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These are strange times. For all the “progress” enabled by our tech obsessions, we also exist in an odd technological epoch in which digital engineers madly crunch code to replicate the imperfections of ostensibly obsolete technologies—leading us back to embrace the technologies we thought digital had “fixed.”

T-Rex’s Replicator isn’t just a stompbox embodiment of this snake-eating-its-tail allegory. It’s a thoughtfully executed tape delay with digital tap tempo control designed with best-of-both-worlds intent. But the Replicator’s sound, personality, and essence are prevailingly old school, and that is a wonderful thing—even if it confounds those repelled by the expressive potential of pre-digital chaos.

Anyone who owns an Echoplex or Space Echo can tell you they fail as studies in space-efficiency. So T-Rex should be applauded for a tape delay design that’s not much bigger than an old Deluxe Memory Man. The Replicator might occupy a lot of room on your pedalboard, but at least it could plausibly fit on one. The Replicator also seems robust enough the survive the travels and travails of pedalboard life. The enclosure is heavy-gauge aluminum and steel. The recording and playback mechanism in enclosed in a steel housing that can be removed for service via six small hex bolts. Knobs and switches all feel exceptionally sturdy. Perhaps the only point of vulnerability is the comparatively brittle plastic that makes up the removable tape cartridge. (Replicator comes with a spare, and replacements can be purchased form authorized dealers for $25.)

The control set reflects and spans the evolution of echo units, from original tape delays to modern digital machines. The left vertical row includes control knobs for master volume (output level), chorus (which is essentially a digitally controlled vari-speed function), and the saturate control, which adjusts the level of the signal that hits the tape. The right vertical row is a conventional set of delay level, feedback, and delay time controls.

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