Is there any consensus on the best reverb unit?

[voyage]

My Hall of Fame arrived, and I’m quite amazed. The sound is so smooth. The church and hall effects are fun especially if you turn the decay and level way up. But that’s not what I was after, as fun as it is. I was looking for a Fender reverb sound in a little box. The spring reverb setting almost gets it, but occasionally it sounds kind of digital and flangerish, but the plate setting seems to give what I need. It thickens the sound, makes it more lush, and can be as subtle or as pronounced as needed. This is through my Polytone mini brute with a 15” which is the amp I need it for. I was going to give a comparison report between it and the Kendrick reverb but I’m getting some whooshing and ocean waves sounds so I’ve ordered some new tubes for the reverb and will report then. I’ll keep this reverb, but I may try an RV-7 also after the discussions here.

thanks for guiding me to the HOF.

[voyage]

When in the late eighties the reverb started to sound weird in one of my Mini Brutes i replaced the unit it with a three spring accutronics reverb tank. The result was very satisfactory, but of course just providing the authentic thing with a slightly more sophisticated sound - no fancy parameters to change. I belive these three spring tanks are still available.

Thanks. Were the wires to the new tank the same as the wires to the old one?

[JazzNote]

Thanks. Were the wires to the new tank the same as the wires to the old one?

Yes, just "plug & play". I think generally these reverb circuits were (are) all designed the same way. I remember that in the course of trying to find a way to improve the reverb quality i also connected the reverb tank from my Twin Reverb, which worked fine with the Mini Brute circuit too. But of course the Twin tank was longer so it wouldn't fit the Mini Brute physically.

[voyage]

Thanks. Accutronics sells tanks that are 17 inches long or 9 inches long. I think I'll try what you did, thanks for the tip. The polytone is my most used amp and I'd like it to be 100%. Did you notice much difference between the twin reverb tank and the one you put in the polytone?

[JazzNote]

Thanks. Accutronics sells tanks that are 17 inches long or 9 inches long. I think I'll try what you did, thanks for the tip. The polytone is my most used amp and I'd like it to be 100%. Did you notice much difference between the twin reverb tank and the one you put in the polytone?

Happy i could help, please post about your experience when it's done. Sorry, i can't remember the difference to the Twin unit - it was long ago. But i remember the three spring unit sounding noticable smoother than the original.

[jazzfrog]

Thanks. Accutronics sells tanks that are 17 inches long or 9 inches long. I think I'll try what you did, thanks for the tip. The polytone is my most used amp and I'd like it to be 100%. Did you notice much difference between the twin reverb tank and the one you put in the polytone?

Hi,
Changing the tank only will probably not help you on the warmth side.
The warmth is coming from the tube used as reverb drivers on fender (and other) amp.

I highly suggest the Strymon Flint (you don't need the V2, so V1s are getting cheaper).
It actually has 3 different reverbs and indeed comes with 3 different tremolos as well.
It is an amazing pedal.

I use it on old Ampegs that don't have reverbs or even Fender VibroChamps... great sound.

[JazzNote]

Hi,
Changing the tank only will probably not help you on the warmth side.
The warmth is coming from the tube used as reverb drivers on fender (and other) amp.

I highly suggest the Strymon Flint (you don't need the V2, so V1s are getting cheaper).
It actually has 3 different reverbs and indeed comes with 3 different tremolos as well.
It is an amazing pedal.

I use it on old Ampegs that don't have reverbs or even Fender VibroChamps... great sound.

The warmth on the reverb circuit represents a fraction of the final output. If the OP likes the basic sound of the Polytone amp, i believe he will not be disappointed about the "temperature" of the amps reverb driver, even if it is solid state based ;-)

[Irishmuso]

I
Then I decided to try the DIY route and ordered a kit from local guitar electronics company Uraltone:
404 Sivua ei loydy

Only three knobs and great voicings. Although I use only one mode and I don’t even know is it plate, shim or hall.

I You can solder etc I highly recommend this or something similar.

And glitterish finish gives a final boutiqueish touch for it!

Attachment 100570

I'd buy that! I'd love to build something like it but unfortunately about the only thing I can usefully do with my hands is play the guitar - and my wife doesn't think that is particularly useful.

[voyage]

So a reverb has a driver? That is up in the amp, or preamp, not in the tank? There must be a pickup of some kind on the springs. The amp must agitate the springs with the guitar signal then pick up what the springs do in response. I wonder if what comes out of the speaker is just the springs, or a mix of the guitar signal and the springs. Maybe that is how depth is adjusted, changing the spring/dry mix. Or this could be science fiction.

