Rainger FX have produced the world’s first gated delay pedal, the Echo-X. A development based on the original Echo-X pedal from 10 years ago, it’s a digital delay, and the repeats can be controlled by the envelope of the guitar signal itself; stop playing and the repeats stop too. This gives the effect of the echo being far more ‘part of the sound’, at times feeling like a tightly-edited guitar sample.

It makes runaway feedback oscillations far more manageable too – each separate phrase can have wild howling feedback, with silence in between, then new feedback on the next phrase. Add to this some real-time control using the Rainger FX Igor controller, and pitch-bent echo swirls take over…

Despite having four switches, five knobs, three LEDs and a foot controller – unbelievably - it’s still a mini-pedal. Each Echo-X is supplied with an Igor – a dual-sensitivity pressure pad. Lightweight, no moving parts – and giving an easy solution to expression on-the-fly.

Also on tap is the incredibly useful ‘send’ function; in this mode there’s no delay until you lean on the Igor pad, and whatever you’re playing at that moment is sent off to the delay circuit – to possibly echo away forever while you carry on playing dry. It’s highly expressive - in a satisfyingly ‘dub’ way!

Add to this a runaway feedback mode. When the Igor is set to ‘fbk’, with a simple lean on the pad an innocent slap-back delay gets transformed into a stuttering monster of oscillation!