AllenM
Member
Does anyone know of a good unit to record with?
I have spring reverb on my fender blues deluxe. Could I somehow use that?
I have spring reverb on my fender blues deluxe. Could I somehow use that?
T
The Ghost of FM
Banned
What kind of inputs and outputs does your Fender have?
If it has a line in and a line out, you could run it through the effects loop of your mixer but, you should keep in mind that spring reverb does some very ugly things to percussive sounds and only gives you that one spring sound to work with.
You'd be a hell of a lot better off with a decent digital reverb from any any of the usual suspects like Yamaha, DOD, Roland, Alesis and so on. New ones are cheap and used ones are even cheaper. Then, you'll have all kinds of different halls and rooms to play with and your recordings will sound better for it once you get the hang of working with it.
Cheers!
If it has a line in and a line out, you could run it through the effects loop of your mixer but, you should keep in mind that spring reverb does some very ugly things to percussive sounds and only gives you that one spring sound to work with.
You'd be a hell of a lot better off with a decent digital reverb from any any of the usual suspects like Yamaha, DOD, Roland, Alesis and so on. New ones are cheap and used ones are even cheaper. Then, you'll have all kinds of different halls and rooms to play with and your recordings will sound better for it once you get the hang of working with it.
Cheers!
AllenM
Member
T
The Ghost of FM
Banned
It looks like it would do the trick and definitely give you more environments to play with then your guitar amp would.
I'm not familiar with that particular processor but Akai usually makes some half decent stuff. You should check other auctions though to see what those typically sell for so that you don't bid too high on it...probably a max bid of around 75 bucks would be in the ballpark, as a blind guess.
Cheers!
AllenM
Member
Well Im gonna use the reverb for vocals. I just want a gentle touch of it!
AllenM
Member
How about a tapco 4400?
T
The Great Cobb
New member
Tapco 4400
I have owned one of those. It is a good sounding reverb, but it is a spring and likely to sound alot like any other spring you are using already. It goes very very deep and wet, and you can run 2 channels on it. You can EQ the reverb as well which means youll be adding a ton of midrange and cutting lows and highs within minutes of using one (ha).
Have you thought about one of the Electro Harmonix Holy Grail series? They at least give you spring, hall, plate, etc settings.
I have owned one of those. It is a good sounding reverb, but it is a spring and likely to sound alot like any other spring you are using already. It goes very very deep and wet, and you can run 2 channels on it. You can EQ the reverb as well which means youll be adding a ton of midrange and cutting lows and highs within minutes of using one (ha).
Have you thought about one of the Electro Harmonix Holy Grail series? They at least give you spring, hall, plate, etc settings.
Blue Jinn
Rider of the ARPocalypse
If you want to DIY, PAiA http://www.paia.com has a spring reverb that uses two springs and wires them out of phase. It is pretty decent sounding for a spring reverb, however, you need to be careful about case/wiring/shielding to avoid hum.
If you want to go all out and are really ambitious:
http://www.platereverb.com/
Also this looks intriguing in theory:
http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Plate_Reverb/
If you want to go all out and are really ambitious:
http://www.platereverb.com/
Also this looks intriguing in theory:
http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Plate_Reverb/
D
dintymoore
Guest
I'm still using my Yamaha SPX1000 for reverb. I paid $600 for it in the 90's when they were like $1500 new. They still sound nice and are true stereo.
The SPX900 and the earlier ones still have a good-for-buck sound although are mono in stereo out. You'll get them for $100 or less.
The reverb that comes with the Lexicon Omega is really good.
The SPX900 and the earlier ones still have a good-for-buck sound although are mono in stereo out. You'll get them for $100 or less.
The reverb that comes with the Lexicon Omega is really good.
SteveM
New member
I just picked up a Yamaha Rev 7. I'm very happy with it.
I
Ink N. Face
New member
Here's a great article that talks specifically about using a Fender amp reverb tank for other purposes: http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/shitty2.pdf
B
Bguzaldo
New member
Do the right thing, get a Fulltone! 
wish I could afford one, but I'm savin my pennies.
wish I could afford one, but I'm savin my pennies.
AllenM
Member
ROLANDS,..SRE-555 Chorus Echo
i apply it to everything and it's Reverb / Chorus is very lush!
excellent for vocals, guitar, keys / synths,..and even drums! huge sound!
seems really neat. I'm kinda going for a 60s-70s type reverb for vocals only. Maybe some guitar... Think of the beach boys.
VESSEL2020
Somewhere in Space
actually...
the guitarist from the beach boys, (at least one them) used a roland re-201 space echo,..his unit was for sale a coulpe months back on ebay.
the guitarist from the beach boys, (at least one them) used a roland re-201 space echo,..his unit was for sale a coulpe months back on ebay.
D
dintymoore
Guest
I'd put money on the Beach Boys using an EMT plate reverb. I'm guessing that those are 10K-20K... maybe I'm nuts and they're actually $40K. Go ahead and research the price if you want but my point is that they were using top of the line pro stuff!
You will not get results with reverbs from companies like Tapco or using a spring reverb from an guitar amp - that's stuff you do when you're starting out to see why it doesn't work and if you haven't done it - hook it up and see, that's how I learned.
The cheapest "pro " sounding reverbs I know of are the Yamaha SPX's like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-SPX-90_W...aultDomain_0?hash=item2c52f62371#ht_500wt_924
They did make a few junk ones like the SPX50D. The SPX 90 like above isn't super great, the SPX 90 ll is better. The SPX 900 and 1000 are better yet. None are up there in current specs. The best cheap reverb I know of is the one that comes with the Lexicon Omega - it sounds really good.
