How are these things? And whats a good price for one? I'm mainly concerned about verbs, but this thing has a vocoder too if I'm right, which if its pretty good would be awesome. Its either this or a Lexicon MPX1.

Start with preset 63 analog delay. Set feedback to around 80%, adjust the delay time to taste and enjoy.

Thumb through the Flange and Phasing presets. If you have rev 1.04, pull up preset 37 Black Hole and mess with those params. If you don't have that preset, you can update by simply burning new EPROMs.

Note that you can assign up to 4 MIDI CCs to modify 4 different params per patch in realtime.

Download the Algorithm Guide as well as the User Guide and read through.

For what these units usually sell for (well under $200 and as low as $50) they are amazing.

Downsides - backlight is LED and not easy (possible) to change out (still working this). Editing is via a small display and the typical minimal Roland up/down/select buttons of the era.

I have a MPX-1 and a RSP-550. Though it must not be 1.04 because I don't have black hole. I like the reverb on the MPX-1 better, but everything else on the RSP-550 is fantastic. Mainly use the SDD-320 modified preset and analog chorus. Given the choice I'd pick the RSP every time, probably since I use valhalla for verb stuff now.

I don't get this post...I don't have one yet

Let's put it another way -- sometimes you need a great sounding delay/phaser/flanger. Ideally you reach for the dedicated analog units in your rack. However, you also want some conveniences like tempo sync, programmatic mutes, external control over delay time or feedback, etc.

I had multiple PCM-80s, but I often didn't need/want to go down the patch design rabbit hole with those units. I wanted to pull up a great sounding phaser, adjust a few things and get on with making music.

Once I heard an RSP-550 in person, I sold off all but 1 of the pCM-80s and picked up a couple RSP-550's instead.

So, for whatever you end up paying - $75, $125, whatever, it's an amazing sounding unit and an amazing value.

Does it do the high-end Lexicon reverb sound? No. Is it a box you'll use all the time for various things? yes

if it's just for reverbs i would say get the lex. the rsp550 is an awesome unit but i wouldn't recommend it for the reverbs. they aren't bad but modulation is where it really shines. the chorus is just fantastic. especially the dimension d algorithm. never used the vocoder but i assume it's the same as in the se50/70 which is great. paid 80€ and it never leaves my rack again.

The SE70 has an edit knob, analogue distortion and only takes up half a rack unit, but I wouldn't be surprised if the RSP is quieter. Here's a comparison of the algorithm lists:

Hi all,
can anyone tell me, how can I update my RSP-550, to version 1.04 ???

Install EPROMs with the version 1.04 OS burned into them.

Since Roland no longer sells them, you'll have to find someone with an EPROM burner and access to the various OS revs.

I have the OS versions, but currently don't have a PC set up to do EPROM burns anymore (long boring story involving an upgrade to the family Windows PC).

So, track down someone with a burner, buy the correct size EPROMs, have them burn the OS and simply swap them in.

RSP-550 is a sleeper multi-FX unit.

Even if you only use the superb Phasers & Chorus, they're worth the (very modest) price of admission IMHO.

Backlight on mine still works but the internal battery is gone, like most gear that age. Not sure what OS I have, don't think I have a Black Hole reverb so it must be an earlier version than 1.04.

It's not mouse-quiet, but the true stereo I/O can be run at +4.

Batteries need to be (re) soldered (no holder) so you get to remove about 30 screws to get the case off and the MB out of the unit. You'll need a vertically mounted coin style battery or one with long leads that you can mount somewhere else on the unit.

I used those LED lightbars from Adafruit to replace the backlight on my RSPs. Documented it here in a Geekslutz thread

Love the sound of the unit - there's lots to be discovered in them. (I have 3 or 4 around here now).

any ideas where i can find the 1.04 eprom?

I'll try to carve out a few minutes this weekend to put the binaries up on my website. You'll have to find someone with an EPROM burner to burn the new image.


Or send me a hundred $$ so I can rebuild the PC with serial port I had to do EPROM burns. (eventually I'll get that machine back together and running, but it's a very low priority these days).

Here's the binaries for 1.04. There's an A and a B EPROM (labeled on the EPROM/board).

great thanks a lot!

I tracked down an RSP-550 a few months ago and was finally able to try it for the first time last night. Mine is not 1.04 so I'll need to replace the EEPROMs.

There are some really sweet presets on this box, I especially love the ensemble/chorus and phasers on synth pads.

I also have an SRV-330 and a SDX-330. Once I get my rig more organized I'll have to do an A/B comparison of the RSP vs SDX SDD320 emulation.

