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THE BELLE EPOCH
Welcome to the Catalinbread Belle Epoch Tape Echo, with tape echo sounds so authentic you'd swear there was
tape inside the pedal!
Inspired by the Maestro Echoplex, EP-3 model, perhaps the most famous tape delay ever, it helped de ne the
sound of 70's rock guitar and was used by almost everyone! Jimmy Page, Brian May, Tommy Bolin, KK Downing,
Van Halen, etc, etc!
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Table of Contents
Related Manuals for Catalinbread Belle Epoch Tape Echo
Summary of Contents for Catalinbread Belle Epoch Tape Echo
- Page 1 THE BELLE EPOCH Welcome to the Catalinbread Belle Epoch Tape Echo, with tape echo sounds so authentic you’d swear there was tape inside the pedal! Inspired by the Maestro Echoplex, EP-3 model, perhaps the most famous tape delay ever, it helped de ne the sound of 70’s rock guitar and was used by almost everyone! Jimmy Page, Brian May, Tommy Bolin, KK Downing,...
- Page 2 QUICK START To get acquainted with your new Belle Epoch, let’s rst plug it in by itself, without your other pedals. Start o with a clean sound from your amp. Set the Mix to noon, the Echo Sustain and Sway/Mod at minimum, and the delay time, Echo Delay, anywhere you like.
- Page 3 WHAT WAS COOL ABOUT THE ECHOPLEX? When we set out to develop a delay pedal that captured the essence of the mighty EP-3 we had to rst understand what exactly it was that made the Echoplex special. Surely it was more than just EQing the repeats to make it sound “tape-y”.
- Page 4 4.) The sound of the tape head traveling across the tape as the Echo Delay slider was manipulated. If you have a lot of repeats going and move the Echo delay slider the echo sound “lags” a bit as the tape head settles into the new position.
- Page 5 8.) Delay time range. The Echoplex had a minimum delay time of about 80ms (it couldn’t get any shorter since the playback and record heads couldn’t get any closer together!) and a maximum delay time of about 800ms. This is pretty close to the perfect range to have in a guitar delay device for most applications.
- Page 6 • The Echo Delay control “lags” just like the slider on the Echoplex! When you turn it the delay time takes a moment to “catch up”. When doing self-oscillation soundscapes, this gives you a totally realistic and authentic Echoplex response! It really feels like you’re moving a tape head laterally across the tape instead of merely rotating a knob! •...
- Page 7 • Internal switch allows you to set for true-bypass OR "trails mode"! Put it in trails mode to always take advantage of the Belle Epoch's juicy preamp! Put it in true-bypass mode and set the gain loud for instant epic lead goodness from one pedal! •...
- Page 8 Sway/Mod: This control sets the amount of random tape wow and utter e ects in the echoes. At minimum, there is no wow and utter. For the most realistic tape warble, set this control fairly low - 9:00 to 10:00 is a good sweet spot.
- Page 9 BELLE EPOCH CONTROLS 1. DC power input 2. Echo Sustain 3. Sway / Mod 4. Tone / Rec Lev 5. Mix 6. Echo Delay 7. Input Jack 8. Output Jack 9. Bypass Footswitch 10. Silkscreen Faceplate 11. Catalinbread Logo...
- Page 10 INTERNAL CONTROLS Gain Trimmer: This sets the gain of the preamp. It is factory set just above unity gain. At maximum gain, you’ll be treated with a gloriously huge fuzzy boost that sounds amazing into a cranked amp or foundation overdrive. You’ll still be able to clean up from your guitar’s volume knob if you run it this way! If you choose to adjust the internal gain, do so carefully, when adjusting trim pots, it is important to recognize that you must use the correct tool for...
- Page 11 BELLE EPOCH PLACEMENT The original Echoplex was typically used in front of the amp to gain the bene t of the preamp and also since guitar amps usually didn’t have e ects loops back then! The Belle Epoch was designed to be run in front of your amp in the same way the Echoplex was designed to be run in front of your amp.
- Page 12 DESIGN NOTES The development of the Belle Epoch was a team e ort at Catalinbread and we really wanted to come up with a pedal that incorporated all the key compelling attributes of the EP-3, as we noted in the introduction of this guide.