Hughes & Kettner Replex

Takes a minute to figure out.

Have to give it a 10. The first delay I bought ever, 7 years ago. Later i've owned a Ibanez DL7 and all the Line6 delays but this thing is the best. No noise at all, really warm delay and the vintage factor sounds great too. The Reverb is ok, but not of any use. The dual head delay is fun to play with.

delay like delay is supposed to be

Very intuitive,just have to understand the two heads delay, only a few minutes to get it.

No noise at all,works great in all position,after and before distortions, i use it in effects loop.
i got this pedal at one year ago,at the time i never hear a perfect delay like Replex.
No coloration...in one word! Perfect!
i use it in two amps: Deville 2X12, Marshall anniversary 30.

Yep is my right hand delay,never need a backup!

never deal!no necessary.built like a tank.

Just try it, and you gonna see we are right here!!

If you're familiar with the basic functions of a delay you will not have any problems working it out, just read the words under the knobs (example: REVERB VOLUME must mean Reverb Volume, right?).

The whole reason why this unit is so large (or long, for that matter) is because they designed it with EASE OF USE in mind.

If anyone tells me that he can't figure out this thing without any outside help, chances are, he just gave it a quick try at the local music store and had to leave the amproom when the talented guys showed up and play.
However, it will take some time to get the right sound and settings to make it fit in your exising setup.

I hear this unit was designed to replicate the legendary Echoplex delay.
Some of the previous reviewers ranted that the tone and volume drops when switched on.
Has anyone of you guys ever heard a vintage tape or tube delay?
Of course it will affect your tone when played, that's the whole idea of tube and vintage -if you want clean, plug your axe straight into a mixer and use a digital fx box; I did that before I found this babe (minus the mixer part hehe).
And if you have to adjust the overall volume of the effect, use the TUBE drive and OUTPUT knob to set it acordingly, this will also affect your tone or not so much if you set it right.

I absolutly love the vintage factor; from clean digital to beat up chewed up tape, it's all there at the turn of the button.
Great Reverb, but I wish there was more of it, it feels like you've turned a spring reverb half way up only...but then again, this is supposed to be a tube reverb, so of course it will sound different.

My only, or biggest rant, is the fact that you have (with most delays being this way) to watch your delay feedback. If you have a short delay selected (and especially the dual head delay and the vintage factor up more than half way) and choose to crank the Feedback up a bit too far, this unit will cut your head and ears off hehe.
That's always my biggest problem with delays, and the reason why I threw my last delay stompbox against the wall.

Also, I wish they would have built the Walwart power supply into this unit.

I already own a Tube Factor, which I've used for years without any problems, so I have no doubts that this unit will give me the same reliability.

I remember calling them once about tube replacments/substitutions.
They seemed rather busy, but still where able to tell me what I wanted to know, good nuff for me.

I really wanted to get that classic tube sound of so many artists, especially Hank Marvins famous surf-like delay.
He used an Echoplex back in the day, but nowadays he's using an Alesis Quadraverb. And since that is a rack mount processor (and a great one btw) I opted to go for this Box. Wise choice I think.

Plus it's great if you use a vintage tube amp already (or any decent tube amp for that matter) because your sound remains all tube.
It is rather big and some what heavy though, also a thing to consider for buyers.

It's slightly more difficult to get a good sound than you average stompbox but once you dial in the right settings, the time spent will be well worth it. -1

The manual doesn't help you out or provide any kind of sample settings. It just tells you what each knob does. -1

The effect is decent enough but I have a few issues with it.

1. The volume drop is noticeable. -1
It's subtle and a player can work around it, but it's there.

2. The tone drop is VERY noticeable. -1
I had to bump up the treble on my amp to retain its brightness.

3. When I first got it and started playing around, there was something I didn't like about the tone but couldn't define what it was. After awhile I figured out the echo didn't effect my sound the way I thought it would. It does echo, but your intial paying is left dry (uneffected) then the echo is given the wet sound (effected). I wanted the wet sound on the initial playing. I heard that you can mod the pedal to correct this problem but I haven't found anyone who does that kind of work. -2

If you know who can mod this pedal, please email me.

I'd gig with it. I wouldn't be completely happy with the tone, but I'd gig with it.

I bought it used off of ebay. I haven't tried to contact H&K.

This is as close as you can get without having to pay through the a$$ for a tape echo. I'm still not convinced it's the best but it will do for now.

DON'T BUY IT AT THE FULL PRICE, GET IT USED. PAY UNDER $300!!!

Replex is the best tape type of delay that doesn't use a real tape!

