The strange, enduring magic of the Roland RE-201 Space Echo

Roland Space Echo
(Image credit: Future)

This year, Roland celebrates its 50th anniversary, having formed in 1972. Some of its earliest products include the AF-100 BeeBaa and AF-60 BeeGee fuzz pedals, and the AD-50 Double Beat fuzz/wah, and by the following year, the first Space Echo tape delay units had arrived in the form of the RE-100 and RE-200. These were quickly superseded by the RE-101 and the now-iconic RE-201 in 1974.

The magic produced by a Roland RE-201 Space Echo unit is hard to capture in words. But, as anyone who has had the pleasure of plugging into one of these vintage effects units knows, for sheer depth and complexity of tone it’s hard to beat. 

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Rod Brakes

Rod Brakes is a music journalist with an expertise in guitars. Having spent many years at the coalface as a guitar dealer and tech, Rod's more recent work as a writer covering artists, industry pros and gear includes contributions for leading publications and websites such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Guitar WorldGuitar Player and MusicRadar in addition to specialist music books, blogs and social media. He is also a lifelong musician.