A blog where I share hopefully useful information on audio gear.
AudioExMachina Echorec
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Binson Echorec Bible
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audioexmachina 
January 9th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
I’m intrigued as to what leads you to have an interest in analogue tape. Are you maintaining machines for use in modern recording? Is there a big enough market for it?
Nice blog š
January 12th, 2012 at 1:03 am
Simon, thanks for writing the first comment ever. I’m happy you did as I noticed there wasn’t a proper about page here, this reply will do as a temporary about page now. I took the picture above to celebrate!
> Iām intrigued as to what leads you to have an interest in analogue tape.
First let me say that other topics, beyond tape, will be covered. I happened to be servicing my half track last week when starting this blog, so I had tape-related resources handy for early posts.
My broad interest in analogue comes from the need for a sense of balance and completeness, having producted digital audio tools as a profession. Analogue devices act as sources of inspiration to me, as they provide quite a different user experience when interacting and/or listening.
Beside generic motivations related to analogue technology, I’d like to add one thing specific to tape.
Personally, additional interest in tape machines relates to the way I (was trained to?) perceive artworks. That would be: main content in foreground, some form of substrate in background. The substrate being canvas for paintings, dusted and scratched film for movies, grainy film for B/W photo prints.
I tend to view the substrate as integral part of the artwork. It provides foundation and contrast to the foreground. It reveals itself by emitting artifacts (noise, glitches,..) and/or colouring the foreground (saturation, spectral alteration, …).
Analogue machines are beautiful sources of such partially unpredictable textures. The name of the blog is a little joke about this, in latin: “audio ex machina”, literally “I hear something from the machine”, in my intention doesn’t refer to signals normally reproduced by a sonic machine but rather to additional noises generated by the machine itself, be they expected or not.
> Are you maintaining machines for use in modern recording?
Yes, I do basic mantainance on some analog device (however the devices that I know inside out are the Echorecs, which are delays and technically are wire recorders, using metal instead of polymers as substrate) but that’s for my personal use (recording projects, measurements for developing prototypes related to digital projects). I don’t perform servicing as a business.
> Is there a big enough market for it?
Regarding tapes unfortunately I’m not in the position for answering, being a user. There’s surely an active market worldwide but maybe too sparse for running a large business. Otari still makes a deck, and another one is from Nagra (mono).
In France Pyral should start making tapes this year. There’s no much left regarding new products, however there’s plenty of second hand, top-quality devices on sale on the internet. The most important supply would be new tape, let’s see what happens in France.
Thank for now Simon, I’ll visit your cool blog often.
February 23rd, 2012 at 6:57 am
I am looking for help getting a schematic/ manual or both for my recently acquired Binson Echorec T6F-A
Can you please help?
February 23rd, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Congratulations for your new Echorec! A section of this site will cover specifically the Binson Echorec soon. Meanwhile I’m sending you an email right now.
May 26th, 2012 at 6:44 am
Would you mind resending more info to me? I think I found a tech to help me! I need a schematic
alldaylongrecords@gmail.com
THANK YOU!!
June 6th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Material sent to you right now!
November 16th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Binson Milan in 1982 built an echo called Electronic Echo EL20 based on MN3005 very similar to the model MONACOR EEM 3005. It is not clear if this machine is sold but there are prototypes available.
I have pictures, AD and schematics.
January 10th, 2013 at 12:25 am
Yes Luigi, great info. I’ve seen pictures of one single EL20 at a repair shop earlier. At present it isn’t listed on the Echorec Bible as it isn’t an electro-mechanical unit, however the bible will be later expanded with other Echorec-related items, such as the Binson Tube Reverb and probably the EL20. Thanks.
January 9th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Great to see your site! I have a T6F-A in Arizona. Can I also get that schematic/material you sent to Alldaylongrecords? Thx. This one is complete, dry signal comes through, magic eye works, but delay signal is not coming through….Thank you
January 10th, 2013 at 12:59 am
Welcome Kevin, I’ve just sent you the schematic by email.
