Comments on: Spring Reverb Defines a Mythic Space Where The Legends of Rock Live

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 05:54:26 +0000

I played in rock bands in the 60’s and the defacto spring reverb unit was the Premier Reverb unit. Every band used it for vocals. It was $100 at the time and I could never afford one. My main band never used spring reverb consequently. Bogen amplifier heads were commonplace. Years later we all chipped in a bought a used Bell amplifier for vocals. The amp was on it’s last legs and didn’t last very long. But we finally had spring reverb. The unique thing about a mechanical spring is that it has no “limits” like digital “spring” reverb. To this day I cannot find anything as good as the premier reverb unit.

By: jerry

jerry — Sun, 29 May 2022 21:25:31 +0000

The EMT (yep, German) plate was a huge beast that provided a 2-dimensional stereo reverb. It sounded a lot better than a spring tank but was expensive, quite heavy, and you’d better have some steel wool and naval jelly around if you plan to maintain one. There was a second version (the 240) that had a gold foil plate and was more manageable. Developed in the late 50’s, it was an icon in the recording industry and I don’t think its sound was ever quite duplicated — digital plugins are available that simulate it, though. The grouping of the EMT 140, the 1176LN, the LA-2, and some decent mics pretty much defined vocal sound for over 40 years.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 10:33:35 +0000

In reply to Bjorn Soderberg. I would advise getting a pair of the same model tank. They are non-linear and inconsistent enough that the L/R spread signal should be plenty wide. IF not, make the post-delays slightly different (20 vs 21 ms). Good luck. c.

By: Bjorn Soderberg

Bjorn Soderberg — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 03:08:14 +0000

hi
if i want to build a stereo spring reverb , do u guys think that i should get one 2 spring tank and one 3 spring tank , or one long and one short ? to get a wider sound ….or ?
thanks !
Bjorn

By: GuthryTrojan

GuthryTrojan — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:55:33 +0000

Thanks Chris, another nice analogy and I take your point. But what I really meant was that if reverb doesn’t necessarily reference real reverberation, from where does it derive it’s emotive power to affect us?

By: chris

chris — Sun, 03 May 2015 19:50:54 +0000

In reply to GuthryTrojan. Hello Guthry. Reverb does not necessarily need to have a 'reference' in order for it to be an effective tool. If you need to drive in a nail, many things can make for a usable 'tool' even if they do not reference a hammer. In terms of musical (especially vocal) performance, reverb and echo, regardless of how they are devised, can accomplish many useful tasks, not the least of which is obscuring and thereby ameliorating deviations in pitch and/or timbre that listeners might find distracting. In less technical terms: reverb makes imperfect singing sound less imperfect.

By: GuthryTrojan

GuthryTrojan — Sun, 03 May 2015 12:32:54 +0000

Thanks for this. You’ve dealt with this seldom addressed but important subject area very thoughtfully. Whilst I agree with your conclusion/explanation and appreciate the analogy with the images, I wonder how you would explain the initial affect of spring reverb when it was first devised. And more broadly. if fake reverb doesn’t necessarily represent its acoustic real-world counterpart, what does it reference and why is its affect apparently universal?

By: uri wertheim

uri wertheim — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:09:14 +0000

this is poetry 🙂 thank you.
and let’s not forget the trillion reggae/dub tracks that use it, usually on the drums

By: phillip holmes

phillip holmes — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 03:48:55 +0000

You’re 100% correct. There is something essentially correct about the sound. Perhaps I feel that way because I liked the music that went through those echo plates. Anyway, I’ve heard some recent recordings using refurbed Altec amps/compressors, and I think the echo plate was a German unit (EMT?). Sounded spectacular, even on digital.

By: Don Von Voltron

Don Von Voltron — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:32:19 +0000

Take’m to Verb Church!