Isolating the spring reverb in my vintage fender amp

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I own a 65 blackface fender pro reverb which, if you don't know, has an amazing authentic spring reverb built into the bottom of the case. I always loved the way it sounded and I had the idea a while ago that with the simple construction of this old amp I should be able to isolate it pretty easily and so be able to use it to effect something else, say a vocal recording without running it through the amp or the speakers. At first glance this seemed quite simple. The reverb is already completely isolated from the rest of the amp and is connected by two phono cables. The first thing I did was make some phono to quarter inch adaptors and run a guitar directly into the reverb and directly out of the reverb and into another amp. I then realized that an unamplified guitar could not have enough amplitude to move this heavy, foot long spring. So, I plugged the reverb back into the pro reverb and plugged the guitar into the front and went directly from the output of the reverb unit into a speaker, but I still got no signal. Could anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? Thanks so much for your help! I was going to attach a schematic but since I don't have five posts it won't let me. Well, we will just have to remedy that.
 
Here it is:
proreverbaa165schemgd4.gif
 
Short version: guitar signal is amplified and impedance matched into the spring. This wet signal is then amplified/buffered/mixed back into the dry signal.

Looking at the schematic, you may be able to pull a useful wet (reverberated) signal off the wiper of the reverb pot to put through an external preamp. It looks like it's decoupled from the high DC voltages, but unless you know what you're doing with high voltage circuits I'd advise you not to touch it.
 
docs right... see it requires both a drive and a recover circuit to get those things to work... if you want to do aproject... buy an accutronic pan and build one for yourself... a bit of a pita but it would keep your hands outta your amp trying to repatch it all the time... i can remember when those things became hot as a retro effect... at namm some one came out with a $2k studio spring reverb:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
So what you are saying is if I get voltage right I could just attach a bare wire to the back of the actual reverb knob of the amp? I am not any kind of amp tech guy so alot of this stuff is going over my head. I just need to know how it would look in the end. Basically what you are saying is there is no way I could just run a signal through the reverb in a mic>reverb>audio interface type chain? I need some sort of amplification on both ends? Why is that? Also, I tried to build a spring reverb out of two electric motors and a slinky but that never really panned out either.
 
ok... so consider yourself warned... disclaimers apply ... all that kinda crap...

if you were to find that 500pico farrad cap that's above the tube just before the reverb.... and tapp in to it on the side away from the tube...and take your out put at say the wiper (center tab) of the controll you "might" get a somewhat useable signal....
 
ALSO what is an accutronic pan and is there a how-to on that?
 
accutronic was the manufacturer of virtually all "pan"reverbs also known as reverb tanks ,spring reverbs,etc.
 
Trying to tie into this and connecting it to modern recording equipment may be a difficult proposition, especially with limited electronics knowledge. If you're going for that retro spring reverb sound on voice, I suggest you get ahold of a cheap high impedance dynamic mic (with 1/4" plug), plug it into a guitar input of the amp, and mic the cab the way you would for guitar.

Or if you have a low impedance dynamic (SM57 or the like), plug it into one of these and plug in to the cab. Most condenser mics won't work because they need phantom power.
http://www.radioshack.com/sm-a3f-xlr-jack-to-1-4-plug-adapter-transformer--pi-2062443.html
 
The short answer is no, you can't just use the reverb tank (spring unit) without the drive and recovery circuitry that is part of the amp.
 
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