I wrote that review -- a few months, maybe a year -- Danelectro put out the Reel Echo pedal, which interestingly, incorporated *all* of the ideas I had suggested. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Hey, I'm not complaining about it or anything -- I'm glad this pedal was made and I must say that my ideas turned out well! -- but it would've been nice to at least have gotten a complimentary Reel Echo out of it.

I also believe that I inspired Danelectro's Spring King pedal, since a while before its release, I had sent the company an email suggesting they make a reverb pedal that used a real spring tank to compliment their line of practice amps, which didn't have reverb tanks. I haven't had a chance to try out the Spring King, but it can't be that bad if it's still on the market after all these years.

Well, enough of me tooting my own horn. How does this thing sound?

continued under "Overall Rating" section:

Can't say. Seems extremely well made. Though I'm likely to use this more for recording in my home studio than anything else, I wouldn't hesitate to gig with it.

continued from "Sound Quality" section:

As an effect in its own right, without comparing it to anything else, I think it's pretty darned good. It's the deluxe version of the Dan-Echo (and the Dan-Echo was already plenty good as it was). If you're looking for a pleasant-sounding, sophisticated digital delay with a few bells and whistles in a fun, eye-catching package that won't break the bank, you can't go wrong with the Reel Echo.

As to whether this thing is a perfect simulation of a tape echo, that's debatable.

If what you're doing is relatively straightforward, then yes, this pedal will do a passable job of sounding like a tape echo, but you could say that about just about any delay on the market that has three or more knobs (including the Dan-Echo).

Unlike the Dan-Echo, this pedal allows you to go into runaway feedback, which can be fun, but it's not the same as when you do it on a real tape echo.

The "warble" control, which is meant to simulate tape stretch and the slight fluctuations in motor speed you'd find on an old tape echo, will do a nice chorus at short delay times, but again, it doesn't really sound like what it's supposed to be emulating.

Overall, this is a fun pedal and an excellent digital delay that can do double duty as a simple chorus pedal, but the bottom line is, if you're a purist who wants real tape echo sound, you're going to have to cough up the cash to get a real tape echo (the only tape echoes I know of that are in current production are the Fulltone, about $1000, and the studio-oriented Blue Coconut, about $3000, while used units like the Roland Space Echoes are going for outrageous prices; if anyone knows of any real tape echoes that are currently being produced that I haven't mentioned, email me, 'cause I'd like to know). If you're not a purist and you're not doing anything specialized like dub reggae (which practically demands real tape in order for it to not sound like ass), this will get you 90% of the way there.

(FYI, I've been using the pedal with a Telecaster knockoff through an old Fender Princeton amp. The pedal is completely transparent, other than the effect; no clipping, no noise whatsoever.)

The controls and features have already been covered in previous reviews so I'm not going to go over them again.

If you've ever used a delay before, there isn't much on this pedal that you won't already be familiar with.

I'm not sure what the "tube/solid state" switch does; it makes an audible difference, but it's not clear what it's actually doing to the sound. I prefer the solid state setting.

I'm stumped by the Sound on Sound feature. The manual could've done a better job of explaining it. You're supposed to turn the repeats/feedback knob to the max and turn the lo-fi/hi-cut knob to its lowest setting in order to use this feature, but when I do this and engage the SOS footswitch, I get treated to runaway feedback/self-oscillation.

I've only used the pedal for a total of about two hours since I bought it, so I may yet figure these things out.

Speaking of manuals, Danelectro's used to be much nicer. The manual that came with this pedal is one page on a piece of plain white letter-sized paper. The manual that came with my Dan-Echo pedal was a nice little square booklet printed on thick beige paper, with a color, glossy cover. Looks like the bean counters over at Danelectro have had their way.

First off, I'd just like to point out that most of the ideas incorporated into this pedal were taken from a review of the Dan-Echo I wrote here on Harmony Central on 03/07/2001. From my review:

BEGIN QUOTE:

"Here's a couple of changes that in my opinion, would've greatly improved the Dan Echo and made it a more 'authentic' re-creation of a tape echo (or atleast, made it a more interesting digital delay - I've yet to hear a truly convincing digital emulation of tape echo in any price range, and even if it can be done, it's in bad taste):

1) The addition of a 'MODULATION' (LFO) control. Among other things, this would allow vibrato/pitch shifting effects and could be used to approximate "wow & flutter". In terms of pedal real estate, I would gladly trade off the HI-CUT or MIX knob for such an LFO.

2) Substituting the REPEATS knob for a *real* FEEDBACK control. With a feedback control, you could get "self-oscillation" (runaway feedback) effects and do sound-on-sound (where echoed phrases keep re-circulating and don't decay). At shorter delays and with a bit of modulation from the LFO, you could do flanging and chorusing - all from the same pedal!

3) A 'DRY' (bypassed) output jack in addition to the EFFECT output. This would be convenient for stereo and for parallel (rather than serial) setups. If Danelectro managed to pack a bonus output in their Cool Cat chorus, I don't see why the Dan Echo should go without one.

4) The MIX knob goes from dry signal only at counter-clockwise position to dry with wet mixed in when fully clockwise. Apart from the fact that it strikes me as counter-intuitive, this pedal would be much more versatile if the dry signal was completely absent when fully clockwise (center position would be an equal mix of wet and dry). For example, in a stereo setup (with a Y-cord and a mixer), you could have the dry signal panned one place and have the echoes coming from a different direction. Or you could split the dry signal, with one end going into a fuzzbox, phaser, or whatever, and the other going into the Dan Echo (wet signal only) - combine the outputs and you're in for some tasty effects!"

END QUOTE:

Not long after I wrote that review -- a few months, maybe a year -- Danelectro put out the Reel Echo pedal, which interestingly, incorporated *all* of the ideas I had suggested. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Hey, I'm not complaining about it or anything -- I'm glad this pedal was made and I must say that my ideas turned out well! -- but it would've been nice to at least have gotten a complimentary Reel Echo out of it.

I also believe that I inspired Danelectro's Spring King pedal, since a while before its release, I had sent the company an email suggesting they make a reverb pedal that used a real spring tank to compliment their line of practice amps, which didn't have reverb tanks. I haven't had a chance to try out the Spring King, but it can't be that bad if it's still on the market after all these years.

Well, enough of me tooting my own horn. How does this thing sound?

continued under "Overall Rating" to get around Harmony Central's length restrictions:

Can't say. Seems extremely well made. Though I'm likely to use this more for recording in my home studio than anything else, I wouldn't hesitate to gig with it.

continued from "Sound Quality" section:

As an effect in its own right, without comparing it to anything else, I think it's pretty darned good. It's the deluxe version of the Dan-Echo (and the Dan-Echo was already plenty good as it was). If you're looking for a pleasant-sounding, sophisticated digital delay with a few bells and whistles in a fun, eye-catching package that won't break the bank, you can't go wrong with the Reel Echo.

