Check this sweet baby out!

[regebro]

Despite it's name, we named it Ho Chi Minh if I remember correctly, this was one of the dearest pieces of equipment of a band I was in at the beginning of the 90's. It belongs to the singer, who happens to be the same guy that you can hear on my song in the HR.comp vol II. (Buy it. NOW!)

Since the band disbanded, this has been in storage in the singers moms attic. I have constantly reminded him to bring it to Stockholm for several years, and he has just as constantly forgotten. However, this weekend he brought it to Paris! Whoohoo! Yes, it's still working, although some knobs needed a good twisting to get rid of dust/oxidation.

This thing works wonders on vocals. Yum.

 

[regebro]

And here you can see the innards of the wonder. In case you are unfamiliar with how it works, yes, that ringling thing is a long loop of 1/4" magnetic tape. This is a pure analog tape delay. With a spring reverb thrown in.

Although it's mono, so somebody would be able to give me another, and I wouldn't complain.

Also notice the handy built-in manual in the lid.

 

[regebro]

I tried to take a closeup to show you the non-existant head wear, but the camera sucks, so it doesn't really work.

Yes, there is three playback heads, for three different delay times. Also, you can change the tape speed a lot. Some of the modes use all three of the playback heads, for very fat and complex delays. I usually don't use those modes on vocal, but I imagine they would fat up a pad nicely.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I remember those!

They were made by Roland, weren't they?

I rented one, once back in the eighties when I had my original Portastudio 244.

The one I rented had a pretty worn down loop tape and the heads had probably seen better days, being a rental unit.

It did indeed produce some very nice effects and I remember wanting to keep it a while longer but, being a poor kid, I took the smarter route and returned it on time to avoid the late charges.

They used to go for about 600 Canadian dollars when they were new.

Congrats on the score!

 

[regebro]

Thank you. And I forgot to mention that you can put the feedback up to JUST below the point of self oscillation, and make some really heavy psychadelic sounds. You can with most delays, but this one just sounds so gûûûûd doing it.

Oh, btw, this is the type of delay I recommended to somebody (cajek?) here earlier for the best pure analog sound.

$600 canadian new? That cheap? No wonder the singer got one in the early 90's, they must have been dead cheap then, just before people got bored of digital delays.

Now they go fopr between $600 (canadian) and $600 (us).

Here is the top of the line one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2575819336&category=38070

I actually have one *original* unused replacement tape. I'm not gonna use it, but just save it forever.