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.

see final comment

see final comment

see final comment

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

i just wanted to give an update to my earlier post. i took my mr echo back to where i bought it they sent it back to sib and 2 weeks later i got it back good as new.they seem to have had a run on bad switches and even after 5 months fixed for free.it seems the only way to get ahold of them is by the store you bought it at.
sib is a small operation im told.but they do stand behind their stuff.to me this pedal is worth it.the new 2.0 versions are more expensive

The four knobs on Mr. Echo are fairly straight forward: Delay, Repeat, Mix, and Volume. Nevertheless, it takes some time with this pedal before you can really dial into a sound that you like. Unfortunately, there really is only one good sound you can get out of it, demonstrating Mr. Echo's lack of versatility.

No manual came with it either.

I play a Gibson ES-335 through a Fender Twin. My pedal board consists of a Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal, an Ibanez TS-808, and an MXR Phase 90. In an ideal world, I would put the delay at the end of the chain, but Mr. Echo can be really noisy when I put him after ANY other pedal. As a result, I've had to put him at the beginning of the chain.

Another thing, do not let ANYONE tell you this is an analog delay. It is digital, despite the fact that a lot of dealers are convinced otherwise.

This is where the real problems begin. I never know what I'm going to get when I stomp on Mr. Echo's bypass switch. The switch itself is a piece of junk and oftentimes you'll hit it and it will cut out the entire signal! As a result, I only use the pedal when the entire song requires delay so I can get the thing to engage properly before the band starts. Never will I take a chance and try and turn it on mid-song because there is too great of a chance that the guitar will cut out entirely and I'll stand there like and idiot stomping on the bypass switch until it finally obeys. That's too great of a distraction for the band AND the audience.

No way to get in touch with the manufacturer. Not even an email or a phone number where you can find these guys.

Of all the gear I own, Mr. Echo is the only purchase I regret. As soon as I get my hands on enough cash, I look forward to buying myself a delay pedal that actually works.

Way easy to use if you know how delay/echo work.

Truebypass switching.. Totally analog sound.. Love it.. Get compliments from guitar players on the lush repeats. Only thing better would be a roland space echo.. But why spend that much when I have this?

Switch went out.. They've been prone to doing this.. I got ahold of the guy who makes the pedals through old town music in portland... He told me to send him an e-mail and he would send me TWO new switches for FREE. That is customer service man. No other issues besides that.

See Reliability section.

A steal on ebay... This is an awesome pedal for echo/delay... Truly deep lush sounds and TRUE BYPASS SWITCHING... Best one I've owned and I've had a few big names... Let me just say it beats the pants off my old DD-5 in every area except pointless features and tap tempo. Get one and enjoy the sounds.

not as easy as it might seem. this pedal has balls and is sensitive to the touch and thats a good thing in my book. 4 buttons and a slam switch which gives runaway echos in a flash

a bright clear powerful sound easy to get runaway echos .very musical i believe that it also has true bypass.the slam switch is cool but it you have to set the pedal for some feed back for it to sound right.i use it mainly between songs to get everybodys attention!!

this is where i part ways with it.i read the reviews here before i bought it and thought it wouldnt happen to me!.... but........ the on off switch broke after 4 months of use. im not hard on my equiptment either.the switch cuts in and out i took it apart and think that it is a design flaw in how it fits in the case because its fairly large in size and raised up on the circut board

Customer Support?????? there is none. just a dead end web page.i cant believe that sib would sell something with this kind of flaw....oh the screws are hard to turn to change batteries so a power supply is manditory.

this pedal works perfectly with my style of realtime feedback/delay time control for that early pink floyd sound.ive owned 2 boss dd3's (one of which i just wrote a scathing review on),ibanez,maxons,and even a 70's rackmount electra analog delay which was the coolest.the mr echo is my favorite.i've found a guy that mods pedals and this is gonna cost $50 to upgrade which is worth it to me

This pedal is not difficult to get the hang of. The only thing that might be a bit challenging is the "Slam" function. Don't even try and figure it out; it creates such a non-musical sound, I find no need for it in my playing.

My rig consists of a Vox Wah, Ibanez TS-9, a custom Volume/ fat boost pedal, and a Pigtronix EP-1. Usually, I prefer to keep my delay at the end of the chain, but when I do so with Mr. Echo, he becomes really noisy. When I put him at the beginning of the chain, this is not the case.