As to whether this thing is a perfect simulation of a tape echo, that's debatable.

If what you're doing is relatively straightforward, then yes, this pedal will do a passable job of sounding like a tape echo, but you could say that about just about any delay on the market that has three or more knobs (including the Dan-Echo).

Unlike the Dan-Echo, this pedal allows you to go into runaway feedback, which can be fun, but it's not the same as when you do it on a real tape echo.

The "warble" control, which is meant to simulate tape stretch and the slight fluctuations in motor speed you'd find on an old tape echo, will do a nice chorus at short delay times, but again, it doesn't really sound like what it's supposed to be emulating.

Overall, this is a fun pedal and an excellent digital delay that can do double duty as a simple chorus pedal, but the bottom line is, if you're a purist who wants real tape echo sound, you're going to have to cough up the cash to get a real tape echo (the only tape echoes I know of that are in current production are the Fulltone, about $1000, and the studio-oriented Blue Coconut, about $3000, while used units like the Roland Space Echoes are going for outrageous prices; if anyone knows of any real tape echoes that are currently being produced that I haven't mentioned, email me, 'cause I'd like to know). If you're not a purist and you're not doing anything specialized like dub reggae (which practically demands real tape in order for it to not sound like ass), this will get you 90% of the way there.

FYI, I've been using the pedal with a Telecaster knockoff through an old Fender Princeton amp. The pedal is completely transparent, other than the effect; no clipping, no noise whatsoever.:

it's easy to use, but you'll need to spend time with it , lots of combinations here , ddon't dismiss it , theres stuff you can do that isn't apparent at first. SPEND TIME!

EXCLNT SLAP BACK Does everything you'd expect , plus in tube mode, with knobs turned all the way left can get a tube rectifier SAG thing awesome! it can mellow out a overly bright amp in this way and smooth it out. I think the peope here that give this a low rating either havn't spent enough time with it or their expecting a single pedal to perform mircles with a rig thats suspect to begin with . with a decent slightly overdriven tube amp it awesome , ITS NOT AS GOOD AS AN ECHO PLEX and WONT DO EVERYTHING THAT AN ECHO PLEX DOES but it will help you make music , i'm giving it a 10 to compensate for the chuckle heads here who rate this WAY low , the tube sag effect (dial it in) alone is sweet.

no opinion

no opinion

i use an (OLD SCHOOL) crybaby wah (analog) a boss CS-2 compressor, BD-2 blues driver, sometimes a boss chorus and this REEL ECHO into various FENDER, SOVTEK, CARVIN amps, it allways turn key ... look around at other pro pedal boards you'll see this on it.

It's pretty much a case of plug in and go really. Repeats knob changes the number of echoes, Mix alters the proportion of dry to wet signal, lo fi determines how much high end is rolled off, tube / solid-state affects tone and warble is either on or off. It's dead simple.
I'd only give it a 9 because you do have to understand what everything does first, but then to be fair making it any easier to use would severly reduce the variety of sounds avaliable.

I was stunned.
I was initaially after a Memory Man deluxe, until I saw the price tag. I figured that this could be a nice alternative, how right I was.
I'm playing through a Mexican Fender Tele Nashville, usually with the strat pickup engaged > Vox AC30 CC2 > Snarling Dogs Black Dog distortion pedal > Danelectro Reel Echo.
I first plugged it into an old 9v adpater i had, it buzzed and hummed like anything. I then replaced the adapter for a standard battery and it was dead silent, I think i had a duff plug to be honest.I was really worried about losing tone as i love the combination of my tele and vox but I haven't noticed any tone drop or hum wahtsoever since, it's like it's not even there.
I've only used the smaller delay times, usually under 375 but if you need something with really long delays this pedal can do it too. I've never used an echoplex or anything like that but I've heard samples, this thing sounds pretty damn close. The Warble feature is absolutely fantastic, I was initially planning to get a chorus pedal aswell but I just dont have to now. It's a really subtle pictch deviation but it adds alot of depth to the sound.
teamed with high gain and ringing strings you can get some epic feedback sounds with it too, just playing with the delay speeds and repeats.

It seems sturdy enough, all metal casing and solid switches. The jacks are very tough, which suprised me as they were a big problem with another danelectro pedal I have. The battery lid is made of plastic but to be honest you've gotta be pretty careless to damage that.

I play in a small indie band, play alot of dark riffs and choppy chords, rarely high distrotion. We also have alot of breakdown passages which always seem to lack something, I have tried tremelos and reverbs but they just don't give it the wide open feel that I am after. This pedal does. It's epic, gives me just what I need.

(It works great for building into kicks aswell, just getting noisy before a bigger bit and ambient noises, Miles Kane of the Rascals/Little Flames-esque)

For me the warble function is the thing that really makes it shine, it's so subtle but so powerful, something that i really think I would miss if I were to get a Memory Man.

This pedal seems to be able to do it all, from really subtle filling out to screaming totally over the top feedbacks and delays, the sound on sound function makes it dead easy to loop things aswell then play over them.

Basically it sounds increbile, has great functions, easy to use and comes with a very reasonable price tag. get one bought

First off the instructions are "OK" at best. But if you've played with a delay before you pretty much know what it does and how to get the sound(s) you want off the bat.

Mix knob: how much delay signal is put in (Maxed out is delayed signal only)[kinda useless maxed out]

Lo-fi knob: adds a high frequency cut on successive repeats. (But also reduces amount of repeats, works in junction with repeats knob)

Repeats knob: How many repeats (with lo-fi knob turned all the way down and repeats all the way up, it gets an almost infinite repeats feel, which is fun with the sound on sound feature!)

Speed Slider: controls how fast the delay repeats. 0 to 1500 milliseconds (1.5 seconds)

Tone switch: "Solid state" and "Tube" I???ll talk about this in the sound quality portion.

Warble switch: turns warble ON and OFF; again talked I???ll talk about this in sound quality.

Where to begin. I bought this looking for a delay, DUH. I wanted an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man. Until I saw the price. Now I???ve never played with and echoplex, but have heard one on Youtube, which severely compresses their audio, so I can't really say "Oh this pedal sounds dead on", or "man this pedal is ugly and I don???t like it cuz I can't spend hundreds on tape and new tubes". So I don???t really care. I just wanted an effing delay pedal.

I open the box and plug it in; as soon I turned it on I noticed it actually repeated the click of the unit's engage button! I was like ahh **** I bought a ****** pedal. Then I tweaked some knobs (ooh that sounds wrong) and got a PERFECT SLAP BACK DELAY!

the tone switch is kinda weird, the Solid state is pretty much just your exact signal while the Tube is more of a mid cut bass boost on just your repeats, not you actual tone. Both are nifty.