There's something a bit annoying about setting input/output levels on these older Roland boxes vs Eventide or Lexicon.

Btw, here's a nice video of the RSP-550 on guitar (check out the modulation reverb):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ePm6VPBk50

I recently got a RSP 550, too! 220 Euros, but I still think it was a steal. Great sounds. Exspecially the chorus.

Just one quick question for you other users out there: Are you using the unit with unbalanced or balanced cables? I'm operating it on +4 db and when using unbalanced cables it's seems to have more gain. When using TRS cables however the signal coming back to my fireface 802 seems to have the same amount of gain I sent out. Any thoughts?!

Cheers,

Ma

Sleeper classic...the modulations/chorus are OUTSTANDING but there's other gems in there too. Love this unit! Enjoy!

That's a good deal if it's in good working order.

Mine sits on the inserts of my mixing desk which are unbalanced but operate around 0dB so I generally have the RSP-550 set at +4dBV.

Obviously if I switch to a synth direct input it goes in at -10dBu

The metering is so good however that you just need to play around with levels until the meters are moving correctly just into the yellow, although headroom is limited so watch for overloading it.

Don't forget many of the programs are not set internally to 100 output level so there may be some more S/N gains to be had there.

And since I'm here anyway I'll just update myself...
New battery and new backlight installed and good to go!

In regards to the Master output level, so should one be turning that up to 100? I just got both the SE's at the beginning of the month (couldn't find the RSP), and Ive been doing that when I find a patch I want to use in them. Just seemed like the proper thing to do hehe. The 50 is kind of weird, it doesn't seem to have any wet/dry mixing, where the 70 does.

So these things ARE unbalanced?? The +4/-20 switch threw me off but it sounds like none of them are? Ive got them hooked up to 2 aux sends and they're connected with balanced cables, luckily they're not like Boss's pedals, those crap out and don't work when you use TRS cables heh. The older SDE delay I have is even weirder, its only got a -10 and -20 setting for the input heh.

Hi Oldgearguy, after more than 5 years of searching I found a 120v RSP-550 and it is on the way!

I was considering upgrading the firmware to v1.04 but before I go to the trouble of doing so, do happen to know what differences exist between v1.04 and earlier versions?

Thanks!

Good question. I know the preset list is different. Not sure I've ever found any documentation listing bug fixes, etc for it. I'll poke around and see what I can find.

I assume you could program the Black Hole preset found in 1.04 in earlier versions since I don't think they added any new algorithms to 1.04. Given the version number bumped up by hundredths rather than whole numbers, I'm guessing internal tweaks to gain staging, edge case bug fixes, and maybe some MIDI improvements --- but those are all guesses on my part.

Thanks, does that later version have more presets or just different presets?

Also should mention that I might need to replace the LCD backlight, so many thanks for your earlier posts about that topic.

Any other preventative maintenance needed for these if I decide to send it in? Power supply recap?

Does v1.04 still have "Heaven (**Mod Reverb**)"? This is preset 33 on the v1.03.

I have the v1.04 ROM but never got around installing it. Curious how the "Black Hole" sounds though so maybe I'll do it this coming weekend.

The phasers on the RSP-550 have this amazing resonant filter vibe to them. gear_up, did you notice any resemblance to the JD990?

Hi, it hasn't arrived just yet, so I don't know.

Interesting question though. The stereo phasers are the main reason I bought the RSP-550 so I'm really looking forward to giving them a workout.

BTW, do you still have your SDX-330?

How would you compare the chorus and other modulation effects on the SDX to the RSP? The SDX doesn't have any phaser algos onboard IIRC.

No Heaven preset.

I do love the phaser, flanger, and delays on the 550.

Preset 33 is another borrowed classic in v 1.04 -- Tiled Room. lol

Battery replacement. One of mine just came up with a Low Battery message earlier this week.
Naturally I didn't write down what's needed, so I'll have to open it up and see what's there. Likely a soldered coin type cell.

There's 199 slots for presets. 161 - 199 are templates for each of the algorithms. The manual that's on-line seems to be for v 1.03 (Heaven is #33 )

Out of curiosity- how does this Tiled Room sound in comparison to the PCM-70 it borrows from?

I have a PCM 70 also, so I'll be able to tell you in a couple of days!

Tiled Room on the PCM 70 is almost like a chorus, except with a better defined sense of space. It would be awesome if the RSP could cover it.

Thanks - really good info.

Speaking of the PCM 70, curious to know if Roland threw out any preset baby with the bathwater from v1.03 to v1.04 like Lexicon did with PCM 70 v2 to v3, .

If so, I can create a sysex file that includes the RSP v 1.03 presets that didn't make it over.