Talkin' about cheap Spring Reverbs

[gearboy]

Here's mine:



It cost me... $9 USD on eBay in 2005, plus $11 shipping. Now I see them for BIN $90-$200!!! In a year or so I'll be able to trade it for a channel of 500 series API! It's been sitting around in storage since right after I bought it and tried it out. I just never worked it into my setup. Until lthis past week. And now it shall stay hooked up to analog 7-8 i/o of my 828mk2, as it is an amazingly cool aux effect. Total Peter, Bjorn and John vibe.

Anyway, if any of you guy/girls are using something else that's el cheapo (as in under $100) but that's giving you great results, please let me know. Especially something that you can kick and stuff to give you that "sploingy" sound. I want another real spring reverb for cheap, but something that is much more "sploingy" and that doesn't have to be mic'd.

And yes, it's RCA i/o, but dead quiet until you dial in full reverb action. Then you get a little buzz/hum, which is great, because, well, ya know, real amps do that, too. If you take the GForce MiniMonsta and run it through the Nomad Factory Analog Trackbox (some tube emulation, some compression), then through this thing, it sounds awesome. Seriously.

Jeff

[James Steele]

Ha! Too cool! Somebody local was selling some sort of rackmount spring reverb on Craigslist. I would suggest making an Altiverb IR, but I can't figure that out myself.

Years ago UCSD had a sale of old recording gear and I tried to get one of those AKG reverb units. I don't think it's springs but some other mechanism.

[gearboy]

Remember, you can't slam your hand down on the top of Altiverb and hear "SPLOYYYYYYYYINGGGGG"! I'm all about making VIs sound more realistic.

[chrispick]

That thing looks awesome! Nice grab, Jeff.

re: Mic'ing reverbs -- I'm an ITB man mostly (Altiverb, UAD Plate140, Reverence), but I'm starting to get back into mic'ing reverb on the source (only amp cabs so far). There's something nice about having the sound blend with verb before hitting the mic that even Altiverb doesn't quite emulate. It ends up being more of an organic-sounding filter than simply give a sense of space.

I'd love to get an authentic spring verb for my amp. Maybe one of those Fender dealies. Right now, I use a Line6 Verbzilla, and it's just not quite "the thing." But, it still gives it what I mentioned above.

[James Steele]

Remember, you can't slam your hand down on the top of Altiverb and hear "SPLOYYYYYYYYINGGGGG"! I'm all about making VIs sound more realistic.

You know what's funny... back in the days of 2" tape... a band I was in recorded a song and we wanted an explosion sound effect. This was before CD and sound effects libraries on discs... they were on LPs. But what we did was roll tape and recorded the output of the big hunkin' Carvin powered mixer we used in our rehearsal room. We cranked up the spring reverb, held the front end of the mixer about 2" off the table, and at the appropriate moment, dropped it! "BOOOOM!!!!" It was great!!!

[spitfire31]

Remember, you can't slam your hand down on the top of Altiverb and hear "SPLOYYYYYYYYINGGGGG"! I'm all about making VIs sound more realistic.

We cranked up the spring reverb, held the front end of the mixer about 2" off the table, and at the appropriate moment, dropped it! "BOOOOM!!!!" It was great!!!

Hm, that must be this thing at work... er.. what's it called again... lemme think... got it!

CREATIVITY!

/Joey

[emulatorloo]

It cost me... $9 USD on eBay in 2005, plus $11 shipping.

WOW -- thanks for posting, esp those lovely pictures/

=

[twistedtom]

Nice! how dose it sound? Looks cool.
Some years back I designed and made a spring reverb, you could hit it and it would go waaanggg.

[OldTimey]

while not cheap, ive love the spring reverb on the space echo. i wouldnt recommend knocking it around for the "sploiinng" sound though! might damage the transport...


but if you can find a space echo in need of major repair (ie the heads dont work, tape is old, transport busted), chances are the spring verb still works...

[James Steele]

Well for my fellow San Diegan's... this is back on the block again:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/msg/419935671.html

I certainly wouldn't pay the guy $75 for it though!

[SixStringGeek]

Remember, you can't slam your hand down on the top of Altiverb and hear "SPLOYYYYYYYYINGGGGG"! I'm all about making VIs sound more realistic.

Ya know, the accellerometers in the Mac laptops should allow that to happen - just a simple matter of programming. Make a feature request.

[James Steele]

Aha! A Pioneer SR-202W Reverberation Amp just appeared on San Diego craigslist:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/msg/420108241.html

$10. Somehow though I have a feeling that this doesn't sound as good as the Sansui. It's smaller and therefore so is the reverb tank. I'm restraining myself as I already collect enough odds and ends.