Hawk HE-2150A Open Reel Tape Echo

Stunning-looking Japanese open reel echo with a great sound that matches the looks (as used by Neil Young among others – see link below).

NOTE: Photos are of the item for sale. This unit is currently being serviced and will be available to ship once it’s ready.

We’ve sold several of these machines now and have since had rave reviews from those who bought them – one customer liked his so much he came back to buy a second one!

Mid-seventies Japanese manufacturer Hawk Technical Works Co Ltd put out a range of tape echoes and spring reverbs branded Hawk/Mirano which were aimed squarely at domestic home recordists. We were immediately intrigued on first sighting one of these open reel tape echoes: even if it sounded bad, it was easily one of the coolest tape echoes we’d seen. Classic clean seventies hifi styling and backlit vu meter together with twin aluminium spools spinning behind the translucent smoked (aubergine!) plastic dust-cover – this is a machine with real presence that can add a dose of classic Bond villain lair to any studio…

However, it doesn’t just look cool: serviced and fitted with a new custom tape loop, this five head echo sounds as good as it looks. With three switchable replay heads – Off, Super-Repeat (at 0db), Repeat & Swell (at -6db) – and controls for tape speed, input level (for echo and dry signal), echo level/repeat/tone and master output – this is a full-featured tape echo. The sound is somewhat classier than the contemporary Ace Tone EC-20 – with which it shares a similar feature set – especially when driven into self-oscillation; this is yet another distinct flavour of tape echo – flexible and with a very pleasing sound quality indeed.

Price includes VAT at 20% (for sales in UK/EU) – buyers outside the EU please contact us for tax-free prices. VAT-free sales possible to businesses and individuals in the EU (outside the UK) with a valid VAT Number.

CONDITION: The condition is excellent with very few signs of wear or age across the machine, see photos for details.

We landed a selection of these vintage Japanese machines recently – read all about them in our Hawk/Mirano tape echo and spring reverb blog post.

Here’s a quick pre-servicing demo of this machine – cleaned heads/switches, new tape fitted – sounds good even before it’s had the full treatment…

Here’s another HE-2150 we demo’d on Instagram:

Do we like these? Oh yeah baby. This Hawk 2150 tape echo is just getting a test before it ships but we are definitely getting more. #tapeecho #hawk #vintageeffect #echo #delay #effects #fx #gearporn #gearpassion #gearhead #gearholics #gearslut by @soundgasltd

• It is a 100v Japanese model and will run fine on North American mains 115/120v without a transformer (we run all our tests using 120v power); however, a step-down transformer is recommended for extended use.
• A step-down transformer is required in the UK/EU.
• We do not recommend using cheap generic Chinese mains transformers and can supply a high quality UK-made unit if required.