January 10th, 2013 at 3:01 am
Thank you. I appreciate your help.
March 4th, 2013 at 8:43 pm
Thanks for posting and organizing all this amazing info on the Binsons.
I have wanted to see if I could get your opinion on a couple problems I have had with my Echorec. Keep up the great work!
March 4th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
Yes, feel free to post your questions here, you’re welcome.
April 27th, 2013 at 6:36 pm
Hi, wonderful site loaded with very useful information for us Echorec fanatics! I very much could use a copy of the T6F-A schematic for my restoration.
April 29th, 2013 at 9:31 am
Check your mail, schematic sent right now. Thanks for visiting the Echorec Bible.
May 26th, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Hi, first of all I have to say this is awesome site! I bought a binson echorec p.e. 603 t-6 and I have to fix it becase it’s a very bad shape, anyway I need of the schematics for this model and I can’t really find it. May you help me please?
May 26th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Excellent choice! Transistor or tube model?
June 29th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
sorry for my late. It’s a transistor model, I found the schematics but I’m still on work with my binson. Really it was in worst conditions. This morning for the first time I turned it on, the motor ran, the lights were on but I guess there is some cable in not the right place. Little by little it will be perfect.
June 7th, 2013 at 1:17 am
Any recommendations for replacement Binson 2 tube sockets?
June 7th, 2013 at 6:50 am
You’re looking for Noval B9A sockets. See if you can repair them (they are simple components) before considering replacement as non-original parts impact on the unit’s value. Always look for NOS (new old stock) parts first when deciding for replacement.
June 8th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Hmm… my Binson’s sockets look like this http://imgur.com/41h3v My tech says he is having a hard time sourcing replacement sockets. He can’t troubleshoot because the sockets are corroded past the point of repair/cleaning. Should I try to find the ones pictured or get the one’s you suggested?
June 8th, 2013 at 5:14 pm
To me, they look like Noval, like the ones I suggested. Good news is that they are still produced today.
Note that Noval sockets come in two flavours: chassis and PCB mounting. On one of the Echorec2’s here (a T5E with point-to-point wiring) I have chassis-mounted Novals, with a couple of screws holding each socket. In your unit, which uses a PCB instead of point-to-point, you have the socket pins soldered directly to the printed circuit (PCB).
That being said, just do an Ebay or Google Image search for “noval pcb” and you’ll recognize the sockets you’re looking for. (if you type “noval chassis” instead, you’ll find the sockets used in the T5E, with holes for the two screws mentioned above).
The metal skirts (or collars) you see around your sockets are grounded and meant to hold in place optional aluminium caps. You can mount sockets without collars (so, no caps), but you’ll find also sockets with collars on sale. If you look closely the collars of your sockets, you’ll see a small bump: that’s for locking the cap in place. If you order Noval sockets with collars, be sure they have a similar bump, as some types include springs (or other methods) and you don’t want them.
Just BE SURE to order the version for PCB mounting, not for chassis mounting. Some versions are compatible with both chassis and PCB mounting, even with collars.
Online shops usually provide tech specs and drawings, check mechanical measures and verify by measuring your original sockets. If you’re unsure, show what you found online to your technician before ordering and let him decide.
In any case, take the original sockets when removed and keep them in a safe place for a possible future restoration (by you or another owner).
June 9th, 2013 at 1:02 am
OK that makes more sense. the first image I stumbled upon was this: http://i15.ebayimg.com/06/i/08/7b/f1/4b_2.JPG and I was a little [lot] confused. Thanks for the La5YO explanation.
June 9th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Understood. The pic you linked displays a chassis-mount Noval. Note also the small holes in the metal pins: those are for soldering cables. In your case (PCB-mount), pins don’t have holes as they fit into the printed circuit tracks, and there are no cables to be soldered.
