Red Repeat

Reviews

GUITAR & BASS (UK) OCT. 2006 Red Repeat
The Carl Martin Red Repeat (£69) is red, and hurrah, it repeats. This Danish-made pedal really nails it with a diecast housing straight out of the 1950s and creamy chickenhead knobs. It’s a straight-in and straight-out pedal with a regular 9V supply slot and a metal footswitch. Switching on is silent and the pedal it self produces little or no noise – but, boy what a sound. The straight guitar sound remains completely intact and there’s no diminution of transients or dynamics. Plenty of the delays in this group have a lo-fi or low-pass filter setting but the amount is preset: the Tone control (LPF) on the Red Repeat allows you to set it anywhere you like. What’s more, the decay is spookily tape-like, and even with full treble you will hear echoes becoming grainier and more overdriven as they tail away. With delays ranging from short slapback to about 600mS you can get everything from retro to Edge territory – but the thing that really sets this one apart is that it never seems to interfere with what you’re playing.
Just go out and buy one before they realize it’s a `boutique´ pedal, stick a blue LED in it and double the price

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VINTAGE GUITAR (USA) MAY 2006 Vintage Series
Next up was the Red Repeater analog delay, which also proved to offer a quality effect without any noticeable added noise or coloration of the natural tone, just that classic analog delay/echo sound with those slightly dirty “not so sterol” repeats. The time control offered anything from a super short slap back all the way up to a 600 milliseconds of long delay. The tone control (or high cut control in this case) rolled off high-end on the repeats, allowing us to soften the repeats so they did not get in the way of the dry signal, somewhat like the low fidelity repeats you would get from a tape echo.

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Product: Carl Martin Red Repeat
Price Paid: USD 110
Submitted 12/31/2008 at 02:36pm by Richard

Ease of Use : 10

4 knobs, pretty easy, since no setting gives you a bad sound. Some complain that the footprint is too big. To me, the large size and spread out knobs make it easier to make adjustments. In comparison, the Boss DD series is "standard" stompbox size, but everything is very close. I suppose if you had to, you could change the outside knobs (echo or repeat) with your foot, which you definitely can't do with Boss. So it's a trade-off, do you want small footprint, or easy twiddling?

Sound Quality : 10

Let me explain how I "test" an effect. I plug it into the amp by itself, not as part of an effect chain. I plug in a guitar, but don't have it in my hands, I'm concerned with noise at this point. I engage the effect and start turning knobs to see if any setting yields noise. then I put it in a true bypass loop to see if there is noise even if the effect is off. At that point, I pick up the guitar to see if the effect alters my tone. Then I start getting into trying different sounds, etc, if it passes the above tests.

The Red Repeat is dead quiet when off and only adds noise when the echo starts approaching 3:00, which is pretty much the same on all delay units. The actual tones coming out of it are some of the best I've heard. For comparison, I have owned: Replica, DD7, Dan Echo, Keeley AD9, Korg stage echo, Headrush. I still have the Korg, the Dano broke (as Danos tend to do), I sold everything else. The Replica was nice but I wanted the option of more pronounced delays. Switching off the brown switch on the Replica didn't solve that. Also, as you increase the echo on the Replica, the direct signal level would decrease, which is the reason for the level knob, but then if you decrease the echo, you need to mess with the level again. The echo knob on the Red Repeat only adds echo, it doesn't effect the dry signal, so there's no volume loss and no need for a level knob.

Reliability : 10

Well build. You have to push hard when plugging into the jacks. Somebody used good parts and some care when assembling this.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Overall Rating : 10

First of all, it's dead silent, on or off. After that, it's a great sounding delay. I don't know what else you could want. Maybe if this was on Brad Paisley's or John Mayer's pedalboard it would caost $300 and it would be very popular, but I'll take it just like it is.

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Product: Carl Martin Red Repeat
Price Paid: USD 110
Submitted 01/17/2007 at 11:51pm by Sam

Ease of Use : 10

super easy to dial in a good delay

Sound Quality : 10

Through a twin, totally clean, it sounds incredible. Doesn't color the tone at all. I was going for an Eric Johnson type sound and it's perfect for that. You can also get vintage slapback type delay.

Reliability : 8

make sure you bring back up batteries or use an adapter. solid.

Customer Support : No Opinion

n/a

Overall Rating : 10

i play mostly blues rock, ala Jeff Beck, Hendrix. Use an Eric Johnson Strat and a Les Paul Standard through a Fender Twin and Marshall.

I own a Chandler Stereo Digital Echo. That is hands down the best echo I've ever owned. I tried an EH Memory Man Deluxe, but found it a little too hot in the signal. Also, no real lengthy spacey delay.

The Red Repeat is great value for the money. Most good "vintage style" echoes run about $150 to $300.

Get this pedal, it doesn't disappoint.

Red Repeat

Based on the infamous Carl Martin Delayla, the 'Red Repeat' provides an affordable 600 milliseconds of delay as well as a simply controlled echo. Add just a touch of delay to thicken your sound, or push the repeat circuit past 12o'clock where the unit begins to self-oscillate, just like an old analog delay. Great vintage style and colour in a heavy diecast, 9 volt pedal with heavy duty bypass switching.