John Hall
reviews the
Amtech AGE - ONE
UB Hank members are probably well aware of the warm sound of vintage analogue and valve circuitry, hence the popularity of older Vox AC30 amplifiers and classic Meazzi and Binson echo units. These echo units especially are usually expensive and can be unreliable and difficult to maintain. UB Hank members will also be aware of the fact that I have pursued the Marvin echo sound for many years. After meeting Charlie Hall in June 1996 and listening to an Alesis Quadraverb+ programmed with Echoes Of The Past, I was sure that I had found the only modern device that was capable of convincingly producing the old echo sounds.
How wrong can you be! After spending three days at The National Music Show at Wembley listening to Barry Gibson brilliantly demonstrating his Burns guitars it became clear that there was another device capable of producing those evocative retro echoes. Barry was using his Vox AC30 and an Amtech Age-One echo unit and was producing the most remarkable Shadows/Marvin echo sounds with ease. I had tried the Amtech way back in 1995 and had not managed to achieve any quality sounds at all. In conversation with Barry, it became obvious that I had not initially set it up properly. I managed to persuade Barry to let me borrow one. Armed with his advice I Was confident of achieving some good results.
The Amtech is a Swedish, purpose built guitar analogue delay unit. It was specifically designed to emulate tape and disk echo machines of yesteryear. It is built into a 19" rack mount case. Controls on the rear panel are from the left, Instrument Input, Output Direct plus Effect, Output Effect Only (for studio use) and a socket for the supplied footswitch. The control for tape flutter is also mounted on the rear. I have two specific complaints, the tape flutter control is awkward to adjust (it would have been better if it were mounted on the front panel) and the markings for the rear controls are written on the top! The controls on the front panel are straightforward enough. From the left, Sens. (Input sensitivity), Input Level, tone, Repeat, Speed, Echo Level and Mode. The instruction manual is sparse; the user is presented with one A4 sheet!
Connecting the unit is simple enough. Barry had given me the important basic settings i.e. Sens. set to 1, Input Level set to 3 and Tone set to 10. The machine is generally very user friendly and I soon found that I was able to produce all those exciting retro echo sounds with ease. The amount of control over the various parameters gives the user plenty of scope for adjustment. The tape emulations are truly convincing, especially with the addition of the tape flutter control. Without doubt, the Amtech Age-One is a superb guitar echo unit capable of faithfully reproducing all the classic echo sounds. In use, I find that once the Repeat and Echo Level controls have been set (both between 6 & 7), there is little need to change them. Adjusting the Speed between 2 & 3 and changing the Mode control between 4 & 6 will produce enough basic echo sounds to play through all the current backing CDs. The Tape Flutter should be set to between 1/2 and 3/4. These are by no means definitive settings. I have simply included them to demonstrate how easy it is to obtain professional quality echo sounds.
Barry Gibson has painstakingly documented the full range of Amtech settings for the UB Hank, UB Hank Again and Casting A Shadow backing CDs. A sample is included. Members can obtain the full list of settings free by sending a large SAE to Patrick Terrett.
Barry Gibson's settings:
TITLE / TAPE FLUTTER / INPUT LEVEL / TONE / REPEAT / SPEED / ECHO LEVEL / MODEApache / Full / 3 / 10 / 6 / 2 / 6 / 4
Wonderful Land / Full / 3 / 10 / 6 / 3 / 7 / 6
Cavatina / Off / 3 / 10 / 5 / 1½ / 5 / 4
Candle in the Wind / Half / 3 / 10 / 6 / 2 / 6 / 4