Fulltone Tube Tape Echo

very straightforward, after an hour or so it's easy to get a handle on the functions. Every knob performs a useful function that affects the way it sounds. The manual is pretty detailed, but I'm waiting on the DVD manual that Fulltone has promised. Haven't had to change a tape yet, and I've heard that can be tricky. . .

I've had my TTE for about four months now and I love it more now than I did when I bought it. This thing is chock full of juicy, fat, thick echo, slapback and delay. At certain settings it can also cop a very nice reverb type sound as well. You name it and this unit can do it, maybe with the exception of super long delays, but who needs that crap anyway? Seriously, this thing sounds amazing and it is very quiet as well. I'm playing it through my only amp, a Bad Cat Hot Cat 30. It sounds great with clean, overdrive and heavily distorted amp tones. I usually use a short delay, less than 10 ms, but it's very fun to crank up the knobs all the way and enjoy some cool sonic mayhem. I can't wait to get another amp to try it in stereo. Simply put: You won't find a better delay sound out there, anywhere.

no problems so far. It seems to be extremely well built and the wood reinforced case that comes with it is very cool and will protect the unit well.

never dealt with them since I bought it. . .

This is my first Fulltone product but it won't be my last. Mr. Fuller really outdid himself with this. I used to own an EP2 Echoplex and this unit sounds better, with more features and cool options like stereo outs. I got it before the price went up to $1200, so I felt like a got a good deal. At $1200 it's still a fair deal and I'd probably still buy it. If you like delay of any type I would encourage you to try one out but be careful--you'll probably end up taking it home!

it aint rocket science kid

i've pretty much always used a space echoe which i love and a couple of wem copycats which i also love but these are so noisy compared to digital delays. i had a chance to check out the tube echo recently and could not believe how quite this unit is, i still love my other echo units but am seriously considering selling them to get one of these beauties.it sounds fucking killer.i didnt use it on guitars which seems to be the norm but this has been all over everything else in the studio in the short time i had it and really left its mark..

couldn't really say personally but it had been brought from the states on tour so it had been gigged for about 6 weeks on the road and behaved perfectly.

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absolutely brilliant!!! very easy! manual is fine. this is amazing.

i play a strat and tele through zvex and fulltone pedals into this unit into orange amps. the only noise is mechanical noise. in 20 years of playing, owning a ton of digital, analog, and tape echo units, this is THE one. this is the most amazing sounding echo i have ever heard!! my favorite piece of gear i own!!

it seems very solid. i will not gig with it. i will use a maxon analog delay pedal live. i want to keep this baby mint AND 99% of the people watching you live cannot tell what kind of echo you are using. trust me, most people can't even hear the difference between analog and digital (this does not include us musicians and tone freaks so don't get mad at me!!!) i will use it for my at home pleasure and on all recordings.

i have emailed fulltone. i think it was mike e-mailing back. lets just say this. he acts like someone who has been spoiled by a lot of praise and success.

the most perfect echo unit i have had the pleasure of using!! www.myspace.com/thebusylights is where you can hear my band. i will try to add some music with the TTE in the recordings.

If you haven't used an Echoplex or tape unit you could be in for some 'dial-in' time. The directions are simple and the layout is 'user friendly'.

Well, I have a MONSTER amp made by Scott Splawn and is easily the best Marshall (clone but MUCH BETTER) type amp I've owned. I put the TTE in front of the amp (between the guitar and amp input) and played a bit. Sounds terrible :( the echoes are thin and muddy. I adjust the 'echo tone' and 'record' knobs as suggested in the manual and more of the same....I think I made a HUGE mistake in buying this expensive boat anchor...the echoes get worse as the gain on my amp increases. I'm not impressed. AHA! this is a 'tube' echo, maybe there is a tube problem? I open the unit up and swap out the EI 12ax7 tubes with NOS JAN Philips 12ax7 tubes (don't touch the 12AU7 the manual warns!!!). Fire er' up and VIOLA! there it is! the tone I was expecting to hear! (I've owned tube tape echoes before)It was a couple of(or just one)severely microphonic tube(s). I put the TTE in the effects loop of the amp and it sounds even better (more uniform echoes between clean and gain channels). Absolutely quiet, I have to put my ear up against it to even hear any mechanical tape travel noise. I haven't tried the stereo option yet but am doing some recording soon and will try it with an acoustic guitar going into the TTE and out into the board in stereo. Try changing the tubes out for a change in tone.