June 9th, 2013 at 5:47 pm
On stock 2 Binson ECC83 sockets, 1 Binson ECC82 socket, original parts.
January 6th, 2014 at 6:21 pm
Hallo, i have a echo called “AMPLIFHON milano” and is certainly made āāin the factory of Binson. I have never found some info on the internet. I can’t post pictures here, if you want i can send the pctures to you. This one you miss in your collection.
Gr.
Izy
January 8th, 2014 at 9:02 pm
Email sent, thanks Izy.
February 8th, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Superb discovery. Since today your Amplifon Mod. G7 has his own dedicated section in the Echorec Bible, as it deserves. Thanks for all the material provided, Izy.
February 13th, 2014 at 12:24 am
Well there ya go…thereĀ“s a first for everything. Just “discovered” a Binson tubeamp.
February 13th, 2014 at 8:05 pm
Hi Jesper, Binson made combo tube amps, tube heads, rack power amps with tubes and also solid state, which one is yours?
And… did you complete that Echorec B1s restoration? Nice to see you come back.
February 14th, 2014 at 11:29 am
Thanx for asking. Yep,the old Echorec is up and running and back with itĀ“s owner. Turned out to be a bits work TBH but..yep.
Yeah. I was kind of surprised to see a Binson tube combo for sale on German e-bay recently. Caught my attention to say the least.
That aside iĀ“ve been knee deep in old Klemts and Austrovoxes and what have you not lately. LotĀ“s of old -50Ā“s and -60Ā“s machines being brought out into the open again..
February 14th, 2014 at 9:10 pm
How contact you ?
February 15th, 2014 at 3:13 pm
Hello, when you sign for submitting a comment here, you have the option to provide your email address: if you want to be contacted then just say so in the text of your comment and you’ll receive a private message. I’m sending an email to you right now, thanks for visiting!
February 15th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
“Iām sending an email to you right now, thanks for visiting!”
We have nothing email from you.
Thanks
February 15th, 2014 at 7:35 pm
Yes, unfortunately the email was bounced back by your server at amb*** (you have an antismap filter active). Either provide another email address with a different domain or just wait the opening the audioexmachina forum (it’s in the works, no opening date yet) so you can write there.
Also, I’m retrying to message you to the .fr extension (used .com earlier) but I’m quite sure you should provide a different email domain from a different provider as the filter will block me, please. Note, this is not a filter on your pc, is at your mail-server level.
February 20th, 2014 at 2:53 am
Good Evening. So the shop continues to collect echo machines to fix. I am currently sitting on a “The Plex” echo made by Rock Hard Inc. The device is now working, I replaced the record/erase bias oscillator tube. However, my well trained nose detected heat and one of the voltage regulator transistors is getting a tad warm. I am in need of a schematic. Any ideas where I can get one? Not doing well with google and I cannot deliver this device in this state. Not until I am convinced its right.
Thanks in advance.
BTW I also have one of the original Ecco Fonics here, but the mechanicals are a complete disaster. Sloppy belt, sticky capstan and roller. Not good.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:43 am
Apparently there are no schematics available. The unit dates around 2001. Here are some details about the maker:
Richard Beck
Rock Hard Inc.
2898 S. Southwood Dr.
Warsaw, IN 46580
(574) 269-7351
The company was known also as Playmaster and they were in business from 1998 to 2006.
Richard is now CEO at greystonepublishing
February 20th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
Hello, thanks for this wonderful webpage! Until you put all this together there has been an awful lack of information about all the different echorec models. i’m looking forward to the section on mixers as well. i’m an amp tech/builder for dipinto guitars here in Philadelphia and one of my specialties is vintage tape and magnetic echos. i have restored echorecs, echocords, echolettes, echoplexs, swissechos, copicats, space echos and lots of the cheaper solidstate units. i have 5 tube echos myself, but my echorecs are the best sounding of all of them. Unfortunately they are also by far the hardest to restore. If anyone is looking for a tech in the mid atlantic, has questions or wants to sell me spare parts, haha, you can find me at blacksheepamps@gmail.com.
