Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
PastFX brilliantly shrinks down the Electro-Harmonix Echo 600 style Delay by more than half - an expanded slider-style take on the Deluxe Memory Man
This is quite the superb recreation for several reasons. The 1981 Electro-Harmonix Echo 600 (Denoting the Delay Time) turns out to be super rare - I could not find a single example for sale in any condition. The Echo 600 was essentially a slider-style expansion on the Deluxe Memory Man. And evidently not many were made!
I’ve always wanted a Memory Man Delay for myself - but in a more convenient / pedalboard-friendly unit - and that is exactly what this Pastfx Echo 600 is. So this is very much mission-accomplished for me! The PastFX sort of 1590BB style enclosure is less than half the size of the original!
The device uses 3 x Xvive MN3005 Bucket Brigade Delay Chips - and not the typical NOS BBD’s that Verlie mostly tends to favour. Those MN3005’s sound superb though and supposedly deliver a very low noise-floor too - while you can so easily induce the Echo 600 to misbehave - if you put too much input gain into the device for instance.
I would say that those sliders are fairly sensitive - you don’t have that long a range / track to operate within - and generally for these kinds of devices I might prefer the easier and more delicate tweakability of knobs. While this one works well enough for sure - it’s just all too easy to overshoot certain settings from time to time. I feel that sliders are not always the most suitable for more sensitive and fine tweaking effects. But I still mostly like them on this device.
The Pastfx Echo 600 has 4 essential control sections to the pedal - LEVEL, CHORUS/VIBRATO, ECHO, and RANGE (8 controls in total) - as follows :
Controls - LEVEL } Input, Blend, Output; CHORUS/VIBRATO } Depth, Rate; ECHO } Feedback, Delay (0-600ms); RANGE } Short (Blue) / Long (Red).
Ports - 18V DC [-] 60mA, TS Input, TS Direct Out, TS Effect Out.
The Blue-lit Short Delay Range is perfect for creating superb chorusing sounds. While for typical Delay settings - you use the Long Delay Red-lit Mode.
My only slight niggle here - which is true of the original too - is those weird scale lines - where the sliders are demarcated by just 5 horizontal lines - meaning the taper / track is split into quarters - which makes for fairly tricky referencing. For knobs - we typically operate on hours of the clock face - while sliders are normally demarcated on the Decimal Scale - so you can accurately reference where those sliders sit.
With the way the device is currently demarcated - each of those segments is the equivalent of 2.5 units of the Decimal Scale - which makes things slightly tricky.
In terms of my more common Delay Settings - all of the LEVEL section controls are at the midway point - so 5's essentially. Depth & Rate are essentially at '3' (Just touching the second line), and Feedback and Delay are essentially at 6.25 on that imaginary Decimal Scale (half-way up the 3rd segment)!
The Modulation section gets quite wobbly relatively early on - so that needs to be applied very subtly for delays - while you can really go to town on Short Delay Chorusing sounds!
The Modulated Delay sounds suitably lush here. And the pedal needs to be dialled in with some degree of diligence - as you can all too easily overload the levels and modulation in particular.
Other than those tiny niggles - this is the perfect Memory Man style delay for me. That sound is very distinct - and it is fully accurately captured here.
Verlie is so good at the pedals - and where normally it's about Verlie's various Mods and additions. While for the Echo 600 it's all about authenticity and high fidelity at a smaller more practical size.
I've considered various Memory Man style delays over the years - and I'm delighted that this it the one I finally ended up with. It's definitely the right one for me.
Readers will know that I typically deploy and favour stereo spatial effects - including in particular - Delays, Reverbs and Rotary Emulations - all which benefit from that added dimensionality and depth of soundstage.
That said - I've reviewed quite a few Mono delays recently - and I really like many of those too - including this perfect rendition of the Memory Man Modulated Delay style.
Verlie never fails to impress and amaze - and this is every way a fantastic take on that rare EHX Echo 600 device - with all the Mojo fully intact!
For some reason this pedal errors out on the PastFX Website, but it's of course on the Reverb.Com PastFX Store too for $339 and equivalent - where just 1 of these Echo 600's remains from the first batch. There will surely be more!
Demos
