[sdiy] Rising "Realsitic Electronic Reverb" prices and the urge tomodify...

[Paul Schreiber]

Jeez, I designed this thing in 1980 and it won't die :)

Paul S.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "anthony" <aankrom at bluemarble.net>
To: <Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 1:13 PM
Subject: [sdiy] Rising "Realsitic Electronic Reverb" prices and the urge 
tomodify...


> Hi guys,
>
> So I have one Realistic Electronic Reverb: the greatest effect to use for 
> not quite what it was intended for. This booger is a great noisemaker and 
> lots of fun with it's slider controls. It's even better with a few tweaks 
> to the circuit: more gain and high-end roll-off to the regen path, 471pF 
> polytsyrene caps in place of the ceramic ones, JRC4558DD op amps in place 
> of the AN6550's, socket for the timing cap to play with different values, 
> adding 0.1 uF bypass caps here and there, and the latest greatest mod: 
> popping in a BL3208A (normal 8-pin!) from Small Bear and WOW! I've thought 
> about wiring 2 or 3 in series, the BL3208A being something like $3.75 in 
> price. Next planned mod is making the "DEPTH" control into a true wet/dry 
> crossfader, which is a non-trivial task, but not impossible: I think a 1 
> uf cap and a couple 100kOhm resistors to put the bias in the right place 
> again and cutting the traces on the PCB and rewiring accordingly.
>
> SO I've been trying to buy another one on eBay for what I got my first one 
> for ($12.00) and it's been a daunting task. People are catching on to how 
> cool these are.
>
> I'm not one to care much for collectability in gear because I like to be 
> able to use my gear to the fullest. But I'm planning some more mods that 
> will actuall involve cutting into the unit and I'm beginning to wonder 
> whether I should. I wanted to add a DP3T selector switch to select between 
> various timing caps (if I can just find a good place on the front for a 
> toggle switch to go...), and adding some brass body contacts to bring it 
> (sort of) into the realm of circuit bending. I must admit that I don't 
> actually hold to the philosphy of circuit bending although I enjoy hearing 
> some of the results. I don't think wiring various contacts and capacitors 
> to the timing cap connections could be considered circuit bending in its 
> true spirit because they are not random bends, but carefully thought out 
> connections. Putting your fingers across the timing cap terminals is very 
> fun: it depends on the pressure exerted so it has a playability factor to 
> it: you can quickly (or slowly) descend into the realm of 2 second delays 
> and back again. With the increased number of stages in the BL3208A, it's 
> even better: repeats just go on and on without sounding like an 
> oscillation, but it'll oscillate too - and how!
>
> So I'm wondering: should I do it? I mean even when they're going at $40 on 
> eBay, it's not like I'm talking about circuit bending an Ibanez FL9 or 
> something.
>
> Also, if anyone has DONE the wet/dry crossfade mod and would like to 
> share, I'd appreciate that a lot. Thanx...
>
>
> Cheers,
> Anthony
>
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