DIY cassette-based tape echo

[wavley]

That tape in your carts is the absolute best tape for a tape echo, it's smooth, cobalt lubricated, and the right thickness. The Cart Guys sell open reel cart tape specifically for reloading echoplexs and it's really expensive like all cart tape these days, but it doesn't bind or stick to the heads.

There was a time when every commercial radio station had their commercial spots on 8-track style cartridges in a rack with the sponsor name on the label end, and the DJ would grab the cartridge and stick it in the player while cuing up a recod.

Those cartridges used 1/4" tape.  The tape quality would also vary, depending on how much they wanted to stick in there, but you could buy cartridges with some fairly decent and robust tape.....or take some from an open reel and make/roll your own.

back when I was taking Audio Tech school, my teacher had an entire closet full of those radio station tapes; he got them from some small country/western station that had closed down. at the end of the semester he said I could have as many as I wanted, so I stuffed a bag full and hauled them home. I still have some of them. the cartridges are slightly different than 8 track ones, but they're all 1/4". really good quality tapes, very smooth.   never tried the tape in my tape echo, though.

I've tried to suggest this in the past, but its always stubbornly ignored:  if you want cheap tape echo, buy a $50 reel-to-reel off craigslist and set up a feedback loop with <any> mixer. done.

[666scorpions]

hello

I've just find a 3-heads tape deck and I 've just begin to build the echo-matic box...
but I've tried to use the tape deck  with send aux mix table and the echo works really good.
I've got a  great distorted lo-fi echo which sound perfect for me.

my request is:

1.I've just a short echo and I want a longer one sor I have to put a varispeed on the motor
of my tape deck SO is somebody have a simple plan to build one?

2. my tape deck is a european denon dr-f7 running at 220v/50htz, so my motor is a AC motor

3. so the question is how to build a varispeed for tape deck AC motor? I think a pot is not enought, isn't it?

thanxx

[Plexi]

I like the sound of Skreddy Echo stomp box. Does anyone have any tape echo stompbox schematic they want to share?

Anyone?