This really is a hunk of garbage if you ask me. It dies out on my on a regular basis. I even spent $25 to get it fixed, but it started acting up on me again within weeks.
Not surprisingly enough, several other people on this list report the same problem, so it is not just particular to the pedal I have.

SIB has customer support?

It is better to spend some extra cash on a pedal that you know will engage properly when you stomp on it. Mr. Echo works about 50% of the time. 'Nuff said.

The unit has four buttons- volume, mix, repeat, and delay. This is one of the few stompboxes where the effect sounds good with all the dials turned to 12:00. There is no instruction manuel for this unit, so let me explain some of the features.

Delay time ranges from slapback echo to 450 ms, which makes Mr. Echo a good choice for shorter delay times. In my own personal experience, delay times above a half-second are only manageable with tap tempo, not found in Mr. Echo.

Repeat set to the lowest gets one repeat. Above 12:00 the repeats become unstable, and runaway around 2:00. Musical use of this pedal ranges from 7:00 through 12:00, the rest is unusable unless you are trying to oscilate.

The repeat dial directly controls the slam button. I've found the slam button to give off this weird noise despite what note you are playing. A previous reviewer suggested that slam is only useful when the dial above 9:00. Slam is best described as a low-tech sounding of Boss's twist feature on the DD-20 Giga Delay. (Check out http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=142/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/151305/ for an example.) This effect is only useful from the 9:00 to 10:00 position. Afterwards, it makes a farty sound.

The mix switch gradients the dry guitar to wet echo. When the dial is set to 12:00, you get about a 50/50 split. At one other extreme, you get no echo (I guess this unit could be used as a volume booster this way). At the other extreme, you only get the wet signal. I've used this setting to get neat echoed volume swells playing arpeggio lines with complete wet mix, shorter delay times, and longer repeats. This approach replicates the Line 6 analog volume swell (check out http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=142/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/150388/ for a sample).

The volume button is the most egnimatic dial on this unit. It seems every pedal now has a volume booster option (from overdrives to wah's), so why a delay? Even more odd is that the 12:00 position is a 0db increase; left moves toward no volume, and right toward a signifiant boost. I've found that a complete wet mix to have some volume drop, so boosting the volume makes up for this drop. Also I found volume down useful in dealing with farty slams and run away echoes. Oddly enough, the volume dial makes sense on this stompbox.

There is no dry / wet output as in some of the more recent analog pedals such as the ones made by Ibanez, Maxon, and Electro-Harmonix. No loss there, as I don't run two amps or want either the dry / wet output independantly modified.

Like some other botique pedals, Mr. Echo has its share of quirks. I'd say this unit would get a 10 for simple, short delays. Considering all of the other quirky uses previously mentioned, combined with lack of user manual, Mr. Echo only ends up with a 7.

Don't be fooled, Mr. Echo is a digital delay that approximates the sound of analog delays. Each repeat is degraded in tone (trebble and volume), like a true echo. It may APPEAR that the unit cuts out trebble frequencies altogether, this may be especially true if you ear is attuned to the sound quality of digital delays. There is no tone loss on the dry signal, only on the wet (as a true analog should sound). You can always down the wet mix to gain back the trebble, or just purchase a digital delay if you don't like the echo sound.

Since Mr. Echo is true-bypass, there is no loss of tone quality when the effect is bypassed. Additionally, the dry signal sounds just as good when effect is engaged. This was the deciding factor in purchasing this unit. In being a tone hound, I am now only buying true-bypass or having my older pedals modded. I am much happier with the tone I get out of Mr. Echo than the old Boss Digital Delay / Sampler pedal previously used in my rig.

My complaint is that the echoes have some static with each repeat. This can only be detected slightly when on 100% wet mix, volume boosted, and straining the ear. I don't expect this to be a problem playing at a live gig. This may be an issue for the ultra picky listener when deciding to purchase this pedal.

I enjoy using Mr. Echo with an Ibanez Stereo Chorus CS9 right after it, as the Ibanez is a slight volume and trebble booster for the right mix. Chorus pedals BEFORE the echo/delay unit will give more of a EH Deluxe Memory Man sound, as the chorus sweep will sound pitch shifty on each repeat, sometimes clashing with one another dependig on the sweep. This doesn't sound bad, just not to my liking.