Thanks again!
-brandon sheppard
February 20th, 2014 at 9:29 pm
Welcome onboard Brandon. Your nick didn’t sound new to me. Google tells me we’ve been posting in an Echorec thread on the plexiboard at vintageamps some time ago. Do you still own that B2?
February 21st, 2014 at 2:36 pm
Yes, i do! It got a complete restoration. i of course replaced all the wiring, the filter caps and about half of the other components including one of the heads and the drum. Someone had painted it black years ago so it got stripped to bare metal and repainted in hammered gold. It sounds amazing and replaced my echocord super 62 as my favorite delay. Along the way someone brought a really rough guild t6fa into the shop. It’s up next for a total rebuild if i can source parts for it.
April 19th, 2014 at 8:10 pm
Hi, both my two transistor echorecs have distortion in the ripetions of the echo and I don’t know why, the heads are aligned, boh, which could be the problem? Second, how can I regular the bias in these machines?
April 20th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
A good way to approach a complex problem is to split it in smaller parts and investigate each separately. If you have an audio scope (a simple cable) and an amp, you may try to follow the signal from input torward the disc and further from the playback heads to the output.
Do this only if you know how and where to apply the audio scope to the internal circuits, otherwise you may damage the unit and/or hurt yourself.
Unfortunately this technique is much simpler (and dangerous) with point-to-point tube models.
Regarding the bias signal: transistor models usually have a 150pf variable capacitor (tube models have a 100pf v.cap).
In some rare case a trimmer replaces the variable cap. Be very very careful when operating on a variable cap that wasn’t mechanically actuated for decades as you may easily break the internal parts. You may want to use a waveform scope to view the bias signal. You can operate on bias also without the waveform scope, just by hearing how it affects the wet audio signal (you can’t hear the bias signal itself), but you need an acceptable quality audio signal to start this, which at this point is not your case.
Be careful.
April 20th, 2014 at 1:28 pm
thank you very much, how concerns the bias I supposed it was the 150pf cap but I thought it’s better ask before touching it. I would like to make something like the specialbinson, putting a pot for the bias. Thank you again. P.s. I have several pieces for binson echorec to sell if someone is interested…..
September 29th, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Hi, I have a Sound City Echomaster 1. Your page is the only place I could find any info on them!
Can you please send me any information you have on them, in particular the trim pots and identifying which is which?
April 2nd, 2015 at 1:49 am
I have a question concerning the bias oscillator circuit on the binson echorec. On the schematics it shows what appears to be a 4-tap choke as part of the circuit to form the LC part of the oscillator, but I cannot find any info about what this choke or inductor is. If you could provide any info, it would help out a lot!
April 5th, 2015 at 6:27 pm
Hi Tom, I see you left an email address, I’m sending you a message right now with info on the oscillator coil. Please see also the comment area at the bottom of the Echorec Bible page for specific discussions about the Echorec. Thanks.
November 26th, 2015 at 2:38 am
Hi, I really appreciate the information on this board. Does anyone know of an outfit or a person (preferably on the West Coast USA) that can rewire and lathe a T7E DRUM? So far, I haven’t seen much information out there concerning PERFORMING the procedure, but plenty of information ABOUT the procedure. I love the sound of the machine and it works ‘fine’, but I can tell there’s a land of shimmering goodness that is a bit obscured right now and I really really want to get there. I had Terry’s Rubber Rollers make me an idler wheel and that solved an existing warble issue. (Should have kept the original for insane modulation effects!) Any tips or suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Cyrus
November 26th, 2015 at 2:20 pm
Cyrus
I looked into setting up the tools needed to do the work here in the U.S. and found it to be cost prohibitive based on rather limited demand. Further, Lars at LGK Teknik in Sweden will do the work for 150 Euros plus shipping. I can’t compete with that. Contact him at:
contact@lgk-teknik.se
I have not sent him a drum yet but have heard good things about his work.