The warble is more of a weird chorus, but again is useful. Especially when oscillating, it adds a little something to it. I don't use it for anything but making whacky noises.

A little let down is when you get a cool repeat and feck with the time slider it doesn't pitch shift. Instead it cuts it shorter and shorter until you get crazy glitchy sounding noises, again, totally usable.

It's made of metal. It's HUGE. It competes with my Bug Muff Pi and Digitech Whammy. Speed slider is made of plastic, but seems fairly solid, all the knobs are very solid. I dont think this thing'll be dying on me any time soon.

Dunno, i just know they have like a one sentence description of this pedal on their own website. I don't think they'd be very helpfull.

I play blues, punk, and garage. This pedal is perfect for me. Plus it looks AWESOME!!! It ain't a Deluxe Memory Man, but it's up their on the list of memorable delays.

Very easy. If you can't figure this out, I wonder how you can start your car.

Here's the part I love. It sounds much like an echoplex. Any complaints I read here by die hard echoplex lovers (grungy, noisy, etc.) also apply to the echoplex. This is all the stuff we've ended up missing when we went digital. I play a lot of reggae and a digital delay doesn't get it if you want to add some dub flavor. Wheel up, soun' bwouy!!

Built like a tank. Heavy.

whaaaa???

veeery cool. I pretty sure this will make a permanent home on the board.

Definitely sounds different than the boss dd3. Takes up a lot of real estate. Looks like fun.

Sounds great and usable. Cool light mint green color, metal case. Slider for the speed control. Feels substantial. Retro knobs. Lo-Fi knob gives it that hi-cut rumble and fade. It must be good cause it takes me back. Not an echoplex but same neighborhood. You can see its intent and with that in mind, you can get what you like about the old echoplexes. The trade off is completely worth it. They were such a pain in the ass. Noisy, lots of maintenance. You always wonder if its gonna die on you and kill the show. I used mine as a doorstop until I gave it away.

It will give you that effect without all the headaches. I was so happy when digital delays happened. Nice and clean with no noisy tapes. Who knew we'd miss it?

It's pretty amazing. You can flavor it to taste. It has a warble feature that makes it sound like an echoplex with some wear, that could use a tune up. F'ing great. Solid state or tube tone. Clean or funky dirty.

NOT A DIGITAL DELAY. Or a Fab. Lots of fun. The Boss is an effect, the Dan is more like an instrument, like an mpc. I dig it.

Features:

Mix (goes 100% wet)
Lo-Fi (progressive delay high frequency attenuation)
Repeats
Delay Time (slider)
Tube/Solid State switch
Warble on/off switch
Sound On Sound switch
Dry and Wet out

It's more or less clear what most of these do, but it still takes some work to dial in the sounds I want. The Sound On Sound is simple to use, as long as you realize that what it's doing is letting you play without recording while the thing you just recorded keeps playing in the background. Make sense?

I haven't found this to be noisy, as some have claimed it to be. The Reel Echo is obviously trying to emulate vintage tape echo sounds, and in some respects it succeeds, but mostly it fails.

I've never owned a tape echo, but I've heard plenty of samples, and played through more sophisticated simulations. Tape echo is relatively high fi on short repeats. It cuts bass as well as some treble on longer repeats. The character changes a bit depending on delay time. The sound of the warble or wow and flutter kind of depends on the unit, how much drag, etc. Tape units also are easy to bring into self oscillation, and will pitch shift when you change the delay time while playing. The same holds true for many analog and digital delays.

The Danelectro Reel Echo actually doesn't do most of those things. It doesn't cut bass on successive repeats (although it will cut treble via the LoFi knob), the "Warble" switch sounds like fast chorus rather than a real tape echo warble, it will not self-oscillate, and will not change pitch as you change delay speeds, but rather will stutter, like a scratched CD. The delay on the Boss PS-3 does the same thing.

It's ironic that a pedal marketed as a tape echo simulator can actually do almost none of the tricks that a tape echo can do. The one tape delay trick it CAN do admirably is that Sun Records slap-back delay. It has the same je ne sais qua and warmth of those old Scotty Moore and Luther Perkins guitar tracks. I've heard the Reel Echo referred to as the king of slap-back echo pedals, and that may be true. It's very good at that.

But, even though it misses the mark on sounding like a tape delay on most settings, it still sounds very good. Judicious use of the LoFi knob is key here, but you can really create some lovely ambient soundscapes with the Reel Echo. I normally leave the Warble off because I don't like chorus. The Tube setting cuts too much treble, so I usually have it set on Solid State, and adjust the LoFi knob to taste.

The Sound on Sound isn't that useful because of the 1.5 second delay time, but it's fun to play with.

One criticism of the LoFi knob is that, although it sounds lovely, it cuts to much volume from the repeats. I am sure it could have been engineered to cut tone without cutting so much volume. Still, if dialed in properly it sounds great. I personally like warm sounding repeats, even if that isn't what a tape echo sounds like.

One thing I'd like to try is running it stereo. The delay can go 100% wet, so you could run one side dry, and the other side as the delay, and run the delay side through whatever you wanted - modulation, overdrive, compression, EQ, etc.

Seems very well built and very solid.

Overall, it's a great sounding delay with some basic design problems. Danelectro should re-engineer and re-release this pedal with independent high and lo cut knobs (that cut tone only, not volume), and a delay that will self-oscillate and pitch shift at appropriate settings. Oh, and with a more intelligent Warble. At the very least, make it a vibrato (pitch vibrato) rather than a chorus. I love the look though - don't change that.

Despite all that, I'm going to keep it because it sounds great. Just don't buy it thinking that it's an Echoplex doppelganger, except for slap-back delay sounds.

instructions suck, But if you have common sense you can operate it

I have been trying to get a certian sound for quite some time and with the reel echo and a ts-808 I got the rockabilly sound to a tee

get the power inverter... a must

I play anything from Johnny Cash to George Thorogood to Brian setzer and for the rockabilly and old sun record stuff it works well.
I have been playing for about 8 years and I play through a fender hotrod. I play a gibson es-135, a epi wildkat and a gretsch 5120.It is way hot when you play it with a tube screamer, it brings a good combo to the table

Easy to get a good sound out of it. The instruction manual could be a little better but who really cares.

Sounds very, very close to an Echoplex but way cheaper in price than an Echoplex. This will help you get Eddie Van Halen's guitar sound and also, Eric Johnson's guitar sound.

Built like a tank! Great Quality!

I love the sound of an Echoplex! The Reel Echo is way cheaper and more reliable. Worth every penny!