I am still testing positions with my Analogman TS9/808 silver mod. Traditionally I've run digital delays AFTER overdrive pedals, but I've found that echo pedal BEFORE overdrive gives a more natural tone. The difference is slight, but noticeable in the end mix. With overdrive > echo, the overdrive colors the echo and its repeats: both wet and dry come in with the same level of distortion. With echo > overdrive, the dry signal is louder and gets more overdrive; with the wet signal being softer (especially on successive repeats), there isn't as much distortion on the repeats. Considering the natural tone degradation in echo repeats, this sounded more natural to my ears.

Having made those points, you may understand my effects chain. I play an Artcore AS73 > Crybaby 535Q Wah > SIB Mr. Echo > Analogman Silver Mod Tubescreamer > Ibanez Stereo Chorus CS-9 > Voodoo Lab Tremolo > Peavey Classic 30 watt. I'd also like to point out that I queried the SIB Mr. Echo under gear, and learned that Dean Wareham of the band Luna also plays with similar equiptment, only his effects chain appears nearly opposite of mine. Check out http://guitargeek.com/rigview/636/ to see his set-up. Sometimes pedals are made or broken depending on where they are placed in the chain. You now have two seperate perspectives where to place Mr. Echo.

In the end, I'm afraid that the delay repeat may be too digital for analog buffs, and too analog for the digital crowd. The delays don't have the metallic sound analog users complain about digital delays. At the same time, the repeats don't seem as warm or round as the best analog units (such as Maxon). However, considering the price of approx $90 - $100, you get more than what you pay for: a decently built, USA botique, true-bypass, analog-sounding, digital delay. It is WELL worth the price (see my OVERALL RATING for further discussion on this topic).

So far, so good. The unit seems to be housed in a sturdy metal casing. The buttons and dials don't appear flimsy. My first impression is that Mr. Echo is a sturdy stompbox.

I've read about previous problems with Mr. Echo. From what I've heard at my local botique guitar store, the SMF web page, and Harmony central, the problems appears to be fixxed. None-the-less, the salesman suggested to take the batteries out if you are using AC power source. Having the battery in while using AC power may cause problems. I'm not willing to test this issue.

Based on my own personal experiences (good), and previous history (bad), I'll leave the rating at "no opinion." I'll let future reviewers and your own personal experience determine Mr. Echo's reliability.

There is no contact information on the SMF web page. No email address, no snail mail address, no telephone number, nothing short of a mailto link toward webmaster's email. This would be frustrating if I needed to contact the manufacturers if necessary. I wonder if they are listed in an online phone book.

Fortunately, the botique guitar store where I purchased the pedal could (and has) make contact with SMF if necessary. Again, I purchased the pedal knowing the previous difficulty with the Mr. Echo pedal and SMF customer support. Therefore I rated this category with a 1; I would be willing to at least give a 5 if SMF had listed any contact information.

I am an analog tone hound (on a limited budget- go figure). Herein lays the problem: analog delays are extremely expensive, limited in delay time, and sometimes require more than 9v. My need was to find an analog delay of about 400-600ms, that could work in a 9v daisey chain, and was relatively affordable. After spending the greater part of three months researching and player testing analog pedals, I came home with Mr. Echo- this was the only pedal that met all of my stated needs.

Lets start with the Ibanez & Maxon AD-9. As you may be able to tell, I love Ibanez (and Maxon) pedals. At the time I made previous purchases, I could only afford to buy used Ibanez, but now I have the $$$ to consider making a Maxon purchase. The Ibanez pedal is not true bypass, although is mostly affordable at approx $150. A vintage / botique discussion board tipped me off that the Maxon AD-9 sounds worlds better due to its selection of chips and being true-bypass. Major drawback was the $300 pricetag. Both units were only 300ms long- too short for my needs.

