Yes, it's nice, and it's close for a digital emulation, but it does not sound like the real deal. Even if you put an EP booster in front. The richness and saturation of the original is missing and you can hear it.
I get along well with Mike Fuller. No problem for me having his name on stuff. Mike was one of the earliest guys to understand what made the vintage stuff tick, and to be able to make new stuff that sounded every bit as good, if not better.
I'll give you an example: the Fulltone Clyde wah. Putting the question of authenticity of tone aside for the moment, the thing has loads of improvements over traditional wahs, including the steel case that helps the wah reject noise from things like wall-warts and certain power supplies, where most wahs suffer from induced noise. I had horrible wah noise problems in the studio - I do music for a living - until I switched to Fulltone wahs, and that includes everything from vintage Vox to Teese to others.
When you click on a Fulltone pedal, there isn't the usual pop that some true bypass pedals from highly touted builders make. Etc. We're talking basic attention to detail, to the little things that most builders don't seem to know/care much about.
Those are only a couple of examples. There are more, but the point is that Mike gets it. That's why his products are very good. I pretty much understand where he's coming from.
Who but Fulltone bothered to re-create the Echoplex with the same tape path and details as the original, only with upgraded motors, so it's more reliable? And to contact the original designer/inventor of the Echoplex and work with him to make sure it's authentic? No one else has bothered. So props to him.
