Reverb is that sense of place and depth you hear when sound is reflected off of solid surfaces. Architects have been designing concert halls and other enclosed spaces to enhance this effect with live music for more than a hundred years. Recorded music, however, can sound flat and unnatural if it doesn’t sound as if it actually exists in a physical space, so musicians and producers have relied on a number of methods to recreate the sonic characteristics of playing in acoustically rich environments.

The EP101 Echoplex® Preamp recreates the magic of the Echoplex EP-3’s preamp section, coating your guitar signal with secret sauce. What do we mean by that, and what’s the deal with the EP-3? Read on!

The Echoplex EP-3

The Echoplex EP-3 tape echo unit has become a legendary piece of gear among tone connoisseurs, but not only for its delay effect. Guitar players discovered that the EP-3 somehow sweetened up their tone, whether or not the tape echo effect was active.

Built using Field Effect Transistors instead of the tubes used by the EP-1 and EP-2, the EP-3’s preamp provided an organically warmer and fatter sound when players ran their signal through it. Guys like Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, and Eric Johnson made it an integral part of their sound, taking advantage of the way it warmed up the distorted tones of a cranked tube amp while taming high end harshness.

Simply put, Marcus Miller is a living legend. His prowess as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer has earned him two Grammy awards and the esteem of critics and musicians across genres. As a sideman, his credibility is well-attested—Marcus has played, and in many cases written and produced, for everyone from Miles Davis and Luther Vandross to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. His solo career has further cemented his status as the preeminent living bass player. With his groundbreaking style and carefully cultivated sound, Marcus has created a unique and massively influential musical voice. Marcus has honed that voice for decades, in part by embracing innovation and using the best tools available. And that’s what brought him to Dunlop Super Bright Bass Strings.

We love relic’d instruments at Dunlop. They look awesome, of course, with all the visual charm of an instrument that’s been through a lifetime or two on the road. But there’s more to a relic’d instrument than its appearance.

They feel just as broken in as they look.

If you’ve ever put your hands on a vintage instrument that’s been played a lot, then you know that playing an instrument like that is as comfortable as putting on your favorite old pair of shoes. Builders go through a number of steps to create that worn-in feel in their relic’d instruments, and they tend to do it very successfully, whether it’s a Mexican-made Fender Roadworn Jazz Bass or a Tele-inspired guitar from San Francisco-based Rock N Roll Relics.

The MXR® Super Badass® Variac Fuzz delivers a big, aggressive, and biting square wave tones with a nice touch of smooth compression. Its Tone, Output, and Gain controls provide plenty of fine-tuning potential, but what makes this pedal a dream come true for tonechasers is its Variac control.

The Variac control allows you to vary the pedal’s voltage from 5 to 15 volts, which also changes how much headroom is available—lower voltage means lower headroom and vice versa. Many pedals sound radically different depending on how much headroom they have.