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Buying a Binson?

Buyer beware! Never a truer word has been spoken in the time-ravaged, decaying and crumbling landscape of antiquated, hand-me-down, echo machines. Purchasing a Binson ‘Echorec’ is an unending minefield littered with hidden booby traps and gotchas that can cost the unsuspecting buyer an arm and a leg if they don’t tread with extreme care. Even die hard Echorec veterans, vintage gear repair men, good men who’ve been in the field for many years get caught out, taking a bad hit that halts their Echorec repair work dead in its tracks. Hits such as an open circuit playback head, or the recording wire unravelling from the magnetic drum, or even tackling a faulty machine that some rookie has previously hacked in an attempt to repair or improve its performance. This kind of fallout is beyond the capabilities of even the most experienced guitar amp servicing specialist or repair tech and the unsuspecting buyer doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of dealing with it.

The best means of defence is education—forewarned is forearmed—so saddle up, we’re going in to map out the perils and pitfalls an Echorec buyer will encounter when entering the unknown territory of purchasing a vintage machine.

Basic training

In their heyday Echorecs were an expensive piece of real estate, being a top-of-the-line, studio echo effect. They’re still pricey today—pricey to get hold of and pricey to restore. When purchasing a machine from a private seller, or a vintage musical equipment dealer, it’s worth asking a few pointed questions. Questions such as:

How long have you owned the machine?
Has the machine been well maintained and serviced?
Can you tell me a little about the history of the machine?
Has any restoration or modification work ever been undertaken?

That kind of thing. The fourth point is particularly important as modifications, such as stripping out the original electronic components, such as capacitors, resistors or motors, ruin the machine’s authenticity and destroy its historical value. Not only that, these hacks drastically reduce the long term resale value of the machine.

These general questions can give you at least some idea what you’re getting into, and, more often than not, reveal some hidden problem lurking within the machine. However, more targeted questions can be even more telling: Questions such as the following.

What state is the wiring in?

Machines manufactured from the early 1960s (when Binson relocated to their new, larger factory premises) onwards until at least the late 1970s possess a serious problem with the insulation of the internal screened and single core wiring, which degrades and breaks down. In the process of entropy it exudes corrosive ooze and releases gases. These corrosive chemical discharges attack the steel chassis leaving ugly looking stains and dissolve the copper wire, ultimately creating open circuit connections where the Echorec fails to pass any signal. The rotten old wiring needs to be replaced with new and there’s no way to skimp on this job—ALL the the rotten wire must be replaced. This is labour-intensive work as the machine needs to be partially stripped-down, panels removed, etc to gain access to the wiring and do a good job. Fortunately the wire insulation of the mains transformer is not made of the same type of plastic so doesn’t exhibit this problem.

Are the motor bushings intact?

The shaded-pole motor bushings are self-lubricating. And this is true, over a period of quite a few years, however over many decades they do ultimately dry out and the motor requires disassembly, cleaning and the bushing pads lubricating. In mild cases the frictional loss leads to motor speed instability (‘flutter’). In severe cases the thrust bearing housing disintegrates, as shown in the photograph on the left, and requires replacement. If this motor is run the rotor shaft, which spins at 3000 rpm will eventually wear it’s way through what’s left of the plastic bearing surround, the rotor will drop and its cooling fins will smash against the diecast zinc bearing housing. They may get bent or even ripped off by the force of the collision.

Are the tubes healthy?

Vacuum tubes can fail for many reasons. For instance air might find its way into the glass envelope through a tiny fracture as shown in the photo. Or, the cathode may be noisy, or the tube may be microphonic (pick up external vibration), or it might simply be getting old and losing its mojo. Over the years the cathode coating inside a signal tube loses it’s emissivity, that is its ability to emit electrons. Also, the phosphor (the bit that glows green) on the target of the ‘magic eye’ indicator tube ages, loses ability to fluoresce and becomes dim. The only solution is to replace the magic eye with an old one as EM81 magic eye tubes are no longer manufactured. But beware they are becoming scarce and that scarcity is driving up prices. The ECC82 and ECC83 tubes utilised in the Echorec are readily available as new from manufacturers such as JJ. It’s still also possible to get hold of NOS Philips ‘Miniwatt’ ECC82 and ECC83 tubes that were originally fitted in these machines.

