Hey, everyone. I'm contemplating getting some kind of real spring reverb unit for home use and recording only with my tweed amps. I'm considering possibly a vintage Fender Reverb tank, the Ebo E-verb, the out of production Sole Mate or the Demeter Reverbulator. Currently I'm using the Source Audio True Spring pedal on my board. It's very nice, but since reverb is an always-on effect for me, I figured I might splurge for a step above and go with real springs, possibly even tubes! I know our esteemed member Jack Zucker had the Demeter Reverbulator years ago. Just curious if anyone has had direct experience with one of these or something they can highly recommend. Oh, I have the Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale. It didn't wow me. Thanks!
I remember David Grissom (yeah, I know, not a jazz guy) telling in an interview that
for a rushed fill-in with the Allman Bro.s he was picked up at the airport by an Allman tour bus
carrying his suitcase, guitar and an old Fender Reverb Tank.
Dragging along your own reverb to play with Greg & the boys; a pretty good endorsement.
I can not offer any direct experience with non-Fender spring reverb but I wish you happy hunting.
Ampeg Echo-Jet from the early 1960s.
Looks like a Jet, but it's not a Jet.
It's a stand-alone reverb unit that is attached with alligator clips to the speaker in another amp, and produces the reverb signal through its own 12" speaker. Reverb mix is adjusted with the volume control on the Echo-Jet.
When running a guitar into the Echo-Jet directly, the amp acts like a Jet - no reverb.
Wonderful little device.
My favorite spring reverb is the one in my Fender Pro Reverb. However, to be honest, I don't like the sound of actual spring reverbs as well as I like the sound of a good reverb pedal. This surprised me but I guess it is what it is. Mine is a TC Electronics Hall of Fame 2.
I had one of the Solemate pedals. It altered the tone from whatever amp I was using too much for my taste and away it went. I like spring reverb a lot and have an amp (a no verb Princeton) that I require reverb with. The Vintage Fender units sound great, but IMO, are too bulky for real world gigs. I tried a bunch of non-spring pedals and settled on a Tone Candy "Spring Fever" pedal. That pedal uses a series of tiny amplifiers to simulate spring reverb and it does so quite well. It also acts as a volume boost which is useful with my 12 watt Princeton to boot.
Van Amps Sole Mate junior. Excellent.
Superb.
Best choice!
The white whale sounds also disappointing to me.
But I‘ve sold my Sole Mate jr. after trying the Hall of Fame. Yes, not a real spring Reverb. But it sounds paramount and got an 100% analog dry path. Super versatile. And since less is more I‘ve reduced to the HOFmini. Simply fantastic and also analog dry path.
I think the op is looking for a tube reverb unit which are likely the absolute best sounding, but bulky boxes.
Check out these boutique (expensive) reverb makers: Victoria; Valve Train; Kendrick; Vintage Sound and Marsh
nothing sounds quite like the old full sized fender style spring tanks...the length of the springs make huge difference...can't get the same sproing from a smaller tank/pedal
the fender reissues aren't bad, but tavo at nocturne builds a real beauty
for more portable real spring verbs take a look at the surfy bear verbs...they just issued a compact version recently... Surfy Industries
like op, for a good digi (not real spring pedal) check source audio's true spring... sounds great
cheers
Last edited by neatomic; 10-09-2020 at 06:16 PM.
Reason: typo-
I've owned 5 or 6 outboard reverb units. One being one of the reissue fender units, with all the mods made, and it did sound good. Then I got one made by Texotica (out of business now), basically the same as the original fender reverb unit circuit. The texotica had beautiful sound. Did not drop bass the way the Fender RI did. Not sure why I sold it ... not one of my smarter moves.
The other stand out for me was the Victoria Reverberato. A reverb plus harmonic trem outboard. The reverb was a bit different than the classic fender circuit, truly beautiful sounding in its own way.
^ agree md..texotica reverb units were great..but they made few and were out of business quickly...sadly...dario gomez also built some nice fender style tanks...both hard to find these days
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I really appreciate the input. I may look into the Ebo E-verb. A friend I respect highly recommends it. Especially to enhance the warmth of old tweed amps and archtop guitars.
How many times have I read: you can substitute other "lower" gain tubes for the 12ax7?
Many times. And it's true, it works. 5751's, 12AT7's, etc.
In my Fender PRII, I have had those tubes...
Since the band I'm primarily interested in using this for is a "showband" I'm already committed to bringing one stompbox which gets used on 4 or 5 tunes, and I've just conceded that clip-on tuners...
The CP sounds a little more melodically regularized for execution at higher tempos. But it still does seem like the goal of bebop is to use mellifluous syntax like swing, just faster.
If you already have one or more 17" archtops and that's a comfortable size for you, I think at your size an 18" is both feasible and desirable. It's a somewhat different sound.
Now, loudness is...
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