Dawner Prince Boonar

The Dawner Prince Boonar is an effects pedal built to deliver the sound and feel of the legendary Binson Echorec, the Italian multi-tap magnetic drum echo unit used on classic records. Where the original machine stored its echoes on a spinning steel drum with magnetic playback heads, the Boonar keeps the same analog signal path, with high voltage driven FETs standing in for the tubes, and replaces the mechanical memory with a DSP unit that Dawner Prince says faithfully replicates all the characteristics of the actual Binson memory system¹.

The result is a multi-head drum echo in a stompbox: four playback heads, up to 16 head combinations, delay times from about 40 ms on the first head up to a full second on the fourth, and a magic eye level indicator like the one on the original machine¹. Delicious Audio describes it as faithfully recreating the character and functions of the Echorec 2². The pedal is handmade in Croatia³, and the maker's page currently lists it as sold out¹.

A Binson Echorec in a pedal

The Binson Echorec recorded signal onto a magnetic drum and read it back through four playback heads, giving multiple taps of echo from one machine. Dawner Prince's approach in the Boonar is to keep the analog signal path of the original, with FET-input op amps emulating the tubes, and let a DSP unit emulate the magnetic drum itself¹³. Tone Island notes that Dawner Prince states they use the same analog signal path for the Boonar as you would find on an original Binson³.

The payoff for a player is the Echorec's character without the mechanical maintenance, which is exactly how the maker pitches the Tube Deluxe as well: authentic original Binson Echorec tone without the hassle of keeping a 1960s machine running⁴. The original Echorec 2 T7E the Boonar replicates was manufactured in Italy during the 1960s⁴.

The controls and playback heads

The Boonar's control set mirrors the Echorec's, with a few additions the original did not have¹.

Two things set the Boonar apart from a straight Echorec copy. The playback head switches allow any combination of the four heads, where the original machine's head selection was more limited, and a Swell/Repeats switch moves between standard repeats and a Swell mode that mixes a portion of all four heads into the output for reverb-like, cathedral-tone effects¹. Delicious Audio notes the pedal also lets you switch from Repeats to Swells through a second footswitch⁵.

Inside, an internal trim pot sets the dry signal level from the preamp into the output mixer, factory set to unity gain, so the pedal can be run with the dry signal killed if needed¹.

Power and internal settings

The Boonar runs on 9V DC, center negative, drawing about 180mA, which rules out a battery and is worth noting if you daisy chain, since 180mA is more than many drive pedals pull¹. Two internal DIP switches shape how the pedal behaves:

• Bypass: true bypass or trails mode, with trails as the factory preset¹.
• Modern/Original input impedance: 47K Ohm in Original mode (Binson Echorec mode) or 1M in Modern mode, with Modern as the factory preset¹.

Tone Island describes the audible difference between the two voicing modes: the vintage mode is darker, whereas the modern mode introduces more clarity and dynamics to your tone³.

Phase and bypass behavior

That Pedal Show ran a phase test on a Boonar, serial number 355-16, and found the effected signal always flipped phase on that particular unit, regardless of bypass mode⁶⁷. With trails bypass the phase was flipped both with the pedal off and on; with true bypass the phase matched when the pedal was off and flipped when it was on⁷. For most players this is invisible, but if you run parallel signal paths or sum to mono, it is worth knowing.

Versions: MkII and Boonar Tube Deluxe

The Boonar line has evolved. The current maker's page lists a MkII model⁸, and Dawner Prince has also built a deluxe version, the Boonar Tube Deluxe, described by the maker as building upon the legacy of the original Boonar¹⁴. Both the Boonar and the Tube Deluxe are currently listed as Sold Out on the maker's pages¹⁵.

The Boonar Tube Deluxe is a Multi-Head Drum Echo that builds on the original Boonar, which the maker describes as "a leap forward in vintage" echo design⁴. It ships with a Clicker remote controller included and responds to MIDI, with expression pedal control on CC#28 over a range of 0 to 127⁹. One reviewer called it "a great engineering achievement, while it's a mono only device - and therefore not compatible with my rig!"¹⁰. Like the standard Boonar, the Tube Deluxe is currently listed as Sold Out⁴.

The Tube Deluxe carries over the Echorec's separate feedback switching system from the Binson Echorec P.E.603-T design: each button engages or disengages the feedback of the corresponding playback head back to the record head⁴. Its bypass is true bypass via an electromechanical relay, or tube buffered bypass with selectable trails¹¹, and over MIDI the bypass type is switchable between true bypass, buffered, and buffered with trails (CC#33, values 1 to 3)⁹. It is mono only, which Guitar Pedal X's reviewer noted made it incompatible with his stereo rig¹⁰.

What reviewers said

On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick compared the Boonar alongside a vintage Echorec Baby, a Roland RE-201 Space Echo and the Strymon Volante, and Dan's verdict on the Boonar was blunt⁶:

In a later Echorec comparison episode, they found the Boonar has much longer available repeats than the then-new T-Rex Binson Echorec pedal⁶. Guitar Pedal X's reviewer called the Tube Deluxe "a fantastic Deluxe take on the Boonar Echorec style magnetic delay - with proper Tube Preamp and extras - a great engineering achievement overall", while flagging that it is a mono only device¹⁰.

Click to load

Click to load

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions