Incoming NPD: Boss TE-2 Tera Echo (share your thoughts!)

[MrShake]

Been wanting a Tera Echo for years, but the concern it would be too occasional, too esoteric, kept me putting it off in favor of practical choices.

But my band's become a spaced-out garage-drone thing with some heavy Krautrock jams, so I figured why not? It's such a weird outlier that I've been telling my wife for years they're destined to that specific strata of strange things few people will actually buy and once they go out of production, they'll become some crazy collectible because they're so unique. Of course, I was telling her this while I was busy not buying one.

Found a good deal, it didn't break the bank, and since I've got about all the "nice" pedals I want, I can mess around with some of these strange, unique experiments here and there.

Demos show me it's going to excel for my needs at deeper, space-laser settings.

How do you like yours? Favorite uses, settings, pedal order, etc?

[sal paradise]

Cool! I’ve always like the idea of it for the 10 seconds in that one middle 8 where it would be perfect.

Now I can live vicariously through your purchase instead. Keen to hear your thoughts once you’ve played with it, especially with a lot of gain.

[Futuron]

I just use it for the really spacey sounding moments. It's after my other delays, and before the reverbs.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I've been telling my wife for years they're destined to that specific strata of strange things few people will actually buy and once they go out of production, they'll become some crazy collectible because they're so unique.

You make a strong case for me adding one to my already echo-heavy collection.

FWIW I remember watching a YouTube demo when they were newly released and thinking I could easily live without one, but at this point I've forgotten what their special sauce consists of.

[MrShake]

You make a strong case for me adding one to my already echo-heavy collection.

FWIW I remember watching a YouTube demo when they were newly released and thinking I could easily live without one, but at this point I've forgotten what their special sauce consists of.

That's sorta been part of my hesitation. I can't quite pinpoint what it DOES.

But it seems like a sort of reverb/delay hybrid, where if you dig in more, you get more pronounced space-laser peaks/spikes. Like the white tips of big waves. Pull back and it seems like it's more mellow.

To a player like me, that doesn't sound so far from jockeying a spring reverb drip. And on the rare occasion I move my settings away from "plate", I tend to use spring reverbs set ultra-deep as more of an effect than an ambience.

I'm banking that the percussive attack on my JM & Jag with heavy flats will really let me play with that, especially on our Krautrock/motorik kind of stuff.

"That" middle 8, but drawn out for 3 minutes with a couple verses and choruses on either end, just to say we did and not call it a "jam" like a couple of hippies.

[sal paradise]

What does it do? It does MORE.

If it was a plug-in it would be called the Malmsteen.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Well, I watched a 3-minute Reverb video of it yesterday and it didn't seem to do much my cheap Muza Ambience doesn't already offer, but I imagine the Andy demo will coax more out of it - maybe some of those lasers alluded to above.

[MrShake]

It arrived.



First 30 min impressions:

Touch - the wildness of this pedal really goes off when you pluck hard. Has a feel not a million miles from other touch-sensitive pedals like a Slow Gear or auto wah. More pluck, more top-end swirl 'n' sizzle. But because of this, playing with heavy gain in front of it that's compressing and mushing up your pick attack can diminish that. Maybe that's good and you can find a "settings balance" between your fuzz and the Tera Echo. Was fun with the Muff, but I wonder if a higher-headroom Turbo Rat or something would really pair well.

Sound - Again, hard to describe. Sort of like a reverbed echo that has more/less modulation on the repeats depending on your playing. Online videos kinda illustrate this, but the sound is so dependent on how you play, it depends on the video. People talk about the ducking effect, and while I haven't been paying attention, it's never felt swampy or like the guitar is getting swallowed up. Depth for days, but largely uncluttered and not overwhelming.

Controls - Effect level is obvious, so is tone (useful for taking some of the bite off those mod sweeps). Feedback works like a delay pedal's would, and I even sent it into some kind of self-oscillation a few times. The S-Time seems to operate like a delay time knob, but more S-Time also brings more reverb and sweep as well? Have to spend more time with it. Seems like it would be limiting, but it's pretty intuitive to my ear, if not my brain, to control things with this layout.

Overall - Oh hell yeah. This thing is GREAT. It's neither a reverb or a delay, really, and wouldn't replace either directly on my board. But it DOES sorta offer both as a combo? Roll off the tone and a lot of the laser-phaser goes away, leaving you a bunch of ambience.

