BOSS RE-2

T
here’s been speculation
about a compact Space
Echo emulation for years,
ever since a photoshop
mockup went viral on
pedal forums. Boss, with their ear
to the ground, couldn’t have failed
to notice. A couple of years later
and here we are with the RE-2 in
hand. So how does it stack up?
The fi rst thing you notice is how
sharp the design is. The front
panel takes visual cues from the
original Space Echo, while the
pedal enclosure itself sticks to the
now-classic Boss pedal aesthetic.
It’s a fi ne line to tread the two
design styles, but this is one
cool-looking pedal. Sound-wise,
it takes seconds to dial in a great
tape echo sound and get going.
The enduring popularity of the
Boss compact line is their
simplicity as much as their
sounds. Even the three double-
action rotary pots here take only
a second to work out. The mode
control is the only exception, and
it takes a few tries of rotating it to
get a handle for what’s going on:
tape head combinations, as it
turns out. On some modes, the
reverb is off – perplexing, since it
has its own pot, so having it off in
some modes seems redundant.
The tape repeats are convincing,
and the separate tone control is a
nice touch for controlling the ‘tape
age’, or darkness of the repeats.
Like the original units, there aren’t
long delay times available, but
they’re long enough for most
applications. One of the best
things about tape echoes is
creating a reverb-like ‘smear’
of shorter echoes which blend
together due to their dark timbre.
Especially by inching up the Wow
& Flutter control, dialling in these
kind of washy sounds is very easy.
The RE-2 responds well to
distortions in front, or indeed
after it, and it’s less jumpy than
the vintage originals, lacking
a controllable preamp. Sound-
wise our only complaint is that the
reverb, like on the original RE-201,
is a bit hard to dial in. Also, on the
control front, it would have been
nice to have some kind of heuristic
to remember the modes by. It feels
like the numbers are used for
design reasons rather than to
aid the player in a hurry.
On almost every front, the RE-2
has knocked it out of the park. It
sounds good, it looks good, and it’s
fun to use. It’s a pedal with serious
amounts of vibe. And though it’s
edging towards the price of larger
units like the Strymon El Capistan
and the Boss DD-500, both of
which boast larger feature sets,
that vibe may tempt you to fi nd
space on your ’board for the RE-2.
Alex Lynham
1
DESIGN
Care has been
taken to blend the
Boss compact pedal
and Space Echo
aesthetics. The result
is industrial design
perfection.
2
INPUTS
There’s full stereo
in and out, as well as
expression input.
3
MODES
Unlike many Boss
delays, the modes
aren’t named, so you’ll
have to check the
manual for these.
POWER: 9V battery or
DC Centre-negative
power supply
INPUTS: Stereo In,
Stereo Out,
Ctl/Exp in
CONTROLS:
Echo/Reverb,
Intensity/Tone,
Repeat Rate/Wow &
Flutter, Mode
AT A GLANCE
ON ALMOST EVERY FRONT,
THE RE-2 HAS KNOCKED IT
OUT OF THE PARK...
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
Photography Phil Barker
BOSS RE-2
The long-rumoured compact Space Echo arrives!
3
1
2
£199
REVIEW
93
AUGUST 2022 TOTAL GUITAR
TGR360.gear_boss.indd 93TGR360.gear_boss.indd 93 15/06/2022 15:4615/06/2022 15:46