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I met up with Strange Tales this weekend (since I couldn't go to ILFNEM) to buy his 95% functional RE-201 Space Echo. The Echo/Normal switch on the instrument input was busted, but I fixed that right up with a toggle I had in my parts bin. Busted out the the trusted Haako 808 desoldering gun and the old one was out in 30 seconds. Sounded pretty tits at that point. I also bought some replacement screws for the chassis, as three of the four originals were gone.

But then last night after maybe an hour of noodling around, the echo basically vanishes. I pop the hood and notice that the pinch roller is speeding up and slowing down (not normal). After some judicious googling and talking to a fellow DIY brother who has a 201 and has done some work on his, I figured out that the pinch roller needed to be cleaned and then relubed. The old lube had devolved into brown gunk and was causing friction that was slowing down the capstan. So I got that sorted out, and now all is operating excellently.

It was nice meeting (very briefly) Strange Tales. Seemed like a chill dude.

Anyway, here's some pics:

That is a cool unit! congrats on a rad purchase!

SEXY congratulation on the new tape delay. I always liked RE-201's delay and reverb sound. The new Boss RE-20 doesn't catch that sound IMHO..Just another digital delay with some multihead feature.

Awesome. Mine should be here next month sometime.

A bandmate recently rehabbed a 201 with the same toggle issue and some others...they sound incredible. I went home and sold my 'tape echo' pedal the next day.

Congrats on the score

Glad it worked out well!

Never noticed the tape gunk issue, even when I just spent a couple minutes listening to the tape play through it.

Hopefully I'll be able to buy one again in the future when finances permit.

Yea, the gunk under the roller is fairly common - first thing I check on a new one after cleaning the unexpected contact points (all the tape threading spots etc).

Fun units for sure, loved the 201s I've had, the 301 is my absolute alltime favorite but they're out of sight price-wise now (the 501 while it has better I/O just doesn't sound "right", I tried several and mostly looted them for tape heads and parts back in the day when they were unobtanium.

Slumming it now with my 150 but it's glorious with a '80 Jazz Chorus (I never used the verb on a 201/301, even though the tank was labelled well!)

Strange Tales wrote:Never noticed the tape gunk issue, even when I just spent a couple minutes listening to the tape play through it.

I think it was just luck that it didn't gum up when you had it. The first couple hours I used it, everything was fine. So I'm sure it was just timing. But I'm glad it did happen, because now I know more about how they work and what sorts of things to keep an eye on over time.

rfurtkamp wrote:Slumming it now with my 150 but it's glorious with a '80 Jazz Chorus (I never used the verb on a 201/301, even though the tank was labelled well!)

So how do you think the echo compares between the 150 and the 201? Seems like, on paper, the main difference is the 150 has one less playback head. I mainly only use one head anyway, so that wouldn't bother me much.

Echo between the two is close enough that I can't notice a discernable difference. On paper, 201/301 has about 100ms more delay on the long head, but to be honest, I rarely ran it at max available.

Biggest difference is the preamp on the 150 sounds closer in flavor to the 301, which is a good thing to me, and doesn't have short tank verb swamp.

I like long tank if I have spring.

rfurtkamp wrote:Echo between the two is close enough that I can't notice a discernable difference. On paper, 201/301 has about 100ms more delay on the long head, but to be honest, I rarely ran it at max available.

I was looking at the head arrangement in the 150 vs the 201, and it looks to me like the furthest away playback head (long head) is the same on both. The 150 appears to have the short and the long, but not the middle one.

Check this pic of what is reportedly a 150:


From left to right, the heads are: Erase, Record, Playback, *blank*, Playback

But if I'm wrong, it does appear that the mounting hardware would allowing moving one of the playback heads to the farthest position (all the holes are drilled and tapped). Could be a fun project!

rfurtkamp wrote:Biggest difference is the preamp on the 150 sounds closer in flavor to the 301, which is a good thing to me, and doesn't have short tank verb swamp.

I like long tank if I have spring.

I noticed the input impedance on the Instrument input of the 201 is abysmally low. I think increasing the value of the Instrument volume pot would probably help out a lot, as the stock value is really loading the guitar down.

As for reverb, I suspect that it would be possible to swap out tanks. I haven't looked for the specs on the stock tank, but there is probably something comparable in terms of impedances. I'll look into over the next week or so and maybe experiment.

But I do sort of like the stock sound. It's very Space Echo.

Yea. that looks like a correct 150.

Mine still had the vinyl bag for felt/etc and a spare tape carrier with it when I got it.

Very low mileage and had been reworked - all I've had to do is the occasional teardown for deep cleaning and out of paranoia.

Intensity knob on mine is scratchy lately, so that may get swapped out the next time I'm inside the box.

Will have to be a good health day though, my vision ain't what it used to be and I'm hell with an iron these days.

DEMOS?

welcome to the good/bad of tape delays.
electromechanical stuff just does that. and that was a major gripe when they were the only real paractical option

It's hilariously primitive in a way when you think about it, I'll drag a piece of plastic with some rust dust on it across some magnets and coils.

Jaron Lanier talks a little bit about the deep history of music (he plays ancient instruments) of how in the way back music was a chore (trying to keep primitive things in tune and regulated and all that) that was, ideally, servant's work.


That being said, I've owned a few tape delays over he years and I miss them all

I actually kind of get off on the maintenance aspect. It's fun to do the up-keep. I'm a geek, though. Also, I don't do world tours that require super-reliable gear.

it can be fun and therapeutic, esp as more a historicl/collectors piece (like old furniture resto)
but it can be a grind after a while too. esp if a motor or something goes out and it's a working piece
bud if it's for home use, it's a lot more chill than if you are just abt to start playing for the audience and the thing shits the bed

These days I have a buddy realign my nak decks..he still digs it