Stuff like that and the REV 7 mentioned sound "expensive" compared to the other stuff like the Akai or Tapco gear. That other stuff will be 100% frustration if you want a slick pro Beach Boys type of sound.
The SPX stuff sounds "pillowy" like the word "AAaaaahhhh". They don't have those sick sounds like "boiiinnnng". I'd avoid the cheap companies like Behringer, Alesis, Art, Zoom etc like the plague when it comes to reverb!!!!!!!!
You will not get results with reverbs from companies like Tapco or using a spring reverb from an guitar amp - that's stuff you do when you're starting out to see why it doesn't work and if you haven't done it - hook it up and see, that's how I learned.
The cheapest "pro " sounding reverbs I know of are the Yamaha SPX's like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-SPX-90_W...aultDomain_0?hash=item2c52f62371#ht_500wt_924
They did make a few junk ones like the SPX50D. The SPX 90 like above isn't super great, the SPX 90 ll is better. The SPX 900 and 1000 are better yet. None are up there in current specs. The best cheap reverb I know of is the one that comes with the Lexicon Omega - it sounds really good.
Stuff like that and the REV 7 mentioned sound "expensive" compared to the other stuff like the Akai or Tapco gear. That other stuff will be 100% frustration if you want a slick pro Beach Boys type of sound.
The SPX stuff sounds "pillowy" like the word "AAaaaahhhh". They don't have those sick sounds like "boiiinnnng". I'd avoid the cheap companies like Behringer, Alesis, Art, Zoom etc like the plague when it comes to reverb!!!!!!!!
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
It would have been either an actual reverb chamber, or an EMT plate. Probably not a spring.
T
The Great Cobb
New member
reverb
The Tapco 4400 will get really wet and you can EQ it to have the body of a plate. You will always run the risk of "boing" with a spring, but in my experience you can get a HUGE classic reverb sound from a Tapco 4400 by sending your voice out of your mixer on two different channels, then sending one to tank 1 and give it a touch of echo, and send the other to tank 2 and make it really wet and pile on the mids. Then blend the two back together on two different mixer returns. This allows you to get a huge reverb sound from tank 2 and a wet but understandable lead voice on tank 1. You wont get "boings" on vocals unless you make clicking or popping sounds with your teeth etc.
Keep in mind though, the Electro Harmonix has a plate setting, which is definitely what the beach boys what have used.
The best way to get close to classic sounds or very particular sounds, is to listen close and think hard about what you are actually hearing, and what elements of the tone etc are essential, and which elements can be unfaithful while still retaining the effect you want to sell the song production-wise. You will definitely not have to have a real life plate to get a dreamy vocal sound. But you are going to have to work for it a bit and react to what you are hearing and use your imagination to sculpt the sound to what you want if it isnt what you want right out of the box. Such as: try printing the reverb onto the tape on a separate track when the track has been slowed way down. When you speed the wet track back up, you will have subtle sonic strangeness in the printed reverb tone that you couldnt get the same by using just the stock reverb settings it came with. Or, reverse that and try speeding it up first so that its tubby when you bring the wet track back to normal pitch.
I would try listening to some sound samples of reverb pedals on electroharmonix.com and see which pedal/settings are most like what you want (it will probably be the plate settings).
The Tapco 4400 will get really wet and you can EQ it to have the body of a plate. You will always run the risk of "boing" with a spring, but in my experience you can get a HUGE classic reverb sound from a Tapco 4400 by sending your voice out of your mixer on two different channels, then sending one to tank 1 and give it a touch of echo, and send the other to tank 2 and make it really wet and pile on the mids. Then blend the two back together on two different mixer returns. This allows you to get a huge reverb sound from tank 2 and a wet but understandable lead voice on tank 1. You wont get "boings" on vocals unless you make clicking or popping sounds with your teeth etc.
Keep in mind though, the Electro Harmonix has a plate setting, which is definitely what the beach boys what have used.
The best way to get close to classic sounds or very particular sounds, is to listen close and think hard about what you are actually hearing, and what elements of the tone etc are essential, and which elements can be unfaithful while still retaining the effect you want to sell the song production-wise. You will definitely not have to have a real life plate to get a dreamy vocal sound. But you are going to have to work for it a bit and react to what you are hearing and use your imagination to sculpt the sound to what you want if it isnt what you want right out of the box. Such as: try printing the reverb onto the tape on a separate track when the track has been slowed way down. When you speed the wet track back up, you will have subtle sonic strangeness in the printed reverb tone that you couldnt get the same by using just the stock reverb settings it came with. Or, reverse that and try speeding it up first so that its tubby when you bring the wet track back to normal pitch.
I would try listening to some sound samples of reverb pedals on electroharmonix.com and see which pedal/settings are most like what you want (it will probably be the plate settings).
SteveM
New member
My other reverb is a Traynor spring reverb. It's really an 8 channel mixer. I like the sound of it a lot. I've used it on many recordings and never had a problem with the boinging. It probably needs to be used more subtlety, but it sounds great on tape.
The Lexicon PCM 60 is supposed to be pretty smooth. But they go for about $450 to $500 on ebay.
The Lexicon PCM 60 is supposed to be pretty smooth. But they go for about $450 to $500 on ebay.
C
Chilljam
transitional phase
Wow, saved that one in favorites. This guy seems to be on the same wavelength as me
Great read.