Strymon releases EC-1 compact tape echo pedal at $279

February 25, 2025 · 5 sources

Strymon released the EC-1 Single Head dTape Echo, a compact delay pedal, on February 25, 2025, at $279¹. Guitar World reported the pedal is available now for $279², and GuitarPlayer said it is available directly from Strymon and from dealers worldwide for $279 U.S.¹. MusicRadar gave the price as "£/$279"³, and Gearnews listed an MSRP of EUR 319⁴.

The EC-1 began as a single-head tape echo built on the dTape algorithm from the El Capistan, according to GuitarPlayer¹. Strymon CEO Gregg Stock bought an original Echoplex EP-2 to study tube echo preamps and later learned the unit had been heavily modified by guitar tech Cesar Diaz¹. Guitar World reported the EP-2 was used by Jimmy Page and Andy Summers and preceded the EP-3². MusicRadar said Diaz's mods made for a warmer sounding unit, closer to an EP-3³.

The pedal offers two models of the EP-2's tube preamp with variable gain and a three-position Record Level switch for additional gain control¹. Controls include Time, Mix, Repeats, Mechanics and Tape Age². Guitar Pedal X listed Time at 50ms to 1000ms, tap divisions of triplet, eighth, dotted eighth and quarter, Record Level at Low (+0dB), Med (+6dB) and High (+12dB), and Repeats reaching maximum at 3 o'clock before oscillation⁵. MusicRadar said the minimum delay time is 50ms and the maximum is a full second³.

The EC-1 is a true stereo pedal with independent left and right processing, TRS stereo inputs and outputs, full MIDI implementation, a rear-panel audio routing switch and USB-C¹. MusicRadar reported true/buffered bypass and glitchless tap tempo³. Guitar World reported mono-to-mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo-to-stereo modes via a rear switch².