I’m looking for a real spring reverb unit for my modular. I have a few guitar pedals (Meris/Strymon/others) that I enjoy, but I want the real thing and preferably something new. I’m not looking for a 905 clone but if there’s one out there that’s a stand alone unit I’d love to hear about it.
Currently the Dr.Z Z-Verb (tube) and the Surfybear Compact (solid state) top my list but I haven’t found any info about using either of them with a synth, just mostly folks playing surf guitar. Surfybear says you can swap out the reverb pans so that’s definitely a plus if the stock tank doesn’t play nice with a synth or if I just want to experiment around, I’m not sure if the same can be done with the Dr. Z.. As far as if I want tube or solid state? I’m not sure, maybe someone can explain why one would be welcomed/unwelcomed over the other.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you’d like to share what reverb you’re using I’d love to hear about it (new or vintage)
Thanks!
edit: After posting this I ran across the Anasounds Element pedal (with different tanks) Put that on the list as well!
I’ve used some spring reverbs with synths over the years, here are some thoughts.
Carl Martin Headroom: my Voyager Old School got the springs to shake too much, hence making it saturate. There is no way to set the input level. I ended selling it, unusable for me.
Van Amps SoleMate: I still have it and I use it mainly with guitars; I don"t remember how it behaves with synths, but I think it is ok. Sounds quite vintage, it’s on the dirty side with respect to the following two. Unless you have an option, there is no way to have the wet signal alone.
Vermona Retroverb Lancet: much, much more that a reverb. It is kind of an analogue multieffect with its 4-pole VCF (LP/BP/HP), VCA, Drive and LFO, envelope follower or AR envelope to control all of that. Two routings are available placing the reverb after or before the other processors. The reverb itself is not wild; you can adjust the tone of it. I don’t use this thing a lot but I like it very much as it’s capable of many things, including happy accidents!
Roland RV100 (or Boss RX100): this one right between HiFi and studio. Connections are in Cinch as well as 1/4 jacks and there is a way to use it with wet signal only (a connection tip, actually). It sounds wonderful, really: I like dirty reverbs (think Boss RE20 emulation) and although this one is very clean, it’s lovely to my ears. I have added it a ClusterFlux in order to make it “pseudo-stereo” just for when I’m playing home.
The one I did not use -but it sometimes appeals me- is the Anasounds Element spring reverb. 2 band Eq, embedded drive and you can use three different tanks. See details here.
Hope this helps
PS: does your pseudo relate somehow to those old guitar amps?
Hi stiiiiiiive, If I understand your p.s. correctly, Yes, I’m looking for something like the actual spring reverb in vintage and modern guitar amps. I’m hoping to find something that work well with a modular synth.
This is my “tone stack.” It is an AKG BX10 (with a proprietary spring system) that sounds like a plate, with the RE-301’s spring reverb, and the Roland DC-50 with a Hall Echo that is a BBD that generates a great reverb effect.
Also, the Vermona VSR 3 spring reverb, if you can find one cheap. Synth-Werk has a reverb module that is also worthy of consideration.
Thanks for the reply Eric, That synth-werk 905 sure looks tempting!
edit: At some point I’m going to try using my old Teac reel to reel for delays or pick up a Fulltone tape echo (sold my old tube ep1 years ago), I havent thought too much about plate reverbs yet but that’s definitely on the list.
Thanks for the info DemonDan! (I’ve been enjoying your videos for years!)
I just ordered the Z-Verb and the Spring King from you guys! I have a gamechanger audio Light Pedal on reserve so I’ll a/b/c/ those once I have all three.
Have you messed around with different spring pans or tubes in your Z-Verb or did you find it perfect out of the box?
I poked around on Radials site and found the Tank Driver, it’s a 500 series reverb interface module. Very cool indeed. I picked up Radials EXTC-SA 1-channel Active Re-Amping Device in the hopes that it will let me use the modular with the Z-Verb and whatever sort of tape delay I end up getting with no issues. I might have to dig deeper into the 500 series stuff. Oh well, further down the rabbit hole I go. =)
A relatively inexpensive 5u reverb module with a spring tank. I have one and it does the “sprang thang” pretty well. A little eq before and/or after really helps.
I tried out the Danelectro Spring King tonight, here are some of my initial thoughts.
