Montreal’s SolidGoldFX has been on a tear recently, and if there was an award for the “most prolific pedal builder of the ’20s” they would be up there with Walrus Audio and a few other ones. Their latest release is the EM-III, a compact Multi-Head Octave Echo.
Building on SGFX’s Electroman Delay legacy, the EM-III has a wide-ranging yet intuitive control set that grant access to warm analog-voiced echoes, precise and modern delays, as well as experimental and futuristic sound designs
It’s a mini-recreation of a multi-head tape-style echo, with the ability to add in a signal an octave lower, which produces results from the textural to the experimental.
The Reads/Octave Switch is the heart of the pedal:
…flick it left to select between 1, 2 or 3 delay heads or flick it right to toggle the octave effect on and off. From there, just set your Delay Level, Repeats and Time via the knobs or tap in your preferred tempo via the soft-click tap tempo switch and let the good echo times roll.
The Flutter control adds the typical tape-style modulation. At center position it does nothing: dial it left for a slow and dreamy chorus-like modulation or right for a faster vibrato.
The Color knob engages both a high-pass and low-pass filter. Once again, it’s disabled in the center position; dial it to the left to you cut the highs, for warm, murky analog-sounding repeats, and to the right for low-less, crisp and bright tape-style repeats or super thin lo-fi delays.
But that’s not it, here are some Hidden Functions as well for some Warp and Glitch momentary features!
Hold Tap to increase the repeats until self-oscillation, creating a swelling wall of sound.
Hold Bypass for Glitch effect sounding like a tape motor on the fritz or a tape reel snapping.
Hold both for glorious Noise buildup that will act as the perfect song/set closer.
Additional features include soft-touch, relay based, true bypass switching with the option of buffered trails, top jacks and up to a full second of delay time.
Here are the videos of the SolidGoldFX EM-III.
Welcome to the new SolidGoldFX EM-III Multi-Head Octave Echo; the smallest, most powerful and by far the most versatile SolidGoldFX delay pedal to date.
Building on SGFX’s Electroman Delay legacy, the EM-III manages to both echo the past, present and future. With EM-III’s wide-ranging yet ultra-intuitive control set, placing warm analog-voiced echoes, precise and modern delays, as well as experimental and futuristic sound designs, are all just a single stomp away.
Main Features List
- Multi-Head Tape Delay pedal, with Octave and Modulation
- 70 to 1000 milliseconds delay time with Tap Tempo
- Color Knob – for crisp and bright tape echo to murky lo-fi analog repeats
- Warp feature – for instant self-oscillation Wall-of-Sound Swells
- Glitch feature – replicates snapping tape sounds
- Switchable True Bypass/ Buffered Trails modes
- Top-mounted jacks – for ease of pedalboard mounting
- Hand-made in Montreal, Canada
- Powered by a regular 9V DC PSU
(centre -, 2,1 mm, ~70 mA current draw)
At your feet (or fingers) you have a multi-head tape style echo, with the ability to add in a signal an octave lower to the primary delay head. This can result in dancing, rhythmic delays with body and gravitas, as well as bold washy soundscapes. These two core features are controlled via a single mini-toggle. Flick it left to select between 1, 2 or 3 delay heads or flick it right to toggle the octave effect on and off. From there, just set your Delay Level, Repeats and Time via the knobs or tap in your preferred tempo via the soft-click tap tempo switch and let the good echo times roll.
The EM-III also sports delay modulation introduced via the Flutter control. Keep it at center position for no modulation. Dial it left for a slow and dreamy chorus-like modulation or right for a faster vibrato, letting you create lush oceanic movement, tape-style crinkles, eerie tension and beautiful dissonance.
The color knob allows you to engage both high-pass and low-pass filtering. Dead-center you have a pristine full-frequency digital delay. Dial it to the left and you cut the highs, creating warm, murky analog-esque repeats. Dial it to the right and you suck out the lows for crisp and bright tape-style repeats or super thin lo-fi delays.
The EM-III also brings interactive warp and glitch features to the tonal table by pressing and holding either Tap, Bypass or both at the same time. Hold Tap to increase the repeats until self-oscillation, creating a swelling wall of sound. Hold Bypass to replicate the sound of a tape motor on the fritz and a tape reel snapping, or hold both for glorious noise seances that will act as the perfect song/set closer.
Additional features include soft-touch, relay based, true bypass switching with the option of buffered trails, top jacks and up to a full second of delay time.
The EM-III is designed to inspire and evoke emotion. It can sound as pretty and cheerful or as dark and macabre as you wish. We invite you to tune up, plug in and immerse yourself in the EM-III experience.
