I spent some time this weekend doing a service check on my much loved Roland RE-201. Here are some of the things I did to it during the process.

• Removed any dirt/dust from inside: I used a small shop vacuum to remove dust from inside the enclosure. It was actually very clean inside.
• Cleaned all pots, switches and jacks: I used DetoxIT Fader F5 for all the pots and switches and used some 1000 grit sand paper on all the jack contacts.
• Replace burned out VU lamp: This is pretty common over the years and is really easy to do. I had a green lamp that I soldered in and its good as new.
• Restore/Clean rubber roller: I used CaiKleen RBR Liquid to clean and restore the rubber pinch roller. Mine seems to be in good shape. No need to replace it at this point.
• Reverb tank: I cleaned and tested the RCA jacks on the reverb tank to make sure they had good continuity and were grounded properly.
• Demagnetized heads: I got to use my trusty Nakamichi DM-10 tape head demagnetizer. Always fun to use such an outdated piece of technology in this day and age.
• New tape: Topped off the servicing with a brand new 1/4″ tape loop I got from Analogman a few years back.

Whats left to do?
I would love to replace all the felt on the tape guides. I will order the felt and work on that in a few weeks.

Pictures: