The Memory Man. In all its various forms and models, it has always been regarded as one of the, if not the very, best delay ever produced. With famous guitarists such as The Edge of U2 and Ed O’Brien from Radiohead employing it in their rigs for years, this pedal is no slouch in the echo department, and although some may be more coveted than others, they all sound pretty amazing. Today, we’re going to focus on the Memory Man Stereo Echo/Chorus version, which, while perhaps not the most beloved version out there, still holds its own with the rest of the Memory Man lineup, and had some significant improvements done to it when it was initially released.

The Stereo Echo/Chorus is basically a 2-in-1 pedal, with one lone fat, black switch accessing both the delay and chorus modes. Unfortunately, you cannot run them both at the same time, which really would have made this pedal one for the history books, but a flick of a switch doesn’t really take that much effort, now does it? The Delay side features the warmest of the warm in analog echoes, with its classic vintage tone and tasty modulation, this delay produces some of the most beautiful sounds we’ve ever heard come out of a (giant) metal box, and just kept leaving us wanting more. The Chorus side mimics the tones of the echoes, with an also warm, smooth sound, unlike so many digitalized chorus pedals and rackmount units that would soon follow in the 80’s. The Memory Man units are definitely known for their delay capabilities, but this chorus rivals anything else out there, even the CE-2 from Boss.

The controls section for these 2 modes is pretty straight-laced: Blend, Feedback and Delay, each serving their rightful purpose and letting you dial in an enormous amount of different tones and sounds easily. Two Output jacks allow you to run this beast in Stereo, opening up the sonic possibilities even more, with a lone Input jack and bypass switch rounding things out. This version of the Memory Man was the first to include a status LED as well, so you could actually tell when the effect was engaged or not just by looking at it (not that it would be hard to tell with this pedal anyway, but it’s a nice addition).

Having only had the pleasure to play this model and the Stereo with Hazarai unit, I gotta say we’re pretty impressed so far with what the Memory Man family has been able to accomplish, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to check out some of the other models in the very near future. Only so many of these were ever produced, so if you come across one and want to try it out, we suggest picking it up – you never know when another one is going to come along, and as these get older and more collectable, there’s a good chance the prices will start to rise a swell. Great analog fun trapped in an enclosure the size of my first car (a ’78 Buick Regal), the Memory Man Stereo Echo/Chorus from Electro-Harmonix is a pedal that is not to be missed!

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