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

[aerogramma]

recently i've read a very interesting book about reverbs, published  
by the MIT

apparently there's only 10 people around that can master a very good  
reverb algorythm, and i bet they don't work for beringher

a very good solution for you would to buy a spring reverb unit from a  
fender amp, for example, and rig it

i bought two for about 50$

aero


On Mar 9, 2008, at 5:12 AM, anthony wrote:

> 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)
>
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