Space Echo RE-150 touble

supersockmonkey · Post by **supersockmonkey** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:53 am

I hope this is the right spot for this. I love my space echo and lately it has been crapping out. I believe the erase head is going out. It keeps looping and looping a garbled mess. So is there an easy fix or should i just send it away to be repaired? I try searching for the service manual with no luck. Any sugestions would be great or recomendations for a good repair guy.

Cheers!

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:18 am

did you try just putting some fresh tape in there?

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:23 am

Also, cleaning the heads can take care of some of that. If your erase head is all dirty, it can't do it's job. I've never demagnetized any of my tape echos, so I'm not sure if that would help you.

New tape could be the solution too. If you're rolling your own tape, make sure that you're not using super high bias stuff. You're better off buying a specific Roland-ready tape online, or else using an old 8-track tape. I've found that using something like 499 won't erase properly.

Roger

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:37 am

i use 456 cause that's what i have, and i have to change the tape pretty frequently, it gets super warbly and pitchy and bad when it's tired....occasionally this makes for really cool accidents, but it's not really the kind of sound you're looking for on a lead vocal...anyway it sounds great when the tape is fresh.

rodgre do you have any links for the roland tape? or, my roommate has a bunch of old CART(?) tapes, you think those'd work if i plundered the tape from there?

supersockmonkey · Post by **supersockmonkey** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:39 am

I havent switched out the tape yet (pretty new) but ill give it a try. I cleaned the heads and stared at it for a while hahaha. It was working great till a couple weeks ago. It only gets studio use and is rarely moved. Hope its the tape. Thanks for the replys.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:44 am

It might not necessarily be the erasee head.

Somewhere there is probably a bias oscillator circuit that causes the erase head to erase. Something could be amiss in that area.

I do not own an RE-150 but in my old echoplex the bias oscillator is a 6C4 tube. If this craps out, it causes the problems you describe.

chetatkinsdiet · Post by **chetatkinsdiet** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:48 pm

rodgre do you have any links for the roland tape? or, my roommate has a bunch of old CART(?) tapes, you think those'd work if i plundered the tape from there?[/quote]

Old cart tapes work great. You should try it if the tape isn't worn out, which is the case with old carts.

m

Sean Sullivan · Post by **Sean Sullivan** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:10 pm

i don't have any experience with a space echo, but I wanted to say I really dig your band!

supersockmonkey · Post by **supersockmonkey** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:23 pm

Thanks minorleagues! We haven't updated the site (if you want to call it that) in a while. We should hae some new tunes up soon. Thanks to everyone for all you help, im going to mess around with it tonight. I have a friend who has some spare echo tape and we'll see if that?s the culprit.

Cheers!

ckeene · Post by **ckeene** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:27 am

oh yeay +1 on the request for any links (or specific search info) for the Space Echo tape. I tried rolling my own out of 456 and it kept sticking to the heads.

Thanks

-chris

rhythm ranch · Post by **rhythm ranch** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:32 am

chetatkinsdiet wrote:any links for the roland tape?

This guy has them on eBay.

chetatkinsdiet · Post by **chetatkinsdiet** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:13 am

Yeah, I bought some of the tape from australia and it's great.

m

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Space Echo RE-150 touble

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