for years i've been the not so proud owner of a korg se300 tape echo. it's hard to find any info on it, but people who own it, generally prefer it to the hallmark of tape delays, the famous 1973 roland re-201 space echo. my own se300 sounded pretty lame though, so i didn't understand what all the fuss was about. until i had it repaired last week.
the se300 was supposedly build in 1979, a year after korg made the se500 stage echo. it lacks 2 unique long delay features found on the se500, but adds a spring reverb. both units are very well build and sonically compare to what i've heard from the roland re201 and re501. that the korgs are relatively unknown units, might be because they came out in a time when the world was already moving on to digital delays. my guess is that korg just didn't sell too many for that reason.
tolex + wood = vintage, baby! (click to enlarge)
the se300 is quite similar to the re201: it features a 3 tap delay with variable tape speed and feedback control, a spring reverb and control over the amount of bass and treble of the wet signal. korg have made some clever design choices though.
for instance, you can engage and disengage a delay tap by simply pushing a button, something that is achieved on the roland space echo by a rotary switch that lets you choose between 10 predefined configurations. so it's a lot easier on the se300 to choose which taps you want to hear and to switch between configurations directly. on the korg, it's also possible to feed the spring reverb with a variable mix of the dry signal and the echoes, which makes for a unique washed-out effect not possible on most other tape delays.
above is a roland 101 sequence played through the se300. i've purposely chosen melodic material, so that any tape speed fluctuations are apparent as audible changes in pitch. here's what you hear:
[0:00] dry sequence
[0:10] wet signal added (only tap 2 engaged, no feedback)
[0:25] feedback turned up
[0:40] tap1 added momentarily
[0:48] tap3 added momentarily
[0:56] reverb added to the dry signal
[1:20] reverb fed with more of the echo signal
[1:29] tap1 and tap3 engaged
[2:00] reverb fed with more of the dry signal
[2:23] reverb turned off
[2:29] tap1 and tap 3 disengaged
[2:42] tape speed changed
[2:55] wet signal turned down.
as you can hear, the sound of the se300 is quite rich and the timing of the echoes is rather tight. the splicing tape that closes the tape loop causes the tape speed to wobble occasionally when it passes the pinch roller, but this can probably be fixed with some careful alignment of the tape path or different splicing tape.
and maybe it is just part of the deal. because despite the tight timing on the se300, tape echo in general is still a pretty lo-fi effect. apart from the inherent noise, wow and flutter and signal degradation make each subsequent echo less defined. so with high feedback, the wet signal quickly becomes a warm reverb-like wash of sound. i think this is one of the reasons why tape echoes are still in high demand, together with the possibility to overdrive the tape.
i doubt that the ability to sound like an air raid siren is a unique selling point of tape delays, but the se300 won't let you down:
yep, that's the se300 feeding back on itself with some virtuoso tape speed knob fiddling by yours truly.
