Re: gear questions

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

On Mon, 11 Nov 1996 KILLINFO@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Collier
> 
> > 4) found one of the old 16-second delays. floor unit 
> > with the sliders... guy has $795 on it... I didn't ask 
> > if that was a joke.
> 
> Actually it's no joke. I owned 2 of them and sold both 
> to a fellow in Toronto for $1750.00 (with six button 
> remote a foot controller that makes it about as easy 
> to use as the EDP).

I sold one myself for $700, without the foot controller (I have plans
for the foot controller, if anyone owns one of these units and wants
to build one).  

> To know the unit is to love it. I had a real tough time 
> saying goodbye to mine myself. All of the hype surrounding 
> the Echoplex as the ultimate looping device finally won me 
> over in the end though. 

Mine bought the JamMan and Vortex I currently use, and a few other
toys too.  But it broke my heart to sell it, and I'll regret it for
the rest of my life.  They're really awful in some ways, and wonderful
in others.  The user interface was brilliant.  I must say the Lexicon
stuff is more broadly useful (except for losing the great backwards
stuff) and sounds much better, but it doesn't have the same
character. 

> I sold them to get the $$$ to buy the fully maxed out pair
> of Obies that I got just a month or so ago. Though the EDPs 
> are terrific in several ways that I hope to fully take 
> advantage of, I still miss the ability to simply grab a slider
> and mess with delay time (and pitch), and the modulation
> control. Yep, I know they were ancient technology compared
> to what we now have available, but their low fidelity gave 
> them a charm all their own. And they worked... I owned them 
> for over 10 years and they only went to the shop once.

When mine finally broke, the only way I could fix it was by tracking
down Mike Matthews of Electro-Harmonix in Russia, who connected me to
Loy Dang, the original designer.  Again, if you have one of these
antiques and it's broken, I have Loy Dang's address so you can get it
fixed.  

If you have deep pockets or a vintage effects fixation, I suppose
getting one of these babies is well worth it.  But if you're on a
realistic budget, your money is probably better spent on an Echoplex
or some other modern toy.  I'll admit, one reason I finally sold mine
was that I was terrified to own such a vintage piece.  I wouldn't take
it anywhere to play, because I was afraid it would break or get
stolen.  I imagine I'd feel the same way about a nice vintage guitar.

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       /* dstagner@icarus.net */
   -Charles Fort