Excellent, thank you, I thought something was wrong, I just need to let it sort itself. Just grabbed this Echoplex 2 from a friends shop buried under stuff. Looks like everything works
@@MrBluesina It works fine, a little muffled and weak but I suspect it needs head cleaning or tape replacement. I definitely need the tape tensioner with the felt on it. There's one on ebay but it's for an EP3 not sure if it fits
+superfuzzymomma Yeah glad to hear it, you are welcome! if you got the unit with TUBES, you have the Holy Grail of units. Mine is a solid state unit, so i don't get the benefit of tubes when it distorts. I bought mine new in 1979. If i had bought it just a few years earlier, it probly woulda been the tube unit. but in those days I didn't appreciate the difference. On that day I went to Guitar Center in downtown LA to buy...the brand new Memory Man. they were out of stock and the salesman pushed the Echoplex on me, closeout. I was just a kid with $300 in my pocket, so of course I HAD to leave with SOMETHING, so i bought it. I look back, that was a very lucky day for me and i dind't know it. great for guitar, but I love to play blues harp thru it too.
+MrBluesina Wow - very cool, our acquisitions no? I don't know if you know of the band Television, this is Richard Lloyd's, the lead guitarists unit, he toured the world with it.....a new tape cartridge (which you were crucial in being able to understand and swap out) ....some head cleaning and whalah! ....really shimmery and beautiful....I guess the tube stage does beef up the eventual output somehow,,,,,,toys, Huh? ...I;m so grateful that I stumbled on your work here, your friend, Glenn
+superfuzzymomma very cool, yours has road mojo. nice. Now, that 50+ yrs old unit of yours may have hi voltage capacitors drying out. i'd recommend finding a good tech to change those out before they fail. And mine has a rubber belt that melted away, i had to replace that a decade ago; had to take the whole thing apart, it wasn/t made for servicing. I had the honor of chatting with Mike Battle on the phone, the designer of these, before he passed away. wonder if you have a rubber belt too...
i don't know when they switched over from tubes and i'm no expert on these, but mine was built in 1978 and it's all transistor. I would just use the Googlator to dig for info. seems to me there's at least one tape-delay users group out there somewhere.
Doesn’t Matter.??? Oh Yes it does….! I Guess if you have oxide, I guess on both sides of your tape…, maybe…😹 Are used to load my Different Tape echo machines with Ampex 402 Two track mastering tape, it was 1.5 mil. It had a backing, so what would not work upside down…, for sure…! The RE201 space echo what is the easiest machine in the world to load…! You could also cut maestro and echoplex tapes, and as they were running, it would suck the New Tape amount into the cartridge !
yes, your are right that it Does matter. what I meant was that I first loaded the tape with the shiny side against the heads, WRONG. But it "doesn't matter", I just turned it over to get the dull side against the heads. You are right that it's not clear by my video. Guess I was careless in my speech. Good catch! I also have a Space Echo RE-150, maybe I should make a video on that!
So you fixed it at the end after you put the tape in upside down, but you never mention what side of the tape actually needs to be up against the head? Is it the glossy side of the tape or the side that’s a little more dull?
The left head is the playback head, not the erase head. That one sits to the right of the moveable recording head. I didn't know, that the lenght of the inserted tape adjusts itself over time. Got to try it out.
good idea. I need to do that soon...keep watching, could maybe this week. btw, dont use just any tape (I usta do that but it's not good for the heads), you want to find the kind of tape that broadcast studios used for their commercial slot, it's got a better lubricant built into the tape, so i've heard. I found a roll of this tape online awhile back, every year or so i refresh my three cartridges. I'll try to remember to put a pixture of it in the video that I shoot.
@@MrBluesina i really need that video man, im havin trouble with the cardridg, tape is too long and there s a drop of sound on the tape joint? How do you do a tape joint correctly?
@@azevedo666 I use scotch tape, only on the BACK side of the mag tape that doesnt touch the head. and important to cut the edges of the joint real close so there's not scotch tape touching any of the heads, capstans, or wheels. in fact sometimes the tape necks in a little bit where the tape is. Ideally use a tape joining jig (i had one in the 70's for reel to reel but i lost track of it) my technique isn't perfect, but I overlap the mag tape ends about 1/4 inch in the DIRECTION OF TAPE TRAVEL and leave a little flap, but be sure its in the direction of tape travel so it doesn't tangle in the heads, guides, wheels, and cartridge entrance and exit. I don't like scotch tape touching the heads. maybe there's a better way but i dont know it. I never got around to making that video of tape rewind, it was too hard to video and do the job at the same time. good luck and experiment; maybe you find a better way than i'm doing it.
Thank you!
Very helpful indeed. Thanks for doing this video!
You are welcome!
Excellent, thank you, I thought something was wrong, I just need to let it sort itself. Just grabbed this Echoplex 2 from a friends shop buried under stuff. Looks like everything works
You got a cool toy then. Enjoy. Consider replacing the electrolytic caps.
