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Experience the dreamy sound of a classic ‘60s tape echo complete with the harmonic richness of the accompanying tube preamp. Enjoy organic and ethereal modulation produced by countless subtle mechanical imperfections, and easily dial in anything from warm slapback to expansive echo feedback beds with a strikingly gorgeous stereo image. With beautifully-tuned low frequency response, lush tape saturation and sublime echo decay, the Strymon EC-1 provides all the best of what a tube driven tape echo can deliver.
EC-1 offers impressive power and flexibility in a small and elegant form factor: Selectable tube-modeled preamp voices. Artifact-free tap tempo. Discrete stereo operation for independent processing of the left and right stereo inputs. Straightforward controls and expression pedal capability. High-impedance, ultra-low noise discrete Class A JFET stereo input preamp for exceptional touch sensitivity, dynamics and feel. MIDI control of tempo, patch save/recall and more. Premium components, rugged construction and a USB jack for performing firmware updates or controlling the pedal from a computer.
Featuring meticulous tube modeling techniques, EC-1 offers a choice of two authentically reproduced preamp circuits that lend a subtle vintage character to your input signal. One is based on the classic EP-2 tube preamp and features an enhanced high-end shelf perfect for brightening up darker humbuckers. The other preamp option (the default setting) produces a warm, balanced response based on the modded preamp circuit in the EP-2 unit that Strymon studied during the development of EC-1. This option adds a pleasing sense of heft, especially to single-coils. Both preamp choices offer an optional boost of up to +6 dB, or the preamp can be bypassed for an unprocessed dry signal if desired.
Strymon's dTape system allows precise replication of every aspect of every tape echo they have studied, and in EC- 1 this includes the effect of the moving head, the tape condition, the bias setting, the mechanical effects of motors, capstan slippage and all the irregularities that add up to create the unmistakable, inspiring sound of vintage tape echo repeats.
EC-1’s three-way Record Level toggle switch selects the gain of the signal fed into the virtual record head. Choose the low position for unity gain with optimized bias for the cleanest repeats, medium for a 6 dB input signal boost with increased bias for slightly saturated repeats, or high for a 12 dB input signal boost with further increased bias for heavily saturated repeats. This control also gives you a fast and easy way to match EC-1’s response to your input signal level to obtain the desired sound from any pickup type or pedalboard configuration.
At the lower end of the Mechanics control’s range only slower motor-related wow and flutter are present, but at around one o’clock these fluctuations are reduced in favor of faster disturbances from crinkle, splices, and capstan slippage which accurately replicate the sound of our golden EP-2 unit. This setting can create uniquely reverberant and three-dimensional echos that spread across the stereo spectrum. The slower fluctuations are mixed back in more prominently as you approach the maximum Mechanics setting.
The frequency characteristics of tape echo repeats are determined in part by the bandwidth of the actual tape stock, so older tapes will have a lower bandwidth with a warmer top end. EC-1 allows you to faithfully reproduce these characteristics by turning up the Tape Age knob for warmer repeats, or turning it toward minimum for the full-bandwidth sound of fresh tape.
EC-1 is designed to allow high levels of repeats that are truly lush but that don’t spiral into uncontrollable feedback. That wide sweet spot on the edge of runaway feedback can create intriguing sound beds under your lead or rhythm playing. Of course if you want to crank the Repeats control to maximum and play with the unique pitch effects that only a sliding record head tape echo can produce, those effects are all precisely replicated in sound and response.
EC-1 features full stereo in and out capabilities, processing incoming stereo signals independently so that you can place it anywhere in your stereo effects chain. It can also receive mono input and still produce stereo output if you’d like to use it as the stereo origin point of your signal path. EC-1’s single TRS input and TRS output allows for stereo operation while maintaining a compact form factor. A dedicated rear panel Input switch allows you to determine the audio routing, selecting between Mono In → Mono Out, Mono In → Stereo Out, or Stereo In → Stereo Out (stereo in and out requires a TRS cable for each jack).
Tapping in tempos with EC-1 works in a seamless way that would be impossible with a real tape echo. Confidently tap your tempos with no pitch shifting, no clicks, ramps or mutes. All the unique sliding head tape echo pitch-shifting effects are always available when setting tempo with the Time knob, but when tapping tempo EC-1 changes to new values smoothly and keeps you in the groove. Once a tempo has been tapped in, you can use the Time knob to set the Tap Division for triplet, eighth, dotted eighth, or quarter note resolution.
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