Johnson Echomaster

This is a four-channel solid-state tape echo/reverb unit from the early 1970s, similar in concept to the Watkins/WEM Copycat. Its full title is "Johnson Autogain Echomaster", and it proudly describes itself as being British made in London. It's in a black vinyl-covered case, about the size of a shoebox, with a hinged lid over the tape loop.
I date it as early 70s from the style of the lettering of the Johnson logo (very early 70s) and from the fact that it has an Integrated Circuit (microchip) which I believe makes it more likely to be 70s than 60s.
There are five tape heads in all, which I take to be Record, Playback 1 2 and 3 and Erase. The machine was designed for tape loops slightly smaller than the Copycat's, but a previous owner has adjusted it to take standard Copycat tapes.
All the controls are rotary. There are four input jacks each with its own gain control, and a single output jack. An Output level control doubles as the on/off switch. There are separate controls for the amount of Short, Medium and Long echo levels, and an overall Echo level control and a Reverb level control.
I bought this used, without a manual, but it was easy enough to work out how to use the controls.

I am not going to give this machine a rating for Sound Quality because it wouldn't be fair. It's nearly 30 years old, and my particular example is in a fairly battered condition. No doubt the heads need degaussing, or even replacing.
I have used it with guitar and with microphone - both "in-line" (between source and amp), and via the Echo Send/Return on an old Orange PA amp. It works both ways, after a fashion.
The Short/Medium/Long echo controls all do what they claim to do. The Reverb works if used cautiously. The real problem with mine is the noise. Apart from the machine being inherently noisy (the whir of its tape motor), extraneous noise quickly builds up on the tape and feeds back as soon as you apply much reverb.

It's not in good enough condition for recording or gigging, so I won't give it a Reliability rating.

I have never heard of Johnson before or since.

Obviously I bought this as a curiosity, a little piece of pre-digital history. I got it in a junk shop in the late 1980s for #7, without knowing if it worked or not. It had lost its lid, and there was no means of trying it out. The shopkeeper argued that it was worth #7 for spares, and I thought it was worth a gamble. I was delighted to find that it does indeed work, and I've made it a new lid, but without a major overhaul it's not seriously usable other than for having fun with at home. But so what? It must be the best #7 I've ever spent on music gear.
So it gets a 10!