PLEASE NOTE: Unit is in good condition, fully functional, very clean inside, enclosure has no dents or major dings but does have a few small (less than 1") tears in the tolex.

As one of the most iconic tape delays ever designed, the RE-501 is the last child of Roland’s dynasty of electro-mechanical effect processors. With onboard chorus, spring reverb, and noise reduction, this unit sounds so lush… it’s hard to go back to anything else once you’ve tried it.

This box contains a specialized tape recorder that can create delay effects, commonly known as echoes, together with a spring reverb and a chorus effect. To create the delay effects, incoming audio is recorded onto a loop of magnetic tape then replayed via one or more playback heads before being erased by incoming audio as the end of the loop is reached. The delay time between echo repeats is adjusted by varying the tape speed. The length or intensity of the echo effect is adjusted by changing the amount of echo signal fed back into the pre-echo signal.

A unique feature of the Roland tape echo devices is that the tape loop is contained in a special ‘tank’ or chamber where it is free to move around as the tape is moved across the record, playback and erase heads by a capstan drive – unlike other tape echo devices that use, for example, cassette-style tape cartridges with the tape wound onto spindles. Allowing the tape to move more freely produced less wow and flutter and reduced tape wear. This design also allowed for a much longer tape length making it possible to create echoes over three seconds in length. These features gave the Roland devices a distinct advantage over their competitors.