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Making Reverb

Started by trialabc, June 29, 2010, 10:33:06 PM

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trialabc

Fahey, it would be great if you tell me how to make the reverb from scratch. In this way, I can see if I can really make from scratch. If it is possible, I think I will do it. The only problem at hand is just I am quite busy with my work lately...

All I know about the spring tank, are springs with transducers.

J M Fahey

Hi Phatt.
Yes, that tiny magnet is both the secret and the difficult part to source.
I'm trying tp convince the ferrite-maker to make a new batch for me.
Of course I'll have to supply the pressed parts myself.
That particular die is cheap, because it can be turned on a lathe.
Yet, I sold mine (an old WW2 vintage monstrosity) because it took much valuable floorspace and today it's cheaper for me to outsource that job than paying a fixed salary to somebody who would work only a few days in the month, but i'm toying with the idea of buying a cheap Chinese "jeweller's lathe" specifically to make little gadgets.
My ex-partner, with whom I'm in excellent terms, has bought a CNC controlled XYZ mill with which he makes incredible cabinets machined out of solid aluminum for his Rupert Neve clones Mic Preamps.
Using that I will be able to recover much of my dies and then some.
No, I won't mill die steel, but the master parts in solid Copper and then use those for electro-erosion.
New technologies are much more home friendly than old ones.
*If* I get my magnets , I'll send you a couple dozen for you to experiment.
Ah!!, the wire that keeps them "in the air" and has a hook on one end glued to the mainspring is stainless steel wire, a.k.a .010 guitar string.
Really, having the magnets, everything else is relatively easy.
Then you'll have a real custom Phatt reverb, with 3 foot vertically mounted springs .
Hi TrialABC.
OK, I'll tell you.
You will save nothing, if it's the idea; you will be able to buy 50 tanks with what you'll spend, but as an experiment , it's great.
As I said above, I'm trying to make a batch which will be good business for me, but I'll experiment with the "modern" magnets I got.
I'll post some pictures along the way.
I repeat, if you need one for some amplifier, buy some dead amp at a garage sale for a couple bucks and recover it from there .... now if you want to have fun during some long boring weekends ....

phatt

Hi JMF,
       Sorry been busy.
Thanks for such a very kind offer but I suspect you would do it more justice.
I am only a humble hobby flux sniffer and now that I've got the Reverb I always wanted, I'm not about to embark on mass production.  :duh
(Just quitely, My Darling wife will devorce me if take on more projects). :grr

With the digital stuff now there is not as much interest in the old stuff so long as the younger ones get to see how the older teck worked they might appreciate the dedication of people such as yourself who obviously have spent years accumilating the intricate know how of building such devices.

On the surface a spring reverb might look like a simple and basic device but
Gee wizz don't try and build one over a weekend from scratch.

Saying I took 10 years to perfect a working SR unit of pro quality might look like I'm a slow learner,,, but heck it taught me so much and forced me to go read books that
I would have never otherwise bothered to read.
I was not the kind of chap to settle for a very dull sounding kit unit that was very noisey.   No I wanted a Real One. :trouble

Before finding computers and the internet there was only books and I did get
very lucky as some wonderful gentleman saw my predicament and gave me a copy of
*Art of Electonics by Horowitz &Hill*.

Wow A big help indeed but with limited understanding I found the maths very hard yakka. As a novice you just keep reading and by design and a strong desire you eventually start to grasp the more detailed stuff.

Then finally a computer arrived and again same chap handed me some circuit sims and finally the dots started to join together and I could see without even burning my fingers with hot solder (or the need of expensive test gear) just how the intricate details of each part of an amplifier worked.
So while trying to build a reverb I actually learnt how the whole amplifier worked and that is a very empowering feeling to know that with some hard work I can not only build a very good reverb I can also build Amps that will sound just as good as the expensive shop gear.

Thanks,, Phil