In some senses it reminds me of the combo settings on the RV-3, in that it's not reverb, it's not delay, it's "reverb/delay". I don't know how I'd describe the Tera Echo, but it's its own thing. I absolutely understand and agree with the sentiment where "this would be great on that one part of one song in the set", but our space-garage-drone hybrid will probably give it a number of suitable uses. Your mileage may vary.

I tend to use a flanger in the middle of my "big fuzz" section to add some swirl and movement. Rat/Superfuzz/flanger/Muff, then into delay and reverb. The two pedals pictured above could get me a similar vibe if I had to. If some friends said "come do what you do on our track, but bring as little as possible", I wouldn't feel terribly limited. It's musical as hell.

This and a versatile (tonally switchable) fuzz, and you have a LOT to work with.

This, a versatile fuzz, and an RV-3, and you'd be unstoppable.

[Twang Deluxe]

It arrived.



First 30 min impressions:

Touch - the wildness of this pedal really goes off when you pluck hard. Has a feel not a million miles from other touch-sensitive pedals like a Slow Gear or auto wah. More pluck, more top-end swirl 'n' sizzle. But because of this, playing with heavy gain in front of it that's compressing and mushing up your pick attack can diminish that. Maybe that's good and you can find a "settings balance" between your fuzz and the Tera Echo. Was fun with the Muff, but I wonder if a higher-headroom Turbo Rat or something would really pair well.

Sound - Again, hard to describe. Sort of like a reverbed echo that has more/less modulation on the repeats depending on your playing. Online videos kinda illustrate this, but the sound is so dependent on how you play, it depends on the video. People talk about the ducking effect, and while I haven't been paying attention, it's never felt swampy or like the guitar is getting swallowed up. Depth for days, but largely uncluttered and not overwhelming.

Controls - Effect level is obvious, so is tone (useful for taking some of the bite off those mod sweeps). Feedback works like a delay pedal's would, and I even sent it into some kind of self-oscillation a few times. The S-Time seems to operate like a delay time knob, but more S-Time also brings more reverb and sweep as well? Have to spend more time with it. Seems like it would be limiting, but it's pretty intuitive to my ear, if not my brain, to control things with this layout.

Overall - Oh hell yeah. This thing is GREAT. It's neither a reverb or a delay, really, and wouldn't replace either directly on my board. But it DOES sorta offer both as a combo? Roll off the tone and a lot of the laser-phaser goes away, leaving you a bunch of ambience.

In some senses it reminds me of the combo settings on the RV-3, in that it's not reverb, it's not delay, it's "reverb/delay". I don't know how I'd describe the Tera Echo, but it's its own thing. I absolutely understand and agree with the sentiment where "this would be great on that one part of one song in the set", but our space-garage-drone hybrid will probably give it a number of suitable uses. Your mileage may vary.

I tend to use a flanger in the middle of my "big fuzz" section to add some swirl and movement. Rat/Superfuzz/flanger/Muff, then into delay and reverb. The two pedals pictured above could get me a similar vibe if I had to. If some friends said "come do what you do on our track, but bring as little as possible", I wouldn't feel terribly limited. It's musical as hell.

This and a versatile (tonally switchable) fuzz, and you have a LOT to work with.

This, a versatile fuzz, and an RV-3, and you'd be unstoppable.

Tera Echo + 12-string = greatest sound ever

[MrShake]

Tera Echo + 12-string = greatest sound ever

Damn it, you're gonna make me pull out my Choirboy, aren't you?

[Arthon]

I used one for years!! It was a permanent stay on my board. I dont use it anymore in my new band since it's a straightfoward grunge band, but I would get back using it if I get into a indie band again. Now, it's on my small home board.



Hard for me to explain what it does, but I think it's name, "Tera Echo", is well suited for the pedal. It can be subtle if you put the level at 9 O'clock and dont max out the feedback.

I have use it on those songs :
Les memes erreurs
Le confort du silence
Entre 4 murs

[sal paradise]

“Someone” made me realise that what I definitely needed was the middle 8 pedal. I love it!

I did a quick demo with everything at noon. Sorry about the dodgy playing/timing, thought it’d be fun to make a video then realised how bad my performance anxiety is. TE-2 demo

[MrShake]

“Someone” made me realise that what I definitely needed was the middle 8 pedal. I love it!

I did a quick demo with everything at noon. Sorry about the dodgy playing/timing, thought it’d be fun to make a video then realised how bad my performance anxiety is. TE-2 demo

That sounds great, wtf are you apologizing for?!?

It's pretty wild, ain't it? And way more integratable than it's reputation may indicate.