DarkEcho

The Dark Echo is where it started. Released in 2008, it was one of Jack Deville's earliest pedal designs and the birthplace of the proprietary Sway modulation that would later define the SuperMoon and BloodMoon reverbs. Premier Guitar reviewed it in 2010 and described the sound as "playing your guitar under the ocean"—repeats that start faithful to the original signal then "decay into a magical sounding abyss."

Four controls: Time (50-450ms), Blend (repeat volume), Repeats (regeneration—past 3 o'clock it self-oscillates but stays controllable, and oscillations continue even in bypass for special effects), and Sway (triangle-wave pitch modulation that increases in both frequency and intensity simultaneously, creating tape-stretch warble). The circuit combines digital echo processing with an analog signal path—warm repeats without the hard, clanky edge of typical digital delays.

True bypass. 9VDC center-negative, ~30mA. Input impedance ~500KΩ. Handmade in Portland, Oregon.