BOSS RE-20 vs Roland RE-201

[cestlamort]

Maybe keep an eye out for a Korg Stage Echo, too. I remember hearing about them as a sleeper alternative to the Space Echos.

Re: LED swish issue for the RE-20. Using a dedicated power supply (it's own one spot) fixed this for me.

[l9gaj]

I've had a few RE-201s and they are good fun but like others have said the reverb is pretty rubbish, mainly down to the tank being physically pretty short - makes it pretty crashy. They require constant maintenance too, and getting expensive now. I sold mine a while back and have been using an El Capitan since - you can get it sounding pretty close.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I was round my pal's country pile last night and discovered he'd added an unfeasibly minty 201 to his set-up. I played his White Falcon through it and the sound was truly magnificent: instant 'A Scene In-Between'.

There was still a part of me wondering if it really sounded a grand's-worth better than my Reel Echo, though. Must try an A/B one of these days (at the risk of causing offence).

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I was round my pal's country pile last night and discovered he'd added an unfeasibly minty 201 to his set-up. I played his White Falcon through it and the sound was truly magnificent: instant 'A Scene In-Between'.

There was still a part of me wondering if it really sounded a grand's-worth better than my Reel Echo, though. Must try an A/B one of these days (at the risk of causing offence).

I've already sold on my Reel Echo a while back. It did sound good but I found it lacking somehow. Plus, I now know for certain (thanks to my DOD680) that my ideal echo/delay pedal has to have naturally tweakable repeats with seamless pitch control. Unfortunately the Reel Echo (and my Hazarai) makes very clicky, messy digital noises when altering the length of repeats on the fly (or whatever the slider in the middle did).
With this in mind, an RE-20 may well be my next purchase (sacrificing another pedal for it though) until that lottery win. Then I'll buy the 201. Either that or I'll keeo my feet on the ground & buy one of the many other "tape delay" emulators out there i.e - Catalibreads Belle Epoch or Echorec).
The consensus seems to be that the RE-20 is a fantastic sounding pedal, until you put it up against the real thing. Then you really notice the difference. I always imagined the same thing would happen when you A-B'd a vintage EHX DMM and a Behringer Vintage Time Machine.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I was round my pal's country pile last night and discovered he'd added an unfeasibly minty 201 to his set-up. I played his White Falcon through it and the sound was truly magnificent: instant 'A Scene In-Between'.

There was still a part of me wondering if it really sounded a grand's-worth better than my Reel Echo, though. Must try an A/B one of these days (at the risk of causing offence).

I've already sold on my Reel Echo a while back. It did sound good but I found it lacking somehow. Plus, I now know for certain (thanks to my DOD680) that my ideal echo/delay pedal has to have naturally tweakable repeats with seamless pitch control. Unfortunately the Reel Echo (and my Hazarai) makes very clicky, messy digital noises when altering the length of repeats on the fly (or whatever the slider in the middle did).
With this in mind, an RE-20 may well be my next purchase (sacrificing another pedal for it though) until that lottery win. Then I'll buy the 201. Either that or I'll keeo my feet on the ground & buy one of the many other "tape delay" emulators out there i.e - Catalibreads Belle Epoch or Echorec).
The consensus seems to be that the RE-20 is a fantastic sounding pedal, until you put it up against the real thing. Then you really notice the difference. I always imagined the same thing would happen when you A-B'd a vintage EHX DMM and a Behringer Vintage Time Machine.

I hear you, but rate adjustment on the fly isn't a big concern for me (and there's always the tap tempo function if it is). I'm not seriously suggesting there won't be anything in it, my point was really how much difference do you get for your heavy investment in the old tape delay? The thing that gave me the biggest kick with the 201, that I wasn't previously aware of, was the tape taking a few moments to come up to speed after being switched on - like the fast rotor on a Leslie cabinet. Does the RE-20 emulate that, I wonder?

[PorkyPrimeCut]

...The thing that gave me the biggest kick with the 201, that I wasn't previously aware of, was the tape taking a few moments to come up to speed after being switched on - like the fast rotor on a Leslie cabinet....

This is a great feature on the Cooltron Vibravox. When you switched between dialable speed settings it naturally ramps from one speed to the next. Really useful.

[Jaguar018]

I hear you, but rate adjustment on the fly isn't a big concern for me (and there's always the tap tempo function if it is). I'm not seriously suggesting there won't be anything in it, my point was really how much difference do you get for your heavy investment in the old tape delay? The thing that gave me the biggest kick with the 201, that I wasn't previously aware of, was the tape taking a few moments to come up to speed after being switched on - like the fast rotor on a Leslie cabinet. Does the RE-20 emulate that, I wonder?

The RE-20 has no "coming up to speed" feature.

How much you'll hear/feel/notice a difference between the RE-201 and the RE-20 is completely dependent on YOU. Will people notice in a live, full band volume setting? Probably not, unless you play those kinds of shows where people silently adulate your sweet tonez during your heartfelt quiet song about some ex or dead pet. At home or in the studio? You will hear it. This can be said with most gear. The ol' elusive last 5%.

The RE-201 soooo frikkin' cool, but to me it was like some expensive to maintain (for me) exotic car that I was afraid to drive.

(I still want to get another one, even though I'll just stress about it sitting in my basement).

[rhythmjones]

You can get the Ace Tone (Roland precursor) tape echo units for a lot less than the Roland ones and they're just about the same thing in terms of sound and build.