The line to instrument signal issue is easily adapted by lowering volume on the synth and/or using a little helper such as Radial Engineering’s StageBug 6. When you encounter this signal issue, the synth sounds as if distorted. You may also hear clicks and other noises.
Thank you very much. This is what I suspected, just looking for confirmation.
First observations :
- It sounds great, no doubt. I love the Saturation, the Wow&Flutter and the other Reverb Algos.
- Line Level is annoying (the minute you start playing Chords, it distorts)
- The way to change the Reverb Algo is annoying (you have to unplug the pedal). I know there is Memories and that you can put one Algo per Memory but…
I’m picky when it comes to workflow and little things like these make me doubtful about the product. The choices that companies make for their devices sometimes upset me. Why do you put a Line Level if it can’t take Line Level? I don’t want to buy another device to compensate the Line Level or reduce the Volume of my Synths to accomodate the pedal. I will return the pedal.
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I was also annoyed by the points mentioned. Not enough tho. I kept the unit.
Since you plan to return the unit maybe take a look at the Strymon Volante,
that was recommended to me from ex-re 202 owners a lot.
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Adding an attenuator is what you need when you want to couple a synth with any guitar pedal.
Alternatively, Strymon Volante is great. It has a line level switch and you can pan its delays in the stereo space. I love the Volante.
UAFX Galaxy is the other big contender for tape echo. Apparently, it is the best emulation available. Compared to Volante, Galaxy is more specialised and less flexible feature wise (no MIDI, less presets, requires the app, etc).
No clue how nice it plays with line level - in any case, the UAFX Golden Reverberator has zero issue with line level.
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Ow sorry you did not like it. I’m with you on the workflow criterion: very important to me. I prefer less sonic possibilities with a fluid workflow than the converse.
I had read the news when it came out but wasn’t aware of all the hidden features you mentioned earlier, by the way. It did not put me on the fence but was a good surprise. But the points you detail now take the fence a little further, will stick to my RE20.
I’m not especially Boss enthusiastic (I use only one) but I like this RE20 very much. I use it mainly with a Moog synth routed into a Tech21 amp sim. I haven’t compared the direct sound and the bypassed signal, but haven’t noticed anything obvious when using it.
That being said, you can guess that a synth in an amp sim may sound dirty (the amp sim is not alwys on though) and the RE20 reverb is quite dirty too… I mean: I like this kind of sound so I might just not pay attention about a possible loss in signal quality.
Paradoxally, I now care about this 
Its a great echo, volante has a better sound in my opinion.
I love the Volante’s interface and sound. There are also UAFX Galaxy and Starlight.
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I always limit myself to 1 unit because I already have a lot of options.
I went the other way. While I liked the Volante build and features better, sound wise it wasn’t close for me. Sold the Volante and kept the 202.