Arbiter Echo Unit

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 17 Apr 2009 7:21 am

Does anyone remember the Arbiter echo units ? Instead of a tape loop, which was apt to break at the most inappropriate times, it had a rotating magnetic disk.

winston · Post by **winston** » 20 Apr 2009 5:49 am

I used to have a Guild echo/reverb unit that worked the same way. The disk ran in some kind of special oil. Best I remember it sounded pretty good. I used it with a gibson stereo amp. Winston

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 4 Jul 2013 5:34 pm

Evidently Fender also marketed the same unit.

I used to have an Arbiter many years ago when I was living in England, but I lent it to someone about 40 years ago and haven't seen him since.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 5 Aug 2013 12:58 pm

I remember that unit Alan. It was a copy of the Binson Echorec, and I wanted one! I had to make do with a Watkins Copicat.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 6 Aug 2013 9:45 am

Yes, I had a Watkins Copycat when I was living in England. It would annoy me that the loop would break at the worst possible times, so I adapted it with an old tape recorder mechanism, so that the tape ran off the tape spool, across the Watkins unit, and onto the take-up spool. It worked much better that way, but it was something of a monster, and you had to change the tape when it ran out. That's why I bought the Arbiter, as it didn't rely on a tape loop. I would like to buy another if ever I could find one.

A few years back I bought another Copycat on eBay from England, and restored it. It works on 240 volts still, but I use a converted, which pushes the California voltage up from 110 volts to 220 volts, which works okay. I haven't had many tape loop breakages on this unit. I don't know why. To all intents and purposes it's identical to the unit I had 50 years ago.