Welcome back Gearheads! Today I’ve got a reaaaaally cool pedal feature… if you’ve followed me over the years, you’ll know that I’ve had a penchant for a certain plastic delay pedal from the 90’s. That pedal being the Ibanez EM5, Echomachine. I’ve actually done a few past articles on the ole’ EM5, which you can check out HERE if you’d like to see what the buzz is about. The original has often been blasted for being made out plastic, including the knobs, potentiometers, jacks… and pretty much everything else on the pedal. Companies like Xact Tone Solutions out of Nashville have come up with series of modifications to help the original pedals become more road worthy, take a look HERE at my feature on their process.
All of that to say the original EM5’s (modded or not) are not only difficult to source these days with it’s popularity, their increase in value making what was once a $50 hidden gem, now many times over, fetching $250 for busted up versions to $500 for excellent examples. Enter in Dominic of Supernaut Soundworks! Taking on the monumental task of not only sourcing the materials to make this delay pedal, but more importantly improve upon it’s core elements, Dominic set out to do something really special.
Supernaut Soundworks is decidedly a small shop affair, existing within the hallowed grounds of like minded gear aficionados and tone geeks much like myself, catering to making cool gear that’s not just inspired but evolved from it’s original state into something much more than a sum of it’s parts. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Dominic does with Supernaut Soundworks… I see a very bright future ahead.
The Maschine ‘Tape Echo Chamber’ is not just another EM5 clone. First off, a kudos to not just showing up as a 1:1 clone of the EM5, but instead taking the features and the design in a different direction. There’s an elegance to the entirety of this release. The dark silver hammertone enclosure, the choice of knobs, the box it comes in… the manual! It may sound ridiculous, but I’ve owned many pedals from huge ‘big box’ companies that don’t have the fit and form that Supernaut is putting into their release.
Maschine has a wonderful bevy of useful feature modifications to this type of circuit. Most notably, Tap Tempo, (Smart) True Bypass, Tone Control, Modulation with variable waveforms and Subdivision control. These features make Maschine a very useful delay pedal that has all the sweet tone of the EM5 circuit but takes it into our modern paradigm.
Tonally, Maschine offers the familiar percussive yet pillowy cloud that can sit right behind your fretted note, but also offers what I like to call the ‘DMM’ effect, a nod to the EHX Deluxe Memory Man. Using the variable modulation circuit, I was able to dial in my favorite kind of pitch vibrato delay tone that I often find in a Deluxe Memory Man. I was and am incredibly pleased with this pedal. It truly sounds fantastic. Many times simply adding a modulation circuit to an existing pedal can sound almost fake or weird, not the case here with a very natural sounding circuit that can be set to subtle all the way to seasick warble.
There are some extra features that I did not explore in detail, but are worth noting. Maschine can operate in Legacy Mode, which is the original version as offers 90ms-600ms of delay time as well as Extended Mode, which allows you to change the range of delay time to 50ms-900ms. Running the Extended Mode could yield more signal noise and/or distortion. This is due to how the delay chip (originally designed for a Karaoke machines) function. There is also a feedback or ‘Swell’ function where the delay trails will ‘run away’ or simply feedback onto themselves. You can achieve this by holding down the tap tempo footswitch. Internal trimmer controls can further adjust that ‘Swell’ along with ‘Feedback’ controlling how many repeats show up in the repeat knob. LOTS of control here folks. Supernaut has really done their homework and put the extra mile into this pedal. Elegant and useful!
In the demo below I used Maschine on all the stringed instruments including the bass guitar. I also brought in my old and cranky OM-27 Omnichord synth and made some cool angelic pads with the help of Maschine. I hope you enjoy the music and how this pedal influenced my composition. I’m looking forward to putting Maschine on my pedalboard as soon as I can!
I highly encourage you to take a look at what Dominic and Supernaut Soundworks are offering and be sure to keep an eye on future releases… I know I will be!
Thanks for checking this Gearheads Feature on the Maschine ‘Tape Echo Chamber’. If you’d like to learn more about Supernaut Soundworkds and their work please do check out these sites for more information.
www.instagram.com/supernautsoundworks
Until next time Gearheads, please take a moment to Like, Subscribe & Share this Feature and I’ll see you all very soon!