Reverb "thunder"

cephus

cephus

Slow Children Playing
I am doing a theater gig. One song, they needed some "thunder" and I crank up the reverb on this old crap peavey classic I am using and bump it until it goes "KERANG!"

What is the risk of damage?

This amp is the old SS pre and tube power amp. Where is going to be the point of failure? I thought it was making a kind of weird noise after about the 6th time I did it. I am considering not doing it, but it just sounds so freaking awesome.
 
Man, I don't know.

The times I've done it accidentally I thought "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark" but I don't think I caused any damage.

Doing it intentionally over and over........ can't be good.
 
I pulled this amp out of the shed specifically to use for this because it's "dispensable". I did invest $35 in new tubes for it. I am torn. When it goes off it is freaking scary, isn't it :D

I wouldn't care if the tubes or speakers went, really. But if it bricks the thing due to transformer or SS failure, I'd weep for a second or 2.

Maybe I shouldn't do it at rehearsal and save it for the show. Although, if it died then, that might be bad.

Dammit!
 
Jim Lad said:
You can download "MP3 Thunder" online.
Click to expand...

Hell, any keyboard player could do that!

Have you heard the sound I'm talking about? I can't imagine a digital equivalent that would make people shit themselves like a 50-watt amp KERRRANG!

:eek:
 
That noise has always knocked me out of my chair every time it happens. :eek: :D Nothin' quite like it!
 
Well, to me it would sound like somebody banging on an amp.
but much more skillful than any keyboard player, I suppose.
In answer to your question.

"What is the risk of damage?"

Somewhere between 99 & 100%.
 
There is a good chance that you will kill the power tubes. When that happens it will most likely take out other components like resistors. If you must have that sound then you had better record it before the amp dies.
 
Zaphod B said:
That noise has always knocked me out of my chair every time it happens. :eek: :D Nothin' quite like it!
Click to expand...

Thank you.

My point exactly.

I think the cool thing about it was that it wasn't reproduced, but the actual sound of catastrophe. If I had a recording of thunder, that's sort of a flaccid.

I used to be able to make a crazy machine gun noise with a guitar I had with a floyd, but I hate to have a bunch of guitars with me. That might be the route to go. I know they would like that, too.

On a side note, I thought this amp was total junk. I have a 212 classic VT that I bought in 1981 that I replaced with a recent classic 50 (also a 212). Sometime in the 90s, I was at a non-musician friend's house and he had a 410 classic with the silver knobs in his apartment. I think he had a mic or a karaoke machine or something stupid plugged into it. I think I gave him $40 for it or the equivalent in weed. I think I used the chassis from the VT with it or something and it sounded pretty shitty. So, I moved about 4 times since then and just kept sticking it in the basement or crawlspace or shed. I got this thing out to use at rehearsal and it sounded really good. I play rockabilly so I don't need alot of gain. I really liked the sound of it. So, I guess I shouldn't be deliberately frying it to scare old ladies. I know it's not normally an amp someone would consider desirable, but I think it's pretty cool.

I have decided not to kerrang it to death.

thanks for the input.

Wait. What if I karrang it with the reverb turned down and then turn it up after the worst of the kerrang-ness?
 
Zaphod B said:
That noise has always knocked me out of my chair every time it happens. :eek: :D Nothin' quite like it!
Click to expand...
The church I went to as a kid had a huge spring reverb unit for the organ, which played through these two giant speaker cabs on either side of the altar. It hung on the wall in the storage space behind the altar, and it was a box about the size of a cigar box with these three exposed springs that hung down in loops below it; the springs were about 3/4 inches in diameter and the bottom of the loops was 3 or 4 feet below the box. One Sunday morning during communion when it was all quiet except for the murmurings of the minister and noodling around by the organist, someone was looking for something in that space and bumped into the springs.

Need I say more? :eek:
 
ggunn said:
The church I went to as a kid had a huge spring reverb unit for the organ, which played through these two giant speaker cabs on either side of the altar. It hung on the wall in the storage space behind the altar, and it was a box about the size of a cigar box with these three exposed springs that hung down in loops below it; the springs were about 3/4 inches in diameter and the bottom of the loops was 3 or 4 feet below the box. One Sunday morning during communion when it was all quiet except for the murmurings of the minister and noodling around by the organist, someone was looking for something in that space and bumped into the springs.

Need I say more? :eek:
Click to expand...
:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
I'm wondering why it would damage anything assuming you weren't 'on ten' or using violent shock movement to the springs. All that's needed is a little rocking back and forth and they bounce around? (How's that different than bumping the amp loading around day to day when it's off?
 
cephus said:
I am doing a theater gig. One song, they needed some "thunder" and I crank up the reverb on this old crap peavey classic I am using and bump it until it goes "KERANG!"

What is the risk of damage?

This amp is the old SS pre and tube power amp. Where is going to be the point of failure? I thought it was making a kind of weird noise after about the 6th time I did it. I am considering not doing it, but it just sounds so freaking awesome.
Click to expand...

That's just the reverb tank springs bumping around. But the opamp circuitry it's connected to amplifies it so much, you get a horrendous crash. Even gently knocking those springs together will create an explosion of sound.

Physically there is little or no chance of damage to the reverb tank or springs. This page shows what's inside:

http://sound.westhost.com/articles/reverb.htm

So imagine what you would have to do to shake that tank to the point where the springs break. In practice, you probably couldn't even if you tried. If it did break, it would probably be a simple matter of unscrewing it and hooking the springs back on to what whatever they are supposed to be clipped to.

However I'm not sure about the power amplifier and speakers. With the gain at a even a relatively low playing level, is the reverb tank spring crash much much louder? If yes, then my guess is that if you do it enough, you'll burn out the speaker coils or rip up the cones.

But if you limit the gain so as not to stress the speakers I think you'll be fine. Those old Peavy amps are really tough. You could drop it from 3 inches off the ground and it would hurt anything except the ground and your ears.
 
mixsit said:
I'm wondering why it would damage anything assuming you weren't 'on ten' or using violent shock movement to the springs. All that's needed is a little rocking back and forth and they bounce around?
Click to expand...

I used to own an old Peavey and the sound that he's talking about requires a heavy shock to produce.


mixsit said:
(How's that different than bumping the amp loading around day to day when it's off?
Click to expand...

The difference is that the tubes will be hot which makes them more prone to damage when banged around.
 
Here you go, unstrap the tank from the amp, bounce away.

You know I have no reason to doubt the 'don't move the amp till the tubes cool' thing, at the same time, I have to wonder with the 110+db vibration hours on end going on back there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top