I dig this thing. It's prety easy to dial in. Very versatile delay.
Sound on sound feature....who cares. Never heard anybody do anything that interesting with that trick. Waste of a button to me. Rather have a little real estate back. LOVE the big knobs, slider is fun, but far from rugged.
EASY to make your sound fit in the band mix on the fly with that lo fi thingy.(Tone knob)

I Love the sound. Both "Tape" & "Solid State" have their use's, and that lo fi knob is just beautiful. I've owned a DM-3, a DM-2, an
AD-9, a Memory man, a DD-3, I could go on forever...
This pedal's versatility makes it my new choice.

I am completely enthralled with the warble feature!!!

I never realized how much some type of modulation on JUST THE REPEATS clears up your tone while still adding HUGE depth.

With my Vox AC-30 and my tele, Teese Compressor, Voodoo lab sparkle drive and this I'm pretty friggin happy.

I hate Boss's buffering. on or off the tone gets Bossified.
This Dano affects the tone a little to, but it's way more Organic than boss.
The only better delay I've tried was the memory lane. but they aint cheap. And I'd still keep this for some things....

Those foot buttons are not my favorite. It's pretty heavy duty,I like the looks, (Slider looks questionable for reliability,)
Battery eater.

Duno.

You can pick these up cheap. Listen, I play many styles and I'm pretty friggin wailing. Chicken picken, U2, Pink floyd, this pedals reel cool. (Heh.) I started in music at 6, I'm 34, my dad was a pro before me. If you need that sort of info to trust me.
I'll go 9 because it's a little big, and I dont like the slider, also, True bypass woulda been cool. ( How come nobody makes an option of 1 high quality switchable buffer on the output of the delay you can use or not(TB...or not TB!!!). (Delay is last in chain, and that would drive a long cable.)

Very easy to use. Slider for delay time (no tap tempo though) knobs: mix (wet and dry), repeats, lo/hi, toggles: solid state/tube, warble on/off. Easy to get many different sounds, slap, chorus, reverb, etc.

The first thing that must be said is that this will suck your power and the more you have in front of it, the worse it will be. I have never used an echoplex, so I don't know if the same applies there.

Also there is a noticeable pop when you engage it. I run it thru a looper, so I avoid this. A looper is also a good way to take advantage of the sound on sound. I can leave the SOS going and turn off the loop. When I want the SOS back, I can turn the loop back on and there it is.

Back to the tone suck. Since it's delay, it goes near the end of the chain (ideally in the amp's effect loop). I don't have an effects loop, so mine is after a TS and fuzz box. Thru a clean amp with no effects, the loss isn't noticeable, but it will completely suck the fuzz right off the fuzz and drop the volume quite a bit. I remedied this by running another od pedal before it. They're both in a separate loop, so I can use both or just the reel echo if I'm playing clean. So sound quality is very good, there's a variety of different "effects" in this one package. The tone loss isn't a deal breaker, especially since I don't know how else you'd get these features outside of a true tape echo (and again, I don't know if that would suck the tone)

I never bring backup anything. I take care of my stuff and use it all regularly. I would think the chances are low that anything would cut out for the few hours I really need to depend on it, but there's always that chance, it's just not likely enough for me to haul backup gear.

My opinion on this unit keeps changing. There are times when I want to chuck it and get a DD6, but the possibilities with the reel echo are almost endless. I'm sure I'll find a set-up or (mod) where I can get it to work with as minimal tone loss as possible.

It's fairly simple to use, after you read the 1 page manual and realize what the controls do. I know other people have mentioned a problem with the sound on sound feature, but, as stated in the manual, all you have to do is turn the lo-fi all the way down and the repeats all the way up. Fairly simple. the slider is great for adjusting times in the middle of a somg, and the lo-fi switch is the best part of the pedal.

I use this with an epiphone casino-boss tu2-ibanez ts9-ibanez ts9-electroharmonix big muff pi-boss bf3-danelectro reel echo-either a 1969 fender twin reverb or a peavey classic 50 and it's great for a slapback sound on rhythym, or a fattening up of my leads. I don't really use the longer times, so I keep it under the 300 ms mark. It's great for what I need, but there is a slight volume drop, which is why I had to add the second tubesreamer into the chain. (I turn the drive all the way down and use it as a volume boost) It works great, other than the volume drop.

It's appears to be quite solid, being made out of metal, and I always gig without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I play straight up rock'n'roll- lots of strokes, white stripes, rolling stones, the who, bowie, elvis costello, blondie, etc, and it works great for what I need. If they added a volume control, they could've tacked on another thirty bucks and I would've gladly paid it. If it were stolen or lost, I'd try out a few other pedals (ibanez ad-9, visual sound h20, memory man) but would probably end up purchasing another one, unless one of the above blew me away. For the price I paid, I'm very happy with it.

Knobs, slider, switches...hmmm..how hard could it be.
If you can't run this..you could be rentally metarded

OK, NOW I WORK ON ECHOPLEX UNITS..EP-2, EP-3 AND EP-4'S...SO I KNOW HOW A MAINTAINED / NEW TAPE ECHPLEX IS SUPPOSED TO SOUND..AND THEY SOUND AWESOME...BUT I'LL BE DIPPED IN PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE IF DANELECTRO DIDN'T HIT THE MARK VERY VERY VERY CLOSE TO SOUNDING EXACTLY LIKE AN ECHOPLEX UNIT. I WON'T ARGUE THE FACT THAT AN ECHOPLEX MAY HAVE A SMIDGE MORE OF THE CHORUSY SOUND...THAT IS, UNTIL YOU HIT THE WARBLE BUTTON ON THE DTE-1...WOW..NICE JOB DANELECTRO!! I'M TRULY IMPRESSED WITH MY FIRST EVER PURCHASE FROM DANELECTRO. I HAVE PLAYED ABOUT EVERY SINGLE PEDAL AVAILABLE TO MAN AND THIS LITTLE THING IS PHENOMINAL..PRODUCES BETTER ECHOPLEX TONES THAN A REPLEX..BY A LONG SHOT. I'VE PLAYED BOTH. IT IS NOT NOISY, THE EFFECTS HAVE A TONE OF SWEEP ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM, I PLAYED STRAIGHT INTO THE SYSTEM TONIGHT AND IT SOUNDED ACTUALLY BETTER THAN THE ECHOPLEX IN A LIVE SYSTEM PLUG IN. THE SWITCH FOR SOLID STATE AND TUBE WAS A MIND BLOWER TOO..I HEARD IT CHANGE FROM AND EP-2 TO AN EP3 OR 4 !! THAT IS FLAT OUT COOL. THE SOUND MAN CAME UP TO ME AT CHURCH AND SAID, MAN YOU HAVE A LOT MORE DRIVE TONIGHT AND THAT THING SOUNDS AWESOME..! SO THIS LITTLE GUY WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY ARSENAL..FROM TODAY ON..IT MINE...GO BUY YOUR OWN...HA HA..GOT IT OFF EBAY FOR 109.00..NOT BAD.