My unit is a modded Replex with a kill-switch. The kill-switch removes the original/dry signal from the output leaving only the wet/delay on the output. Without this mod, I would have to give it 6 for the overall tone. With this mod it's 10. The problem with the Replex is that it heavily colors your tone. Many Replex users tried replacing the stock tube with something more neutral. I also done that and ended up with a slighly less coloring but also colder delay as a result. Kill-switch is the way to go. Since the tube in my unit no longer effects the dry I was able to go for a higher-gain, warmer tube like GT 12AX7M. Not only it made the delay repeats warmer and more 3D but it also reduced the noise floor.

The Vintage Factor knob is super. You can really dial in the slow-speed tape warble and add warm trail of wind to your tone. I couldn't achieve the same with other non-tape delays. The unit sounds very organic.

The only weak thing about the Replex is its reverb. Not even sure why they put it in there.

No problems.

Never replied to my e-mails.

I'm a delay junkie. I have it all, DD-2's, Cornish, Echoczar, etc. For the vintage tape type of a delay that doesn't use a tube, I haven't heard anything better.

If you have a bright amp, this is perfect to soothe it out. Its the best delay I have ever tried. I don't use any pedals except delay and have a DL-4, Maxon analog, boss DD-2, DD-3 and this is the best of all of them. The fact that it has reverb (which in this case is a very short delay) is cool too. It is usable but not a great spring unit. the peeps in the audience would never know. The delays are just great.

I've taken it apart and its pretty solid.

-1 for not being stereo and -1 for price...although I got mine for very reasonable used on the CL. It is however the best delay I've played so +1 for that.

It's a delay with 2 options (single head and dual head) plus a reverb plus a tube. I'll take a point off only because you do have to tweak your input level so as not to oversaturate the tube too much. I love what the tube does for the tone but I personally don't want distortion from my delay.

Quiet, clean, warm, fuzzy, trippy... it's everything I want in a delay. The Replex can be the ultimate digital delay (with the vintage knob turn all the way counterclockwise) or a raunchy tube/tape emulation (with the vintage turned all the way clockwise). I like to set the vintage knob about half way and it's like having a thick chorus trailing off with your echoes. It does up to 900 milliseconds of echo, which is plenty for most occasions. I have a Boss Giga Delay for those other times. The Replex IS pricey, which would turn most of us off (I lucked out and acquired it in a trade for a Lexicon Alex, SKB rack case, and an Adrenalinn-version I). The only time it sounds less than stellar is when it gets too overdriven, but it can be easily taken care of. I doubt that I'll swap the tube out until it's time for a new one. The reverb is so-so; usable but not the selling feature of the Replex. You can set it up to be your "non-delay" channel and still get the tube massaging your tone, which is pretty cool.

I've had it about 6 weeks. I always take care of my investments so I'm not worried about it crapping out on my.

Who knows? I did e-mail them a couple of years ago and got a swift and friendly reply it that matters to you. I alway feel that a quality product is the best customer support. If you never need to contact 'em, that's great in my book.

The Replex I traded for was "used" but in brand new condition. No camplaints with sound, tone, construction. I'm very happy I came across this. I've had so much gear in the 25 years I've been playing and this is definitely one of the best delays I've used. My favorite feature is the ability to vary the tone via the tube and the vintage knob. The only thing I wish it did was manufacture doses legally. Other than that, no complaints here. If I had to use only one type of effect and give up everything else it would be echo/delay. And the Replex is a keeper.

It's actually quite easy to use, but I'll give an eight here cause of the fact it's not your typical "delay" pedal. The manual isn't the greatest, but you'll have alot of fun figuring out exactly how each control (nine in total) works and relates to others on the pedal.

Just an incredible sounding delay unit. Very musical, the tube is critical to produce this type of sound. I debated for a while whether to give this pedal a try and I'm very glad I did . . . I love the two separate delays available as well as the option of a reverb, all in one standing box.

Yes this is a glowing review, but it's how I feel about the pedal . . . H&K have a real winner here!

I've had this pedal for over three yrs now and it's taken some abuse and hasn't once given me a problem (even though I dropped it on the floor from a sitting position while tearing off some velcro).

Thankfully I don't know, and I hope not to!

I've been playing for many yrs, the styles I play are mostly 60's/70's rock/blues/jazz/ and for that type of trip the Replex is top notch. I've had many echo/delay pedals over the years, and this is the most musical I've ever heard. I highly recommend this unit for anyone who's in the market for a delay pedal.

NOT hard to use at all. Read the manual, experiment, give it a week, not an hour - you will fall in love.

I play very clean styles with this pedal, and had to change out the Ruby 12ax7. It was simply too much overdrive for my personal taste. It can really color your sound up quite roughly. Lots of people like it that way, just not my style for clean playing. I'd rather use a Maxon ad80 for dirty delay anyway...

