How much did Ed's Echoplex really boost?

[echoplexi1974]

The last recorded Van Halen song with the echoplex that I can hear is the "The Full Bug". That cool bluesy syncopated riff right before the harmonica solo. Sounds like he was still using it on the DiverDown tour. After that, the only time I hear it on Letterman 85'.

[Megaro]

If he did, I don't really hear it. Maybe he turned off the echo and ran it in bypass mode?

I believe I hear the echoplex briefly around the 4:00 minute mark on Hot for the Teacher
https://youtu.be/zwWpPY6x-cY?t=4m

[echoplexi1974]

Yeah that's right. That could be the echoplex too. He ran it so quietly most the time that you can barely tell that its on.

[Megaro]

Yeah that's right. That could be the echoplex too. He ran it so quietly most the time that you can barely tell that its on.

Something that has always confounded me about the echoplex Ed used is exactly what you mention about it being quiet. For instance, on Atomic Punk, the echoplex is so in your face during the solo. But in just about every other song from that era, the echo is so much more subtle, like in So This is Love. I have never owned an Echoplex so I am clueless as to how they work. But I wonder if it was mostly run quiet or maybe was run post Plexi so it did not have that super psychedelic over the top sound as I would expect when run hard in front of a balls to the wall Plexi.

Very cool thread and insights from our Members.

[echoplexi1974]

You can run an echoplex very quietly into a blazing marshall if you keep the echo volume down (between 1-2 on my dial). Anything above that you get the super psychedelic sound like you said. I clean and demagnetize the echoplex a couple times a year and it keeps it pretty quiet.

[GilmourD]

The last recorded Van Halen song with the echoplex that I can hear is the "The Full Bug". That cool bluesy syncopated riff right before the harmonica solo. Sounds like he was still using it on the DiverDown tour. After that, the only time I hear it on Letterman 85'.

So, it may not have even been in his effects chain on 1984, so that might explain the difference in tone that I hear on that album.

Makes me want to by an Xotic EP, even if I don't run it for the boost.