roland space echo users...

[vacuumdust]

I just got one.  Very nice condition RE-201.  The echo volume and intensity are just a bit weak but I believe a demag and a new tape will really help it out.  My question is about the volume drop/treble drop of my direct tone.  I also have an RE-150 and there is no tone sucking.  The 201 sucks tone and I just want to know from others if this is normal.  The really wierd thing is that if I have my Stage Center Reverb in the chain before it, and switched on, the tone sucking goes away.  I have the SCR set for unity gain...so without the 201 in my effects chain, the SCR provides no boost when switched on.  But with the 201 last in line it provides a nice boost or really just brings the volume and high end back to where it should be.  Very wierd to me...so i'm currently running the SCR "on" all the time right before the Space Echo to eliminate it's tone sucking.  I really want to know from other users if this is normal or if my new Space Echo has a problem.  OH, I don't have any other pedals currently to see if they also take away the tone sucking when switched on before the echo...or if it's just some magical relationship between the echo and the SCR.   PHEW! 

[Mark Hammer]

Here's the schematic from the service manual: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/page6.png

One of the more striking things is that, much like the old CE-1, the input impedance, and the input pots in particular, are strikingly low.  This really seems to be designed with mixers and P.A"s in mind moreso than guitars.

Seems to me that the input level pots need swapping out for higher values.  I'll leave the specific recommendations in someone else's able hands.  I should probably do some work today.

[stomper]

Try your Space Echo in the effects loop of a Mesa Boogie or similar amp.  It really sounds great there.  Also, try lodging the input sesitivity switch "in between" like on a vintage strat.

[ADR]

I've got a 301, and looking at my service manual, it says 56K for input imp! 

I noticed it's a bit dark too, but I run a tillman cable preamp, then into a bad monkey, then the 301, and into the amp. It actually rounds it out in a pleasing way. I have no reason really to touch it. And when I click off the monkey, it still sounds pretty good. When I bypass the 301, it's a bit brighter, but I just leave it as it is cuz it just works for me. Without the tillman preamp, then it's gets murky quickly. So yes, somekind of preamp/buffer device seems to open these up a bit better. I've acutally noticed that on my 301, it's input preamp is on a seperate board by the jacks, and could be tweaked or replaced if really needed. It uses TA7136P IC's, which according to the datasheet I found on the web, says one of its applications is for driving tape recording devices. Again, not much inclination to really gut it, as I don't know all the reasons for the way things are the way they are in this device.

As an experiment, I've been thinking of just soldering a 1M resistor across the input to ground on the input jack lugs and hear what it does. It might be all that's needed.