Tapco 6000R Mixer - mods for 100% wet verb?

[LUNE]

i've been experimenting with some DIY spring reverb configurations using accutonics tanks and have picked up a couple old reverb mixers to have something to compare with sonically, experiment with swapping tanks etc.- and also hopefully to have the option to use one of the mixers as stand alone effects in a loop on another mixer.





this tapco came in last night - i like the sound, its an accutonics type 4 tank (4 springs[2 parallel lines with 2 springs each]. looks like a fairly simple design inside - and with a funny (unique to me anyway) effects loop/reverb section that allows you to use the single effects loop for either your own outboard FX or the built in spring reverb, or any balance of both signals - interesting use of economy... its mono.

well, my main thought now is if i can tap a signal somewhere to give me the 100% wet signal from the reverb (after its been preamped back into a line level signal - preferably after the verb 'contour' as well) - this so to use as fx in a loop on another mixer without having the original signal mixed in. I'm willing also to permanently modify 1 or 2 channels if necessary (for instance if it is possible to cut the signal from the channel to the main out while yet still giving the channel signal to the verb), though i imagine that it'd be easier if i could just tap the reverb signal after its been reamplified and before its mixed into the main output.

anyone here have experience with these or similar mixers to give me some hints? or is there something I'm missing about this mixer that would allow me an all wet signal without mod'ing?

and last, i'm open to any discussion/suggestions on this mixer and spring reverbs in general, how they're usually wired up on the inside in these old mixers etc.

the manual seems to be pretty in depth with schematics. (schematics are still rather more difficult for me to read than French unfortunately, and i couldn't quite get a grip even from the block diagram for a clue as to where i might be able to tap the verb signal from)

http://www.pa-anlagen.ch/Manuals/Electro_Voice/Mixers/Owners%2520Manuals/6000R%20Owners%20Manual.pdf

service manual:
http://www.eskimo.com/~bgudgel/6000/6000.html

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I remember that old POS Tapco!

Our band used to have one back in the 70's.

I can't really see the need to mod it?

Just run an effects out send to one of the inputs on the Tapco and the out of the Tapco back to the effects return on your mixer and leave the reverb controls at the fullest positions. If anything, all the added "character" of the Tapco could be fully utilized that way instead of trying to purify it.

/2 cents

Cheers!

 

[LUNE]

Just run an effects out send to one of the inputs on the Tapco and the out of the Tapco back to the effects return on your mixer and leave the reverb controls at the fullest positions.

yeah, you can get a pretty heavily effected sound that way, but the dry signal is still mixed in.

I remember that old POS Tapco!

yeah, it seems these were the 70's poor man's (mono) pa mixer (and that they were pretty common?) (they have instructions on what output to use for going into your guitar amp )
i'm glad that's the general impression, though and that they're not 'prized vintage' mixers, and that they decided to put a verb tank in there.- it means you can find these for less than the cost of an accutonics tank alone (half the price in my case)
fun to experiment with anyway when they are basically free.
incidentally, most of the pot nobs are PRETTY THICK - i mean the grease in there or whatever has turned to fudge - I don't suppose they felt that way in the 70's...

and i suppose i'll find a place for the 'character' on my fx return... (a good place that, for 'character', on the fx return... )

 

[The Ghost of FM]

The knobs even back then, when we had ours felt sluggish and very, very touchy in the levels they'd output. We didn't have deoxit back then so ours just got regular shots of WD-40 to try to keep them workable but we were only making them worse as time passed.

We used to use a spare guitar amp too for our PA with the Tapco and controlling the feedback from the Mic's always meant tuning the highs down so much that the sound was just like a total sludge with horribly muddy bass!

Maybe that's why my opinion of that board is so low.

We always called it the Crapco.

I think we bought ours from a pawn shop back then and paid about 50 bucks for it...so it obviously lost whatever value it had very early on in its life-cycle.

The reverb on it though was pretty cool on vocals and guitars.

Have fun with it!

Cheers!

 

[Richard King]

That mixer was one of, if not, the first products from Tapco. You all probably know this, but Tapco was started by Greg Mackie (I think in the early '70's). Of course, a few years after Tapco went away he started Mackie Audio. In the old days nearly every neighborhood band had a Tapco 6000 or 6000R. I knew it was a cheapie mixer at the time, but it certainly fit a market and sold like hot cakes. I knew no better and was quite impressed with it at the time. Then again, there was really no competitive product. People were using ganged Shure mixers and Tapco provided a good alternative.

 

[stevieb]

Reviving a comatose, if not dead, thread...

I scored one of the non-reverb Tapco 6000's with a 450-watt Bose power amp and three Bullfrog monitors last summer. Bought them for use in the rock n roll summer camp we did. Paid something stupid like $20 for the whole shootin' match! The bullfrogs were worth more than the total price of admission, the power amp was usable but HEAVY (so it got little use, no one wanted to schlep that beast around) and the Tapco got used quite a lot- at first. We had to "retire" it when it was unable to control the feedback the band that we issued it to got in the small dorm-room-coom-rehearsal room (had to spell it phonetically.) Still, it is one BULLET-PROOF little bugger!

 

[jofo70]

I'm reviving because this is an easy mod, and I kept coming accross this thread looking for info on it. Basically just follow the main bus and scratch out the trace just before the effect loop gets added to the bus.

Find C26. The solder point before that is the effects joining the bus.

This takes all input channels out of the mains, but I'm modding the 1/4" input into a post eq/fader output. This is easily done from the center tap of the treble pot.

I thought about having ch.6 be the sole input to the verb, but I'm going to live with all channels being able to drive it at the moment.