Echo, echo, echo…

As well as its main function as a colouration/ distortion processor, Reels’ tape emulation can also be deployed as a delay effect.

The delay Time knob ranges from 1-1000ms unsynced or 1/16 to 2/1 synced, and, this being a tape delay, changing the Time slows down and speeds up the passage of the tape, generating all sorts of crazy pitchshifting effects. The Feedback knob routes the output back to the input to extend the repeats (infinitely when cranked up – hence the limiter), and a low-pass filter is on hand for darkening the tone, with a cutoff frequency range of 200Hz to 16kHz. Activating the Wet Only button kills the dry signal for using Reels as an auxiliary effect.

As any good tape delay should, Reels excels at classic dub-style feedback washes. Catch those pitch-shifting Time changes in the feedback loop and get to work with the Lowpass filter and it’s as if Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is in the room with you. Glorious.