Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo

The 501 was the pinnacle of Roland’s tape echo tech – high fidelity with fantastic chorus and sound on sound – read more about the different Roland models here. Sounding as good as they get and tweaked for self-oscillation (Roland removed it from this model). This machine has been given our “standard” full overhaul which, in addition to the basic service, recapping and set up, includes:

• One of our new tapes made from the same formula as Roland RT-1L,
• One of our pinch rollers – more info to come about these, but essentially it’s an original pinch roller with a new bearing and new rubber  – time consuming to produce, but only the best will give the best long term performance,
• Heads re-lapped to bring performance to better-than Roland factory spec – they are now more even and run at low head gain (so you have the maximum amount of headroom available),
• Motor serviced or rebuilt as required.

Every echo is also tested by a musician (test equipment: their ears!) before shipping. Every one is supplied with 12 month warranty and ongoing service support.

RE-501 VOLTAGE: This unit is ready to run on 120v. UK/European buyers will need a step-down transformer to use this – we can supply one if required.

REPLACEMENT TAPES: We recently worked out what formula Roland used for RT-1L loops and published the information. Fitting any tapes other than those from us (or Echo Fix) may invalidate the warranty on our machines. Limited stocks of our replacement loops are available now. We’ve written more about our journeys in tape, which replacement loops to use in your Roland echo, not to mention the misinformation and poor quality tapes that seem to fill the internet.

There are currently no operational issues with this machine, but please be aware that these units require looking after and that regular use and maintenance are key to keeping this in good working order.