RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

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JSett
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RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:25 pm

I just rolled the dice on an RE-201, something I keep meaning to try owning. It was advertised as 'Untested' but according to the seller it apparently "lights up and the tape spins". I take that as a good sign. Those that have these, or have had these in the past...is there anything I should be prepared for as unknown issues? Until it's here and I can test it myself I wont know for sure. If it lands and its actually all good then I will have got it for a great price (£500).

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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:10 pm

Nice. Hope it’s a simple fix.

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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:11 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:10 pm
Nice. Hope it’s a simple fix.
Hopefully it's a 'no fix' situation :D
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by nanamour » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:56 pm

Cool score! I've never personally rolled my sleeves up with the Roland flavor of tape echo, but from personal experience having owned/been under the hood of several other vintage tape echo units, you should definitely be prepared (at minimum) to put a new tape loop in there, give the heads a good cleaning and demag, clean the pinch roller and spindle (basically anything in the path of the tape), and make sure everything's tensioned appropriately. There's a handy service guide on Mod Wiggler here that should set you in the right direction, assuming the motor and heads are hunky dory and no electrical gremlins lurk within.

I took a similar chance on a Klemt Echolette on eBay for less than what a new delay pedal would set me back, with the boundlessly informative seller description "light comes on sometimes." After a serious cleaning and some minor TLC it continues to be my main echo unit nearly a decade on. Here's hoping for similar luck on your end :)

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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by s_mcsleazy » Sun Nov 14, 2021 4:22 pm

zeiss (tommy) has one or two of these. he bought one over when he was fixing my SF bassman.

i remember because my roommate really wanted it but only had like £50 in his bank account.
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by i love sharin foo » Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:59 pm

I'll preface this by saying that I hope it works 100% right off. I have owned 2 RE-101s and I think 4 different RE-201s. At this point I have only one RE-101. This one is a 100v Japanese model, so I had to get a step down transformer. Lighting up and the tape moving is a good sign, BUT, there can be a lot of other issues. Tape bias could need adjusted with different tapes. A lot of these had abrasive tapes used through the years that wore the heads. Shed tape material can gum up other parts like the roller and bearings. A bad hall effect IC could cause low repeat volume. Bad bearings in the motor could cause speed fluctuations, particularly under load. Leaking electrolytic capacitors in the power supply can cause the motor speed to be inconsistent. Sometimes weak echo is due to head misalignment. At the minimum, I would clean the heads (denatured alcohol), make sure the tape is routed correctly (it's VERY common for it to be installed incorrectly), clean the pots, and check the bearings for excessive play. Sometimes only certain settings on the selector work... usually just a dirty selector switch. If the roller is original and hard, a new one from Echo Fix is a good investment. So, there's a lot that CAN go wrong, but the motor is the most important part. As long as it runs, virtually every other problem that crops up could be repaired. They are awesome units!


Here's mine:
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by fuzzjunkie » Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:06 pm

Yeah, as mentioned above, the 3 things that “lights up and tape spins” doesn’t cover are:

Damaged heads
Vulcanized rubber on the roller
Inconsistent motor speed

Unless the seller can verify it’s been serviced - doesn’t sound like it - at a minimum a thorough cleaning is in order.

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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:19 pm

i love sharin foo wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:59 pm
I'll preface this by saying that I hope it works 100% right off. I have owned 2 RE-101s and I think 4 different RE-201s. At this point I have only one RE-101. This one is a 100v Japanese model, so I had to get a step down transformer. Lighting up and the tape moving is a good sign, BUT, there can be a lot of other issues. Tape bias could need adjusted with different tapes. A lot of these had abrasive tapes used through the years that wore the heads. Shed tape material can gum up other parts like the roller and bearings. A bad hall effect IC could cause low repeat volume. Bad bearings in the motor could cause speed fluctuations, particularly under load. Leaking electrolytic capacitors in the power supply can cause the motor speed to be inconsistent. Sometimes weak echo is due to head misalignment. At the minimum, I would clean the heads (denatured alcohol), make sure the tape is routed correctly (it's VERY common for it to be installed incorrectly), clean the pots, and check the bearings for excessive play. Sometimes only certain settings on the selector work... usually just a dirty selector switch. If the roller is original and hard, a new one from Echo Fix is a good investment. So, there's a lot that CAN go wrong, but the motor is the most important part. As long as it runs, virtually every other problem that crops up could be repaired. They are awesome units!
Thanks for this extensive breakdown, much obliged. Thankfully everything in green I have the knowledge/ability to do myself. Only the red potential issues I might need to farm out or learn how to do. I've found the service manual online so that's a start.