The EI tubes can be finiky (I've heard), Telefunken clones, but have quality issues....I won't hold this against this unit and its maker because the EI's are great when they aren't microphonic, and this could have happened to the tubes during shipping...unit is built with great care and highest quality throughout, nice job! I hope to own it, trouble free, for MANY years!

Mike Fuller is usually accessible and always helpful when I talk to him.

If you want the best possible echo tone, this is it, if you want the clearest sounding echo get a digital delay. I've been around for quite a while and have used ALL that is out there....this product is a keeper.

Very easy.
A couple of the smaller dials have a big impact on the sound so that is worth looking out for.

As said elsewhere, truly glorious. Difficult to think of a guitar application where this is not the best option. Lacks of the of the warbly special effects and huge delay times of some of the digital gear, but for most applications it provides the most rounded and musical delay you will find.
Very little noise - amazing for a tube tape echo. You can hear the tape swirling around, but I like that and you have to be next to the unit to pick it up.

No worries for gigging. its in the nature of this gear there is more to go wrong than stomp box but I have always found Fulltone gear to be very robust.

Not had to deal with them, although I will get in touch about operating the unit with two amps. I cannot seem to get this to happen without a ferocious hum, which seems to remain despite what combination of power points I use.
The manual could use some work. It promises more information on a sound on sound feature, but I can't it.

I have owned taped echoes by Roland and Korg, and digital untis by Boss and Electro Harmonics. The Fulltone is easily the best..
It is not possible to get the Space Echo multi-head effect on the Fulltone alone, so be prepared to have a stomp box around if this is occasionally your thing.
One minor quibble is the lack of a footswitch. You really need one and although its possible to pick one for about 20 bucks you should not have to after putting out the thick end of a grand for the unit itself.
A lot of money, but truly the best there is.

Ease of use, "Not complicated" very good manual easy to understand i was doin just wat I do with a good delay in the first minute...

I just love this TTE.. It's the real deal I play lot's of rock&roll rockabilly Scotty More/ Chett/ Brian Setzer/ Jump swing groove. I am big into vintage gear, I use a bunch of stuff... 65 Fender Bassman piggy-back 64 Fender Vibroverb original, 72 Marshall Super-Lead 1/2 stack a 68 Marshall 50 watt Plexi 1/2 stack Wow! I used the TTE in stereo with the Marshalls I am hooked... I like all kinds of music and this unit will do it all. I am playin a 58 Gretsch 6120 original vintage also a Gibson Cloud 9 les Paul with P90's great honk... I can be eric johnson or Jimmy Hendrex or Brian Setzer it's just that good!!!!

I don't know about it's true reliability. I mean I have only had it a short time however, if you fallow the manual and do all the things they ask i think you will have it for decades with no problems... I don't use backups and I don't have $1000 bucks extra to use as a backup... I have lot's of Fulltone stuff and never had any problems!

Never had to deal with Customer support however, I have heard good stuff from them...

Lets just say, It's a very pro unit I have been playin for over 40 years and I used the original echoplex and this is light years better in sound and in overall operation... I would think that in time the price will come down but, not like a boss pedal or a digital rack unit. It is a very serious unit with lot's of moving parts and tube's I know that the machining casts were $250.000 alone! So with all that said you just can't compare it with anything... I love mine and it's the Bomb!!!

This unit is well laid out for the user. It took me about five minutes to find exactly what I was looking for in this effect. The manual is helpful and I am one of those guys who reads it through and through. My serial number came in just under 1000.

PRS Hollowbody I > Barber Launch Pad > Barber Burn Unit > Fulltone TTE > Fender SRRI. This unit is very quiet on all settings. Once the TTE was set for my liking it sounded very warm and full. With true bypass you can easily go back and forth to really dial it in. The sonic properties are astounding. I cannot put into words what I heard when I first cut loose with this analog delay unit. You really have to hear it for yourself.

I carefully reviewed the design and saw the five year warranty as a testimonial. All of the Fulltone products are extremely well made (Mike signs each one). I bought an extra tape cartridge for back up. The tubes will last a long time in this circuit. I try to buy good equipment and take care of it.

These guys (and maybe gals) work hard to bring us outstanding product. They were friendly and knowledgable in answering all of my questions. On top of that, they rock.

I play rock, blues, and country originals laced with worthy covers. The slapback from this sounds really good. I have been playing for 30 years and I have never heard or played a delay of this caliber. The Fulltone Tube Tape Echo is worth every penny. "Go for it dude."

I thought the manual was pretty good - I got it going very quickly. It's obviously not as easy to use as a digital delay but if you wanted that you're probably on the wrong page.

