Non-stompbox vintage effects

[Enzo]

In my days on the radio (1966-???) I used tape echo as an effect. We had a couple Crown 800 decks, Three head. SO all I had to do was pot up the playback head while recording, and I got the delay signal. I had tape speed switch to change speed. Some of the staff was recording current hits on the two machines at once, then they played them back together, and by dragging the reels with your fingers they varied the phase relation of the two signals causing a flanging effect. They made up a special name for the effect, which I can't recall. Space-o-sound or something.

I did a bit where I went into the station basement and hunted up an oldie or maybe my "reek of the week" feature where I found a truly awful record. Anyway, while in the cavernous basement, I had the echo going. I had a cart of stair steps and a door clanging shut, at which point I killed the echo.

[Leo_Gnardo]

More tape echo, there's the "Nashville slap" heard on Elvis & Johnny Cash records, plus many others of the time, made with a spare reel to reel deck. The signature John Lennon sound typically employed a large pro studio tape deck for slap echo. Ampex, Scully, MCI, Revox/Studer, whatever was available. And possibly VSO'd at that. (Variable Speed Oscillator used to drive the tape deck motor so you could dial in the precise echo time you want.)

For a real audio treat have a listen to VSO effects used on Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention "Uncle Meat." Mostly apparent on vocals but practically every instrument in the studio got a dose of VSO treatment at one point or another.

Early on, Pink Floyd used to make long tape loops by stretching the tape over strategically placed & well polished chrome mic stands. Must have been a lot of fun! Psy-kay-delic!

Shouldn't leave out the ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) effect created by an Abbey Road Studio boffin during late 60's Beatles recording sessions. On the tape deck he added a second playback head in close proximity to the main pb head. The addition of a slightly delayed signal made for a fake double-tracking effect, with just a little wobble in pitch to make for a more realistic chorus. Terrific for vocals, and I'm sure it enhanced some guitar tracks as well.

[dmeek]

I salvaged this one out of a Baldwin organ many years ago, still haven't done anything with it. The label on the electronics (2 12AX7s) says Panoramic Tone Converter Model A

[Enzo]

I seem to recall a looooong spring reverb in the rear of a Hammond Organ cabinet. I mean like three or four feet long, the spring hung loose in a long curve from gravity.

[tboy]

Before electronic spring-reverb units, there were mechanical spring-reverb devices built into organ speaker cabinets. They were scary-looking things.

[oldjim]

How about the Tel-Ray Oil Can Reverb? I didn't know such a beast existed until about a month ago. Looking for something else on the back roads and goat trails of the internet and ran across it. Interesting technology.

[Enzo]

Stuff that used to be a fancy rack effect like a pitch shifter, now can be had as floor pedals.. HArmonizers too.

GUys like Jimmy Page and Jesse Ed Davis used big olf Leslie speakers sometimes.

When I was in college, I always carried a pocket full of harps. I lived in a dormitory, and the stairwell - seven floors of concrete and cinderblock - was absolutely the best echo chamber I ever had.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Good project! First & perhaps most obvious, tape echo devices. Echoplex in all its variations plus a handful of competitors. Then the Fender outboard reverbs both tube & solid state. Premier 90 reverb too. Some folks repurposed spring reverbs intended for hi fi. Roland space echo - the fancier versions gave you tape delay, chintzy sounding reverb, plus chorus which wasn't half bad. Those are the easy ones. What else? Does sending guitar signals thru synthesizer modules count? Bode' Ring Modulator, there's one you don't often hear. Jeff Beck, Larry Coryell, some others put that one to work but only occasionally, it's sort of the horseradish of effects best used sparingly. Do studio devices count? I've seen any number of compressors and limiters used. UREI 1176, dbx 160 & 165, other similar ones.. Jerry Garcia for a while used an Eventide Omnipressor set to negative ratios for a "backwards guitar" effect for a while, good fun there. Speaking of Eventide, at this late date you'd have to consider their 910 harmonizer vintage I suppose. Maybe even their 949 & 969 harmies. There must be more. Somebody step up to bat!

[tboy]

Just for fun, let's make a list of vintage effects devices that aren't housed in a floor pedal or built-in to an amplifier.

Tape Echo

• Echoplex EP-1
• Echoplex EP-2
• Echoplex EP-3
• Echoplex EP-4
• SirEko by Echoplex ES-1