This is where the Maxon AD-900 and AD-999 comes in. Hell, if I was willing to pay $300 for 300ms of analog time, why not pay another $60 for double or three times the delay time. AD-900 is rated as the best sounding analog delay and had about 600ms of delay time; main problem is that it is no longer in production because supply of a particular Panasonic chip ran out. I could only buy used on ebay for about $350 PLUS it required an 18v adapter. For about that price, I could just purchase the Maxon AD-999 and get 900ms of time. Although the AD-999 uses 9v, the website warned "Maxon AC210N adaptor (we strongly urge the use the Maxon AC210N only. Other adaptors may trip the internal fuse, requiring professional service of the unit and voiding the warranty)". For $360, I'm not taking that risk.

The Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man and Deluxe Memory Man weren't my cup of tea. The Stereo MM only has 300ms delay time, and was therefore instantly ruled out. I'm sure that someone will invent a mod to increase delay time in the future, but for now, there is no interest in waiting. I didn't care for the effect modulation on the Deluxe MM. The Deluxe needs a 24v adapter, and therefore wouldn't work in my daisy chain. Also, the Deluxe isn't true-bypass, but it is worth mentioning that there are mods to achieve this. In the end, the Electro-Harmonix units came up short for my needs, even though they are the most popular analog delay units around.

I even considered the analog modeled sounds on Boss' DD-20 Giga Delay and Line 6 DL-4, both worthwhile delay units in their own right, but not quite analog. Both units in the $250 price range, and offered more options than I really needed. Hell, for another $100 I'd rather purchase the Maxon AD-999 unit and get the real deal.

It was in quandry when I made this final consideration- am I going to get every $$$'s worth out of an analog delay stompbox considering what I am willing to pay for it. In all honesty- the answer was no. Even though I play some Radiohead and Pink Floyd, my delay needs were very limited when playing original songs. I considered getting the best VALUE for my buck.

SIB Mr. Echo was the only choice left, taking my needs- 9v compatable, 400-600ms delay time, analog sound, true-bypass, and affordable price- into consideraton. Hell, my wife bought me Mr. Echo as a surprise present, and she was rather happy doing so (considering all the $$$ I could have spent if I had settled on something else). Mr. Echo is the perfect unit if you have similar needs, otherwise settle for a digital delay or more expensive analog delay.

In the end, this stompbox deserves a well-earned rating of 8. I reserve higher marks for the more versatile (Dl-4 and DD-20) and more elite (AD-999) units.

It was very easy to use before the reliability problems. Now if frustrated and wondering what will happen the next time I turn on the pedal

It is the most noisy pedal currently on my board. My others include MXR Phase 90, TS-9, and a Boss CE-2. This is my first Delay pedal, so I don't have another one for which to compare it.

I really like the analog tonal quality of this digital delay. That was what sold me on this pedal.

This is why I'm sending it back. I turn it on, and sometimes it cuts my volume to a faint and barely audible level. I never know when I turn it on, whether it is going to function properly. Maybe jsut I got a lemon. I'm going to try the EH Deluxe Memory Man. The Mr. Echo for $110 seemed like the best deal going, but if I can't count on it, I'll pay a little more for a reliable pedal.

Never dealt with SIB. I contacted the dealer and they're going to swap it out for another pedal.

Overall, I really like the sound of this pedal when I works. The construction is rugged looking, for what little that is worth. The bottom line is that it stopped functioning properly after a limited amount of use. This is a deal killer for me. Back to SIB and on to the next delay pedal

Well...it's not easy to use at all. Not that it's complicated...it's just worthless. Two switches..on and off and an aberation called SLAM. When I step on the on/off there is a good chance nothing is going to happen. I have to step on it three of four times to get it to work....and when I finally do get it to work...don't think about turning it off unless you want to be assaulted by a super loud piercing squeal.

On to the SLAM. Step on this an the thing goes crazy. Supposely this is a switch that only works as long as you have it depressed.....WRONG!! Step on this and it's over...be prepared to disengage this pedal to stop the carnage.

Sound quality would be decent if not for the aforementioned problems. It is a little hollow sounding and a hi-cut would have been useful. However due to the other problems...I'm scared to hook it up.

I'm using it for a doorstop now.....guess I could give it a 10 for that, but I bought it for a guitar pedal and for that it gets the big fat 1.

No way to contact them on their website. If this is representative of their products.....I don't blame them.....I wouldn't want to be contacted either.