I tried many different tubes, but finally settled on a Telefunken ECC82 (12AU7) for the pedal. Ladies and Gent's if you make one mod to this pedal, find a NOS Mullard or Telefunken ECC82 and stick it in there. You can still get the drive in the pedal if you want it, but you get a lower noise floor and far less gain if you want it too.

I tried many different setups for this baby, and believe it or not, I found it best when used in the parallel effects loop of my Mesa.
The drive set low, output up to a small hiss then back a notch or two, volumes high on the effect itself (delays only, I don't use the reverb - no mix and dwell controls)

I use the mix control of the amp's effect loop as the volume control for the pedal, and it sounds completely awesome! Smooth and buttery, and I keep the vintage factor all the way up to 10. Mixing the delayed signal in parallel with the effect yielded me the finest sounds I could have imagined.

It is not easy to replace the tube. You must remove the in/out jacks, both sides of the chassis, and carefully slide the entire assembly out of one side. Look closely at the tube retainer wire - pull TOWARDS the "v" in the retainer to remove it, hold the tube only by the base, and only do this when the pedal is STONE COLD. It would be easy to screw this up, so don't do it if you have any questions about your ability to function without caffeine. It takes a steady hand no to scrape the TWO pcb's held together by ribbons of wire to the switch housings. I thought it was fun!

After all those different tubes, pulling the whole thing apart and putting it back together again, (at least 12 times) it has never even burped on me. Be aware of the damage that static and spilled Mountain Dew can do to a circuit or a hot tube, though.

Good response time, bad response content.

I emailed about changing out the tube in the unit and got a response the same day. No instructions on how to do it, of course, but they said I could try it if I liked to change the tone.

Overall, I give this pedal a 9 overall. I'd give it a 10 if all I played was distortion. I'd just leave the reverb engaged and set it to zero instead of bypassing the unit, using the drive as an additional gain stage only.

Because of the time spent changing tubes, it has to be a 9. But definitely a 10 on sound quality.

I'll start off by saying that although you have to spend a few minutes with this unit to get the best sound, it IS very easy to use. Controls are (left to right) DRIVE and OUTPUT knobs (both global) up first, with the "SAT" light between them, which lights up when the drive is just starting to clip, or "Saturate". Next are REVERB (haven't even used it yet), VOLUME (for first head, or for the effect overall), FEEDBACK (shared by both "heads"), VINTAGE FACTOR (tape sound), SINGLE HEAD TIME (self-explanatory...), DUAL HEAD TIME (...ditto), and SECOND HEAD VOLUME (...also).

This space addresses some comments (you know who you are) on some previous reviews. This is not to disparage those people in any way, but rather to clear up some things, lest someone see those reviews and completely get the wrong idea. First up, one person below is under the impression that you cannot set the time independently for the Dual head delay, and another claims that you cannot set the levels independently. I can assure you that you can do both - as I was doing earlier this very afternoon. The Second "Head" is a seperately adjustable delay that occurs simultaneously with the First "Head". The "first head" is exactly the same as what you'll hear in Dual Head mode, except with the second delay as well, both usually set to different rhythms (I put "head" in quotes, mainly because they aren't real, physical tape heads, of course, as the delay itself is digital). If you're in Dual Head mode, and you Twist either the DUAL HEAD TIME or SECOND HEAD VOLUME and nothing happens, then take it to the shop, because it needs to be fixed.

Another reviewer here (somewhere) said something along the lines that he/she couldn't get the "out there" manipulations that are only possible by physically manuipulating the tape. Well, if they're referring to the classic "flying saucer" effects (by speeding the delays up and slowing them down to "come in for a landing"), they're there too, but you have to be careful with your manipulations or they'll disappear completely. I just cranked up the FEEDBACK control in Dual Head Mode, and controlled the speed with the DUAL HEAD TIME knob. But, if you increase the speed too much, the effect will just dissapear, very abruptly (I guess it reaches a "saturation point" and cancels itself out). It doesn't hurt anything, but it's kind of a shock hearing the repeats get louder and higher pitched, and then have the rug pulled out from under you all of the sudden. Still, if you don't get TOO wild with this effect, it works well, too (but it would've been cooler if this worked better).

Sorry, had to give it a perfect "10" here. As far as noise floor, it didn't seem to add any hiss or hum that wasn't already there (even the best effects won't "cure" a noise problem - well, unless it's a gate). I haven't had it very long, but I can already tell it's a complete winner in my book. I use a variety of amps and guitars, but so far my tests have been with a 60's Fender style amp (nice 3-knob verb, sounds like a cross between a black- and brown-face amp). Yes, the sound gets a little ugly and warbly with the VINTAGE FACTOR all the way up, which sounds a bit like very old and worn tape combined with heads that need cleaning. I like to leave it about halfway up, give or take a notch. All the way down, and you have the crystal clear repeats of the best digital delays. Halfway is perfect for me. This also works best in conjunction with the DRIVE (as others have said here). I like to ride the DRIVE up to where the light starts to go off, and then back it down to where it "rarely if ever" lights up. OUTPUT to taste.

