ecker1991's Reviews

Pricey, yet offers a metric ton of versatility

The RE-201 Space Echo is a coveted piece of technology, thanks in no small part to the fact that it was used by Radiohead on classic albums such as OK Computer. Boss did a fantastic job of emulating this unit with the RE-20, yet truly have outdone themselves with the RE-202.

For what it’s worth, I’ve never owned a tape echo unit, however I have owned several tape echo pedals such as the Geckoplex, RE-20, Catalinbread Echorec, UA Starlight, Strymon El Capistan and the Strymon Volante. The RE-202 sounds extremely close to what I’ve heard in demoes of the RE-201.

The selectable playback heads, combined with the expanded EQ and saturation knob make for a hugely versatile tape echo pedal that allows you to dial in everything from slapback to massive ambient soundscapes with the twist of a knob. The ability to change styles of reverb is a major plus as well, as the spring mode, while accurate to the original unit, is not useable on its own and really doesn’t gel well with me at all, however the added plate and hall modes sound much better.

If you are anything like me and want a classic tape echo machine without having to pay over $1k for a functioning unit, as well as keeping up with maintenance throughout the years yet don’t want a pedal that is cumbersome to control, or does a poor job of emulating actual tape echo units, this is a great alternative that sits in between a pedal and the real unit.

Possibly my favorite Overdrive pedal

Easily one of the greatest overdrive pedals available. Ive tried a plethora of options, at least 30. Essentially one half of the King of Tone. Based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit yet heavily modified to bring out the best characteristics of your guitar and amp.

Best Optical Compressor Available

It’s truly sad that Diamond is no longer in business, as they made some of the best effects in every genre. The Memory Lane Deluxe was a beautiful analog delay reminiscent of the earlier DMM units, the vibrato was one of the best examples this side of the vb-2, and the Diamond cpr-1 is a compressor that even those that don’t enjoy the effect can likely find some useful sounds.

I especially enjoy the CPR-1 with single coil guitars, especially my Jaguar, as the pickups are lower output, the CPR-1 makes them stand out while bringing out more of the guitars jangly nature.

It’s difficult to put into words why the CPR-1 sounds so great, however in the context which I use the CPR-1, I mainly use it to help push my twin reverb at lower volumes and bringing out more of the amps character while adding a bit more sparkle to the

Brilliant, Massive, Clean.

Lovely sounding tube amp that provides a massive amount of headroom, extremely loud, best sounding spring reverb you’ll ever hear and a classic tremelo sound.