The original SpaceTime was good. German engineering, MagTraB magnetic switching, Tap Tempo, analog dry path, warm digital repeats that didn’t sound like ass. But it also required serious real estate, sported six knobs and multiple toggles, and had one fatal flaw: no tap tempo .
The SpaceTime Tap V3 fixed all of it, not without sacrifices.
The V3 shrinks the footprint dramatically. Gone is the chunky enclosure of the V2. Gone are the extra controls (the V2’s active 3-band EQ, separate Rate and Depth knobs for modulation, and subdivision toggle all vanished). Now you get a streamlined interface: Time, Repeats, Mix-Level. A Tone toggle for bright/mellow/dark. And a Mod knob for adjustable delay time modulation . That’s it.
The internal switches remain. True bypass or buffered. Spillover in buffered mode. Kill dry for parallel rigs . Same MagTraB switching, same silent indestructible buttons rated for “many, many millions” of cycles . Same 60mA draw, same handmade-in-Germany quality.
660ms of delay time. Analog dry path with zero latency. Parallel digital signal path for the repeats .
Vahlbruch listened. Smaller box. Smarter layout. Tap tempo. Everything the V2 should have been. The SpaceTime Tap V3 is the delay the original always wanted to grow up into. Now tap it in and stop blaming your gear.
Vahlbruch SpaceTime Tap V3
The handmade Vahlbruch SpaceTime Tap V2 is an updated version of the German company’s delay + reverb combo, one of its best-selling pedals.
While V1 featured the two effects in a rather straightforward fishing, this new version adds a series of features that widen the device’s sonic pallette (mostly on the delay side of the circuit) including:
- A new modulation effect for the echo side, adjustable with “Rate” and “Depth” knobs.
- There are increased subdivision options (quarter, eighth, eighth triplets, dotted eighth, quarter triplets) linked to the Tap Tempo functionality triggered via the left footswitch.
- Active 3 band equalizer also on the echo side.
- An internal jumper lets you switch the echo feedback signal pre/post-EQ, replacing the 3-way brightness switch found in V1.
- Internal switch for either Buffered Bypass or True Bypass.
- Internal switch for “spill over” in buffered bypass mode.
- Internal switch for kill dry.
The SpaceTime also features the company’s quiet and almost indestructible Magnetic-Transducer-Button “MagTraB” switching technology.
We added the SpaceTime to our in-depth article about the best delay+reverb pedal combos.
