Catalinbread Belle Epoch BOS

This echo pedal, inspired by the tape Echoplex, has a beautiful sound and includes a built-in preamp simulation. But this is where I had a problem.

After reading the manual, I thought I needed the preamp in my signal chain, so I switched to buffered mode. But after testing six different boosters and overdrives, something still didn’t sound right. So, I removed the Belle Epoch from my signal chain—and suddenly, the sound was much closer to a natural tube amp tone, with rich harmonics and warm mids. The Belle Epoch’s preamp made the sound a bit “transistor-like.”

I switched to true bypass mode, closed the pedal, and the sound was great. But when I turned the effect on, the volume dropped a lot. So, I opened the pedal again and adjusted the gain trimmer. The volume increased, but when it finally matched the bypass level, the preamp started to distort too much.

Maybe the issue is my amp or effects loop, but in true bypass mode, I couldn’t get the same volume without losing sound quality. In buffered mode, the sound wasn’t as good and had harsh highs and strange feedback.

After a few days, I had to return the Belle Epoch. Now I’m going to try the Dunlop Echoplex. It’s a shame because the Belle Epoch is well-built and looks great. If I could change one thing, I’d move the gain trimmer to the top as a sixth knob. Also, a small toggle switch on the pedal for selecting bypass modes would be much more convenient. I don’t like opening the pedal just to adjust settings.

Das Pedal macht sehr großen Spaß! Sowohl klanglich als auch für Kreativköpfe. Man ertappt sich dabei ständig nach neuen spannenden Sounds zu suchen. Einziges Manko ist ein fehlender Tap Tempo. Die Verarbeitung ist super (aber bei diesem Preis auch zu erwarten...). Ich benutze es im Studio für die guten alten Slapbacks und eben Retro-Sounds und obwohl ich diverse Delays besitze habe ist es vor allem dieses was beim Sounddesign zum Einsatz kommt. Besonders die Möglichkeiten mit dem Recht Level die Delayfahnen zu verzerren machen super stylische Sounds. Cooles Teil!

This delay was on the market for ages and there is no need to say much about it. Lots of demos on YT also.

Never played the real vintage unit this Epoch is trying to emulate so can’t speak on how close it is but from some famed player’s comments seem to be very close.

I needed a delay pedal with analog feel but not complicated. This is it! Has enough knobs to create different feels.

The preamp is something some might hate and other live. Let’s say I like the preamp being on while using this delay pedal but dislike it being part of the buffer bypass. I think it removes a little bit from the dynamics. It colours the sound a bit.

It really is s pleasure playing it as it doesn’t scream “Delaaaay” all over your riff. Instead it naturally blends with th red playing. Sometimes I wonder if it’s even on :D and when I hit the strings I notice the repeats! The modulation is great! Can be a Chorus, or wow and flutter, or Vibrato! Check you tube for “Epoch hidden secret settings”.

All in all this black silver color is much nicer and looks better than the olive green one.

Very happy with it!