Binson Echorec

[ramalamafafafa]

Has anyone built a binson echorec 2?. The schematics look realy quite difficult? Anyone have an experience building/owning one..............ohhh, for anyone who was curious, the echorec 2 is tube-echo unit built in the sixties.

[Nigel Goodwin]

I would have thought the electronics would be crude and simple (like all valve stuff), it's the mechanics that are likely to be the difficult part.

[ramalamafafafa]

Hmmmmm, i would think the mechanics are the easy part! Im somewhat of a beginner in electronics, so it all looks kinda complicated and difficult!

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by ramalamafafafa
Hmmmmm, i would think the mechanics are the easy part! Im somewhat of a beginner in electronics, so it all looks kinda complicated and difficult!

Why do you wish to try and built such an antique anyway?, things have moved on a lot since then

So what particular problems are you having, or anticipating?.

[ramalamafafafa]

Im basicly thinking it will be a mind numbing task to follow a schematic that large (its all sorta large to me, as ive not been into electronics for very long!!!). I realy love the sound of those old echo units......................they've long since become outmoded and obsolete, but they have a strange sound quality to them that i dig. (it could be described as "fantasticly lo-fi and crappy!"). This particular unit has a number of sounds and features i like....Anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed an early pink floyd vid knows what im talkin' 'bout!

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by ramalamafafafa
This particular unit has a number of sounds and features i like....Anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed an early pink floyd vid knows what im talkin' 'bout!

I suspect that the sound you like isn't so much this particular unit, but the quality and skills of Pink Floyd

Like I said before though, the electronics looks pretty simple, just a collection of triodes - but the mechanical part is likely to be tricky, and probably requires special transformers to interface to as well.

[ramalamafafafa]

Yes and no. Ive also heard rather terrible guitarists play through it and i still loved its tone....i have a schematic, im just a little bit...............................overwhelmed???? (i can read em, just.............)

[ramalamafafafa]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, i think the mechanical part is basicly a motor running from the transformer, fairly simple i would think. You are right, the electronics are realy just a number of triodes (six to be exact).

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by ramalamafafafa
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, i think the mechanical part is basicly a motor running from the transformer, fairly simple i would think. You are right, the electronics are realy just a number of triodes (six to be exact).

How would that give echo?, you need to record the audio, and play it back after a delay - from the Binson website

Binsons were unique in their construction, utilising a specially designed steel/alloy disc drum, which carried a durable flat metal 'tape'. The life of these drums are 40 years plus at the time of writing. The drum was driven by a powerful AC motor, in most cases, via a rubber jockey wheel, which kept the transport very stable. Record and playback heads were arranged around the drum periphery, the longest delay, or playback echo being a nominal 350 - 375 milliseconds.

[ramalamafafafa]

Well yes, the motor spins a metal disc which has a number of playback haeds, a record head, and a erase head. As the disc spins, the signal is recorded to the disc, then played back via the playback heads. It is essentialy a tape player, like all tape/disc echos. Probably should have added that "minor" detail!