THIS THING IS IN A NICE METAL CASE,,HAS A LITTLE WEIGHT TO IT, WHICH I WASN'T EXPECTING, BUT DANELECTRO SPENT A FEW BUCKS ON THIS ONE AND PUT IT IN A VERY NICE ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE..I PERSONNALLY WOULD HAVE COLORED IT BLACK WITH WHITE KNOBS TO LOOK LIKE AN ECHOPLEX..THAT'S JUST ME THOUGH. I'M SURE IT WON'T BREAK...

HAVEN'T EVERY NEEDED IT SO I'LL GAMBLE WITH A 10 HERE SINCE THIS UNIT DESERVES 10'S ACROSS THE BOARD, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT SOUNDS SOOO SWUEEEET.

I PLAY CHRISTIAN ROCK/ JAZZ/ BLUES/ ACCOUSTIC...ETC.
THIS WILL MATCH UP TO ANYTHING AS MOST DELAYS WILL..:)
I USE G LP'S, WOLFGANGS, TAYLORS. JSX, MESA, FENDER.. FRANKLIN MOD PEDALS, POD XT LIVE, GT-PRO, GT-8, TONELABS SE, GNX-4..ETC ETC.
I'VE BEEN PLAYING GUITAR FOR OVER 30 YEARS...SINCE I WAS A KID.
I WOULD REPLACE THIS IF STOLEN IN A MINUTE.
I LOVE THE WAY IT REPLICATES AN ECHOPLEX SOOOO CLOSE.
I DON'T HATE ANYTHING ABOUT IT, EXCEPT THE PUKE GREEN COLOR...BUT HEY, I WON'T LOSE IT..HAHA
MY FAVORITE FEATURE IS THE TAPE WARBLE...ACTUALLY WORKS AND SOUNDS GENUINE.
I HAVE TRIED THE REPLEX...AND ON & ON AND NOTHING, EXCEPT THIS ONE, CAME EVEN CLOSE TO THE TONES OF AN ECHOPLEX..
THIS IS A MUSIC MAKING TOOL AND NOT A HINDRANCE.

I MUST SAY, DANELECTRO, YOU GUYS DID AN AWESOME JOB ON THIS AND KEPT THE PRICE WITHIN THE RANGE OF THE LITTLE GUYS OUT THERE. I DIDN'T NEED TO BUY THIS, BUT DIDN'T WANT TO HAUL MY NOS ECHOPLEX EP-3 AROUND AND CHANCE GETTING IT DAMAGED OR STOLEN..SO I CHECKED OUT A FEW OPTIONS AND ENDED UP WITH THE DTE-1 BY REFERRAL FROM OTHER PRO GUYS..THAT'S IMPRESSIVE.
DON'T HESITATE TO BUY THIS IF YOU LIKE THE TONE OF AN ECHOPLEX.
LISTEN TO U-2 AND YOU'LL HEAR TONS OF ECHOPLEX TONES FROM THE "EDGE".
HONESTLY, HE WOULD LOVE THIS ONE AND WOULD SAY..MAN, THAT IS IT..THEY NAILED THE TONE....NICE JOB DANELECTRO.

Although I found the pedal easy to use. I feel that a better manual for this product would help greatly, you know some suggested settings for maybe a U2 type of sound or some examples of other band type set ups.

My current set up is a whole slew of homemade strats and homemade kramer knock-offs thru my main amp , which is an Ampeg R212 re-issue.
My sound is right out of Van Halen's Women and Children First.

This pedal opened up some great tonal qualities when I used it in series with a Boss DD-3 thru the effects loop.

I have to give it a 9 just for that !!

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is it still missing a little something. But, I couldn't be more pleased.

So far ...I think it is built like a tank ( as others have mentioned )...Can it take road abuse ???? I don't know yet.

Overall, sure looks like a pedal that would've cost $300 to $400

I have been playing for 20 + years.I play alot like Warren Demartini with a heavy Van Halen / Eric Johnson influence.I have had a lot of stuff stolen over the years and I am a less is more type of player these days (with effect units) but,I would definitely replace this if it were lost,stolen or broken. I use it almost always in the tube/vintage mode w/ tape warble on - It is more of an effect for coloring my sound but, it does a lot of stuff an echoplex does. The sound on sound is probably better on other units with a longer delay time.I personally can't find a use for SOS with my style .

Very easy to use, controls laid out nicely. Just plug it in and adjust to your liking.

I bought the Reel-Echo about 3 years ago as a replacement for my Echoplex (which it seems some other reviewers have as well). I don't like digital delays; especially the Boss stop boxes. I was happy to find that Danelectro was making this worty replacement for a tape echo. There is a lever which adjusts the distance of the "playback heads" so that your delay is longer or shorter depending on which way you move it. Then you have to dial in how loud you want it to accompany your playing, and how many times it will repeat before dropping out. There is also a selector switch for tube or solid state sound. Tube has more analog warmth to it, but I am personally used to solid state since that is the type of echoplex I owned. You can also switch between clean or warbled sound. this effect resembles a tape warble as it goes through heads. The Reel-Echo sounds REEL good, actually. As a lover of analog effects, this still sits on my board and gets used frequently and really is an adequate replacement for a real Echoplex.

The unit is reliable, but I would use it plugged in. That being said, you also have to use the right adapter with it. I have some pedals that will work perfectly with a radioshack 9v adapter, but if you use anything on this except the Danelectro adapter or a Boss adapter, it will buzz. Trust me, I tried to troubleshoot that forever. With a battery it will run fine, but I think it tends to run out rather quickly. Too fast for my liking. Plus, if you have it on your pedalboard and it's plugged in, you don;t have to worry about disconnecting the input cable and draining the battery out. It's a heavy, durable pedal but I would not stomp hard on the switches. they have been fine for me but I don't really use it outside the studio. They have that look to them; like they might get stuck inside if you push them too hard.

Never needed them so far.

Good pedal that serves as a great replacement for the ever-so-unreliable Echolpex. IK hesitated at first because I really don't like Danelectro effects but this one seems to be good. I also don't feel like it takes away from my tone much either. I wouldn't think it has a natural bypass but still it's not really noticable to me anyway. I never understood the sound on sound function, and it seems multiple users have the same trouble. It doesn;'t work like the Echoplex did. Even so, I never use it anyway. I use an MXR 1500 digital delay rackmount in conjunction with the Reel-Echo. That can provide me a hold function while I bypass and use the echo delay on the Reel. I don't think anyone would steal it because frankly it looks like a toy, but if it were stolen I'm sure I would explore my options for higher end equipment as I rarely ever but the same thing twice. But even so, for about 150 bucks (i think, don't remember) you can't go wrong and it still sounds as good as that natural tape delay that is so highly sought after.

