logo

Mile End Effects launches a love letter to Roland’s Space Echo preamp, the Ronald PreAmp 150

Featuring the addition of a switchable JFET boost.

Ronald PreAmp 150

Image: Mile End Effects

When you purchase through affiliate links on Guitar.com, you may contribute to our site through commissions. Learn more.

Among many things, the Roland Space Echo RE-150 is fondly remembered for the sound of its preamp. Mile End Effects has launched the excellently-named Ronald PreAmp 150, inspired by the unit’s famed input stage.

In a statement about the pedal’s launch, Mile End Effects wrote: “The Ronald is the result of a love for the way a vintage Roland Space Echo sounds when the PreAmp is pushed right to the brink of overdrive.

“Having owned many Space Echos, constantly scrambling to repair the fragile and now very valuable units over the years on tour became a bit of an issue, yet I wasn’t ready to sacrifice the harmonically rich and glassy tone that the PreAmp section provided.”

The pedal itself features a slim set of controls – with only two knobs, a toggle switch and a bypass footswitch. The instrument volume knob controls how hard the preamp is being pushed by its input stage, while output volume adjusts the level of the JFET boost. This is engaged with the toggle switch. The preamp found inside the pedal has been recreated from original RE-150 service notes.

The pedal comes biased from the factory for a low noise floor and optimal output, but an internal trim pot allows for adjustment of the transistor bias. The pedal can also run on anything between 9 and 18 volts for extra headroom, if needed.

The pedal lists for $199 CAD. Find out more at mileendeffects.org.

For more gear news, click here.

Related Tags

logo

The world’s leading authority and resource for all things guitar.

© 2024 Guitar.com is part of NME Networks.