With the launch of the Echosystem Delay, Empress Effects continues a long string of pedal hits dating back to the release of their original, unmistakably orange Tremolo in 2005. Since then, the Ottawa–based builder has consistently upped their game, adding more elaborate control sets and expanding on their stockpile of inspired tones with each new release.
Last year's Empress Reverb was met with universal praise due to its flexible layout and limitless supply of tweakable reverb sounds. The freshly released and similarly formatted Echosystem is poised to do the same.
This is not the first delay pedal in Empress' catalog. Their Superdelay and popular Tape Delay pedals are known for their sound quality and consistently earn high marks in user reviews and forum threads.
The Echosystem, though, expands on these fundamentals, bringing together a much wider selection of delay styles across twelve modes. Each mode carries a variety of settings for a total of 36 different delay algorithms at the core of this machine.
While this vast array of delay settings is enough to pique any tone tweaker’s curiosity, where the Echosystem really stands out is in its innovative stacking system that allows any of the modes to be stacked in either parallel, series, or left–right stereo configurations.
Combined with a suite of tweakable parameters, flexible ins and outs (MIDI included), and the ability to store up to 35 presets, there's basically nothing this ambitious delay pedal can't do.
Dig the video above for just a small selection of some of the sounds you can achieve with the new Empress Echosystem.
Empress Effects