The Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo is a tape echo unit made in Japan and released in 1981. It is the last and most fully featured of Roland's tape machines, combining multi-head echo combinations, a good spring reverb, Roland chorus and a Sound On Sound feature in one box. TONEHOME, the vintage Roland reference site, puts it plainly: "If you're only going to have one tape echo, then this is the one"1.
What it does
Like the Roland RE-201 Space Echo and the RE-301 Chorus Echo before it, the RE-501 records your signal onto a loop of tape and plays it back through multiple heads, producing the warm, wobbling repeats that players associate with tape echo. What sets the Chorus Echo models apart is what surrounds that tape path. The RE-501 combines, in one machine1:
- multi-head echo combinations
- a good spring reverb
- Roland chorus
- a Sound On Sound feature for layering parts over themselves
TONEHOME describes the combination this way: "the multi-head echo combinations, a good spring reverb, Roland chorus and the Sound On Sound feature all add up to a classic piece of studio gear"1. On the sound itself, the site finds that "the echoes are amazingly clear, the chorus and spring reverb sound lush and have that evocative sound you've heard on countless records"1.
The site's overall verdict: "the RE-501 is the pinnacle of Roland's striving for echo excellence"1.
Where it sits in Roland's echo line
Roland built a family of tape machines around the Space Echo name, and the RE-501 carries the most features of them1:
| Unit | What it carries |
|---|---|
| RE-201 Space Echo | multi-head tape echo |
| RE-301 Chorus Echo | chorus and Sound On Sound |
| RE-501 Chorus Echo | multi-head echo plus chorus, spring reverb and Sound On Sound1 |
Later Roland units such as the SDE-3000 took the company's echo designs digital, but the RE-501 remains the endpoint of its tape echo line1.
Keeping one running
A tape echo is a mechanical instrument as much as an electronic one. The pinch roller, felts and tape itself wear with use, so an RE-501 needs periodic service to stay at its best. Echo Fix makes a full service kit for the Roland Space Echo RE-501 and the SRE-555, with what the maker describes as "all the parts you need to carry out a service on your Space Echo RE-501 or SRE-555"2.
The kit includes2:
- the parts needed for a full service
- green felts
- an improved green pinch roller, which Echo Fix says "looks great and better quality than the original black type"2
The RE-501 is a vintage machine, no longer in production. Any unit on the market today is used, and its condition depends heavily on how well it has been serviced.
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Questions
What is the Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo?
It is a tape echo unit made by Roland in Japan, released in 1981. It combines multi-head echo combinations, a spring reverb, Roland chorus and a Sound On Sound feature in one machine. TONEHOME calls it the pinnacle of Roland's tape echo line and a classic piece of studio gear, and notes that the echoes are amazingly clear while the chorus and spring reverb sound lush and evocative.
How do you service a Roland RE-501?
The moving parts of a tape echo wear out and need periodic service. Echo Fix makes a full service kit for the Roland Space Echo RE-501 and SRE-555 that includes all the parts needed to carry out a service, among them an improved green pinch roller that the maker says looks great and is better quality than the original black type.
Sources (2)
- TONEHOME, TONEHOME
- Roland Space Echo RE-501 SRE-555 Full Service Kit with Green Felts and, Echo Fix (echofix.com)