As one who has owned an original Maestro EP-3 Echoplex, I have to attest to the sound of this unit as well. It does color your overall tone some, but the little bit of coloration actually sounds pretty good. The only tonal difference I hear (when set up properly) between this and the original (besides the mechanical noise of the tape loop and motor), is that the initial "attack" note is colored much less than the repeats - as opposed to the Echoplex, which colors the "start note" a good deal more, though I happen to really like that effect. However, this is good, too, as your original note is preserved a little better (nice trade-off - either way). The echoes themselves, however, sound JUST exactly like my old EP-3 used to, and I had one that worked very well and wasn't all that noisy. But the real benefit here is, as anyone who has owned a 'plex can attest, you don't have the pain-in-the-butt of having to replace the tape loop - can I get an Amen?!!

The Dual Head mode is pretty cool too, but you have to take the time and set it just right for it to sound cool (gotta work it, baby! Ha-ay!). If successful, you will be rewarded with beautiful cascading echoes. It seems to delay your "first head", so I guess it's a delay of a delay. You can get it "before" the first head, as well. But, this has yielded very cool results thus far. Sounds like everything from The Edge (U2's guitarist), to REM, to Andy Summers, to even Eric Johnson and Van Halen type clean sounds. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Eric using one onstage someday, like, if he gets fed up with his tempermental 'plexes and chunks them into the Brazos river (or, more likely, sold to collectors). Overall, the effect is very dimensional and warm (without being muddy). As expectant as I was, I was still a little surprised at just how well it aped the EP-3 delay sounds, and the fact that it's actually a little more transparent with the attack, which, again, can be both good or bad. I like it, myself - then again, I liked the way the EP-3 warmed up the sound. So, I guess it boiled down to a choice I'm sure they had to make. I think they made the right one.

I'm sure it will work fine for a while. I got it used, and so far it works perfectly. I don't expect it'll break anytime soon. It looks pretty rugged, and I used to have a Tube Factor pedal (same "series" of H&K pedals, along with the Tubeman preamp pedal and the Tube Rotosphere leslie-simulator/chorus pedal). I had it for years with no problems (before a bad car wreck did it in; and amp fell on it and crushed it - what are the odds), so I expect none with this one.

I have no clue what customer relations are like with Hughes & Kettner, so I won't presume to venture any guesses here. I hope I never need them, but you never know...

I play a wide variety of music, ranging from Blues & R&B, to Jazz and Fusion (don't play much of it, unfortunately, but I REALLY enjoy listening - I try to infect all my other style with it), and I also play in what I guess you'd call a "cover band" (but we do originals as well, and not just three-chorders), and in this band I play just about everything that can be called rock and even some metal (though we don't do "Slayer" metal or bonehead out-of-tune punk rock). I can't imagine a style of music that you'd use echo in, and for this not to be the best echo/delay you'd ever heard. I don't play much country or rockabilly, but the slapbacks this device makes will have 'em hootin an hollerin an'a boot scootin all night. If you're into "ambient" music, this is as ambient as it gets.

Okay, now the (somewhat negligible) cons: Like everyone else here, it seems, I too would like to be able to use the Reverb and Delay at the same time. This seems like it should have been do-able, though I'm not a techie and I don't have the "solution", or any better idea of how to merge the two effects (though I'd venture guess that they'd probably have to add an extra tube for that to work). I haven't even heard the Reverb yet, and so far the reviews are mixed, but in my book, a bad reverb beats no reverb when there's no other available. Also (and this is even more of a nit-pick), it'd be nice to be able to flip a switch somewhere to be able to choose the tone as-is (with the more transparent "attack"), or to have it color your ENTIRE signal, start to finish, like the real deal Echoplex. Still, it's more "useable" as is, and I probably wouldn't buy the "new version" just to have the switch option (and probably wouldn't want to part with it long enough to send it to H&K to have them mod it).

Overall, I have to say that this is simply the best echo unit on the market today. The original is maybe better in some respects, but the "bulletproof" nature of this pedal is much more preferrable to the quirky and whimsical "will it work today or not" original tape echo units. Plus there's the question of tape cartridge availability (Dunlop currently makes "reissue" tape cartridges for Echoplexes), the fact that the tape gets old quick, and the hassle of having to change it out in the first place. The thought of it all makes me real happy when I consider that I've got the sound, without the "labor of love" pains.

Though I paid $100 less for the original EP-3 I had, mine was REALLY clean, and they're going now for at least $400 now - and prices probably aren't going down. Nice to know there's a real alternative out there. Even better, I'm glad I got one.