Hey there and hello... and a reverb question...

[TeleVision]

Hello,

Just found this forum mentioned on another that I frequent, so I thought I'd check it out.  A little history, and then a question...

I have been an unabashed tube snob for more than twenty years.  My opinion was always SS= kiddie junk. Recently I have had to eat a lot of crow.  Due to some physical problems, I am no longer able to carry and move heavy amps.  I really have a hard time using anything much over 30 pounds.  I tried lots of smaller lighter tube amps, and hated them.  Blues Jr., AC-15, Peavey Bravo, Classic 30, Crate VC30 112, Dr. Z Maz Jr. 1X12, everything I could get my hands on.  I like big, warm, thumpy, fat, clean tones, and low wattage tube amps just won't do that at gig volumes.  They break up too much, and they sound harsh to my ears.  Changing tubes/modding to get more clean headroom took all the guts and oomph out of them.  I was bummin. 

After fighting off lots of recommendations, it became obvious that I was going to have to start looking at SS amps if I wanted anything close to the weight I needed, and still be able to get close to the kind of low end thump, clean headroom, and overall volume I was used to having.  I have become a huge fan of the Red-line Peavey Transtube amps.  I can't believe how nice they sound, especially considering I have bought four of them in the last month, and have spent less than $500.  I was in the studio the other night, listening back to some tracks, and as I get used to the amps, and learn how to use them, I am seeing that most of the tracks are indistinguishable from older tracks that I played my tube amps on.  I'm sold.  When money allows, I plan to look into some of the higher end boutique SS stuff, but for right now, these amps are more than getting the job done.

Now for my question:

I am using the Studio Pro 112 red line models.  I love the amps, but I'm really not digging the reverb.  I know very little about SS amp technology.  I am wondering how much of the reverb's character is the circuit, and how much is the tank?  Will I notice a favorable difference by tossing in a better tank?  Or would I just be throwing money away?  Should I be looking more for a tech who can modify the reverb circuit?  Or do I need to do both?  I am looking to get it more into a classic Fender reverb category.  Really, I think the reverb is this amp's only weakness.

Thanks much!

[Enzo]

What "better" reverb might you have in mind?  What is in there now?  The transtubes are not old enough to have an old OC reverb, so it would be an Accutronics.  You could go from a two spring to a three spring for a small increase in reverb sound complexity, but in spring reverbs, Accutronics is pretty much the game in my estimation.  I am not much of a Belton fan.

Other than not digging it, and wishing it was more Fendery, what is the complaint?  In what ways is it less Fendery than desired?  One can massage the circuit to an extent.

[TeleVision]

It doesn't look like an accutronics tank to me.  It's a silver thing, with some ink stamp numbers on it, and round edges/corners.  I've never seen anything like it.  I totally agree about accutronics being the reverb tank.

It's got a REALLY long decay, no matter where you set the knob, that is more a crashing conglomeration of overtones and harmonics than a traditional verb, and just sounds kind of funky.  It seems like the Reverb knob is just a mix knob, and the verb is the same no matter where you set it.  It just gets louder and more present as you turn it up.  It also doesn't sound much like a spring verb.  (Keep in mind I'm used to playing Silver face non-master Twin Reverbs and Pro Reverbs).  I'm used to that really springy, drippy, old school Fender verb, and this amp's verb just doesn't sound anything like that.  I think I'm going to drop in an accutronics tank just to see what happens.  I have a buddy with a couple of them laying around, so I can try before I buy.

[armstrom]

Sounds like you just want to upgrade the reverb tank. With a real spring reverb there's no way to control the decay time. The way you describe the reverb knob working is pretty typical. They usually just serve as a mixer between the "dry" and "wet" signal. Most are set up to keep the dry signal at a fixed level and just bring up the reverb level. This means you can go from all dry to half dry/half reverb. Some units, like the fender stand-alone reverb units have a true blend pot setup so you can go from all dry signal to all wet signal. These stand-alone units also have a "dwell" control which is basically just a volume control for the reverb driver amp. Increasing the dwell just drives the tank harder causing more "dwell". Fender doesn't include this control when it builds reverb into an amp so all you get is a level control.

-Matt

[TeleVision]

Thanks for the input guys.  I think I am going to try upgrading the tank.  But for now, I just stuck my POD XT in the FX loop, and turned off everything but the verb on it.  Sounds much, much, better using the POD's verbs.

I don't know, if it's cheaper than getting a new tank, I may just buy a decent reverb pedal and run it in the loop full time.

[Enzo]

PV uses the 4EB2C1B pan in just about all their stuff, and looking at the circuit, I'd say that should work here too.  The 9EB2C1B would also work fine.

The 4EB2C1B sells for $23-25 at www.tubesandmore.com