PRODUCT REVIEW
Stratocaster loaded with DiMarzio Virtual
Vintage pickups and a Reverend Reeves
Gabrels model played through an Orange
Tiny Terror and an Egnater Rebel 30.
echo Baby
The bright blue Echo Baby offers up 760ms
of delay. Delay effects usually come with
a host of controls, including blend, time,
feedback, modulation depth and speed, and
tap tempo, so how do you make a delay
pedal with only one knob? Lovepedal has
assigned that knob to control the length of
the delay time, adding two trim pots accessible with a small screwdriver through holes
on the bottom of the pedal for adjusting
the feedback and dry/wet blend.
In addition to delay, the Echo Baby offers
modulation. To set the amount of modula-
tion, you hold down the footswitch switch
for two seconds and then twist the pedal’s
chicken-head knob. Once you’ve set the
modulation amount, the pedal automati-
cally adjusts the modulation speed and
depth according to the chosen “time”
setting—that is, as you decrease the delay
time, the modulation speed and depth
increase slightly.
Unless I wanted a sick warble at longer
delay times, I found a relatively low modulation amount suited my tastes. At this minimal setting, the pitch waver adds a simulated analog-tape flutter to the echoes in
both long and short delay settings. If you
don’t want modulation, you can shut it off
by holding the footswitch for two seconds
and turning the knob all the way down.
The Final Mojo
I didn’t plan on getting out my little screw-
driver in the middle of a gig to change the
delay amount or feedback, so I set the unit
for just a couple of repeats occurring well
below the original signal. With the delay
set on the short side, the Echo Baby cre-
ated a reverb simulation that added warm
depth to my Strat through the reverb-less
Tiny Terror. Longer delay settings added
a subtle sustaining tail to the notes. For
me, this setting offers the maximum bang
for the buck. It also allows you to dedicate
another more-programmable or fully con-
trollable delay to ambient or heavier slap-
back effects. However you choose to set
up and use the Echo Baby, it will deliver
gorgeous sounding, studio-quality delay.
Babyface Tremolo
Tremolo replaced chorus as my modulator of
choice quite a while ago—sorry, maybe it’s
my roots-music upbringing or the fact that
something about chorus screams “last millennium” to me. The lone knob on this tremolo
pedal controls the rate—from extremely
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PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2010 181
