0
Shopping cart
0
Cart is Empty

Paying for the beat of a new drum

Or, to put it another way, things you should know when buying a new old stock (N.O.S.) ‘Echorec’ drum. Whether you’re the proud owner of a Binson Echorec or a tech who makes a humble living repairing and servicing these old echo machines you’re undoubtedly more than interested in finding out as much as you can on how to get the best audio performance from your machine and look after your investment too. Yes, investment. There was a time when Echorecs were just tools of the trade, used and loved by musicians and studio engineers, but over the years they’ve also become collectors items too. This is partly because the Echorec is a beautiful example of stylish, vintage Italian engineering, the ‘Ferrari’ of echo effects, and partly it’s association with progressive rock band ‘Pink Floyd’. And perhaps ‘association’ is putting it mildly, it could be argued that the Echorec actually defined the sound of The Floyd at the band’s zenith in the mid to late 1970s.

So Echorec prices have steadily escalated over the years as they’ve become more collectable and this includes the the price of Binson manufactured parts too, such as the magnetic drum. The cost of a used or N.O.S. drum can range from anything between £200 to £600. At that price you want to be sure you’re not going to be lumbered with a dead beat drum, so here are a few key pointers on what to look out for.

1. Make sure the drum is supplied with it’s bearing housing. Binson had the drum/bearing housing assembly manufactured by an automotive company to very fine tolerances. They ship as a matched pear—a drum without a bearing housing is useless.

2. Make a close examination of the drum face at about 100X magnification to check the integrity of the recording wire wrapped around its circumference. The wire can become corroded or damaged if the machine has not been maintained properly and the surface kept lightly oiled.

3. Additionally, check the wire surface is milled flat. A seller may have attempted to rethread the drum with new recording wire. If the Echorec is to perform properly, that is produce hi-fidelity sound, the wire must be milled so that the record/playback heads make good contact with drum face. More importantly, unmilled wire presents an uneven surface to the tape heads resulting in adverse wear and shortening the life of all five heads.

More in-depth technical, servicing and historical information on these fabulous echo machines can be found on our Binson Echorec Pages.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_GRECAPTCHA	5 months 27 days	This cookie is set by Google. In addition to certain standard Google cookies, reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	1 year	Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
JSESSIONID		Cookie used to allow the Worldpay payment gateway on the website to function.
machine		Cookie used to allow the Worldpay payment gateway on the website to function.
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
wordpress_logged_in_		Users are those people who have registered an account with the WordPress site. On login, WordPress uses the wordpress_[hash] cookie to store your authentication details. Its use is limited to the Administration Screen area, /wp-admin/ After login, WordPress sets the wordpress_logged_in_[hash] cookie, which indicates when you’re logged in, and who you are, for most interface use. WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.
wordpress_sec_	1 year	Provide protection against hackers, store account details.
wordpress_test_cookie		Test to see if cookies are enabled.
wp-settings-	1 year	WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_ga	2 years	The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gid	1 day	Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.

Cookie	Duration	Description
mailchimp_landing_site	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp_user_email	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp_user_previous_email	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp.cart.current_email		This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp.cart.previous_email		This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.

Shopping cart