Bleak District Electric massively evolves its Tapescape Magnetic Ambience Generator Lo-Fi Delay Pedal

Utilising the same beautifully lo-fi texture PT2399 Tape style core as before - Phil has now managed to eke out every ounce of magnetic effect character - where the formerly 5-control delay unit has evolved to 7-knobs and 4 switches - with still those same dual-footswitches - but differently labelled and improved in every department.

Most of the new advances are in the area of tape-style degeneration and mechanical failure artefacts - that make vintage tape units sound so interesting. All those cool degradations of signal fidelity - where you can now much more granularly define exactly how lo-fi the output sounds.

Not only can you manipulate the signal much more than before, but the actual total max delay time is significantly enhanced too - up to 1100ms, where for the previous version the maximum was 750ms. The pedal looks sharper as well as more imposing - and Phil has definitely mastered the high art of appropriate pedal-knob selection - as all his choices are spot on here.

Controls - Expression type : Time / Off / Rate, Delay Time : 30ms - 110ms, Feedback / Repeats, Mix = Repeats Level, Wow (Warble / lower end slow artefacts degradation), Dry options : In / Out, Modulation Type : Sharp Random Modulation / Smooth Random Modulation / Sinewave Uniform Modulation, LPF Low Pass Filter : Darkest / Standard / Darker, Flutter (high end rapid artefacts degradation), Flutter Rate, Swell Feedback + Intensity, On / Off Footswitch, Ramp / Swell Footswitch (Momentary).

At its core you have a fairly straight-forward modulated tape-style delay, operated principally by Time, Feedback (Repeats), and Mix (Repeats Level) controls - you can start with each of the other knobs fully dialled down for a relatively elegant tape style effect - i.e. Wow, Flutter, and Rate fully CCW. Swell doesn’t come into play unless you press on the right-hand Ramp (Swell) footswitch - so that is only relevant when ramping.

As for Wow, Flutter and Rate - those controls further degrade the tape signal by increasingly bringing in mechanical ’failure’ and tape transport artefacts - where those controls can also give you a variety of Modulation styles when you dial the Delay Time down - including a pretty characterful chorus effect.

The 3 x 2- and 3-way switches under the big Time knob - are there for you to further refine and colour your output - where ’Dry’ allows you to go fully Wet if you wish to, ’Type’ subtly alters the style of the modulation, and the ’LPF’ Low Pass Filter attenuates the top end of the signal.

Finally we have a smart Expression type switch next to the Expression Jack / Socket on the top edge - which controls whether your expression pedal adjusts Delay Time or Flutter Rate.

Compared to the V1 unit Phil has massively retooled and enhanced what was a relatively simple effect - now imbued with several additional degrees of nuance and granularity - it basically delivers significantly more in every area.

Way back when - this started as a project to replicate Phil’s favourite slightly weathered Watkins Copicat Delay - which has a very unique almost crunchy character to it - the V1 Tapescape was the first attempt to replicate that - and got you very close to that unique texture, and now the V2 gets you closer still - and gives you even more variability and versatility. Truly a properly characterful delay with a pretty unique texture.

Phil has done a fantastic job on improving the original - and I was privileged to see the design evolve over various prototypes and iterations - as Phil solved every challenge in his now customary neat and well-considered style.

He was determined to keep everything that made the original so great - including the visual aspect of that device - and I feel he has succeeded on every account. The V2 is a superior device in every way to its predecessor - which was still a brilliant and unique effect of its type. There are plenty of tape-style delays with artefacts out there - but very few with the character and texture of this Tapescape V2.

This article / feature announces the go-live for the preorders for this pedal - which can be ordered from the Bleak District Electric Webstore for just £225 and equivalent.