I want a tape echo. Walk me through this one.

[theavondon]

Thinkin' bout buying a Space Echo? But I like to hear sage advice from others.

[Uncle Grandfather]

Do it.

[DarkAxel]

It's a commitment to servicing it though, so you have to think about that too. Given your previous trouble with blowing amps and shit, i see how that might be a dealbreaker

[rfurtkamp]

What exactly are you looking for?

As mentioned, it's a lifestyle choice not just a piece of gear.

Enjoy your set breaks now? Enjoy cleaning heads for the forseeable future in between sets (especially anywhere with smoke).

The Space Echo is a fine unit, I love mine, and it does things nothing else does, but I've been servicing them for over twenty years (and no, I won't fix yours, I can barely keep mine running with my health!). I should add that you will do what it wants - from input gain, to output gain, to delay length/intervals. Heads are fixed interval unless you're handy with a drill and a prayer and like defacing expensive stuff (which I did back in the day when they were $100 used, and any delay length was expensive as sin).

You're also going to be stuck with a practical max of 720-750ms, maybe less depending on the individual motor and the settings of the last tech to service it.

Be aware as well that tape loops aren't cheap, and you have to find ones your particular unit likes - then pray you can get more or have bought a whole spool and know how to splice or have deep pockets to get more.

Also, forget true bypass. Forget transparent. Forget tossing it wherever you want in the chain, etc.

Finally, hope you have a backup for your delay options, because the damn things break at the most unforseen times. It's often a quick fix, but the band has to be patient - remember the DKs' "Night of the Living Rednecks" and "Ray's guitar broke?" - Echoplex but applies to any of them.

Not trying to chase you away but rather trying to save you from blowing a grand without knowing what you're getting into.

Also DO NOT cheap out.

This is not somewhere where you jump in with an off brand and pray. There's a reason those units are "cheap" - parts/schematics/repair is unobtanium, tape isn't available, etc.

Will happily answer any questions you may have but if I was youngish in today's market, I wouldn't own one outside of studio use most likely - if I toured again (health impossible), I'd bring a RE-20 and a Quadraverb and call it good.

[Muff_Diver]

Here's what my band's previous engineer has to say about them (http://justsounddust.blogspot.com/):

Here's a gear grievance:

The Roland RE-201 Space Echo. These machines are absolutely beautiful sounding. They modulate like nothing else, distort like nothing else, and find their way into mixes quite nicely. With that said, they're extremely unpredictable (part of the charm but not always practical), have almost no headroom and almost unusable output, and they cost a lot of buy and to maintain them is complicated and also expensive. Most owners have little knowledge of analog recording tape so I often see/hear these units sounding a fraction as good as they should.

Someone brought one in recently and while it ended up being a big part of the sound of the record, it was a royal pain to deal with. The owner of the box got an ok deal on it but ended up having to have the motor rebuilt. It's still pretty f'd up, too! The echo is cool but the part that really won me over was the spring reverb.

I'm sure this rant will be considered unpopular but we spent too many minutes (which added up to about an hour) wrestling with this thing, reprinting, cleaning, greasing the motor, etc for me to love it unabashedly.

During the mix, we broke out the EHX Memory Man (c. 80s). Mine has the hard-wired AC plug and it's the Deluxe version. This is probably the most sought-after version, and for good reason. It is a completely different sound than the RE-201 but it worked like a charm, on command, as needed, when needed.

If you're really dying to get a tape echo with some character, I'd have to recommend the Fulltone Tube Tape echo. This unit dive-bombs, and distorts as well as a vintage Echoplex but you probably won't need to put much into it as far as maintenance goes. It costs about $1k, but considering Echoplex and Space Echos sell for just under that and will require maintenance at some point, to me, it's a no-brainer.

[rfurtkamp]

Sounds like that particular Space Echo had significant issues.

They've typically got a ton of headroom (preamp and boost/cut on the way out), which says there was something seriously out of spec on that unit or hte user didn't know how to dial it in.

[excane]

When I got to play a Fulltone TTE, I felt like I had an enlightenment. It was one of the most musically orgasmic experiences I've ever had.

With that being said, rfurtkamp is correct in all that goes along with owning a piece of gear in that realm.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I had a WEM Copicat for a while, it did sound totally different to any digital or bucket brigade delay I've heard, but to be honest I found the concerns of owning it (finding tapes, being careful, cleaning..) were more than it was worth it to me. If I had a studio I'd absolutely have some kind of tape echo around for the sound but they're too impractical for day-to-day use imo. Not to say that you wouldn't be fine with owning one and using it live and stuff, just saying I can't be bothered.

[transients]

If you're fine with leaving it at home when you go on tour, I'd say do it. When I look at all my favorite musicians gear, a roland tape echo (usually a space echo or the re-501) is always on the list. Those things just have undeniable great toanz for days.

On the other hand, I just got the Fairfield Meet Maude delay and it has the most tape-like fluttery random modulation I've EVER heard in a pedal, way better than the el capistan. Big props to Fairfield for finally getting delay modulation right!

[PetZounds]

BUY IT, GIVE A SHIT LATER

[theavondon]

I've definitely considered all of these frustrations. The lack of transparency is more of a plus for me, because, having talked to tuffteef in the past, he got me into the idea of boosting at all times with a tape echo. I do recall those DK songs as well. And, I just graduated college, so I'm kinda into the idea of finding something to learn/worry about to fill that hole in my life. And I'm probably not gonna use it live all the time, and never on tour. Fuuuuck that.

I also don't really dig reverb, so I was thinking about getting an RE-101 or a RE-150. But, there's a RE-301 on CL right now.

But yeah, live is what the Donny Day Delay is for.

[PetZounds]

Dude the 301 has analog chorus as well, I believe.
Fuckin'

[coldbrightsunlight]

and never on tour. Fuuuuck that.

In that case I max recommend getting one if you like the sound. This is making me GAS for a tape echo again....

[rfurtkamp]

The 301 is glorious, it was my old touring unit.

Add sound on sound (like a Plex) to a 201 + Analog Chorus and a little better circuitry.

For the reverb-less options, I like the 150 (and it's what I own now). Be aware you lose about 100 ms off the top end on the 150 and more than that on the 101.

Also, if properly maintained, don't expect gobs of modulation. They don't actually have much on a properly maintained SE at all. It's a myth of the modelling silliness.

It's NOT a DMM. NOT NOT NOT a DMM.

[D.o.S.]

So clearly you should just get a DMM