"FUCKING YES!" - the Boss RE-2/202 hype thread

[jorri]

I am unsure of the tones too - tempted by the Catalinbread Echorec or Belle Epoch now but probably the former of the two.

This is really going to depend on what you want from a delay, but I had an Echorec and an RE-20 (sold both), and I found the latter far more useful. The Echorec sounds fantastic, but one of its main shortcomings is that the mode selector has no indents, which I found a much bigger deal than I initially expected. It also has no expression pedal jack, and controlling the repeat time with your foot is great fun with a tape emulator. I also couldn't get past the lack of tap tempo, but that's a matter of personal preference; I don't really consider single knob delays anymore. The only Catalinbread that would be a contender for me would be a Belle Epoch Deluxe. Those Empress tape delays are super interesting too, but the lack of an expression pedal jack lets it down, at least for me.

Both those pedals are single head tape machine emulators only, which is why I ended up with a Strymon El Capistan, as it can emulate both an Echorec and an RE-201 well enough for my liking and has all the features I need and more (nice looper). Pricewise, used V1s are actually pretty affordable (no important changes on the V2, imo). Considering its features, especially compared to RE-2/202s, the El Cap just seems a no-brainer to me; it's way more versatile and useful, with a smaller footprint than a 202. The only reason I could see for getting Boss' latest offerings is wanting a truly faithful reproduction of the RE201.

I'm still waiting for Boss to come up with something that can compete with the El Cap.

That's a good summary for me. Its all about features i don't use so it seems like the Catalinbreads are better for me. No tap, expression, modes needed at all but i like the echorec mod sound and tone control, as well as its more apparently "ambient wash" quality over Belle Epoch (whether i hear it over the belle is something else!).
I decided that its easier to have a bunch of simple pedals, so i have an ana delay, then about 4 others where delay is more combined option with another effect; multi; weird af reverse/granular, plain digital . Kind of used to just bending down with my hands for special fx too, in such a way i bought an expression pedal but it sits on a shelf after only a couple of uses.