It could not be any easier to use. Its perfect for those those who hate complicated equipment.

This is where it shines. The only echo I liked other than this was the Echoplex (the oringal tape one) and I hate to admit it but in many ways this is better. Since its digital, I was really biased to not like it. As far as I am concerned this is the best "Echoplex" sim I have ever heard and may even surpass what it tries to emulate.

All NON tape echoes&delays sound processed, even analog ones. This is the only one that gets that tape slur correct which makes the echoes not compete with the original sound and allow to crank up the delay and still sound natural.

There's no moving parts, unlike the Echoplex so it has to be more reliable.

No Opininion.

Although I have many pedals, I mainly use a few and this has become part of my permanant setup. For what this pedal offers, its a bargain and one I would have to replace if it got stolen or broke.

I got the Danelectro "Reel" Echo about 6 days ago. When I first got it, I was expecting it would take some time "a-fiddlin'" to get the delay time and delay sound I wanted, as will any new piece of equipment. It acutally took far LESS time than I imagined! This pedal is sooo easy to use.

I mean, basically, you've got 4 settings to tweak to get your delay time/sound set to your liking: Mix, Lo-Fi, Repeats, and Speed Range.

The mix controls the ratio between how much of the main signal (plucked string) and the delay signal you hear. When set at minimum, only the main signal comes thru, and when set at maximum, only the delay signal comes thru. Anywhere between, it is varying mix of the two.

The Lo-Fi rolls off some of the high frequency in the delay signal. It is just like a "tone knob" for the delay signal, while you've got the tone knob on your guitar for the main signal.

The Repeats, obviously, controls how many repeats you hear after plucking the sting. Minimum is only one echo, and maximum is several echoes (or an infinate number of echos if the Lo-Fi is at minimum; it will echo until you turn it off!!!)

The Speed Range slider controls the amount of delay, or time between each echo. You get up to 1.5 seconds of delay. At minimum, you get a cool vintage "reverb-like" effect. The other features are just "extras" that you can use.

The tone switch gives you the option of having a warmer echo on the "tube" setting, or a brighter echo on the "solid state" setting.

The warble switch is just an extra effect. When the pedal is delaying, the echo will have a chourus/vibrato effect. What I liked about the warble switch is when on, you can turn the main signal off (putting mix on maximum) and turn the slider to minimum and you have a chourus pedal right there!

The Sound-on-Sound lets you record an up to 1.5 second lick (depending on where the slider is set) and play over it. You have to turn the repeats to max and the Lo-Fi to minimum for it to work though. When you do this just play the lick and when you are done, hit the SOS button and it will play it indefinatly.

The Reel Echo has a very warm and "natural" echo. I use a Fender Esquire reissue thru a Fender Frontman 15R amp at home. I bought this pedal mainly to simulate the tape delay heard by Johnny Cash's original guitarist, Luther Perkins. During his days at SUN, Sam Phillips utilized the "feather echo", which is a faster delay. At CBS, however, they utilized a longer delay. I can easily imiate these two perfectly with the Reel Echo!

Is it noisy? A little. During normal "clean" delay settings and when set on "solid-state" and no warble, it is not noisy. However, when you switch on the warble switch, you do get a little static noise, but it is not unbearable. It is actually not enough to complain about! Also, when you set it on "tube" you get the same static as above. I have also noticed that the tube setting makes the delay signal considerably weaker than when it is set on solid-state.

The only reason I gave it a 9 is because the scale on here says a 10 is "Pristine sound quality." You need a real tape delay unit for that!

From what I have seen, this thing is indestructable. I have drop it once, and it held up. The case feels bullet-proof.

I have not gigged with it, but I would not hesitate to use it live without a back-up.

I have not dealt with the company, so I wouldn't know.

This unit is a perfect match for the type of music I play. I mean, there's no other unit out there like it! I have been playing for over 10 years and have never played a comparable unit!

What I love about this pedal is the warm, realistic, and natural delay you get from it! The Lo-Fi is probably my favorite feature becasue it allows to to adjust the "warmth" of the delay. The delay is natural regardless of where the Lo-Fi is set!

There are a few things I would like to have different, or have added. You know, most old tape delay units that depended on tape speed for the delay speed had a slight rise in pitch. You can hear this on about half or more of the SUN recordings of Johnny Cash back in the fifties. I honestly thought before I bought it, that this is what the warble switch did, but I was wrong!

Also, I'll be honest, the sound-on-sound feature is basically useless with only 1.5 seconds of delay. I mean, I will never use that feature probably, so it doesn't matter much to me, but I thought I would address that.

One more thing, you get a unique vintage reverb effect with this pedal when the delay is on. This is great in some conditions, but I wish I could turn it off in others.

I also reccomend that you invest $10 in a Danelectro power adaptor. This thing CONSUMES batteries and if you go buy a normal AC adaptor, you will get a loud hum. Get the Danelectro Zero-Hum adaptor!

Overall, this is an amazing product! It is worth every dime and I don't regret it one bit! It does have its flaws, but they are sooo minor that it doesn't even matter really!

REALLY easy to get a GREAT sound out of it. Very nice repeats and just enough features to coax a good variety of tones out of it. For all the features, though, it's laid out very nicely and simply so adjusting with a foot or toe is a peice of cake, which is awesome. No menus, which is refreshing. Very similar in function to a EHX Memory Man.

The Sound-On-Sound feature is a little counter-intuitive to me, and I thought mine was broken at first. It does NOT "record" a loop when you press the switch, like you might think. Instead, what it does is when you have the "repeats" cranked FULL UP and the "lo-fi" OFF, activating S.O.S. keeps the "loop" repeating but doesn't record what you're playing over it. The loop will repeat infinitely. Then, devactivate S.O.S. to add to your loop as desired.

So note: It only works with the "repeats" at MAX and the "lo-fi" (degrading effect) OFF.

It makes sense once you do it once, and is very easy to use. Unfortunately the manual doesn't describe how it works very well. Perhaps those folks (unlike me) with experience with real tape echo units with S.O.S. would know this already.

I use several other pedals before this and a Boss DD-20 after it. It's not noisy at all, which is good. The effect sounds very good. I got this because I couldn't quite get the Boss DD-20 to replicate that super-musical slapback echo sound that I love so much. The Boss is a wonderful unit too, it does a LOT more effects and can get close in tape/analog sounds, just not perfectly. I was skeptical of the Reel Echo, but was really infatuated when I heard it could make *THAT* sound. The S.O.S. feature is really cool too, I use it together with the DD-20's S.O.S. feature and get some wild loops going.

As mentioned, I've never had a real tape unit, but I have a very picky ear, and this thing sounds good. If I wasn't so picky I'd be fine with the DD-20, an otherwise ingenius pedal, but I needed that certain echo sound: It's that warm, real rock and roll sound that you know it when you hear it.

