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TAPE DELAY-AY-AY-AY


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Some nice machines here from Charlie Watkins,inventor of the Copicat.

 

Charlie Watkins passed away in 2014 and a short while before he died he offered a reward of £1000 to anyone who could locate and return Copicat #1,the first model produced by him.

 

Someone from Liverpool returned the machine anonymously and said "Keep the money",Charlie said that this gesture restored his faith in human nature.

 

http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/copicats.htm

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Guest Symatic

Some nice machines here from Charlie Watkins,inventor of the Copicat.

 

Charlie Watkins passed away in 2014 and a short while before he died he offered a reward of £1000 to anyone who could locate and return Copicat #1,the first model produced by him.

 

Someone from Liverpool returned the machine anonymously and said "Keep the money",Charlie said that this gesture restored his faith in human nature.

 

http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/copicats.htm

every watkins looks so beaten up and used.... sign of a dope product i guess :)

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every watkins looks so beaten up and used.... sign of a dope product i guess :)

 

Yeah, back when I knew a lot of people who played in bands every guitar player seemed to have a dusty,beaten up Copicat amongst the obligatory Boss or Ibanez chorus and flanger pedals and no one ever seemed to take proper care of the WEM's they had for some strange reason.

 

I think that's cause the Copicats were so cheap to get hold of back then that people just took them for granted as almost any music store you went into in those days seemed to have at least a couple of them they were trying to sell.

 

I also think that most guitarists didn't really like the old Copicats and wanted the new digital delays that Boss and other companies were manufacturing but couldn't afford them as they were stupidly expensive at that time.

 

As I've mentioned before I owned the Halle Cat model, a four channel version that also had an on board mixer and some other effects incorporated into the machine that I sold on in the early 1990's, and something I came to regret as they are super rare and almost impossible to find now.

 

QnTTLf0.jpg

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Hey! that Halle Cat went for a bloody good price.. :@@

















In the early 1990's.. :|

Sy-I seem to recall that the Halle Cat had six echo heads and 'Retard' did some type of self duet,trick effect thing to the audio signal by making the delay times much longer if I'm remembering this correctly.

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  • 1 month later...

Been thinking about picking up a BOSS RE-20.... kinda pricey for me but hoping to find one on ebay for a good price if I look long enough.

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Not going to help you really if the RE-20 is too much money, but...

 

IMO the Strymon El Capistan is way way ahead of the Boss pedal. In fact I'd go so far as to say only a real tape delay would sound better. And even then, I'd have to mark them down on the convenience front.

 

For years I wanted the RE-20 myself, particularly as I've always loved tape delay and it was released about 6 months after I bought a DD-20. But now I've heard them in use many times and heard many others too, I'm really not a fan. I think it looks cool and trades off a legendary name (perhaps too much) but I don't think it sounds any better than much cheaper delay pedals and is frequently outclassed at it price point. Others may disagree, but that's how I see/hear it.

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Not going to help you really if the RE-20 is too much money, but...

 

IMO the Strymon El Capistan is way way ahead of the Boss pedal. In fact I'd go so far as to say only a real tape delay would sound better. And even then, I'd have to mark them down on the convenience front.

 

For years I wanted the RE-20 myself, particularly as I've always loved tape delay and it was released about 6 months after I bought a DD-20. But now I've heard them in use many times and heard many others too, I'm really not a fan. I think it looks cool and trades off a legendary name (perhaps too much) but I don't think it sounds any better than much cheaper delay pedals and is frequently outclassed at it price point. Others may disagree, but that's how I see/hear it.

 

Looked at the Strymon. The only thing that bugs me is you have to mix your stereo channel down to mono to get into it, whereas the Boss Pedals allow for stereo input. Doesn't matter all that much, depending on what you're using it for.

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$26 on amazon so bought it. Will let you know if it's shit. Only real complaint I've heard is about replacing the battery if you don't use a plug.

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Nope. That was the V1 (and my own fears for a while... I have to admit, I found out after I bought mine :$ ).

 

Since the V2 came out in 2012, you open the back, move over a little jumper plug and get a £3 TRS to mono L&R adaptor off ebay!

 

https://www.strymon.net/faq/how-do-i-enable-the-trs-stereo-input-on-el-capistan/

 

Damn, that's tight. I might look into this now. I've got a DD-20, which has been pretty good. It's not as dreamy as my analog delay but its great for longer delay times that the analog delay can't do. Always wanted that RE-20 but this might be the better route.

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Trust me, it really is!

 

Now I've had time with mine, if had to do it all again I'd definitely spend the extra money - I got mine secondhand at a mates rates price, which was the final reason that pushed me to get one. If I lost this one, I'd just buy another new one the next day (and I'm one broke mofo right now). Apart from just sounding amazing in any type of use, you've got 10 detailed parameters to tweak the sound to your exact preferences for each use. And honestly, whatever you put through it just sounds better than it did going in... pure witchcraft! I'm told their reverbs have just the same ability. Don't know how it works, but cheap synths sound like expensive ones, etc.

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