Roland SDE-2500

Easy to dial in great sound..
editing is simple and in your face.
manual is available.

Stunning sounds come out of these units. Actually any of the Roland SDE or the Korg SDD series rack units sound fantastic.

You can absolutely capture David Evans type delay tones with this unit.
The delays are just swueet and sound analog...not dirty analog..just nice...and dial in a bit of chorus and you have an echoplex.
I own an EP-3 that is new and it is fantastic sounding..but I wouldn't hesitate to use this SDE-2500 in place of it. I also have a TC2290, SDE3000, SDD1200...etc. This unit stands up to all except maybe the TC2290, which is the holy grail of delays..no doubt...but not everyone has 1600 or so dollars for one of those...and finding one..well.
I've never had any noise problems with this unit, and still use it for recording...it always sounds great.
The SDE-2500 does have pristine sound and quality, so I rate it at 10 because that is what 10 ratings are. It doesn't mean it's perfect, but it does meet that criteria.

I think some of these older units have had capacitor leakage problems but I looked inside mine (which is flat mint) and it's in new condition...so I don't know it it's actually a problem unless they are exposed to a high humidity situation.

Too old..don't think Roland would do anything.

I play Christian Rock/worship and this fits a lot of that.
Delay and Reverb (in massive amounts) is making a comeback even in the Christian music scene...and may I encourage you older musicians...the church needs you !!...your tone... !! It was special then...and it is now !!

The Roland SDE-2500 has been overlooked to a great degree because of the korg SDD-2000 and 3000 units, but it holds the same type of delays and modulation. I've played all of them.

I've been playing for 30 years+
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another SDE-2500.

I love how the delays trail off at what seems to be a perfect tail and tone that is stellar.
I also like the modulation features and the richness of the modulation when it is integrated with the delay..that's just awesome sounding.
It simulates an echoplex tape warble.
i wish someone made this in a footpedal...well, ok..TC electronics did it...the Nova ND-1 delay..it is the best I've heard in a footpedal...along with the TC vintage delay..I own both.
I wrote ratings on both of them also.

its easy to flick thorugh the presets.. takes longer to work out all the midi implementation but its done really well.

it delays the sound perfectly, with minimal loss - better than some of the more expensive digital stuff today..

no problems here, solid

Roland have great customer support, manuals online etc

One of the best delays going...

Easy to use.
Manual includes some sample settings that you can try to start and then you you can alter them to get a different sound. What I do not like is that, because it is a delay system, if you change the settings while a signal is being processed you will get some crazy sounds, I meant crazy! You can use the bypass buttom or restart the system to try a new configuration from scratch so your old signals don't interfere.

Guitar: Jackson Soloist USA,Charvel(various) and Les Paul studio with EMGs. Amps: Crate custom CR-212 and Tubeworks 212 7100.
Noisy if wrong configured.
Awesome sound in effects, better used with two amps(one for mixed and one for delay signal). You can get analog effect sound even when it is a digital delay.
I like Eric Johnson sound, this unit can get close to it with a little bit of tweaking.
Chorus and effects are great and clean, doesn't change your tone. You can also do some flanger and phase after tweaks.

Mine is over 10 years old, never had a problem.

Got the manual on-line in a heart beat. Never had to call them.

Rock, Jazz, progressive.
Being playing for 20 years. I own a Rocktron Intellifex (Original), BBE 482, Rocktron Hush Super C, Rocktron Gainiac, Roland SRV 330 and Furman RP-8. I like Lexicon PCM series and echoplex units, but for the price, this is best one I like (tried a lot of effects, I love Roland.)

Best feature: It doesn't sound too digital. It helps me to create music, but I want to buy a footswitch or AB box to add flexibility.

I wish it had: Stereo inputs option. (It has stereo outputs though)

If it was stolen or lost, I would probably try to get a used replacement for it, then I would try to hunt the stupid person that stole it and slap him/her until my hand hurts (Just kidding... dont quote me in this very last comment).

This 1U rack-unit is very easy to use, just few knobs to master. You don`t need any manual to get friends with this wonderfull echomachine, editing patches and storing them is simple.

My SDE-2500 is an old studio machine, bought it very cheap, just few contact-problems in frontpanel`s pots, after repairing it has worked fine.

I am an old guitarplayer, played over 30years, started in the 60`and repairing all music stuff has been my other business over years.

Nowadays I am playing with my friends just for fun and the music style is transparently "all the best rocknroll from 60`to 80`" . We are not using those extraheavy Vox amplifiers (we are old men)or unreliable tapemachines, but I have always been accurate to achieve the right feeling of the 60`sound. With this SDE-2500 I can capture the warm sound of those Roland RE-301, Echo Orbits, Echolette a.s.o without that every-gig-tape-hashling. SDE-2500 let`s you dial just the right delay-time, repeat and the most important: a little bit of slow chorus imitating tape wobble and flutter and finally the high filter on to cut the unwanted peaks of the echosound. As a result, I get very, very warm tape-like-sound, which the new "digital tape-machines" emulates with extremely high prices.

All Roland products are very reliable.

Got the manual very easy by email, though I never need it.

I play Shadows, Hollies, Beatles, Eagles .... all the good melodic guitar music from the past years.

For me, this SDE-2500 was a jackpot and I do hope, that I never have to lose it.

If you see somewhere one the Roland SDE-series machines for sale , buy it immediately. I waited my device for 20 years. You can`t get better sound with these new echomachines, they sound too digital after all. SDE-2500 is also digital, but with that warm analog sound of the past tape echoes.

as easy as a pie

It is digital with Analogish sound
as far as I know it is 12 bit but sounds so warm and perfect.

never had a problem in 15 years.

n/A
Roland ususaly are ok.

I'm writing this review as a recording Engineer for the last
20 years or so.
many parameters such as
Delay time/Feedback/Hold/Phase/X2/Filter/Modulation Rate and Depth
and all kind of midi programmable parameters.
in my view this is one of the best delay ever.
(compared with Lexicon)
It sounds great and have all the parameters you ever wanted.
it has 1 line in and 1 line out plus a dry out for stereo effects.
I just love it and preferred it even to my old SDE-3000
( I own 2 SDE-2500's for Stereo processing )
oh yeah, guess what, even though it is an old unit it has Midi to control it.