NUX NDD-7 Tape Echo: Is this budget take on Roland’s iconic Space Echo delay any good? Review & Demo

[@RichWordsMusic]

And here are those timestamps for you people on phones: 00:00 Hello! 00:22 Introduction to Space Echo delays 01:57 Specs and features 05:17 Today’s rig and plan 06:00 First tones and the seven tape head rhythms 06:57 Clean pop, indie and rock sounds 11:16 Reverb knob test 11:57 More clean sounds 14:25 Hard rock rhythm and lead test 14:56 Post rock sounds 15:50 Ambient loop testing all pedal settings 19:32 My thoughts 20:09 What I like: the sounds and versatility 21:36 Build quality 21:59 MIDI control and leads in the box! 22:24 The software editor for PC/Mac 23:17 Ambient reverb sounds 23:34 What I don’t like: spring reverb 24:41 The built-in looper 25:41 Reliance on the software editor 26:42 What other tape delay/Space Echo pedals are out there? 27:42 Final conclusions on the Tape Echo 28:53 Thanks and goodbye

[@PodOfHeat]

What a great review. Precise, thorough and straight to the point! 👍🏻

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks so much, really glad you enjoyed it!

[@jeffroq]

Great demo. I have the Tape Core and love it. I bought it because I had some Amazon vouchers to spend and it was on sale. Never looked back. Some of the NU-X gear is awesome.

[@RichWordsMusic]

What a great way to use up those vouchers! I picked up the Tape Core used for €30 and it's really, really good. It also has 99% of the features of the new Tape Echo if you connect it to your computer too! NUX really know what they're doing.

[@boddumblues]

Stageman floor is awesome for acoustic guitar ;-) Waiting for the Amp academy.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@boddumblues Yes, I've seen some demos of both of those recently - want to try both too! Lots of things on my shopping list ;)

[@SeanAllocca]

Another great review Rich! I wish more companies would send you gear as your reviews are so comprehensive. Keep it up.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks Sean! I'd love that too, as it's something of an addiction for me 😉 And I do love documenting as much of what all this gear can do as I possibly can! I'm happy you're enjoying the vids, and there's plenty more to come!

[@maxwesmont]

Great review, thank you!

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thank you for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@AdamasMst]

I'm expecting mine next week

[@RichWordsMusic]

It's a great pedal, really hope you enjoy yours!

[@SweetLittleRnRoller]

Great demo, very in-depth and detailed. Very helpful!

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks a lot, really glad you enjoyed it and found it useful!

[@cdclaxton]

That's a really good demo! Excellent playing and a great pedal 🙂

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks a lot, I'm really glad you enjoyed it! And yes, this pedal is a joy for me so far :)

[@ronmercer7766]

Fantastic demo. Good list of pros and cons. I have the Tape Core. I'll likely end up with this one as well.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I have the Tape Core too, and I do think the Tape Echo is a step up in many respects. They both sound fantastic but the tweaking options on the unit itself, the display and extra footswitch really make the Tape Echo the better choice for me. I reckon you'll really appreciate those things too.

[@timnolan3125]

Great Demo 👍

[@RichWordsMusic]

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it!

[@markstacey2906]

Very interesting ....Another great video....Really liked the sounds....Thanks for sharing....

[@RichWordsMusic]

Yes, this one's a really different sound for me too... but I am loving it! Although I do have to play differently to the stuff I normally would. Glad you're still enjoying the vids, cheers!

[@ghost_java35]

thanks for the very informative video! Personally can't decide between this one and the Keeley mag echo

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I've not tried the Mag Echo but it sounds excellent in the demos I have watched. The NUX is also great sounding though, and has a few extra features I might miss on the Keeley (tap tempo, reverb, etc.). Hope you get to try both and then make your own decision. Let me know which one you end up going for!

[@dattoboy1]

Great demo Rich. I can’t wait to start seeing more comparisons between this and the Boss RE202 when it comes out. I have a nux tape core and a strymon el Cap. I like them both but probably lean toward the nux for best tone. The strymon has longer delay times though, which is better (although I can get long delay times from the nux but only by using tap tempo which is annoying). If they could fix this problem it would be a clear winner imo.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I would love to see the Boss compared to the NUX. Actually I'd love to do it, but I need either the funds, or to persuade Boss to loan me the RE-202! Funnily enough, having this pedal actually really got me into wanting to try the El Capistan, but you're the second person who's said it might not actually sound better than the NUX. I'm with you on the tap thing, though! It is a little easier with this pedal, having the two switches, but still something I'd change if I could. Apart from that, though, it's a wonderful pedal and the tones are to die for :)

[@DrSmithSJA]

great demo and all but.. your guitar playing shines my dude. I re-watched a few of 7min-8min mark sketch ideas because I just like how you play. keep doing what you do brother!!

