Gecko Pedals: Geckoplex EP-5

https://www.geckopedals.com/
Chapters
00:00 Intro Song
01:39 The Story
04:26 Core Delay Tones
06:04 Warp and Shift
07:37 Slapback Echo and Drive
08:44 Reverb and Tails
10:58 Presets and Tap Tempo
12:21 Expression Pedal
13:44 Sound on Sound Looper

So how would those original tape echo designers have built a delay pedal if they’d access to today’s technology? With a background in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Riley at Gecko Pedals in Eugene, OR went on a years long quest to find the answer for himself. When it came time for beta testing, he asked me to give it a quick test drive! Fast forward a couple months and we’d gone over numerous revisions here in Portland and not only compared it to my newly overhauled Echoplex but talked over new features to make this tape echo experience completely original.
The EP-5 starts with an analog FET preamp not based on previous models, providing extra boost and grit up to 11dB but mainly for matching the Geckoplex to any instrument from stringed to synth.
Just like the machines of the 60s-70s, the EP-5 has a delay time slider that moves a virtual tape head along the path, all with the same quirks and time warping effects but with a much broader range up 2 seconds. Plus, a high quality motorized fader changes its positions automatically when using tap tempo and subdivisions, expression control or when you cycle between the 3 onboard presets.
I saw first hand how much time and attention went into this pedal. I remember Riley saying how he wrote new code that mimics when a tape head gets dirty and this addition was added to the modulation of the Warp knob. This knob starts with a perfect, clean reproduction, increases tape-like modulation and warmth, and maxes at a heavily twisted repeat with near random fluctuations. To take it further, the Shift control is a unique feature that shifts the delay time up or down in various depths as a note is played, producing garbled sounds like a tape echo desperately in need of service. The Tone control is neutral in the center and behaves like a tilt EQ in either direction, allowing classic EP-style repeats or darker Spaced out echoes. Of course, self-oscillation is possible with high repeat levels or by holding the tap switch, which gracefully transitions in and out of tape saturated chaos.
The delay then feeds into a post FX chamber Reverb with its own level control and can be heard fading out with repeats when trails are enabled and even be used by itself or set up to change levels, like all the parameters, with the expression pedal.
The icing on the cake is the Sound on Sound or Looper. This mode gives you up to 40 seconds of loop time while still using the tape effects. Just like a reel to reel, you can reverse the playback speed, slow down or speed it up on any layer. The mini toggle switches allow this when their functions change in SOS mode.
The EP-5 Geckoplex is made one at a time by Gecko Pedals in Oregon using overbuilt processors, high quality analog components like WIMA caps and is adorned with a tough epoxy screen print in the style of the machine that inspired this tape echo dream. For more info, visit Gecko Pedals.com

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Amp: Hamstead Artist 60 and 1x12 Cab
Guitars: Reverend Jetstream RB, G&L Legacy, Gibson Custom CME Les Paul
Recording Gear: Universal Audio Apollo 8 QUAD, UA OX Amp Top Box, de Lisle Amp-Speaker Switcher 4x4 Pro Plus, Royer R-121 Mic
Other Pedals: Shnobel Tone Daily Driver
Drums by Stefan Pötzsch
Strings: https://tinyurl.com/StringjoyAndy
Cables: Sinasoid Sable & Sliver patch cables, Revelation Guitar Cables