It’s a good pedal but I am most likely not going to keep it. The reverb sounds good, especially at the $120 price point, but it also contains a digital echo/slapback delay that’s built in and cant be turned off. I don’t need that feature..
Running the Model 10 directly into the Spring King works as long as the you don’t drive the modulars mixer too hard, 4-5 or so per input and 4-5 master were working ok for me. Any higher/ more overdriven and I would get intermittent pops as I pressed a key down full signal/no attack. Running the Spring King through a Radial EXTC-SA1 Reamp box first, then into the Spring King allows the modulars mixers to be turned up fully(I haven’t spent enough time testing this).
Like DemonDan pointed out earlier, the Spring King can be modded, and different pans hooked up and it looks like that digital delay can be adjusted or possibly turned off. I’m not looking to do any solder work but for others who don’t mind, I’m one could have fun modding this pedal.
When I have more time I plan on a/b/c’ing the Spring King against the digital spring pedals I have. and I still have to dig into the Z-Verb. I’m kind of saving it for last to measure up against all the others.
Something strange happened when using the Radial EXTC with the Spring King, when it’s send, receive and blend (wet/dry) knobs are all set to 12 o’clock, the audio level gets much lower and the effect becomes 100% wet. Inverting the phase (button) fixes this. If you don’t invert the phase and turn the knob to 100% wet, the sound becomes 50/50 wet/dry. Move the knob to dry and the sound is dry. Maybe to someone who knows electronics this is normal or easily explainable, but it’s above my knowledgebase.
I ran into it direct from the model 10 and as I turned the Zverbs mix up to 10-20% the volume dropped by half if not more. Once I hooked up the Radial EXTC-SA1 Reamp box things got better, but then I noticed a kind of sympathetic/harmonic resonance when I set the Z-Verb Dwell past 9 o’clock and I played the G5 key. I wasn’t pushing any signal too hard.(all radial knobs and Moog mixer knobs set to 12 o’clock, sawtooth waveform).
Unless its operator error it seems I may be 0-2 on this so far. I know I’m using these units for things they wasn’t exactly designed for so I can not fault them.
Yes the mix level can have a dramatic effect on the volume. I wonder if Keith Emerson’s reverb mod was due to this? AFAIK he had his reverb changed so it blended the verb in with the original signal, rather than sweeping between them?
I have not tried messing with the hardware
You may try some EQ or filtering before the reverb, to cut down any blooming? I just run signal out of a 5u mixer & haven’t had any issues, although granted I don’t do anything extreme with it.
When I plug the Model 10 directly into my Soundcraft EPM12 mixer, I can max out the modulars mixer section with no issues. 4 Saws into the M10’s mixer with everything at 10, master set to 10. I even turned up the vca fixed control voltage to add more nastiness/balls. I patched up a filter feedback patch from the book the other day and it was so powerful! The synth is screaming now and the mixer is handling (line in, no gain added, channel fader is at 0db, main outs at 0d), my amps can handle it(Roland KC 550’s maybe at 30% volume). No clipping, no pops, nothing unwanted or unpleasant. When I try using the Radial I get clicks and pops, same thing with just one pedal at a time. Looks like I need a small quality mixer just for this setup, and not this re-amp box (even though it says it should do exactly what I need). My Sweetwater guy told me about it and he’s very knowledgeable. I was really hoping it would work out.
edit: I patched into the Reversible Attenuator on the M10 to lower the output going into the Radial and it seems to be the fix. Now I just need to find out how much pure overdriven/clipped sound the radial can handle. Baby steps!
Yep… that’s what I eperimented with the Carl Martin Headroom… I figured out at that point that an input level/gain setting would be ideal; that’s when I found out about the Vermonas and that Demeter unit barely present in EU.
Just assuming here: if the dry signal and the dry+wet signal have opposite phases, when summing them back, you actually add:
the dry signal with normal phase + the dry signal with inverted phase = no or weak signal
plus the wet signal with inverted phase = … wet signal
Got curious & powered up, I haven’t experimented beyond just using it as a reverb unit. Which, for my purposes, has worked fine
Anyway I ran through extreme knob settings just to see & recorded it…will post the clip shortly. Computer has been rendering something else out for 5 hours
