A compact, pedalboard-friendly version of Boss’s classic RE-20 Space Echo reverb and delay pedal is coming soon. The official announcement arrives hot on the heels of mounting speculation about a product leak, with some units reportedly being sold on eBay.
For many players, a compact Space Echo is a dream come true, making Boss’s take on its parent company Roland’s legendary tape echo unit even more accessible. Although full details have yet to be revealed, with players asked to register for updates at the Boss website, it looks like the RE-2 will retain much of the functionality and sounds of its larger sibling.
Housed in a regular Boss compact pedal format, the RE-2 can be run in mono or stereo, and has a similar control set-up, with what looks like an 11-position Mode Selector knob joined by stacked controls for Echo/Reverb, Intensity/Tone, and Repeat Rate/Wow & Flutter.
It looks like the RE-2 will come equipped with tap and hold features, and has an additional 1/4” input jack for hooking up an external expression or control pedal.
Mock-ups of an RE-2 style pedal are nothing new. In 2019, images surfaced online of a Waza Craft Space Echo. It similarly had dual inputs and outputs, with another for expression pedals, though the official RE-2 Space Echo’s control setup looks a lot more intuitive, and manages to cramp a lot of functions into the smaller format.
The Roland Space Echo is for many the ultimate tape echo. Since its launch in 1974, players such as Jonny Greenwood, Alex Lifeson, Brian Setzer and many more have used the RE-201, particularly in the studio where the reliability of using an old mechanical tape echo is less of a concern.
The demand for vintage RE-201 units was such that Boss launched the RE-20 pedal replica in 2007, which captured much of the analogue magic of the originals but without those pesky tape issues.
You can sign up for alerts for the coming RE-2 Space Echo release at Boss, and read our review of the Boss RE-20 to find out what all the fuss is about.
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