Good luck
jh
November 29th, 2015 at 10:00 pm
Thank you very much for the info!
Cyrus
January 11th, 2016 at 12:58 pm
A superb website!! – really nice to see so much background on these wonderful old machines…
I am currently overhauling a 6-channel Binson Hi-Fi Pre-Mixer Echo and matching 40 Watt PA unit but am really struggling to find the correct schematics for these two tube chassis.
Can you help me?
All The Best,
Dan Wilson, Hideaway Studio.
January 13th, 2016 at 1:56 pm
Welcome Dan! I think I can help you, I’ll be back to you by email in a couple of days or less.
August 14th, 2016 at 6:13 am
Hi. I can’t find any information (in the world) about the model pe603B. Can you help me?
August 26th, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Welcome Daniel,
good comment! Just noticed that the B model isn’t listed in the Echorec Bible (data about the 603 and 603B were incorrectly merged into a single 603 line).
The 603B is a reissue of the 1967 603, dated 1970. It’s a tube model, with different schematics. For example, the “magic eye” was an EM81 in the older 603, later replaced with an EM84 in the new 603B.
You can infer further details from the Echorec Bible section “Binson Echorec : Studio Rack Models”
I’ll update the model listing during the next edit, adding a record for the 603B. Thanks again for the notice.
February 11th, 2017 at 3:57 am
Hi ! I need the schematics for the Echorec2 six button Solid State ! Can you help me please ?
Thanks
April 6th, 2017 at 11:57 am
Hi Luis, your Binson should be the P.E. 603 t-6, I have the same model, I restored it some years ago. Leave your email and I gonna send you the schematics.
June 2nd, 2017 at 4:41 pm
Hi, i have a BINSON ECHOREC TE 5E
It is broken the magnetic reel …..:-((
who can help? ( in Germany ?)
Thank you
June 15th, 2017 at 5:43 pm
Hi, I’m from Brazil and I have a Binson A 606 TR-6 .. Please, do you have the operation manual? Or can you tell me where to find it? Thank you
August 4th, 2017 at 11:11 am
Hello everyone
I am restoring a REVOX PR99 Mk11 and want to use a B77 HS bottom panel instead of the standard anodised aluminium one. I have searched the world trying to find one (it must be new or at least unmarked as new) but without success so far. Happy to pay of course. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I might get one?
thank you
Charles
April 24th, 2018 at 8:19 pm
Hi All; I tried to leave a message, but may have unsubscribed too? Now fixed. I have a Binson PE 603 T6 to see, but don’t like eBay/Craigslist. Any suggestions? Thanks
March 9th, 2019 at 10:49 am
Hey there,thanks for putting all this great info in one place…
I had a Echorec 2 fully refurbished a few years back,plus new heads which were very expensive.last of two i was told.
My unit has very low echo level and cant self oscillate anymore,
Ive tried adjusting the trimpots at the back but still very low levels happening.
The old kidney shaped trim level adjusters were changed to more modern ones on my mine.
Would you have any info on such an issue?
Also is the schematic available for this version?
Regards
Christian
November 6th, 2019 at 12:32 am
Weak echoes can stem from a lot of reasons. The trimpots in the back adjust the levels of the heads in swell mode and would not have any effect on what you are experiencing. Simple things to try are to clean the heads and drum, there are youtube videos for that. Also, if all of the heads exhibit the same lower levels, the problem can be a weak tube. The Miniwatt tubes do last a long time but they are not immortal. Looking at the back of the unit, left to right, the 12AU7 is the bias oscillator and record amp. It or the three 12AX7s next to it can cause weak signals. The rightmost tubes are playback amplifiers and it is unlikely that they are causing the problem across all four heads.
I have also had “fully refurbished” units on my bench that were really partially done as some wires were either ignored or missed.