I've been playing guitar for 40 years. I mainly play blues. I own a ton of gear...it's my only hobby...the kids are grown and I can afford what I want. I bought this pedal just for a little low delay slapback to use with my Matchless amp which does not have reverb. It was a mistake. I have had many guitars, amps and effects pedals over my 40 year musical journey. Some that just wore out, some that I tired of, some that I traded to upgrade, and some I just plain didn't like. But this is the first pedal in all those 40 years that I wouldn't get rid of because someone else does not deserve this curse of a delay.

Certainly a no-brainer to get a good sound, has the standard delay time, repeats and mix controls as well as an overall volume control with some boost on tap if you want it. The "slammer" effect is a cool little feature, gives you self oscillation without having to bend over and twiddle the knobs...The mix control is very effective, setting it at around 9 o'clock gives you a good echo/dry mix, and you can set it for total wet (repeat only) as well.

Allright, if you've read the reviews on this board and elsewhere you know that the early history of this pedal was not good, apparently there were some noise and reliability problems. Mine is definitely a newer, improved model-not noisy at all, the repeats soud great, very organic and natural sounding. It's a digital unit with not very much delay time (about 450 ms), but it sounds very analog, doesn't have a tone control for the repeats like a lot of digital units that are attempting to sound analog, doesn't need one IMO...the repeats sound not too muddy, not too clear-no digital metallic "ching" at all, just right-very, very nice. The delay range is limited, but enough for my needs, don't miss tap tempo as I use delay mostly for ambience and not for synchronized parts. The volume knob is a nice feature, gives you the option of a boost when engaged. I have not had any problems with the "slammer" feature remaining engaged after letting up on the switch, but you do need to have the repeats at around 10 o clock or more for this feature to work. Very easy to get runaway repeats even without the slammer switch, have to be careful as anything past 2 oclock wants to go into runaway mode. I think this is a great sounding unit, the price is great, just make sure you get a newer model.

No problems yet, I have an old DOD FX90 on my board for shorter delays, could use as a backup if needed.

Bought used, no experience with them.

This pedal has some great features, seems well built, and sounds great. I have been playing for almost 30 years and have owned lots of delays: tape, analog, and digital...this pedal is reasonably priced, is versatile , and sounds great. The delay range might not be enough for you, but for what I do (roots/alt country/ambient pop) it is perfect. Again, be wary if buying used, there were some problems with the earlier models, not sure of the "safe point" when you can be assured that the model is newer, but even new these are very reasonable.

Easy peasy plug in and play. I had a great sound in minutes. It is very fat once your ear gets used to it you cant play without it.
no manual but its a no brainer. I dont know what revision or if its an upgraded unit. howevr my switches are layed out in reverese of the advertised units

I am using a schecter strat and a heritage archtop L5 and es 175 style guitar with a matchless or marshall amplifier. its fairly quiet with the humbuckers. the single coil strat pickups are a bit unruly. i attribute that to the stage lighting in the theatre we play in. Thers probably 70 lights overhead.
I try to get a sound similar to JohnNy A. It makes me happy.

so far so good 7 nights a week for the last 4 months. no backup.

not yet.

Currently working a show in vegas. Classic american music. It works great for me.
I have been playing professionally since 1974.
I own a lot of other gear. Really who cares.
I would certainly replace it.
I did not really compare it to anything else. I plugged this in and it sounded great so I bought it.It seems to meet my needs for a delay pedal. the sound is so fat. It helps my playing by making me get a better sound and inspiring me to want to play better. I get bored playing the same shit night after night. I look forward to using the pedal every night.

If you need a manual to work this pedal you're a moron.

Can't beat the sound for the price.

Only had it a month. No problems so far. Play an hour+ every day,
and 2 nights every weekend.

I've had the Bosses, a Flip tube echo, the big blue Visual thing,
Reel tape, an Ibanez and an MXR. Mr. Echo is on my pedal board.
It can get a good reverb sound, A good slap-back rockabilly sound,
and the longest delay setting is just long enough to get Page-type
echoplex sounds like on Zep 1. Great for blues and blues-based
rock. Not for high gain madness. The volume control is like the
vol. control on the old Fender reverb units. It will add break-up
to your sound when cranked. For the money, it can't be beat.

Well, this is the "new" Mr Echo that is supposed to have the noise problems fixed. It runs quiet and the true-bypass works well and has no pop.