Are the heads in good shape?

Literally, the heads need to be in good shape. A tape head has to be exactly the right shape to make good contact with the recording medium. Critical if the medium happens to be iron oxide coated plastic tape, super-critical if the medium is a metal drum as in the Echorec. To realise the machine’s original hi-fidelity performance the heads must have the correct profile and be aligned properly. If the machine hasn’t been maintained then the heads will have worn adversely and they will require relapping (profiling) to enable setup. This is inevitable. To do the job properly an oscilloscope and signal generator must be used, not by ear. Note: if purchasing a machine from a dealer do ask them if they’ve adjusted the heads to ensure that their output levels are within ±0.5dB of each other and that the upper frequency response of each head is good to 8KHz.

Further, do check that some inexperienced tech hasn’t inadvertently installed a playback head where the record head should be—it seems incredible, however there are vintage gear dealers cannibalising old Echorecs for spare parts who are blissfully unaware that there is a fundamental difference in the operation between the record and playback heads. The two types of head are physically and electrically different. Playback heads have a narrow gap to maximise their high frequency response, however are not great at “printing” or recording a signal onto the magnetic drum. A record head has wider gap, which enables the magnetic flux to permeate deeper into the medium and print a stronger signal onto the drum. Record and playback heads can be easily distinguished from one another: a record head has green/yellow wires coming from it, whereas a playback head has green/white wires.

Does the magnetic drum come up to scratch?

It’s worth closely examining the drum surface, with a magnifying glass in good light, for dents and corrosion. And check to see that the wire wrapped around it isn’t becoming loose, or has it been rewound and not milled flat properly as shown in the photograph. The wire is sloppily wound and hasn’t been milled flat. This pretty much guarantees that the frequency response and signal-to-noise ratio of the machine will be lousy, no matter how many long hours are spent tinkering with the heads. Additionally, take a look examine the concentricity of the drum to make sure it’s not been knocked or dropped at some point. Although you can’t see it from the photo, the circumference of the drum pictured is slightly distorted and in use this causes excessive ‘wow’. Another thing to be aware of is that the drum housing and the hardened steel shaft of the drum itself should be cleaned and regreased every decade or so as old grease hardens and drys leading to increased friction and wear.

Is the idler wheel misshapen?

Being fabricated from rubber, the idler wheel is the weak link in the Echorec’s drive train. The vulcanised rubber utilised in its manufacture has a relatively short shelf life of ten years. This means that even the idlers in Binson’s newest machines, made during the the late 1970s, are many decades past their sell-by date. The problem is that the physical composition of the rubber changes over time. As it ages it becomes harder and less flexible until the wheel can no longer grip and maintain traction against the steel motor spindle and drum. This part is well overdue for replacement—it was never intended to function for fifty years. The performance of the Echorec will be compromised, meaning poor rotational stability (increased wow & flutter) and/or problems with the wheel slipping against the motor/drum on startup.

There are additional complications. If the idler wheel has been parked against the steel motor spindle for a long period of time the spindle will eventually make an impression, a small dint in the rubber. This will cause the delay time of the echo repeats to jump or glitch. Further, parking the idler wheel against the drum will distort it’s shape making it lopsided. Again, this lack of concentricity will result in speed variation (‘wow’) during operation. Once the rubber has hardened indentations cannot be removed by heat or chemical treatments. The only option is to re-profile or retread the wheel, however that still leaves the issue of age-hardened rubber that’s significantly outside it’s original specification. Abrasion using fine grit papers and chemical treatments, such MG ‘Rubber Renue’ 408-A, can help improve traction to restore some of the original hi-fidelity performance of the machine, but it will not make the rubber new again.

Has it been hacked?

Believe it or not there are still folks out there vandalising vintage gear—even Echorecs—in an ill-considered attempt to improve it, somehow. Now, we’re all guilty of doing stupid things from time to time. In my younger days I’ve ‘hot-rodded’ one or two classic guitar amps to add additional tubes in the preamp stage. This involved cutting holes in the chassis to mount a couple of additional tube sockets—not clever and not cool. I soon learned to leave vintage stuff alone and build my own stuff instead.

