WEM Copy Cat Echo Unit

Ease of Use: 9
Three buttons (halo/echo/repeat) selecting tape heads & therefore the length of the echoes; 'halo' being the shortest, 'repeat' being the longest. Motor on/off switch, Swell (volume of repeats) dial, Reverb dial which changes the number of repeats from 1 to the-amps-gonna-explode infinite repeats, and to gain dials for the two inputs. My model has a footswitch which turns the echo on off, though I'm told some don't.
In short pretty self explanatory. The exposed tape is easy to change if requiring a little care.

Sound Quality: 9
My setup: Fender Telecaster-> Fuzz Face-> Shredmaster-> Small Stone Phaser-> Crybaby-> Digitech Whammy-> Boss Bass Chorus-> Boss DD3-> COPICAT-> Fender Amp.

The unit adds a lot off warmth to your tone due to having a tube in it, great if you haven't already got a valvestate amp. And to my ears also a bit more sustain, which can be altered with the gain settings on the unit itself. There is a small but noticeable amount of noise when the units turned on, but thats part and parcel of tape delay.
I wanted a tape delay principly for the infinite feedback with detiorating soundquality trick, especially the way the sounbd builds and builds. Not to mention just standard echo and reverb...
People seem to mention that this can give you Hank Marvin's sound, so if you want that fine, but I prefer noisier sounds and the copicat obliges. Good for doing Syd Barrett impressions

Reliability: 7
It fell of my amp and still works, despite being at least 30 years old. Tape is a bit exposed I've knocked it off once or twice, but so long as your careful...

Customer Support: 7
Sent WEM and email inquiring about replacement tapes, got one back a few days later, no complaints.
Asked about a 'technical' matter, again a quick reply but not much helpful info...

Overall Rating: N/A
Play noisy psychedelic, glam /punk oddness, the Copicat suits fine.
The only feature I'd like is a more inclusive way of changing delay times, this has only three presets, but they suffice.
If it were stolen maybe I'd get something different, it depends how available a replacement would be!

Submitted by Alex Mears at 07/18/2003 10:45

Ease of Use: 7
It takes a while to get used to. But its all cake once you do.

Sound Quality: 10
The best tape echo I've heard. I was fortunate to find a early 60's tube cat and it sounds awesome.

It is a little noisy, but I think that is a part of the sound.

I plug a Gibson Les Paul or 355, through the Copicat, into a Vox ac30
and the sustain is unbelievable. I use it also for a preamp, without the tape running...just to get the extra tube sound.

You can get a lot of wierd sounds out of this unit.

Reliability: N/A
I don't know about the reliability. It does need maintenance (clean heads, new tapes.) It's lasted this long...about 40 years.

Customer Support: N/A
There is a Watkins website. I think the guy that actually invented the copicat is still around answering questions.

You can also buy tapes directley from him.

Overall Rating: 10
I bought this on ebay a few months ago for about 300.00 dollars. I've seen them go for more (about 500 and up.) I was really happy to find a tube one because most that are available now are the solid state echos.

I use it mainly for recording. I don't think it is very reliable for live shows, because the tapes do break. Mine is about 40 years old anyway so I kind of baby it.

It does make a great preamp.

I would highly recommend buying one of these if you could find the tube ones. I've also heard good things about the solid state, but the tubes give it more warmth.

Submitted by Eldwin at 09/18/2002 12:28

Ease of Use: 9
Plug in, Select your tape head combination, Adjust Gain, Swell and Sustain/Reverb.
Play! Not very hard really is it!

Sound Quality: 9
Multiple inputs with separate gains, 3 and 4 playback heads with separate switches, input for a footswitch (some come hardwired), some have a ‘Motor on/off’ switch. You can’t adjust the speed of the tape motor (although on some models it is possible)
Without doubt these are my favorite Echoes. I’ve used a few. I own 2 cats, one a ‘60s valve jobbie and a ‘70s solid-state model. Both sound excellent. OK your limited to 3 or 4 echo speeds both you can mix the up to get some great rhythmic patterns. The ‘motor on/off’ switch is great for special FX and the tape itself is very accessible for real-time manipulation. If you’re used to digital delays analogue may take a little while to get used to, but once your get into it nothing else will do.

Reliability: N/A
These need more care and attention than a boss pedal! Regular cleaning, tape replacement and general looking after. Worth it though.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
I love it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/09/2002 02:18

Ease of Use: 10
A few months ago the band I was producing in my home studio came to me with a 9 minute song that they wanted lots of psychedelic noises at the start. I asked them what they had in mind, and their guitarist pulled out this big black box that turned out to be a WEM Copycat (one of the later solid state models). We plugged it in to see what sounds we could get out of it, and the first thing that happened was the tape loop itself broke. No problem, fitted one of the spares and away we went getting lots of deep swells, and eerie atmospheric noises. We also got some cool sounds from playing a note, then hitting the switch that starts the motor running (Whoorp worp wrp wp p . ....). It sounded so cool we also used it for the solo on the same song.

Sound Quality: 7
We initially tried plugging the Copycat into a valve amp, and miking it, but we got better results from patching the units output straight into the mixer. The sounds were exactly what we were looking for, but the unit itself generated quite alot of hiss, most of which we removed using the noise reduction in Cool Edit Pro, but further experiments revealed that using a better grade of tape (rather than the 30 year old loops that were with it), resulted in a better sound. I also had the oppertunity to splice 1/4 inch tape, which is almost a dying art in itself.