However, don't expect to get exactly what you want out of it. I tried getting just 2 repeats out of it, but it wont do that. I could get 2 1/2 repeats or 2 repeats and one quiet repeat, but not just 2 repeats.

Also, the "slam" effect sounds cool, but only works clearly if the repeat knob is up past 9 or 10 o clock.

Sounds pretty good, but...
The slam effect is a "momentary" switch, supposed to cause runaway echos while pressed down--that works fine. However, after letting up on the slam switch, it doesn't stop, but results in runaway echos after you let up on it, even when you have it set to only a short echo. Also, it seemed the unit would occasionally start to run away on itself at random moments.

Also, don't expect to adjust your delay length while playing. Adjusting the delay length results in a farty, pitch-bending sound, so you'll have to turn the unit off or stop playing completely, then adjust the delay knob.

Also, no biggie, but the Delay knob on it's lowest setting sounds electronic and unmelodic.

Other than that, the unit sounds good for an echo type effect, the slam effect is an interesting dive-bomb effect, and the unit runs quietly. But don't expect the unit to be precise or give you exactly what you want!! It seems that it's kind of unpredictable. I felt like I didn't have absolute control over what it was doing.

HERE'S WHERE YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ:

The unit worked for about 10 minutes, then all sound ceased. I changed the battery, but that didn't help. It seems the unit stopped accepting batteries. When it was switched on, all power and sound would just cease.

Still worked with the 9v adaptor, but wouldn't take batteries any more. That's a real pain--now if the power cord comes out during playing, I wont be able to use the battery as backup power. ---> I think a review below also mentions having this same problem.

Can't deal with the company because they don't have info on their website. Also, the pedal doesn't come with a users manual, and their website doesn't give details, so it apparently doesn't have a warranty either.
It really seems that the company has gone out of their way to be hard to reach and distance themselves from the customer. Probably because of these common reliability issues.

Luckily, the dealer I got the pedal is taking care of it.

I think my comments above explain all my thoughts and issues with the pedal. I really wanted to like this pedal. If it would have kept working, it still just wasn't that impressive or controlable anyway.

I'd heard other comments about Mr. Echos being unreliable, but I assumed that since this was supposed to be the "new improved" Mr Echo, it wouldn't be so unreliable and unprecise.

Anyway, sorry for another negative review of this pedal, but I really felt I should warn others about this pedal.

Simple.

Well, this unit has been getting slammed, and I think it's rediculous. I've had a Boss DD-2, DD-3, DD-5 & DD-6 as well as the Digitech X-Series Delay. This unit sounds much better than all of them, much less sterile. The repeats sound like an analog delay; not in a bad way. The slam feature is great, you can get very cool pitch shifting effects, it reminds me of "In The Light" by Zepplin. All in all, a much more usable unit than the comparably-priced units. I can't afford an Echodrive, and this is the next best thing.

Excellent construction, no problems in a year.

I spoke with Rick who is a great guy, but they do have to put contact info on their website.

Definitely the best unit for the money. I can't stand having Boss or Digitech pedals screw with my tone in bypass. This is the cheapest true-bypass unit on the market. This unit does not like to be pushed with a super-hot input signal, but I use it for leads with a Fulltone Distortion Pro or a NVN Dino Fuzz in front of it and it sounds great. If you're into EMG, or other super-hot pickups, this may not be the unit for you; better yet, get those terrible sounding EMG's out of your guitar, and get some real pickups! Ha!

the Slam took sumtime to find out wat to do, but was great!!! easy as. The guy at the showed me a unique feature, were u plug the output of ur amp into the input of the mr. echo, and u can get sum whack efffects out of it

very good. i thougt it was analogue, but was told differently. no tone loss. the volume control allows u to control the volume. one thing i find with other delays is that u lose volume with it in use.

seemed great. tough. i dont use batteries. power input socket was easy to use..............:~

dunno

i play rockabilly/punkabilly/rock and other related types of music. I play in a three piece, and sing at the same time. This is great for adding depth to riffs and solos, or even chords for that matter. i have an epi les paul - crybaby - route 66 overdrive - mr.echo - marshall mg100dfx, but am buying a Fender amp soon. that is wat i used at the shop and use at our rehearsal studio. i highly recommend this over other digital units.

