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Binson Buyer’s Guide

Caveat emptor! 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 a veritable minefield littered with booby traps and all kinds of hidden pitfalls, traps that can cost the unsuspecting buyer an arm and a leg if they’re not careful. The best means of defence is education—forewarned is forearmed—and in that spirit this article sets out to inform, to map out the perils and problems an echo enthusiast is likely run into when entering the unknown territory of purchasing an Echorec.

Introduction

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 asking a few simple questions can help you ascertain something about the condition the machine’s in.

Questions such as: Has the machine been well maintained? Can you tell me a little about the history of the machine? How long have you owned it? Has any restoration or modification work ever been undertaken? That kind of thing. These general questions can give you at least some idea what you’re getting into, and perhaps reveal a great deal more. But specific questions are even more revealing. Questions such as the following.

What state is the wiring in?

Machines manufactured from the early 1960s (when Bisnon 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 3000RPM 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 all 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 N.O.S. 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 N.O.S. Mullard, Brimar and Sylvania ECC82 and ECC83 tubes too.

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 be aligned to a high degree of accuracy. If the machine hasn’t been maintained properly then the heads will have worn adversely and they will require relapping (profiling) to enable setup. This is inevitable. Note: to perform the job properly an oscilloscope and signal generator must be used, not by ear.

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 drum pictured is slightly distorted and in use the 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?

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. Also parking the idler wheel against the drum will distort it’s shape making it lopsided. This lack of concentricity will cause speed variation (‘wow’). The wheel can be re-profiled to restore the original hi-fidelity performance of the machine, but this takes time and money.

Conclusion

Getting answers to the questions above will put you on much surer footing when purchasing an Echorec. Bear in mind restoration work can range from hundreds to well over a thousand pounds depending on the answers you get. So, if the machine owns any of these issues—and it almost certainly will—then you can subtract the cost of remedying them from the currently accepted sale value of a fully, properly restored machine and then calculate how much you should pay the seller for their Echorec—simple, eh?

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 these things will have been checked—the machine will be tip-top… right? Well, probably best not to let down your guard down just yet. Bear in mind you could be spending as much as an additional one or two thousand pounds on a refurbished machine; at those kind of prices you’re entitled to expect “Platinum” customer service. So, for example, it’s reasonable to ask if the lubrication/cleaning pads, the anti-vibration mounts on the motor and the electrolytic smoothing capacitors been replaced with new. Moreover, have electronic components such as resistors been checked for drift. 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?

Just one more thing. Even die hard Binson 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 tampered with in effort 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. So stay low, keep your eyes peeled and stay alert at all times. Caveat emptor Echorec amator. Caveat emptor!

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Binson Buyer’s Guide