We'll see how it goes. Thanks everyone!

Sub note: I noticed the one I've bought has a different lid shape to ones I've seen before. Most I've seen have the edges come down and joining at the side, this is split at the top with no locking latches. I'm guessing there's different versions?? Can't find any info online to say why this is a thing.
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by i love sharin foo » Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:33 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:19 pm

Sub note: I noticed the one I've bought has a different lid shape to ones I've seen before. Most I've seen have the edges come down and joining at the side, this is split at the top with no locking latches. I'm guessing there's different versions?? Can't find any info online to say why this is a thing.
Yours APPEARS to be in a shell from an RE-150. I have never seen an RE-201 in that case before.
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:45 am

i love sharin foo wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:33 am
johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:19 pm

Sub note: I noticed the one I've bought has a different lid shape to ones I've seen before. Most I've seen have the edges come down and joining at the side, this is split at the top with no locking latches. I'm guessing there's different versions?? Can't find any info online to say why this is a thing.
Yours APPEARS to be in a shell from an RE-150. I have never seen an RE-201 in that case before.
I hadn't either but I've since found a few, looks like there was some crossover. Like this one on Reverb..

https://reverb.com/item/46714961?utm_so ... t=46714961

And here on YouTube...

https://youtu.be/iaT4AxE0aiA
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by i love sharin foo » Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:06 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:45 am
i love sharin foo wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:33 am
johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:19 pm

Sub note: I noticed the one I've bought has a different lid shape to ones I've seen before. Most I've seen have the edges come down and joining at the side, this is split at the top with no locking latches. I'm guessing there's different versions?? Can't find any info online to say why this is a thing.
Yours APPEARS to be in a shell from an RE-150. I have never seen an RE-201 in that case before.
I hadn't either but I've since found a few, looks like there was some crossover. Like this one on Reverb..

https://reverb.com/item/46714961?utm_so ... t=46714961

And here on YouTube...

https://youtu.be/iaT4AxE0aiA
As we have come to learn from Fender's history, never say never. The Roland units had a pretty lengthy production run. Maybe they used whatever they had available onhand at different points. I wonder if yours could be a late unit where they were winding down production and using up whatever was left. Kind of like when Fender used lacquer on the necks of "student" models a fair ways into the transition to poly body finishes. From what I know it was all because they had a large stock of peg head decals left which were suited to nitro and not poly. Just a theory...
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:42 am

i love sharin foo wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:06 am
As we have come to learn from Fender's history, never say never. The Roland units had a pretty lengthy production run. Maybe they used whatever they had available onhand at different points. I wonder if yours could be a late unit where they were winding down production and using up whatever was left. Kind of like when Fender used lacquer on the necks of "student" models a fair ways into the transition to poly body finishes. From what I know it was all because they had a large stock of peg head decals left which were suited to nitro and not poly. Just a theory...
Definitely possible. The few examples I can find of a 201 in that shell seem to be all listed as 80s models so I was thinking the same thing.
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by Pacafeliz » Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:25 am

Many years ago I once made a video about mine. I brought it with me to Europe in the end :-*

https://youtu.be/rmCKr-IDKgE

Must importantly, always use/place another active pedal before it (Boss, Ibanez or such). The tone will improve by 100%

Good luck!
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by JSett » Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:36 am

Pacafeliz wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:25 am
Many years ago I once made a video about mine. I brought it with me to Europe in the end :-*

https://youtu.be/rmCKr-IDKgE

Must importantly, always use/place another active pedal before it (Boss, Ibanez or such). The tone will improve by 100%

Good luck!
I actually stumbled across this video two days ago! It was a pleasant surprise to see your face on my screen :D
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Re: RE-201 incoming. An unknown situation

Post by i love sharin foo » Thu Nov 18, 2021 5:08 pm

Pacafeliz wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:25 am
Many years ago I once made a video about mine. I brought it with me to Europe in the end :-*

https://youtu.be/rmCKr-IDKgE

Must importantly, always use/place another active pedal before it (Boss, Ibanez or such). The tone will improve by 100%

Good luck!
You are right Pat! A buffer makes a big difference with these units. They sound really dull without them. I built a couple little IC buffers just to make sure that I always had one at the end of my signal chain.
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