The Sound-O-Mat

Roland RE-series Parts: Non-Existent

We've known for over a year that Roland ceased production of ALL RE-series Space / Chorus tape echo parts around the very start of 2005 and that pretty much all parts have been unavailable for two years or more. But someone wrote us to say they stopped making other parts, such as tape heads, even longer ago. We haven't been able to verify this but just pass it on as potential information:

"Many years ago when Roland was still supplying replacement heads I ordered a set and at that time removed the playback heads (record head was no longer available at that time). I still have the playback heads that were about 5 yeas old then. The replacements have been in the unit for about 22 years. So I have been planning on reinstalling the orginal playback heads given that they have substantially less hours on them."

So parts from a used system is about the only thing one will find for repairs, sad to say.

Roland Tape Echo DC Brushless Motors

NOTE: WE HAVE NO MOTORS LEFT FOR SALE. We are looking to buy new or used motors, please contact us if you have one or more for sale.

DO NOT CONTACT US HOPING TO BUY PARTS.

Since Roland first started making its RE-series Space / Chorus Echo analog tape units, they used DC Brushless Motors. It's worth reading about them because it explains why the motors in these (and many) tape echoes tend to work or not work, and little in-between. We recommend reading the whole article, but some key points:

• Tape echo motors are Reluctance Motors.
• An electronically controlled commutation system, instead of a mechanical commutation system.
• The controller performs the same power distribution found in a brushed DC motor, but using a solid-state circuit.
• Several advantages over brushed DC motors, including higher efficiency and reliability, longer lifetime (no brush erosion), elimination of ionizing sparks from the commutator, and overall reduction of noise and electromagnetic interference (EMI).
• The maximum power that can be applied to a BLDC motor is exceptionally high, limited almost exclusively by heat.
• BLDC motors require complex electronic speed controllers to run.
• Sayama/Pioneer motors used by Roland are "inrunner" types, although these means less torque, but pulling tape doesn't require a lot of torque.

We still have a refurbished motor for sale, and if you read the above Wikipedia entry, you'll understand why we're confident it will work fine for many, many years to come. Please contact us at info@sound-o-mat.com if you're interested in buying it.

The Roland RE-3 Digital Space Echo

Back in the late 80's, we believe 1988 to be exact, Roland unveiled its first digital version of the analog tape Space Echo series with digital reverb - an amazing, unique unit in a class all by itself, unlike any other echo or reverb unit (especially both combined.) They didn't sell well, and few were sent to the U.S. (it was mostly sold in Japan) so they're very rare and hard-to-find, although they do pop up 1-2 times a year on Ebay.

This was Roland's first real attempt to create a digital version of its earlier models of it famous RE-series tape echoes - the RE-101, RE-150, RE-201 Space Echoes. No attempt at the "Sound-on-Sound" effect, due to limited memory, nor built-in Chorus like the RE-301, RE-501 and SRE-555 Chorus Echoes. It fails dismally at creating a sound anything like an RE-201, which is what it was supposed to model, but while not succeeding at that, they instead created a very unique guitar-oriented echo/reverb effects unit that has a place of its very own, a sound unlike anything else, and is very much a compliment to one or more of the analog tape echoes, sounding very clean but lush, bright, and as thick and dense to as straight-forward as an echo unit as you could ever want.

Some of this has to do with the ability to turn off the "warmth" effect, and the fairly high digital fidelity for a late 1980's unit: 16 bit linear A/D conversion at 32KHz. The direct line input handles 10Hz-30KHz range, which is used for processing, although the effects limit the output to 20Hz-12Khz. 12Khz is fairly high and fine for vocals and guitar - most tape echoes are lucky if they can get output above 5-6Khz freq. range out. The 12Khz limit is from Low Pass Filters, perhaps because the effects algorithms create artifacts in the freq. range above that, but both output channels have a LPF set at 12Khz. The delay time is 10-300ms, decent enough for a delay, and the reverb time is quite impressive for a unit from this era: up to 5 seconds (5000 ms) which allows for long, slowly degrading tails of sound that can just be played out.

Most of the people who bought this most likely figured it would be nice to replace a big RE-201 or other analog tape echo with a single 1 RU (rack unit) effect box that would never require cleaning, tape replacement, etc. but none of the classic sounds the RE-201 and such were known for could be made with this box. It just didn't sound the same at all, not even close. Interesting, getting this to self-oscillate is much easier than the RE-201 and early tape echoes, and you can get some pretty weird spacey or just crazy noise sounds out of this if you turn things up too much, like the Repeat & Intensity for the echo.

So the unit was a complete flop, hated by most of the people looking for a version of the RE-201 that was smaller, better built, and required zero maintenance, vs. really a lot if a real tape echo is properly kept up. They ended up in pawn shops and music instrument stores gathering dust, until they were sold off for cheap to just get rid of them. Those who bought them at this point were mostly curious, and esp. the 5 second reverb was an amazing effect unto itself, not even considering the echo effects.

Slowly but surely, this became a "secret weapon" in many guitarists' rigs. It's probably the closest thing to "instant shoegaze" in one effects unit, and one of those units people never sell once they get one, and don't talk about because of its unique sound. People who had never owned a tape echo and took this unit as its own thing found they were able to really make some amazing sounds and it will never be known how much this effect box had on shaping the whole British 90's guitar sound that took over the synth-pop era from the early MTV days.

You can read more about it at Sonic State esp. about "those luscious Space Echo sounds" and truly infinite repeat that doesn't degrade, a major difference between the analog models that some disliked but many found could be very useful and musical. If they fix the database error, you can also read about it at http://www.effectsdatabase.com/reviews/1174/, and here's a great quote from a long-time owner from 2003 that I think sums it up well:

"I have both an RE-201 and an RE-3. The RE-3 is a great and weird box. It does not sound like the 201. It does not sound like anything else on the planet. The reverb setting is dark and warbly and strange. I bought it on ebay accidently 10 years ago (before I knew the difference) I still use it!"

You can read a bit about this unit (compared to the tape versions) at http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discus/messages/1/395.html#POST1713. It is absolutely true this unit does NOT sound like any analog tape echo, but its failure to do that made it a magic device with its own extremely unique sound, esp. for 90's UK music, like shoegaze. Instant Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), for example. Nothing on Harmony Central or GuitarGeek about it - it never shows up in rig listings, in part because of how rare it is, but also because it's one of those units that players will try to keep secret as part of their rig so people can't easily copy their sound.

Ace-Tone Tape Loop for EC-20 or EC-10

We have a single tape loop for an Ace-Tone EC-10 or EC-20 Echo Chamber analog tape echo. It's a short loop, and might require some adjustment of the tension bar in both models, but that's easy to do. Please contact us at info@sound-o-mat.com for info and purchase. USD $20 plus shipping.