Replicator D'Luxe Analog Tape Delay Pedal Review

A tad noisey...but absolutely worth it. Completely transformed my studio tone.

Figuring out where to put this beauty in my chain took a bit of work. I initially placed it in the effect loop of my Orange amp, but ended up preferring the way it sounds after a Wampler Paisley Deluxe, before my Supro. It adds incredibly lush slapback depth and wonderful compression to my Tele. Fuzz driving tape driving tubes generates tonal possibilities I've spent years searching… read more for. Thus far, I've almost exclusively used it to add a healthy dose of slapback to some alt-Americana/punkabilly songs, and doing so absolutely takes my riffs to new levels. I haven't even started trying to play around with the long setting loops and saturated warble, but I'm excited to do so. Dialing in the tension, saturation, level, and feedback is a bit of a learning curve, but thankfully, T-Rex has some helpful videos on how to do so available on Youtube, as well as tutorials on how to perform basic maintenance. As stated in another review, the mechanical floor noise generated by the motor is noticeable, especially when the pedal is driving an amp. However, what's a little floor noise in exchange for gorgeous tones? Totally worth it. My one criticism of the Replicator is less with the pedal itself and more in the design of its cassette cartridges. Specifically, when the pedal is maximally tensioned/dialed in, the tape splice point generates a noticeable click/tap noise dependent on how fast the time function is set: at least with the "short" head setting. Less noticeable with hotter signals, more noticeable with quiet signals/spots. Faster slapback setting: more frequent clicks. It's not overwhelming, but is frequently noticeable during quiet/expressive/sustained moments in songs. The splice point noise is noticeable both before an amp and in an effects loop. It's an entirely analog effect based on a tiny loop of tape spliced together; splice point noise makes sense, and I'll absolutely put up with it given what it does for my tone. However, it sounds like T-Rex has already revised and improved upon their cartridge designs once (adding pads for better seating). If at all possible, I'd absolutely love to see further revision/improvement. Even minor reduction in the DB level of the splice point click, or gapping out of the splice point frequency would make this the greatest stomp box of all time, IMHO. Otherwise, it would be nice to have a video tutorial addressing this issue, in helping users dial in the pedal in a way that maximally blends tone while minimizing splice point click.

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It's big, it makes a lot of noise, and it sounds like butter.

I want so very much to dislike it. It is huge, it a bit harder than you would thing to get the heads at the right position, and its very loud. You can hear that tape rolling. That said, all those are totally worth it because it just sound amazing. You going to get wobble and pitch slides and background noise and they are all so musical and wonderful its like warping yourself… read more in a blanket of happiness. It's so warm and gluey. It also helps that every person that has seen it has pointed to it and said how awesome it is. Even my wife!

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