T-Rex Replicator D'Luxe Analog Tape Delay Pedal Reviews
Nothing beats the old-school flavor and inimitable vibe of a true analog tape delay. Warm cascading echoes dripping in layers of harmonics have been a secret weapon of guitarists and synth players dating back to the 1970s. With the Replicator D’Luxe, T-Rex delivers an embarrassment of analog tape riches in a modern device sized to fit comfortably on a pedalboard or on top of your keyboard rig. Building on the foundation of the widely popular original Replicator pedal, the Replicator D’Luxe offers a streamlined interface with an upgraded noiseless belt drive and tape lock/release mechanism, making for the most reliable Replicator yet. One record head and two playback heads arm you with independently adjustable short delay and long delay ranges, which can be mixed together for a versatile selection of delay sounds. Guitarists at Sweetwater love pairing a slap echo with a droning quarter-note or half-note delay to strike that perfect balance of impact and atmosphere. Front-panel controls include an on/off switch with true bypass switching; a tap tempo control; and Delay Level, Feedback, and Time knobs. A Saturation knob on the back panel lets you heat things up for gritty, EP-style repeats. Onstage and in the studio, the T-Rex Replicator D’Luxe delivers the Holy Grail tape delay sound that tone chasers cherish!
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Highest Rated Reviews
Fantastic!
This thing sounds amazing. It's very expensive for a guitar pedal, but it's really much more than that... IMO the Replicator D'luxe can hold it's own against some of the classic tape delays costing thousands... I love it on electric guitar, but if you have something like the Radial EXT (to go from line level to instrument level and back) you can easily use the effect on any source in the studio. You can even use it in parallel thanks to the "dry kill" switch, which is a somewhat uncommon and very useful feature.
Super Fun but NOT Idiot Proof
My unit needed a small user adjustment out of the box, just to modify the distance between the tape heads and the tape (in the manual if needed). Once it was was dialed in it's pure 50s sci-fi fun! There is no 'replicating' the sound of real tape delay. Get one of these and you can do your own 14 minute long remix of Bela Lugosi's dead. RAD!!
A tad noisey...but absolutely worth it. Completely transformed my studio tone.
Figuring out where to put this beauty in my chain took a bit of work. I initially placed it in the effect loop of my Orange amp, but ended up preferring the way it sounds after a Wampler Paisley Deluxe, before my Supro. It adds incredibly lush slapback depth and wonderful compression to my Tele. Fuzz driving tape driving tubes generates tonal possibilities I've spent years searching for. Thus far, I've almost exclusively used it to add a healthy dose of slapback to some alt-Americana/punkabilly songs, and doing so absolutely takes my riffs to new levels. I haven't even started trying to play around with the long setting loops and saturated warble, but I'm excited to do so.
Dialing in the tension, saturation, level, and feedback is a bit of a learning curve, but thankfully, T-Rex has some helpful videos on how to do so available on Youtube, as well as tutorials on how to perform basic maintenance.
As stated in another review, the mechanical floor noise generated by the motor is noticeable, especially when the pedal is driving an amp. However, what's a little floor noise in exchange for gorgeous tones? Totally worth it.
My one criticism of the Replicator is less with the pedal itself and more in the design of its cassette cartridges. Specifically, when the pedal is maximally tensioned/dialed in, the tape splice point generates a noticeable click/tap noise dependent on how fast the time function is set: at least with the "short" head setting. Less noticeable with hotter signals, more noticeable with quiet signals/spots. Faster slapback setting: more frequent clicks. It's not overwhelming, but is frequently noticeable during quiet/expressive/sustained moments in songs. The splice point noise is noticeable both before an amp and in an effects loop.
It's an entirely analog effect based on a tiny loop of tape spliced together; splice point noise makes sense, and I'll absolutely put up with it given what it does for my tone. However, it sounds like T-Rex has already revised and improved upon their cartridge designs once (adding pads for better seating). If at all possible, I'd absolutely love to see further revision/improvement. Even minor reduction in the DB level of the splice point click, or gapping out of the splice point frequency would make this the greatest stomp box of all time, IMHO.
Otherwise, it would be nice to have a video tutorial addressing this issue, in helping users dial in the pedal in a way that maximally blends tone while minimizing splice point click.
It's big, it makes a lot of noise, and it sounds like butter.
I want so very much to dislike it. It is huge, it a bit harder than you would thing to get the heads at the right position, and its very loud. You can hear that tape rolling. That said, all those are totally worth it because it just sound amazing. You going to get wobble and pitch slides and background noise and they are all so musical and wonderful its like warping yourself in a blanket of happiness. It's so warm and gluey.
It also helps that every person that has seen it has pointed to it and said how awesome it is. Even my wife!
Pure junk
I had one of these and it worked for less than a few months and now won't work at all. Tried replacing cartrige. Cleaning heads. All the recommended maintenance tips. Nothing works. Sounded great for a couple months. But don't count on it to last. Don't waste your money. Get something else. There are better options out there.
