WEM Custom Copicat Preamp+Boost

Handwired in the WEM Custom Workshops in Doncaster, England, the CCB-1 is a recreation of the preamp section of the WEM Copicat tape echo. Those British tape echoes were the affordable alternative to the rarer American units, and their preamp - not the tape, the preamp - is a large part of what people are hearing on sixties and seventies records. The CCB-1 puts that circuit in a pedal, with no tape to service.

There are two controls. Level gives more than 20 dB of boost, enough to run it as a clean lift or to push the front end of a valve amp into breakup. Frequency sets the bass response, so a thin single-coil can be filled out or an over-fat humbucker trimmed back. It runs on 9 V or 18 V; the higher rail buys headroom and a more responsive feel under the pick.