[@RichWordsMusic]

Ah, thanks so much! Really happy you like the playing, and it boosts my confidence a bunch to get feedback like this. Cheers!

[@israelcrook4629]

hey great review. you have some of the most informative reviews on youtube, especially helpful when you do A , B comparisons. i bought the ndd-7 and it sounds good. i had the tape core too but didnt have a computer so i couldnt really get into the editor so couldnt adjust flutter or wow, and all that. i think they added those options after the tape core was already out. i actually liked the tape cores sound a little more even though its supposed to be the same. it definitely self oscillated differently than the dd7. maybe i liked it more cause it was like eighty bucks. the big one is so tweakable though and verb and kill dry and all that. i agree the reverb is too much pretty much anywhere past barely engaged. about a 16th of an inch of subtle territory on the whole sweep of the knob. theyll probably dial it in if they havent already. i hear they made the reverb able to run in unison with the trails or something so the reverb gets aged tape degradation with the rest of the signal. i have a linux system so the editor is a pain in the ass. nux should have made the software android compatible i know they did for the Amp Academy finally. anyway, killer reviews and demos, keep up the good work! your gear sounds great too by the way, fingers too! Peace

[@DMSProduktions]

Sounds pretty good!

[@RichWordsMusic]

I have to agree man... dreamy!

[@Producer4Realz]

Hi Is there a way to write/store memory patches even into my PC? Like the editor is great but can I save patches and recall them? Thanks 🙏

[@NicleT]

Do I understand that you can't change the speed of a loop playback with the Time knob?

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

No amount of features and tricks can make up for sound but the damn thing sounds excellent. The price is definitely good value for your money. I use the Dunlop Echoplex on a tip from Dave Friedman as I was looking for a delay that would lay in the mix and not over power the guitar the way most DD do. Tape is great for that even when in a digital form.To many DD have the tail wagging the dog. Dave got his tip on it from EVH who in later years used the Dunlop. The NUX Tape Core Deluxe is of course a much simpler unit but the sound is quite good and you can access the extras by computer and at $95.00 USD including shipping on Ali Express it is worth considering.

[@RichWordsMusic]

That's exactly what I was thinking until the box arrived and I played the pedal - to my ears, it just nails that Space Echo sound (I must confess I've not played an original unit yet! Plans are afoot though). I have the Tape Core too (got it used for €30!) and it is also excellent, and has 99% of the features of this new one if you hook it up to your computer. I'd actually recommend the Tape Core over the Tape Echo to people on a budget who don't need the tap tempo footswitch. Good tips on the Echoplex. I've never really used one of those either, although I love the Echoplex Preamp pedal ;) I do find that a nice analog or tape delay doesn't get in the way of distorted tones, as in the samples here. You can riff or solo and barely hear it if you don't know it's there (it just thickens up the sound nicely a bit) and then when you stop playing you get the repeats... lovely!

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

@@RichWordsMusic A good analog pedal is the same. The NUX Reissue Series Delay is take on the antique Ibanez AD-80. Panasonic re released the old chips so it indeed sounds the same. It's $60.00 USD They even painted it the same pink colour, lol.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@Paul_Lenard_Ewing Ha ha, they certainly go all the way when it comes to paying homage to these originals! That's another one I will have to look into!

[@georgewilkins4231]

Hi I've got the NU-X amp academy and I'm going to try it with the Catalinbread echorec which I have However I'm a great believer in NU-X products.. and may get this echo pedal anyway...

[@RichWordsMusic]

How is the Amp Academy George? I've heard a lot about it and might try one sometime... they seem great for the price. The Tape Echo is really good too - it nails those Space Echo sounds. I'd heartily recommend it if you ever get the chance to try one. I've tried the Catalinbread as well now, and that rocks too. Both great choices!

[@georgewilkins4231]

@@RichWordsMusic Hi. I like the amp academy.. But there's no mod or delay.. It gives you good amp and IR sounds plus compression or overdrive noise reduction reverb and EQ.. Also an fx loop (cable supplied) to use your own mod or delay pedals.. I like this as I can use my own favourite delay and chorus pedals etc etc....... You're got various recording options.. I use mine with the XLR out to my Audient interface with IR switch ON..and the standard output to a 100 watt power amp into a 2x12 marshall cab with IR switched OFF.. I've got my own IR celestion cabs installed as an alternative to the Chop Tone IR it comes with.. But they are great anyway... I switch around a bit.. The IR module has its own HP and LP filters aswell as level control.... Its a well thought out useful bit of kit..... I like using my own pedals in tandem with the Amp Academy... It works!!! Let me know if you get one.... I've got a paid for plug in version of the boss space echo which also sounds great..... Good luck George... Happy New year???

