EC Time Traveler review

Stompbox for short delay enthusiasts

  • £99
  • $149
If shorter delays are your thing, the Time Traveler allows you to fine-tune your settings

MusicRadar Verdict

Simple but effective delay with the emphasis on shorter delay times.

Pros

  • +

    Decent construction. Nice shimmery reverbs and slapbacks.

Cons

  • -

    A longer max delay time would have provided a lot more options.

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A maximum delay time of just 250ms makes the Time Traveler from EC a bit of an oddity in this day and age.

"As you advance the rate knob the sounds start with raw reverbs through shimmery ambience"

Some older analogue delays featured short max delay times because of the limited capacity of their BBD chips, but the Time Traveler is digital and most digital delays give you much longer delay times... So, what gives?

Well, some guitarists are just not that interested in longer delays and are looking for tighter ambiences and slapback.

As you advance the rate knob the sounds start with raw reverbs through shimmery ambience, and a range of slapbacks up to the longer delays with repeats that trail away nicely, which - while maybe not timed in sync with a track - offer a good sense of space and air around the guitar sound.

If shorter delays are your thing, then the limited delay range of this pedal offers you finer tuning with the delay time (rate) knob, making it easier to zero in on the exact short delay that you want.

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.