@@MrBluesina It works fine, a little muffled and weak but I suspect it needs head cleaning or tape replacement. I definitely need the tape tensioner with the felt on it. There's one on ebay but it's for an EP3 not sure if it fits
I think the tube Echoplex's ended in the late 60s or very early 70s. I have three early EP3s. Got rid of my rack crap. Thanks! Great vid.
CRUCIAL - Thank you Sir! as a new owner of an early 60's model I thank you!
+superfuzzymomma glad if it helped!
I cant believe how much gain this thing adds to the signal....beautiful, could not have been able to get this far without you:)
+superfuzzymomma Yeah glad to hear it, you are welcome! if you got the unit with TUBES, you have the Holy Grail of units. Mine is a solid state unit, so i don't get the benefit of tubes when it distorts. I bought mine new in 1979. If i had bought it just a few years earlier, it probly woulda been the tube unit. but in those days I didn't appreciate the difference. On that day I went to Guitar Center in downtown LA to buy...the brand new Memory Man. they were out of stock and the salesman pushed the Echoplex on me, closeout. I was just a kid with $300 in my pocket, so of course I HAD to leave with SOMETHING, so i bought it. I look back, that was a very lucky day for me and i dind't know it. great for guitar, but I love to play blues harp thru it too.
+MrBluesina Wow - very cool, our acquisitions no? I don't know if you know of the band Television, this is Richard Lloyd's, the lead guitarists unit, he toured the world with it.....a new tape cartridge (which you were crucial in being able to understand and swap out) ....some head cleaning and whalah! ....really shimmery and beautiful....I guess the tube stage does beef up the eventual output somehow,,,,,,toys, Huh? ...I;m so grateful that I stumbled on your work here, your friend, Glenn
+superfuzzymomma very cool, yours has road mojo. nice. Now, that 50+ yrs old unit of yours may have hi voltage capacitors drying out. i'd recommend finding a good tech to change those out before they fail. And mine has a rubber belt that melted away, i had to replace that a decade ago; had to take the whole thing apart, it wasn/t made for servicing. I had the honor of chatting with Mike Battle on the phone, the designer of these, before he passed away. wonder if you have a rubber belt too...
i don't know when they switched over from tubes and i'm no expert on these, but mine was built in 1978 and it's all transistor. I would just use the Googlator to dig for info. seems to me there's at least one tape-delay users group out there somewhere.
What is a Googlator?
Friend, any idea on years the tube units were made??? all i have is a serial number....
Thank you so much
Doesn’t Matter.???
Oh Yes it does….! I Guess if you have oxide, I guess on both sides of your tape…, maybe…😹
Are used to load my Different Tape echo machines with Ampex 402 Two track mastering tape, it was 1.5 mil. It had a backing, so what would not work upside down…, for sure…! The RE201 space echo what is the easiest machine in the world to load…! You could also cut maestro and echoplex tapes, and as they were running, it would suck the New Tape amount into the cartridge !
yes, your are right that it Does matter. what I meant was that I first loaded the tape with the shiny side against the heads, WRONG. But it "doesn't matter", I just turned it over to get the dull side against the heads. You are right that it's not clear by my video. Guess I was careless in my speech. Good catch! I also have a Space Echo RE-150, maybe I should make a video on that!
So you fixed it at the end after you put the tape in upside down, but you never mention what side of the tape actually needs to be up against the head? Is it the glossy side of the tape or the side that’s a little more dull?
The left head is the playback head, not the erase head. That one sits to the right of the moveable recording head. I didn't know, that the lenght of the inserted tape adjusts itself over time. Got to try it out.
Any chance of a video showing how to reload the cartridges? Thanks for the video!
good idea. I need to do that soon...keep watching, could maybe this week. btw, dont use just any tape (I usta do that but it's not good for the heads), you want to find the kind of tape that broadcast studios used for their commercial slot, it's got a better lubricant built into the tape, so i've heard. I found a roll of this tape online awhile back, every year or so i refresh my three cartridges. I'll try to remember to put a pixture of it in the video that I shoot.
@@MrBluesina i really need that video man, im havin trouble with the cardridg, tape is too long and there s a drop of sound on the tape joint? How do you do a tape joint correctly?
@@azevedo666 I use scotch tape, only on the BACK side of the mag tape that doesnt touch the head. and important to cut the edges of the joint real close so there's not scotch tape touching any of the heads, capstans, or wheels. in fact sometimes the tape necks in a little bit where the tape is. Ideally use a tape joining jig (i had one in the 70's for reel to reel but i lost track of it) my technique isn't perfect, but I overlap the mag tape ends about 1/4 inch in the DIRECTION OF TAPE TRAVEL and leave a little flap, but be sure its in the direction of tape travel so it doesn't tangle in the heads, guides, wheels, and cartridge entrance and exit. I don't like scotch tape touching the heads. maybe there's a better way but i dont know it. I never got around to making that video of tape rewind, it was too hard to video and do the job at the same time. good luck and experiment; maybe you find a better way than i'm doing it.
Hey Joel. Are those Echoplex players designed to played music? :)
not designed to. but they can.
Dull side needs to be against the tape heads
what size is the tape?
1/4 inch standard reel to reel