[@quiksilver78]

Where did those riffs come from!? It sounds wonderful. To date, I can't figure out how to make the most of out of a delay pedal. I tend to lean on reverb more so than delay but this pedal sounds great. What say you between the NUX Atlantic, Duo Time, and this one? For an all-around, all-purpose delay pedal? Give those other Nux pedals a try as well but so far, based on your demo, this pedal sounds AWESOME.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Yeah, this one does sound pretty special, doesn't it? Made me bust out my more ambient musical side, that's for sure :) I honestly wasn't that familiar with the Space Echo sound before, but I love it now! Hmm, good question! Like you, I guess I'm generally more of a reverb guy, and I guess it depends on what kind of music you want to make when thinking about those pedals. Despite just having the one main delay sound, the Tape Echo covers a lot of ground and has a pretty nice reverb built-in too. And it sounds lush! The Atlantic is definitely geared more towards ambient stuff, I'd say. I mean, you can use it for a country slapback, but I don't think that's why people buy it 😉 And the Duotime is for Edge fans I guess. I've not tried that pedal but I do love using two delays at once! And it seems to have a lot of delay sounds and tweaking options under the hood, plus a reverb mode, so as an all-round delay pedal it possibly would win. And now you're seriously tempting me to try one of those too ;) But yeah, at the end of the day I am LOVING the Tape Echo right now!

[@pablohernandez1989]

Maybe I haven’t read enough on this, but does this unit take MIDI PC commands? Does it store presets?

[@PooNinja]

Very cool GUI graphic of the tape heads. I’d say the Wow factor is at at least 9/10 for that price 🤘🏽. Tape delay has that lo fi that so fine.

[@PooNinja]

Is that an Elephant’s of Mars shirt??? Satch 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽

[@jeffroq]

@@PooNinja it looks like the Mammut mountain gear logo. I know it's sad I would know that but guitars and the outdoors are my two vices 😂😂

[@PooNinja]

@@jeffroq we don’t go outside on the moon, it’s vicious out there! 🌝

[@jeffroq]

@@PooNinja 😂🤣🤘

[@RichWordsMusic]

Ha ha, yep, it's a Mammut shirt! Great for outdoors stuff here on Earth. This is one fine delay, too. The little screen is a handy touch and the warbly repeats are out of this world :)

[@naazrael]

Did you try the MIDI? Not sure what commands it accepts.

[@RichWordsMusic]

I didn't no. The commands are on their site - you can control pretty much everything by the looks of it (you have to scroll a while to get down to the MIDI bit!): www.nuxefx.com/tapeecho.html

[@naazrael]

@@RichWordsMusic I somehow missed that. It's awesome you can set whatever parameters. I ended up getting on as they have been on sale for the last few days.

[@alafenetre81]

Hi, I have a NUX NDD7. In the manual they say that holding the ON foot switch will engage self-oscillation to get the infinite feedback. But it does not work on my NDD7. It is at the latest firmware version. How come? Thank you

[@NicleT]

You have to enable this function in the settings menu first.

[@alafenetre81]

@@NicleT Thank you!

[@MikelBluni]

That's a really good demo! I wonder if you'd be better of with a Line6 M5. I have one and through my headphones I don't hear a big difference.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! That's actually a really timely comment re: the M5 too... I'm currently trying to work out how to use a Pod Go, and keep thinking I might be happy with just the reverb/delay effects (and perhaps a couple more weird ones on occasion) in it without worrying about any of the amp modeling stuff. Which would basically be the M5, wouldn't it? I might have to grab one and see...

[@MikelBluni]

@@RichWordsMusic What a coincidence, he :-) The M5 is such a great tool and I love hearing or reading about a pedal/vintage pedal and having the opportunity to get a glance of it through the M5. I’ve played literally hundreds of gigs using mainly Tape Delay and Reverb. They sound gorgeous that why I asked.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@MikelBluni A coincidence indeed! Also, have you seen the two new Boss Space Echo units released today?! Interesting times - and well-timed indeed by NUX ;) OK; I'm going to have to try out an M5 then. You've convinced me! Can you use delay and reverb simultaneously with the M5?

