I haven't tried any of the reissues or all that but I was under the impression that the reason it was such a uniques looper was the fact that you could stretch the loops and get all sorts of really nice textures without artifacts or zipper noises and that you could do all kinds of loop acrobatics to mangle the pitch, tempo, etc in a very unique and musical way that does not seem to be common to modern pedals.
The mighty Stanisaur could probably fill us in on more details but I think this one is actually pretty unique and not just a "name" uses it kind of deal.
Kevin