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About the US-2:
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For those of you unfamiliar with the US-2, you plug a vintage Roland guitar synth controller, like a G-202, G-303, G-808, G-808, or a bass unit like the G-88 or G-77 into the female 24-pin input connector. Plug the channel A and B outputs into a vintage synth, and you now can play either synth A, synth B, or both. The US-2 receives its power from synth A. However, you can plug a bus converter, like a BX-13 into the synth B output, enabling you to play a 24-pin and 13-pin synth at the same time.
If you are familiar with how the GR-300, GR-33B or GR-100 look when they are working, well, you get the same light show! The front panel LEDs flash just like they do on the synths, until you push down on the footswitch and engage an output. Then the respective LED lights solid.
Inside the US-2:
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MES Online Auction Photos:
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These photos are from an excellent auction run in 2006 by MES Online. This was perhaps the nicest US-2 that I have ever seen. The US-2 also included a shorty C-24D cable as well.
Volume Levels with the US-2:
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- I noticed one day that my GR-300 seem slightly lower in volume when I was using the US-2. I wondered if distributing the strings signals was lowering the output. I did some tests with my oscilloscope and the individual string levels seemed to be identical. Then I decided to check the voltage of control line nine, or synthesizer volume. Sure enough, the switching system in the US-2 slightly reduces the over all master synthesizer volume.
For my tests I used a G-505 plugged into a US-2, then I plugged a GR-300 into Synth Output A, and a GR-700 into Synth Output B. I used a multimeter to measure the synthesizer volume voltage directly at the 24-pin connector inside the GR-300. The voltage was 10.77 volts with the US-2. However, when I removed the US-2 from the circuit, and plugged the G-505 directly into the GR-300, the voltage went up to 11.90 volts, or about ten percent higher.
Heart of a Multi-Synthesizer System:
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As the above photos show, the US-2 can be used with either vintage Roland guitar, or bass, systems. Thanks to Pablo Leocata for the photo of his dream bass system!
Video Demo of this US-2 in Action:
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| A Parker Nitefly with factory Roland MIDI GK pickup installed drives a Roland GR-300 and GR-700 with a Roland US-2. |
Download the US-2 Owner’s Manual
GR-100, GR-300, US-2, G-505 and G-202 Magazine Advertising:
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This advertisement originally appeared in the February 1982 issue of International Musician and Recording World magazine!
Rocking out with state-of-the-art Roland guitar synth gear is Andy Powell, the guitarist for the popular British group, Wishbone Ash. This is a rare magazine ad that shows all the latest Roland synth gear fully setup. In addition to the G-505, GR-100 and GR-300, there is a Roland US-2, plus a GR-300 three-way control switch hooked up, along with a filter pedal for the GR-300. And in the background is a Roland G-202 guitar! How popular was this rig? It is the same setup as described in the Mix Magazine article detailing Andy Summers’ rig for Every Breath You Take. Click on the image to see a larger version of this advertisement. |