[@MikelBluni]

@@RichWordsMusic The new Boss pedal looks amazing. The new old design kicks bu**! Still I think the M5 covers that quality, too. The M5 can offer one effect at a time.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@MikelBluni Oh yeah, the RE-202 is seriously cool. Comes in at a serious price point as well, though. OK, so I will need to find an M5 to try! Thanks for all the info :)

[@bcitral]

any chance you could put a full line level signal through this rather than a narrow frequency guitar signal.

[@RichWordsMusic]

What kind of thing would you specifically want to see/hear? Let me know and if it's in the realms of my competences I will have a go!

[@bcitral]

@@RichWordsMusic being a synth / studio producer I use lots of pedals too but using line and instrument levels you get different results. Throwing a full mix through pedals certainly shows a different character to them.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@bcitral Ah, I see what you mean. I'll ask my local producer friend for some tips and maybe he can help me out here!

[@bcitral]

@@RichWordsMusic there’s a big market out there for that sort of non guitar player thing. I’ve a dl4, nux delay core, tape core, plus all the usual outboard gear which I use But Very rarely pick up the guitar these days.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@bcitral That's interesting, I know there's a lot of keyboard/synth channels where they doa lot with Strymons, etc., so this makes total sense. Let's see if I can find a willing tech-minded person to help me out here :)

[@peterklein5861]

Love it! Sounds amazing. Do you find the reverb option on larger pedals tends to fall short of replacing a dedicated reverb on your pedalboard?

[@RichWordsMusic]

Yes, it's beautiful, isn't it! And that's a really good question. I think it depends when it comes to reverb, as it's a very personal thing. I actually prefer my amp to have reverb if I can (my Black Spirit 200 has it, and I leave it on very lightly at pretty much all times - just enough to hear after I stop playing if you listen out for it) and then I would have another reverb for more obvious or ambient reverb sounds. When it comes to other pedals that have reverb too, it also depends. I wouldn't use the spring reverb on this pedal on its own, although the fuller plate/hall sound would work for some things. I like the reverb on the Strymon Volante. But I think generally that if you really want a dedicated reverb, you need a dedicated reverb pedal because you'll have more options to tailor it more precisely to what you need. I guess I am cheating somewhat because my go-to for those bigger ambient sounds in the Source Audio Collider - which of course combines their big box delay and reverb into one pedal dedicated to both sounds!

[@citok]

beste Präsentation im Leben 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@RichWordsMusic]

Danke sehr 😊

[@masterofreality230]

I have a Volnte, this might be a good option for people that dont want to pay $400 for a delay.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Oh man, I remember trying the Volante when it came out and being blown away, although I didn't fully understand all of its options at the time. Now I'd love to try it again and see how the NUX compares. I agree with you completely though - for people on more of a budget the Tape Core is an excellent option!

[@BNA_Est.1988]

💯💯💯💯💯amazing

[@RichWordsMusic]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@aristocaster]

If the spring reverb did not sound good, it is on par to the real space echo, they were quite horrible

[@RichWordsMusic]

Yeah, some others have told me that in the comments here. Shame I guess, although at least it's a faithful recreation! And I'm happy NUX seem to have put some more ambient noises in the more you turn it up.

[@WarrenPostma]

This is far above the level of tape delay sounds I can get out of the PodGO itself. Note that the really great Space Echo emulation from Line6 is one of the DSP heavy effects that is NOT in the PodGO and is only in the big brother Helix.

[@RichWordsMusic]

I've not spent massive amounts of time with the Pod Go delays yet, although I really like what I've heard so far. I didn't know the top Helix Space Echo effect wasn't in the Pod Go though! That's a real shame. Sort of makes me think the HX Stomp together with my real amp might be more my thing...

[@WarrenPostma]

@@RichWordsMusic Yeah. That's entirely possible. For me, the full helix would probably be my best bet.

[@RichWordsMusic]

@@WarrenPostma I'm going to try and give the Helix a go in the near future then. Watch this space!

[@Wooburnmusic]

Pring pring pring pring / duh duh duh duh / pring pring pring pring etc lol ! I think that the Strymon volante is the one.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Yep, that's what it does! I remember being floored by the Volante when I tried it back when it was new... would love to have another go on it, but it's not in my price range right now!

[@dezionlion]

I think ricks comment was rhetorical

[@650thunderbird]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@RichWordsMusic]

Cheers my friend!

[@asynchronicity]

Came for the demo, stayed for the hair and speaking style.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Ha ha, thanks!

[@davidames1746]

Sam Bankman-Fried so multi-skilled why did you go into bitcoin...!?!

[@RichWordsMusic]

It was a great plan until it all fell apart!

[@dezionlion]

Too much talk

[@RichWordsMusic]

Sorry, that's why I put chapters in though, so you can skip to the playing ;)