I also love all the 'extras' like the tube switch, the lo-fi dial, and the chorus switch. Reminds me of a Memory Man, except the Reel Echo is more transparent and doesn't color your sound like some EHX units do. It's exactly what I wanted, nothing I don't, and more. The extra control over the tone of the 'repeats' is just awesome.

It's really, really heavy-duty. I adjust the settings with my feet and without concern.

N/A

I play a lot of different styles of music, but delay (or "echo") is an important element throughout. I like looping with my DD-20 and the Reel Echo's S.O.S. feature allows for an extra dimension which is nice, though at the end of the day, I need a delay that I can dial down to a reverby slapback too, and the Reel Echo really shines in that regard as well.

I love the extra features. If I could change something, I'd add more delay time, and maybe a tap tempo. The slider is actually pretty easy to dial in, but still, 1 1/2 seconds is a pretty short MAX delay (though still actually longer than the Memory Man, I think).

If lost, I might wait and save up for something just like it but in the expensive boutique market, just to try something new, if such a product exists. I heard that the Hughes & Kettner Replex is quite nice, for example, though twice or 3x as much. But if I didn't have the money, I would be very comfortable buying another Reel Echo.

Also note: It's kind of a big pedal too, which is good for tuning in with your toe, but does take up a chunk of space. Of course, most comparable products (i.e. the DD-20, Line 6, Memory Man, Replex) are all pretty big too, so I can't fault Danelectro.

Rock solid, sounds great, very creative to use and tweak on the fly (or dime into oscillation madness, if you wish). I love the Reel Echo.

i have never reviewed here before but frequently use HC for the reviews, but the person below who gave this a 2 for sound. CRRRAAAAZZZY!! there are great sounds all over this pedal. i didnt see anyone else note that the slider used to access the rate of delay is awesome! very easy to fine tune access to great slapback vintage analog tone. warble is not something i utilize for any effect its just one of those things dano does to all their pedals by adding gadgets that differentiate them from other pedal manufacturers. the lo fi knob is cool also i hate that cold digital delay sound other pedals give off.

great! rockabilly, slow blues ala red house, pink floyd sound on sound function... another gadget but it is still something fun to mess around with. easy to recreate analog sounds with lo fi knob and tube switch for that extra warmth. not a 10 because it isnt ANALOG like my stereo memory man, but it is sooo close its hard to tell them apart.

its danelectro but feels like a much sturdier pedal than they usually are known for.

i have never dealt with danelectro but own a few of their cheaper pedals (tuna melt tremolo, rocky road rotary speaker(another pedal ruined by excess gadgets(i have modded mine to leave out that sickly overdrive knob and now it is COLD SHOT sweet))and i love the fact that they try to provide a good product at low cost to customer. sorry too many parenthesis.

i play everything from waylon jennings to qotsa, no rap crap metal or new age country pop slop. i am talking music. compared to my boss dd5 and eh stereo memory man i use this the most, even though the eh sounds a little better(it is old and a little beat up, while the dano is shiny and stylish). the boss sucks, unless you want that long satriani/vai delay. true bypass would be nice but i cant tell any tone sucking unless a bunch of extra pedals are used. i have a zvex sho, nobels odr-1 original green version, dls chorus vibrato(works well with the dano), fulldrive clyde wah to a marshall jcm 2000 dsl 201 or peavey classic 20 most people still refuse to admit a small tube amp has more tone than any boutiquee overdrive. my primary guitar is a 1987 G&L asat. i have been playing for 8 years, but in that time have been very addicted to tone hunting. visit musictoyz or tonefrenzy or thegearpage for more tone hunting fun and this is danelectros best pedal. try it out ad if you dont like it go for a dd-6 because if you dont like this you dont like analog, unless you can afford a way huge aqua puss , ad-9 ad-999, or diamond memory lane of course.. no didnt think so.

easy read through the one sheet of directions and then experiment,come on its only a couple of knobs,if you can drive a car ,play with the radio,eat luch and bs on the phone at the same time this pedal should be a breeze for you!

this is as good as it gets unless you buy the real tape echo machine,then lug it around,i like it on some warm leads and some clen tones even with a lil chorus,reeeeeeeelllllll nice!

its like anything else,but its a pedal it takes more of a beating than rack gear

i love tape echo,always liked it on leads,i have this and a dd-3 thats all i need.its warm sounding like an old tape delay the warble sounds cool on a clean setting ,try playing a slow picked song,its like havin a lil tremolo in it.

This is a darn confounding unit. The manual is pretty worthless (do they think they are Fulltone?) There are a lot of knobs and some day I may figure out how to get a good clean sound out of it. As for me, I wish I had saved the money and bought a Maxon 999 or Carl Martin Delaya.

PRS CE 24 and Am. Std. Strat-Keeley Comp.-Barber LTD-Keeley Modded TS-9-Reel Echo- RetroSonic Chorus Ensemble-Chicago BLues Box Kingston 18W.

I power this with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power and have not experience battery problems.

My biggest gripe with this unit is that even alone into the amp, I have yet to find a decent clean echo. I have been all over the controls and just don't get it.

I thought it was broken because the fidelity was so lo-fi, but my guitar shop says that's the way it is supposed to sound. We even tested against a second unit and I had to agree. To me it sounds like a low gain fuzz box is running upstream of this pedal. And forget about it if you do stomp on the box to get some distortion or drive. The sound quality degrades so fast that it goes to muck which doesn't cut in a live situation. I'll keep trying, but darn, I wish I hadn't bought this sucker. To add insult to injury, Danelectro has dropped the price $30 and now I not only hate it but feel ripped off.

No problem to date

No experience with this yet. I may call them to talk about the low fidelity. Perhaps they will offer to look at it. I will write back with an update.

I would not repurchase this unit and it may end up on Ebay. I just hope I get more than $70 for it, since I paid a buck-fifty.

I will give Danelectro props for trying to do a lot in one box, but for me, the low fidelity sound coming out of this unit makes it a sucker buy.

Pretty simple, given the spectrum of features this unit has. Everything is clearly marked and easily accessable. The only thing I found to be a bit difficult to adjust to is the time control, which is broken up into 375 ms blocks. Not a very comprehensive graduation, but if you let your ears tell you where it needs to be, it's kind of a non-issue.

I'm not sure why everyone on here seems to have a hard time with using sound-on-sound... I've had no trouble, but you have to remember to turn the Lo-Fi to off and the repeats on to max. Other than that, it's simple enough.