Some of the worse Echorec hacks include gutting all the electronic components, such as mustard capacitors, and replacing them with new, stripping out the original wiring when it’s not necessary to do so, over-painting the original hammered gold finish black or blue, even fitting green LEDs where there were once filament lamps. But the worst hack of all is the current fad for swapping out the powerful Binson motor for a mechanically noisy low torque DC motor, transforming the Echorec into little more than a lo-fi grunge machine, a.k.a. a tin of rusty old nails. And this is despite the fact there are numerous delay pedals out there that do a passing impression of a tired, beat-up old Binson.

Be aware there are quite a few machines out there that have been hacked in this way: the substantial 40 watt shaded-pole motor replaced with a chickenshit 7 watt DC motor. These puny little motors, such as the Trident Engineering Ltd. 2-40/0712 (40mm ⌀, 7W, 12V) are simply not up to the job. Binson UK soon became aware of this fact and switched to using 12 watt motors Trident Engineering Ltd. Part number: 2-40/1212 (40mm ⌀, 12W, 12V) in an effort to obtain enough torque to drive the drum properly. It works, but not brilliantly. Not only do these motors lack the necessary muscle to do the job, they’re also mechanically noisy; an unwelcome annoyance; it’s off-putting, worrying even, to hear your musical gear producing sounds that are not part of your live performance: not desirable by any measure.

Vari-speed mod — Got torque? On the left: a Trident 7W, 6mNm DC motor used for vari-speed control. On the right: an original Binson 40W, 20mNm shaded-pole AC motor.

This mindset goes completely counter to the designer’s, Ing. Bini‘s, original vision for his Echorec delay-echo unit:

Binson designed the Echorec to be a hi-fidelity echo machine.

To that end Bini engineered a seamless, perfectly concentric magnetic disc recording media and took advantage of the latest innovations in AC tape bias to ensure exceptional audio quality. To repeat, for the hackers sat on the back row: exceptional audio quality. The delay and echo effects generated by a new Echorec, fresh out of the factory in 1963, were clear, rich and deep, in short, audio nirvana.

And keep in mind, each hack chips away at the historical integrity of the machine, gradually eroding its authenticity and value, until ultimately there comes a point at which the machine is no longer a Binson any more. Hackers, like the rodents in my mom’s backyard, cause a lot of damage, which is expensive and in many cases impossible to put right again. Be assured, there’s a special place in hell for those who bastardize Binsons. Hackers take note:

Any work on vintage equipment should be done sympathetically.

To get an idea of what I’m talking about take a look, this restoration of an early Hammond ‘Novachord’ tube synthesiser is a fabulous example of sympathetic restoration. This beautiful old synthesiser was painstakingly restored with minimal disruption to it’s vintage character and charm. Even the capacitors were rebuilt, rather then replaced, ensuring the internals retain their original appearance.

One last thing. Hacking an Echorec is a really, really expensive way of obtaining a lo-fi delay effect. If grunge is your thing then you might be better off with one the numerous ‘Echorec’ branded stompboxes out there—they’ll do the job more than adequately, and save you several thousand bucks and a whole world of trouble.

Dodgy dealer?

Of course, if you’re purchasing a refurbished machine from a vintage gear dealer, a specialist in servicing and restoring musical instrument equipment, then all the things mentioned above will have been checked—the machine will be tip-top, right? Wrong. The reality is that pretty much all machines sold on the secondhand market—which is the only market for Echorecs—privately or through dealers do not pass muster. So, do not to let your guard down just yet.

Today, there are no authorised Binson dealers to service or repair Echorecs.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are still a few good men out there—men who really know their stuff and are doing good work—but they’re not easy to find. They don’t broadcast about it; they just quietly get on with it, in the knowledge that the quality of their work speaks for itself. The bad guys are dead easy spot though, for the simple reason they’re jamming all frequencies yattering on about how great they are. If they really were that good would they feel the need to go on about it… at great length? Don’t get suckered into it; they’re kidding themselves, and they’ll try and kid you too.

Brüel & Kjær dB Meter — Echorec restoration work requires not only expertise but advanced electronic test equipment, such as this Brüel & Kjær Random Noise Generator.