I think you'd have to try very hard to get a bad sound out of it. Of course you don't get mega-long delay (1.3 seconds max - how much do you really use?), midi synch and tap tempo but if you want that, you're best looking elsewhere.

I like the carry case that comes with it.

Fender CS Clapton Strat, PRS Standard 24; Cornford Hurricane and Cornford Harlequin run clean/wet/TTE in loop and dry/dirty respectively; Fulltone OCD, 69 and Dejavibe; Keeley TS9; Dunlop 535Q wah.

The sound is gorgeous - I never really knew how beautiful analogue delay sounded - just ask Brian Setzer. And it is so quiet - I had a T-Rex Replica before this; there is no comparison. I cannot honestly criticise the sound - it is just what I wanted.

The TTE is a marvel of design and engineering. There is the risk of tape and tubes playing up but I recently recorded a rockabilly album, we had it on all weekend and it worked like a dream - we blew two amps but the TTE was fine.

At this price though I couldn't afford a backup (but you could always use a digital delay if you needed to).

Never needed to contact Fulltone (so far...)

I play mainly rock and rockabilly. This gives me slapback and the soundscape delay like nothing else I've tried.

I imported mine from the US and modified it myself and saved myself ?400 on the UK price. OK I know the warranty is void but I don't anticipate I'll need it.

There's really nothing else like it on the market. If you can afford to get one (I sold a guitar to pay for it) get one NOW! Are you still here?

THE MANUAL IS INADEQUATE, BUT THE UNIT IS OVERALL EASY TO USE IF YOU HAVE EVER USED AN ECHOPLEX. BEST THING IS JUST PLAY WITH IT. It would be great for someone to try out all the combinations and write it up so you would know what combinations of delay and saturation yield which kinds of effects - with perhaps reference to famous songs that have used tube tape echo effects.

Be sure to sequence the TTE correctly - you don't want to run the tape loop before a wah pedal or a distortion box as the impact on the echos is bizarre. I run it through an effects interrupt loop on the back of my Dumble by itself and run the pedals up front.

Totally dependable. You'd have to be kidding not to provide backup regardless of how you feel. I have a spring reverb for backup but rarely gig and then just for grins so don't go by me.

I'm writing this to express my concern for Baron Luigi who couldn't get his questions answered and felt customer service sucked. I feel badly for him and I hope Mike called and took care of things for him -- I am literally fuck-all nobody in the music business and Fuller got on the phone and helped me out right away, so I am really surprised to read somebody is having trouble. Customer service is probably what they do best (or maybe building effects is). In a way, it's like a visit to a really well run theme park where when you have a problem the customer service is so good it actually ENHANCES the experience.

Generally everything.....poorly but with great hope. Desperately trying for the Hendrix Power of Soul thing or the Robben Ford thing. Like I said, I'm nobody - just a schmo with a good day job who loves to play. I've owned the original tube Echoplex back in the day, the "The Plex" re-issue from Mike Battle, a digital Echoplex and Mike Battle's more recent Tubeplex and this one from Fuller is the best. The others sold quickly on eBay and selling the original Echoplex financed all my other experiments. The original Echoplex should today be regarded as a museum piece - other than "art" value an authentic Echoplex adds nothing to the equation. Such was not always the case as the component Echoplex Tape Echo and other attempts at re-manufacture were noticeably inferior to the originals. But both Battle's "Tubeplex" and the Fuller TTE do the job with better components, infinitely superior motors, less noise, better tape and far higher quality transformers, jacks, wiring, chassis and pots. A purely, purist, purist can always get NOS tubes if they must, but recent manufacture is equal to if not superior to 90% of the original tubes and to most NOS tubes whose glue, paper components and generally sloppy spot soldering decay more than most think sitting on the shelf.

Pretty much plug and play just read the manual to know what settings to have versus low and high speed.

Can you say amazing. I have never played through any type of tape unit before but I can see what Mike says about "you will never turn it off once you feel it" Yep I felt it right away

As reliable as a tape unit can be. I am a little nervous everytime I set it up for a gig because it's a little intiminating. I haven't changed tapes yet. when I do and it still works I won't be nervous anymore. I bought some head cleaner but still need a demagnatizer and rubber lubricant. Radio Shack doesn't sell a lot of this stuff anymore but Mike has some links to get some.

MIke has always been cool to me via email. I hear mixed reviews about this but he is always been nice and helpfull.

Just spend the cash and turn it on. You will forget about the price.