It's a really simple unit to use soundwise, it's an analogue delay, you know what it will do when you play with the Delay and Repeat knobs. The Mix and Volume take only a couple of seconds to figure out. Volume controls the overall output of the unit and Mix controls how much of the wet signal is blended with the dry signal... you can even drop out the dry signal completely so that all you have is slapback and no attack. The base is a pain to get open at times to change the battery and the absence of a manual makes any troubleshooting you may have to do much more of a stab in the dark than it otherwise needs to be.

It sounds cool. A very watery effect. Sometimes it almost sounds like a dolphin's sonar or like whale songs underwater. It's neat. The slam function is pretty fun if you know how to use it. If you hold it down for a while you can get these screaming oscillations that increase in volume and throb out of your amp... depending on the note you play you can control what frequencies the pedal will oscillate at.

I normally play through a JCM900 half stack for rehearsals and gigs, with my effects in the loop (the 900 has a pretty good effects loop). At the moment I've only tried it in the loop of my shitty 100w Valvestate (I hate Valvestates).

I'm running - Crybaby> NYC Big Muff> Crowther Audio Prunes&Custard(fuzz/ringmod)> Sovtek Smallstone (phase)> ProCo TurboRAT> Boss PH-2 SuperPhaser> Mr Echo> Danelectro FrenchToast octave fuzz> Sovtek Big Muff> Boss BE-5 multieffect (it has a cool '80s digital delay on it with a good balance between sound fidelity and warm break-up at higher repeat settings)> Boss DD-5 Digital Delay

With fuzz and whatever else before the Mr Echo you can get some pretty spacious and ginormous etherial effects. Having modulation before the echo gives even more dimension and frequency sweep to the already wet sounding delay. Fuzz after the Mr Echo can give a really snarling kind of squelchy slapback. Cranking the Repeat controls and then fucking with the Delay knob can take you way off into la-la-land. Once again, adding fuzz at the end will give you some UFOscillations that would make Timothy Leary's head spin... more.

Playing with the Mix knob hard right and then tapping the Slam button will cause the delay time to drop and then rise dramatically, having the Mix all the way up means that you have no dry signal to give away the pure tone of what you're doing all you get is a clitchy Atari/Commodore64, wet, echoey sounding blend of notes and frequency washes. It's pretty cool.

The one I got when plugged into a DC-9 Powerbank hummed like a humming thing. I wasn't even playing a strat. It was very odd. It worked find on battery power though, noise free. The pedal has no information on it regarding ampage (i.e. 9 voltDC, 260ma) all it says is 9VDC at the top... very illuminating. So I had to experiment with all my gear just to diagnose the problem. At one stage I plugged it back into the DC-9 to try various configurations but it was still a hummer. When I unplugged it from the DC-9 it would not switch back on. I thought, "Oh, the battery must be dead. It was starting to run pretty low anyway." So I change the battery, I put a brand spanking new high grade alkaline battery into the bitch and it won't turn on. Great.

It works with the Powerbank still, but it's prone to hum occassionally. So far it hasn't hummed when I've disconnected the DD-5 from the powerbank, so maybe the DD-5 was sucking a lot of the milliamps out of the powerbank and the Mr Echo was running under the required current level, which might have caused it to hum. Who knows.

If I'm willing to sacrifice my DD-5 from the chain I can still run the Mr Echo and get decent sounds out of it. But now I can't run it with batteries regardless of what I do. Short of repairing or replacing my Mr Echo.

I don't know. If you've tried to find any contact details on their website you'll know what I mean. My best bet is to try and call the dealer I bought it from (the only SIB dealer in Australia) the only problem is that they're an 8 hour drive away and spending 50 bones on a plane ticket one way just to replace it and then spend another 40 or 50 just to get it back home only to find it might have more of the same problems is a bit of a non-issue at the moment. It looks like I'll have to bide my time over thise one... or at the very least track down the contact details of the guy that makes these pedals so I can say to him; "What the fuck?!"

If mine wasn't an irritating little bastard I'd give it a higher rating. Mr Echo is like 500,000,000x better than a Boss DD-3. So if you have enough money to buy a Boss DD-3 get a Mr Echo instead because with a DD-3... even if it works, it's still junk.