Strymon Deco Tape Saturation & Doubletracker Pedal

This thing sounds incredible. It provides a really authentic sounding saturation, like driving the gain on an old desk (or tape saturation of course) with really lush harmonic overtones. As well as guitar, I'm using it as a send effect for synths and drum machines and it's so melodic and musical as well as providing a really nice compression at higher saturation levels.That's only half of it! The double track/wobble side gives beautiful modulation/phasing/flange, slapback as well as very convincing doubling, real 60s/70s feel to guitar. There are Youtube vids of Beatles sounds replicated with this thing; it's really very impressive.The Deco is an absolute gem.

If you wanted a new pedal that harkens back to the old and vintage sounds of the 50s and 60s, the Deco covers it.The build quality is what you would expect for the price, while a bit steep, you can rest assured it is justified by what Strymon have done here. They have put four major components of a vintage sound and put them into a gorgeous box: slapback echo moving towards a half-second delay, tape saturation, doubletracking and a hidden auto-flange when you hold down on the right footswitch of the pedal which is a lovely treat.What sets this pedal apart from anything else on the market is the quality of the DSP chip that creates a crisp but not overtly crunch that would be a welcome addition to any guitarist's rig. I have played many styles of music with this ... MoreIf you wanted a new pedal that harkens back to the old and vintage sounds of the 50s and 60s, the Deco covers it.The build quality is what you would expect for the price, while a bit steep, you can rest assured it is justified by what Strymon have done here. They have put four major components of a vintage sound and put them into a gorgeous box: slapback echo moving towards a half-second delay, tape saturation, doubletracking and a hidden auto-flange when you hold down on the right footswitch of the pedal which is a lovely treat.What sets this pedal apart from anything else on the market is the quality of the DSP chip that creates a crisp but not overtly crunch that would be a welcome addition to any guitarist's rig. I have played many styles of music with this pedal and cuts through on anything from soft pop to hard saturated rock. e.g. the saturation works well to expand the crunch coming from my Les Paul and the slapback echo gives my Telecaster a time machine feel right back to that 50s sound!It is a timely recreation of pedals and sounds gone by and works like it hasn't aged a day!

I usually have a hate/hate relationship with OD/distortion pedals and I'm not always patient with chorus/delays. I like clean but I like a bit of whatever thrown in there.Apparently, this pedal is the one I've been looking for. I guess that tape saturation is what I needed. Just a little bit of whatever and a bit of quality delay and I'm happy.