Tastes change all the time, and people often chase the equipment that everyone else seems to be using.
Touring musicians will update their gear for more roadworthyness and ease of use all the time, but analogue outboard and fx like tape echo have
always been a fixture at high-end studios. If everyone threw their tape delays in the trash, someone else must have dug them out so they could be offered for sale now.
One of the nicest tape delays is the Echoplex. It has a slider which controls the speed. You can get some wacky effects by sliding the slider about.
A digital delay I love is the MXR (blue coloured, 2U rack space). It's actually quite dirty and dark sounding. I use mine
all the time.
One of the all time classics is the Marshall Time Modulator.
Marshall "Time Modulator"
The Roland Space Echo is great and I would unreservedly recommend it.
Mine has tape delay, spring reverb and Roland's famous chorus.