What reverb unit do you use?

Skip Keane · Post by **Skip Keane** » 15 May 2003 5:33 pm

Here's my problem I have just come into a lesile 122 amp and its wonderful. What I need is a reverb unit to add to the system. I run my steel through the pre-amp unit then into the lesile. I love the old tube sound, can anyone help me with what I should use? Spring king, boss pedal, ... What do you use?
thanks,
Skip

Tony LaCroix · Post by **Tony LaCroix** » 15 May 2003 7:03 pm

Look no further than a fender reverb tank. The reissues (63 reissue, I think) sound great (about $500 new) and the originals can be found for about $800. Not cheap, but, THERE IS NO BETTER REVERB ANYWHERE. Some may suggest digital units, but since you have the greatest analog effect ever created already, you might as well get the real deal with the verb.

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 15 May 2003 11:14 pm

If you don't want to spend the big bucks for the Fender, get Danelectro's new Spring King! It's the closest thing to the classic tube reverbs, really warm sounding unit. I'm not much of a reverb fan, but this thing rocks!

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 16 May 2003 3:46 am

The reissues can usually be picked up on Ebay at $250.00 and up.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 16 May 2003 5:06 am

Just a word of caution about the Fender
reverb tank.

A while back I inquired about putting a Fender reverb unit in my Peavey Vegas 400.

The basic consensus was that the Fender would not be compatible with the circuitry
in the Vegas.

It's in the archives here; you may want to check for compatability first, before buying one.

And I certainly agree - I haven't come across as rich a reverb as Fender since I first played thru a Twin Reverb many, many years ago.

FWIW

Tony LaCroix · Post by **Tony LaCroix** » 16 May 2003 5:42 am

Chip, I think you're referring to internal amp reverb units. The "tanks" stand alone and simply take a place in your signal chain, or can be used through an effects loop.

Tony

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 16 May 2003 6:30 am

I've tried 'em all & the best spring
unit out there is the Little Lanilei
reverb by Songworks. It's perfectly
quiet & doesn't alter your tone
whatsoever!

Sam Minnitti · Post by **Sam Minnitti** » 16 May 2003 6:55 am

I used to own a Peavey Valverb, an all tube, rack mount, spring reverb.

When I finally found a TubeWorks RT-921 unit at a reasonable price, I bought it and sold the Valverb.

I think the RT-921 is the best reverb I have ever heard. The only problem is they are a little hard to find, and when you do they are usually expensive, but I would highly recommend the unit.

------------------
www.samminnitti.com

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 May 2003 9:43 am

I agree with Sam!
I use the Tube Works reverb also. However, there are some other good ones out there also. Lexicon is noted for their reverbs and vary in price from $199 and up. Also, if you can use a stomp box, Boss' RV-3 or now the RV-5 is used by a lot of steelers.
Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 16 May 2003 at 10:44 AM.][This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 16 May 2003 at 10:45 AM.]

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 16 May 2003 11:16 am

I picked up an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail on the recommendation of quite a few people. Got it new from an ebay dealer for $66. (for anyone interested, the dealer's handle is "diysound". Warning---the guy seems to be having difficulty meeting his commitments and is running up a real bad ebay rating but I got lucky). I haven't used it enough to give a definitive review but it is powerful, rich, and to my ears very spring sounding (it is digital).

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 16 May 2003 12:51 pm

Tony,
My question to the Forum was simply, "can I just pull out the existing Peavey spring reverb pan/tank and put a Fender in there?"
The tanks mounted in the bottom of the cabinet.

I'll see if I can 'search-up' the posts.
Gotta go out for the eve, but will be back later.

Chipper

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 16 May 2003 1:32 pm

Correct, in that you can't put a fender spring tank in a peavey. TO be honest, even if you could, I doubt you'd hear any difference. The springs they use are identical, the only difference being in HOW the springs are driven. IN Fenders, they use a transformer, into a very low impedance coil, and a high impedance pickup, the peavey's use a high impedance coil to drive the springs, and a high impedance coil to pickup the sound. To be honest, they use the EXACT same springs and EXACT same pickup for both tanks... In both cases the signal gets some serious bandpass filtering anyways, (too much low would cause the springs to 'boing' too much, too much high end would be lost anyways and sound unnatural. Where the fender ton is different is in that the recovery stage is tube not solid state, The nuances of the driver bing tube or solid state would be unnoticiable by most ears (granted they are feeding the same frequency range-- fender may use more or less lows etc than peavey does etc same as highs), and the AMOUNT of drive... all factors that can be modified int eh circuitry itself, but the tank itself will make absolutely no difference.

Now if we are talking the all tube standalone Fender reverb units, they DO use different tanks than what was used inteh Fender combos (much longer delay time etc), and had controls to adjust the drive to the springs (dwell), and the high frequency content of the reverb path (tone), and of course the 'mix' which is like the reverb control on your amp....

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 May 2003 5:33 am

Well the perfct unit for this time period would be an EMT plate reverb... as long as you never plan to leave the house with it.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 17 May 2003 at 06:33 AM.]

Mark Kelchen · Post by **Mark Kelchen** » 26 May 2003 2:29 am

The Boss RV-3 seems to work quite well allthough they seem to be VERY touchy as far as knob movements. It seems quite difficult to get that perfect blend of reverb and delay at the same time but sounds good when you get it. My starting points are:

Balance: 8 oclock
Tone: 9 oclock
R. Time 1230
Mode: # 7

This gives an all around decent setting to start with.[This message was edited by Mark Kelchen on 26 May 2003 at 03:31 AM.][This message was edited by Mark Kelchen on 26 May 2003 at 03:32 AM.]