SIB Mr Echo

DELAYS NOT LONG ENOUGH FOR SPACY LEAD WORK; HAS A GOOD SLAP-ECHO SOUND

******* AWFUL. THE THING IS A TURKEY OF A DESIGN. NOTORIOUSLY BAD. PCB DESIGN IS TOP NOTCH, BUT THE STANDOFF CONNECTORS TO THE POTS ARE A LOOSE FIT AT BEST. IT WILL FAIL, AS MINE DID AFTER 4 MONTHS OF LIGHT USE. THE SWITCH DIED ALSO.

SAY NO

HARD TO GET HOLD OF.

AVOID THIS PEDAL.

Its really easy to use and get a great sound out of it.

awsome sound quality the best delay i have ever heard. I used to own a boss dd6 but that sounded to artificial and cold. the mr echo sounds nice and warm.
The guy at the store that i bought it from told me it was a analogue delay but i have read reviews contradicting that. If it isnt an analogue delay its got me fooled coz it sure sounds like one.

it seems very strong and sturdy but i cant really comment coz i havnt owned it very long. i would gig it without a backup coz who really has the money to buy backup pedals???

never had to deal with the company

I play alternative rock music and if you want a really nice sounding delay i would recommend buying this but at the same time if your into cheap, brittle, artificial guitar sounds this is not the pedal for you. coz i know some people are.

This review is for the original footswitch-problem-plagued MR. ECHO - not the newer MR ECHO PLUS that has better footswitches. Overall this is a very straight-forward delay. The only strange thing about this pedal is the SLAM feature - the repeats have to be up to a certain amount for the delay to really "take off" when you hit the slam.

The best thing about this pedal is the separate MIX and VOLUME knobs - this allows you to have a BOOST when you turn the pedal on for solos - not something most delay pedals have. The delay trails have a high end roll-off sound to them - nice & mellow. The delay time amount is continuously variable for those spacey pitch-bending effects. If you want a mellow analog delay sound - this is it. If you want a crisp digital sound where the delays sound exactly like your original guitar tone, go somewhere else.

See below.

I bought this pedal used. The previous owner was fed up cause of the footswitch problems so he sold it to me for $50. I contacted SIB, UPS-ed the pedal to them for $12. Two weeks or so later I got the pedal back from SIB, FULLY REPAIRED AND WORKING GREAT!! Now that's Customer Service.

This is an excellent delay pedal for those seeking a noise-free analog delay sound, but there is room for improvement. 550ms is pretty short these days and it would be nice if the high-end roll-off of the delay trails was user adjustable. Suggestions aside the audio quality of this pedal is superior to my other delays (Akai e2 headrush, guyatone md-3, DOD PDS 2000) and the customer service was a big plus!

The controls on this pedal are pretty straight-forward. May take some getting used to if you're more accustomed to Boss or Digitech type digital delays. Easy to tweak.

I wouldn't put the sound quality at 10 for "pristine" because in my mind, pristine equates to crystal clear and shimmery. This pedal is not meant to do that. The singal decays and distorts as it repeats intentionally, giving a very warm and natural sound that, in my opinion, rivals any EH memory man or Space Echo I've ever toyed with. I don't think this pedal is actually analog as some people say, but it's very convincing. You can get "Edgey" style delay sounds as well as the more spacey ambient type sounds that's good for Shoegaze and post rock-ish music. It works well with other pedals, it doesn't seem to exploit their weaknesses or hinder them from doing what they do either.

Some have called the slam feature a gimic, which is understandable. That type of effect isn't very useful in a lot of straighforward music, but honestly, do you use that stupid WARP feature on your BOSS DD-6? Or the reverse feature for that matter? I think the slam button is great for noisey endings to songs and soundscapes, and oddly enough, for wierd solos too. Depending on what notes you're playing when you hit the slam, the repeats can make a nice harmonic tone.

I didn't bother to read other user reviews before I bought this thing. It was kind of an impulse buy. To my dismay, I had the problem with the slam switch after owning it for almost a year. Even if I had the pedal set to just one repeat, if I hit the slam switch, as soon as I let off, it went to infinite repeats, instead of back to one repeat. Made it very hard to control. Fortunately, this is on my guitar pedalboard and I really only gig out with guitar once every six months or so since I mostly play bass.

