Electra EP-150 Analog Delay

Fairly straight forward. Rack mount analog delay.1/4" mic(-46db)input and 1/4" instrument input-26dB).Volume knob with peak led, balance, repeat,delay time that gets shorter as you turn it clockwise output,1/4"footswitch jack,1/4"output jack and a -20,-40 switch for output level.
Easy to get a good sound out of it.No manual.Input jack has been replaced with a better quality jack.
Matsushita/Panasonic MN3005 analog delay chip,MN 3101 clock chip,LA6324 Quad amp and TL072CP opamp.0-300 milliseconds delay.

Can get every thing from a clean country slapback, to reggae(similar to Bob Marley 'Rastaman Vibration')to very heavy singing sustain like Robert Fripp and Brian May.
Going from a G&LAsat classic semi-hollow,or Ernie ball axis sport(modded pickups)with pearly gates and classic, into Seymour duncan twin tube(very cool unit), into delay into Matchless Spitfire clone head through Gerald Weber 8 ohm attenuator(custom build from his plans in Vintage guitar)into Celestion blue in custom pine cab.
Have to watch your input level or it will distort and it does get a bit hissy when balance is past 9 O'clock, though once you optimize the settings it sounds great. I have'nt noticed noise when using footswitch to select delay.

So far so good. Must be 30 years old. Inside looks great with solder joints looking good. Pots needed cleaning.Fairly trustworthy.Would use without a back up; however just bought a second one.

Company is long gone. Made in Japan. Easy to repair if you can get the parts.The MN 3005 chips are getting expensive. $20 dollars each if you buy five,as high as $35 for one.

If you are looking for an analog delay that is reasonably priced and a step up above alot of the stuff out there I would suggest trying one.It is a well made unit with it's own built in transformer(no wall wart) and it is reasonably clean and warm sounding.I have a feeling they are going to appreciate in value unless someone starts manafacturing analog delay chips any time soon.
It would be cool if it had a little more headroom.
I just bought another one if that indicates anything.
I think it's as good as any of the old Boss,Maxon and Ibanez, MXR or what have you out there, just by looking at the quality of the components.

This is an old-school rack-mount delay- no programs, no patches, no presets. Just turn the 4 knobs until you get the sound you want. I't butt-simple.

There's a microphone input (1/4 inch, not XLR) and an instrument input. There's a volume knob to minimize clipping. The other knobs are Balance, Repeat, and Delay Time. There's a 1/4 inch jack for a footswitch. The output is switchable for either -20 or -40 db. (I think that's it. I don't have the unit in front of me right now.)

It's easy to get a good sound, but like most old analog units, it can get noisy if you're not careful (more on that later). It loses only one point for this (nature of the beast).

And I'm subtracting another point because the Delay Time knob turns the opposite direction of all the others. All the way down is the maximum setting, all the way up is minimum. Strange...

But all-in-all, it's very easy. I like having it on top of my amp, so I can tweak knobs as I'm playing.

I'm using it with a Fender Strat, an Epiphone SG and a silverface Fender Pro Reverb amp.

There's a little hiss if the volume is above 11:00 and the balance is above 12:00. It increases as you turn the knobs up. This may be because I'm running it in front of my amp (I don't have an effects loop). I'd like to try it in a loop to see if it's less noisy that way. But this isn't a problem. At the normal levels, it's fine.

The delays are beautiful- very warm and organic. Very retro. Since this is an analog box, the maximum delay time is isn't too long. I'm guessing about 500-600 milliseconds (I read somewhere that Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" is 300 ms, and this can do a longer delay than that.)

It does everything from Sun Records slapback to swampy, psychedelic echoes. If the Repeat knob is around 3:00, it can repeat infinitely. Any higher and it will self-osillate and get progressively louder (which you can control with the Balance knob). Then you can do the old Echoplex "spaceship take-off" effect by turning the Delay Time knob. Cool. I've GOT to end a song with that.

I've had a couple of analog delay stompboxes before (EH Memory Man, DOD FX-90) and I'd rate the sound of the EP-150 as very close to the EH, and better than the DOD.

I think it was made in the 80's. I remember a guitarist I played with in '83 using one. So, it's survived this long.

When I bought it, the rack ears were bent and the footswitch jack was broken. I got the store to knock $10 of the price due to the broken jack. It was an easy fix, and it works beautifully.

I've only had it a few days, but it seems solid and gig-worthy. I have a digital delay that I'll use as a backup, though.

Does Electra even exist anymore? I don't think so.

I play original music that incorporates rock, funk and jazz influences. This delay fits very well with my style. I was saving to buy another Memory Man, but I when I heard the Electra, I had to get it. It has a great vintage sound, and the price was right.

I love setting on top of my amp, so I can tweak the knobs while playing. I can get some cool weird sounds from twisting the knobs- stuff that my digital pedal can't do. But mostly I use it for standard echoes. It's very smooth and musical.

At first I thought not having multiple presets would be a drawback, but it's not. I can just set the Delay Time and Balance between songs and use the footswith to turn it on and off. No problem.

Like most older gear, it's not always totally quiet. But under all but the most extreme settings (with repeats louder than the original sound), it's more than acceptable. And like I said before, it may work even better in an effects loop.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd really miss it. I'd even try to find another. But all the others I've seen so far have cost more (I just saw one for $150.)