Ibanez EM-5

The Ibanez EM-5 is an analog delay pedal, the kind of effect that repeats your notes with the softened, darkening edges that analog circuitry gives. Its delay time runs from 50 to 600 ms, covering everything from a tight slapback to a longer, trailing echo.¹

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What it does

As an analog delay, the EM-5 takes your signal and plays it back after a set interval, with the repeats gradually losing brightness and volume as they go. The 50 to 600 ms range means it can sit at the tight end for doubling and thickening a lead line, or stretch out toward half a second for more obvious echo work.¹

For more background on how this class of effect works, see the site's page on Delay Pedals.

Later takes on the EM-5

The EM-5's circuit has drawn attention from modern builders. Drunk Beaver, the pedal company run from Vinnytsia, Ukraine, has released two pedals built on the design:

• The EM-1 Echo Machine, in Drunk Beaver's affordable XR series, which Guitar Pedal X called "a fantastic emulation of the Ibanez EM-5 with additional tone control".²
• The Vinnytsia Echo Machine, an evolved take on the EM-5 that adds tap tempo and extends the delay time. Karlsson noted that "the delay time has been extended from 50-600ms to 40-700ms", giving slightly more range at both ends than the original.¹

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