Switch issues aside, the casing is extremely thick and heavy duty. You'd have to drop a boulder on it to hurt it. The jacks are a little cheap, but this is mounted to my pedal board, no one is going to step on the cables and break them. Not a big deal.

Like others have said, there was no manual, no contact info included with the pedal, so I didn't know what to do. I bought it in november 2005 from Make'n Music in Chicago, and was in the store just over a year later. I mentioned to them that I was having a problem with the pedal so they gave me S.I.B.'s contact info.

I called and spoke with Rick. We've spoken a couple of different times and ended up having a rather lengthy conversation. Aparently the company is still around, but he just bought the company back from his two other business partners and now he's the sole owner. He acknowledged that there was a problem with a batch of switches that went into the Mr. Echos and has been replacing them as they come in. He said some broke immediately, others didn't go bad until about 2 years down the road. He was extremely understanding and helpful, and offered to send me the replacement switches. I would have accepted, but I can't solder for shit, so he offered to fix it for me. I mailed it out to him priority mail, he replaced both switches (even though only one was broken) and also installed a more heavy duty AC jack ON THE SAME DAY HE GOT THE PEDAL AND HAD IT BACK TO ME WITHIN A WEEK. Now that, in my opinion, is damn good customer service.

I play everything from shoegaze to experimental noise to stoner metal, and this pedal works for all of the above, and would be great for just about any style of music where delay or echo is needed, from alt-rock to rockabilly or surf, this gives the warm, vintage tone that pedal buffs want, and it does it without taking up half your pedal board, and you'll still have money for groceries next week.

I was impressed when I got the pedal for it's overall build quality and sound, which IMO is rare at this price point, and though I had a negative experience with the slam switch, my customer service experience with Rick was so overwhelmingly positive that I won't hesitate to buy their other products.

In fact, I came home with a S.I.B. Mr. Fazeadelic yesterday to replace my MXR Phase 90.

The only reasons this product doesn't get a 10 for overall rating are the less than heavy duty jacks and the switch issue.

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The guy sent me spare parts and ven ones I didnt need just in case, all for free.,.,legendary service

I have sold all my other delay gadgets,., and have now four of these babies and counting, it does the sound I've wanted and never been able to afford.,., people down these pedals, but all it'll take is someone famous to use one and al the bitching will stop,.,
these are like DM2'a but with way more soul and they just sound soooooo cool when the battery is running out, like sound F**ked up dodgy ol tape.,.,you couldnt program that in,
If you dont like yours send it to me, I'll have em all

easy to get cool lo-fi tape like sound.

brilliant!!!

some people had reliability issues and left multiple reviews marking it a 1 for sound quality because they are mad about it breaking on them. I say bullocks to that. Put your ratings for relibilty and sound seperately, and only leave on review. Something can be a 10 for sound and 1 for reliabilty.

SIB should have been more precise in thier hype about what this unit sounds like since most store didn't have them and most people probably bought it without hearing it. This is not a one size fits all unit. It does one sound and it does that sound very well. It is a tape delay simulation along the lines of an echoplex.

The repeats distort ON PURPOSE. It is very fluidy and organic sounding. It does not sound like an analog delay and it IS NOT an analog delay. I have had it apart and it uses an NEC chip (the computer company). I hope that settle the debate. However it is the most organic digital delay I have heard and I have heard and owned most of them.

As far as i can tell the "slam" feature does not turn up the repeats as many reviews here say. If it does it is slight. It works by changing the delay time instantly to it's shortest setting. The feedback swell occurs because the runaway effect occurs sooner at shorter delay times. This would be like turning the delay time knob all the way counter clockwise. Therefore the effect is most dramatic when using longer delays with lots of repeats. If the delay is on it's shortest setting the slam doesn't seem to do anything because it has nowhere to travel.

This is a great delay for people into texured drug inspired echo sounds. If you don't dig stuff like mogwai, sigur ros, brian eno etc... You probably won't dig this pedal.

