Gear In-depth & Longer Blogs

A couple of weeks ago, our intrepid explorer Gid ventured to Bradford to delve beneath the Science & Media Museum as part of workshop on 'Objects of Electronic Sound and Music'. At the museum they have begun, as of two years ago, a collection of music tech covering everything from recording to live performance and, although it’s still early days, they already have some very interesting pieces. When we heard what they were doing and were invited to see inside the stores, and to be part of working out what to do with it all, we definitely wanted to help. Thanks to museum...

Looking to buy a Binson? At the time of writing many of the machines that feature in the image above, and in the demos below, are available on the site. You can see the Echorecs we have listed for sale here, but if you can't find what you need then please get in touch; most of the valve T7E and PE 603T machines sell on a pre-order basis and rarely make it to the site. Which Binson Echorec? By Tony Miln I’ve been a Binson head for approaching a quarter of a century now, and have owned and used many examples from all eras of production:...

The second of my articles for Premier Guitar has now been published. It's a slightly sideways look at the world of 70s guitar synths and goes in-depth into: the mighty Synthi HiFli (that's our own in the orange case in the image below), the Ludwig Phase II, Soundgas favourite the Maestro USS-1 (a multi-effects unit with Tom Oberheim designed circuitry), the Frogg Compu-Sound, and the unique-sounding Soviet Esko-100. And of course all manner of other peculiar and super-are units get a mention as well. It goes a little something like this: "As I started researching and writing this story, it slowly dawned on...

When Dan from That Pedal Show called in at the Soundgas HQ to choose a Roland RE-201 Space Echo for their new Pedal Barn, it’s fair to say he was somewhat blown away by the Soundgas Studio. On that night’s show, he told Mick that when he dies, he wants to be stuffed and put on a chair in there with his Tele!This was Dan’s second visit; it’s always a pleasure to host someone who’s as passionate and animated about gear and sound as we are. The first time, he came to collect a Gurus Echosex 2º for a Binson...

This is the story of the hunt for people who can fix all this old gear, people who really KNOW it inside out. And it’s also about what can be done about the slow but steady loss of this deep knowledge and real, hands-on experience from the world of vintage audio. And yes, it does also at least attempt to answer the question: “can you fix my….?” Are you a tech looking for work reading this? Or maybe you want to learn (and are local to us)? More info below, but we definitely want to hear from you! The Quest...

Last week saw the publication of my 'Lords Of The Springs' article for Premier Guitar. Being invited to write for such a finely-crafted publication was an honour and quite some education. I received a six-page document on correct writing practices for the house style, and another that detailed ethical guidelines (don't be afraid of giving a bad review; no free or discounted demo units to be kept by reviewers; check all facts thoroughly). This was clearly a publication with very high standards and I didn't want to let the side down. My first piece was for the June 2018 edition on the subject of vintage...

Why buy an original Binson Echorec? Original Binson Echorecs are the classic Ferrari of electro-mechanical delays. They’re rare, expensive, require specialist restoration and servicing, parts are scarce, and they need to be cared for and run regularly to remain in top condition. Once the preserve of the lucky few - in 1962 a Baby Binson cost around £140 (£20 less than a Fender Stratocaster, £20 more than a Vox AC-30) and most of those British guitarists wishing to replicate the sound of Hank Marvin and the Shadows, Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd (and latterly David Gilmour) had to make do...

A blog post going into some of the history and features of superb Korg's tape echoes, and also some useful information if you are asking yourself "Should I get a Korg Stage Echo or a Roland Space Echo?".

Roland’s black, green and silver (and later black and orange) Space/Chorus Echo units are familiar to nearly everyone who’s been involved in music-making over the past four decades - they are iconic and ubiquitous. Korg’s echoes are more down to earth - in livery as well as name. Swapping Space for Stage and jazzy colours for the muted - almost gothic - dark grey/black contemporary to their synths, Korg Stage Echoes are much less common than their cosmic cousins and, as a result, there are many yet to encounter them.

"Listen, we ALL love gear. Every person involved in this project can't get it out of their minds because of the nature of the unit. For gear heads and techs, this is just like going to Disneyland." - T-Rex Effects December 2017 Tony Miln's blog post today was going to be the first part in our forthcoming series on the Binson Echorec: buying, owning, using, maintaining - and tips, tricks and insights gained from a couple of decades spent wrangling these exotic Italian beasts. Here at Soundgas we receive almost daily requests for information/advice/parts for Binsons, so I intend to build...

Tony Miln takes first look at the new Gurus Echosex 2º T7E. Yes, the brand new Gurus Echosex 2 T7Eº pedal is finally here - first stock to land with anyone in the world. It's Gurus recreation of the full functionality of the mighty Binson Echorec 2 T7Eº, complete with four "heads" available in 12 different combinations, plus the Age of Damage control to dial in the sound of a gradually ageing machine. Our first allocation was all sold on pre-order but we and other dealers will have more stock soon. We'll add more detail to this post soon, but for...

This is the story of how we sold Space Echoes to Roland, our trip to London to bring the vintage gear noise to the Boss exhibition launch and came to meet Miki-san, CEO of the mighty Roland Corporation. Pictures are of the venue, the epic exhibition of Boss & Roland gear, and our workshop set up; you can see a full album of shots from the weekend here.   Following the initial request from Roland/Boss asking us to supply serviced Space Echoes for their Cause And Effects show (celebrating 40 years of Boss guitar effects), our involvement grew, leading to us being...

HEADLINE NEWS: we're coming to London with a stack of vintage Roland gear - if you're able to get to House of Vans on the afternoon of Sunday September 10th then come and say hello. Cause & Effects: 40 Years of Boss History This was already very cool - Boss celebrating their 40th year by gathering every pedal and a load of other effects into one cool space in the tunnel exhibition gallery at House of Vans in London. The exhibition runs for two weeks and includes an opening weekend Sept 9th/10th with a gig and workshops - read more about...

The Studio is Live Last week saw a frenzy of activity here at Soundgas as we finally set up our studio. For me personally, this represented the culmination of many years' dreaming and planning; to see things coming together at last was a great thrill. As we brought in boxes from my old studio, unearthing long forgotten pedals and obscure effects boxes, and adding key pieces from the Soundgas collection, it gradually became apparent that we had something very special on our hands. The centrepiece of the studio is our ex-BBC Chilton QM-3 desk that was completely overhauled last year....

We had some posts go viral on facebook... We like social media but we'd be the first to admit that we're still on a steep learning curve with it. This business began because of a passion for music and the gear that makes it, and that's still at the heart of what we do. And one thing's for sure - you'll never see us posting with some kind of grand plan in mind - apart from anything else we haven't got the time! So, our social media "strategy" essentially comes down to "share that gear and passion with people that...

  Yes, big news indeed. That's just a quick screen grab above, but click on it and you will be taken to the Aladdin's Cave of Sound that is our new Bandcamp. OK, so right now the cave is a little empty but, as anyone who follows our gear demo adventures on social media will know, we have a huge bank of recordings of demos made with all a manner of vintage gear hooked up in different combinations. These recordings are now lined up to be edited, mastered and prepared for release - some will become tracks and others will be...

This is a post all about Mike Hedges' CS-80 that we sold. We've sold this one (and another since then); if you want to know when the next one is coming in then our mailing list is the place to be: Sign up now to be kept updated on incoming synths. We are very excited to be handling the commission sale of this stunning instrument from Mike Hedges. It has quite an illustrious history having been used on many classic recordings that Mike produced. It was also toured for a while, so while it isn't in perfect condition cosmetically, most importantly - especially so...