SolidGoldFX Release the Innovative Compact EM-III Multi-Head Octave Echo

Readers will know that I’m typically not that enthusiastic about Mono delays - considering the latter half of my pedal-chain (including Delay Effects) is Fully Stereo. Nonetheless I recognise creativity and innovation when I see it - and this EM-III is a pretty smart unit all things considered.

At its core it is a Simulated Multi-Head Tape-Style Delay - which via shifting the options toggle-switch to the left - allows you to cycle through 1, 2 or 3 Tape-Head variations of that core delay effect. This is then cleverly supplemented by a highly creative secondary Lower Octave effect - which can be toggled on and off via shifting the same core options toggle-switch to the right.

We have six smart controls - Time (70ms > 1000ms), Repeat (Slapback > Infinite), Output Level, Flutter (Modulation Depth - increase Slow amount CCW and Fast amount CW), Head/Octave (< 1/2/3 + Octave On/Off >), Color (Dark > Bright).

We also have dual footswitches where the Right-hand one Engages and Bypasses the effect, hold it down to activate further (Snapping Tape) Glitch Effect. The Left-hand footswitch controls Tap-Tempo, hold that down for Self-Oscillation.

Note that there are two internal dip-switches which have the following effect :

• Dip 1 = On/Up for Ramp-Down Glitch, Down for Ramp-Up Glitch
• Dip 2 = On/Up for Buffered/Trails Mode, Down for True Bypass (No Trails)

All this sounds fairly run-of-the-mill on paper, while both those Core Effects and the Glitch are beautifully calibrated to yield the most glorious highly musical repeats - with the Octave variant creating something really quite special - as you can hear in the many demos below.

This is a very reasonably priced unit at $209 - available right now on the SolidGoldFX Webstore. I would imagine many a Mono rig champion would be excited to get their hands on these new and distinct tones. We are certainly living through a wonderful phase of pedal creativity - and it’s always a pleasant surprise to encounter something fairly new and innovative - both in nature and format.

Because of its lack of stereo output, this remains a nice-to-have for me - as a sort of texturiser - while this doesn’t quite have enough about it to unseat any of my other favourites. SolidGoldFX and Skreddy in particular are well celebrated for their Echo effects - so I would assume this would be another runaway success - particular in this neat execution.

Have any of you been tempted?