I think it is a solid pedal with one exeption being that when the slam switch gets dusty the repeats get a mind of there own. If you use he slam a lot it won't happen. If it does happen give the slam switch a good 20 quick stomps and it will go away (for awhile). I got mine used and i took it apart looking for the repeat trim pot. It doesn't have one. Don't bother taking these apart to look for trim pots. They are a pain to get apart and there is nothing adjustable inside. Later i found out about the thing with the slam switch.

To my knowledge this company is no longer in business.

Great for kraut, space, psyche, drone, ambient...........I have been playing for 15 years. I own all the gear ever made!! I would buy another one. Love the cool lo-fi tone. Wish it had a control for the amount of distortion.

Inconsistent in the control ranges, especially boost.

The SLAM feature is just a marketing idea - nothing musical about it at all, just another button to help sell it.

Sounds very nice when it decides to work. Delay range is quite short. Some people have said it's digital, but at these short delay ranges, it's likely to be bucket brigade analog. It's very smooth sounding.

Sucks. And not just me but a STAGGERING 40% of users it seems have the switch problem (sound cuts out half the time it's engaged).

?

Reliability is so bad it can only get a 4, despite its decent sound.

Learn to solder.

dials and all labeled, no brainer really

I love delay pedals, I have sold other pedals to buy multiple versions of this, I coverted a TREX replica for ever and then heard these,., I now own four mr echo's, I sold my old boss analouge delays, sold ibanez old school delays for these.This is really nice unit for a quarter of the TREX price.
I run this through a tele custom and vox ac30, super chimey Edge U2 crisp delays, for me its that sound, yum.

Like I said, I now have four - all good. the first one went slightly weird, see customer support.

I emailed the guy as soon as I thought something may be up, he sent me replacment parts no charge, cant do better than that.

I have sold gear to get this, I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls only to be with mr echo.,., sad I know

Totally easy for one who is schooled in the use of delay/echo.

Compliments have i recieved on such a pedal as this... Truly, people notice the analog nature of this pedal. Out of all the DOD/Boss/Dano delays I've had, this tops them with room. True bypass switching and a momentary switch for crazy people like myself... What more could I ask for besides a smooth widely adjustable delay? This has it.

Switch got funky on me. After a fix it was good as new and flawless. Read customer support for why this still gets an 8.

My switch was getting weird so I got in contact with the maker of SIB pedals. I explained my problem and he quickly offered to send me not one, but two switches.. For free. That's how you earn a 10 in customer service.

Awesome pedal for straight up echo/delay. Nothing special, only something weird. I love it. I've used this for all kinds of stuff from regular delay uses, feedback looping fun, outboard effects off of mixers and even just a noise maker. Until I find the money for a roland space echo, this will be the main machine. Thanks SIB.

this is a doddle to use, esp if your into fx twiddlin and delays, if this is hard to use, you mus'nt have dressed yourself this morning.

I own about 20 echo/delay pedals, I care about delay/echo - its a sad addictaion, I know. I plugged this pedal in a shops amp, and in less than twenty seconds said "sold!!", you want a tasty, and I mean tasty echo pedal with cool slam function - without paying mega for a dm3 or a space echo, then this is your pedal. its the one you enjoy and the original is the one you treasure but dont really use etc.
Im buying another couple -nuff said.
I havnt put pristine 10/10 -because I really dont think its an appropriate label, this pedal is musical and totally useable, thats the real vaule

i had a little trouble, see my customer support - but Ill be buying two more, so theres the faith I have.

emailed the guy with concerns, Im in europe so its a long way for him, hes posting me parts,a dn extras incase of any future problems, what more can you ask for really, - no charge for postage, super quick replys, no interagation, all good

I wish I had more, I wish it came with stereo outs, but I strongly recomend this pedal - In fact this is God's truth Im selling my DM3 on ebay this weekend to buy more of these.
There you go.
Im looking forward to a deluxe model, maybe stereo outs, a programable slam setting, maybe a tap tempo.,., maybe a U2 " edge" special edition with a free beanie and goatee.,. who knows