My tube amps are warm. The polytone is a different warm, like from the spectral character, which must be from the electronics maybe. Or the cabinet and speaker? Dunno. But the sound is really fat, and bassy. Just right where the "warm jazz tone" is, yet it's still articulate, not muddy. The 15 helps that I think. It lost its grill and has extruded steel glued in its place. The old velvet is trashed. There are drips of white paint running down the extruded steel front. It's a sharp looking amp :-). I think these days, if Polytone is still around, they must be making a "relic" version for which they charge a 500% upcharge to make it look like mine.

It had reverb, but it was not strong. Now it's not perceptible. I just had it worked on by my tech, to put "input" and "output" jacks in so I can use it as a cabinet and can use it as just a head powering another cabinet. Anyway he suddenly had to have open heart surgery, so I can't ask him to work on it. He's a dear friend, and thankfully seems to be coming though it ok. Plus it's a three hour drive, but I'm good with this HOF for now, and I think I'll put the accutronics in, the price is right.

Thanks you guys.

[JazzNote]

So a reverb has a driver? That is up in the amp, or preamp, not in the tank? There must be a pickup of some kind on the springs. The amp must agitate the springs with the guitar signal then pick up what the springs do in response. I wonder if what comes out of the speaker is just the springs, or a mix of the guitar signal and the springs. Maybe that is how depth is adjusted, changing the spring/dry mix. Or this could be science fiction.

My tube amps are warm. The polytone is a different warm, like from the spectral character, which must be from the electronics maybe. Or the cabinet and speaker? Dunno. But the sound is really fat, and bassy. Just right where the "warm jazz tone" is, yet it's still articulate, not muddy. The 15 helps that I think. It lost its grill and has extruded steel glued in its place. The old velvet is trashed. There are drips of white paint running down the extruded steel front. It's a sharp looking amp :-). I think these days, if Polytone is still around, they must be making a "relic" version for which they charge a 500% upcharge to make it look like mine.

It had reverb, but it was not strong. Now it's not perceptible. I just had it worked on by my tech, to put "input" and "output" jacks in so I can use it as a cabinet and can use it as just a head powering another cabinet. Anyway he suddenly had to have open heart surgery, so I can't ask him to work on it. He's a dear friend, and thankfully seems to be coming though it ok. Plus it's a three hour drive, but I'm good with this HOF for now, and I think I'll put the accutronics in, the price is right.

Thanks you guys.

The tank, as far as i remember contains the springs, the suspension which is needed to attach them physically, and the wires which connect to the amplifier with cinch connectors. It is part of a parallel circuit which is then fed back into the (dry) main circuit - the Reverb knob serves to adjust the amount of "wet" signal flowing back into what turns out to finally be a mix of "direct" and "reverb" circuit.

Good luck to your friend!

[voyage]

Thank you!

[tomems]

Reviving this one - anyone try out the new Surfybear compact deluxe? I have been waiting for Surfy to do a verb/trem - looks great. They also did a surfy man but not sure if that's DSP. Appreciate any Surfy reviews. Long-time YouTube viewer of surfy products but I've never tried one.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

So a reverb has a driver? That is up in the amp, or preamp, not in the tank? There must be a pickup of some kind on the springs.

Despite the age of this thread, the above question was not answered. JazzNote is not correct. There are two transducers in the tank, one on each end of the spring array. The input end is an electromechanical device that functions as a very very tiny voice coil. It receives the guitar signal and vibrates the springs, just as a speaker vibrates the cone.

The transducer on the other end works in reverse. It’s basically a very very tiny electromagnetic pickup that converts the vibration of the reverb springs back into an electrical signal that’s fed back into the amp. A single “reverb” control is a simple pot on the output end that lets you adjust the amount of reverb added to the signal. A dwell pot is on the input side to control how much signal gets to the springs. More signal drives the springs harder, so the decay time is longer because they vibrate longer.

The reason the RCA jacks on a reverb tank are directional and not interchangeable should be obvious from the above. The output transducer will not vibrate in response to a signal and the input transducer couldn’t pick it up even if it did. You do the amp no harm if the cables are reversed. The reverb just won’t work.

[vintagelove]

Thank you!

Late to the party, but...

The reverb in a polytone can very easily be made quite nice by a simple tank change. I would go for the medium decay as it works better in a jazz context. I put one in my MBIV and it's great.

[LesB3]

The Chicago Chess Records style room and subterranean reverb of the Nocturne El Pescadoro is perfect for jazz application.

I agree. In fact, I like it so much for the other styles I play, I don't even use the Spring Reverbs built into my amps any more.