The bottom line is: there aren’t any real Binson experts around anymore. All Binson’s authorised dealerships closed shop years ago and none of the accumulated knowledge, service information, test procedures, schematics and spare parts were passed on. The Echorec servicing business then became a free-for-all for any ragtag and bobtail who wanted to try their luck, set up shop and stake a claim as a bona fide Binson guru. Let me tell you that most of these folks do not know what they are doing; they don’t possess the tools or the expertise to do the job properly: Ergo, a pristine, pre-owned, factory calibrated Echorec is not the norm.

In fact there aren’t many musicians who know what a brand new model T7E Echorec, fresh off the Binson production line, sounds like; those who do remember would be over seventy years old—it was that long ago.

This brings me on to another point: don’t give too much credence to the opinions of other Echorec users or dealers, especially those who claim to be the best of the best of the best. Claims like “We have decades of experience.” or “We have satisfied customers all over the world.” mean diddly squat, unless they’re backed by hard evidence. By hard evidence I mean measurements made with electronic test instrumentation, such as oscilloscopes, signal generators, and the like.

⅓ Octave Frequency Analysis — Frequency analysis made the old-fashioned way using a Brüel & Kjær ⅓ Octave Filter and Chart Recorder.

Such measurements are a vital and necessary part of the calibration process and any dealer in the business of restoring Echorecs should be willing to share their test results with you, if they’re worth their salt. So ask many questions, preferably “difficult”, pointed questions. Keep in mind you’ll be paying a hefty premium, an additional several thousand bucks for a refurbished machine; at those prices you’re entitled to expect “Platinum” customer service.

Before buying a restored Echorec make sure you see a copy of the test and calibration results first.

It’s entirely reasonable to ask if they’ve fitted new lubrication/cleaning pads, oiled the sintered bearings inside the motor, installed new anti-vibration mounts, retreaded the rubber on the idler wheel, and relapped the heads—ask if the “gap” is opening on any of the heads or to see test results for measured inductance and frequency response graphs. And ask if they’ve matched the output level of all four playback heads to within a dB and checked their comparative frequency responses using a calibrated spectrum analyser, and ask if they’ve measured the wow & flutter of the machine with a calibrated meter. Ask to them to produce a copy of the results for these tests.

Further, ask them if they’ve checked all the electronic components—capacitors, resistors and potentiometers—for open circuit or drift. Find out if they found any faulty components and if they replaced like-for-like; the original Italian manufactured parts can still be found, that is, if you know where to look. You can even ask if they’ve polished the scratches out of the front panel. After all, if you were purchasing a second hand car you’d expect the oil and filters to have been changed, the car valeted and any scratches polished out of the trim wouldn’t you? And, most importantly of all, find out if the machine’s been hacked—you don’t want to pay top dollar for a machine that some tenderfoot has shoehorned his homemade ‘Veroboard’ (‘stripboard’) vari-speed circuit into, left it dangling on a couple of wires and then stitched the whole mess together like Frankenstein’s monster.

In Conclusion

Quite a list, eh? But getting honest answers to these questions will put you on much surer footing when purchasing an Echorec and could save you a lot of money. So do interrogate the seller thoroughly—give ’em the third degree, as restoration work can range from hundreds to well over one, or even two thousand dollars. If you discover the machine owns any of the problems described—and it almost certainly will—you should subtract the cost of remedying them from the current accepted sale value of a fully, properly restored Echorec. In short, pay them their asking price minus the cost of putting the machine right.

Just one more thing. If you can lay your hands on an unsullied and unspoiled machine, then you are in possession of a rare and precious thing; something more valuable than gold: the Echorec’s inspirational sound is priceless. There’s nothing⁠—⁠no VST plugin, no digital emulation, simulation, none of the myriad of solid-state, transistorised, DSP based stompbox “Echorec” wannabes—that even come close to the rich, swirling, lush tones these magnificent machines generate, in short:

If it hasn’t got a spinning drum then it’s not an Echorec.

So be patient and keep watch—somewhere out there, on that vast wasteland of cheap, here-today-gone-tomorrow imitations and broken, beat up and botched machines, your dream Echorec is waiting to be found…

This is Phil, last surviving Echorec engineer for Binson, signing off.

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