Customer feedback, Endorsements & Reviews

OK, we have only just launched our 'new fangled' Copicat, so some of you may be wondering whether it lives up to our claims. Here is what some of our customers thought (used with permission) :-
Producer Joe Barresi uses WEM gear in the studio.......

"What do I like about the new Copicat Gold??? Well it is just an amazing piece of gear---truly inspirational as the possibilities for editing echos and their panning and repeats are endless. The day the Copicat Gold arrived at my studio it made its debut on the new Coheed and Cambria record.....i plugged it in and it inspired a solo sound so we tracked it then and there!

Later that evening I set up the Gold up as a stereo delay thru 2 Watkins Scouts----what a great sound! With a little bit of editing I had the most spacious delays panning back and forth between the amps. And in a true analog style, the input gain knob could make them go from super clean to fully dirty with the twist of the knob.....But since then, my favorite use for the Gold is when Im mixing.....in addition to the 2 digital Shadows that I have used on every record since I got them, I now have a true stereo partner. I also love the fact that everything is on a button and not deep into some sub menus--- really easy to audition sounds and get into editing them if needed....i usually set up my Gold on an aux send and return it on 2 faders on my mixing desk panned hard left and right. I pick whichever color of delay i need for the occasion--(lately its been echo type 4 or echo 1), find the right tempo using the varispeed knob, and then get into the editing mode----so easy to set a delay's level, repeats AND panning position, then store it so I can have it for future songs. And because everything is laid out in front of me on buttons and knobs, i can modify my settings instantly--

Lately I have been printing the output of the Gold's fx back into the computer as I like to turn the varispeed and wobble knobs while the song is playing and actually creating some effects that change pitch as well as time.....the live "hands on " approach is invaluable to me and allows me to create sounds that are unique. And having individual feedback control for each head is also pretty great for making dense delays with more rhythmic movement, and then panning them off to the sides to provide space for the lead vocal in the center.
This is a great tool for anyone serious about delays! "

Check out Joe's activities at www.joebarresi.com
" I have now had my Copicat Gold for 2 days and I really love this machine. I own or have owned a whole arsenal of tape echo machines dating as far back as the mid 60's. I have also bought a variety of digital machines in recent years. In fact without really intending it I seem to have become somewhat of a collector of these devices. So, including other machines I've borrowed along the way I've pretty well heard them all . All of these machines have their strengths and weaknesses. Some are very difficult to maintain, some are very finicky to adjust and others just don't have the magic in their sound. Well the Copicat Gold just has all the wonderful attributes of the finest machines around without any of the common disadvantages. It does nothing less than faithfully reproduce the echoes of the best machines ever made. It just does them all and does them well. For tape machine die-hards ( like me) it's wonderful to find that all that vintage analogue sound is there. It's easy to use right out of the box using the presets and it's just as easy to change settings or head selection if you want. I think my lifetime quest for the perfect echo machine has just ended. On top of all of this it certainly doesn't hurt to have the bank of special non echo effects. Thank you so much for putting your 50 years of experience as well as that of all your major competitors so cleverly and elegantly into this small box.

Kevin Ball, Canada."

"Just a quick note to let you know that after a couple of months I'm enjoying the Copicat Gold tremendously. The recommended presets for the Shadows tunes in particular are absolutely spot on and need no modification at all. That makes it extremely easy to get authentic shadows sounds for virtually any of their tunes in a matter of seconds without any of the "fine tuning" needed with any machine with normal analogue controls only. In fact ALL of the clips I have made so far have been very simple to make using ONLY the recommended presets in every single case. It couldn't be easier. However the Gold goes way beyond Shadows. I have found that its warm analogue-like sound is wonderful for all types of other guitar styles from Dave Gilmour to Santana. Yes even in high gain styles the Gold adds a rich fatness and sustain to the sound rather like a great reverb and not at all like the mechanical sound of so many modern digital delays.

The stereo option is great for Pink Floyd tunes. I use my Gold in the effect loop of a Mesa Boogie Mk III ( mini stack) and feed the second channel from the Gold into the return of the efect loop of a second identical MkIII . So with the Gold's stereo option unselected I have 2 channel mono or with it selected I have stereo. This is a very simple and convenient set up as in this configuration only one set of amp controls is active as the second amp's preamp is bypassed and it's power amp becomes the slave.. The sound in each amp is therefore identical except for any stereo spatial effects in the loop such as the Gold. But of course if anyone in the world is familiar with slaving amps it's you !"

"What pleases me so much about the Gold is that it is capable of giving that warm analogue echo sound where when a string is left to ring you hear NO discrete echo pattern, just a long woody tone that sustains for ever. Then as soon as you mute the string you hear just how much echo you are really using. So many people don't realize that that is the true way to get Shads sounds.  However the Gold is the easiest machine EVER to get these sounds from. You could literally unpack it, plug it in, turn it on and play Apache! ( that's the first default patch)  Press one button and you have Blue Star and countless others.

Press 4 buttons to load the second bank and you have presets for Wonderful Land, Cosy, Atlantis and many many more.  It's the EASIEST EVER.  Most of the presets are very very accurate. I've only found one which I slightly disagree with and that's just a simple matter of turning off one head and slowing the speed. The beauty of that is that although it only takes seconds to adjust, you can easily commit the new  setting to memory for one button access in the future.  Yes this machine is the real deal."