Wampler Pedals Faux Tape Echo V2

Ever since the first incarnate of the Faux Tape Echo hit the stores in around 2008, it’s

been well known for it’s purity of tone, depth of effect and - dare I say it - sheer beauty

of tone. The secret to the Faux Tape Echo then, and now, is the purity of the signal path.

Your original tone does not go through the digital converters, it stays pure - all the way,

all the time. We separate the signal and the only the repeats are converted, and they are

worked at the highest standard possible, making your tone pure.

To be honest, all of the above wasn’t why most people loved the original FTE. Sure, they

appreciated the core tone, but once they flicked the switch that turned the tap emulation on they were simply blown away - let’s be honest here, how many times have you

heard a “tape emulation” that is just a chorus, usually quite a choppy one at that and

thought - ‘nope’. If you are anything like me, many many many times. The tape emulation on the FTE is organic, it’s not predictable, it’s not a chorus. The way it moves just

makes it sound like an old tape echo that’s seen better days - you know the type, the

ones that sound perfect!

Several years and two complete reworks later, the Faux Tape Echo STILL sports that

beautiful through tone, the amazingly deep repeats, THAT tape emulation and a couple

of new features designed to make your life that much easier.

We added a Tap Tempo, we also added about 200ms to the delay time (making it around

800ms now), top jacks to make sure your pedal board can be jam packed with as many

tone machines you want, soft switches for the ultimate in durability and most recently -

sub divisions on the TT. You can set it to be 1/4 notes, 1/8 notes, dotted 8ths and even

triplets... v2 of the FTE is the ultimate delay pedal, there are no wasted algoryhtms

giving you endless stuff you will never use, everything is poured into one thing and one

thing only. Great tone - there’s no reverse ice reflecting cavern multi tap nonsense here!

To get the most out of your new pedal, you'll want to become very familiar with the

controls.

The new Faux Tape Echo features Depth, Rate, Tone, Repeats, Delay Mix and

Delay controls - in addition to a Tap Tempo footswitch located on the bottom right which

overrides the Delay control as long as the pedal is powered. There is also the sub

division selector switch to control how the delay come back to you in relation to the

tempo that has either been selected via the knob or tap tempo

Controls:

• Bypass – A relay based true-bypass footswitch thatensures that your signal is unaffected when bypassed.
• Delay Mix – Controls the level of the delayed signal. At low settings, this can be quite subtle, and it is strongly interactive with the Tone and Repeats controls. Where it begins to equal or even overtake the dry signal depends on how loud your guitar's output is, but it has a very thorough range of adjustment which allows you to dial in precisely how much wet signal you want.
• Repeats – This controls the level of feedback into the delay line. Up to a certain point, which depends on other factors (where the Tone knob is set, and how hot your guitar's output is among them), this will just mean more repeats. However, dialed in high enough for your particular setup, you can get very pleasing oscillation, or feedback that continues on and on once you've played the initial note. There are a lot of neat sounds that you can achieve with oscillation, from a building swell at higher Level settings, to an ambient background you can create with lower Mix and Tone settings and Repeats just at the point of oscillating. This can give you a beautiful undertone to play over that doesn't get in the way of anything. There's a huge range to be explored on the Repeats knob, and like the Delay Mix control it is setup-dependent as to where the first repeats, pre-oscillation, oscillation, etc. can be found.
• Tone – The Tone knob adjusts the character of the delayed signal, going from a warmer (but still clear), darker tone fully counterclockwise to a more "pristine" sound with less rounding off of the high frequencies fully clockwise. Useful for dialing in exactly how you want your delay to sound, nonetheless it will always have a basically analog character to its tone, by design, without digitally clean repeats, and at longer delay times with the Tone knob set higher, some natural soft distortion on the end of notes
• Delay – This determines the actual delay time itself. At 9 o'clock and before, you have a quick delay, the "slapback" delay range. At noon, it's about 300-350ms or so, a common limit for some classic analog delays. Past noon, you have up to around 600ms of delay available. Note, the fidelity of the signal will decrease and the amount of soft distortion of the end of notes will increase as you stretch the delay time out farther. It's intended to emulate the behavior of pushed analog/tape delays. It is also more noticeable with higher Shade knob settings, so you are free to balance it however you'd like.
• Tap Tempo – This is the feature so many have been waiting for! The Tap Tempo is a "soft" switch located on the right side of the pedal. Tapping this will override the delay control and set the time of the repeats
• Sub Divisions - This sets the delay pattern in relation to the tempo set by the TT stomp or the delay switch. Play with this, see what it does - you’ll have a LOT of fun!
• Rate – This controls how fast the modulation reacts to the signal. The more clockwise you have this the faster it moves.
• Depth– This controls how deep the modulation goes. The more clockwise you go, the ‘deeper’ the effect goes. These two work together, play with them both and see where it leads you!

*if the both controls are all the way counterclockwise the modulation effect will be ‘bypassed’