The sound quality on this unit is good, very good. It's hard to judge this by anything but a tape-echo machine, so don't make the mistake of looping this into the same category of a Boss Digital Delay or even the Dan-Echo. Essentially, this device is longer than the average echo, shorter than the average delay, and with more ambience features than either of them. Like I said, the only thing I can really compare it to is another tape-echo machine, like a Binson Echorec or an Echoplex

So how does a digital pedal measure up to the Real McCoy? Pretty darned well, to my ears. Of course, there are subtle nuances that are exclusive to actual tape, but overall this unit holds up respectably. The secret is the Lo-Fi knob. With that sucker cranked, the LPF cuts off the edge of the repeats, giving the unit a very analog sound. The solid state/tube switch lets you switch from a brighter sound to a warmer sound, which is cool. My only complaint is the warble, which was a mild chorus for the repeats only. The reason I complain is because the sound of the warble is so un-warbly and so disctinctly chorus-y that it sounds like a typical, modern chorus pedal hooked up to your wet output. Totally blows the vintage vibe. The fix to this is to get a genuine vibrato pedal (the kind that alters the pitch slightly), slow it waaaay down and hook it up to the wet output. Warlbe City, population you.

So far, so good...

Never dealt with them...

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this unit. Althouh it is digital, it has a very organic sound to it, and the life it brings to my playing is very well-received. Of late, I've been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett, not David Gilmour) and this thing fits right in.

One thing I've noticed about this pedal is it seems like an evolutionary link from regular echo to full-blown delay. It has sound-on-sound like some digital pedals, but it emulates the slapback sounds of the traditional echo quite well. The thing I like the most about it, however, is the level of control you have over the ambience of the unit, not just the repeats, lengths, and mix. You can make it sound clear and crisp as a morning breeze or as nebulous and ehtereal as murky water. It's a great unit.

You only need to be familiar do a delay. If you are not, just tweak the knobs and begin to suss it out and master the art.


Simple controls and spectacular layout. The only thing you need to get used to is the "mix" knob. The stompbox doesn't have a "volume" control, 'cause tweaking the mix control you can dose the influence of the delayed sound to the direct sound.

The sound quality is very high. I use it with a Fender Twin Amp and a Marshall JCM800. It has so much sound possibilities - just play some minutes with it and you'll discover the possibilities with this device seem endless. Whether you like long delays like, let's say Pink Floyd, or something that sounds more like an extra reverb, this will do it. You can also achieve very short echoes like that 50's rock sound (think of the Stray Cats). In the end, there are so many possibilities you will end up custumizing your own sound. But you have to be willing to test it massively.

These new Danelectro metal-made series pedals seem to follow the path that some other great manufacturers like Electro-harmonix took with the majority of their pedals. Very sturdy that is. The knobs are also firm and well built. I don't see how this pedal would break under normal circumstances.

Haven't needed to deal with them yet.

I play anything from jazz to funk, blues, classic and prog rock. I mainly bought this pedal because of the tape simulation (I really hate that Boss - Digitech - Ibanez digital sound). With it, all your problems about having to spend hundreds and hundres of dollars in a analog and vintage delay are literally dead. Instant Pink Floyd or Tool sounds. For the money this kicks the ass of any digital-delay pedal out there, no question about it.

This unit's controls make alot of sense.

I had an RV-3 Boss Echo Delay. It was ok, but not after I heard what a professional Echo/delay sounded like.
I finally found one that not only sounds realistic, is very customizable, but yet affordable. Enter the Danelectro Reel Echo. Got it for $114 plus s/h.
This is about as close to the old analog tape echo as you can get without having to fool with the tape and tape heads. I got it new on Ebay.

Gary

All I can say is ooohweeee...this in combination with my new Accutronics 3 spring long delay 17" reverb tank on my Jazz Chorus 90....is this side of Heaven!

This thing is built like a tank. Should last a long time! I would rate it a 10 but haven't had it long enough yet.

Haven't used them yet

This is better than the Boss Delay pedals and most others I have heard to date. Very close to the real deal with no fuss and muss of changing tapes and cleaning tape heads like on the old Analog Tape units.
I have to hand it to them....this baby ROCKS and is an excellent value. This is the best value in Echo's for those of us who cannot afford the high end stuff.

No effect will ever will sound great right out of the box with any guitar/pedal/amp combination. This does require a bit of tweaking to get it right for your desired sound. The cool thing is the versatility offered by this box. The Time slider does take a bit of getting used to and will not nail every Millisecond setting in its range. The mix option is a little unconventional for a youngster like me who hasn't played with a tape echo. Other than that, a little time spent can get you a good sounding delay for the type of music you are going for.

Sound quality does deteriorate rapidly if you are using a battery to power this creature. Definitely find a 300Ma adapter for the power side. Delay is a very subjective application to one's guitar playing. One person's gold can be another person's rotten cheese. I play surf to reggae to funk to space rock to classic rock to metal to avant gardey noise and it really covers a lot of ground within the techniques required for the genres. I dont find it all that noisy. Set for vintage slapback sounds, I found it inspiring. For Hank Marvin/Dave Gilmour 16th note cascades, I found it can be set for very warm tones. The only thing that gives it away that it is a digital delay is the stairstepping that occurs when you tweak the Time slider. The home-made PT-80 (See Generalguitargadgets.com -also a digital delay, for those of you who can build this stuff) doesn't do that, but doesnt get lo-fi or "tubey" There must be a low-pass-filter and a compander chip in there. Compared to other digital delays, this thing is ORGANIC and diverse in its applications.

I've used it for 2 years and no troubles. USE A 300Milliamp Adapter-it eats 9 volts like 4 'oclock crumpets. The screws around the switches and jacks have come loose on mine, but those fittings are bulletproof if you add lockwashers. Like any pedal, dont submerge it in the bathtub, or feed it too much current. Without blatant abuse, it should hold up fine. I've been gigging without backup with confidence. It has yet to do anything than sound just like it has always has.

N/A haven't needed squat

Very diverse echo unit, I like what it has to offer in the simulation of the units used on a lot of my favorite recordings. I've been playing quite a while and gig and record with a band. It has been mainly used in this combination: 1967 Fender Mustang>2002 Crybaby Boost/Wah>Harmonic Percolator clone>'80s Digitech Chorus/Flanger>Reel Echo>1974 Fender Twin Reverb. Does the trick for me!!
LIKES: I can go from the 50's-00's and beyond with these echoes.
FAVORITES: The SOS feature-Set your repeats for 100%, your echo time for LONG and record a little riff, hit SOS and jam out on top of it. Very good songwriting tool! You can tweak the time an really mess with your recorded riffs.
PETTY QUARRELS: Doesn't use tape! Is not analog!
It would be cool if it pitch shifted up or down if you tweaked the time. Smoother repeats at the faster time settings.
I wish it had its own light show! Maybe a shark with laser beams.
It has facilitated in the writing of a few of my songs-none of it's limitations get in the way of my playing.