WaY hAY!! Roland Space Echos ahoy!

gentlejohn

gentlejohn

New member
I am VERY excited! I am very soon to be the temporary owner of a mid 70's era ROLAND 'Space Echo' RE-201 AND a late 70's (I believe) RE-501 model! Their owner is going off on safari or something and has entrusted both units to me whilst he's away as he feels they'll 'bring something' to my existing dry mixes. What that is exactly I don't know yet - I won't get my mits on them until the w/e! I'm definitely keen to start experimenting with these units - can't wait in fact! I'll be using them in tandem with my Tascam 388 - probably in the Effects Loop .... I dunno?! I have no prior experience with using anything like this. Anybody want to shed some light, share some thoughts/advice/tips on either of these models? Maybe I need to get out more but I'm stupidly excited about this!!!:thumbs up:
 
They are both tape delay units, and with spring reverbs.

You can use them the same way you would any other delay...so it really depends on the application AFA what type of delay settings you choose. The reverb can also be usable, but it's not much different than a typical guitar amp spring reverb, but using both in combination, and you can come up with a variety of ambiance effects, or you can get extreme and create all kinds of "space" effects.....it really comes down to the music and your intent.
They may not work on everything, but as long as you don't opt for extreme/weird delay FX, you can usually work them into a lot of things.

Just spend some time playing around with the settings and you will see what is possible.

Enjoy! :thumbs up:
 
Cheers Miroslav!
Yeah, having always wanted access but, to date, having never actually had access to quality vintage effects gear such as this, I'm now really looking forward to getting to grips with it! As it turns out (having just come off the phone) there is now also a very distinct possibility I might even get to end up actually owning one of these units too (at a price of course!) The guy loaning them says he has no real need or reason to keep both units nowadays so I can pick the one I prefer if it turns out this is the way I wanna go where effects are concerned. I suppose this has now become like a potential 'try before you buy' period for me I guess! Wonder which unit I'll prefer? The RE-201 or the RE-501??? Hmm ... I've read the spring reverb on these units is REALLY nice which I'm now very much looking forward to hearing particularly as, right now, everything I've recorded has been pretty much 'Dry' in a fairly flat freq space.
 
Used to own a couple myself. Everyone back then had them in their PA rack. Wish I'd held onto them! LOL!:thumbs up:
 
My two cents... These are AMAZING! I purchased an RE-201 a while ago, and it's my favorite effects unit by far. You can use it on almost anything. I always have a tough time describing exactly why I like it so much, but the tape delay and spring reverb in tandem out of an actual Space Echo is something that you can't really compare to anything or emulate (the Roland emulation pedal is kind of close, but much cleaner and precise than the actual Space Echo). Also, if you are looking for pristine echo or reverb, this is not really the unit for that - I have always thought of it as another instrument. It can be murky on some synths, dirty as slapback on guitar, really cool on vocals if you want that sounds... overall, it's a really cool piece that can add color or "mood" to almost anything. Experiment! The other thing that you'll hear from people is that each unit has it's own sound - the wear on the heads happens to every machine differently, so they almost always sound a little different! Have fun!
 
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