Reverb Tank Swap - what to look for

  • Thread starter Thread starter nate_dennis
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nate_dennis

nate_dennis

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I have an old Peavey Studio Chorus and I recently bought a Peavey Delta Blues. I'm not real keen on the reverb in the delta. I thought I'd swap the reverb tanks to see if it helped at all. Is there any chance that this will hurt my delta? If so, what can I look for to determine compatability? Sorry if this is a stupid question. Thanks though.
 
You'd almost have to look at the schematic, but I am not sure it will work. Reverb tanks have an input and output impedance, and with tube amps it is quite different than SS amps. The Delta Blues is a 'tube' amp, but I seem to think the reverb is SS for the 'send', but the 'recovery' is a tube. So the input may match, but the output will be different for sure.
They usually mark the tank with numbers to tell you the specs, and here is how to read them; reverb tank fender.
 
They key are the input/output impedances, you should keep them close to what you have now...on most tanks it's the second and third character in the serial number.

EXAMPLE: 4EB2C1B

Of course...changing the impedances may not always be a bad thing. For instance...I'm right now going to swap a tank to one that has HIGHER impedences....which will take out some of the reverb level, make it more subtle/softer.
 
so if my input/output impedences are a match then it should all be a "go" is that right? Thank you so much for the reply.
 
Generally speaking...yup.
Don't worry...nothing's going to blow up if you have a mismatch. It will just sound different (bad/good).
 
All you'll do is waste time and money. And even that won't won't be much of either, so what have you got to lose? But if you have a tech, you can always mod the Delta Blues to your liking. I looked over the schematic (it's available all over the net), and it is solid state for both send and recovery. But you can still tweak the values slightly to make it more/less in the gain or EQ. Of course that's spending more money than the cost of a new tank, but if the circuit is a little constricted, the new tank will still sound constricted. Maybe try a 3-spring if you have a 2-spring? That will make it really 'wet', so if it is too 'wet' now, I'd stay with a 2-spring tank. But you have options!
 
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