Oli Rubow on the Reco Electro

My Reco Electro has arrived, and right from the first test play, I decided to set it up upside down.

You're actually supposed to hit the two spiral springs, which can resonate and sustain pretty long depending on the included foam damping (of course, that's the spring reverb concept). However, since Axel Fagerberg has installed piezos in the Reco Electro, hitting the chassi is also worth it. It sounds piercingly high. But when the jack output is connected to a reverb, the sound reminds you of the reverb of a slightly overdriven Space Echo, just like we love from countless dub albums! Awesome, a playable spring!

I'm sticking an Evans EQ Pod on one side of the case for some sound variety. When you hit it, all the harsh frequencies disappear and a much darker sound comes out. (Yo, I've already got four different presets: short, dry and high/short, dry and dark/long, reverb, and high/long, reverb and dark). How cool is it that Axel has two jack outputs on his instrument for stereo use? I'm using the second output in the classic Echodrums style and sending the signal through the Boss AB box to a tap-able delay pedal. Now I can trigger two more sounds with my foot, and of course twist the echo signal in the best Dub style. On top of these six sounds, you can also scratch on the springs at the bottom of the box (the typical Reco Reco gimmick).

Besides the numerous electronic effect options, there's also a purely acoustic trick that targets the crossfeed behavior of the piezos: I attach another percussion instrument (like my Meinl Crasher) to the cymbal stand that holds the Reco Electro. When it's hit, the R.E. outputs also send a dimmed, much quieter signal to the speakers. Hey, dynamics!

The thing is fun. Boom, all those other random floor pedals get hooked up too: you can radically change the basic sound with EQ or filters, my Whammy pitch shifter sounds great (in front of or behind the reverb), sometimes tribal, sometimes futuristic. Next, I'm dragging my krautrock phaser into the bunker... and the Boss Slicer is definitely perfect for the long-sustaining springs!

All of this counts more towards free play, because the actual reason for buying it was the idea of a light, travel-friendly e-drum effect that:
– can be easily attached (on any cymbal stand provided)
– is effected on site by the FOH. In other words, the sound engineer takes care of EQ and reverb.
So that my bike/train travel concept does not falter...

Note: Insights from Day 2. So I can attach the R.E. to the Tama tom mount, I'm swapping out the supplied eye-bolt for a Meinl one. I've also installed a second EQ-Pod on my tuned R.E. now.

Otherwise, there was the following nice-sounding effect chain: R.E. (without foam damping) > Erica Synths Filter (with a bit of added noise) > Boss EQ (for less bass) > Noise Gate (so it doesn't keep hissing) > Reverb unit. I linked the second output with the AB box (as a spring opener & cutter).

The R.E. is also great as a snare pad for creative play and it can be clamped into the hi-hat machine! As a counterpart, I tried the Meinl crasher with attached foam. Works!

Note: I had already heard the Reco Electro with Brody Simpson during the Meinl Drum Festival, now there's a nice track to listen to again: