Any of you own an original Roland Space Echo?

Loobs

If so, tell me about it. What did you pay? How do you use it, what position in your chain? Does it need much maintenance? Looking to buy one soon-ish. 

Teetonetal

No... but I looked seriously last year. Going rate was about 700 to 1000.

What put me off was the cost of servicing over here. Would dearly love a real tape delay.

CustomPedalBoards

@Loobs ; i have lovely old 301 cant recommend it enough! tbh they dont need that much maintenance, depends on how much you use it i suppose. bit of a head clean and a new tape now and then. 201 or 301 are the models you want. they sound great in your amp fx loop, or towards end of chain. prices are on the increase with shops like sound gas selling them for over a grand now. you can get them for less, if your lucky you get a good 1 that only needs the above clean and tape. if not you could well blow another couple 100 on a major service plus parts. so although 1 from soundgas might seem expensive they come serviced and ready to go.
oh and a pack of 3 tapes is like £15-20 or something from sound gas, the place where i get mine from as they are good quality and the right type.

best of luck finding 1, you will love it!

Beef

Got mine for 600 about 5 years ago. If you take care of it then they don't require too much maintenance after an initial set up. The loops also last a long time so it's not a constant money sink by any means.

I usually leave it out my signal chain and use it in post, but if I have it in my chain my preferred position is in my amp FX loop. I found it was a bit too much of a tone suck if I had it directly before or after my board, but it has been a long time since I got mine serviced to be tip top so perhaps that could be remedied. 

Danny1969

I used one in the nineties for years. Used for FOH effects rather than direct inline with guitar as this meant everyone could then get a bit of 501 love  Don't remember doing anything other than changing the loops once a month despite storing it in a cold van 12 months a year. Nothing else sounds like it .... glorious sound. A collector friend has 3 of them and the service manuals. 

Loobs

A friend has one, it sounds lovely. 

I guess it could be run in some kind of true bypass loop? 

ICBM

Loobs said:

A friend has one, it sounds lovely. 

I guess it could be run in some kind of true bypass loop? 

A buffered loop like a Boss LS-2 would be much better, that would cure the tone suck problem.

I had one… briefly. I got it very cheap in need of maintenance, sorted it out and sold it for a large profit. It did sound nice, but to be honest I don't miss it. Too big, too much of a faff to use live, and a nuisance for maintenance. I'd rather have an RE-20.

spark240

Try @HarrySeven....probably got about 10 of em...

HarrySeven

spark240 said:

Try @HarrySeven....probably got about 10 of em...

Sadly, not at the moment.

I've been offered several 501's recently, but both needed significant work (numerous faults, missing components, etc). As @CustomPedalBoards said, it's easy to spend a wedge of cash on servicing and bringing them up to scratch if they've been neglected or abused. Re. SoundGas - personally, I find a lot of Tony's prices on the wrong side of 'optimistic', but as you say, what you get is serviced and ready to go. 

Like so much vintage gear, there was a point (in the not-too-distant past - as affordable digital delays became ubiquitous) when it was possible to pick up Space Echoes comparatively cheaply (or indeed, very cheaply!), but that particular train has come and gone. You might drop lucky, but do bear in mind servicing and 'consumable' components if it's unloved (bearings, heads, etc).

ESBlonde

I have the RE501 chorus echo (the tape evolution with slightly better s/n ratio and chorus) cost £633 brand new back in the day. I used it live for years but now I have an RE20 on my pedal board. The 501 stays at home.

Loobs

The RE20 doesn't sound much like the real thing to me.

mburekenge

Re201 is amazing. Great creative tool for fun antics or just tasty slapback. The emulations don't come anywhere near it.