David Gilmour’s Binson Echorec 2 Delay

David started using this delay unit when he joined Pink Floyd. Syd Barret used the same unit up until that point, so it’s possible that David either inherited one of his or that he bought his own, since the goal obviously was to replicate whatever Syd was doing.

In any case, David continued using the unit for years to come and made it his own. He used the Echorec on a number of Pink Floyd’s signature songs, like “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”, “Echos”, and “Time”.

The Binson was an Italian made delay unit. It was strange because it didn’t utilize tape loops. Instead, it used a metal recording wheel. You could get some wonderful delay effects that aren’t attainable on anything that’s been made since. One of these Days evolved from some of my experiments with the Binson, as did Echoes

David Gilmour, Guitar World Magazine, February 1993
David messing around with this Binston Echorec 2 delay at Pompeii, 1972
David messing around with this Binston Echorec 2 delay at Pompeii, 1972

Basically everything that has delay and was recorded prior to 1977 was likely done on the Echorec. According to Gilmourish, in the 1977 Animals tour David switched to using digital MXR pedals instead.

Specs

The Echorec was made by a company called Binson – an Italian manufacturer which was founded sometime in the 1940s. Based on the manual, the Echorec officially has four effects, echo, swell, repetition, and reverb. David would mostly use the repetition mode, which is closest to what you would call delay today.

The Echorec was unique on the market, because as opposed to delay units which were popular in those days, it didn’t use a tape and instead used magnetic disk to achieve the effects. Today, working vintage units are very hard to come by, and usually sell for thousands of dollars.

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