Boss RE-20 -- noisy?

Grunfeld

The tape echo thread has reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask for a while:   The Boss digital Space Echo pedal... does anyone else have the issue of hearing it whirring away noisily like a horse eating an apple?

Mine is definitely not the quietest pedal I've used.  So much so that it's been off the pedal board a while now.

ICBM

Sounds like an accurate model of the original RE-201 .

I didn't notice that with the one I had to try last week - I'll have a listen when I'm back in the shop.

Does it do it on batteries as well as power supply?

Sporky

Mine doesn't.

Van_Hayden

I had a noisy one - thought it was part of the deal...

Grunfeld

Never really put batteries in mine but I'll give that a go. 

Just tried it through a Tech 21 and it seems okay compared to the Marshall JVM. 

Hmmmm

ICBM

Isn't the loop on the JVM notorious for being prone to noise pickup? Assuming you're using it in the loop of course...

guitarcookie1

Yes, that's why I sold mine on.

shady

Mine is noisy when used with a cheap PSU, absolutely fine with a Boss one.

Grunfeld

ICBM said:

Isn't the loop on the JVM notorious for being prone to noise pickup? Assuming you're using it in the loop of course...

I was using it in the loop.  Didn't know that reputation for the JVM loop -- I usually use a Boss DD-20 and a Hall of Fame in the loop without any problem. 

I shall experiment.  Because the self-oscillation trick on the Space Echo with an expression pedal is a lot of fun... I fancy this live.

@shady : I've definitely tried the unit with it's own dedicated PSU and it would have been a Boss one, or a Voodoo, and it made no odds to the noise issue with this amp.

shady

The whirring noise you mentioned certainly describes what I was getting, I also had a ticking that went along with it until I swapped the PSU.

Bummer....It's a grand thing the RE-20, does the DD-20 not self oscillate in tape mode then?  I was under the impression it was based around the Space Echo.

ICBM

It doesn't sound anything like the RE-20 really. I had both to test - the DD-20 obviously does a lot more in terms of functions but it sounds flat and dull compared to the RE-20, in 'tape' mode. I much preferred the proper digital modes and the wacky stuff it can do.

I suspect the DD-20 tape mode is a simply a digital delay with a couple of tweaks on the repeats to make it sound sort-of like a tape, whereas the RE-20 is a full modeller.

That's not a put-down of the DD-20 by the way - if I was buying one or the other I'd take the DD-20, but the 'tape' emulation is not one of its strong points. If you specifically want a tape delay sound and nothing else the RE-20 beats it hands down.

Grunfeld

shady said:

does the DD-20 not self oscillate in tape mode then?  I was under the impression it was based around the Space Echo.

No, pretty much as ICBM said really, the DD-20 tape mode is just an approximation of a couple of tape heads, so basically a double echo with a bit of EQ.  The DD-20 is a great delay unit for gigging for so many reasons (and it's been on my board pretty much permanently for a couple of years) but the tape mode is not one of its strong points.

Yep, I've been getting the clicks too with the RE-20.  I've not got it set up to try with the JVM at the moment but I'll go back to square one with it and make sure the PSU is sorted, and try it in and out of each of the loops and up front too.

noisepolluter

I've not had any noise problems with mine - it's daisy chained with a few other pedals (trem, tuner, couple of ods) using a bog standard boss psu. I also have a digital reverb on the board but it's powered separately - haven't tried powering bot digital pedals on the same daisychain as the psu doesn't have the juice, but that could be something to check for?

randomhandclaps

My one doesn't but I have read other's complain of it.