[sdiy] Why digital reverbs just don't cut it when you want a spring reverb sound

[anthony]

I got a Behringer DR100 digital reverb because it was super cheap and it was 
stereo in & out. I like it and it sounds good with my MKS-50, but I stopped 
using it with my guitar because the "spring" setting doesn't sound like a 
spring reverb. It's still better than Elecro-Harmonix' Holy Grail which I 
tried in a store and thought was a total piece of shit. I seriously doubt 
that Dick Dale would be fooled and it looks more like a toy than the 
Behringer.

I'm mentioning these two examples because they exemplify what is wrong with 
digital reverbs trying to emulate analog types.

If I buy a reverb pedal, I personally don't give a flying spin-kick fuck 
about "Hall", "Plate" or "Room" and the stupid "flerb or whatever modulated 
reverb they always throw in because what, they can't get a rotary-switch 
with less throws?

Now keep in mind I am talking about pedals emulating a spring reverb. If you 
want to effectively recreate the amience of a room without the actual room, 
digital is the only way to go if you can shell out the dough for a Lexicon 
or what-have-you.

I should wait to write this diatribe until I've tried the Danelectro Spring 
King, but I really don't think it will matter.

I have owned two amps that had actual spring reverbs: the 1st was a wicked 
bad Ampeg VT40 that I think had a 4x10" cab. just to fit the reverb tank in 
it (I know I know - not really...) and the second was a cool little tweed 
Epiphone EP-800R solid state, 15 watt, with the tiniest, but honest-to-God 
spring reverb in it. It sounded OK. Like jamming in a big bathroom.

OK the Ampeg had "pop" and I think that is what is missing from most if not 
all digital recreations. Hell, not all spring reverbs even have it. Just 
listen to the reverb in Jack Black's Silvertone (probably - that's totally 
his style...) especially in the song 7 Nation Army. This "pop" could be seen 
as a flaw, but it has its charm. And this charm is missing from digital 
pedals. If EH really wanted to creat a "Holy Grail" reverb, it would have 
"Spring 1", "Spring 2", "Spring 3", etc. and the manual or even right on the 
unit it would say what sort of spring it was trying to imitate: Hammond, 
Fender, Lowry, what-have-you. A lot of these are made by the same company, 
but the application affected the sound (size, quality, etc...).

Have I missed a unit that does what I miss? Or am I right to go forward with 
my monster all-tube dual-spring rack unit reverb? Did I buy a 6K6GT on eBay 
for nothing? I am even using the tiny spring from the Epiphone (which died 
as I'm sure some of you might recall, but is now home to my 50L6GT amp...) 
in a biggish pedal - analog & with a stomp-switch which I think should make 
for entertaining engages. I could weigh it down with lead sheet to damp it a 
little (fuck RoHS! I already have the lead sheet still in its bag...) and I 
could kick it. So it'd be a stomp/kickbox. I actually have it all made. It's 
just in one of those stages where I have a project done, but can't get 
myself to try it for the 1st time. Just like my Wards Airline radio Champ 
clone which turned out to have a fucked-up preamp layout, so I tore it all 
apart so now it's in one of those limbos where I have a project half torn 
apart while I go back to the drawing board and make a real front panel where 
the tuning indicator roamed out of brass and thin plywood... Maybe I'll make 
it a Vibrochamp after all...

Anyway I'm dubbing the dual spring reverb "Revelation Dub Squad". Well 
that's what's going to be spray-painted over the 10 ga. steel 19" rack front 
(with brushed aluminum handles) with silver paint and a stencil. Make it 
look like I stole it from a reggae band in 1979 (between Kindergarten and 
1st grade...). I think the Upsetters had a song or an album called 
Revelation Dub. (One of my modulars currently in design-phase is called the 
"Lub-Dub Pod Bay". Modules can be popped in and out used individually or 
collectively with the modular, or as links to other modulars.)

Sort of related but not the same is my dual MN3011 multi-tap monster delay 
which will feature 6 total voltage controlled delays and 20 VCA's and 20 VC 
panners. Along with 2 different 4-pole resonant filters, a 3-phase LFO and a 
VC quadrature function generator along with an multi-waveform audio-range 
LFO. Basically it's a huge modular delay. It was inspired in part by 
Ohmforce's Ohmboyz virtual delay plug-in. Afrika Bambaata used it in a 
recent album and I could hear it all over the place and I knew that rather 
than plunk down what 60 euro? I could build a better one in analog for a few 
hundred. But the price tag started coming WAY down when I got the 2 MN3011's 
for $0.11 for both on eBay. That's right. Eat your heart out. Did I gloat 
enough the first time? I didn't think so. Mind you they're not NOS and it 
doesn't look like the guy who parted them from the studio mixer they were in 
(that apparently "worked" at the time.. a big hammer smashed the front 
panel?) desoldered them with the tender-loving-care that I use when I am 
desoldering parts (no one goes through desoldering iron tips like I do! Is 
that bad?). I'm thinking of calling this thing "The Biggest Motherfucking 
Analog Delay in the Whole Motherfucking World" but I need feedback from 
youse guys so I actually make it big enough. (In paranthesis: "The A/DA 
STD-1 Is a Fuckign Pussy Who Couldn't Get Laid In a Bed Factory")

Comments? Questions?

AA (still sober)