From blit–(at)–lash.net Fri Oct 2 20:42:11 CDT 1998
Article: 130040 of alt.guitar.amps
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!nntp.flash.net!excalibur.flash.net!not-for-mail
From: Danny Russell <*NOSPAM*blit--(at)--lash.net>
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.amps
Subject: Re: 2 vs 3 spring reverbs ?
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 18:32:30 -0700
Organization: ACME
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Tremolux wrote:
>
> > However, if the driving
> >and recovery circuit is optimized to the characteristic tank, it can be
> >made to work alright.
>
> Can you elaborate on this “optimization”? BTW, I agree with your previous
> remarks about the 3 spring tank. I tried one in my Twin and after about 10
> minutes I took it out and put the original tank back in. the 3 spring tank was
> just too much.
The big thunderous, obnoxious, long decay character is mostly in the
low-end. The high end is on the other hand is quite nice, really
smooth, and decays a little faster. The simplest thing to do for
starters is to re-E.Q. an appropriate amount of bottom out on the return
end. On a Fender, lessen the .003 coupling cap to some smaller value.
For finer points, it would help to hammer the driving 12AT7 pair with a
bit more upper signal to “jangle” up the 3-spring tank’s character a bit
’cause it’s almost too sugar-smooth. The only available change is to
raise the 470 ohm shared Rk to 1k or 1.5k (which it probably should be
anyway) then bypass with .22 or .47. Be alert for any oscillation
razzing which can be cured by re-adjusting the position of those jumpers
across the tube socket. The 12AT7 actually needs to be overdriven a bit
too get a good splashy surf-boing. You can see where this is headed,
just take it from here.
P.S. I’ve gotten a fair amount of accutronics tanks lately that needed
to have the piss shaken out of ’em to loosen up the dampers at both ends
of the springs. The decay dampers are not always positioned squarely or
something, and one of the springs will be way overdamped relative to the
other(s), so what you end up getting is sort of a “Peavey” reverb
sound. Shaking the tank straightens the dampers and collectively evens
out the decay rate of the springs. Shake it fairly vigorously so that
the springs bang side to side, but not so that they go stretching way
out the bottom and break off. (Keep one hand over the bottom.) -Danny