Reliability: 6
We are planning to use it at the album release party, but we don't know how we will go. I cannot forsee any problems except for the tape breaking, but the newer tape we are using doesn't seem to have any problems. Apparantly the original owner used the unit on 50 gigs + but the machine was almost new then. I trust it to a point, but I wouldn't stake my career on it, just in case.

Customer Support: N/A
1/4 inch tape is still available if you shop around. I'm sure there are people selling it on the net, but I've not investigated it myself as I have a rather large pile of it slowly oxidising in my cupboard, and making your own loops isn't that hard. As for dealing with the company, are they still around?

Overall Rating: 8
What I really want to do (but the owner won't let me) is strip it out, and rebuild it into a more rugged, more compact unit, and set it up as a guitar effect with several footswiches, and (if I could work out how) a variable tape speed controlled by an expression pedal. Overall though, it's a good unit that did the job we assigned to it, and we got the results we were after.

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/11/2001 06:12

Ease of Use: 8
This is a straightforward unit - a solid state model, with 4 playback heads, one button for each head. There's a swell control (i.e. mix), sustain (feedback) and a level control for each of the four (!) input jacks.

Sound Quality: 9
I have searched all my life for an echo unit that reproduces that authentic Hank Marvin twang - this is it! I've tried the Danecho, the Akai Headrush and others besides, but not one of them came close to the Copicat in terms of warmth and ambience. It produces a rich, organic echo that seems to enhance the whole sound of the guitar - so good I take every opportunity I can to play palm-muted notes just for the joy of hearing the echoes!

I give it a '9' because it's pretty noisy, but some would say that's just part of its charm.

Reliability: N/A
I've only used this at home - I wouldn't be confident about using it live without a back-up, but then I've never tried it, so it might be fine. To be fair, it's a good many years old, and I've had no trouble from it so far.

Customer Support: N/A
I've e-mailed Charlie Watkins about replacement tapes, which you can still get from WEM (and some shops) - £8.50 for 10. He mailed me back within a couple of weeks. However, any repairs are going to have be done by some friendly electronics engineer.

Overall Rating: N/A
This may not be the Holy Grail of tape echo units, but I love it all the same. I've just bought a knackered old valve version for £50 which I'm having overhauled - it's supposed to be even warmer. Can't wait...

Submitted by Nick Tucker at 12/19/2000 08:50

Ease of Use: 7
I've had about three copycats since the early 70's two of them being solid state and one being an earlier valve version if memory serves. I got one because the band I played did Wishbone Ash covers and apparently Messrs Powell and Turner used them. I always bought second hands ones so I don't know about manuals but they are simply enough to operate with a bit of tweaking about. I suppose that the effect of reverb or echo helped me as I'm not a great guitarist by any stretch of the imagination but it gives lots of what I'd call edge and really makes the guitar sing. I use a Gibson SG STD and added on a Cry bay wah wah pedal which was an obsessional useage thing. For the uninitiated it is basically a tape loop running over heads and the delays etc can be altered to give a sort of canyon echo or a very full reverb. The tapes don't last long and the machine gives of lots of hiss, on fact the one I have now seems to have a wobble on the motor speed which sounds eerie. Lots of pub singers in organ and drum back up used them to give the singing in the shower effect pre karioke days, even the Shadows may have used them.

Sound Quality: 7
Think I've probably answered some of these earlier I'm using a fender Twin Reverb, the effects are as good as anybody else who used them in my book but the problem is no information is available and as I explained mine seems to be in it's death throes. The tapes didn't last too long and I'm sure it is noweher near as good as the much aclaimed Space Echo which came out later but for £50 uk money they are worth picking up if they work I would dearly love to get hold of one or listen to anyone who stills uses the things.

Reliability: 9
Not a very dependable pice of kit due to no back up although I used it for over 150 gigs and it never let me down once only thing was to put in a new tape for each gig

Customer Support: 1
Struggling at the moment to find anyone who knows about them but this is the first posting and maybe there is a subculture somewhere on the net that is very bouyant they may have even relaunched them who knows, I live in the sticks so maybe a trip to my local music shop would be prudent.

Overall Rating: 8
I play sort 70's rock mixed and mashed with early punk the Chameleons are one of the most unsuccesful musical touchstomes of all time for me and reading their webpage has got me rekindled into the music thing again after 25years I noticed that they used a Roland 501 and chorus pedal plus other reverb stuff, it's a haunting kind of feel and very dark, goth rock has been mentioned whatever that might be. I also like it because I'm not the best guitarist in the world but I can get by with the "Cat" when it works. I'm looking at buying a cheap didgital echo pedal and because of my meagre budget and lack of lottery win seems to be going towards a Jen Echo unit which is supposed to be similar to analogue by all accounts.

If anyone either side of the pond has some views on these steam driven old Copy Cats drop me a line on Janred55@aol.com I would be keen to network it through and who knows maybe they still make em!


Thanks for the site it should keep me busy a plenty, maybe even get the cobwebs off the greasepaint tin eh!

Submitted by Jan Porter at 01/04/2000 05:16